Published: May 4, 2025 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Romans - Part 63 | Scripture: Romans 12:1
Transcript
View Full Transcript →
0:17
Okay. Oh, there's a All right. There's a green light. Oh, were we like old versions of Rush Limbaugh coming in?
0:28
Good stuff. Good stuff. Who am I competing with? Who knows? Oh, technology.
0:44
after a powerful and uh very uh very edifying time in First Peter. we return to Paul's letter in chapter 12
0:56
is where we're going to pick up going to read the um first two verses and I'd like to ask Tim Faylor if you pray for the ministry of the word this
1:07
morning Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and two I urge you therefore brethren brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy
1:19
sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
1:30
mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and acceptable and perfect. Let us pray.
1:45
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the inheritance of your word, the revelation of your character and your works and your mercies. We ask that you
1:56
do indeed transform us according to your word that you remind us to remember and
2:07
forget those commandments. the connection between the fear of you and walking in your ways and loving you and serving you
2:18
with all of our heart and soul and ultimately keeping your commandments. We ask you to enable us to do this as a
2:40
Most of you know that I'm very taken up with history. Read a lot histories, biographies, and sometimes I I I think of the world um 100, 200, 300 years ago as they look back on the famous people
2:53
who are living today and they seek to write biography and they go through the papers. Well, what papers? Well, they they'll go through the emails. Well, of
3:03
course, we erase all those. They go through the texts. They're going to be some short biographies. OMG. I I DK. I And at the end of it,
3:15
lol. Nobody writes letters anymore. Letters are actually the the fodder, the the the material from which historians develop the lives of people
3:26
who lived long ago. Those letters back and forth between husband and wife, between men and men, women and women, just open up a window on their lives in the world in which they lived. But
3:38
that's a lost art. I had the um privilege of of having a father who was a a consumate letter writer. I I was
3:48
always amazed. First of all, his penmanship was was textbook. It was absolutely beautiful. Um, but the way he wrote letters, he would take 8 and 1 half by 11 parchment and he would cut it
4:01
down the not down the lengthwise but across the middle. And he'd take three or four sheets. He'd cut them. He would start the letter on the front of the first half page, go to the front of the
4:11
second, the front of the third, then flip it over, the back of the third, the back of the second, the back of the first, and he would end in a perfectly logical point. he wouldn't just run out
4:22
of space, right? Or he had such an ordered mind in that way. Now, now the contents of all those letters weren't always edifying, but um didn't always agree with the way I was living life,
4:33
but the the the format and the logic of them were were astounding that he was able to do that. He had it all out in his mind before he wrote it down. That was the art of letterw writing. And it
4:44
is indeed a lost art. and and I don't know that it can ever come back because it's not an easy thing to do. Writing letters is hard work because you have to
4:55
formulate your thoughts really ahead of time. Otherwise, what you have and some of you have read books like this is just a rambling of things that are added on and there's really no flow, no logic.
5:07
You wonder at the end of it, okay, why was that written to me? What was being said there? Well, Paul knew how to write a letter. In fact, I would say this letter
5:19
in particular to the Romans is the supreme example of the art of letter writing. Now, now don't get me wrong. I do not want to minimize what it is that Paul says by, oh, it's just a letter.
5:31
But of course, we know it is a letter. It is a letter to the Roman churches. And we're going to get to that in chapter 16 when he greets the individual churches that meet in the various houses
5:41
in Rome. in Rome. And we've been taught that the word epistle that we really don't use much anymore means letter. But actually an epistle is more than a letter. They have
5:55
this in common. They are typically what is called is called occasional. Meaning they're written on the occasion of a particular event. You write a letter for somebody when it's
6:05
their birthday or you write in response to a letter that you receive from them. There is an occasion on which the letter is being written. Now that's true of letters and it's true of
6:17
epistles. But the epistle is different in that it is by nature didactic. Now some of my fathers were didactic too and they crossed over the
6:30
line into epistle. They were still wonderfully written. But an epistle is seeking to teach something. And in that respect, an epistle is different from a letter. John Quincy Adams, for example,
6:42
wrote a series of letters to his son. In fact, the compilation is known as the letters of John Quincy Adams to his son. Each letter was a Bible lesson. And it
6:54
was intended that way. Unfortunately, his son didn't listen to them, but that's what they were. They were actually epistles. And again, Romans is just an
7:09
incredibly organized and well formatted epistle. It is again the supreme example of the art of letterw writing. And and I do think that in a large
7:22
sense the future will look back on our society and the loss of the ability to write logically and and co coherently
7:32
and they'll see that as as a a massive loss in in the civilization of our society. And I don't know that there's any remedy to that. I don't advocate that we get back to letter writing. Um
7:43
but perhaps we can learn in reading the letters that others have written how to organize our thoughts so that we are more logical, more rational and more easily
7:56
comprehended. Now I say all of that because when we come to verse one of Romans chapter Romans chapter 12, we come to a word that that actually stands in the in the front of it in the
8:07
Greek and the word is therefore. And many years ago, I remember listening to a Bible teacher who who made the comment that whenever you read the word there for, you need to
8:18
ask what it's there for because it it is a culmination of an argument that has been going on. And with this particular therefore in
8:35
12:1, there is some disagreement as to why the word is there. There are actually two major threads that run through the Epistle of Romans.
