If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to Romans chapter 12, and you can follow me in your
pastor's commentary as we now delve into and join the apostle
in his exhortation to the church. Ecclesiology is really the proper
terminology addressing this portion of the apostle's exhortation
to the Roman church. And for those of you who are
enjoying our church history series, Consider this epistle of Rome
to the Romans as a complementarian component to your studies, because
the apostle Paul is anticipating that this church will do magnificent
things when it comes to the spread of the gospel. This is why he's
so passionate about her. And yet he's laying down some
things that are critical to her identity and the fulfillment
of her will Towards God with regards to her calling and purpose
today's message is called the measure of faith Given to every
man and it's taken out of Romans chapter 12 verse 3 For 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 but to think
soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure
of faith and The Apostle Paul is speaking to the church, not
one individual, to the church as a whole. When you read your
Bible carefully, God largely, not exclusively, but largely
is speaking to people groups. Very seldom is He speaking to
you individually. I know that busts your bubble,
but it's true. Very seldom when you obtain a
proper Approach to scripture does he speak in the first person
singular to you? When you read in your Bible you
particularly in the epistles, it's you all And he's speaking
to the whole church and I've told you this before The way
our Lord taught the disciples who requested to teach them how
to pray he taught them what our father Not my daddy Now he is
your daddy but it's our father because at the heart of God with
regards to his revelatory glory is an institution called the
church that he is working through to manifest his redeeming grace
and the church at large is really called upon to understand her
identity collectively that every part of the body is to be encouraged
to look to Christ To learn of christ and to walk in christ
in order to affirm Its purpose and calling in the world He therefore
speaking to the church in chapter 12 as we learned last week to
take worship seriously To have worship be that Express manifestation
of their faith in god by which people know that god has called
you out of darkness Into his marvelous life and one of the
clear evidences of it is that you worship the true and the
living god For true believers, worship is not an option. It's
like breathing. As we breathe, we worship. And
it's because we have been so begotten of God in terms of His
redemptive love in Christ towards us that the primary manifestation
of our gratitude towards Him is in the context of worship.
But not only because of what He's done, because of who He
is. It's not God worthy to be worshipped. And one of the evidences
that you know him is that you worship him But you and I are
called to worship God in spirit and in what and this is the pressing? exhortation of Romans 12 to that
we be not conformed to this world, but be Transformed by the renewing
of our mind and so that worship is not an existential experience
experience that is rooted merely in emotion and or some type of
external dynamic coming upon us, but rather it is highly cognitive,
highly reasonable, highly rational. Thus the last line of verse 2
is, this is your reasonable service. When we who know God in Christ
worship God, we worship God with our minds And our minds then
are informed by the word of God, which shapes our view of God
and shapes our passions and our volitions. And thus, according
to that last line, reasonable service, I taught you last week,
literally is according to God's word. How do we worship God? According to his word. That's literally what the term
means. We have a word based worship. We can affirm by the word of
God why we do what we do. We are driven by the revelation
of scripture as to how to worship God. Is that not right? And so
it's a word-based worship that he's called to called us to and
then Paul deals with now verses three through nine, which we
saw in our previous outline is a an expression of faith that
deals with the functional aspect of the body. There are three
categories with which we can place the book, uh, the chapter
12 into three categories. First worship. That's his verses
one and two. The second category is work. That's verses three through about
verse nine or 12. Worship work. And in that context,
we're talking about the work of the kingdom of God, the work
of the church. And then the last category we
will call witness. So I'll be dealing with witness
next week. This week we'll be dealing with the work of the
church collectively. How does the church manifest
the glory of God in terms of the work to which it has been
called? in a way that brings God glory. According to Paul,
he says it's done by understanding the principle of faith. the principle
of faith. And so we've got some work to
do today. And again, the title of our message, as we look at
largely verses three through five, and then we'll touch on
verses six through nine is the measure of faith given to every
man. The assumption is if you are
a believer in Christ, there is a measure given to you. And that
measure is called faith. The term measure is a metaphor
for a rule, a guiding principle, a structure, but it's also a
metaphor or a symbol of a proportion or an extent or a degree that
has been given to you, allotted to you by God. Before we get
into that, let's just assume that if you are a believer, it's
because God has given you what? Faith. Believers are people who
have what? Faith. And faith is a what? Gift
of God. So now what paul is going to
want us to exercise our senses on today is what does it mean
to have biblical faith? Relative to the work to which
god has called us and so As I open this up. I do want to make this
almost non-sequitur of a statement, but it's very important It has
to do with Christians who want to mature in Christ, who really
do want to experience the transformational dynamic of Romans 2, who really
want to know what it means to know the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. I want to know that, don't you?
I want my mind to be renewed because according to verse 2,
the renewed mind, the transformed mind is going to have access
at the will of God so that it can know what's right and wrong
relative to not our life but God's will. And I want to be
able to know God's will. I want to know His will. But
He's telling me, in order for me to know it, my mind has to
be subject to transformation. That means a process, right?
That means a process. And without this process of transformation
of my mind, I'm like most of the other 7.8 billion people
on planet Earth. I'm operating outside of the
sphere of an experiential knowledge of God's will. I'm window shopping.
Right? I'm window shopping. I'm doing
the best I can as I look through the glass at the clothing and
the attire and the different gear and whatnot and trying to
piece together an idea of the will of God. But until I actually
enter into a transformational process where the Spirit of God
is renewing my mind according to the Word of God, I may not
know the will of God. We learned that when we talked
about the five categories of the will, didn't we? So this
is really what Paul is talking about. Here's what I want to
just kind of give as an opening presentation for those of you
who are young and right now serious about the will of God, because
a lot of you are not. It generally is the case with older people,
presuming that they know the will of God, but not really.
For those of you who are young and serious about God, look for
a mature believer. And when I say a mature believer,
I'm talking about a believer who knows how to prioritize biblical
things, biblical issues, kingdom issues, gospel issues, prioritize
them in relationship to and in conjunction with the responsibilities
of their practical life. Find a real mature believer who
knows how to prioritize the gospel, not wink at the gospel. prioritize
the gospel in relationship to their responsibilities in life.
