If you will, let us open our
Bibles again tonight to Romans chapter 12. This will be the
last message at this time from this chapter. We began four weeks
ago looking at it. And I gave us an outline, I believe,
the second time. The chapter's divided into three
divisions. The first division, the attitude
of the justified toward God, verses one and two. The second
division, which we looked at last time, the attitude of the
justified toward other believers, verses three through 13. And
now tonight, the last part of the chapter, verses 14 through
21, the attitude of the justified toward those outside the faith. And you know when I said justified,
we recognize the Apostle Paul is writing to believers, those
who have been justified by faith. As he said in Romans chapter
five, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God. And so this chapter begins the
practical part of the letter. The other, the first 11 verses,
the doctrinal, the teaching, the doctrinal part of the letter. Someone, a member of our congregation,
reading a book I believe by William Huntington, And he asked me this
question, am I an antinomian? He asked me this question and
I know the reason being because William Huntington was accused
of being an antinomian by some in the day in which he lived
and preached the gospel. What does the word mean, antinomian? Well, if we just look at the
word itself, anti, against, nomo, law, antinomian, those against
the law. I remember many years ago reading
through Martin Lloyd-Jones' commentary on Romans, and in one place I
recall he said that any preacher, or every preacher I should say,
who preaches the gospel of the grace of God will at some time
probably be called an antinomian. If we believe and proclaim, and
I do, what Paul expressed in Romans 3, verse 28, therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. The law has nothing to do, our
obedience to the law has nothing to do with our justification
unless it serve as a schoolmaster, as the letter of Galatians tells
us to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. However, men were called antinomian
in that sense, but that's not the way the term is always used
today. I've been called an antinomian,
I know that by people I consider friends. But that's not the way
the term antinomian is used today. Today there are those who teach
that the law, especially the Ten Commandments, is the believer's
rule of life. And they call those of us who
disagree antinomians. Some of them even say, you know,
the Spirit of God leads us to Mount Calvary, to Christ to be
justified, and then takes us by the hand and leads us to Mount
Sinai to be sanctified. What do I say about the law? Listen, what do I say about the
law if we're talking about the law that God gave to Israel at
Mount Sinai? I say that it is part, part,
not all. It is part of the all scripture
which is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And I also say with the Apostle
Paul, But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. If you turn back, keep your place
here, but turn over a few pages to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Beginning with verse 9, Paul
says, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Don't you know that? Shouldn't
we all know that? That the unrighteous are not
going to inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. And people are deceived. Some
people are deceiving themselves. They are deceived. Neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God, period. But, or and, and such were some
of you. God saves sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Paul said, I'm chief. I'm chief. All of these things that are
listed here, Paul probably was never guilty of committing any
of them outwardly. Outwardly. Now inwardly, spiritually,
that's something different. In fact, I believe he was convinced
he kept the law perfectly until God the Holy Spirit showed him
that the law is not just dealing with outward acts, but even that
inward desire, when that lust begins in the heart. And he was convicted that he
was a sinner. And he learned that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. And such were, Paul says, some
of you. But notice the first thing. But
you're washed. Isn't that wonderful to know
that? That you're washed? And all of these wicked, evil
things that he's named here, that men and women may be guilty
of either outwardly, and if not outwardly, inwardly. They're
all washed away. All that evil, that sin, washed
away. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanseth us from all sin. And you're sanctified. And you're justified. And all
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. That's what I believe about sanctification. I believe that Jesus Christ,
he is our holiness. Just as that high priest had
that plate of gold on the top of his forehead, which said holiness
to the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
holiness. We are accepted in him, in the
beloved. That doesn't mean that believers
do not grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, because certainly
we do. We're born into the kingdom of God. Babes are born. Desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Yes. But Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our holiness. Christ
is our salvation. and there is no salvation apart
from Him. These verses that we are looking
at tonight, our demeanor, our conduct towards those who are
unbelievers, how it should be. Let's begin. And before we begin,
I want to give a quote. rather long quote by John Calvin
