Practical Applications

Recap: God as Origin, Executor, and End of All Things

0:05 In the Bibles to Romans 11, as we seek again this evening to direct our minds into this portion of the Word of God, for the benefit of those who are not with us this morning, I mentioned on that occasion, that having had to preach numerous times this past week, and some of the ministry focusing upon this text, I felt far more prepared, at least in mind, to treat this text than the next section of Ephesians in the morning, and the next section of Proverbs in the evening, and so we're getting a double-barreled dose of Romans 11.36 for our study in the Word of God today. And I had at least one very encouraging note of feedback this morning, that God was pleased to use the Word in a very significant way, at least in the life. It's the life of one individual, and that makes the labors of the day worthwhile many times over. The text that we looked at is Romans 11, verse 36. I shall read it, briefly recap what we considered this morning, and then move primarily into the area of application, which time did not permit in our previous study.

1:21 The Apostle says at the conclusion of these first 11 chapters of the book, of Romans, the letter to the church at Rome, for of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things, to whom, or to him, be the glory forever. Amen. And we approach the text with this basic perspective before us, that when we come to read and understand the Bible, we must seek to read and understand the Bible biblically, it is not enough that we subscribe to the full authority of the Bible, its inspiration and authority, believing its promises, respecting its commands, accepting the validity of its history and the binding nature of its doctrines. We must seek to read and understand the whole within the framework in which it comes to us. And I'll not repeat that rather extended illustration about the car. Suffice it to say, that you may maintain all the nuts and bolts, and rods and pistons, and the rest, but unless you maintain them in the arrangement in which they come to us by the manufacturer, you miss the end for which it was manufactured.

2:43 And so with the Bible, there must be this sense of the wholeness of the revelation of God, the whole end for which it was given, and this text as well, if not better than any other I know of, of in the Scripture, sets before us the framework within which the Bible itself comes to us. Then we spend some time, then, seeking to just expound those simple phrases. Of Him means that God Himself is the origin of all things. Through Him means that God is the executor and administrator of all things.

3:20 Unto Him means that God is the end and the goal of all things. And what should be the response of our hearts to that? The words of the Apostle, to Him be the glory forever. There should be the loving response from the heart of the child of God in glad recognition that the God whom He knows and has come to know through Jesus Christ is this God who is the origin, the means, and the end of all things.

3:52 And we emphasize again and again that the all things is very specific. It has to deal with all that Paul has been treating in the previous 11 chapters. The problem of human sin. God's grace against the backdrop of that sin.

4:08 That grace coming in history. Coming in relationship to God's dealings with Israel as a nation. Coming in relationship to His dealings with the Gentile nations. All of the whole fabric of these matters, Paul says of every one of them, of Him, through Him and unto Him are all things to whom be glory forever.

4:31 And we closed our study this morning with the suggestion that when we begin to think this way and begin to read the Bible this way and begin to live in the light of this, it can be a spiritual Copernican revolution. It can bring a whole new center of our thinking. We begin to be able to praise God for things in His Word which before perhaps weren't imbibed, which were an embarrassment to us. We begin to be able to thank God for things in our own lives which were a source of irritation to us.

5:03 As long as we're at the center, they are an irritant. When we begin to see that of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things, then as we saw in the life of David, we are able to pray, Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth. What happens to David is of little consequence.

5:22 But, O God, what happens to your glory? Is of supreme consequence. So much for the brief review. What I wish to do tonight is to show some very practical lines of application or to follow out some very practical lines of application with reference to this perspective.

Application to the Conversion of a Sinner

5:45 When we begin to think in these terms, when we begin to assess the work of God in us and in others and in the church, when we begin to consider other things, facets of Christian life and experience within this perspective, I say the implications are all pervasive and very radical. First of all, let's consider something that is close to the heart of every single Christian. The matter of the conversion of a sinner. Your own conversion if you profess to be a believer. The conversion of others for which you yearn if you are a true Christian. And if you are a true Christian, you do yearn for the conversion of others. How does this perspective cast its shadow upon the whole biblical doctrine of the conversion of the individual sinner? Well, let's take this text and see its application in those three areas. For of him are all things. What is the ultimate cause of the conversion of

6:50 a sinner? 1. When is the ultimate cause of the conversion of a sinner? When is the ultimate cause of the conversion of a sinner?

6:52 When a sinner is brought to repentance and faith to embrace the offers of mercy in Jesus Christ, what is the ultimate cause of that conversion? Well, you see, the Apostle Paul has been very explicit in teaching us in the previous chapters that the cause is God himself, particularly God in his sovereign electing love. When Paul writes, for of him are all things, he's the Apostle Paul who has written the ninth chapter of Romans. And that very clear statement, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said, the elder shall serve the younger. It's the Paul who had written the eighth chapter in which he views the people of God as those who have been loved before in the purpose of God. Romans 8 and verse 29. 1.

