Dale Partridge - Romans 12_9-13 Part 1 Thirty Marks of a True Christian

00:00:00.000 Amen. Well, what a blessing it is to continue in Romans 12. Today, we enter the heart of Romans 12.

00:00:18.280 Last week, we had a chance to cover really the matter of spiritual gifts, if you remember. It

00:00:25.960 was the contentment that we should have with the measure of faith that was given to us

00:00:30.360 and overcoming the temptation of envy and comparison. The application of last week was

00:00:38.220 be surrendered, be faithful, and be content. If you want to be used by the Lord,

00:00:46.400 be surrendered, be faithful, and be content. If you desire to be used in greater ways,

00:00:54.960 that you have to pray for greater surrender, a greater measure of faith, and greater contentment.

00:01:04.140 Now, to keep the context in mind, I just want to remind us that the apostle opened up this chapter

00:01:09.020 by telling us that the appropriate response to the gospel that he just proclaimed in chapters 1

00:01:16.740 through 11 was the obedience through the surrendering of our lives to Christ through

00:01:25.480 the transforming of our lives through the renewing of our minds and God blesses us with the opportunity

00:01:33.600 to serve him which is a reasonable service and that reasonable service has been blessed with

00:01:39.320 gifts and those gifts are a result of a measure of faith that has been given to each one of us

00:01:45.160 today paul offers another dimension of the christian life and this christian focus but

00:01:55.240 he shifts from gifts to godliness that is the focus it is the shift from gifts to living a

00:02:02.940 godly life in fact the rest of chapter 12 is a list of 30 different imperatives as pastor joseph

00:02:10.180 pointed out. It's 30 commands for how to live a godly life. Now, again, an imperative is a direct

00:02:19.820 command of something to do or not to do, and this chapter is extremely practical. In fact, I expect

00:02:28.100 this is going to be one of the most practical sermons you've heard in a long time. Again, the

00:02:33.840 responses to our salvation is obedience. Orthodoxy equals orthopraxy. The promises 0.95

00:02:43.820 of the gospel prove that we owe our lives to Christ. And so it says, as we open up in chapter

00:02:53.440 12 earlier, it's we've received these mercies of God, these grace, these gifts, and because of that

00:02:58.980 we are to live like Christ. Now remember, we know that the gospel doesn't just change what you do,

00:03:09.340 the gospel changes what you want to do. That's the difference. You've seen people that go through

00:03:16.220 the Alcoholics Anonymous program, they become dry drunks. They're still alcoholics, they just don't

00:03:22.220 drink. That's different with the gospel. The gospel actually takes people and doesn't just

00:03:28.240 change what they want to do. It changes or changes what they do. It changes what they want to do. It

00:03:32.580 changes the heart and the affections. A drunk who is now saved by Christ actually isn't a dry drunk.

00:03:38.980 They're not an alcoholic anymore at all. They actually have self-control, which is one of the

00:03:42.420 fruits of the Spirit. They can, in many cases, actually drink with self-control. It's a

00:03:50.160 transformation, not moralistic legalism. And so today, I want to talk about these commands

00:04:00.400 that are motivated not just by what to do, but because of the gospel, it is something that we

00:04:07.000 should want to do. And so today marks the starting point of a six-part series titled The 30 Marks

00:04:15.960 of a true Christian. And in this sermon, we're going to get a long way in. We're going to cover

00:04:22.540 three, okay? We're going to cover three, which means that we're only going to cover one verse

00:04:27.880 today. It's going to be Romans chapter 12, verse 9. I could not go any faster. Honestly, this

00:04:35.080 particular verse has so much in it that I could do a sermon on each one of these points.

00:04:41.460 we're going to start with chapter 9 verse 1 or sorry chapter 12

00:04:46.680 verse 9 which is point number one of the 30 points it says let love be genuine

00:04:55.380 all right first I want you to just recognize out of all 30 of these imperatives that God

00:05:02.520 in his mercy and in his wisdom has put love first. Let love be genuine. It demonstrates that

00:05:11.680 the Christian life of all behaviors is built on love. John 13, 34, 35 says, a new commandment I

00:05:18.820 give to you, that you love one another. It says, just as I have loved you, you are to love one

00:05:26.260 another. It says, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for

00:05:34.240 one another. See, but Paul qualifies this love. He says it must be genuine. Genuine.