Look for a believer who has demonstrated walking with God at that level
where they have learned how to negotiate this life and the life
to come. Don't look for the believer who
is narcissistically driven by his own bubbly world. Don't look
for that woman that is isolated and insulated from the world
and operating out of some obscure fantasy about what God is all
about. You know them. They levitate. Their feet are not on the ground.
Young people don't follow that kind of person. They are not
spiritual. They're weird. Please listen carefully to me.
Saints are worldly. You'll get that in a moment.
Real saints are worldly. They know how to live in the
real world, but they live at the level of priority to Christ
where they are responsible for who they are, their lot in life,
and at the same time, know how to enjoy life. Find a real believer. Did you
guys hear what I just stated? Not the one that's floating,
the one that's grounded, find the believer that won't lie to
you about how they have it all under control. Don't get that old believer that
really got it all together. That's not the believer you want.
That's not the believer you want. That believer is deceived. Get
the believer who has discovered That life is worth living as
you stand in the presence of God every day depending upon
God for everything That's the believer you want to follow because
see now that believer is going listen that believer is gonna
leave room for you to remain authentic and Not try to bring
you into conformity to their own false notion of what godliness
is. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? I Right. True, mature believers know how to negotiate
the priority of the kingdom. They don't wink at it. They don't
just play church. They are serious about the kingdom.
But they also know how to handle life. They're not lazy. They're
not indolent. They're not careless about work.
Don't follow anyone that don't work. I got to lay this foundation.
Non-working people are not spiritual. They're lazy. See, because a
mature Christian understands, they understand they're here
for a purpose. They're not here wasting time. They're not driven
by a very secular view that this is all about them either. They
understand that this is bigger than them and that they may play
a small role and if they can affect you as a young person,
they're going to tell you, use the powers and commodities of
your youth and strength and vigor and innate optimism to get at
the will of God. And then do it with all your
might, asking no one affirmation about it. That's what they're
going to encourage you to do. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? There are three things in for that individual that you
want to look for as a young person that are seeking to get a handle.
And you need this. We're learning this in Sunday
school. Christians are called to be models, aren't we? And
we can cause people to stumble or we can cause people to grow.
We can cause people to stumble or we can cause them to grow.
And young people are looking for avenues of growth. They really
do want to grow. And they know that growth is
more than just reading their Bible. It's looking to those
who model the kingdom of God and got a handle on this complex,
crazy, twisted world. That's what you want to look
for. It's not going to be many, but that's what you want to look
for. Look for that kind of person
and then learn from them what it means to enjoy walking with
God in that trifecta. All right then, so our first
point brings us to this statement that I want to press our minds
into at this time. As the Apostle Paul is exhorting
them now to the work of the kingdom of God in verses three and following,
here is our main point. It is by grace that you are being
saved in this way. That's the point I want to develop
out of verse 3 part a it is by grace that you are Presently
being saved in this specific way You guys follow that that
particular proposition you are being saved It is by grace that
you are being saved that you are in the process of salvation
That salvation is an experience right now that has gotten a hold
of you and is carrying you as a journey through An experience
you are being saved and this is the way in which you are being
saved Look at verse 3 part a as the apostle paul puts it for
I say Through the grace given unto me To every man that is
among you. Do you see it? So what are you
saying, Pastor? I'm saying that what Paul is
about to do is explain to the church at Rome that the nature
of the walk of the kingdom of God is that of faith that's rooted
in grace, and he's about to use himself as a model of it. So
we're getting ready to see Paul become exactly what I meant about
a mature Christian. A mature Christian will tell
you that all they are is what they are by the grace of God.
That's what a mature Christian will tell you. What they will
be doing by letting you know that grace is the grounds of
their existence is They will allow you to stop looking to
them as the source of their giftedness They don't want you to stumble
at them because if you look too much at them, you're gonna force
them to put on a mask So that you don't see the cracks But
when they call you to look to the grace that's operating in
their life now, you can go to a real Concrete idea that won't
fail you are them So when paul says I say then through the grace
given unto who me? He's actually said I can't even
say what i'm about to say If I don't first affirm that it's
grace that's allowing me to say it now for paul grace Is an all-encompassing
thing That for Paul, grace encompasses not only the reality of his being,
but the grounds of his salvation and the basis of his present
sanctification. It's also the source of his giftedness
and as well, his being able to sustain to the end. For Paul,
salvation is called grace. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? He's saying that I am here talking to you only because
of the grace of God. The grace of God that chose me
in Christ before the world began. The grace of God that called
me in time by the gospel. The grace of God that quickened
me from the dead and gave me life and faith in Christ. The
grace of God that qualified me to be an apostle. He called his
apostleship a grace of God. That's Romans 1 5 by the way,
and then he says not only is my apostleship a grace of God
But me talking to you right now about the things of God is a
function of grace Are you guys hearing me? So he wants them
to understand that what I'm about to say to you is a gift from
God to me in my apostleship towards you the church Who by my labors
and others have been brought into being? So listen very carefully
to what I'm about to say and understand that this is not coming
from me, Paul, but it's coming from my master who wants you
to understand how the ethics of the kingdom work. I say through
the grace that's given to me. Do you see that? I say through
the grace that's given to me. Three then sub points I want
you to catch under that and we're going to work this through. The
first is the apostles what? Humble and fearful confession
of what? There it is. There it is. He's
living with a tension. Here's the tension. He's living
with the reality that grace has positioned him to be an apostle.
But he's also living with the reality that intrinsically and
personally, he needs grace to keep him in his lane. Are you
with me? He's saying that by the grace
of God, what I'm about to say to you applies to me. And so
I want you to see how these verses work my first proposition main
proposition It is by grace that you are being saved in this way.
It's first corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 pull that up so the
saints can see it in the western church We are given two extremes
One extreme is that we view salvation as a one-time act that occurred
in the past that when once you have purchased your ticket You
can put it in your back pocket and going on about your business.
