Gooding, David: 10 - Body & Mind

Thank you, John, very much, and thank you, Roddy. I go away likewise with my interest in Romans heightened this week, and thank you for those ideas, wholesale ideas that I can get working on when I get back home. So, my brothers and sisters, we come to our final session on the Epistle to the Romans. It's been a delight to study it with you. We have tried, have we not, to study it at various levels, looking as far as we could to things structural, as you have seen, and patterns of thought, and reminding ourselves of the rigor that rightly goes into the study of scripture from one point and another, if we are determined as men and women to love the Lord our God with all our minds, as well as with all our hearts and souls. And I repeat my gratitude to John and Roddy and others of you that have helped me by putting grist to my mill, that I can go away and think about these things, structural patterns that exist not merely for their own sake, but to help us to get the word of God into focus, and the more correctly and sharply apply it to our understandings and behavior. But I think Roddy and John would certainly agree with me, and I think you would too, that we don't have to know the last word about structure, and sometimes not even the first, in order to feel the impact of what God is saying upon us. And feel it enough to make very clear before us the path of duty, however much remains yet to be clarified. And so in this last few moments, I want us to settle down to listen now, like Samuel in the temple to the voice of the Lord. Not so much to the study of structure and patterns, but to say in our hearts, speak, Lord, thy servant hears. What is my plain duty before God? The first thing that strikes me, and it strikes me because it has struck many before me, and they have told me, is the point that Paul makes as he begins this ethical section of the epistle in verse one. um I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Christian ethics isn't just ethics worked out by the intellect a la Aristotle or Plato or modern moral philosophers. Christian ethics are based upon redemption. They are based for their motivation on the mercies of God. Did I hear you say what mercies? Oh, friend, if you say that, then you just haven't read this epistle, have you? You haven't been listening to the immeasurable mercy that found us enemies of God, bodies dishonored and mind corrupt. That found us the common lump that is all mankind, fallen and sinful, and gave the blessed Savior to die for us while we were enemies. And has made us, and has not only forgiven us, but made us vessels of mercy, object lessons before men, and I dare believe before angels. I have it in my heart that when Gabriel saw the Son of God going to the cross, he must have thought God had, God had temporarily taken leave of his mind. To see the Son of God handed up into the hands of godless men. What was God doing now? I don't think it helped Gabriel to find out that the Son of God was being delivered to the cross for the likes of me. That just compounded the problem. What a lesson heaven learns in its highest intelligentsia. To see us made vessels of the mercy of God, eternal advertisements. For the God who had mercy on sinners. I beseech you by the mercies of God that you yield your bodies a living sacrifice. And if I would yield my body a living sacrifice, yeah, I keep listening to you, I- I- I've got some delightful brethren up in Belfast, and good and godly men they are, and they're forever at me, because I'm an impossible theorist, you know. They say being practical, gooding. I say, yes, I'm doing my best, you wouldn't believe it. How shall I be helped to be practical? If you'll help me, brother, you who are so practical, by expounding to me from Romans one to eight to eleven the mercies of God. And bringing those delightful things into my heart and to my conscience. Thus shall help me to be practical. Whereas if you just get up and beat me with a big stick of exhortation, well, my little coke fire will, of spirituality, will spurt a bit more for five minutes and then go out altogether. Help me, my brother. By expounding to me the mercies of God. Ha. I never can read these verses these days without thinking of a certain incident in the Old Testament. We are asked, you see, to give our bodies a living sacrifice. Now, there were some gentlemen in the Old Testament who were offered to God as a living sacrifice, were there not? All five of them, in fact. They are the Levites. When God redeemed Israel out of Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb, the firstborn in Israel who sheltered beneath the blood were, of course, saved, weren't they? By the mercies of God, indeed. So God said, and forever after now, I claim the firstborn as mine. Because, you see, these firstborn, they wouldn't have had any life to live at all, would they? Unless by the mercy of God, the redeeming Passover lamb had died for them. Because the lamb died, by the mercy of God, the firstborn lived. I claim your life, says God, because I bought it. Subsequently, God agreed that he would take, instead of the firstborn, the Levites. And gave them the sacred task of the service of God in the tabernacle, didn't he? They were the boys that, when