7:52 When he foreknew, guarded with distinguishing, purposeful love from all eternity, he never can think of the conversion of an individual Christian apart from this perspective, for of him are all things. And the thing that interests me, the more I read the epistles of Paul, is the fact that he did not regard this concept of God's sovereign electing love as the ultimate cause of the conversion of a sinner. When he foreknew, guarded with distinguishing, purposeful love from any sinner, as some kind of advanced esoteric truth, some kind of contraband goods to be kept under the shelf, only to be brought out upon request by those who happen to know that you carry the goods. No, no. He was not black marketing this great concept. He writes to the infant church of the Thessalonians, and he wants them to know how he regards their conversion. So in the very opening words he says this,

8:51 1. We give thanks to God always for you all, brethren, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, your patience of hope before God and our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election, how that our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. He says, I want you to know, when I praise God for your conversion, I to sit back to its ultimate source in the sovereign love of God. And if I diss when I pray for you, you better do the same when you get on your knees and thank God for saving you. It's a beautiful way to teach indirectly. And in case they miss the message, he repeats something very similar in the second letter, and he says in chapter 2 and verse 13, we give thanks to God. Well, let me get the exact wording of it. I told the fellows this afternoon, having preached so many times in the past few days.

9:54 My mind is not holding even the verses rightly. All right. Second Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. But we're bound to give thanks. There we are. Bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you through our gospel. You see where he puts himself? The cause, he says, is not ultimately even the gospel or the fact that it was our gospel. And that we preach, we're bound to give thanks to you, brethren, he says, knowing what? That God chose you from writing to this little baby church, this infant assembly, plunked down in the midst of great opposition and suffering at the hands of apostate Jews. And he wants them to know as one of the kindergarten lessons of the Christian faith that when they think of their own conversion, they're to think of it in terms of Romans 11, 36. For of him are all things. God is its cause, particularly in his sovereign electing love.

11:05 What about the means, then, by which they are saved? Here comes the apostle's profuse use of his word calling. Why does the apostle constantly refer to the people of God as the called ones? Ye remember your calling, brethren. First Corinthians 1. Romans 8. Whom he foreknew, that he also predestined. Predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, whom he predestinated, that he also called. Why does he address the people of God as called saints? Because, you see, the whole concept of calling is something external to yourself. He wants them to know that if they are saved, it is not only of him, but through him. God is the author of the calling. No man calls himself into the Christian faith. If you make the word calling, call even just summons. A summons never comes from your own mouth. When you kids are summoned

12:02 to dinner, you don't stand out there in the playground and say, Johnny, go home. Mom or dad or somebody else is standing on the front porch. Just external to yourself. The biblical concept of calling is never just summons. It may mean that in one instance in the Gospels, but all through the epistles, it means that mighty work of God in which he not only summons us, but powerfully draws us into possession. And so the very fact that the apostle Paul and Peter does the same thing, he speaks of the God who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now, why do they use that terminology? Were they just concerned to give fuel for theological squabbles throughout the centuries of the Christian church? No, no. You see, a great measure of the theological

12:55 squabbles have come because man will not be submissive to the word of God. And they will be wiser than God. And they will be more fastidious than God. God, through Paul and Peter and the other penmen of the New Testament, profusely uses the word called to describe the Christian. Why? Because they want in the common consciousness of those infant believers this recognition that not only of him are all things, but through him are all things. And if I'm no longer in darkness, but in light, it's because God called me out of the darkness. Into his marvelous light. Well then, what is the end then of this work of conversion?

13:39 If the cause is God in his sovereign electing love of him, if the means through him is his effectual calling, what's the end? Is it my happiness, essentially? No, no. And again, writing to these infant churches, many of them spattered with pagan people as far as their background.

14:03 Some of them, yes, a great heritage of knowledge in the scriptures because they came through the synagogue and were converted. But many of them raw pagans, unacquainted with the most elementary biblical concepts, and yet early in their Christian experience when these epistles come, what are they led to believe as far as the end of their conversion? Well, look at a couple of sample passages. 1 Peter 2, 9. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.

14:34 But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. What's the end of his calling then? To be the possession of God? That ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You see the of him, through him, and unto him, all in this one verse? Of him ye are an elect race. He has called to him that ye may show forth the excellence character, that ye may be his peculiar possession. You see, the whole emphasis is not on what the sinner gets, but what God gets in the conversion of the sinner. And he wants these

15:33 young Christians to understand that. Look again at the apostle's description of the end of conversion in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Back up to verse 8 to catch the thread of thought.

15:55 For from you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to Godward is gone forth. May I emphasize often this verse is used to sort of contradict what Mr. Cantine gave us in the lesson this morning. That the main emphasis in the New Testament for the Christian, we are told, is that he should be verbally, so in most cases it's no part of the message. This işiom of the Old Testamentkas says father hath sounded forth the word of the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith is gone forth. But how it speak anything? For they themselves called it the word of the Lord, Not from you hath sounded forth. He was not even a parson or preacher.

