Dale Partridge - Romans 12_9-13 ~ Part 3 - Thirty Marks of a True Christian

00:00:00.000 By God's grace, we are here today in Romans 12.12.

00:00:13.960 So welcome back to this beautiful multiple part series on the faithful or the 30 marks of a true Christian.

00:00:23.080 I almost wish that I labeled it the 30 marks of a faithful Christian, but I think you can understand the distinction there.

00:00:30.000 Today, we are, so we've covered verses 9 through 12 so far,

00:00:37.840 Marks 1 through 7.

00:00:40.680 Today, we are going to get into Marks 8, 9, and 10.

00:00:45.340 And they are rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer.

00:00:54.960 I'd like you to just, I'm going to take you back into some context, just briefly go over where

00:01:00.280 we've been to remind you about Romans 12. Romans 12 is the beginning of a shift from orthodoxy

00:01:10.020 in the chapters 1 through 11 to orthopraxy in chapters 12 through 15. It's the shift that

00:01:17.780 went from what we believe to how we behave because of that particular belief. Now the apostle

00:01:28.180 opened up chapter 12 stating that because of the gospel, because of the gospel he just presented

00:01:37.460 in the previous chapters, our duty as Christians is to sacrifice and surrender. To sacrifice and

00:01:46.140 and it is our reasonable service. In other words, these 30 marks,

00:01:54.900 they're not untethered commands of moralism. It's just not random virtues that you could find

00:02:04.300 in a book. They are responses to the mercy and grace of the gospel.

00:02:11.040 this isn't just something you do it's something you do because of what has been done

00:02:17.660 it is a shift in the way we think they are to be carried out from a heart of gratitude

00:02:26.660 and love not from a heart of performance or a heart to earn standing before god

00:02:37.700 I often remind people, obedience does not earn you standing before God.

00:02:43.100 Only the obedience of Christ can do that.

00:02:46.440 Your obedience pleases God.

00:02:49.360 You obey to please the Lord.

00:02:53.140 But your obedience and your disobedience does not change your standing before God.

00:02:59.080 It is only the obedience of Christ by which you stand.

00:03:04.480 Now, these 30 marks are presented as a series of interconnected exhortations.

00:03:11.600 They each stand independently, yet collectively they reflect this beautiful character of a faithful Christian.

00:03:21.600 Now, today, we're not only focusing on one verse, we're focusing on three processes within one verse.

00:03:33.060 And I say that because rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

00:03:38.640 One, you could write a book on each one of those statements, by the way.

00:03:42.020 I mean, they are so immensely deep.

00:03:44.740 But they are each one process or one dimension of this greater process of how the Christian faces life's trials.

00:03:58.440 That is what this is about.

00:04:02.300 Do you want to know how to face life's trials?

00:04:06.580 Romans 12.12 is the answer to that desire.

00:04:12.600 Rejoice in hope.

00:04:14.320 Be patient in tribulation.

00:04:16.300 Be constant in prayer.

00:04:18.800 Now, if you're old enough, you know that life is filled with extremely difficult trials.

00:04:28.440 It's not if, but when.

00:04:32.300 difficult trials will come.

00:04:35.740 And while the world wants to escape trials,

00:04:38.840 Scripture aims to prepare Christians for trials. 0.71

00:04:46.300 Samuel Rutherford aptly said,

00:04:50.900 quote,

00:04:51.160 The greatest temptation out of hell is to live without trials.

00:04:56.540 But a pool of standing water becomes stagnant.

00:05:00.460 Faith grows stronger when it faces the sharp winter storm.

00:05:06.420 Grace withers without adversity.

00:05:10.020 You cannot quietly slip into heaven without a cross.

00:05:13.680 Crosses shape us into his image, cutting away the pieces of our corruption.

00:05:20.060 He prays, Lord, cut, carve, wound.

00:05:23.780 Do anything to perfect your image in us and make us fit for glory, end quote.

00:05:30.980 That is a different perspective than the world has around facing trials.

00:05:37.600 Life is filled with crosses to bear.

00:05:41.160 And when those crosses bite you as they bit Christ, verse 12 is your counselor.

