Let us turn again to the word
of God and directing you to a verse tonight that we find in Romans
chapter 6. Romans chapter 6 and verse 17. But God be thanked that ye were
the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine which was delivered you. Romans 6.17 But God be thanked
that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. There's an alternative reading
there at the end of the verse. We find it in the margin. It
reads, "...but ye shall obey from the heart that form of doctrine
whereto ye were delivered." Interestingly, in the text it says that the
doctrine was delivered to you. The margin says that you were
delivered to the doctrine. And I want, in a sense, to follow
that alternative reading because I do believe it opens up, really,
the experience that is contained in this particular verse. When
Paul speaks of doctrine, and he speaks of great doctrine,
of course, here in this epistle to the Romans, as much to say
with regard to the great truth of the doctrine of justification
by faith, for example. But when Paul deals with these
tremendous themes that we find in his epistles, great doctrinal
truths, he doesn't speak in a merely cold and theoretical fashion. I fear that in some ways we're
still living in a day when there is a great deal of what we might
call intellectual or notional Calvinism. It is a a certain
aspect to the great doctrines of the gospel, the doctrines
of grace that is intellectually pleasing. I think sometimes young
people, young men in particular might like to do sort of mental
gymnastics as they meditate and think upon these great doctrinal
truths. It's that that appeals to the
intellect, appeals to the mind. But we're to remember that true
religion is more than notion. Something must be known and felt. And God's truth comes to us.
It will come in that threefold fashion. There'll be doctrine,
there'll be experience, and there'll be practice. Yes, certainly doctrine
is important. There must always be that doctrinal
foundation. but there must also be the experience
of those things and where there is that experience there will
then follow godliness of living the practical part and we see
it in what Paul says here in verses 17 and 18 he says but
God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, or which
you were delivered unto. And then he goes on, being then
made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. We have the doctrine, we have
the experience in the heart, and then we have the blessed
at working. Ye became the servants of righteousness,
he says. Well, as we come to consider
the words in verse 17 in particular, and that last clause really,
I want to speak of that doctrine or more particularly that gospel. That gospel that must be formed
in our hearts if we're going to be those who are the true
children of God, if we're those who are real believers. First of all then to say something
with regards to the doctrine. And you will observe how he speaks
of the form, the form of doctrine. It's the word from which we obtain
our English word type, the type, or the pattern we might say,
of doctrine. We can think, I suppose, for
an illustration of the workshop. We can think of men who are casting
iron and there's a pattern shop where the patterns are made and
the molten metal is to be taken and it will be poured into the
pattern that there might be the reproduction of certain items. Well, this is the idea here with
the form, the type, the pattern. And when we think of that we
see the significance of the marginal reading, that form, that pattern
of doctrine where to ye were delivered. Your life is to be
formed and fashioned and molded by the doctrine as you come to
experience it. And it's interesting to see how
Paul does many times speak in terms of the form or the pattern
of doctrine. writing in 2 Timothy 1 verse
13, he says, hold fast, the form or the pattern of sound words
which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. And he speaks here of how the pattern has been manifested,
as it were, by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. It
is the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the truth of Christ's
gospel that is to form and fashion the sort of people that we are. But let us think for a while
with regards to the doctrine. It speaks of the form, but it's
the form of doctrine. or as it is here in 2 Timothy
1.13, it's the form of sound words or sound doctrine. What is the sound doctrine? Well,
a number of things we should take account of. Certainly, primary
must be the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the person of Christ,
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of that lovely
hymn of John Newton's, What think you of Christ, he asks. 1149 in Gadsby's, What think you of
Christ is the test to try both your state and your scheme. You
cannot be right in the rest unless you think rightly of him. as
Jesus appears in your view as he is beloved or not so God is
disposed to you and mercy or wrath are your lot. And of course the hymn in many
ways is based on that portion of scripture that we have at
the end of Matthew chapter 22 where the Lord is addressing
himself to those those Pharisees who were so often critical of
him. He asked them, what can give Christ? Whose son is he?