16:34 implemented God speaking that the word inRoy intensified as we have already noticed how Lesson 3指纴 ?. be held as foreign people. So Paul said, whenever we go and we start, hey, do you know what happened down there? Tell us. You don't need to tell us, Paul. We've already seen it. It's very evident that the word is coming. We're no longer living with the same kind of people. We need not report, he says. They themselves report. And what was the thrust of that report?

17:11 Look at it. How ye turned unto God from your idols to serve a living and a true God. The people report. These people no longer serve idols, but serving the living. The end of their conversion, that they might be the servants of the living God and that becoming his servants. This is such a radical thing in a world that serves its own lust and its own idols that men stand back amazed. Because it's not a matter of somebody just incorporating a little bit of Jesus to get a little bit of peace and a little bit of happiness and a little bit of security, but still being basically thoughtless. In the same perspective, this rent from the man-centered life and set them free to be the servants of the living God. The very thing for which the creature was made. Again, look

18:09 at the statement of Paul in Romans 8, telling these Christians that they are not to view the blessing of God in terms of what they might call smiling providences alone. So often we fall into this trap. How are things going? Oh, the Lord's been blessing. Kids are well and bills are paid and jobs going well. The Lord is blessing. I let the kids get sick for a week, two weeks, six months on end. You're laid off from work. How are things going? When's the last time you heard anyone say, boy, the Lord is blessing. He's showered trials upon me to prove my faith. When did you hear anyone talk that way? If we're biblical, we ought to. Paul is telling

18:56 them in Romans 8, verse 28. Romans 8, verse 28. What does he say? And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. Why?

19:08 For whom he foreknew, he foreordained. Things are what we would call the frowning providences that do nothing to create immediate giddy happiness and joy, but all how they can be sublimated by the Spirit of God to make me more like Christ. There's nothing in God's great end of making me more like the Savior. There is much in his providence that he has not calculated to make me giddy and happy. In that narrow, limited sense, there is much to bring me to agony and to tears and to brokenness and at times to where I've got to pray some of those psalms in which I cry out, look forever, bow thy face all the day long. That is, as a Christian, this view of conversion that makes the end of my life, that is, as a Christian, the end of it, the sin and immediateness and ebullience and this flighty kind of joy that has no purpose for these disciplines of God that are a frowning providence on the

20:31 surface. But when I see that God's end is to make me like his Son, and how was his Son made perfect? Through suffering. Through suffering, Hebrews 5 and verse 8, though he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered.

20:51 And being made perfect, how? Through suffering, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him. Oh, the difference when we view our own conversion from this perspective, that of him, sovereign electing love, through him, effectual calling unto him, that I may bring praise to him, that I may be like his Son, that I may show forth the virtues of him who called me. Unto him are all. Need I remind you of how explicitly Paul states this in Ephesians 1?

Implications for Evangelism and Ministry

21:30 The little phrase is there three times, to the praise of his glory, to the praise of the glory of his grace. That's the end. Now, not only must we view our own conversion this way, but as we aspire to the conversion of others, we must view it in this light. And what a radical difference it will have in our whole perspective.

21:55 As we long to see others converted, whether they are our children, our neighbors, our loved ones, our friends, we recognize if ever they are to be converted, it will be because God is pleased to save them. Of him is the conversion of that loved one. It must be through him, his mighty, his effectual, his powerful working. And the whole end of it will be not that I may cut a few more notches in my rifle.

22:26 And tell people how many souls I have won, but that a rebel sinner who's lived indifferent to God with the bit in his teeth, dishonoring the God who created him to live to his praise, now, like the Thessalonians, turns from his idols and begins to serve the living and the true God and to fulfill the very purpose for which he was made, to live in God's world, subject to the law of that God, that even when he's doing things most like the animals, eating and drinking, he now does them to the glory of that God. It has a radical effect upon our whole view of evangelism, the content of our message, the methods we employ. And then, if God is pleased to give any fruit, we'll describe it in those beautifully God-centered terms that you find throughout the book of the Acts. Again, and I'm amazed how Luke writes history, evangelistic history. With such a God-centered perspective, 30 years after Pentecost, looking back on what happened, how does he describe it? And the Lord added to the church such as should be

23:41 saved. He's writing the account of what happened at Antioch. Some unbelieving Jews turn away and Paul says, all right, your blood be upon your head. Henceforth, we go to the Gentiles and wonder of wonders, numbers of Gentiles believed. How does he describe it? Acts 13, 48. Luke's writing history this way. Why? Because this is his mentality. Of him, unto him are all things. He doesn't want anybody, the accountants, to lay at the feet of Peter, Paul, or anyone else. He wants them to fall upon their faces and say, what a great God, the living and the true God is, who through the power of his spirit has wrought what came to pass there. When he's described, in the conversion of Lydia, all of these texts that are familiar to us, I want you to see them in this light. Why does he say, whose heart opened? Why is he doing that? Is he again

