Paul’s Beseeching Love in Romans

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

So we’ve come to the end of the discussion that Paul has had and the developing argument that he has had to show that Israel, all Israel, will be saved. And so now he comes to a very new and interesting important section. It’s beginning at Romans chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. This is really very interesting because Paul has spent, what, 12, 11 chapters in demonstrating that God is sovereign over the salvation of all mankind. He has presented in chapters 1 and 2 and a half to 3 that all mankind is in a state of suppression of God. that it is in a state of wickedness, therefore, not wanting God in their lives, and yet God presents to the world the sacrifice of His Son to redeem the world and to declare the world justified, that is, declared innocent in His Son. While the world is turning its back on God, they are enemies, and they are ungodly, according to Romans 4 verse 5 and 5 verse 20, 5 verse 10, he is declaring them innocent in the person of his son, just amazing. And then he states that the extent of the fall of Adam, its extent covering the whole world, is equal to that Christ’s sacrifice is equal to the extent of Adam’s effect upon the world by Christ justifying all mankind. And then he shows us in 5, 6, 7 and 8 how we live by faith in that kingdom, how God has taken the judgment upon himself so that there is no more wrath, he took it upon himself. and how we are counted as innocent in Jesus without sinners, and no longer counted as sinners in chapter 6, no longer counted as under the judgment of the law in chapter 7, no longer counted under the power of death in chapter 8, because Christ is our resurrection. And he concludes that passage, that section, 5 to 8, by saying, we conclude that if God is for us, nothing can be against us. Neither height, nor depth, nor famine, nakedness, nor the sword, nothing can separate us from the love of God. and not even Israel’s resistance to the Messiah, because God has the will and the power to be able to turn them again and to bring them back. He will elect those who will represent him. to make Israel jealous, so that finally they will turn to him, some now and all in the judgment, when the whole nation will mourn as they see Christ, like one sacrificed on the throne, like a lamb slain on the throne of God in the final judgment. And so Paul, with all of that in mind, says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves to him. Now, if God is sovereign then over the salvation of all people, he is able to bring them back to faith, how does he do it? Well, we’ve seen a great deal of that, but here is another expression of it. He does it by appealing to us. In other words, since God is sovereign, that does not mean that he simply blanks out our mind and cuts short-circuits our will, or rather our weakness of will, and simply zaps us to eternal life. No, he doesn’t do that. God is sovereign, and in such a way that He is able by His love and His mercy and His grace and His judgments to bring us all back to our right minds. As it says there in Romans chapter 11, the Deliverer will come out of Zion and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. God is going to bring the world back to its right mind. But be careful. only through Christ. There’s going to be a mind of unity before the second coming of Christ, which is Antichrist, a uniting of the world, all of them, against the people of God. So don’t make a mistake. What we want to look for is God’s action of bringing people to Jesus Christ. So he does this in his sovereignty by persuading the mind of human beings by the cross, by mercy, and by judgments. And now you can see here in chapter 12, he’s doing it by this persuasive love that he has. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, Now notice that Paul is saying, not, I command you, and you’d better get to it. He’s beseeching them. When you beseech somebody, you presuppose that that somebody understands the reasonableness of what you are calling for, that that person also recognizes the truth. And that’s what is happening here. Even though humanity is fallen and there is no goodness in humanity, when truth is spoken, there is something in the human mind that the Holy Spirit puts there that recognizes it to be true. We don’t have to go around saying, with scientific evidence to prove the existence of God. We do not have to pile up arguments that are rational arguments entirely. What we have to do is declare what God has done in Christ, and the Holy Spirit will make sure that it has a tone familiar and recognizable by the darkest of sinners. And so we proclaim as well as argue. And we are beseeching, and I’m beseeching you as well, You see, some of you listen to this broadcast because you haven’t got the heart to go to church anymore, because you’ve fallen away, backslidden, and you feel unworthy. But God is showing you that your worthiness does not come from any history of your own. Your worthiness comes from the history of Christ. He is your righteousness. He is the atonement for your sins. He is the reconciliation between you and God. He gives you access to the Father. He is everything for you. And that tone, when you hear it, your heart recognizes it. And why does it recognize it? Because it recognizes that God’s love is reasonable, is kind, and wants to get you back into the kingdom. So I’m beseeching you, and I’m beseeching myself. And what am I beseeching you on? The basis on God’s mercy, not God’s judgments. but his mercy. Look, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Look at this book of Romans. I’ve been teaching this book of Romans for decades. I never come to the end of its resources. It is so deep, so high, so wide. It is telling us of a love… of God at the center of this universe of trillions of galaxies. It is telling us that God loves what he has created, loves what he wants to save, and he is going to do it absolutely for certainty. And when he makes that clear to us, it is a beseeching to our own minds. We have stayed away from God because we’ve been angry with him. We’ve said, well, I don’t believe in God. Why does he do this? Why does he allow that? Why does he bring me into the world already broken and wounded and then condemns me for it? Well, all of that is swept away by the good news of the gospel. by the good news that God does not charge our sinfulness and the fact that we have arrived in a broken world against us at all. He has given us Christ, who is the remover of all judgment upon mankind. And therefore, his appeals to our heart are reasonable. I’ve heard preachers say, if you don’t Renounce all sin if you don’t get rid of all your addictions, if you don’t dedicate yourself to God and surrender everything to him and you don’t start witnessing you’re not a true Christian. Listen, we Christians come to Christ because we’re not true people. We come because we are broken, we are dishonest, we are insincere, and we recognize that there is no good in our human nature. And therefore, we ask God for mercy. That is why Paul can beseech us, because God is reasonable. He’s not an exacting judge that demands his pound of flesh and will not accept you until you’ve eked out every little bit of goodness in you and told God, here you are, is this enough? And then God says, no, not quite, a bit more yet. No, we’re not dealing with that kind of God. I beseech you by the mercies of God. So you can come to God and you can say, Father, I have wandered away from you. I’m like a lost sheep and I’m so far gone that I don’t have any desire for you really. I don’t find any pleasure in you anymore. But what I’m hearing today, I instinctively know it is true. And so I’m coming to you, even with all my addictions and all my problems still existing, and I’m asking you to be merciful to me, Father. Thank you. In Jesus’ name. Friends, I want to put a simple proposal to you. I need five people. It would be wonderful if there were ten, but five people who would make a commitment of donating $50 a month for the next year. That would maybe $250. And I know it doesn’t sound a lot, but it’s a lot to this small ministry. So would you consider committing $550 per month for the next year? If so, send your first donation to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. Or make your donation online at faithquestradio.com. That’s five people.com. Committing to $50 per month for a year. Thanks so much. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.