They said unto him, the son of David. He said unto them, O then
doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, shall I make thine enemies
thy footstool? If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? No man was able to answer him
a word, neither doth any man from that day forth ask him any
more questions. What is the Lord saying? Well,
the Christ is that one who is David's son. He is of the seed
of David, he has come of the line of David, but he is also
David's Lord, and he quotes those words from the 110th Psalm. to support the truth that David
looked to him as his Lord. It's a person of the Lord Jesus
Christ and when we think of the person of Christ we must remember
those two natures in that one glorious person he is God and
he is man. That's the great mystery. All
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh He is God's. He is the eternal Son
of God. And John says, Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, he hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Or if there is no
eternal Son of God, there is no Father. There is no eternal
Father. that vital truth then that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Son of God. And yet at the same time we must
recognize that he is a man, a real man. And again it's John who
asserts that blessed truth there in 1 John 4 and verse 3. Every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. and this is that spirit of Antichrist.
Or there were those, even in the days of John, the last of
the Apostles, who were denying the truth of the Incarnation.
They said that Jesus of Nazareth was not a real man, he was a
sort of apparition. No, says John, those who say
such things are Antichrist. He is that man, he is that man
of whom Adam, the first man Was it tight? The first man is of
the earth, earthly. Ah, the second man is the Lord
from heaven. The first man, Adam, was made
a living soul. The last Adam is made a quickening
spirit, says the Apostle. Now in God's eyes there are those
two men, the first Adam, the last Adam, and the important
thing, of course, is which of those two men are we found in?
Are we found always and only in the first Adam. We are all Adam's sons and daughters. We all sinned in Adam. He stands
at the head of the whole race. And when Adam fell, we fell.
But are we those who, by the grace of God, are in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Are we those who, by faith, are
looking to Him and trusting in Him, who recognize the importance
of His blessed person? Oh, when Peter confesses Him
there at Caesarea, Philippi, what does he say? Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the Living God. Oh, He is that one then
who is God, and He is man, there are two natures, and yet He is
one person. Oh, He is the person of Christ,
the Savior of sinners. This is the doctrine. This is
such a vital doctrine, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He comes, in that great
mystery of godliness, manifest in the flesh, what is the purpose?
Well, we're told when the fullness of the time has come, God sent
forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem
them that were under the Law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons. There is the purpose. There is
a work to be accomplished. And what is that work? Why, it
has to do with the Lord of Gods. He's subject to the Lord of Gods. He comes to fulfill all righteousness. He comes to honour the Lord and
to magnify the Lord, and that's what he does throughout his life. His obedience to all the commandments
of God. I came down from heaven, he says,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me
and to finish His work. And what is that work? He must
honour the Law. He must honour it in terms of
all its holy precepts. He must live a spotless, sinless
life. And when He comes to the end
of that life, how He prays to the Father, I have glorified
Thee on the earth, He says. I have finished the work that
Thou gavest Me to do. God gave Him a work. And that
work was to satisfy God's own law, to fulfill all righteousness
and he did that by living and then what does he do? He dies. But even in dying he's
also honoring and magnifying that law but now he's doing that
in terms of all its dreadful penalties. He bears in his own
person that punishment that the law demanded, the soul that sinneth
it shall die, the wages of sin is death, Those that were given
to Him by the Father, they were sinners and He must bear in His
own person the punishment of all their sins. Oh, He is obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Now, we read of Him,
didn't we, there in chapter 5? It says, verse 19, by one man's
disobedience, that's Adam, By one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the obedience of one, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, many shall be made righteous. All their righteousness is His
righteousness. That that He accomplished in
His living, that righteousness imputed to them. But He also
died. And He died bearing that punishment
that those ungodly sinners deserved. Again, we read it there in chapter
5 and verse 6, when we were yet without strength in due time. Oh, in the appointed time Christ
died for the ungodly. Oh, the work that the Lord Jesus
Christ has accomplished. This is the doctrine. Well, this
is the fundamental truth of the Gospel. It centers in the person
of Christ. It centers in His blood. and
in his righteousness. But here also we see the doctrines
of sin and of salvation. Remember when Paul writes to
Timothy and also to Titus we have those those faithful sayings
those true and faithful sayings and amongst them he says this
is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. There's adoption. Christ comes into the world to
what end? To save sinners. Made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law
that they might receive. They receive what? The adoption
of sons. They receive their adoption.