00:05:48.680 Rejoice in hope. 0.94

00:05:49.740 rejoice in hope, persevere in tribulation, and be constant in prayer.

00:06:00.300 We're going to begin with what I would say is Mark number eight.

00:06:05.000 It's in verse 12, point number one, rejoice in hope.

00:06:10.900 Now, this short command calls for two actions, the actions of rejoicing and a possession of hope.

00:06:18.500 It's not just one, it's two.

00:06:20.640 Now, the word rejoice in the Greek is Cairo.

00:06:24.420 You may have heard that word.

00:06:25.580 We know we have a baby in this congregation named Cairo.

00:06:29.800 And it describes the act of expressing joy.

00:06:35.600 Now, the word here is in the present tense, and it's really calling us to a state of constant, ongoing rejoicing.

00:06:43.060 over 200 times the scripture calls god's people to rejoice it is a constant and ongoing ethic

00:06:52.020 of the christian life the more widely known passages philippians 4 4 which says rejoice

00:06:57.600 in the lord always again i will say rejoice psalm 118 24 says this is the day that the lord has

00:07:06.260 made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. And Romans 12, 15, which we're going to touch on next week,

00:07:14.880 says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

00:07:21.240 But rejoicing isn't something that you do. It's the natural result of what has already been done.

00:07:29.080 It's important to make this distinction. Rejoice isn't just something you do.

00:07:33.500 it's actually the result or the effect of something that has been done

00:07:41.380 as christians we rejoice because why because of our forgiveness of sin

00:07:48.500 because of our righteousness before god in christ because of our possession of eternal life

00:07:55.640 that's why we rejoice we rejoice because something happened to us

00:08:01.920 now some of you might be thinking i know those truths and yet i still struggle to rejoice

00:08:10.300 i know that life is tough it's busy it's difficult

00:08:17.420 and it's sometimes difficult to be in a constant state of rejoicing

00:08:26.160 now here's the reason why we struggle to rejoice

00:08:29.080 what we are saved to let's just say eternal life what we are saved to eternal life finds its

00:08:38.800 potency when it's viewed against the backdrop of what we have been saved from which is eternal

00:08:47.200 death stay with me here in other words the good news of the gospel the good news of the gospel

00:08:56.960 the joy of the Christian life. It shines brightest when it's contrasted with the darkness of our

00:09:03.820 former condition. It's a remembrance of who we once were. I think of Ephesians 2. And you were

00:09:12.660 dead in your trespasses and sins in what you once walked, following the prince and power of the air,

00:09:18.360 walking in the ways of wickedness in the flesh, loving it like the rest of mankind. It's a

00:09:25.680 spiritual biography of who we were, and Paul saw that it was right to remind us of who we were.

00:09:34.520 People don't rejoice in the value of circumstances they don't fully understand.

00:09:42.100 They don't rejoice in the value of a circumstance they fully don't understand.

00:09:47.860 It's the ethic of being entitled. You can maybe

00:09:53.220 well, I'll give you a fun example because we have a lot of homeschool parents here.

00:09:59.720 Homeschool kids can get away with a lot more than public school kids. Waking up at eight,

00:10:06.800 getting started at 9 30, not having a lot of things to get done. You have two hours of school.

00:10:13.760 They don't even appreciate how easy it is in comparison to the rigor that happened in public

00:10:19.000 school because they don't understand. They can't contrast it to what other children or what we as

00:10:27.680 parents may have gone through. And so people don't rejoice in the value of circumstances they don't

00:10:32.300 fully understand. Let me explain this, how this affects us. The church has so severely downplayed

00:10:41.320 what we have been saved from, that we do not rightly rejoice in what we are saved to,

00:10:49.640 or we do not rightly rejoice in the Savior.

00:10:54.860 And what I mean is that if we don't grasp the weight, if we don't grasp the weight of our sin

00:11:00.940 or the cost of redemption, we will never express the proper weight of joy.

