Alright, Romans chapter 12. Our subject is God's will for
us. God's will for us. Now, at the
end of verse 2, Paul wrote of proving. Trying, that means to
try, to test, and to approve of. He says, what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God? And then he tells us
two things that God's will, two things that are God's will
for you and I who are sanctified by God. Here are two things that
God wills for us. First of all, The first thing
he lists is humility. Humility. It's God's will that
his child have a humble spirit. He says in verse 3, 4, see how that goes with speaking
about the will of God. He says, because, 4, I say through
the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think. but to
think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure
of faith. And then the second thing that
is God's will for us is that we love one another, that we
love one another. It's the will of God that each
child use the office and the gifts that God has given him
to serve our brethren in love. He says, verse 4, for as we have
many members in one body, in our physical body, and all members
have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body
in Christ. And everyone members one of another,
having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to
us. He goes on to say, let us use those gifts for one another's
good according to the proportion of faith. It's God's will that
each of his saints have a humble spirit and that we love one another. That's God's will in our text
here that we have a humble spirit, be not puffed up, not thinking
more of ourselves than we ought, but that we use the gifts that
God's given us to serve one another in love. Now first of all, Paul
says it's God's will that his child not be puffed up in pride,
but have a spirit of humility. He says in verse 3, for I say
through the grace given unto me, to everyone that's among
you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly, be sober minded. according as
God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now Paul begins
this instruction very wisely. He says, I say through the grace
given unto me. He's talking about being an apostle
and he's talking about the gifts that God had given him, Christ
had given to him. That's what he's talking about
when he says the grace given unto me. Paul held the highest
office in the church. He held the highest office in
the church. He had the most authority right
under Christ Jesus our Lord. He was called and he was sent
by Christ in person. That's what it was to be an apostle,
to be called and sent by Christ personally. And he had authority. in all the churches. He had authority
to preach the word. He had authority to administer
the ordinances. He had authority to censor and
to rebuke and all of these things in all of the churches. And Paul
possessed the greatest gifts and he possessed them in the
greatest measure. Gifts only the apostles had. Gifts only the apostles could
pass on by the laying on of hands. You know, you remember that passage
in Acts where, one, there was a deacon there, but they had
to wait on Paul to come down and lay his hands on him to transfer
this gift to that deacon. They couldn't, nobody else could
do it. And these were gifts that only apostles could pass on,
and when the apostles died out, the gifts died out with them,
because there was nobody else to pass them on. And then Paul
also had, among these gifts, he had the gift to heal. He had
the gift to speak in foreign languages. He had the gift to
discern spirits. He had the gift to work miracles.
Many more gifts. He had all these gifts. That
was to confirm the preaching of the gospel in that early age
of the church so people knew that he was a son of God. We
don't need those now, we have the full word of God. It's fully
written out. Whereas they were writing it
at that time, so they needed something more to verify they
were sent of God. We have the full written word
of God now. But Paul had the highest authority, the highest
office in the church. He had the most gifts with the
greatest measure of those gifts. He, under direct inspiration
of God, Paul wrote three-fourths of the New Testament. He had
great light and knowledge. He was called up. He said, I
don't know whether it was in body or in spirit. I couldn't
tell you. But I was called up to the third
heaven. And I saw things that it's not even lawful for me to
utter. Paul had great authority and great gifts and great knowledge
given to him. But he said of his office and
his gifts and his knowledge, This is grace given to me. It's grace given to me. Paul
had no reason to think highly of himself. He had no reason
to look down on his brethren. He was a sinner, just like you
and me, just like everybody else. He thought himself to be the
chief of sinners. Everything he had was given to
him by the grace of God. That means he did not merit this.
That means he did nothing to earn it. It was given to him
freely just because it was God's will to do so. He said in 1 Corinthians
15.10, by the grace of God, I am what I am. By the grace of God. What was he? He was the chief
of sinners. That's by God's grace that he
knew that. and owned it. The chief of sinners. What was
he? By God's grace justified. He was righteous. He was a sinner
saved by the grace of God. That's what he was. And he said,
and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but
I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I. Yet not I. but the grace of God which was
with me. He's saying I couldn't have done
anything had God not given me all this grace and sustained
me by all this grace. I could have done nothing. I
am what I am by the grace of God. Everything Paul had was
grace given according to the measure Christ was pleased to
give him. Everything. The same is true
of every one of God's saints. The same is true of you and me,
brethren. We have grace given to us in the measure Christ is
pleased to give it. Every believer, he says, I'm
writing this to every man that's among you. That means every one
of us needs to hear this faithful instruction. That means there's
not any believer who's exempt from this warning against pride
and this exhortation to humility. There's nobody exempt from this.