8:46
And we've we've seen Paul's style as we've gone through this letter, how he briefly mentions a concept only to pick it up and develop
8:57
it later on. And he does this all the way through. So there are all of these smaller mentions of justification and then later on picking that up and picking that theme up in for example
9:09
chapter 4. But there are two major paths, two major threads that run through this letter that culminate that come together in verse one of Romans
9:20
chapter 12. chapter 12. It's it's incredibly important verse leading to two very well three actually very very significant chapters for the
9:31
life of the Christian church and of every congregation. There are these two paths. The first one I call the Eden path. Eden
9:41
as in the garden of creation. The second is the Israel path. and and these actually model the whole revelation of God in
9:52
God in scripture that runs from Adam to Jesus Christ and then also from Abraham to Jesus Christ. So the whole scripture is
10:05
laid out according to these two historical redemptive paths. one that runs from creation to redemption and one that runs from Abraham and the call of a
10:16
people to redemption. Both of which are incredibly important to our understanding of what it is Jesus Christ did. And then beyond that, what we as
10:26
his believers, as his body, what we are to be and to do in his absence and until his return. these two paths, the Eden path
10:37
that runs from Romans 1 through Romans 3 and Romans 5 and finally Romans 8. And then the second path, the Israel
10:47
path picks up in Romans 2 and then again in Romans 4 and Romans 7 and then Romans 9 through11. Both of them end with a hymn.
11:02
Both of them end with a doxological song where where Paul is both admiring the work of God in Christ and rejoicing in it and calling the church to do the
11:14
same. So chapter 8 and chapter 11 are the where these two paths come together and they are both logically connected with 12 verse 1. So if you look at them
11:28
as paths, this is the intersection. This is where they have come together. But you you might look at it a different way, especially if you have any experience with experience with building. These two paths are load
11:41
paths that are heavy with theological weight. They both bear a tremendous weight of God's revelation of his purpose and his plan. Both of which
11:54
culminate in Jesus Christ. And so you have the Eden load path that carries with it the curse that comes upon the fall and yet the promise of the seed of
12:05
woman who would crush the serpent's head. And then you have the load path of Israel itself, God's people gathered together out of all the nations as we heard today in Sunday school from
12:16
Deuteronomy. And they were given the covenants and the law and the prophets. So much theological load that Paul refers to. and they were to carry that
12:27
load. That was a loadbearing path. Well, Romans 12:1 is a point load where both of those beams come together. And that load is now
12:39
transferred beginning in chapter 12 to the foundation of application. That's the therefore. That's what it's there for. And yet, it's so much in that word
12:52
in a sense. It would be like, "Okay, we're in Romans chapter 1, chapter 12 verse one. Sorry, we need to go back to chapter 1 and start over." No, we're not going to do that.
13:03
But hopefully, if you've read this letter, as you read this letter, listen for those hints, those echoes of whether Paul's on what what road's he on in this chapter. Is is he on the path that runs
13:16
from Adam to Christ? Well, clearly in chapter 5, that's the path he's on. He he says he mentions Adam or is he on the path from Abraham? Well, chapter 4
13:26
mentions Abraham and so he's on that path. Well, today we come to the point load where those come together. And so this bears so much theological weight
13:38
that I think it's it's one of the most important verses in the Bible because on the basis of those two load paths that Paul has developed from the revelation
13:48
of scripture, this is how we are to live. This is how we are to conduct ourselves as children of God. It's it's all right here. But it doesn't just
13:59
happen. You don't just become a believer and then and then know what it is that you're supposed to do. No, you you need to go back those paths. And that's what I hope to do briefly this morning. And
14:12
so this verse represents that point load in Paul's overall structure of redemptive history. Remember that this particular letter to the Romans is
14:24
unlike all of Paul's other letters in that Paul did not found the church at Rome and he did not consider himself to be he did consider himself to be an
14:35
authoritative apostle but he did not consider himself as for example he did with the Corinthians to be their father in the faith. He's writing this letter,
14:46
as we're going to see as we move through the last chapters. He's writing this letter again because he's planning on going to Rome. And this is an introductory letter where he is laying
14:56
out the gospel that he preaches. And he's hoping that by telling them what he believes and what he preaches that they will then support him in his ministry
15:07
beyond Rome eventually to Spain. So in in a sense this is a deputation letter and that's important to realize because more so than the other letters
15:18
which are dealing with important controversies and conflicts within the Christian bodies that Paul had founded. This one is a purer statement of his
15:30
belief regarding God's work in Jesus Christ. So this point load brings together those two load paths that bear such theological weight and then
15:40
transfers it as I said to the foundation of application. Andrew Nyigrin writes, "A doctrine, a gospel which has no significance for man's life and conduct
15:52
is not a real gospel and life and conduct which are not based on that which comes from this gospel are not Christian life and Christian doctrine."