And when you die, you can cash it in. This particular false
assumption of salvation is generally expressed under the rubric. One
say what? Right. Which is a true statement,
but so woefully deficient that we have to reject its deficiency
because it doesn't do justice to the gospel. Am I making some
sense? Here's what Paul says to the church at Corinth in 1
Corinthians 1, verse 18. For the preaching of the cross,
do you guys see that? For the preaching of the cross,
that's an act, ladies and gentlemen, is to them that are perishing,
what? Foolishness. So the man or the
woman that's laughing, that's ridiculing, that's pushing against,
game-saying, arguing, debating, persecuting, and condemning the
gospel is perishing because they do not believe its claims. You
see that there's in a present verb form for the preaching of
the cross is to them that are perishing You and I were in that
state before we were saved And while we were in that state,
we laughed at those who called jesus lord Until the gospel broke
your heart and showed you his glory But unto us a categorical
distinction, right? Which are being saved That's
the literal greek grammar Do you see it? Present participle
form. Which are being saved. In our King James Bible, we don't
clarify the distinctives of the present. But unto us which are
what? Saved. Literally, which are being
saved. It is the word of God. So now mark what he is saying.
He's saying that the gospel is saving us because its power is
working in us continually to bring about a saving condition.
You guys got that? This is the reason why we come
to church every week. Did you get that? Every week.
Not just one time, every week. because we want to experience
the power of the gospel in its transformational dynamic in our
heart and mind and the volition of our soul, don't we? We want
the gospel to drop its weighty, weighty principles in our soul
and shift the dynamic of our objective so that we continue
to conform to the image of Christ. Is that right? Drop those weights
of gospel truth in my soul. Unlock my volition and lead me
in a direction that corresponds with your will. That's what the
gospel does when it comes in power. It transforms. And so
Paul is teaching here that the saving work of the gospel is
a continual thing until one day you and I will ultimately be
saved. So we say that we have been saved, we are being saved,
and we will be saved, right? Receiving the end of your faith,
even the saving of your soul, as Peter puts it in 1 Peter chapter
2. I call your attention to that
because Paul wants the church at Rome to understand that everything
with which you and I are engaged in is a process of salvation.
and the tangible commodity by which it is affirmed is faith.
So when Paul says, I, the apostle, am humble and fearful in my confession
of authority, look at 1 Corinthians 2, verse 1 and 2, how he expresses
this same idea to the church at Corinth. And I want you to
be able to make a distinction between the authority of Paul
and his humility. Okay, you guys got that? The
authority now here's what he says in verse one and I brethren
when I came to you Came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom
see that stop right there. He said I didn't play church
Got it So in church, we have this thing that goes on in many
of our denominations called preaching Y'all ever heard of that? All
right, it's called preaching and in many of our churches Preaching
is an art form Y'all know what I'm talking about? So with every
discipline there is what we call the science and art of a thing. The science is the underlying
presupposition or structures by which that thing actually
has its essence. The art is the functional aspect
of that thing. So there's an art and science
to everything we do. There's an art and science to
rhetoric or speaking or homiletics as we teach it in our churches.
And many of our churches are lopsided on the side of art and
empty on the side of science. Y'all understand what I'm saying?
So you got a lot of churches that are bent, bent on rhetoric,
bent on lofty phrases, bent on the kind of presentation that
gets you so emotionally moved it has nothing to do with content. You'll hear them say, now he's
preaching. And that is utterly unbiblical. Utterly unbiblical. Preaching
has more to do with its propositional content than it does the gestures
of the preacher. And see, when the soul is illuminated,
the soul says now he's preaching when the Word of God is expounded.
Am I making some sense? Now he's preaching when the Word
of God is expounded. So Paul says I came to you not
with excellency of speech. I didn't come to you in the confidence
of the socratic uh philosophies of men at that time or the rhetoricians
who were very good at phrases and terms and and and methods
of spill binding Presentations that had the people so moved
that they put money in their lunch bags as soon as they were
done Now he says I came to you with the simple gospel I came
to you in a manner of trembling and fear notice what he says
Declaring unto you the testimony of God see it His whole objective
was to reveal to the people in his presence what God had said
So if you come to church and you are told what God has said
That's the reason you come to church Did you guys hear what
I stated? So this is what paul is getting
at as we are considering. This is how we are saved We are
saved and being saved in this way by the preaching of the gospel
through the huge humble Humble and fearful confessions of the
apostle one more text to underscore what I mean by what i'm saying
Go to first timothy chapter 1 verse 12 through 16. I want you to
see this and then we'll move forward so as paul begins to
uh embark upon a topic critical to the identity of the church
at Rome, he wants them to understand that the person who is giving
them the instructions is also walking in these principles.
He says in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12, are you there? And
I thank God, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled
me. Do you see it? Who hath enabled
me, for that he counted me what? Now I want you to mark the connection
between faith and enablement. putting me in the ministry. Now
you notice he didn't say he put himself in the ministry. You
notice he didn't say he won Christ over by his knowledge and learning.
You notice how he is depending upon what Christ has done as
the initial work to put him in his position as an apostle. You
guys see that? He counted me faithful He enabled me and he
put me in the ministry. That's a humble recognition that
this is not about Paul. You guys follow that? Notice
what he goes on to say. Who was before, he's talking
about himself now, who was before a blasphemer? This is what I
meant by when you run across these old saints, if they don't
tell you where they messed up from time to time, stop talking
to them. And a persecutor and injurious
Now watch this. But I obtain mercy. Isn't that what we learned last
week? I beseech you by the mercies of God. Paul knows he's an object
of mercy. I obtain mercy because I did
it ignorantly and unbelief. Now here it is. And the grace
of our Lord. was exceeding abundant with faith
and love which is in what? Verse 14 underscores my point. Paul is describing who he is
and what he does in terms of the gift of grace, the gift of
faith, the empowerment of Christ to help him do what he does.