that he made on the first verse, verse 14, but really it applies
to all of them. And I quote, I grant that this
is hard and quite contrary to human nature, but there's nothing
so arduous that it cannot be overcome by the power of God. And this we shall never lack
provided we do not neglect to pray for it. Although there is
hardly any who has made such advance in the law of the Lord
that he fulfills this precept, no one can boast that he is a
child of God or glory in the name Christian who has not partially
undertaken this course. and does not struggle daily to
resist the will to do the opposite. What are we talking about? Verse
14, bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Now the connection, this verse
with verse 13, remember, given to hospitality, we would Call
that a good work given to hospitality among believers. But you see,
Christians are even persecuted at times for doing good works
given to hospitality. Bless them that persecute you. Christians are persecuted for
their works many times. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
persecuted for good works. He was persecuted because of
who he confess to be. Remember the Jews even said that,
we're not stoning thee for good work, but because that you being
a man make yourself, thyself equal with God. That's the reason
he was persecuted. But believers, we are persecuted
sometimes even for good works. We read that in the Sermon on
the Mount just a few minutes ago. Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. How do
we bless someone who persecutes us? I don't have any power to
bless anyone. You know, some of those priests,
they bless people, and I guess people feel good about that,
but what power does any man have? Where did God give anyone power
to bless anyone? God told Aaron, the first high
priest, gave him the blessing to put upon the children of God,
the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face
to shine upon thee. Yes, but we bless those who persecute
us. How? By praying for them. By
praying and asking the Lord that he would bless them, that he
might show them the evil of their ways and grant unto them repentance. And we have the Lord Jesus Christ
in this, as in everything, an example. When he was reviled,
and he was, when he was reviled, reviled not again. And we should remember this,
it should never be at the same mouth that both blessings and
cursing come out. What did he say? Bless them that
persecute you, bless and curse not. A fountain, look with me
in James chapter 3, a fountain doesn't give out sweet and bitter
water, does it? It's inconsistent. for a person,
a believer, to bless at times and then curse at other times. James chapter three, verse 10,
he said, out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing.
My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth the fountain
send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the
fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries, either of vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield
salt water and fresh. Bless them that persecute you. Bless and curse not. Thought about Peter. Peter cursed,
the scripture says, when he denied the Lord, I believe the third
time with cursing, that he knew not the man. Someone said, well,
you know, we believe in grace, and we do. We do. We believe that salvation is
by grace through faith. No question about that. Salvation
is of the Lord. But no one who experiences the
grace of God in truth will ever use the truth about grace to express that his sin is nothing
to think about. that when a believer sins, like
Peter, he sinned. Well, what did he say? Oh, well,
I believe in grace. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. So what? I sinned. Grace covers
it all. Peter denied the Lord with cursing,
and yet the scripture tells us when the Lord looked upon him,
what did he do? Did he go out saying, oh, well,
I believe in grace. Not hardly. What did he do? The scripture says he went out
and wept bitterly, bitterly. Out of the same fountain, blessing
and cursing should not proceed. And when we sin, as we do, and
we see this in first John, we have an advocate with the father,
but I've never known, never had any fellowship with a brother,
a sister who truly believed in the grace of God, who ever used
grace as an excuse for sin. When we sin and we do, we confess our sin. We confess
we're guilty and ask the Lord to forgive us. And he does. We know that. If we confess our
sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us. and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Someone said, well, you know,
the preacher down to, not literally, but in another location here
in Houston, someone told me this recently, why would, why would
he drive all the way over there to hear you preach? Pastor, when
you confess many times, I've heard you say that you still
sin. When there's a preacher right down the road from where
that man came, who hasn't sinned in 18 years. Well, I guess he came over here
because he's like me. He has sinned. And he loves to
hear about a gracious Savior. But no one that I know who believes
in the grace of God in truth uses grace as an excuse for sin. But we are admonished here when
someone persecutes us, what are we to do? We're to bless them,
we're to pray for them, pray and ask the Lord's blessing upon
them. And the blessing we seek, what
are we talking about? That God might have mercy upon
them and grant unto them repentance. The next verse, verse 15. Rejoice
with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. We're
looking at these verses as the third part of the outline I gave