Someone said, for every one religious man who fell away by poverty,
he saw ten fall away by prosperity. It's God's will for his child. Verse 3 says, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think. Proverbs 25, 27. I like this. Listen to this. It's not good to eat much honey. So for men to search their own
glory is not glory. It's not glory. God gives strength. But you know who He gives strength
to? He gives strength to those who have no strength. What does
He do to those who are exalted in themselves? He said in Obadiah
1.4, Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou
set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down,
saith the Lord. Now if He does that for us in
grace, that's a great mercy. That's a great mercy to bring
us down, to keep us humble. He said, Whosoever shall exalt
himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself
shall be exalted. But it's in his due time that
he exalts us. Christ came into this world and
he humbled himself and he came down, he made himself the lowest
and he trusts the Father to exalt him in the Father's time, when
it was time. Now brethren, God hates some
things. There are some things God hates
with a perfect righteous hatred. He said in Proverbs 16, 17, God
hates a lying tongue. God hates hands that shed innocent
blood. God hates a heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations. God hates feet that be swift
in running to mischief. God hates a false witness that
speaketh lies. And he hates he that soweth discord
among brethren. But you know what's first? You
know what's chief above all? You know what is the sin that
produces all these other sins that God hates? The first thing
he lives is a proud look. That's the first thing. A proud
look. Pride was the first sin. Did you know that pride was the
first sin? The first one to sin was Adam.
I mean, was the devil. He was the devil. He was an angel
created of God and it was in God's purpose. It was fulfilling
his purpose. But God let him do what was in
his heart to do and he was lifted up with pride. Why? Why was he? The devil heard God's purpose
was to choose a people by his free grace in Christ and trust
them all to Christ to save them. The devil heard that God's son
would be before all things and by him all things would consist. He heard that he'd be the head
of the body, the church. that He'd be the beginning, He'd
be the firstborn from the dead, and He'd be the firstborn among
many brethren. He'd be first. That's what He
heard. He's going to be first, that
in all things He might have the preeminence. And when the devil heard that,
that it pleased the Father, that in His Son should all fullness
dwell, all fullness of salvation, all fullness of righteousness,
all fullness of holiness, all fullness of redemption, all fullness
of grace for His people, all fullness of God's glory and perfection. Everything is in Christ. And
when the devil heard that, his heart was filled with enmity
against God, And he became Christ's murderer from the beginning.
Scripture says he was a murderer from the beginning. And he abode
not in the truth because pride wouldn't let him. Pride wouldn't
let him. He wasn't going to bow to Christ.
No, he wasn't. Pride made him reject Christ. And you know what pride made
him do? Worship his own will and his own works. Turn over
to Isaiah 14. Everybody that worships their
will, they're called will worshippers in scripture. They go around
talking about how they got a free will and they can do this and
that. And how they're saved by their works. Everybody that does
that is doing exactly what the devil did. His pride, his prideful
sin from the beginning. Look here. Isaiah 14, 12, How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?
How? How was it? How wilt thou cut
down to the ground which didst weaken the nation? For thou hast
said in thine heart, I will. I will ascend into heaven. I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like
the Most High. That's what men are saying when
they boast in their will. That's exactly what it's from
the Father of lives and it's pride. It's what it is. It's
pride. It won't let men, that's what won't let us submit to Christ.
It's pride. It's pride. That's what won't
let us submit to God's word. It's pride. That's right. Look what God says, yet thou
shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. Isn't
that what he said he would do to everybody that exalted themselves?
He'd bring them down. Brethren, God hates pride because
it makes sinners do what the devil did. That's right. That's right. The first way the devil's going
to attack a new preacher is he's going to lift him up in pride. That's why he's going to lift
him up in pride. That's why scripture says he can't be a novice, lest
being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of
the devil. Same condemnation the devil fell
in. So it's God's will, brethren, here in verse 3, Romans 12, 3.
It's God's will that we think soberly. That we be sober-minded. According as God hath dealt to
every man the measure of faith. You take a man that's drunk,
he thinks he's ten feet tall and bulletproof. He thinks he's
mighty, strong, you know. And that's what happens when
we're drunk with pride. We think more of ourselves than
we ought to think. God keeps His child humble by
reminding us that in ourselves, brethren, we're nothing but sin. In ourselves, we're nothing but
sin. When He says there's no good thing in our flesh, that
means just what it says. There's not one good thing in
our flesh. Not one good thing. Everything that we do that is
of the Spirit is mixed with sin because of our sin nature in
us. I'm saying as it comes from us.