00:11:11.320 Why do you not rejoice? Because you don't understand sin. Because you don't understand

00:11:18.940 the gospel. John Owen once said, he that has low thoughts of his sin will never have great thoughts

00:11:29.620 of his salvation. He who has low thoughts of his sin will never have great thoughts of his

00:11:36.440 salvation. He goes on to say, the heart that is little affected by the condemnation of sin

00:11:42.240 will have little joy in the forgiveness of it. We live in a church that has completely downplayed

00:11:48.320 sin. I drove by this morning on a billboard. It said, Jesus loves you so much that he came to die

00:11:59.280 for you. John 3.16. It's one half of the gospel, but it's the second half first.

00:12:12.080 The good news is only good because the bad news is bad. And if you have the good news without the

00:12:18.980 bad news, you lose all the potency of the circumstances or the value of those circumstances

00:12:23.600 because you don't understand what you have been saved from.

00:12:30.140 So if you want to rejoice, be sober about sin.

00:12:35.240 Be sober about sin.

00:12:37.840 When you read the great Puritans and you look back at Thomas Watson or Samuel Rutherford or John Owen. 0.54

00:12:47.560 You know, John Owen wrote the book, The Mortification of Sin.

00:12:51.340 If you just could imagine the perspective that these men had around the grievousness of sin.

00:12:59.280 The sinfulness of sin.

00:13:03.660 It's the reason why their praise and worship is so high.

00:13:08.820 They understand what they have been saved from and they boast in it.

00:13:14.260 They boast in the gospel.

00:13:16.240 They rejoice in the gospel.

00:13:19.020 Self-love is blinding.

00:13:22.900 Do not ever forget what you have been saved from.

00:13:26.000 It devalues the Savior.

00:13:29.280 in Christ we have received the forgiveness of sin.

00:13:35.640 If we don't see this as remarkable, if we don't grasp the gravity of the gospel,

00:13:42.820 you will never appreciate the salvation that you have been given as you ought.

00:13:49.140 Colossians 2, 13 through 14 reminds us of the grandeur of redemption.

00:13:53.680 It says, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made

00:14:02.140 alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt

00:14:11.060 that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

00:14:18.140 you could spend your whole life meditating on that passage of scripture

00:14:24.020 the greatness of it and I say this often if you can't get to a place where the gospel makes you

00:14:32.940 weep you need to sit and ponder the gospel more I'm not saying that hey go home and cry every day

00:14:42.580 about the gospel. I'm just saying is that if you can't get to a place where you grasp the absolute

00:14:49.860 scandal of the gospel, that sinners have been reconciled through the righteousness of Christ,

00:14:58.180 you will never rejoice as you ought. See, part of rejoicing is remembering.

00:15:06.140 And it's memorializing. It's meditating. It's praising. It's exactly why we come to church.

00:15:12.580 Do you know what church does?

00:15:13.860 It does what I'm doing right now.

00:15:15.640 It puts before you the reality of sin and the greatness of the cross.

00:15:22.020 You want to love your family well?

00:15:23.840 Take them to church.

00:15:25.820 It's a great way to love your family.

00:15:30.900 If you forget about the cost of your redemption, you will not rejoice.

00:15:36.820 But Paul says rejoice in hope.

00:15:39.860 So he qualifies it.

00:15:41.180 The substance of our rejoicing is hope.

00:15:46.560 Now, life is significantly difficult for many people that lack hope.

00:15:50.600 I don't know if you've met people without hope. I have.

00:15:53.700 Hopelessness is continuing to grow in a world without Christ.

00:15:59.020 Dostoevsky once wrote,

00:16:01.460 Hopelessness makes the human heart a grave before its time.

00:16:06.500 i often remind people that atheism atheism doesn't just remove all morals you know atheism does

00:16:15.300 it removes all hope it is an absolute disaster for hope the word hope is defined as the expectation

00:16:26.480 of obtaining or experiencing something good. That's what hope is. Now, I truly believe

00:16:36.520 that Christians are the only people who have genuine, imperishable, and unconditional hope. 1.00

00:16:47.620 People in the world have hope, but it's not unconditional and it's not imperishable.

00:16:52.840 so the reality is is that we have unconditional joy we have unconditional hope despite our

00:17:00.600 conditions whether it's cancer whether it's the death of a child whether it's the loss of a job

00:17:05.240 you have hope that is not influenced by conditions it doesn't perish when those things go away

00:17:13.500 we have unconditional joy we have unconditional hope again the atheist can find superficial

00:17:22.600 hope. They can find temporary hope in health, in friends, in future plans, in finances or

00:17:33.020 material realities. But again, these are perishable. These are brittle forms of hope.