their salvation. It's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin and salvation. And Paul says here in the text,
God be thanked. God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine that was delivered you or that form of doctrine to which
you were delivered, or they were given over to that great salvation. It's the Gospel. And this is
what the epistle to the Romans is really all about. When Paul
begins the epistle, doesn't he define the Gospel? He says there
is an apostle, the servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, that Gospel which God
promised in the Old Testament Scriptures. And what is the Gospel? It concerns His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. And he says later, verse 16,
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that
just shall live by faith. He speaks of the gospel then
in terms of that great salvation that was accomplished by the
Lord Jesus. But it is interesting, he begins the epistle by speaking
of the gospel, defining the gospel, but then he very quickly begins
to say a great deal about sin. He speaks a lot about sin, doesn't
he, in the opening three chapters of this epistle. Look at the
words that we find there in verse 18 of chapter 1, and the following
verses. The right of God, he says, is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has
showed it unto them. and he speaks of all the sins
of the ungodly, unspeakable sins he goes on to speak of there
from verse 18 of chapter 1, and it really follows right through
to the end of chapter 3. And there in chapter 3, remember
how he refers to the Old Testament, he refers to the Psalms, Psalm
14 and Psalm 53. It is written, he says there
at verse 10, it is written, there is none righteous, no not one,
there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction
and misery are in their ways. Tremendous catalogue of sins.
He speaks so much about sin because if we don't know what sin is,
salvation is a meaningless term, surely it is. The whole have
no need of the physician but they that are sick. Christ came
not to call the righteous. Christ came to call sinners to
salvation. And so, here is the doctrine
that we have to come to terms with. Yes, Christ, his person,
his work, but also the awful truth of our state as sinners
and that great salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But then also here, certainly in this epistle, we have a particular
doctrine. It's so conspicuous. And it's
that great doctrine of justification. Oh, we have it running really
right through the epistle, and we certainly see it in those
two chapters that we read from tonight, chapters 4 and 5. The great truth of justification. And it was, of course, that truth
that was rediscovered at the time of the Protestant Reformation,
but it's not just a Protestant doctrine. It was there from the
beginning. It's a biblical truth. It's a
biblical doctrine. It wasn't something that was
invented by Martin Luther. It was discovered, or rather,
it was revealed. It was revealed to that highly
favored man when he came to understand the truth of those words the
just shall live by faith. And now in that portion that
we read he speaks of Abraham and the faith of Abraham. And
what is Abraham's faith? It's justifying faith. Oh, it's
justifying faith. There in verse 3 of chapter 5,
what says the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. All works here, you see, have
no place. Works have to be disowned. Justification is not of any man's
works. God justifies the ungodly. God justifies the sinners. His
faith, not his works. His faith is counted for righteousness. But what is his faith? Well,
his faith is that that centers in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's not it's not his act of
believing that justifies him it's the object it's the one
his faith is looking to and that's what Paul says there at the end of
that fourth chapter concerning Abraham verse 20 he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith
giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised he was able to perform. What had God promised? Well,
he promised Abraham a son. Sarah was to have a son. And he believed that. He was
a hundred years old. And Sarah was past the age of
childbearing, but he believed in the promise of God that centered
in the son that was to be born, Isaac. But Isaac, of course,
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham's faith looks beyond
the promise of a son called Isaac. It looks to Abraham's true seed. And Abraham's true seed is Christ. He was fully persuaded that what
God had promised he was able also to perform and therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. What does it refer to? It's the
object, it's the promise, it's Christ. There's where Abraham
obtained his justification. He was accounted righteous in
the Lord Jesus. Therefore, being justified, he