That's why it has to be cleansed by Christ's blood and it has
to be in Christ to be accepted because we pollute everything
we touch. And if God left us to ourselves,
brethren, we'd fall away in a heartbeat. Everything we have, and this
is how God keeps us humble as well. He reminds us everything
we have is the gift of God. It's the gift of God. According
as Christ Jesus, our God, hath dealt to every one of us the
measure of faith. Over in Ephesians 4, 7. It says,
unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. He's not talking about the gift
of salvation here. Christ gives us righteousness
in abundance. He's all our righteousness. He gives us righteousness in
abundance. He gives us holiness in abundance. He's fully redeemed
His people from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us. He's speaking here of the gifts that He gives and the offices
He puts us in, the place He puts us in the church. We have knowledge
of the gospel for one reason. How do you know the gospel? There's
only one reason. It's because Christ sent the
Holy Spirit who taught us the things that are freely given
to us of God. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
2. Who knows the mind of God? Just like you don't know the
mind of another man, we don't know the mind of God. But He
sent the Spirit to us and taught us the things that are freely
given to us of God. That's the only way we know these
things. But He doesn't give us all the same measure of knowledge. He doesn't give us all the same
measure of faith. He doesn't give us all the same
measure, all the same gifts, and He doesn't give us all the
same measure of gifts. He doesn't make us know the gospel
as we will in glory. We only know We only know a very
little part of the gospel. We're going to be surprised,
I think, when we get to glory to see how little we really know
of the gospel and how it was staring us right in the face
the whole time we just didn't see it because we see through
a glass darkly, the scripture says. Now, go to 2 Peter 1. I want you to see this. Every
virtue in our new man is the free gift of Christ Jesus our
God and Savior. And it's all given to us in measure.
In measure. Every virtue. 2 Peter 1. According as His divine
power, not my power, not your power, You see that? It's not of man. It's not of
man's will. It's not of him that willeth
or him that runneth. It's of God that shows mercy.
His divine power has given unto us, a free gift, all things that
pertain unto life and godliness. That takes in everything, don't
it? Everything you and I have in our lives. There's no such
thing for a believer as secular and spiritual. Uh-uh. Everything
is of God. Everything. Everything. It's through the knowledge of
Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises. All the covenant promises
of God are free. and they're exceedingly great.
That by these, you might be partakers of the divine nature. That means
by his covenant promises, he's made us partakers of the divine
nature. Christ has been formed in you.
You have a new holy nature that Christ formed, that He created
by His indwelling in His people so that you can have fellowship
with Him and know these things that are given. And because of
that, we've escaped the corruption that's in the world through lust.
All this is given to us. Look, and beside this, giving
all diligence. Well, preacher, he's telling
me now to give diligence. That's right. You give diligence
to come hear this gospel preached just like you're hearing it today.
And that's how you're going to add these things right here.
But it's not going to be you that add them. It's going to
be Him that adds them according to the measure of the gift of
grace. Look. Giving all diligence, add to
your faith. Now these graces right here are
the gifts Christ gives in measure by the Spirit. He says add to
your faith virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge,
temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness,
and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that
you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. But you see, Christ said without
me you can do nothing. He said I'm the vine, you're
the branches. If we're going to bear fruit,
It's going to be through Christ. It's going to be through the
Spirit that we bear fruit. So give diligence by hearing
the Gospel and studying the Word and studying what you've heard
preached and giving yourself to the light God's given you. But just know this, it's Christ
that's going to produce the fruit. It's Christ that's going to get
the glory for giving us the measure of these gifts that we have.