00:05:43.340 Now, the Greek word is the Greek word that we actually get for the term hypocrite. 0.85

00:05:50.600 when he says, let love be genuine, he's saying, let love be without hypocrisy. Let it be done

00:05:58.080 without a mask on. Let it be real.

00:06:04.080 Now, linguistic thievery is a real tactic of the enemy today.

00:06:11.560 What I mean by that is, well, actually, I'll give a quote.

00:06:14.520 So, George Orwell said, control language, and you can control thought.

00:06:24.040 Control thought, and you can control the world.

00:06:28.420 He also said, power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.

00:06:37.200 okay the word love has been hijacked it's been perverted it's been distorted it's been twisted

00:06:45.420 it's been torn down and built back up again with the world's definition now when you distort

00:06:53.600 the definition of love you actually confuse the duty of love in fact much of the world

00:07:01.520 does not even know what real love is. Think about this for a second. Much of the world

00:07:08.140 does not even know what real love is. We think that any strong affection,

00:07:18.200 whether it's pure or perverted, is considered love. For example, we've all heard the phrase,

00:07:24.720 love is in the eye of the beholder. Just think about how ridiculous that statement is with me 0.82

00:07:31.760 for a second. This is a lie. It implies that love is subjective, that it's relative. Love is in the 1.00

00:07:38.200 eye of each individual. It has no objective, unchanging view that's defined by scripture.

00:07:45.300 It's in the eye of the beholder. Whatever you think love is, that's what love is,

00:07:49.860 Which leads us to our second ridiculous phrase, which we all know is love is love.

00:07:56.900 Love is love.

00:07:59.100 Again, this also aims to detach love from any objective standard.

00:08:05.540 Love is what you want it to be. 0.90

00:08:08.720 It's like the ridiculous statement, you be you. 0.89

00:08:14.100 What does that mean? 0.99

00:08:16.160 It means nothing.

00:08:17.500 That's the point.

00:08:18.480 according to scripture love is defined we see it clearly stated in first corinthians 13 but the most

00:08:24.880 succinct portion of first corinthians 13 is verse 6 and it says it does not rejoice at wrongdoing

00:08:33.480 but it rejoices in the truth you cannot have love separated from truth you have to realize that love

00:08:42.260 flows down the banks of truth. If you remove the banks, love starts spilling into things

00:08:49.820 that God does not love. And so love must flow down the banks of truth for it to remain

00:08:56.900 truly loving. In fact, outside of truth, love cannot be genuine. 1 John 4.8 says,

00:09:07.640 anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. Think about that for a second.

00:09:17.740 Anyone who does not love does not know God. The logical deduction of that statement

00:09:26.080 is that you cannot express or experience true love if you do not know God. If you do not

00:09:34.620 love, it's because you do not know God. And what does that mean?

00:09:43.340 The emotion that is experienced, expressed in pagan relationships, it's not actually love.

00:09:53.320 Genuine love is anchored in truth. It has to be. It also has to have an eternal perspective.

00:09:59.100 perspective. Does the atheist, pagan, liberal, homosexual woman that's teaching your child at 1.00

00:10:08.320 the public school love your child? She might say, oh, I love my kids. I love my students. 0.98

00:10:16.740 But let's examine that for a second. Does she actually love your child? Well, love must flow

00:10:21.680 down the banks of truth, and love must have an eternal perspective. The affections expressed by

00:10:33.620 the pagans is not love because it's detached from God's standard of love. It cannot be called

00:10:39.260 love to pursue and encourage a life that does not care about the eternal welfare of their soul.

00:10:47.760 you can't love say you love people but then encourage them to lead a life

00:10:54.940 apart from christ that's not loving

00:10:58.060 we can call it something else it's certainly affection of some degree

00:11:05.660 but it's not love according to scripture philippians 1 9 through 10 says

00:11:11.360 and it is my prayer that you that your love may abound more and more but then it qualifies it

00:11:21.760 with knowledge and all discernment and then it gives you a purpose clause so that you may approve

00:11:30.240 what is excellent and so be pure and blameless in the day of christ

00:11:38.020 that's the kind of love that is required to be defined as love

00:11:46.560 so when paul says let love be genuine he's really saying let love be christian let your love be

00:11:57.040 christian let it be driven by and accompanied with the knowledge of the gospel you can't love

00:12:05.920 people without the gospel? That's not love. You can show affection. But love that does not have

00:12:14.240 the gospel in view is not love. Love has to be rooted in truth and sacrifice.