says in chapter 5, therefore being justified by faith we have
peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I always move the comma there. I know in our authorised version
it says, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. But the punctuation, you know,
is not part of the inspired scripture. That was put in when they did
the translation. I think we should read it, therefore
being justified. God justifies the ungodly. In that sense, we're justified
before whatever we believe. We're justified in the purpose
of God. If we're the election of grace,
we're justified from all eternity. Therefore, being justified, we
come to experience it by faith. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This great doctrine of justification
What is this justification? Well it is of course such an
objective truth. When we think of justification
we have to think in terms of law, we have to think in terms
of the law court, we have to think in terms of God as that
one who is the great judge. Remember how it's spoken of in
Deuteronomy chapter 25 in terms of the work of the judges there
in the opening words of that chapter Deuteronomy 25 if there
be a controversy between men and they come unto judgment that
the judges may judge them then they shall justify the righteous
and condemn the wicked that's what the judge is to do he is
to judge righteously. He is to condemn the man who
is guilty, the man who is wicked, he is to receive his just recompense,
but he is to justify the righteous. The innocent man is not to be
condemned, because he has not committed any offense, he has
not broken the law. But God, remember, justifies the ungodly. That's
the amazing thing. God justifies the ungodly. How
does God justify the ungodly? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is that One who has come and stood in the place of the ungodly. He has stood in the place of
the sinner. He is the surety. He has taken the responsibility
for that sinner to Himself. He has answered all the demands
of the Holy Lord of God on behalf of those who He is surety for.
And for them He has fulfilled all righteousness. Oh, we're
told there in Deuteronomy 6.25, He shall be our righteousness
if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord
our God as He has commanded us. But those who are Christ have
not fulfilled all the law. They've broken all the law. They're
the transgressors. But Christ has done that for
them honoring, magnifying that Lord of God by that life that
He lived. And that righteousness is reckoned
to their account. And they're seen as righteous
in Christ. But what of all the guilt? What
of all those sins that they had committed? Were they never to
be punished? Well, yes, they were punished. And they were
punished in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. because he
came not only as a surety but also as a substitute he came
to die in the room and in the stead of the sinner and all this
you see has to be experienced and it has to be experienced
by faith justification is objective but faith isn't faith subjective something known, something felt
in the soul that faith that comes by the operation of God there's
that gracious work of the Spirit of God those sovereign operations
taking place in the soul of the sinner and so the sinner is brought
to saving faith, to justifying faith Oh look at what he says
back in chapter 3 and verse 22, he speaks even of the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Unto all and upon all
them that believe for there is no difference for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that have
passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at
this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Or read those words,
think upon those words, meditate in those words. how he speaks
there of the reality of that faith that is centering in this
blessed man even the Lord Jesus Christ who was honored and magnified
the law and done it all on behalf of his people that they might
experience all the blessings of their justification before
God. These things have to be experienced
in the soul, and isn't that what he's saying really at the end
of the text? You have obeyed from the heart, he says. It's
heart religion. You have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Now, how is the
doctrine delivered to us? How does the doctrine come to
us? Well, the primary means whereby the truth of the doctrine of
the Gospel comes to us is the preaching, the preaching of the
Word of God. We see it, of course, in the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. After John was put into prison,
we see the Lord beginning his public ministry there in Mark
chapter 1 and verse 14. After John was put into prison
came Jesus into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of
God and saying the kingdom of God is fulfilled.
