Well, once again, we are in the
book of Romans, chapter 12, and I've titled this morning's study,
Our Reasonable Service, Part B. We looked last week at the
first eight verses of Romans, chapter 12, and we continue in
our study of this letter to the saints, where once again, Paul
has faithfully declared in the previous chapters, God's people
whether Jew or Gentile, are all saved the same way, by grace,
not of works. He taught the great doctrines
of redemption by grace through faith. And there is a result
of being born again. We are a new creature, a new
creation. Our walk in this world is changed. knowing now what we were blinded
to before, our state before a thrice holy God, the love he has for
his chosen people, the depth of that love in laying down his
life for the saints, and the fact that his perfect substitutionary
death was accepted by God the Father, and he arose our victor
over death. How could we walk knowing those
things? How could we walk in our previous
life's walk? How could that be? I've said
this before, when you have seen the grace of God exercised in
your heart, you cannot unsee it. It doesn't go away. The true
grace of God to a poor dead sinner never goes away. It is there
forever. He doesn't just show you once
and then one day let you lose sight of it. Oh, I know, we think
we lose sight of it sometimes, don't we? But that's just His
way of bringing us right back to our knees to look to Him. When we fail, and we will, None
of us can exhort what God has given us and what he has commanded
us to do. Not in a way that would be pleasing
to him. When we fail, we have that advocate
in heaven who says, I've done that perfectly. And when I did
it, that person, you, me, all of God's people that for whom
he went to the cross for, were in him when he did it. He who has made us willing to
come and follow in the day of His love has made us a new creature,
willing and desiring to walk, pleasing our Lord. You can sum
it up in this if you wanted to. We love Him. We love His laws. We love to walk according to
His ways. We love to do what we think we
can to please our Lord. Why? Because He first loved us. That's why. If He gave Himself
for me, as I observe and understand His grace
more and more in my life, how can I not love Him back? How
can we not love Him back? Paul writes to the Philippians
chapter 1 verse 6, he says, being confident in this very thing
that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. This chapter that we read here,
chapter 12 of Romans, it seems to be divided up in three sections. Verses 1 and 2, our consecration
and our dedication to God. Verses 3 through 8, we see our
consecration and dedication to the duties and the gifts of the
body of Christ. And then in verses 9 through
21, which we'll look at here, our general attitude and our
behavior towards one another. Do not let evil men or evil thoughts
dictate our course of action. Do not let hatred and hard feelings
get the better of our Christian principles. Do not let evil revenge
displace the divine light of forgiveness. Read with me, if
you would, verses 9 through 21 of Romans chapter 12. Let love. And, you know, before I go any
further with this, let God teach us what the meanings of these
are, these verses. I started to go through and put
down some notes on what some of the commentators have said,
and I thought to myself, no, wait a minute. These are the
most simplest words God could say to you, or to you, or to
you, or to me, let love. Does that need to be explained?
That doesn't need to be explained at all. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor, that means to hate. Hate
that which is evil. Do you hate what is evil? I'll
tell you, I hate what's evil in me. I hate the evil that's
in me. Do you? Cleave. That means grab a hold
of. That means hug it. Cleave to it. That which is good. Well, what is good? Jesus Christ
our Savior. He's our good. He's the one who
performed everything perfectly. He's the one who pleased the
Father with everything He did. Cleave on to Jesus. Cleave on
to our Savior. Verse 10. Be kindly, affectionate
one to another. Does that need to be explained? With brotherly love. In honor,
preferring one another. Prefer each other more than you
prefer yourself. This is called humbling yourself.
Not slothful in business. fervent in spirit, but serving
the Lord. Serve Him. We got, you know,
I remember Pastor Gene was preaching this and he was saying, you know,
or maybe, it might actually, it might have been a discussion
with Bill Silva, when we do things, if we do things, everything,
if we take this thought and put it before us in everything we
do, Lord, is it glorifying you? That's what I want to do. I know
I don't, but that's what I want to do. Lord, is what I'm doing
right now glorifying you. Whether I'm hammering a nail,
driving a truck, fixing something, working in the yard, whatever
it may be doing, getting our computer program going. Lord,
am I glorifying you. Rejoice, it says in verse 12,
in hope. Patient in tribulation. You know,
the world is watching us. If I threw a tenter tantrum and
got all upset because that stupid sign over there is not working,
which I had to fix yesterday to stop working again. I know
that seems trivial, but if I got upset and threw stuff at it and
got mad, what kind of a person would I be portraying to those
around me? Now that doesn't mean I'm not
going to get mad at that time when you guys are all gone. Lord, is this glorifying you? Throwing something at that sign
is not going to glorify my Lord. Oh, patient. Rejoice in hope,
patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Oh, we need
that, don't we? We need that. Lord, help me.
Lord, help me. I'm so weak. Verse 13, distributing
to the necessity of saints. given to hospitality. Bless them
which persecute you. Now that's a tough one. But it's
pure and simple, isn't it? Isn't that a simple thing? You
don't need me to decipher that for you. You know what that means.