00:12:25.480 And so ask yourself a question. Do you love people Christianly? Is that the way that you

00:12:30.580 love your family? Do you love people as Christ loved you? Do you love people according to God's

00:12:36.700 word? Or do you love people according just to your emotions? Now, if you do love people rightly,

00:12:45.820 you're going to get to the second part of verse nine, which is point number two.

00:12:51.780 It says that you must abhor what is evil. Now, the Greek word for abhor is defined as expressing a

00:12:59.020 strong feeling of horror or bitter hatred that produces loathing and disgust.

00:13:09.760 Abhor actually is in the present tense, and so it could actually be translated

00:13:14.180 continue abhorring what is evil. It could be translated that way.

00:13:21.660 last year i posted on social media if you hate seeing two men kissing you're not homophobic

00:13:29.940 you're a normal human being god does not want any of us to be comfortable with sexual perversion

00:13:35.580 now there is several thousand people commenting on that particular post sadly many christians 0.84

00:13:44.680 were offended by the statement they said this is not how you win homosexuals to christ

00:13:49.640 It's not how you do it.

00:13:54.260 I'll talk more about that in a second.

00:13:56.320 As you know, I also recently made a statement that the church must enforce modesty.

00:14:02.540 I made that statement a couple months ago.

00:14:05.560 I went on to qualify the degree of modesty, immodesty that we were talking about,

00:14:09.540 which was fairly extreme examples, none of which that I think would be very common in a church like ours.

00:14:16.020 But again, this caused many Christians to be offended.

00:14:18.780 And it caused them to be frustrated that thinking that a place of worship

00:14:23.880 would be more merciful when it comes to a sin like that.

00:14:29.700 We often forget that the most intense moment in Jesus' ministry

00:14:33.560 was when he confronted those who brought evil into a place of worship.

00:14:40.840 You want to see Jesus get frustrated and angry, righteously angry?

00:14:45.260 bring wickedness into his father's house. 0.53

00:14:52.740 The reason so many Christians are offended by statements like these is because they

00:14:56.800 have bought into the lie that hating evil and upholding righteousness is somehow unloving.

00:15:03.060 That it's unloving to do such a thing. We are a very sensitive generation.

00:15:08.800 i think being offended is like our national pastime we love it any possible way we can

00:15:16.240 be offended and leave this is why people leave churches they leave churches the average tenure

00:15:22.420 at a church right now is about 18 months in the 1950s it was almost 20 years we are so extremely

00:15:30.380 sensitive that we cannot understand the value of speaking raw truth. Why do we have a society that

00:15:39.060 is absolutely debauched? It's because we are unwilling to say hard things.

00:15:45.740 In fact, why do pastors in this generation have to say hard things?

00:15:50.240 It's because 50 to 60 years of pastors didn't say hard things. The great Puritan writer Thomas

00:15:57.020 Watson once said, though we must not love the sinner's ways, yet we also must love his soul 0.85

00:16:02.900 and show that love by rebuking him. In fact, the Bible teaches that hating evil is one of the best 0.96

00:16:11.160 ways to love others. Hating evil is the best way, one of the best ways to love others. In Revelation

00:16:18.260 319, Jesus says, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Paul tells

00:16:27.400 pastors in 2 Timothy 4.2, he says, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season to

00:16:32.200 reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching. The truth is that much of the church

00:16:40.980 has become overly comfortable with evil. So much so that as soon as someone starts calling evil,

00:16:48.260 out, we're offended that we might have been too stern or too intense. We tolerate what Christ has

00:16:58.020 not tolerated. We're entertained by shows that we shouldn't watch. We laugh at jokes that God would

00:17:04.380 not like. We participate in gossip that hurts our brothers and sisters. We stay silent about sin to

00:17:11.820 avoid confrontation with family and friends. The church, think about this for a second,

00:17:18.160 the church has become like a lighthouse that has a dimming bulb. Now, the purpose of a lighthouse

00:17:27.060 is to what? It's to warn ships to not wreck against the rocks. The church in America has

00:17:38.020 become like a lighthouse with its dim bulb fading into darkness. We're supposed to be the ones that

00:17:45.900 are stopping people from shipwrecking upon sin, but they don't see it because we don't say it.

00:17:53.400 We're quiet. We're not willing to say the hard things. And when we do, people leave.