24:46 looking down through history and saying, well, you know, some town down the line, these people that hold a certain theological position are going to need some good little proof text, so I'll feed them some ammunition? No, no, that's the way he thought. And here's the report of preaching and Lydia believing. Who is this opening of the heart of Lydia? Through him is the opening. The end of all of this is that Lydia and her household may now glorify God by embracing the salvation tendered in his son and by living to his praise. This emphasis pervades the epistles. So when Paul's dealing with the very practical matter of division at Corinth, how does he deal with the division? He says, now, you silly people, you're the group over

25:36 here and say, Apollos is my man. Somebody over here, Peter's my man. And somebody over here, he says, how does he deal with the division? He says, how does he deal with the division?

25:41 How stupid. What are these ministers? Look at 1 Corinthians 3. What does he call them?

25:46 He calls them big zeros. Neither is he that planteth anything, zero. Neither is he that watereth anything, zero. But God in Peter has no significance? Of course not. Does it mean Paul has no significance? Of course not. He says, they are ministers through whom he believed, but each as the Lord gave to him. See how careful he is to God. He says, I'm tired of this biblical concept. How stupid we can be that we allow our affections to be idolatrously attached to men simply because they were instruments of God to bless us when we need to see that of him will to him be the blessing, or we've missed it. Any time you begin to get idolatrously attached to any human vessel that's been an instrument of blessing, just look around. And there are people who haven't received one drop.

26:53 Of the water of life from the very lips that God has used to assuage your thirst. To change the figure, look around and there'll be people who are as dry as dust and as empty and barren of life from the very vessels that God has made instruments of life to you. Why does he do this? To remind us that neither is he that planteth or he that watereth anything, but God that giveth the increase.

27:23 And oh, beloved, how wonderful. We need that lesson to be underscored with the coming of my dear brother, Blaze. How we need to understand that. God is going to be pleased to use him in lives that he's never touched through me. And as I stand before you now, I believe I can say before God with all honesty, nothing will thrill me more. And I pray, God, that that will continue to be so. But there will be others whom God will be pleased to continue to minister to in greater measure. Through me than through him. What do we need to learn? It's not a matter that this one is more effective, this one is more efficient, this one deserves. No, no, no, no, no, no. Neither is he that planteth, he that watereth anything, ministers through whom he believeth as the Lord gave. That's it. And if we don't learn that lesson and have it vividly implanted

28:18 in our hearts and minds, the very blessing of God bringing another man to share in the full-time pastoral oversight can become a blessing. And if we don't learn that lesson, it can become a curse and the very seedbed of God dishonoring dissension and division.

28:36 You see, this perspective has tremendous practical implications, doesn't it? That's why I'm sorely tempted. In fact, I think we may have a congregational meeting to give a few directions on this. So if people call up and say, is so-and-so preaching tonight? We want all of you to answer, say, the word of God will be preached at the church tonight. Well, is Mr. So-and-so going to be in the pulpit tonight? You say, a man of God with the word of God. You say, a man with the word of God will be there. Oh, you say that's a little bit extreme? Well, maybe it's necessary to get this emphasis through. Because in a man-centered, man-worshiping age, it's so hard for us to think consistently in terms of this biblical perspective of Him, through Him, unto Him, of all things. Well, so much then for the conversion of the sinner.

Application to the Worship and Service of the Visible Church

29:26 How we view our own in this perspective and its implications. How we view the conversion of others. Now, let's touch a few minutes. Let's touch a few minutes. Let's touch a few minutes on the whole area of the worship and service of the visible church. For remember, the Apostle Paul was a high churchman. All of his labors flowed out of and fed back into the church visible. He called in 1 Timothy 3, the church, the pillar and the ground of the truth. Having evangelized as he was sent out by the church at Antioch, he goes back and visits all of the churches. Wanted, comes back to his home church and there spends time to renew friendships and to share the joys and blessings of the ministry. So this perspective cannot be divorced in the Apostle's mind from the whole matter of the extension and life and ministry of the church. How does this fit into the whole perspective of church life? Well, let's trace out a few

30:30 lines again. What is the cause of the church? What is being? The Apostle is very, very careful to tell us in Ephesians chapter 2 that the church has as its ultimate cause the purpose of God. Look at the passage to which I'm referring, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 20 and following. We should pick up the thread of thought at verse 18. For through him we both have our access, Jew and Gentile, in one spirit unto the Father. So then you're no more strained.