But it's a tough one, isn't it? It sure is. Bless them which persecute you,
bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
and weep with them that weep. That's speaking about our brothers.
Rejoice with our brethren when they rejoice, and weep with them
when they weep. I understand. I understand fully
what our brother Mike is going through, having to leave his
home. That's not an easy thing if being so many years. I was
in my home for 33 years. Kathy cried when we left that
home. Our kids were raised in that
home. It was in a bad area, yeah, but it was still our home. We
bought it. We didn't have any other homes
in this world. That was our home. We paid for that with our hard-earned
money. I understand where Brother Mike
has reservations about going to a new place. I understand. Weep with them that weep. Verse
16, Be in the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things,
but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own
conceits. That's a tough one for me. Because
I think I know it all most of the time. Verse 17, Recompense to
no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as
lieth in you, or depends upon you, live peaceably with all
men. Oh, how I want to do everything
said here. Verse 19, Dearly Beloved, Avenge
not yourself, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance
is mine, I will repay, saitheth the Lord. Therefore, if thine
enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him drink, for in
so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head, but not
overcome, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with
good. Before we go into chapter 13,
because it's a continuation, when longsuffering of our Lord
towards us is on our minds. Folks, our sin is ever before
us. And as our sin is ever before
us, do we not see the longsuffering our Lord is for us and towards
us? Well, with that thought in mind,
with the thought on our mind consistently, how much God has
forgiven us, not just what we did but what we do this day.
The very thoughts that went through our minds this morning when we
woke up and our mind became conscious. Cannot not be the motivation
for us to try? To try? With His long suffering on my
mind, it takes the sting out of my anger. He suffered much
more with me than I would ever suffer from another. What grace
my Lord has for me. Lord, give me to be gracious
to others. Chapter 13, Paul continues to
admonish us to be holy as our God is holy. Look at verses 1-14
of chapter 13. Let every soul be subject unto
higher powers. Again, that needs no interpretation. It's plain and simple. Obey your
boss. God put our bosses in place where
they are for our good. That man who sits in the White
House ruling everything was put there by our God. I see the dangers that are happening
to our country, but this is for our good. I don't know what it
is yet, but I know it is. I know it's good. I know it's
for our good because God tells me it is. Do you? Do we know? Yes, we do know because the Lord
Jesus Christ tells us all things are for our good. Some things
in our own lives. The death of a loved one. The hurts of loved ones. Things that loved ones do that
hurt us so deeply we can't understand. My God has said they're good
for me. For there is no power but of
God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. Let's think about this for just
a moment. We're reading in scripture the
story of Joseph, right? Remember what happened last week?
A couple of weeks back, Joseph was sold by his brothers. Can
you imagine the hurt and the pain? that that man was enduring
when they sold him into slavery just because they were jealous
that dad liked him more? And then he gets to Egypt where
he's sold into Potiphar's house and Potiphar's
wife says, he's trying to sleep with me. And he wasn't. He was
running from her. And then he's thrown in jail
for that. Oh, you talk about a picture in God's Word of what
happens in this world to people being for their good. What was
it that he said to his brothers? You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And Joseph was exactly where
God needed him to be when the famine came, when the Lord brought
that famine upon the land. For he is the minister of God
to thee. Potiphar was the minister of
God unto Joseph. Pharaoh was the minister of God
put in place. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword
in vain. For he is the minister of God,
a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore
ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for
conscience sake. For this is the cause, pray ye,
tribute also. For they are God ministers, attending
continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their
dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. O no man anything but
to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled
the law. God help us to learn to love
our enemies. Verse 9, for this thou shalt
not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not concoct, and if
there be any other condemnation, it is briefly comprehended in
this saying, namely that thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that knowing
the time that now is at high time to awake out of sleep, for
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. I know some
of us are praying it will come soon, huh? I know Pastor Eugene
and Judy get up every day and that's their first prayer. That's
their first prayer. He's told me that. Lord, will
you take us home today? Will today be our day to be with
you? The night is far spent, verse
12, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let
us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wanderedness, not in strife and invading, but
put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Clothe yourself with the Lord
Jesus Christ, it said. This is not only to be clothed
in His spotless, imputed righteousness by faith and to make a strong
public confession in Him, but it is to imitate Him in the exercise
of grace. To walk as He walked, to love
as He loved, to forgive as He forgave, to submit to the Father's
will as He submitted to the Father's will. Make not provisions for
the flesh, it said, to fulfill the lust thereof. That is, to
give less thought and attention to the body, to this body of
flesh. As we think of the flesh, as
we dwell on the passions and the lusts of this body, we somehow
make arrangements to fulfill those lusts, don't we? Turn over
to Philippians chapter 4, verse 8. We'll bring this to a close. Philippians chapter 4, look at
verse 8 with me if you would. Finally brethren, Whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are good, or a good report, if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Let me
ask you something. Do you think David could have
benefited from these words, had he read such words before he
stumbled with Bathsheba? When sin is creeping up into
our minds, when the flesh seems to be more powerful than we can
endure, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us an out,
look to Him. Amen.