the tabernacle moved, had to pitch it, or take it down and put it up again, and carry the furniture, and always be on duty to do the chores. Mm-hmm. I don't know whether you've ever contemplated being a Levite. Would you have liked to have been a Levite? Uh-huh. I sometimes thought I would, and then sometimes I thought I would. I mean, it must have been exciting the first day you did it, having all that gold and the s- uh, furniture in the tabernacle and being allowed to carry this and that now. Oh, I'm a Levite, you know, I'm privileged position. But sometimes then I fall to thinking, you know, if I had been called upon to take the tabernacle down five thousand six hundred and seventy five times, when I was then asked to put it up five thousand seven hundred and sixty six times. It would be boring, wouldn't it? I could find myself saying, Moses, do I have to do this? Goodness me, what in all these deeds? I've done it thousands of times. Good bear, old frame. Now then. You suppose I'm going to stay off and do some overtime just to facilitate you offering a sacrifice? Will you think another thing? I've got a wife at home, and I'm going home. Mm-hmm, see. Of course, you never felt like that, but some people do. And therefore God, before he, uh, brought them to do their service, he thought it would be a good thing if they had a ceremony and the Levites were offered to God as a living sacrifice. That made it clear to them what their life would be anyway, didn't it? So they were all assembled, and they were offered as a wave offering before the Lord, a living sacrifice. But then apparently God thought it would be a good thing and help them immensely if he did something as well. So before they were offered as a living sacrifice, God ordained that there should take place a little ceremony called the dedication of the altar. You can read about these things in your favorite book, the book of Numbers, chapter seven and chapter eight. The Levites offered a living sacrifice in Numbers chapter eight, but in chapter seven God had a ceremony called the dedication of the altar. There was the big altar sacrifice. All Israel were assembled around this big altar, and the princes of the people were summoned now to come and give their gifts at the dedication of the altar, and show God, and show the people how much they valued that altar and its significance. The Levites standing by, about to be offered a living sacrifice. And Prince Number One comes with his silver and his treasures and places them down, showing his evaluation of the altar and the redemption it stood for. I can imagine the kid saying to his mum, where'd you get all that silver, mum? Hi, mister. Where do you get all that silver? My boy, when God delivered us out of Egypt, shall we ever forget it? We were given vast treasures as we left. This, my son, is what redemption has brought me. In acknowledgement of what I owe to redemption, I give these treasures back to God. Here comes prince number two. Come prince number three, four. But not only the kids now, but the grown-ups were beginning to look on open mouthed as they saw this heap of treasure, the likes of which they'd not seen in the one place before. And somebody says, if I had all that, I wouldn't give quite that much. I'd put a fiver in the collection plate, I wouldn't put all that. Redemption means so much to those men. Ah, my brother, I wish you'd do that for me sometimes, you know. I gotta offer my s- body a living sacrifice. Why should I do it? By the mercies of God, you say. Because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Tell me, sir, what ought I to see in the cross of Christ? Ah, perhaps it's your meeting when you gather particularly for worship. And I hear you, sir, get up and you and you and you, and you're bringing your treasures on to. And as you confront that cross, you say, in the words of the well-known and loved him were, the whole realm of nature mine. That was an offering far too small, and I sense in your voice you mean it, and it isn't just a pretty tune nor some fancy words. And I say, does that mean that much to that man? And I look at you, madam, and I see the long hours you work and your grace and your patience, and I say, you know how much Christ means to her. How did he, was he able to command such love? And I begin to learn your secret. You're doing it because of your evaluation of the cross of Christ. Oh, I wish you'd do it more. To help the likes of me see how you value the great sacrifice of Christ. And I shall go away and say, if that's what Christ really means, if there's that treasure in the death and the mercy of Christ and the mercies of God, God help me likewise to see it, that it may become the motivation behind my life by the mercies of God led to yield my body a living sacrifice. And get on with the routine. Ah, the rigorous routine. Not always the ecstatic moments, but the rigorous routine of real work and devotion for the Lord. Mark the order to which John Lennox has referred. Not first renew your mind and then offer your body. Because if you could wait until my mind was completely renewed, you might never get the offering of the body. No, off your body, man. Start there. Ain't yours anyway, because Christ has bought it. Yield the principle, all