And we can't, so because He gives it and He gives it in measure,
if somebody here has great faith and somebody else here has weak
faith, you can't get mad at the person that has weak faith. Because
Christ gave them that weak faith. The measure of faith they have,
Christ gave it. If He wouldn't have given it to them, they wouldn't
have anything. I can't get upset because somebody has knowledge
and somebody else doesn't have knowledge. Christ gives it. He gives it. I can't get upset
if somebody's temperate and somebody else is not as temperate. Why? Christ gives a measure. I guarantee
you this, if He didn't give each of us a measure of temperance,
we'd all be much more intemperate than we are. It ain't near as
bad as it could be. Christ gives us the offices and
gifts. All these gifts He lists in our
text. Go back to Romans 12. These are offices and gifts He
gives. Romans 12, 6. Having then gifts differing according
to the grace that is given to us. Now here's the gifts that
remain in the church today. Where the prophecy, he gives
some the ability to preach the gospel of Christ. He says, let
us preach according to the proportion of faith. In other words, proportion
of the conviction of the truth that you have. Preach according
to your conviction. Don't try to preach something
that you don't know or believe. That would be foolish, wouldn't
it? If we preach something we believe, we're going to preach
it with passion. We're going to preach it with some conviction. We preach
something we don't know, we're going to sound like somebody
just reading something off a piece of paper. Or ministry. He gives some gifts to serve
brethren in various ways. That's what ministry means. It
means serve. He gives some the ability to serve in different
ways. There's a lot of different ways
he gives to serve his people. It's not all right here in this
building. I mean, he gives you, in your
job, he's giving you a job to serve the betterment of his body,
the church. And every other thing, he's given
these musicians ability to play, they're serving us. And so you
have these gifts. He says here, he that teacheth,
we're all teachers in some measure, you know, fathers and mothers
teaching their children, what have you, all teachers to some
degree, but he has some special ability to really be able to
teach the Word of God effectually. He says here, are he that exhorteth? Some have the ability to privately
instruct, call you aside and say let me help you out here,
you know, and they can instruct you and they can encourage you
and they can comfort you. Some have a special gift to do
that. He says, our exhortation, some are, he says, he that giveth,
I'm sorry, he that giveth. Some have the, we all give, but
some have the special ability, more cheerful hearts to just
give in abundance. And he says, but let him do it
with simplicity and singleness of heart toward Christ, not sounding
the trumpet. He that ruleth, some are managers,
some you can ask to take care of this or that project and they
can diligently, without making everybody upset and angry, they
can rule over men and get the project done. He says, do it
with diligence. He that shows mercy, oh boy,
Some of us don't have as much ability to show mercy to a brother
fallen in sin, but others have a great gift to show mercy to
those fallen. So this is what he's talking
about. The surest way, brethren, now to lift us up in pride is
to promote us. Is that not right? That's the
surest way. This is why he doesn't just promote
us all at once. We'd just be destroyed in pride. He promotes us little by little
so we're not destroyed in pride. Because you promote us, we're
gonna be lifted up in pride. We're gonna be proud of that.
And Paul says, every promotion's from Christ, so don't think too
highly of ourselves. Use Christ's promotion in the
faith he gives with simplicity, not sounding a trumpet with diligence
and with cheerfulness. used the promotion that way.
Now secondly, I'll be quick here, this is God's will that we love
our brethren. He says there, was to use the
office and the gift that Christ gives us to minister to one another
in love. That's what he's talking about,
verse 4. For as we have many members in one body, and all
members have not the same office. This is an illustration. You
take your physical body, We used to sing to the kids, head, shoulders,
knees and toes. We all have different members
in our body and they don't all serve the same job. They have different jobs. You
got fingers and you got an eye and you got a nose and an ear
and you got internal organs and all these things. But our bodily
members are all one part of our physical body. There's not any
part of our body that we would willingly just cut off. It's all part of our one body,
even though they serve different offices. Now look, verse 5, so
we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members
one of another. Having then gifts differing according
to the grace that's given to us, let us minister to one another
according to the proportion of faith. Now brethren, this is
an amazing grace, but we're many, but we're one body in Christ.
One body in Christ. We're talking about those that
God's chosen, those Christ is redeemed by His blood, those
the Spirit of God has sanctified. These are those God has set apart
from all of the men. And He's called us into this
body. It's the only way to get into
this body, be called into this body. It's all of grace, brethren.
And we're one. We're one. Listen to this. Ephesians
5.30 says we're members of His body, of His flesh and of His
bones. That's a great mystery, isn't
it? You mean I'm that one with Christ? Yep. And I'm that one
with my brethren. Christ is our head and we're
members in the body of Christ and each of us here are members
one of another that are called and saved by His grace. That's
right, and we're given gifts in measure, and those gifts are
necessary for the good of the other members of the body. They're all necessary. You might
say, well, I don't feel like I have much of a gift to serve
the body. It's necessary. You're necessary,
and the gift God's given you is necessary. Let me show you
that. Go to 1 Corinthians 12. I'm gonna
read this, and it's a lengthy passage of scripture, but I'm
gonna end with this, so I'm just gonna read it. You know how I
just read things. Ephesians, I mean 1 Corinthians
12 in verse 15, and listen to this. He says, if the foot shall
say, and he's just talking about our physical body, another illustration.