16:04
These are words to consider as we work through the the last chapters of Romans because they are indeed very much part
16:14
of application. So let's look at the first path, the Eden path. It starts with a question. What was the purpose of
16:25
chapters 9 through 11? We spent the last session in Romans going through 9, 10, and 11, which clearly deal deal with
16:35
Israel. And many scholars looking at those chapters refer to them as a parenthesis or as an excursus or even less honorably as a
16:49
rabbit trail. Many fail to see the purpose of 9, 10, and 11. They seem to them to break up the flow of Paul's argument and their argument is actually quite
17:01
plausible. Let me read for example the last two uh verses of chapter 8. Just listen to to this reading of Romans. For I am convinced that neither
17:13
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, or any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the
17:24
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the tender mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which
17:36
is your spiritual service of worship. that works. That flows. I can go straight from the end of chapter 8 into the
17:47
beginning of chapter 12 and it works. And so it seems like those three chapters in between are perhaps unnecessary. Well, hopefully we'll see
18:00
that they are very, very necessary because both Romans 8 and Romans 11 tie up the logic and the redemptive history
18:12
on one of those two paths of Revelation. Romans 8, those last verses that we read actually starting in verse 31, it's a
18:23
cumulative summary of it's a it's a hymn and it speaks of the victory of Jesus Christ over all powers and principalities restoring his
18:36
people to their uninterrupted communion with God. with God. Listen, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against
18:48
us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how he will he not also with him freely give us all things. Who will bring a charge against
18:59
God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is he who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yay, rather, who was raised, who is at the
19:09
right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. What who shall separate us? And here's where he is talking the the Eden line. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or
19:21
distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as is written, "For thy sake we are being put to death all day long.
19:34
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us." And then he goes on to say, there's no power, no principality, no
19:46
force, nothing in the created realm that can keep us and separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. That's a summary. Again, it's a it's a hymn. It's a doxology. It's
19:58
praising the work of Jesus Christ, but it's doing so in terms that are cosmic, that are creationoriented. There's no mention in that chapter or in
20:10
that verse of the covenant that God made with Abraham, but rather it talks about the forces in the dark realms that Paul frequently speaks of that we frequently
20:21
do not pay attention to and how we are more than conquerors because of the victory of Jesus Christ over those powers of powers of darkness. Those powers of darkness that
20:34
rendered creation tohou vabohu, formless and void. Those powers of darkness that led our first parents into sin and rebellion and then continued to afflict mankind so
20:47
that at one point God destroyed the earth with water except for eight souls. So this is Paul's Eden line. Now he picks this up again. And I want to I
20:58
want to read from Colossians chapter 1 because this is a bit of a commentary on on that whole thread of thought that goes through Romans 1 through8. Paul
21:09
writes in Colossians 1, for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile all things to himself
21:22
having made peace through the blood of his cross. the reconciliation of all things. That that that phrase all things
21:33
is Paul's way of saying not just Israel. It's Paul's way of echoing Isaiah when the Lord says through Isaiah to the servant of Yahweh. He says it's
21:44
too small a thing that you should be the redeemer of Israel. I shall make you the light to the Gentiles. And that's what Paul's getting at here in chapter 8. He's saying God
21:56
has done this through Jesus Christ, the son of man. In fact, the the image that he's using here is an image from Daniel where the vision of the son of man
22:06
approaches the throne of the ancient of days and all authority is given him in heaven and earth. Where have we heard that? Matthew 28. Okay. So, Jesus Christ
22:17
is indeed Israel's Messiah, but he's so much more than that. He is the world's savior. He is the world's redeemer and the one who reconciles the world and
22:28
creation back to its creator. You see, Paul sets the stage for that closing hymn in Romans 8 by speaking of
22:39
what Christ has done in verses 19- 21 where Paul writes, this is in chapter 8 again, for the anxious longing of the
22:50
creation waits eagerly for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