00:17:38.480 And it's so sad to watch somebody have all of their hope in something that falls apart.

00:17:45.960 Christ is the only thing that you can have hope in that does not fall apart. It's not dependent

00:17:52.440 upon the existence of this world.

00:17:57.140 1 Peter 1.3 says,

00:17:59.840 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

00:18:02.880 According to his great mercy,

00:18:04.320 he has caused us to be born again

00:18:06.740 to a living hope.

00:18:10.480 A living hope.

00:18:15.940 Through Christ,

00:18:17.520 by the power of the Holy Spirit,

00:18:19.860 you have an unending supply of eternal hope and this might not be a big deal to you right now

00:18:27.880 but I promise you when you're sick or when someone dies or when something significant

00:18:34.500 occurs in your life you will want to remember that truth you have an unending supply of eternal

00:18:44.980 hope. It's the only thing that'll carry you. That's it. Don't think that you're going to

00:18:51.860 turn to anything else that will carry you through the death of your spouse

00:18:58.420 or the diagnosis that takes you or the betrayal of a friend.

00:19:09.880 It's only the unending supply of eternal hope.

00:19:14.980 We have hope in prayer. We have hope in life. We have hope in death. We have hope in death.

00:19:22.280 What an amazing reality that is. And I promise you that passages like Romans 15, 13, which says,

00:19:31.420 now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound

00:19:37.740 in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I know that there will be a day that you latch on to

00:19:43.940 that verse. There will be a day that you hope a pastor comes and

00:19:50.960 reads that verse to you. These are not small passages of

00:19:55.960 scripture. These are mountain peaks. These are truths. These

00:20:01.620 are worthy of memorizing, writing down. I often tell people we

00:20:08.180 want to be prepared for suffering before suffering. You

00:20:12.180 don't want to be figuring out your theology of suffering in the midst of suffering. You don't

00:20:18.920 want to try to figure out, what do I think about the sovereignty of God? Am I placing the blame

00:20:23.100 on the devil? Is it natural law? Is it God himself? Is this evil that God's doing this to me?

00:20:28.620 What's happening here? What kind of theology and framework do you have when something shatters

00:20:34.120 your life. It's important to study a theology of suffering before suffering.

00:20:44.760 So the conclusion of the first mark is to find your joy in the hope of your salvation.

00:20:53.320 Find it in the hope of your salvation.

00:20:56.220 mark number nine i have to keep saying number nine because otherwise everybody's gonna be

00:21:04.600 turning to mark nine but no mark number nine be patient in tribulation now before we examine

00:21:11.400 the meaning of what it means to be patient in tribulation i just want to look at the words

00:21:16.620 for a second because i think the words the etymology uh the the definitions of these words

00:21:23.140 will be helpful and useful. Now, depending on your translation, you could see the word endure.

00:21:28.680 You could see steadfast, patient in tribulation, persevering in trials, it might translate.

00:21:35.460 I actually believe that persevere is probably and very likely Paul's intended meaning for that word,

00:21:41.320 and here's why. Paul always links hope and perseverance together. He just does. Romans 5,

00:21:49.680 2 through 4, Romans 8, 24 through 25, 1 Corinthians 13, 7, 1 Thessalonians 1, 3. Again, this is just

00:21:57.140 as an interpreter that's trying to be faithful with the text, the hope of salvation is the means

00:22:02.860 to endure trials and suffering. That is a theme across Paul's writings. Now in the Greek, the word

00:22:10.720 for persevere means to remain under, to not flee. When trials come and difficult suffering

00:22:28.120 is in front of you, to persevere is to remain under it.

00:22:33.760 now the word tribulation means literally it means to crush it means to press

00:22:45.760 and so this could actually be rendered by hope remain under the crushing weight

00:22:55.000 by hope persevere remain under what is crushing

00:23:04.520 now we do that by hope

00:23:08.200 and we do that by rejoicing in that hope but it's remain under it now i don't know about you

00:23:17.580 But I can relate with that definition because the last five years of my life have been shaped by the crushing and pressing weight of chronic illness.