Now this is going to be a model for his exhortation to us in
our text. Go back to our text now. I think
I got your attention as we deal with what it means to be being
saved as a child of God who are objects of God's grace and mercy
and have been given the measure of the gift of faith. Our second
sub point then is his urgent authoritative imperative to what? Every man. His urgent authoritative
imperative is what? Not to think of yourself more
highly than you ought. Lord, help us. This is where I'm going to stop
for a moment. So when it says in our second point, his urgent
authoritative imperative, he uttered those words extremely
conscious and aware that the only way the church at Rome is
going to hear them is for them to hear the Spirit. For them to transcend the person
of Paul and hear the Spirit of God saying unto the churches,
he that hath ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to
the churches. You guys got that? He's depending upon 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse 13 coming to pass. And when you heard the
word of God, you received it as it was indeed the word of
God and not the word of men. And because you received it as
the word of God, not the word of men, it was working in you
so effectually that you actually believed. This is what Paul is
hoping will happen as he gives the imperative here. So I'm not
going to go to Acts 26 verses 15 through 18, which is a powerful
testimony of the purpose for which Paul has been called. Jesus
told Paul, our master told Paul that I am raising you up that
you might open the eyes of the blind. that you might turn men
from darkness to light, that you might cause men and women
to inherit or obtain an inheritance among those that are sanctified
by virtue of believing on Christ. That's what he says. I am using
you as a means by which men and women will see the glory of God. Isn't that a powerful, powerful
mission? Paul knows he is the vehicle
by which through his preaching the lights cut on. The lights
cut on. Now, you know, when God gives
you that kind of influence over the souls of men, you know what
he has to also give with you? A pen. A pen. Yeah. To pierce a hole in that
bubble so the air can deflate from your head. Is that right? So he said a messenger of Satan
was given unto me. Lest I be exalted through the
revelations that were given in the abundant revelations that
were given unto Lest I be exalted because of my influence as an
apostle lest I be exalted By virtue of the nearness of Christ
in my life and the power of the gospel working in my life He
had to simultaneously give me a pen. Give me the truth and
a pen to let the air out so that he would frame his words in a
way that would not steal God's glory and Am I making some sense? And so this here is the premise
upon which he's saying to you and me, please understand that
apart from grace, you and I will think more highly of ourselves
than we are. Go back to our text. Let me work
this through. I want to make sure you get this. This is our
fundamental lesson for today. And there's a lot that could
have been said in 1 Timothy, but I want you to go back to
our third verse in chapter 12 and mark what he's saying. For
I say, through the grace that is given unto me to every man
that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he
ought." Pastor, I don't do that. Yes, you do. You're lying. Yes, you do. Every man does that. Every man
does that by nature. And here's what he says. He says,
so that we might not think more highly of ourselves, but to think
what? Soberly, according as God hath
dealt to every man a measure of faith. We're gonna work with
that construction. So what Paul says is, don't think more highly
of yourself than you are. The literal term, hupos aphrigno,
really means to think above that, which is fact about you. Oh, this is good. I'm ready to
jump in the point too, but I just had to do a little grammar work
right here. He says don't think above what the real estimation
of your person is all about. Don't rise above the facts and
give people another resume that says you've done this, done that,
done the other thing. Don't fudge. Don't make the fish
bigger than it really is. It ain't but 11 inches long. It's not 22. It's 11 inches. You caught an 11 inch trout,
not a 22 inch trout. You didn't catch a shark. You
caught a trout. Stay with me now. Stay with me
now. This is going to be important because church folk lie. They make a lot of money lying
to people. And when you're not grounded
in the word of God, you love to be lied to. Jeremiah 5 31. The prophets prophesy falsely.
The priests bear rule by their own mean, and the people love
to have it so. In churches where lies are the
main staple, the preachers lie and the people lie. For as the
priest, so are the people. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And they know they're lying. Because we are used to,
as human beings, inflating the story. Do you guys understand
what I'm saying? So go back to our text because
I want to make sure that we work through verse 3 carefully because
it won't make any sense to deal with verses 4 and following until
we slowly work through exegetically the imperatives and warnings.
He says that we are not to think Don't have a mindset. Don't build
an estimation. Don't frequently draw the conclusion
that you are more than what the Bible says you are. So, he says
here that we are to think what? Soberly. Soberly. Inference? Most people are drunk
about themselves. They're inebriated. They're intoxicated
when they contemplate themselves. They exceed the boundaries of
sobriety and start telling stories. You know how drunk people will
lie? Girl, I was surrounded by 15
handsome, beautiful, stunning men. They all wanted me. No,
they didn't. No, they didn't. No, they didn't. No, they didn't. It wasn't 15, it was two, and
they weren't all that. But when you're drunk, that's
what you do. That's what you do. That's what you do. Deuteronomy
chapter 29 verse 19. Stay with me now. So, okay, you
guys have heard me Deuteronomy 29. Now y'all have heard me say
that an honest person is what? Not going to hell. Y'all believe
that? Okay, so raise your hand if you are a liar like your pastor. All right, see now. We all want to go to heaven,
don't we? We want to go to heaven. Let
me see how many. How many over here are liars?
Yeah, you're a liar. That's right. Tell the truth.
Tell the truth. So see right now, you just told
the truth. You just told the truth. You
get to go to glory. But see, it was the gospel that
did it, wasn't it? Because before the gospel came,
you was lying about this. You're lying. Verse 19 of Deuteronomy
29 is classic and learn it because Moses is telling the children
Israel the only reason you're going into the promised land
is because God is keeping his promise to the fathers. Not to
you, to the fathers. God is busting the bubble. Y'all
getting ready to cross over. Now, the only way you can cross
over is by faith. We learned that in Romans 10,
right? The word is not you, even in your mouth and in your heart.
If you will just believe, Israel has to cross over Jordan by faith
into the promised land. Is that right? But God points
out a few in the congregation, and here's what he says to them.
He says, and if it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this
curse, that he bless himself in his heart. Now, what is that? That's an individual who has
been confronted by biblical truth that warns, if you do not believe
the gospel, you will perish in your sins. Did you guys get that? But he says in his heart, blessing
himself, I shall have peace. Do you see it? Although I walk
in the imagination of my heart. Now I've already just described
to you that the nature of our imagination is such that we inflate
ourselves. What this man is saying is, I
have embraced lies and I'm still going to be at peace. I don't
care what God says. It's all about what I think and
how I feel. That's all that matters. That's
because he's drunk, right? Notice what the text says. Though
I walk in the imagination of my heart to add what? Drunkenness
to thirst. That's what we call again those
mixing metaphors. He's talking against God in his
own heart and he's talking about sustaining a false view of himself. And he's declaring that it inebriates
him. And when he's done being inebriated,
he has a thirst to be inebriated again. He's addicted to inebriation. He's addicted to drunkenness.