31:09 You're no longer strangers and sojourners, but you're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Being, see the passive verb, not building yourselves upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself, the chief cornerstone in whom each several building fitly framed together grows into an holy temple of the Lord. You are built together. See again the passive. Ye are built together for an habitation of God in the spirit. What is the cause of the church's existence? According to this passage, God has said, in which to dwell. And I will form that temple. Now where will

32:01 I quarry my stones? Shall I form it of angels who've never fallen? Make them my dwelling place? He says no. Shall I go to the fallen angels and take out of that great quarry of intelligent, rational beings? No stones for my temple? God says no. I'll go to the quarry of Adam's race, lost, fallen humanity. And I will cut out of that quarry an innumerable company out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and nation. And I will make them, switching to the analogy of 1 Peter, I will take them and make them living stones. And I will build them up to be a temple in which I myself will dwell on earth. And on into the new heavens and the new earth. That's the cause of the church's existence.

32:56 The church is of him. He has initiated the concept that he will dwell amongst his people. And when you see the consummation of the church in her glory, the dominant note as we saw several Lord's Day mornings ago, the hope, the riches of the glory of our inheritance, the emphasis that comes through again and again in the book of the Revelation is what? God himself shall be with them. He will tabernacle among them. They shall see his face. That's the cause of the church. Jesus stated it when he was evangelizing an immoral woman. He says the Father is seeking men to worship him in spirit and in truth. Where do true worshipers come from? Because the Father is seeking them. The Father is seeking them. And the seeking

33:48 Father is the one who creates them. And the seeking Father is the one who creates them. Who creates them to be such. Think of the words of Jesus. I will build my church. If the church is built, it's because I purpose to build it. The worship and service of the church then is to be seen in the light of this text. Of him are all things. And wherever there is a true church, be it a true church of four or four thousand, we must never look upon it as the product, as the cleverness of some human instrument.

34:20 We must never look upon it as the corporate product of the combined influence of zealous clever people. We must stand back and say, of him are all things. But he is not only its ultimate cause. He is the means by which it is brought to pass. I go back to the Ephesians 2 passage. Ye are builded together. There is the present activity of God. God who purposed to have a dwelling place. Is the God who purposed to have a dwelling place. Is the God who purposed to have a dwelling place. Is the God who is actively, presently, and powerfully at work to bring that to pass. Hence, whenever you find a true worshiper, the Spirit of God has been at work. Listen to Paul's statement in Philippians 3.3. We are the true circumcision

35:09 who worship God by the Spirit, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. The means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, the means by which the church is built, is the present activity of the Spirit of God taking out of that quarry of lost humanity dead lifeless stones, quickening them to life, making them living stones, putting them into that structure—HIS Church. And to what end is all of this? That there might be some kind of religious three-ring activity of feverish religious noise and kicking up the dust of programism?

35:52 and all the rest. No, no. No, no. What's the end of all this?

35:57 Turn to 1 Peter chapter 2.

36:00 And you have again the whole concept of the church as a building. And Peter mixes his metaphors and the rest and out of it comes a beautiful picture of what God has as His goal.

36:14 1 Peter chapter 2.

36:19 Verse 1. Putting away therefore all wickedness and guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes long for the spiritual milk which is without guile that ye may grow thereby unto salvation if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious unto whom coming a living stone rejected indeed of men but with God elect and precious ye also as living stones are built up see the passive again ye are built up a spiritual house to be a holy house a holy priesthood now never forget that emphasis with whom was the priest primarily concerned with God Hebrew says that the priest was the one who dealt in things pertaining to God he brought the sacrifice to God he brought the offering to God he came out from the presence of God to lift up hands of blessing on behalf of God toward the people now notice what he says you are built up as living stones there is one figure the Ephesians 2 figure he has made us living stones put us in the temple but then he has taken those stones and out of them he has made men and he has clothed them with priestly garments the garments of the righteousness of his Son washed us in the blood of his Son

37:45 no ceremonial washing but true washing the cleansing of the conscience through the blood of Christ to what end? that we might be little busy beaver people running around in a thousand activities directed to men? no listen to what the passage says to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God of the church God's dwelling may come directed unto him the sacrifice of praise that we read about in Hebrews 13 the whole idea you see of coming together in the singing is preliminary preliminary to the performance he says I want the sacrifice of prayer from my people and so when we sing we're rendering that sacrifice that he seeks we're teaching we're demonstrating that we have learned the lesson that of him through him unto him are all things why did he send his Son to die? for me? why in time did he send his Spirit to quicken me? why did he incorporate me into the church?