00:23:33.440 Just a couple days ago, I tried adding something new into my eight foods that I eat for the last several years and found myself struggling to breathe with an EpiPen in my hand.

00:23:45.000 It's just difficult.

00:23:48.840 The Lord has given me enough strength to operate almost like a normal person

00:23:52.440 and enough trials to know that I'm not.

00:24:00.300 And I have been shaped, I have been shaped by the crushing and pressing weight of that illness.

00:24:14.060 it has molded me into a different person.

00:24:22.620 I don't know about you guys.

00:24:24.020 I know many of you have had longstanding trials,

00:24:26.760 trials that are extremely difficult.

00:24:31.360 There's a passage that says,

00:24:33.100 bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

00:24:37.680 I remember early on when I began having chronic illness or suffering,

00:24:42.660 I was very sick.

00:24:44.060 today I weigh about 155 pounds when I moved to Arizona I weighed 128 pounds

00:24:51.720 it's 30 pounds lighter than I am right now I remember family members and friends telling me

00:24:58.600 that they thought maybe I had cancer and the verse of bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the

00:25:06.620 law of Christ many people continue to bear that burden but they bore it with me for a week or a

00:25:12.540 month. And when I would tell them six months later that it was still there, they couldn't grasp the

00:25:20.600 reality of bearing until it's gone. They can't grasp the reality of bearing burdens with people

00:25:29.440 in a form of long-suffering. I don't know if you ever walked anybody through

00:25:36.040 debilitating illness or a disease like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, years-long suffering.

00:25:48.560 That's the kind of pressing that shapes you. It literally changes who you are.

00:25:57.240 You think differently. You behave differently.

00:26:00.300 and like many of you who have endured those types of trials it taught me that there are certain

00:26:10.620 types of sanctification that can only be accomplished by God through long-standing

00:26:18.140 suffering there are parts of me that I don't believe could have changed any other way

00:26:26.180 than through long years of suffering.

00:26:32.960 I remember in 2019, it was about the start of my health trials,

00:26:36.720 I was in prayer asking the Lord for healing.

00:26:40.680 It was new to me and it was shocking that I couldn't breathe the way that I wanted to breathe

00:26:48.120 or that I used to breathe or I couldn't eat or do the things that I wanted to do that I used to do.

00:26:54.120 And I was asking for prayer, and I finished immediately, and I opened up the Bible app on my phone,

00:27:00.640 and the verse of the day, that day, was 2 Corinthians 12, 9 through 10.

00:27:08.120 And it caused me to weep, because it's probably the best verse for the particular prayer that I prayed.

00:27:13.960 and it says it's this paul when he is asking for the removal

00:27:22.080 of a pain or a thorn in his flesh and god responds to him by saying

00:27:30.040 but he said to me my grace is sufficient for you

00:27:34.540 for my power is made perfect in weakness

00:27:39.580 Paul responds

00:27:42.420 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses

00:27:47.160 so that by the power of Christ

00:27:50.300 may rest upon me

00:27:52.980 for the sake of Christ then I am content

00:27:57.020 with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions

00:28:01.100 and calamities for when I am weak

00:28:03.820 then I am strong. Those words cannot be said

00:28:08.240 without the Holy Spirit, by the way. You can't respond that way without the grace of the Holy

00:28:15.060 Spirit. That is supernatural response right there. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

00:28:23.120 That makes no sense to the flesh, none whatsoever. Now, the word weakness,

00:28:29.940 which was used four times, if you noticed, in that two-verse section.

00:28:37.260 That word is athesnea, and according to Strong's lexicon, this word is a state of weakness

00:28:52.360 or a lack of strength. That's the primary

00:28:55.680 definition. But the secondary and tertiary definitions, it says

00:29:01.640 in the lexicon, in the New Testament, it is used both in a physical sense referring to bodily

00:29:06.600 ailments or sickness. It's almost always translated as infirmities.

00:29:14.460 Your New King James, I think, and maybe your King James will translate it as infirmities.