He's addicted to lying to himself about his accomplishments. Y'all
following me so far? Let's go back to our text and
go to work. Here's what Paul is saying in our text. When you
are part of the church of the living God and you are actually
in the kingdom of God, you are now trading in the truth. And
as such, the truth has as its first object of influence is
your own soul. That you haven't embraced or
adopted the truth, that you might manipulate the truth so that
you can deceive others, you have adopted the truth so that your
own life can change. Did you get that? That's that's
the whole point of truth. It's not so that you can learn
the Bible so that you can impress men It's so that you can learn
the Bible that you might be saved That's what he's saying This
is what he's saying And so now we'll move into our third point
and affirm what I'm saying because there's so much here our second
point rather if in fact it is by grace that you're being saved
this way through the preaching of the gospel that calls you
to think soberly and then allow faith to tell you the truth about
yourself. If in fact you are being saved
and you're being saved by the grace of God, then allow faith,
which is a gift of God coming through grace, to tell you the
truth about yourself every time. I'm getting ready to give you
a key. to how faith operates in the life of a believer. Are
you ready? Get ready to give you a key. Faith is not just
some ambiguous concept that we kind of roll up as a ball and
embrace and say, I'm just going to trust God. Nope. Faith is
always a manifestation of biblical truth, comprehended and employed
in our soul. Faith always comes by what? Hearing. hearing by what the Word of God
so faith is always that commodity in the kingdom by which we respond
to God according to his word y'all got that so what we are
saying are what Paul is saying is your job is to listen to scripture
when it tells you about you That's what your job is to do. Your
job is not to build a resume of yourself apart from the truth.
And then he's saying, make sure that you are actually functioning
out of a faith that is given to you as a gift of God. So when
he says in verse three, part C, but to think soberly in accordance
as God has done what? Dealt to every man the measure
of faith. So now, I want you to see how
the metaphor goes, and we'll continue working it through.
Every one of you that are true believers have been given a measure.
Every one of you. In the King James, there's a
definite article. It's not in the Greek. There are people who
argue. Doesn't matter. Every one of you has been given
a measure of faith. You guys follow that? As a gift
of God. Now I want you to mark the measure,
because we're going to rework with this. The measure is different
for every person. It is not the same measure. I
want you to work with that. I want you to see how this works.
OK, the measure is saving, but it's different. The measure is
securing, but it's different. The measure is sanctifying, but
it's different. Everyone has a different measure
like the twelve tribes had different lines. They had different measures
They had different lots not each tribe had the same proportion
of inheritance. Are you hearing me? God gave
them their inheritance Sovereignly and distinctively so that some
had smaller lots others had larger lots. Are you hearing me? I do
not have the measure of the Apostle Paul. I Did you get that? I do not have the measure of
Peter. I do not have the measure of Mark, or of Polycarp, or of
Tertullian. I only have the measure that
God has given me. And thus, you too. Now, if this is true, this
is designed to keep you sober. It's designed to keep you sober.
Because it's designed for you to own God's sovereign hand in
your life. Are you following me so far?
I'm getting ready to work this through because I need you to get this. And this
is an anecdote. This is an anecdote to our innate
capacity and inclination to lie about who we are and what we
do. This is an anecdote against that.
This is an anecdote against inflating the resume. You guys get that
this is what the anecdote and then it's designed to humble
you And you'll walk with god because you can't be lying on
god about all that you are and all that you do This is good. Is this good? So we have to stay
right here because see I want to be saved I don't know about
you, but I want to be safe So i'm not gonna say god gave me
an 18 inch ruler when all he gave me was a six and a half
inch ruler 10 inch ruler I want to be able to maximize what he
gave me Not inflate it and not diminish it Are you hearing what
I'm saying? In any event, when we capture
the concept of the measure, it's designed for you and I to have
to tell some truth about it. Here it is. So, allow faith to
tell you the truth about yourself. Here's the first truth that faith,
based upon hearing, will tell you. And this is Proverbs 26.
Now some of y'all already should know this. I've been teaching
Proverbs for 20 years. Don't I drop Proverbs all the
time? You should have learned this Proverbs by now. Are you
guys ready? Listen to what he said. Pull it up. Proverbs 26,
should have had it already. Now watch this one. Now tell
me if this is not true. Is that true? Is that true? Listen
to it. Most men will proclaim everyone
his own what? Stop right there. See it? So
the word of God has already exposed us for lying about our goodness. We will quickly tell people all
the good things we do. And yet the wise prophet raises
this question. But who's going to be faithful?
Where's your faithfulness at? Do you see that? Now, notice
that what's being required here is not the alleged goodness that
you can purport that you've done. but whether or not you're being
faithful to that which God is giving you. Do you guys see that?
Are you guys following that? See, that's exactly what Paul
was laying out when he gave his premise for why he has to speak
trembling to them because God counted him what? Faithful. Didn't
he? So see, this is what Paul is
getting ready to work on in our text. Most of us will proclaim
our own goodness. That's our natural inclination.
I'm not that bad. Yes, you are. and you're actually
worse. See what I'm getting at? So now
let's go to work and work through this. Go back to our text. Let
me work through these three sub points that are critical. Allow
faith to tell you the truth. Avoid hypocrisy. Avoid pride. Avoid boasting. Let faith keep
you from turning away from yourself and looking at other people.
and then bringing them down in order to lift yourself up. See,
because when you do that, you're not operating by faith. See,
faith will keep you locked in the octagon. That's right. Faith will keep you locked in
the octagon, and it won't let you out until you say uncle.
Some of y'all will get that. How many of you brothers got
what I'm talking about? Faith will bring you into the octagon
and say, you ain't getting out until you say uncle. and he will
body slam you and flip you and throw you into the cages and
tell you say uncle because without faith you will go around telling
people things that are not true about you and things that are
not true about other people and you will build a false resume
and you'll do exactly what Paul is saying don't do in Romans
11 20 do not be high-minded but fear See, Paul is still dealing
with a Gentile church that is starting to move in a trajectory
of exalting itself. Are you guys following me? Hence,
the Roman Catholic Church and the papacy. Are y'all with me
in Sunday school? Are you with me in Sunday school?