00:18:03.040 We've blended into the background of darkness and many have crashed because of our silence.

00:18:08.600 Martin Luther famously said, you are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.

00:18:19.740 Charles Spurgeon wrote, the religion of the Old and New Testament is marked by fervent, outspoken testimonies against evil.

00:18:30.320 That is the historic church.

00:18:33.980 You want to know why we're burned at the stake or martyred?

00:18:38.700 It's because men were willing to say things.

00:18:44.400 Abhor what is evil.

00:18:47.040 Ask yourself, do you abhor what is evil?

00:18:52.780 Do you ever speak out against evil?

00:18:57.880 Have you lovingly testified against evil in anyone's life?

00:19:03.260 Do you have a family member or a friend or acquaintance that you've actually called out the evil in their life lovingly, but nevertheless said something?

00:19:15.900 Silence is not a fruit of the Spirit, by the way. 0.69

00:19:19.800 Quiet Christianity has not produced a robust and potent America. 0.84

00:19:28.120 Silence is actually the reason the church is where it's at. 0.93

00:19:32.040 It's why America is where it's at.

00:19:36.140 Silence on sin is almost always fueled by fear.

00:19:40.100 We're afraid.

00:19:42.320 We fear conflict or the disapproval of man.

00:19:46.660 We actually fear man more than we fear God.

00:19:50.480 It's the reason that we don't speak up.

00:19:53.120 Pastors fear members getting offended.

00:19:56.660 They fear giving, stopping because of their offense.

00:20:01.660 I often say a quote that's kind of a twist of another quote.

00:20:07.120 It's difficult for a pastor to preach against something

00:20:10.120 when his salary depends on him not preaching against it.

00:20:15.700 It's why we are bivocational at Kingsway.

00:20:18.860 I don't ever want to feel that I can't say something

00:20:22.340 because I'm afraid that I won't get my check.

00:20:25.080 I want to be free from that temptation to not compromise on the truth

00:20:36.560 now because this is such a great weakness in the church today

00:20:41.900 I thought it would be helpful to be reminded about what the bible says regarding hating evil

00:20:48.120 you think that maybe it's only in the bible once or twice it's actually there are so many more

00:20:54.880 verses that I didn't include because I wanted to make sure that we finished on time, but I'm going

00:20:59.240 to read a handful of them. Proverbs 8, 13. The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil.

00:21:06.580 Christians are afraid to use the word hate. Fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil. Psalm 97, 0.86

00:21:14.780 verse 10. Hate evil, you who love the Lord, who preserves the souls of his godly ones.

00:21:21.480 he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 119, 104, from your commandments I get

00:21:29.940 understanding, therefore I hate every false way. Amos 8, 15, hate evil, love good, and establish

00:21:39.340 justice in the gate. Psalm 45, 7, you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore

00:21:46.640 Your God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows.

00:21:53.680 Psalm 101, 3, where David says,

00:21:56.880 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.

00:21:59.400 I hate the work of those who fall away.

00:22:02.840 It shall not hasten its grip on me.

00:22:05.480 Psalm 36, 4, speaking of the evil man.

00:22:08.100 He plans wickedness upon his bed.

00:22:10.920 He sets himself on a path that is not good.

00:22:13.200 He does not despise evil, implying that he should.

00:22:19.040 Again, to hate wickedness privately, but never speak up publicly.

00:22:24.500 It's like that lighthouse that refuses to shine its light during a storm.

00:22:30.700 I know lots of people that are bold and private, but are quiet in public.

00:22:38.680 They'll go home and complain to their spouses about the evil in the world.

00:22:43.200 But as soon as they're at a family dinner with their in-laws and friends and cousins, nothing is said.

00:22:52.300 We forget that Jesus said that he didn't come to bring peace, but a sword.

00:22:57.760 And that the truth would divide even families.

00:23:03.120 That shouldn't be our goal.

00:23:04.920 I think the greatest way to love our families is to speak the truth.

00:23:08.620 In love.