00:29:18.800 it says in a metaphorical sense indicating moral or spiritual weakness

00:29:24.840 it often highlights human frailty and the need for divine strength

00:29:30.240 so to persevere in tribulation

00:29:36.120 to remain under something that is absolutely crushing you

00:29:42.140 we have to be like paul who sees god's grace as sufficient that's number one

00:29:47.980 the hardest part about trials is that your flesh will tell you that you don't deserve this

00:29:58.040 you don't deserve it

00:30:00.800 but the reality is is that you deserve much worse this is the hardest part of suffering

00:30:09.260 i don't deserve to be sick i deserve to be well like that man or that woman 0.81

00:30:16.500 the reality is is no you deserve hell you deserve suffering and so if you can get to the place where

00:30:25.760 you deserve nothing then all becomes grace all of it becomes grace and it's how God can say my grace

00:30:35.640 is sufficient for you even though you have a difficult suffering circumstance before you

00:30:42.400 It is sufficient. It is enough. In fact, it is too much.

00:30:47.760 It is so much more than you deserve.

00:30:56.360 And so we have to be like Paul, who sees that our pressing, one, is not eternal.

00:31:04.260 By God's grace, our pressing is not eternal.

00:31:07.460 Do you know what suffering is for the lost?

00:31:09.400 It's a foretaste of hell.

00:31:12.400 That's all it is.

00:31:14.180 These people that suffer and they think that suicide is going to solve their problem but deny Christ.

00:31:21.900 No, you are killing yourself to a place that is much worse. 0.82

00:31:27.780 Suffering for the pagan is a foretaste of hell. 0.86

00:31:32.980 But suffering for the Christian, and I've said this many times before, 0.53

00:31:37.600 you might feel like your circumstances and your life is crumbling,

00:31:40.880 but your life is crumbling in the hands of God it is crumbling in a way that will sanctify you

00:31:47.400 and that will shape you into Christ James 1 2 through 4 says count it all joy my brothers

00:31:57.140 when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith

00:32:03.300 produces steadfastness or perseverance the same word and let steadfastness have its full effect

00:32:09.940 What's the effect?

00:32:11.480 Let it sanctify.

00:32:12.960 Let it shape you.

00:32:15.280 As Rutherford says,

00:32:17.580 Lord, cut, carve, wound.

00:32:23.280 James continues and says,

00:32:24.720 that you may be perfect and complete,

00:32:28.460 lacking nothing.

00:32:33.000 Somebody here has a trial.

00:32:35.260 I do.

00:32:37.900 Think about it.

00:32:39.820 as shaping you and sanctifying you and preparing you for glory.

00:32:45.960 One pastor writes, quote,

00:32:48.460 persevering when you are experiencing crushing circumstances is not a call for you to just, quote, man up,

00:32:54.960 as they said, and to grit your teeth and to bear it.

00:32:59.460 That is the world's way of dealing with difficult situations.

00:33:03.240 God has given his children a better way to navigate the roaring waters of adversity

00:33:08.840 And in context, it is by having one's mind and heart strengthened by the hope of salvation in which they are rejoicing.

00:33:18.300 In short, since hope is fixed on our glorious future, it is independent of our present crushing circumstances.

00:33:28.320 Therefore, a man can meet anything when he meets it with Christ.

00:33:34.560 That is the key.

00:33:35.740 it seems so foreign until you're there until you need it until you need to actually take

00:33:44.340 this passage of scripture and apply it the last mark is mark number 10 and it's be constant

00:33:52.220 in prayer according to scripture prayer is the act of calling upon god

00:33:59.520 In fact, the very first prayer exists in Genesis chapter 4.

00:34:05.620 It is one chapter after God has promised Eve that there will be a serpent crusher that restores them essentially to Eden.

00:34:19.100 And they're waiting for this serpent crusher.

00:34:22.380 And you better believe that they thought that Abel or Cain maybe was going to be this serpent crusher.

00:34:29.520 And then Seth was born, and they thought, oh, maybe he will be this promised serpent crusher.

00:34:38.560 And it says in chapter 4, verse 26, at that time, people began calling upon the name of the Lord.

