Series: Romans
Title: Love
Text: Romans 12: 9-10
Date: September 22, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
Paul has declared the gospel
of Christ in the first 11 chapters of Romans.
Then in chapter 12, Paul begins puts the doctrine into “shoe leather”—he
tells us how every believer is to walk in it—he applies the doctrine to us. We find this approach in every epistle and
this is how we should preach.
First, we must preach the
three R’s:
Ruined by the fall—all of us broke the law and became guilty before God
by breaking the law. All of us were born
with Adam’s corrupt nature. Therefore,
we do what our sin-nature dictates—our sin-nature is sin therefore in our
natural state all we can do is sin. We
cannot keep the law, we cannot save ourselves by these good works, we cannot
even make ourselves be born-again nor believe on Christ. We are dead in trespasses and in sins
Redemption by the blood of
Christ—like as God the Father made
Adam to represent all who would be born of him, God made his Son to represent
all who shall be born of him, that is, God’s elect. So the Son of God came to save his people
from our sins—to save us from what Adam did to us but also to make us so that
we can never again fall. He did so by
becoming a man and taking our place. When
Christ kept the law, his people kept the law in him; when Christ was crucified
under the penalty of the law, his people were crucified in him; when Christ
arose from the dead justified, all his people arose in him justified. Christ paid all the debt we owed to divine
justice due to our sins declaring God just and the Justifier of those who
believe on his name.
Regeneration by the Holy
Spirit—no sinner can give ourselves
spiritual life—we must be born-again. Those
God chose to save by his grace, those Christ redeemed by grace, the Holy Spirit
regenerates through the preaching of the gospel of Christ and him crucified. God the Holy Spirit sanctifies his people (making
us holy and separating us for himself)—when Christ enters into us creating a
new man (new spirit, new nature) within us in his righteousness and his
holiness.
Paul spent 11 chapters preaching the three R’s before
coming to this 12th chapter to declare the results. In every sermon, if we have not first shut
sinners up in sin and set forth Christ and him crucified then we have failed to
preach the gospel.
But as we preach Christ, we should apply what we
preach to our hearers as Paul does in the remainder of the epistle. None but God can apply what we preach in the
heart. But every time we preach we
should answer the questions the hearer is bound to have.
For example, after hearing Peter preach at Pentecost,
the multitude asked, “What shall we do?”
So Peter made an application telling them to repent and be baptized,
confessing their sins were put away by Christ and they were risen anew. We should answer the question, “How does this
doctrine apply to me? Or what does this teaching mean for me?” Paul applied what he had declared to
believers, saying, “therefore by the mercies of God present your bodies a
living sacrifice unto God.” We
should put what we preach into “shoe leather” so the hearer can walk around in
it.
So having preached Christ Paul, not applies it—he beseeches
us, therefore, by these mercies of God, to present our bodies a living
sacrifice to God. He exhorts us to
humility and love by using the gifts Christ has given us to serve his body. Now, our text today, he says,
Romans 12: 9: Let love be without
dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10: Be
kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one
another;
LOVE
WITHOUT HYPOCRISY
Romans
12: 9: Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil;
cleave to that which is good.
The majority of commentators say
the sense of this ‘Let love be sincere; strive to avoid what is injurious to
others, and earnestly endeavor to do whatever is kind and useful.’
There are some in religion whose heart has not been
made new—they appear to sacrifice much for the church—but in their heart they
are doing it all for self, to be seen by others and glorified. Such was the case with Ananias and
Saphira. They claimed to sell a piece of
land and give all the money to the church.
But the fact they kept back some of the money for themselves showed that
everything they had done was only for self.
And God removed them from his church because of it.
But Christ makes each one he justified to be an
entirely new creation in sanctification. “Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new” (2 Cor 5:17). What are some of
the old things that are passed away?
One, the old dominating power of our sin nature, which
made us slaves to sin, passes away—our sin nature does not pass away. It is
present till we die. But its dominating
power passes away because Christ becomes the new Master ruling our hearts
through the Holy Spirit. It is by
Christ’s power alone that we are enabled to do the things he commands us to do.
Two, the old way of knowing men after the flesh passes
away—the new way is that it is not outward differences that make us to differ
so as to be saved. It is not if a man is
Jew or Gentile that matters, not circumcision (under law) nor uncircumcision
(not under law), not uneducated or educated, bond or free, male or female. But Christ is All and in all. The only thing that makes a sinner differ is
Christ; Christ is All our Salvation!
Three, the old way of living
for ourselves passes away—the new way is that Christ’s love for us
motivates/constrains us to live unto Christ who loved us and gave himself for
us. One way we do that is by loving our
brethren with unfeigned love, with sincere love; striving to avoid what is
injurious to our brethren, and earnestly endeavoring to do whatever is kind and
useful.
LOVE AS FAMILY
Romans 12: 10: Be kindly
affectioned one to another with brotherly love;
Our love for brethren is to be like our love to our
physical family members. Each of us who
are born of God are brothers and sisters born of the same heavenly Father. We are one.
Ephesians 4: 1:
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called, 2: With all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3: Endeavouring to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father
of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all
So this is a relationship that will never
end: for everlasting we will be brother and sisters in Christ. Therefore,
let us love each other with the same kindness and tenderness as our nearest
relatives.
LOVE TO SET AN EXAMPLE
Romans 12: 10…in honour preferring one another;
Most teach this as an exhortation
to humility as in Philippians, “Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves” (Php 2: 3). Indeed,
we should do so and believers do.
But here the word means “to
go before, to lead the way for others, to set an example.” The “honor” refers to the things just
stated and the things he will state. In all these things we are to “set an
example one to another.’ As Paul admonished Timothy the young preacher, “Let
no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Ti 4:12).
Brethren, the same as we look
up to older brethren there is always younger brethren looking up to us. So we are to lead by example. Our chief example is Christ. After washing the disciple’s feet he said, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have
done to you” (Jn 13: 15). We should especially follow Christ’s example when we are
wrongfully accused by committing our cause to Christ, who redeemed us and made
us righteous, even as he committed it all to God his Father.
1 Peter 2: 19: For
this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief,
suffering wrongfully. 20: For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted
for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and
suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
21: For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22: Who did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth: 23: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not
again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously: 24: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on
the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed. 25: For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now
returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Amen!