00:23:13.200 Again, we're to be like salt that has not lost its saltiness or medicine that's not lost its

00:23:19.040 potency. John Calvin famously said, a dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward

00:23:27.460 if I saw God's truth is attacked and yet remain silent. Spurgeon adds, where there is no hatred

00:23:35.020 of sin, there is no holiness. A man who is a true Christian hates sin with a profound

00:23:40.240 and determined hatred, and he manifests it, he manifests his hatred by opposing it verbally

00:23:48.540 wherever he sees it, end quote. Now again, hatred, this is the key, hatred of sin must be displayed

00:23:57.520 in a way that is righteous. Jesus hated sin. We can't be compromising on truth,

00:24:05.280 But we also can't be perpetuating rudeness or disrespect.

00:24:13.780 Colossians 4.6 says,

00:24:15.760 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

00:24:28.040 I want to read that again.

00:24:30.420 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.

00:24:35.860 That's a way of saying seasoned with potency.

00:24:41.260 So that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

00:24:46.880 Hold on to that for a second because we're going to talk about that.

00:24:50.940 I don't want to look at a verse like Colossians 4, 6.

00:24:53.580 Let your speech always be gracious and think that it's saying, let your speech be timid and weak.

00:25:00.420 Okay, that's not what that passage is saying or teaching.

00:25:05.280 It means speak the truth in love.

00:25:08.040 It means speak the truth in love.

00:25:12.580 Because you care about the souls of those people who are listening.

00:25:17.660 But now I want to focus on this phrase, how you ought to answer each person.

00:25:23.140 It's the end of verse 6.

00:25:25.200 So that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

00:25:29.080 our speech should adapt to our environment and to our audience that's a basic principle we do it

00:25:39.480 all the time by the way our speech changes depending on who we are speaking to and where

00:25:46.480 we are speaking there is a distinct voice for a book and a different one for a speech

00:25:52.440 there's a tone for a podcast and another one for a social media post

00:25:57.280 There is a style for a letter of correction or warning or rebuke.

00:26:02.860 We speak one way to a child and another way to an adult.

00:26:07.540 Public discourse requires different modes of communication than private discourses of communication.

00:26:15.700 Similarly, we speak to friends different than the way that we address our enemies.

00:26:20.240 Just as we approach honest critics differently than we approach dishonest critics.

00:26:26.600 We talk to broken people that are depressed and downtrodden differently than we talk to the proud.

00:26:34.320 Our audience is different, and the environment that we're in is also different.

00:26:41.000 And this is important because, again, we just had some families leave our church because they did not like that I had one voice for social media and one voice for the pulpit.

00:26:51.940 And I've addressed this already, but I want to address it again.

00:26:56.600 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1, Paul defends his variations of communication. And I want us

00:27:05.760 to understand this, because you're in a church where you have several pastors that are speaking

00:27:11.040 bold truths in different ways, for podcasts, to books, to public conferences, to social media

00:27:16.960 posts, wherever that may be. But Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 1, he says,

00:27:23.460 I, Paul, myself, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,

00:27:28.960 I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away.

00:27:37.100 I studied this passage extensively for the last couple weeks.

00:27:41.180 He's saying that when I am with individuals in person, I am gentle.

00:27:46.480 when we're here when we're fellowshipping together from the pulpit

00:27:53.680 we're speaking the truth in love we're gentle

00:27:57.860 but then he says when i'm away and i'm writing to the entire church i'm making bold letters

00:28:08.120 to larger groups of people i'm speaking in a bold manner it was hard actually for the church to

00:28:15.420 understand you got a letter like 1 Corinthians

00:28:17.640 that is extremely

00:28:19.620 intense

00:28:20.220 and then a letter in 2 Corinthians

00:28:23.960 which we're missing a letter between those

00:28:25.780 two letters that

00:28:27.400 for some reason Paul has to defend his

00:28:29.420 ministry

00:28:29.960 and they're

00:28:33.620 wondering why are you so kind to

00:28:35.580 us when you're in person but then you send us

00:28:37.580 these letters that are so intense

00:28:39.020 we know

00:28:43.680 that Jesus

00:28:44.300 corrects his disciples more gently than the way that he approaches the rebukes of the Pharisees.

00:28:52.720 We know he says to be a light to the honest skeptics, but also to not cast pearls before

00:28:58.880 swine and to not give that which is holy to the dogs, he says. He's got a different way

00:29:05.480 of speaking to different people in different environments. And so this passage of scripture

00:29:15.380 is saying, hate evil. Testify it in a way that it's appropriate to the audience and to the

00:29:23.180 environment that you are in. And pray that the Lord does the heavy lifting of the heart.