00:34:47.900 They were waiting. Oh, Lord, I'm calling on you to fulfill your promise.

00:34:52.780 Where is this serpent crusher to restore us?

00:35:00.180 Now, Paul calls us to be constant in prayer.

00:35:04.860 Constant in prayer.

00:35:07.960 That is to be constantly calling upon God.

00:35:12.020 As I mentioned earlier, these three commands are interconnected.

00:35:16.940 They're pieces of one process for facing life's trials.

00:35:20.960 If I produced a literal translation from the Greek of this passage,

00:35:26.140 just kept the word order very similar,

00:35:28.340 it would say, in hope, rejoicing. In tribulation, enduring. In prayer, persevering.

00:35:36.060 It's worthy to write on your walls in your house. It's worthy to memorize. It's actually

00:35:43.720 cyclical in its logic. If you look at it just for a second with me, hope fuels our endurance.

00:35:51.140 Endurance drives us to prayer. Prayer patiently restores our hope. It's this process over and

00:36:03.220 over and over again. But without prayer, you break your own cycle. Without prayer,

00:36:12.180 you break your own cycle. Now, prayer may be the most neglected spiritual discipline in the church,

00:36:17.700 unfortunately. I once read that any experienced Christian can reflect that 100 will attend on

00:36:26.140 Sunday, 50 will attend midweek Bible study, and five will attend the prayer gathering.

00:36:32.500 We know that to be true from experience. Prayer is the least popular spiritual discipline in the 0.71

00:36:42.880 church. It's a sad truth. I'm going to give you an example from my own life. Strangely,

00:36:55.440 suffering has drawn me to prayer more than anything else.

00:37:01.840 It's a strange truth to think about. Suffering drives you to the cross.

00:37:07.700 What's even more strange is that wellness seems to drive me away from it.

00:37:12.880 that is, I often tell a story of a metaphor that I was thinking of when I was extremely unwell.

00:37:22.940 I felt like I was a dog chained to a post and I couldn't do anything.

00:37:30.540 I felt like I was stuck. I wanted to participate. I wanted to go out. I remember watching my kids

00:37:37.540 swimming in the summer, and they were being tossed around by some stranger who happened to be in the

00:37:43.660 swimming pool, at this public swimming pool, and he was 70 years old, and he had way more strength

00:37:48.020 than I had. And I remember feeling like just tied to this post, and then I wanted to go, and I

00:37:56.600 couldn't. And then I started to get well, and I recognized that that post was Christ.

00:38:03.440 I recognize that when you're sick, you'll find yourself in prayer way more than you find it

00:38:13.460 when you're well. It's unfortunate. It's unfortunate. Paul commands us to be constant

00:38:22.560 or devoted to prayer. It's an ongoing reliance upon God. I'm not just talking about prayers

00:38:32.380 in the morning or prayers in the evening. That's step one. If you're not praying in the morning

00:38:38.720 and the evening, you have work to do. This is something that you should ought to do because

00:38:46.860 you're saved. If you don't pray, I'm literally concerned for your salvation. People that don't

00:38:54.120 pray, concern me. John Calvin once said, prayer is the chief exercise of faith. It's the chief

00:39:09.300 exercise of faith. Robert Haldane said, unceasing continuance in prayer is the best remedy against

00:39:16.860 spiritual fatigue? Are you tired and weak? Are you worn down by the trials of life?

00:39:28.520 Do you pray? Do you pray enough? I'm not saying that you need to be praying every second of the

00:39:36.220 day. I don't think that prayer without seizing means that you're literally praying every single

00:39:40.060 I think it's at the front of mind. You're constantly turning and calling upon God for

00:39:45.320 everything, small things, big things. You must not think of prayer as something that takes from you.

00:39:55.420 And this is the problem. The reason you don't pray is because you think that it takes from you.

00:40:02.140 But something, but prayer is something that gives to you. It's actually a very efficient

00:40:09.380 fueling station for the Christian life. We have to think like Martin Luther. Remember this quote. 0.98

00:40:15.320 Martin Luther says, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.

00:40:25.180 Prayer is calling upon God to help you be effective for the day.

00:40:33.040 It's, for many more reasons, a way to conform your will to God's will.