What are they to do? They are to repent and they are
to believe the gospel. That's the message that he comes
with. He preaches repentance and faith. And as it was with
the Lord Jesus in his own earthly ministry, so also with the Apostles. When Paul addresses himself to
the Ephesian elders there in Acts chapter 20, he reminds them
of his ministry, testifying, he says, both to the Jews and
to the Gentiles, repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. The great message that was to
be preached. And Christ gives that commission,
doesn't he? Through his Disciples, at the end of the Gospel, go
ye unto all the world, he says, and preach the Gospel to every
creature. There's the commission. All there
is to be, that's faithful ministry, the preaching of the Word of
God. And Paul speaks a bit to the
Corinthians. The Corinthians, as you know,
always pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that
believe. And now he speaks of it here
in the 10th chapter of this epistle to the Romans also. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? he asks in verse 14. How shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they
hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings
of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for as I have said, Lord, you have believed our report.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
Oh, there used to be that preaching, that proclamation of the Gospel. And oh, the Lord Jesus Christ
is that one who comes in the preaching How the Lord Jesus is that one
whose voice is heard. He says my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life. Oh when we come to the service
is that what we want? We want to hear not the voice
of some minister, some preacher, we want to hear the Lord's voice. Just as it was with those Ephesians
When Paul reminds them, you have not so learned Christ, if so
be ye have heard Him and been taught by Him as the truth is
in Jesus. How did they hear the voice of
the Lord Jesus? They heard it in the preaching.
But do we ask that God would grant us that great favour or
that His word might come to us with such an authority that it
might be delivered unto us? This is what happens to these
believers in Rome, you see. They obeyed from the hearts that
form of doctrine which was delivered to them. The ministry in Rome was not
in vain. It was believed. It was believed. But then, if
we turn to the margin, we have another aspect. It's difficult
really, I suppose, in a sense. Obviously, this is why we have
these alternative marginal reading, sometimes it's not altogether
easy to bring out what is there in the original. And that's what
we see here. We have the text, but then we
see something slightly different when we turn to the marginal
reading. Obeying from the heart that form of doctrine, where
to ye were delivered. Oh, it's not just brought to
us, it's not just preached, but we have to be brought to it. And for that, of course, we have
to know something of the power of the Gospel. All the sinner
has to be delivered to that. The Kingdom of God, says Paul,
is not in words, but in power. That's how it has to come. That
form of doctrine, where to? Ye were delivered. And remember what Paul says,
we referred to it this morning, what he says there to the Thessalonians
concerning the Gospel. Our Gospel came not unto you,
he says, in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost. and in much assurance and he
goes on in that second chapter verse 13 for this cause also
thank we God without ceasing because when you receive the
word of God which you heard of us you received it not as the
word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually
worketh also in you that believe it was working in them it was
effectual It was mighty, it was God working in the soul of those
who were hearing that word of truth. And what is the consequence
when God works in the soul of a sinner under the sound of his
truth? Well, first, of course, there will be something of the
conviction of sin. Oh, there will be something of
that conviction of sin. And that's what Paul knew. That's
what Paul experienced. He goes on, remember here in
chapter 7, we know that the Lord is spiritual. But I am carnal,
sold under sin, this man who was such an expert in the law
of God. You can say to the Philippians that touching the righteousness
which is in the law, he thought himself to be blameless when
he was a Pharisee. Why? He'd been scored at the
feet of Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee. He was the
son of a Pharisee. how he knew the Lord of God,
he lived the Lord of God and yet he knew nothing but he was
brought to this, we know that the Lord is spiritual and I am
carnal or there was that awful conviction of sin that came into
that man's soul and he says there in verse 18 of that 7th chapter,
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing
for to will is present with me but how to perform that which
is good I find not for the good that I would I do not but the
evil which I would not that I do this awful conviction that comes
into his soul when God comes in the law previously you see
Verse 9 of that chapter, I was alive without the law once, that's
when he was a Pharisee. Oh, he was alive, he thought
he was a righteous man. I was alive without the law. Ah, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. He had to discover the truth
of his sinnership. Verse 7 he says, I had not known
sin but by the law, for I had not known lest except the law
had said thou shalt not covet. It was that 10th commandment.
Thou shalt not covet. And what is coveting? It's desire.
It's desire, it's something in the heart. sin taking occasion
by the commandment, he says, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. He was full of all evil desire.
His fallen nature was insatiable, he wanted sin. And this is what
happens, you see, when God's Word takes hold of a man. The form of doctrine where to
he was delivered. He was delivered to that. And
it wrought, it wrought mightily in the soul of the apostle. And he knew he was a sinner.