23:02
that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of
23:12
children of God. Creation was itself cursed when man fell. man who was to be the co-regent of creation in the image of God rebelled
23:23
against the creator and with his fall creation fell too. And Paul realizes this because it's all through the scripture. It's through the Psalms. It's
23:34
through the Torah. It's through the prophets in Isaiah. It speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. And so we see that this Eden path leads
23:45
to Jesus Christ and to his death and resurrection. But we walk back that path, if you would with me, walk back that path to Romans
23:55
1. And just a few verses here, starting again in um verse um verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
24:06
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unright righteousness because that which is known about God is evident
24:17
within them. Now we like to think that God didn't reveal himself until Mount Si. You know when he came down in the fire and the and the thunder and the
24:27
lightning and he gave the law. Well, Paul says, "No, that was a particular covenantal revelation of God to his people." But listen to what he continues to say. He says, "That which is known
24:39
about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, and th this is a beautiful statement, his invisible
24:52
attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen. Are you supposed to be able to clearly see that which is
25:05
invisible? That seems like a contradiction of terms, doesn't it? so that man is without
25:17
excuse. That's the creation line. That's the Eden the Eden path. That is the path where we read again in Romans 20 that when men knowing God refused to honor him as God, what
25:29
did they do? They dishonored him in their bodies. their bodies. And Paul goes on in Romans 1 to talk about how they did those dishonorable
25:39
things with their bodies. That's how it starts. And you go down that path through Romans, pick it up in chapter 3, again in chapter 5, again in chapter 8, and you come then to
25:51
chapter 12. And what does Paul say? He says, "By the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is
26:02
your spiritual service of worship." They dishonored God in their bodies, and now they are to present their bodies as living and holy
26:12
sacrifices. Why? Because Jesus Christ, the seed of woman, has come and redeemed creation by his blood on the cross. And
26:23
that new creation that Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 5, that new creation, he says, "Behold, if any man be in Christ, he is new creation." Doesn't even say he is a new
26:34
creation. He doesn't even say he is. He just says, "Any man be in Christ." New creation. That's how he writes it. All things have passed away. Behold, all things are new. That has
26:47
begun. We may not see it. And yet, just like the revelation of God, only even more so, the invisible redemption of Jesus Christ of this creation is clearly
26:59
seen to those who have the eyes of the spirit. And we are without excuse because God has revealed it to us in his word and through his son and his
27:10
resurrection. And so that path leads here to chapter 12:1 on the basis of what Christ has done to redeem creation. Now present your bodies as living and
27:23
holy sacrifices. Now this is how you are to live. He has reconciled all things to himself through the blood of his cross.
27:35
Therefore, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as living and holy sacrifices, acceptable to him. That's the Eden path. And we'll have much to
27:46
say about that. But that takes us through chapter 8. But now we go back to 9, 10, and 11 that I mentioned earlier. Are they just a parenthesis? Are they
27:57
expendable? Can we simply read from chapter 8, the last two verses, 38 and 39, and then jump over to chapter
28:08
12? Well, many would do that for two reasons, two different reasons. There is a very wide teaching in the in the evangelical churches that Israel has
28:19
been absorbed into the Christian church and that God's dealing with Israel no longer matters and we don't need to worry about it. And so whatever those chapters mean, 9, 10, and 11 of Romans,
28:31
I mean, they're they're interesting history, but theologically for the church, they they bear no weight. Well, that's wrong. The other view is that Israel remains
28:42
Israel and is never associated with the church at all. That's dispensationalism. The first one, by the way, is replacement theology. The church has replaced Israel. The second one is dispensationalism that says that the the
28:54
two shall never meet. They are hermetically sealed from one another. And therefore, because Romans 9:10 and 11 deal with Israel, they have nothing to teach the Christian church. And we
29:04
can do away with them. Well, that is wrong, too. wrong, too. those those chapters are they're they're not an a parenthesis. They're not an
29:15
excursus. They in fact are the summary of things that Paul has been saying in Romans since chapter 2. So if we go to chapter 1, we start on the Eden path.