The preeminence of deatrophies to the point of ruling over everybody
else? Because he threw the ruler away. He threw the measure away
and he just started talking about all of his accomplishments. And
now he wants to rule over the whole church. So here's what
Paul is saying. If you're going to be a functional
church that's operating in a healthy gospel-centered way, faith is
going to have to be the rule. Because when faith works properly,
it'll keep you from boasting in yourself. It'll keep you from
looking at other people. It'll keep you from being distracted
by what is really necessary in your own life. Commitment to
God personally. Devotion to God personally. Growth in character
personally. letting God deal with the other
person. Am I making some sense? It's very important for you to
understand what's taking place. So allow faith to tell you the
truth. Three sub points then. The ruler of faith exposes our
real what? How many of y'all ever lied about
how tall y'all is? How tall y'all is? And this is
a staple in sports, isn't it? In sports, we know the dude ain't
but six feet tall. He not 6'3". Right? We know that, right? So the ruler
of faith exposes our real height. And I'm not going to go through
all the verses, but does God use measures in the Old Testament?
Does he use weights and balances? Does he put us on the scale and
find us wanting? Isn't that what he did with Nebuchadnezzar's
son? He weighed him in the balance,
right? Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. You've been weighed in the balance
and you've been found wanting. He measures, doesn't he? God
uses the metaphor of a measure in the Old Testament all the
time, right? The angel of the Lord in the book of Zechariah.
Measuring Israel, right? So the measure is there. Revelation
speaks of the measure in Revelation chapter 11. Measure the temple
and the altar. But that which is without, let
it be destroyed. And then finally there's a measure in Revelation
chapter 21, right? Concerning the new Jerusalem.
The man that had the measuring rod in his hand. And this is
an Ezekian principle of measuring. Remember the temple in Ezekiel
was measured. What does it mean to measure
it? It's to find its true dimensions. To demonstrate the reality of
the thing. Not what someone says it is,
what it is factually. And when Paul uses this term
rule or measure, he's talking about the gift of grace that
God gives every one of us in order to do what God has called
us to do. That's right. So some point B says biblical
faith will liberate us from the pride of what? Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 3 verse 7 and then we're going to look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 4. So then neither is he that planted, that's Paul,
neither is he that watered, that's Apollos, but God that gives the
increase. See it? So you see how Paul now
is making sure that they don't turn him into a Pope. I turn
Silas our our policy into a pope he's saying we are nothing only
God is to be honored we're tools we are instruments but we are
not the means of your salvation you see how Paul is operating
according to the rule of faith and get I'm going to show you
something else to 1st Corinthians chapter 4 our our next one that
I want us to contemplate under this particular rubric which
is very important to see in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 The Apostle
Paul underscores this in verses 1 through 7. 1 Corinthians 4,
1. Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ. In
other words, make an assessment of Paul and call him a minister
of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Verse 2. Now
watch this. I want you to watch the progression
now. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 2. Moreover, it is required in stewards
that a man be found, what? What's the operative word? What's
the operative word? Right. So every believer is said
to be a steward in the kingdom. Your job is to be faithful, right? Not to advance yourself over
others or make yourself look good. Just do your job. What you get paid for, do your
job. Let everybody else do their job.
Are y'all with me? Verse three, watch this. But with me, here's
what Paul is about to say. This is, I don't want to stay
here long, but this is very critical. When you are working with Christians
who leave their ruler at home, then they want to take your ruler
from you and then measure you according to their rule even
though they left their rule at home this is the verse for you
against them you there watch this but with me it is a very
small thing that I should be judged of you see it Paul says
because the Corinthians did judge him Paul says you're judging
me don't even matter it really doesn't matter watch this or
of any man's judgment. That's what I meant by the second
sub point, how that faith liberates you. Did you guys get that? How
faith liberates you from the judgments of men. Isn't that
amazing? Watch this. Yea, I do not even
judge my own self. That's huge. Then he goes on to say in verse
4 these words for I know nothing of myself yet. Am I not hereby
justified? But he that judges me is the
what the one the Lord is the one measuring all of us verse
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come
who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make
manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man
have what because he when God comes he's gonna judge everybody
and everybody will be measured according to the truth verse
6 and And these things, brother, and I have in a figure transferred
to myself and also to Apollos, for your sake, that you might
learn in us, here it is, not to think of men above that which
is what? That no one of you be puffed
up against another, verse seven, for who makes you to differ from
another? And here it is, and what do you
have that you didn't receive? And if you received it, why are
you acting like you didn't? Are you with me? See it? Do you
see what's going on here? You see what's going on here?
So the Apostle Paul is saying to believers, do not be distracted
because you lost your ruler. Go find it. Go find your ruler. Go find your ruler and realize
that you ain't but 5'8". You're not 6'1". You're not all
that. It's very important for us to
understand what he's getting at here and I want to work this
a little bit more So the rule of faith exposes our real height
the term in the greek is metron metron and it literally means
meter That's what we get our english term meter, right? And
I want you to see how paul explains this go with me now in romans
chapter 15 verse 18 because the book of romans underscores is
now this is a theme that paul is going to use to affirm the
authentic authenticity and the success of his own ministry Romans
15 verse 18. Are we there? Now mark what he
says I will not dare to speak of any of those things which
Christ has not wrought by me Is that good? Listen to what
he says. I'm not going to be talking about
things that I am alleging to have accomplished that Christ
didn't do See this is called operating according to the ruler.
I See, the ruler keeps you from boasting. It keeps you from selfish
pride. It keeps you from exaggerating.
It keeps you from judging others. It liberates you from other people's
judgments. But it demands that you make the value of what you
do rooted in who you know relative to Jesus. Y'all with me so far?