us, the attitude of justified believers toward outsiders, including
even enemies. We are to love our neighbors
as ourself. And it doesn't say that we are
to rejoice with them that rejoice if they are believers. We are to weep with them that
weep if they are believers. No, it doesn't say that, does
it? We are admonished as we are in
this world, but not of this world. Yes, rejoice with them that do
rejoice and weep with them that weep. One writer suggested that
we will never, never identify with others unless Unless by
God's sovereign grace, the truth of Christ taking upon Himself
our guilt and misery is by the Holy Spirit deeply impressed
upon our heart and mind. And when it is, then we are able
to rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep,
whether they are believers or non-believers. We're able. to sympathize and empathize with
fellow members of the human race. The opposite of rejoicing is
being filled with envy. And the opposite of weeping is
gloating, gloating. In Proverbs, one of the Proverbs
says, he that is glad of calamities shall not be unpunished. And
sometimes in the history of the nation of Israel, you see that
God punished the nation, and yet some of these other nations
around them laughed and made fun of Israel. And rather than
helping and sympathizing with Israel, they rejoiced that they
were being punished. And what did God say? I'll deal
with you. I'll deal with you. Verse 16,
be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things,
but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own
conceits. You know, the major thing that
brings disharmony, I don't care if it's out in the workforce,
I don't care if it's in a church, I don't care where it is, the
major thing that always brings disharmony when you have it There's
somewhere pride. You're going to find pride somewhere. You remember, I believe it's
in 3 John, isn't it? Where even the Apostle John,
that one man in the church there, he wouldn't even receive the
Apostle John. Why? Seeking preeminence. Pride. Pride. This verse was
translated by one man when it says, mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Be not snobbish. Be not snobbish,
but readily associate with humble folk. Be not conceited. We've all heard of a person being
uppity. Uppity. You've heard that, haven't
you? A person being uppity. What does
that mean? Well, I had to look it up. I
knew it was a word, but I found it uppity. It means to be arrogant. Arrogant. Believers are not to
be uppity, we are to Not to condescend. That's a bad word. We're not
to condescend. No, we're all equal. Not to condescend
to men of low estate. But to remember this, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he did condescend to us men of low estate. He did. And so we are to Be of
the same mind and condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Verse 17, recompense no man evil
for evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. It is the desire to get even
that is even prohibited. Recompense to no man, evil for
evil. Don't even desire that God punish
that person. I've studied and prepared this
message and I'll tell you what, I get convicted driving down
the street. Some car cuts me off, and I think, boy, I wish
a policeman would come up right now. See someone speeding through
a school zone, and that really gets on to me. I tell you, I
don't like to see that. Boy, I wish a policeman would
be right over there. Well, the scripture here is telling
us not even to desire to get even. The Apostle Peter
wrote, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,
but contrary wise blessing, knowing that we are there unto called. You might say, well, Paul's writing
this. He's inspired by God the Holy
Spirit, but God's using him, a man. Did he practice what he
preached? Did he? Did he practice what
he preached? I tell you, it's easy to preach.
It's a little bit harder to live. Look with me in 1 Corinthians.
Did Paul practice what he preached? 1 Corinthians chapter 4. I remember hearing a preacher
many, many years ago. Someone asked him one time, why
don't you live what you preach? I can't. I can't. 1 Corinthians 4, verses 12 and
13. Labor, and labor working with
our own hands. Being reviled, we bless. Did he practice what he preached?
What he wrote? Absolutely. Being reviled, we
bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the
world. and are the offscouring of all
things unto these days. Being reviled, we bless. Being
persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat. He
calls upon us as Christians to live and conduct our business
in all things. Notice he says, provide things
honest in the sight of all men. And I know this is basically
speaking about us as Christian believers, but in the congregation
and the church, but in all of our affairs and everything, we
should be honest and live in such a way that we not be a stumbling
block. to others, to unbelievers, because
this is what it's speaking of. You know, our conduct, people
watch us, people look at us, and our conduct, and it extends
to all of our life. When we're out on the job, people
are, well, there's a man, he's a Christian, she's a Christian,
and look how they steal from their employer. They don't give
them a full day's work like they promised to do. are not only
as good workers, but keep our word. When we tell someone we
will do something, that we will be somewhere, we will tell someone
something, God help us to keep our word, to be honest. I'm talking about to unbelievers
as well as to believers. Keep our word and our bills.