00:40:40.240 Now, I believe the neglect of prayer revolves around three quick, brief points that I'll make.

00:40:44.460 number one is the unwillingness of your flesh. Our flesh cries out for comfort and prayer is work.

00:40:53.200 Prayer is work. It takes time and it's difficult. Every time I get down to pray, it's hard.

00:41:01.920 It's never easy. It always takes my flesh to care. And you know what's hard? It's caring.

00:41:11.800 caring is hard it means you actually concern yourself with other people and other needs

00:41:20.080 that aren't natural to your flesh number two the pride of our own hearts our hearts

00:41:31.340 resist the regular acknowledgement of our need for god and deceive us into thinking that we

00:41:37.420 can manage without him. That's why you don't pray. Prayer is a regular acknowledgement of God.

00:41:47.800 And your flesh and your heart says, honestly, I don't really need it. Not right now.

00:41:52.580 I don't need you right now, God. I got this. And number three is the ignorance of its power.

00:42:00.300 E.M. Bounds who wrote more on prayer than any other theologian I can think of

00:42:07.160 his book The Pastor in Prayer which is available in the Relearn app

00:42:10.440 is maybe the most impactful book I've ever read it is absolutely astounding

00:42:19.640 on the topic of prayer and he once said quote the greatest tragedy of life

00:42:26.760 is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.

00:42:34.720 Unoffered prayer.

00:42:36.140 Charles Spurgeon adds,

00:42:37.900 prayer is the nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence.

00:42:43.160 You want to watch God's hand move?

00:42:45.420 It's not going to happen without prayer.

00:42:48.960 Prayer is the means by which God blesses your life.

00:42:53.960 now i know as christians who believe in the sovereignty of god it's easy to just say you

00:43:01.740 know i'm going to resign myself to god's plan you know god's sovereign it's going to just happen

00:43:06.900 anyway i don't need to pray i don't need to intervene god doesn't need my prayers to make

00:43:11.600 his plan come to pass but as we see here and in many other places prayer is a command

00:43:21.960 It's something that you do out of the mercy of the gospel.

00:43:27.380 It must not be neglected.

00:43:31.340 We have to remember promises.

00:43:32.960 This is one of my favorite scriptures.

00:43:35.240 If you've ever been attacked, this is my favorite scripture.

00:43:39.360 This is Psalm 34, 17.

00:43:41.940 It says, when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

00:43:48.880 it's an amazing promise prayer is calling on god to fulfill his promises

00:43:57.000 when the righteous cry for help the lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles

00:44:05.880 and philippians 4 6 and we'll close here in a second that says do not be anxious about anything

00:44:12.940 but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known

00:44:21.220 to God and so the combination this combination in verse 12 of rejoicing in hope

00:44:29.540 enduring in tribulations and being constant in prayer

00:44:33.560 is perhaps the most concise and practical guide

00:44:40.780 for the Christian life when you're suffering.

00:44:45.480 It is worthy to memorize.

00:44:50.300 When life feels unsteady,

00:44:53.560 and again, it's not when, it's if.

00:44:57.520 Or sorry, it's not if, it's when.

00:45:00.820 When life feels unsteady,

00:45:03.560 Turn to Romans 12, 12 and ask yourself, how am I living out these three commands?

00:45:11.860 Amen?

00:45:12.880 Let's pray.

00:45:15.840 Father, we thank you, Lord, for the blessing of the gospel.

00:45:20.340 Lord, that we can rejoice and that we can rejoice in hope.

00:45:24.740 And Father, that that hope allows us to persevere in suffering and tribulations and trials.

00:45:31.580 and lord we know that that rejoicing and that hope is restored in prayer

00:45:37.380 father we ask that you would teach us these things that we might be a strong congregation

00:45:42.120 that you might use us as a means to bring weaker brothers and sisters into the flock that we might

00:45:48.480 disciple them of the truth of this particular passage of scripture lord that we are a suffering

00:45:53.500 people that we suffer according to your word father we ask for your help in this and we thank

00:45:59.420 you for your word in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dale Partridge - December 13, 2024

Romans 12_9-13 ~ Part 3 - Thirty Marks of a True Christian

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