Watch this. It demands that you make the
value of what you do rooted in who you know. It demands that
you do not separate what you do from who you know, because
who you know is your real identity, not what you do. What you do
is not your identity. It's who you know, that is your
identity. And if you know who you know,
then what you do will be a reflection of, or a manifestation of, who
it is that you cast your value. Now there's another aspect of
this that I want to draw home that's very important. So when
he says, I will not dare to speak of those things which Christ
has not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient in word
and deed. That's crazy, but that's my point, isn't it? He knew that
God had called him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He
knew he had power, power, derived power, gifted power to open their
eyes. Their eyes were open to believe
the gospel. They believe the gospel to become
obedient and word and deed. He knew that, didn't he? And
he gives all the credit to who? Jesus. See what I'm getting at?
that Paul is using himself as a model, I will not dare to speak
of those things which Christ has not wrought in me. I will
not dare speak of those things which Christ has not wrought
in me. I will not dare identify myself according to what I have
done. I will identify myself according to who he is and what
he has done through me. My value is rooted in who I am
in Christ, not who I am in terms of what I've done. Very important. Very important. It means then that faith, by
definition, necessitates that you look away from yourself to
Christ as the object of your hope, essence, and being. Did
you guys hear what I just stated? That biblical faith mandates
that you turn away from yourself and look to Christ and value
yourself in light of His value to you. Got it? How valuable is Christ to you? That will determine not only
what you do, but who you are. And this reciprocating principle
underscores the dynamic of your walk with him as your motive
for what you do. I am not doing this for me. I
am doing this for him. In fact, I am not doing this
for him. He's doing it through me. And therefore, because he's
doing it through me, it has the highest potential value it possibly
can have because he's the one doing it. Some people will get
it. I want to bring it home again
from another vantage point that's so critical. Another vantage
point that's so critical around this. The Apostle Paul will teach
us this also in the book of 2 Corinthians 10, verses 12 through 18. I want
you to see it here. You guys trekking with me so
far? really what I'm doing is treating the subject of faith
so that we can snatch it out of the hands of the word of faithers
which had basically poured into it a Middle Eastern pagan man-centered
idea that somehow faith is just kind of a genie that you rub
a coin that you that you that you touch and and you force God
to give you all kind of blessings because you declare it and you
decree it and you say it and you announce it and you declare
it and you know none of that is biblical faith None of that! That's paganism at its heart. And it terminates on you. And
it makes you a god. And god, you're a subservient
slave. Do y'all understand that? It's
horrible and wretched. Now here's what he says, verses
12 through 18, around our very subject of the measure. When
you have the measure, when God has given you biblical faith,
and that biblical faith is rooted in the reality of its object
and that's Jesus Christ. You know that Christ is everything
and you are nothing. But you're not quite nothing
because you're something in Christ. But in yourself you are nothing.
And you must remember in yourself you are nothing because the moment
you don't you lose the rule. You lose the rule. Listen to
it. For we dare not make ourselves
of the number. or compare ourselves with some
that commend themselves. This goes on in religion all
the time. Stinks. Goes on in religion all the time.
Stinks. Especially among preachers. One preacher comparing himself
to another preacher. One preacher wanting to be like
another preacher. That's all idolatry. What if,
in fact, the whole body of Christ, every member, is so endowed with
the infinite omnipotent spirit of God and gifted with graces
and supplies that every member of the body can do far above
and beyond anything that it could ask or think. What if that's
true of every member of the body? I'm talking about the toes. I'm
talking about fingernails. I'm talking about the eyelashes.
What if they are also fully anointed by the spirit of God and gifted
with the resources of grace that they far exceed, watch this,
in their impact, causing the kingdom of God to be manifested
in the world and God to be glorified through the eyelash. What if
that's true for every member? Does any member need to gloat
or laud or vaunt or covet any other member's gift? Are you
guys hearing what I'm saying? The only reason we would is because
we've lost the rule. The only reason we would is because
we've lost the rule. Well, Pastor, how do you know?
By the way people talk in church, by the way they talk. Remember
there are three stages, three characteristics, three qualities,
three qualities of conversation. I'm going to let you out of here
in 10 minutes. Three qualities of conversation. Are you ready? Dumb men talk about people. Average minded men talk about
things. Bright men talk about God. Bright minds talk about God.
Average minds talk about things. Stupid people talk about people. When you hear people always tagging
somebody, talking about somebody, don't say it out loud and don't
say pastor said it. I get that all the time. Pastor,
they said you said. Well, I did say it, but I wasn't
the first to say it. Blame it on Augustine, okay? And Augustine will probably have
blamed it on Moses or Solomon. You are stupid when the preponderance
of your conversation is talking about other people. You are demonstrating
how little time you spend in God's Word out of the abundance
of the heart that the mouth speak. You are showing the distracted
nature of your volition or your will or your affections where
all you talk about are things. And if you are not driven by
a passionate love for this inexhaustible God who has bestowed upon you
a saving mercy to open the windows of heaven so that you can peer
into the unending riches of His grace and talk about all that
you see there. You are betraying the fact that
the veil is still closed thereto. Am I making some sense? You and
I should always be in position, poised to want to have a conversation
about God with anyone. We may start talking about sports,
but I can't, you better not crack that, crack that door. Crack
that door. I'm kicking it in. As soon as
I see a little, oh, what'd you say? Did I hear you say G? Was that G? Did you mean J-E
or G-E? Because I know about J-E. Can
I put the other three out? S-U-S, can I talk about him?
That should be the driving passion of your heart So, for we dare not make ourselves
of the number, compare ourselves with some that commend themselves,
but they measuring themselves. See it? Now watch how they measure
themselves. By themselves. See my point? They don't even have God's measure.
They measure themselves by themselves. And comparing themselves among
themselves, they are stupid. Right? Is that what it says?
They're not wise. Now watch how Paul goes on to
develop this. eight more minutes verse 13 verse 13 watch it but
we will not boast of things outside of our what got it that's our
work we will not boast of things outside of our measure but according
to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us are
we back at Romans 12 now this is what we call expository preaching
Textual preaching comparing scripture with scripture in a lawful fashion
addressing the topic and subject in the text This is the kind
of teaching you want to be under because you want to hear the
continuity and coherency of biblical revelation flowing from one book
to the next book Affirming the topic that's at hand. That's
the kind of teaching you want to be under Right. So listen
to it God has given or distributed to us a measure and it's a measure
that Paul says to reach even you and What did he just do?