For they that are whole have no need of the physician, but
they that are sick. Ah, but here are the very ones
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to call. I came not to call the
righteous. I came to call sinners, says
the Lord Jesus Christ. Or there is that side, isn't
there, that we have to know what sin is. As I said just now, it's
sin and salvation. And salvation is meaningless
to us unless we know something of our sinnership. Now I'm not
saying we've all got to have the profundity of the experience
of a man like the Apostle Paul. I'm not saying that at all. Some
have deeper experiences, some have experiences of conviction
that may become later in their lives. But there must be some
awareness of our need as a sinner before ever we want to know of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to know something of
the dark side. But it's not enough to know I'm
a sinner. It's not enough to know I'm a sinner. We're not
to come short. We've got to know what it is
to be a saved sinner. And that's what we have in the
text, ye have obeyed from the heart, he says. Obedience from
the heart. Why? Because something was wrought
in the heart. That form of doctrine, you were
delivered to it. God wrought something here inside
that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith. We have to come
to that, we have to know the Lord Jesus Christ ye were the
servants of sin, he says. You see what he's saying here
in the text. God be thanked, ye were, it's
a past tense, ye were the servants of sin, but ye obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine. And as that doctrine came into
your heart, into your soul, being made free from sin, ye became
the servants of righteousness. We spoke this morning about when
the believer is born again, he's a partaker of the divine nature.
You're looking at those words there in the opening chapter
of 2 Peter. Exceeding great and precious
promises. that come to us. That's the gospel.
It's full of exceeding great and precious promises. It's promise.
And what is the effects? When we come to receive that,
and that's what we're reading off here in the text tonight,
that form of doctrine, those exceeding great and precious
promises, when something's wrought in our souls, we're partakers
of the divine nature. We have a new nature. Oh, we have that in us, you see,
that is so formed and so fashioned. As I said, we're to take account
of this word form and it has the idea of a pattern. And we can think
of the pattern shop again and you see they take that pattern,
they pour the molten metal into it and the form of the pattern
is followed and that's what's produced. And this is what happens
here with the Gospel. It forms us anew. We are those
who are new creatures then in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. And that was Paul's experience.
He reminds us, we read the passage this morning there in Galatians
1 He pleads God, he says, to reveal his Son in me. I remember, I can't remember
who said it, but I heard a minister say it once, concerning Paul's
epistles, he says, the theology is in the prepositions. It's interesting, these little
words, significant words, in. It pleased God to reveal His
Son in me. Now, it might have said, or Paul
might have said, it pleased God to reveal His Son to me. That's the truth, isn't it? The
Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to us. Our eyes are opened and
we see the wonder of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
He is. and it thrills the soul that
great mystery God manifest in the flesh and all that he did
there is a revelation to us but no Paul says there to the Galatians
it was an inward revelation as well it's something in the soul
it's Christ in you I wondered if we might sing 31 but we sang
222 they're similar hymns, they're both hymns by Joseph Hart but
I did think of 31 a form of words so air so sound can never save
us all the Holy Ghost must give the wound and make the wounded
whole it's not just having the right form but we've got to be
molded by that form by that pattern isn't that what Paul is saying
here if any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creature he
is a new creation and so in these verses we see as I said at the
beginning these three things we see the importance of doctrine
or the doctrine is so important right doctrine Luther says doctrine
is heaven or do we love the great doctrines of the word of God
the great doctrines of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ But
we want more than doctrine. We need also to have the experience
of the doctrine. And if we really do have the
experience of the doctrine, it will be evident in the way in
which we live our lives. There'll be the practice. D.E.P. You may know that dear old Sidney
Norton, our late friend, once used to send out a magazine and
he called it D.E.P. doctrine, experience, practice
but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you or that form of doctrine where to ye were delivered are
being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness
Oh yes, there is a righteousness, you see. We're the servants of
righteousness. Our righteousness is all together in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But it is our desire that we
want to be the more and more conformed to His image. We want
to be living righteous lives to the honor and glory of Him
who is the Lord, our righteousness. May the Lord bless His word to
us. Amen.