39:09 that I might come within the gathering of the people of God clothed in my priestly garments that I might come within the gathering of the people of God that I might come within the gathering of the people of God those garments of the righteousness of Christ the cleansing of his blood and render a spiritual sacrifice to that God who has redeemed me to what end? that he may be satisfied with his own work if the whole world stands on the outside and jeers and mocks and calls it all stupidity and if the witness of the church is not owned of God to the salvation of one more soul God will still get what he seeks from his people the sacrifice of their prayers not only the sacrifice of praise the sacrifice of their giving Paul calls the gift to the Philippians in chapter 4 he says I've received your gift from Epaphroditus an odor, a sacrifice well pleasing unto God the sacrifice of a broken and a contrite heart David speaks of it the sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite heart what does God want from his people? in concert he wants them to pour out the confession of their sin the confession of their sin the confession of their failure their need fleeing again to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness drawing near through the new and living way having as it were a thousand echoes throughout the earth at any given moment of the glory

40:37 of that new and living way open through the person and work of Jesus Christ that now unto the angels and principalities and powers might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God think of it tonight wherever the people of God are gathered angels and principalities look in with a brawling wonder at this mysterious thing fallen sons of Adam stones that were once in the great quarry of lost Adamic humanity who've been quarried out forged mixing my metaphors into the temple suffused with light standing as priests offering praises to their God oh that the vision of it will grow what does God get from the church this is what he intends he is the great end that the spiritual sacrifices may be offered unto him and then of course it's in that context that the evangelistic endeavors of the church are seen part of her spiritual sacrifice is her desire to see others brought to the knowledge of Christ she is not a people who simply sit and worship no no having seen her in that God she longs to say in the words of Isaiah 40 from the high mountain behold your God you long to enter into the iniquitous circumstances of our day as Paul did at Athens

42:06 and as you see people ignorantly worshiping a thousand gods of their own construction the man who's looked with adoring wonder upon the true God and brought to him the sacrifice of praise the sacrifice of his giving of his worship of his submission of his comprehensive attention to his word he's the one who longs to say with Paul the God whom you ignorantly worship him I proclaim to you but listen he's never going to huckster that God off he's never going to pawn off his salvation in some kind of a cheap jack trick to get people to sign on the dotted line his most intimate tender compassionate pleadings with sinners will always be suffused with the grandeur and the glory of the great God whom he serves of him through him unto him are all things we've applied it to the matter of the individual christian and his conversion his own his yearning for others we've briefly looked at the worship and the service of the church and we've seen how this text has such tremendous implications and these have only been a few suggestions one of the tape men asked me he said bastards it's just going to be two messages you're going to end up 10 like some others have and i said no i'm too tired my mind's not fertile enough to go beyond the two at this time but i do want to apply to

Application to the Educational Framework for Children

43:33 one other area that's one of tremendous relevance for us particularly in our day this text has a lot to say in terms of the educational framework that we provide for our children we say how in the world do you get anything from that text that has to do with the educational framework of our children well let's look at the text what's paul been dealing with in those first 11 chapters over which he writes the words of him through him unto him are all things well he's been dealing with a view of history he's been dealing with the history of the gentile nations in chapter one he says you want to explain the behavior of those nations that went apart at the seams morally and ethically and the judgment of god has come upon them you know how you explain the history of those nations you explain them religiously you explain them in terms of their relationship to god and god's dealings with them they did not want to retain god in their knowledge god gave them over and he describes in graphic detail those steps of degeneracy from natural heterosexual relationships to homosexuality and to bestiality and he says you don't understand history apart from this perspective of him through him unto him

44:57 him are all things the wrath of this god is revealed in the nations and their conduct is to be explained not sociologically biologically or any other way but he deals with the whole matter of the history of the jewish nation here's a philosophy of world history why the prominence in the grandeur of israel why their tremendous tremendous growth and influence and why their terrible downfall and their almost being obliterated as far as a national entity paul tells us in romans nine to eleven it all has to do with the sovereign purposes of god in grace for the world yes those are the terms he uses these are world encompassing perspectives with regard to history paul has a view of science here he's talking about the present order the ecological structure in romans eight the whole creation and groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now he says the curse is evident in the present structure of the natural world order and he says that will last until such time as god's redemptive purposes for his own are culminated and he says the whole creation groaneth and travaileth waiting for what

46:20 not waiting for some ecological messiah who's going to resolve all our problems of ecology now i'm not saying we should not as christians be responsible and all that other business is in the I'm fully aware of that. But what I am saying is this. In the midst of all the talk about the ability of man, if only he'll use his resources to bring back Eden, is foolishness. There's only one who's going to bring back Eden.

46:49 And that's the Lord Jesus who will come from flaming fire and taking vengeance on his enemies and consume this world. And the scripture says in 2 Peter chapter 3 that after he's consumed it in the fires of his judgment, then will be ushered in the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

47:08 You see, you can't approach the whole subject of ecology apart from the perspective that of him, through him, unto him, are all things. The whole matter of human behavior. Why do men act the way they act? Romans 3, he tells us.

47:22 None that understandeth, none that seeketh after God, all gone out of the way, together become unprofitable. No fear of God before their eyes. You see, every facet of life has been touched. And put under this canopy of him, through him, unto him, are all things.

47:37 What is Paul saying? You cannot understand life at any point apart from the sovereign God who is the beginning, the means, and the end of all things.

Critique of Secular Education's Neutrality

47:49 Now what's happened in state, public, school systems today?