He says God gave us the grace to reach you Corinthians. You
see that? Look at the next verse because
we got a few more to go. For we stretch not ourselves beyond
our what? We're not telling people we six-fo
when we five-six. Got that? As though we reached
not unto you for we are come as far as to you also in the
preaching of the gospel. Because what he's saying is that
the measure of the gift of faith given to Paul was to preach Christ
to the Gentiles. And that measure covered Achaia,
it covered Athens, it covered Corinth, it covered Rome, it
covered Bithynia, it covered Asia Minor, it covered Syria. Paul had a large measure, did
he not? Did Apollos not have a measure?
Did Silas not have a measure? They had a measure and that's
what they're talking about. Like every one of us have a measure.
Verse 15 not boasting of things outside our measure that is of
other men's what but having hope that when your faith is what
see your faith can increase just like it can diminish your measure
can go down just like your measure can expand We shall be enlarged by you according
to our rule abundantly. And now he's talking about the
reciprocal relationship, which I'm going to have to talk about
next week. The reciprocal relationship. This is how this goes. If we
understand the gift of the rule and we apply the rule appropriately. and we understand the context
in which the rule is applied. We can actually stick one ruler
on the end of another ruler, and then stick that on the end
of another ruler, and stick that on the end of another ruler,
and stick that on the end of another ruler, and each one of
our rules can affect the other rules so that the gospel can
go to the end of the world. Some of y'all will get that after
church. You guys got that? Notice what
he said. But having hope when your faith is increased, that
we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly. The Apostle
Paul is saying his rule that God gave him, gave him the grace
and capacity to reach them. Now, when they grow up and apply
their rule appropriately, they can in turn help him move on
down the line. This is how you think when you
are mature as christians and you don't isolate yourself into
your little own bubble Thinking that somehow it's all about you.
This is about the larger collective work of the body of christ seeking
to allow the true measure To be fully reached in the totality
of god's total body, which is called god's elect the body of
christ Which measure is the measure of one man and that man is who?
Christ himself. So God intends for each one of
our rulers to play a role in the full measure. You guys understand
that? Go back to our text. Let me work
this through a little bit. You can read the rest of the
verse in your own time. I got five minutes. First Corinthians
chapter, Romans chapter 12. And as we work through our text,
still dealing with the subject of faith, as it were, allowing
faith to tell you the truth about yourselves. The rule of faith
exposes our real height. Biblical faith liberates us from
the pride of self accomplishment. We saw that. And biblical faith
will only operate on the grounds of grace, because it's rooted
in pleasing Christ. the believer's joy. Is that our
joy? Our joy is in pleasing Christ.
So I want to shut it down right here. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
15 verses 7 through 10 where again Paul is going to model
for us the attitude we have to have with regards to this thing
we call faith in relationship to its impact. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 mark what it says verses 7 through 10. Are we there?
He says Now after he had been seen, that is Christ, of James
in his post-resurrection manifestation, then of all the apostles, and
last of all, he was seen of who? Me. Which means Paul is an authentic
apostle, right? As one born out of due season,
for I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called
an apostle. What's talking here? Faith! Faith
is talking here. I am least of all the apostles.
I'm not even worthy to be called an apostle because of what I
did. Faith is talking, isn't it? You see how faith can tell
the truth about itself? Because faith is not looking
to itself as its value. Do you know Paul is so wrapped
up in his value in Christ that he can be honest about his unworthiness? And he's not jeopardized by telling
the whole congregation that by nature he does not deserve to
be an apostle. He doesn't care what you think.
Didn't we just learn that? I don't care what your judgment
is. I'm just letting you know faith has taught me that my value
lies in my master I'm here cuz he put me here. I Don't deserve
to be here and what I've accomplished. I've only accomplished by his
grace. I Don't deserve any glory for
it. And in fact faith demands that I tell you this Faith demands
that I tell you this because not only do you inflate yourself.
I You love attaching yourself to other men and vicariously
living through them. Am I telling the truth? And so
in order for us to enjoy what I'm going to deal with next week
called being a healthy body, you got to make sure you're not
stuck on somebody else trying to live through somebody else.
Why are you walking like that? Cause I'm stuck to this other
person. This is my idol. I'm trying to be like them. Shake
yourself and free yourself. Get some freedom. God called
you by name. You were his sheep. He knew you
before you knew him. And when he called you, you heard
his voice. And his voice spoke to you specifically. He didn't
say y'all. He said you. Singularly you. And he called you and you came
to him. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying? Your identity is
in him. It's not in them. We work together. But it's for
the glory of God in Christ. I think I'm making my point.
He says, for I am the least of the apostles, not me to be called
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. Verse 10.
But by the grace of God, I am what? And his grace, which was
bestowed upon me, was not in what? Warning, warning. Warning. Warning. Do you hear it? Warning. Do not
abuse the gift. Let the gift humble you. Let the gift strip you. Let the gift tear down all false
images of you. Let the gift burn the masks,
ladies. And when you let it burn the
mass, the real you will appear because the real you is secure
in him. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? The real you is secure in him. He says, I am what I
am by the grace of God. And watch this. And his grace
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was what?
Right. Do you see what Paul is doing
consistently? He's acknowledging that grace
works. He's acknowledging that his work
is designed to work. Why would God give us his grace
if it wasn't designed to work? I don't get people who say they
are objects of God's grace, but they can't do anything. What
is grace for? if it's not to accomplish things
outside of your ability for the glory of God. What is it for? Somebody tell me what's it for
what why would God give you faith? Why would he give you grace?
Why would he give you the gifts that we're going to talk about
next week if they were not? Designed to advance his glory
and bring men and women into the same measure of merciful
blessings that you and I are experiencing now Y'all hearing
what I'm saying. So this notion that you can't do anything is
only true of yourself, but you are not by yourself and you are
his you are in Christ and when you are in Christ you can do
all things through him that strengthens you but some of you guys gonna have
to go find your measure because you lost it and you're boasting
in yourself and in your own accomplishments what you can do And Paul says,
true biblical faith given by grace will liberate you from
a false estimation of yourself. It'll liberate you from men's
judgments. It'll liberate you from failure, which is a consequence
of operating out of your own strength. It will empower you
with the graces necessary for you and I to be what we have
been called to be, a manifestation of the body of Christ. It will
help you accomplish what God has called you to do. Without
faith, it's impossible to please God. Amen.