00:29:28.920 you know when you're when you're speaking in the public square there's a voice that you use

00:29:35.980 and it's different than the voice that you're going to use counseling the couple that's in

00:29:40.660 the middle of marriage counseling that's been members of your church for 10 years and is broken

00:29:43.940 and downtrodden those are two different voices there is the battlefield and then there is the

00:29:50.860 sickbed. The problem happens when you speak one way that's inappropriate to the environment and

00:29:59.560 the audience that you're in. I think we've all done it as parents. You rebuke a child in the way

00:30:07.840 that you would rebuke maybe an older man, and you push the kid too hard, and you go,

00:30:12.680 I'm sorry. I was way too intense there. You speak to a woman the way that you would speak

00:30:20.440 to a man. What does God say about that? Be gentler with wives. When I speak to a pastor that's 0.99

00:30:32.620 walking out of step with scripture, the gloves come off a bit. Because why? James 3.1 says,

00:30:39.600 if you're a teacher, you're going to be held to a higher standard of judgment.

00:30:42.480 I'm not going to come as soft towards false teachers as I am going to come to a teenager

00:30:50.600 in our congregation that accidentally misinterpreted a doctrine and shared it with somebody

00:30:55.480 we need to hate evil and all of its forms but we need to express that hatred appropriately

00:31:06.400 we need to make sure that it's for the appropriate audience at the appropriate time

00:31:11.940 in the appropriate environment.

00:31:14.700 And then we go home and we pray

00:31:18.380 that the Lord does the heavy lifting of the heart.

00:31:23.800 Paul says that loving right and hating evil are not enough.

00:31:28.860 And he ends this verse with the third point,

00:31:32.720 which is hold fast to what is good.

00:31:37.160 You may have heard the term to repent

00:31:39.840 is not just to turn away from sin.

00:31:42.920 It's also to walk toward righteousness.

00:31:46.800 It's not, repentance is not just turn away and stand there.

00:31:52.440 It's to turn away from darkness and walk to the light.

00:31:57.660 I think that's the picture that Paul has in mind here.

00:32:01.180 1 Thessalonians 1.9 describes this type of repentance

00:32:04.880 when it says,

00:32:05.420 For they themselves report what kind of reception we had with you, how you turned to God from idols to serving the living and true God.

00:32:18.560 It's not just turning away from idols.

00:32:21.440 It's turning away from idols and walking toward Christ.

00:32:25.980 In other words, you don't just abhor evil, you also run to what is good.

00:32:31.140 and if you don't think there's a category of stagnancy in between, you're missing it.

00:32:41.600 There really is a leave and cleave nature of what Paul is talking about. Abhor evil and cling to what

00:32:47.140 is good. Now this is again this kind of stagnant nature where you abhor evil or call out evil but

00:32:53.180 don't run to Christ. That's a real category and it's alive and well and what I call Christless

00:32:59.360 conservatism. It's right there in front of us every single day. We have all these pagan Republicans.

00:33:07.080 Many people voted for Trump. Okay, praise God it was a better alternative than Harris. 0.83

00:33:12.880 But all these people that voted for Trump, the vast majority of them, or maybe not the vast

00:33:18.120 majority of them, I'm going to say a good number of them, aren't at church on Sunday.

00:33:23.260 They want some form of righteousness, but they don't actually love Christ.

00:33:31.340 You know, they condemn evil, but they do not promote what is actually righteous.

00:33:38.540 They condemn abortion, but they don't actually affirm chastity.

00:33:45.860 They go, hey, don't have an abortion. Here's some protection. 0.86

00:33:50.920 Right, that's the point right there.

00:33:52.940 It's condemn the evil for a lesser evil. 0.87

00:34:00.880 They condemn transing children, but they don't affirm masculine and feminine biblical identity and roles in men and women. 1.00

00:34:08.960 Don't trans the kids. 0.99

00:34:12.240 You know, but hey, if you want to be, you know, this effeminate man or this butch woman, go for it. 0.99

00:34:17.720 feminism really is transgenderism by the way feminism tells women to be men 0.98

00:34:25.920 i watched the jake paul tyson fight 0.53

00:34:31.400 and i'm sitting there and all of a sudden these women come up to fight and i thought wow these 0.97

00:34:37.660 are just that's gross it's gross and it's not glorious it's not what women are designed for 1.00

00:34:45.000 these women are extremely ripped angry ripping each other apart blood everywhere 1.00

00:34:56.460 is that what god had in mind when he designed eve 1.00

00:35:02.300 but there you have the republicans oh yeah don't tell me what i can and cannot enjoy

00:35:15.000 They hate evil because their conscience convicts them.