If the foot shall say, because I'm not the hand, I'm not of
the body. Is it therefore not of the body? And if the ears shall say, because
I'm not the eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of
the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set the members,
every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him. God's
put your members in your physical body as it pleased him, and they
all have a purpose, don't they? And if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now are they many members,
yet but one body. The eye cannot say unto the hand,
I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have
no need of you. Nay, much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable. Think about this. In our physical
body, we got organs like kidneys. and a liver. They're not very
pretty. They're not very pretty. They're less comely than the
face. They're less comely than your muscles. But when the kidneys
start to fail or the liver starts to fail, we find out that they're
very needful, don't we? They're very needful. And he
says, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. and our uncomely
parts have more abundant comeliness, for our comely parts have no
need. But God hath tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honor to that part which lacked, to that which appeared
less honorable and less needful. And he did it that there should
be no schism in the body, no divisions, but that the members
should have the same care one for another. He's still talking
about the physical body. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. And one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. If I have a toothache, my whole
body hurts. When that toothache is gone,
my whole body feels better. I rejoice in my whole body. He
says, now, you are the body of Christ. and members in particular. And God hath set some in the
church, first apostles, secondarily preachers, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues, and we don't have these, some of these
gifts today. You and I couldn't speak a foreign
language if we hadn't learned a foreign language. I go down
to Mexico sometimes, but I have to have an interpreter. I can't
just speak Spanish without learning it. and we can't just speak,
but they could, they could. Look here, but here's his point,
are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers
of miracles, have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with
tongues, do all interpret? It's just like the members of
the body, they don't all do the same office, but watch this word,
but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show unto you
a more excellent way. Look at the next chapter. Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity,
and have not love, and be not willing to serve my brethren,
I'll become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove
mountains, and have not charity, I'm nothing. Though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned
and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth
long at his kind. Charity envieth not. Charity
vaunteth not itself. It's not puffed up, does not
behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the truth. beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and charity
never fails. He's saying when all our other
gifts are gone and we're with God in glory, we're still going
to have faith, I mean love, charity. We're still going to have that.
And look down now at verse, look down at chapter 14 verse 12. Here's what he's telling us.
Even so ye, for as much as you are zealous of spiritual gifts,
seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church. Verse
26, let all things be done unto edifying. That's why God gives
us gifts and offices. It's not so that we can get so
buffed up that nobody can be around us. and we take our gifts
and we just hide them in a napkin or we use them for selfish reasons.
It's so that with the measure of the gift, he's gonna give
charity in the heart. He's gonna give love in the new
man so that we use that gift to serve our brethren for their
edification. It's not just given to you and
me to show off. It's given to us not to show
off at all, but to use it to help one another, to minister
one another. So these are the two things that
are God's will in our text. Not be lifted up in pride, not
think of ourselves more highly than we ought, not think of our
gifts more highly, or our graces more highly, or anything about
ourselves more highly. It's all the gift of God's grace.
And secondly, brethren, that we love one another. Use everything
God's given us to love and serve the brethren, one another. And when you do that, when you
serve your brother, your sister, you're serving yourself. Because
my brother, my sister is one with me in the same body. Just
like when this hand right here picks up this water and drinks
it, it's serving my eye, my ears, my nose, everything about me.
because it's all one body. And whatever you do for one of
God's people, for one of Christ, a member of Christ's body, you're
doing it for the whole body. So you're serving yourself because
you're a member of that body. I pray God will bless that and
teach us. I'm so rebuked when I read these
things, when I, you know, Whatever we do contrary to the Word of
God, that's our flesh. That's our flesh. And it's our
flesh that gets lifted up in pride. It's our flesh that acts
contrary to love. But I'll tell you this, if we're
God's people, He's going to bring us down. And he's going to teach
us how to use these gifts properly, that they're all of grace, and
he's going to teach us to love one another. And this he does. I know he does it. That's how
come you feel rebuked when you read these things. That's how
come I feel rebuked by him. And encouraged by him, too. I
see my brethren doing these things. I don't see myself doing them
so much, but I see my brethren doing them. And that encourages
me. That lets me know God's grace
is working in the midst of His people. So I pray God will bless
that.