29:27
But then we go to chapter two and we start on the Israel path. And let's do that for a moment just very briefly. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but starting in verse 17 of chapter 2,
29:39
that's where I'm going to pick it up. He says, "But if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast to God and know his will and approve the things
29:50
that are essential, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of
30:01
the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth." These are the Jews. And Paul addresses them and he rebukes them. And at the end of this
30:13
chapter, chapter two, he says, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision is
30:25
that which is of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter. And his praise is not from men, but from God." That starts the Israel path. And
30:36
that path's going to go through chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, and 7. And finally, all of those threads that Paul has picked up and and several things
30:46
that he says, for example, um when he says in verse in chapter 3, verse 1, then what advantage has the Jew or what
30:58
is the benefit of circumcision? And he answers himself, he says, great in every way. Chapter 11, he does a similar thing. I say then, God has not forsaken his
31:08
people, has he? May it never be. I I don't know what the dispensationalist does with that verse. God has not forsaken his people. And Romans 9:10 and 11 are Paul's way of showing that God
31:22
has not rejected his people. The path for from Adam to Jesus Christ goes from chapter 1 to chapter 8. The path from Abraham to Jesus Christ goes from
31:33
chapter 2 to chapter 11. And these parallel paths, as I said, they're parallel and they're intertwined. And then they come together all of a sudden in chapter 12 verse
31:46
one. Chapters 9- 11 as much explain Israel's failure as Romans 8 explains mankind's failure. And both of
31:59
which end in doxology because man fell and Israel failed. And so those two paths seem to
32:10
go straight to the cliff and by which mankind goes off into the abyss followed by Israel going off into the abyss. And God says, "No,
32:21
because the seed of woman will crush the serpent's head, and in the seed of Abraham, all the nations of the world shall be blessed. And that seed of woman and that seed of Abraham is the same
32:31
man, the son of God, the son of man, Jesus Christ." And so what seems to be a hopeless development as we go down this path ends up both at Golgtha at the
32:45
cross where they are both resolved in the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul kind of brings this together a little bit in anticipation in
32:57
chapter 3. He says, "For we have already charged that both Jew and Gentiles are all under sin." And then in verse 19 of the same chapter, he says that every mouth may be closed and all the world
33:08
may become accountable to God. See, both of these paths will end in the wrath of God unless something is done. Neither man from Adam nor the Jew from Abraham
33:22
can count on his providential genetics to save him. All are combined under the wrath of God. Why? So that God alone
33:33
might be praised when he redeems all when Christ reconciles all things to himself, all things from Adam, all things from Abraham. And God will be
33:46
praised because what he does is he takes the failure and the fall of man and he takes the failure and the apost apostasy of Israel and he makes it work to his
33:56
glory or as Paul says the glory of his grace. So in chapter 12:1 he doesn't say by the power of your own
34:06
gumption present your bodies you know he says by the tender mercies of God because there was no hope along either path both led to our destruction
34:20
and so other than the tender mercies and grace of God both paths lead to eternal destruction but they don't they lead to
34:30
Jesus Jesus Christ. And because they lead to Jesus Christ, they lead to chapter 12:1 where we can now present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy
34:41
and acceptable to God. And so both of these paths, as I said, they end in doxology. They end with Jesus Christ
34:53
being the one victorious. 11:es 25 and 2 through 27. For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has
35:06
happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And thus all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, "The deliverer will come from
35:16
Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." The end of both paths is Jesus Christ.
35:29
The intersection of those paths is the cross at cross at Golgatha. And here in chapter 12 verse one is the result that God's people as a royal
35:41
priesthood as we've heard in first Peter as God's people will serve him in spirit and truth presenting their bodies to him
35:52
as living and holy sacrifices acceptable to him. That is what follows beginning in chapter 12. And it's going to touch just about everything we
36:04
do. It's going to touch our paying taxes. It's going to touch our views of one another and racial prejudice. It's going to touch our
36:15
relationship to our government. They are among the most practical chapters in the Bible and also in the church among the most ignored.
36:27
And so all of this has taken place culminating in Jesus Christ. Therefore, that's what it's there for. On the basis of everything God has done
36:38
in Christ, both in creation and through Israel, how then shall we live? Let us pray.
36:49
Father, we do thank you that you have pulled all things together in Jesus Christ, reconciling all things to you through the blood of his cross.
37:00
And we ask that as we return to Paul's letter to the Romans that our eyes would be open, our ears would be clear, and our hearts would be
37:10
malleable, fertile soil, that the soil, the seed might be planted deep and bear a harvest for your glory and for our edification. Help us to understand that the
37:22
application that Paul puts here in these chapters is based on what God has already done. Just as the obedience of Israel to your commandments was based on
37:34
your having delivered them from Egypt, so our obedience is based on your having delivered us from sin. And we give you all the praise and glory for you alone
37:44
are worthy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.