00:35:18.480 There's a common grace of morality in the world that they hate those things,

00:35:23.420 but they don't turn to Christ because they still love darkness.

00:35:26.200 It's a real category of in-between, and it's actually low-hanging fruit for the church.

00:35:32.660 These people were maybe raised in the church.

00:35:34.460 They came to church, but they never came to Christ.

00:35:36.520 They've never been regenerate.

00:35:38.000 They have no conviction of sin because they don't have the Holy Spirit.

00:35:40.520 they know of Christ, and it's a wonderful way to preach the gospel. I mean, I know that

00:35:47.320 if you go to the South, you know, where you have lots of nominal Christianity,

00:35:51.980 the first job of a preacher is to convince everybody that they might not be saved

00:35:57.600 so that you can preach the gospel to them. You know, in Portland, Oregon, you know,

00:36:04.800 everybody makes it clear that they're not saved. Now, I will take Nashville nominalism over

00:36:10.960 Portland's paganism every day of the week. It's better for society. But what I'm saying is that

00:36:16.440 as Christians, we need to call these people to Christ. Your conservative father, your Republican

00:36:24.160 neighbor, your NRA hat-wearing friend, hey, call him to Christ. Christless conservatism isn't going

00:36:32.860 to cut it. Paul is saying, in the same degree that you reject evil, run to what is good. The

00:36:40.260 fundamental message here is that there is no neutrality. There is no neutrality. Hate what

00:36:46.000 is evil, cling to what is good. The middle way is no way. It's a call to be radicalized against evil

00:36:58.220 and radicalized for good. And it speaks directly to the Christian temptation of lukewarmism. 0.91

00:37:07.600 That's exactly what it's saying. Hate evil. Cling to what is good. Don't be this uninvolved, 0.72

00:37:17.280 lukewarm Christian. Matthew Henry once said, quote, those that are not on Christ's side are against

00:37:25.500 him. Do you think the Republicans think that? They need to understand that while you might

00:37:35.420 think because you went to church as a kid or you believe in Jesus' existence, that you're with

00:37:41.840 Christ. Again, he says, those that are not on Christ's side are against him. There is no middle

00:37:49.780 ground in Christianity. Neutrality in Christ's cause is a fatal crime, end quote. A fatal crime. 0.74

00:37:58.840 John Owen adds, quote, neutrality in the cause of Christ is itself opposition to him. To refuse to

00:38:06.920 own the truth is to oppose it, end quote. You may have heard the phrase Christ or chaos.

00:38:13.560 it really you know manifests what we're talking about today christ or chaos

00:38:21.540 that is truly the options that you have there is no in between there is no peaceful neutral space

00:38:32.680 we were lied to for so many years that secularism can be peaceful and neutral

00:38:38.620 freedom of religion we're all going to have our rights no the reality is christ is not

00:38:46.700 for the freedom of religion it's a first it's against the first commandment no other gods

00:38:52.500 before me and the second commandment no idols and against the great commission

00:38:58.040 teach them to obey all that i have commanded you

00:39:01.500 and so if something is not clinging to good it's actually evil if it's not clinging to Christ it's

00:39:12.100 actually evil if the school system is not honoring Christ it's evil think about that for a second

00:39:19.700 if it's if the school system is not primarily honoring Christ it's evil

00:39:27.880 if the government is not honoring christ if it's not their chief objective

00:39:35.840 to honor christ it's evil if the mayor of this town is not overly clear that his objective

00:39:47.740 is to honor Christ, his ruling is evil. If the medical system is not honoring Christ,

00:39:58.860 if that's not the chief objective of all of their medical work, it's evil. If the legal system

00:40:05.640 is not focused on biblical justice and honoring Christ, it's evil. If entertainment is not

00:40:15.480 honoring Christ. It's evil. I could go on and on and on. And this is why Christians must say

00:40:22.840 and work toward the phrase, all of Christ for all of life.

00:40:31.840 Compartmentalized Christianity is a form of neutrality. I'm going to say that again.

00:40:36.740 Compartmentalized Christianity is a form of neutrality because it surrenders parts of life 0.75

00:40:41.820 and society to the enemy. Christ has this and has this portion of my life, but he doesn't have that.