When we sign a contract and we agree to pay so much a month,
let's pay so much a month. Let's pay our bills. That's something
our church, when I used to, or we used to have a program on
a television station, two different stations, but one station in
particular. And they were just filled up
with these people that tell you if you'll send money, you know,
God's going to bless you. And those people owed so much
money to that station. I had them call me on more than
one occasion and ask me if there was some way we could send our
check payment ahead of time so they could pay their bills. Because
they knew that this church, we paid our bills. When they sent
us a bill, the check went back. I told that to the man that owned
that station, or not the man that owned it, man that ran the
station the first day I went out there. I said, I don't want
to be in a contract where if we can't pay, we have to keep
having programs and we just get father and dad. He said, we don't
want you on here if you can't pay. I said, that's good. Because
I, I've known back years ago, I've known people on the radio,
not television so much, but on the radio. They get behind in
their bills, thousands of dollars behind. What a bad testimony
that is to the world, my friends. I spoke with a man the other
day, came out to work on our sign out here. Lord willing,
they're going to get it fixed here before long. But he said,
well, you know, with churches, I said, listen, We don't expect you to do this
free for us. People work for you, when they
go to the grocery store, they have to pay just like all of
us do. Just because we are a church,
we're not asking you to do this for free. You charge us just
like you would anyone else, any other business. That's me, and I believe that's
right. I believe that's the way it should
be. I had a friend, a pastor friend years ago, and he told
me that one time he went to the dentist and the dentist said,
well, he said, you know, I'd like to do this for you because
you're a preacher. He said, listen, he said, if
you want to do this for me because I'm a preacher, he said, I'll
tell you what, you just charge me what you would charge. And
you do that for somebody else, somebody who really needs it,
who's maybe poor and has a need, you do that for them. I'd be
okay with me. God's God's God'll take care
of his people, right? We're not up here begging for
money. We never asked for one penny
when we were on television. Never did. And and why? Because
You were faithful to give and support the ministry. And that's
just the way it should be. Nothing commendable about that,
right? Just doing right. That's all
it is. But that's what Paul is saying
here about us and about our affairs in this life. Verse 18, if it
be possible, as much as life in you live peaceably with all
men. One characteristic of God's people
is, blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers.
One of those characteristics in the Beatitudes. We love the
way of peace. Romans chapter three, Paul said
concerning lost people, the way of peace they have not known.
But when the Lord reveals the truth, the gospel to us, we know
the way of peace. Christ, He's the way that we
have peace with God. Through Christ, through His blood,
in His righteousness, yes. As much as be possible, live
peaceable. God's people love peace. We love
the God of all peace. He's our Father. We love the
Prince of Peace. He's our Savior. And we love
the peace that we have in our conscience. because of the blood
of Jesus Christ that sprinkled thereupon. But there are two
things here that we must notice, two qualifications. If it be
possible, if it be possible, recognizing that there are circumstances
where peace is impossible without sacrificing the truth. We're
never to sacrifice the truth for peace. Look at Matthew chapter
10 and verses 34 and 35. Our Lord said, thank not that I am
come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword, for I'm come to set a man at variance against his
father. daughter against her mother,
and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, if it be possible. There are circumstances where
peace is impossible without sacrificing the truth, and we're never to
sacrifice the truth. And then Paul also says here
in our text, as much as life in you, as far as it depends
upon you. Now, if there's no peace between
me and my neighbor, the fault It better be upon him, not upon
me. I must do everything I can, possibly,
without sacrificing the truth, that there be peace. Verse 19, Dearly beloved, avenge
not yourselves. That's God's place. Vengeance
is mine, saith the Lord. It's God's prerogative and never
ours to take vengeance. And if you notice in these verses,
this seems to be repeated several times because in verse 14, we
read bless and curse not. In verse 17, recompense no man
evil for evil. Now in verse 19, avenge not yourselves. And then again in verse 21, be
not overcome of evil. but overcome evil with good.
That makes some people ask, was Paul aware when he wrote this
letter to the church at Rome? Was he aware that this seems
to be maybe a problem there? Because he repeats it several
times. Avenge not, recompense no man
evil for evil. Or did Paul, having himself been
forgiven so much, and recognizing that he was such a debtor to
the grace of God, did he have such a forgiving spirit that
he exhorted everyone to be even as he was, to forgive, not to
seek revenge. Verse 20, therefore if thine
enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.
For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Let
me tell you something, kindness is able to overcome evil most
of the time. Unless a person just has a conscience
seared with a hot iron. Most of the time, even a hard,
very hard person, can be overcome with just kindness. Turning the
other cheek, going the second mile, kindness. Now verse 21, be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good. To be overcome of evil
is to allow the one who does you wrong to bring you down,
to bring you down to respond in kind. To overcome evil with good means
to continue living a life of faith in and love for Christ. To live a life that's marked
by God's transforming power, the grace of God which bringeth
salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness, swirly lusts, that we should live righteously, soberly,
and godly in this present world. looking for the blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ. God help us to live what we believe,
what we profess, to be a witness and testimony to others. Let's stand and let's sing just
a verse.