47:55 There is the pervasive influence of pure humanism that says man's good is the chief end to be attained at. That's it. Pure secularism that says man can understand himself, his world, and his problems without reference to God. And the state should not mingle its function with the church.

48:16 And since, this is the philosophy, that since the training of the children, their education is primarily the county, the state, the city, the town's responsibility. Don't mix religion with it. What are they saying?

48:31 They're saying that it's possible to understand God's world, my people, my place in it, my function, myself, and my fellow creatures with no reference to God. They're saying of him, through him, and unto him are religious things. And religious things alone.

48:48 But of man, through man, and unto man are secular things. But this text will not allow that bifurcation, that separation. This text says of him, through him, and unto him are all things. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the chief part of all things.

49:07 All knowledge. That's a proper rendering of the text.

49:11 And when you send your child honestly and irresponsibly, now that does not cover those who thoughtfully and prayerfully have come to this conviction. I am not standing to judge anyone. I am challenging you to think through the whole matter of the so-called neutrality of the public education system. It is not neutral.

49:35 It is saying that God has nothing to say about human behavior. Man's behavior can be explained in terms of his genes, his hormones, his environment, his sociological influences.

49:48 Now who's right? As you can understand man unless you see him coming from me as a creature made in my image. Unless you see him as a creature upheld by me. In him we live and move and have our being.

50:04 Unless you understand him as a creature accountable to me. God shall judge the world in righteousness. Now. Who's right?

50:12 Secular education says little boy, you need God to teach you this, this, this and this and God doesn't enter. Now who's right?

50:34 You've got to make a choice.

50:39 Secular education says you don't need God to understand history.

50:44 History is just the facts of what happened. There's no more greater folly than the idea of neutral observation of history. You see what you want to see. You see what your eye is trained to behold.

50:59 And it's the presupposition of those eyes that interprets history. It all interprets history in terms of the presupposition that God has a redemptive purpose and he will move men and nations and pharaohs and Jacob's and Esau's to accomplish that purpose.

51:19 The public school system, they say no. You don't need God to understand history. History? Egypt?

51:26 Greece? Rome? Just nations. This is what happened.

51:31 We're just giving neutral facts.

51:34 Now they aren't. Why should you learn? What's right? What's wrong?

51:41 The whole matter of sex education in the public schools. The whole assumption that the function of sex can be understood apart from reference to the God who made them male and female and set unto them and set the boundaries for their sexual function and expression. All of this is not neutral. You get forever out of your head that the public school system is a neutral thing.

52:04 Not for God or against God.

52:07 No, no. It's not neutral.

God's Glory in Creation and the Danger of Neutrality

52:10 Well, you say, maybe in some areas, but certainly things like science and math and these things, those are just facts no matter who. Well, wait a minute now. Wait a minute. What does God say about that world out there that you kids examine when they're in the laboratory or in the science class?

52:25 The scripture says, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. God put it there to be revelatory of Himself so that you never look at it without thinking of Him and see something of Him in it. And you never really look at it unless you see Him in it. Suppose the day Michelangelo finishes tremendous work of art that they've just had to repair and I understand the proper way to pronounce it is the pieta with the emphasis on the last syllable.

53:01 And Michelangelo stands by his tremendously moving piece of art, the pieta, and it's veiled and he stands there and this is the day of the unveiling and all the proper ceremonies. They have transpired and it's unveiled and he stands there looking upon this that was born of his own wisdom, his own creative, his artistic creative genius and there's a sense in which he feels his very soul enters that shining white marble for that is an extension of himself and it's revelatory of the wisdom of the creative genius of that great man. Suppose someone comes to look at that and admiring it and speaking and glowing, turns about it and says to someone next to him, oh, by the way, who is the sculptor? And in the hearing of that great artist, someone says, oh, that's totally irrelevant who the sculptor is. That has absolutely nothing to do. Isn't it just beautiful in itself?

53:57 How would you feel if you were Michelangelo and you stood there and heard those words?

54:06 You get the message, don't you?

54:09 The heavens declare the glory of God and God stands by His handiwork and He says, when you see that, see me.

54:18 And in thousands of classrooms, across our country, people are saying, it makes no difference how or who, just look at it. Nature is beautiful.

54:32 Nature is lovely. Oh, you say, Pastor, you're not being fair. No, I may not be fair in the sense of glossing over issues, but I'm being honest in stating the facts as they are. There's no such thing as neutrality.

54:47 God is insulted by saying, nature this. And creation that, as though it existed of itself, came into being by itself, stands by itself, exists by itself. No!

55:03 It exists to reveal Him. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show His handiwork day unto day out of His speech and night unto night show forth knowledge. There is no language where their voice is not heard. And the secular educationist stops.

55:22 His ears and says, I'll not hear God's voice. Swaps his hands over his eyes because I'll not see God's character. I'll just look at the thing itself. And he ends up not understanding the thing itself.