00:40:51.840 Now, we can do with a totally pagan school system and a totally pagan government and a totally

00:40:58.620 pagan medical system because we don't have any purpose to Christianize that, right? 0.95

00:41:02.700 Right? Christianity is a totalizing faith. The gospel is comprehensive. We have reduced the 1.00

00:41:14.460 gospel to justification by faith alone. That's all it is. What is the gospel? It's justification

00:41:20.580 by faith alone. It's right there. See how big it is? That's all we talk about for the last

00:41:27.340 several decades in the church and because we have not spoken to any political theology

00:41:33.260 or any civics or any education or any entertainment or any other industries and we've not pushed

00:41:41.660 Christians in to Christianize their places of work, their friends and their family, we have 0.99

00:41:47.920 got a compartmentalized Christianity that is weak and impotent and has led to the world that we have 0.99

00:41:51.900 today. The gospel starts in the soul. It starts small. It's a spiritual message that enters into 0.95

00:42:04.480 a physical being. And that physical being then starts to permeate into many areas of your life.

00:42:14.440 So you know what? If you're a Christian, you know what's going to happen? You're going to educate

00:42:17.700 your kids Christianly. You know what's going to happen at work? You're going to treat your

00:42:22.100 co-workers Christian. If you own that business, you're going to Christianize that business. 0.99

00:42:27.600 If you're an attorney, you're going to make sure that your laws and your arguments are supporting

00:42:33.100 and honoring Christ. If you're a doctor, you're going to make sure that your science and that

00:42:38.400 your processes honor Christ. Christianity is a totalizing faith. Your math curriculum needs to 0.99

00:42:47.220 be Christian. It should hate evil and cling to what is good. Think about that. Your math curriculum 1.00

00:42:53.100 should hate evil and cling to what is good. Your business processes should hate evil and cling to

00:43:00.780 what is good. Your music choices and your landscaping plans for your house should hate evil

00:43:06.500 and cling to what is good. There is no place in the Christian life that is free from the sovereignty 0.97

00:43:13.460 and rulership of Christ.

00:43:16.180 Abraham Kuyper, famous quote, right?

00:43:18.360 There is not a square inch in the whole domain of the human existence

00:43:22.140 over which Christ does not cry, mine.

00:43:26.960 Christ cares about every possible area of your life.

00:43:35.460 That is that there should be no area of your life

00:43:37.600 that you should leave untouched by Christ.

00:43:43.460 There should be no area where your love is not genuine, where you tolerate evil in just this area, where you do not cling or unite to what is good.

00:43:57.540 I'll close with this.

00:44:00.040 Human emotions are often the cause of us failing in these areas.

00:44:05.620 Our emotions will lead us.

00:44:08.720 Now, emotions aren't bad.

00:44:10.200 Sanctified emotions are good.

00:44:11.420 but unsanctified emotions can trip us up when we allow our emotions to determine how we behave

00:44:19.360 rather than subduing those emotions and having them bow down to christ it's when we

00:44:26.220 we focus on how we feel instead of what the scriptures say we get ourselves into trouble

00:44:33.980 this passage of scripture is extremely easy to understand let love be genuine

00:44:41.820 abhor what is evil cling to what is good my goodness that that is one of the most simple

00:44:51.020 statements to guide your entire life it should be memorized it should not be forgotten

00:44:58.140 let love be genuine abhor what is evil and cling to what is good

00:45:03.160 it should really guide the way that you interact with one another if we did that at this church

00:45:10.320 the fruitfulness over the decades would be immense let love be genuine abhor what is evil

00:45:17.720 cling to what is good amen amen let's pray

00:45:21.700 father we thank you lord

00:45:28.120 we thank you lord that we understand that you've given us the holy spirit

00:45:32.580 to give us the categories and the wisdom of the word that we might grasp the basic and easy

00:45:42.660 fundamentals of a Christian life. Lord, we ask that you would help us to let our love be genuine,

00:45:51.900 to hate evil, and to cling to what is good. Lord, we pray for help in that. We pray for boldness and

00:45:59.080 bravery. We pray for softness when needed. We pray for distinction and discernment.

00:46:06.620 And Lord, that you would do the heavy lifting of the heart.

00:46:09.520 We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Dale Partridge - November 27, 2024

Romans 12_9-13 Part 1 Thirty Marks of a True Christian

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