55:34 And then he begins to worship and serve the creature more than the creator. Romans 1 lived all over again. Why? They did not want to retain God in their knowledge.

55:49 They said, we'll be neutral. We'll be mature, 20th century secular educationists. We won't kill God. We won't obliterate God.

55:59 We just won't retain Him in the field of knowledge. That's what the text says. They did not want to retain God in their knowledge. And what did they end up?

56:09 You end up worshipping the pieta.

56:13 If you don't see beyond that to the wisdom and the genius of its creator. And when man begins to worship man, it isn't long before man ceases to be man. So Romans 1 goes on, to say, he began to worship the beast and then he became light.

56:29 The only way man can remain a true man is to be man as God made him in relationship to God.

56:39 And viewing all of life in that relationship and when he refuses to, he loses his manhood. He ends up becoming a beast. We've told a generation, three, four generations, we've come from the beast and this present generation says, well, if that's what I am, I might as well live consistent with what you've told me I am. And then the generation that taught him, that throws up its hands in horrors and says, look at that, no good generation, no standard, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and all the other business.

Theistic vs. Secular Mentality in Child-Rearing

57:06 They programmed that very philosophy of life into them by the pure secular, evolutionary, humanistic perspective with which they were disciplined in mind and thought hour after hour, day after day. Some of you wonder why the instruction for a few moments in the home and a few hours a week in the church does not take hold in your children. Do you see the problem? The mind is taught to think secularistically.

57:36 Five days a day. Then you try to raise it loose and make it think theistically. A half an hour a day at home and an hour or two on the Lord's day.

57:46 Not only is the public school system teaching certain things as so-called facts, but they're teaching a way to arrive at facts. The Bible says, in thy light we shall see light. The Bible teaches, that we know only as we know in the light of His countenance. So that all knowledge is approached from the standpoint, O God, my mind is full of darkness until you give me light to understand myself, my world, my fellow men, my relationship to myself, to them, to one another.

58:20 In thy light we'll see light. That's thinking theistically, biblically. But the programmed mentality of the secular school is, God is not, still a necessary commodity in the attainment of true knowledge.

58:37 Now some of you may be offended at that, but please, if you're a Christian, you have a responsibility to love and pursue the truth. And I challenge you to pursue the truth in this matter. Go to the teachers who mold the lives of your children and talk to them. Say, do you believe my child can understand the world without looking at it as God's world?

58:58 Do you believe my child can understand himself without viewing himself as a creature made in the image of God? One of our members applied for a part-time teaching post in a nursery school next year. And when being interviewed, this was just this past week, when being interviewed and making it clear that the whole teaching structure would be such in which the concept of the child's relationship to God would be brought in, they were shocked and horrified to think that an intelligent person with a teacher's degree and certification and some experience would think so archaically.

59:32 Now thank God for the blessed exceptions. The Christian school teachers who seek, I mean teachers who are in secular schools but as Christians are seeking to teach in a biblical framework. We have one or two in our own assembly. Thank God for the blessed exceptions.

59:49 And no way am I saying that anyone who's in a public school system is apostate and... No, no, no.

59:55 Please don't any go out and say that or feel that. No, that would deeply grieve me. But I'm talking about the general framework and structure that pervades as the whole overriding climate.

60:10 If this text is true of Him, through Him, unto Him are all things. Do you see the necessity of providing for our children the framework in which they learn to interpret all of life that way? All is from this God, through this God, and unto this God. Do you see the necessity?

Call to a God-Centered Life

60:32 Do you see why we have a responsibility? Now you can carry this out in many other areas. I think these three that we've traced out are enough to begin to at least make your minds exercise to think within the framework of Romans 11, verse 36. Of Him, through Him, unto Him are all things.

60:56 And it ought to start with your own life. That's the first circle in this great collection of concentric circles. You begin there. But you say, but Mr. Martin, I've never thought that way before. My whole life has had me at the center, my plans, my will. How can He be at the center? There's only one way.

61:16 You must start with bowing to the salvation this God extends to you in Jesus Christ and in the Gospel. It is by Jesus Christ that we are wrenched loose, wrenched loose from the man-centered center. We turn to God from your idols to serve the living and the true God and how did they turn? Through Christ.

61:41 I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Having begun there, let us as Christians pray, O God, extend the circles in which my whole life pattern reflects the framework of your word. Of you, through you, unto you, all things.

62:02 And anything you cannot consciously believe is of Him in terms of His own purpose revealed in His precepts, His will, that you cannot expect His Spirit to enable you and call upon His assistance in that activity, in the pursuit of that goal through Him. Anything that you cannot consciously submit to Him, pleading that He be glorified, excluded from your life, whether you eat, drink, whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. This has great ethical, moral implications. I must stop because you see, it's a text that just ranges out in all directions of the compass.

62:41 May God guide us as we seek to live with it and be subject to it for His glory. Let us pray.