that I have and am, thy gift so free, and I yield my body. But in as much as it's a living sacrifice, then, uh, God will hand back that body to me, won't he, for me to use. And God wants intelligent use. God calls for sacrifice, but not suicide, you know. Oh yeah, sometimes we mistake the difference. We've observed that soldiers sometimes have to get wet feet. And they mustn't say, oh, my mum told me I must never get damp socks. That would could have injured my health. Now, in the course of being a soldier, you might have to have, uh, damp socks. You might even have to sleep in them one night. But there's no part of a soldier's duty to get killed. Is he? His job is to keep alive as long as he can. Because he might be called upon, if it is unavoidable, to yield his life. So might we. But the yielding of our bodies and their use is to be governed by a mind now that is constantly being renewed, breaking the habits and the fashions of the way the world thinks and its systems of values, thus guiding the yielding of our bodies. And then, as John has been pointing out, we come to another very interesting statement, that when we come to think of ourselves and to estimate ourselves, we're not to think more highly than we ought to think, but to think soberly, says verse three, according as God has dealt to each man. And then the words become a little bit uncertain as to how they should be translated. I should imagine there are about a half a dozen different translations possible. Um... For time's sake, I must merely give the one that at the moment I feel is likely to be correct. You'll see the case argued at great length in Cranfield's Contry. I take the word to mean this, as God has dealt to us not a quantity of faith, but measure in the sense of a measuring line, a measuring rod, a criterion, a canon. And that measuring rod, that canon is composed of what? It's composed of the faith. So that in all the circumstances and situations of life, when I come to think about them, myself included, I can get out the old measuring rod that will help me estimate the situation, myself and other people, and how I ought to behave. And the measuring rod is nothing other than the face. It's all the gospel message that's hitherto been told us. Isn't it? So, right or wrong, it ain't a bad thing to do anyway. When it comes to ethical things and estimating this and that, to get out and use the faith, the gospel as a measuring rod. Start with this practical thing. Now we've got to estimate ourselves. How would you estimate yourself, old chap? How would you start to estimate yourself? What do you really think of you? How should I think of me? Well, here's me getting out the measuring line of the faith, Romans one to three, one to eleven, and I run it over you, you're a pretty dim lot, you are, aren't you? You are a dim lot. As I put the measuring line of the faith over you, or have come short, standing before the God of, bar of God's judgment with your mouth shut, unable to l- to lift up your head, and I say it seriously, worthy of eternal damnation. As I put God's measuring rod over you, be assured I put it on myself first. Now, it won't do for the likes of me to go around strutting as though I were some marvelous man, because God has gone and published my, my, my, his estimate. In the gospel, he's gone and told everybody. Gooding even. Has come short. And he come so far short that he stands there without a word to say for himself. Deserving, I say it seriously, eternal damnation. That's what you should think of me too, shouldn't you? Won't do for us to strut around putting on airs and graces. Who are you anyway? Oh, but thank God this measuring rule's got another side to it. One is in inches and others in centimeters, I suppose, like rules are. You put, turn it round and put the other side. Oh, what a person you are. Oh, the highest archangel has never been bought with the blood of Christ like you have been. How could I possibly put an exaggerated estimate upon your value? When the gospel tells me that even when you were a sinner, Christ died for you, and now that you are a believer and a saint and a friend of God, you're one day going to be conformed to the very image of his son. I better be careful how I treat you. If God were to call me to lay down my neck for you, I don't know whether I'm quite ready just yet. But Priscilla and Aquila laid down their necks for Paul, so says Romans. They must have discovered the value of Paul in the way God looked at him in God's redemption. And when it comes to the body of Christ, we're different members, aren't we? With different gifts, but every member valued at that price. Oh, what a thing it is to be a member of the body of Christ. That ministry that God has given me and the ministry God has given you. It's no cheap thing, is it? Some people, if they had a, a, a costly education, would be very proud of it. Do you know what God paid to put you into your job in the body of Christ? You do, don't you? That body which he bought with the blood of his own son. Uh, come on to another practical area. We live in a world where evil is still rife. As much as we can, says Paul, as he comes to the end of chapter twelve, live at peace with all men. It ain't always possible, of course. But when we suffer evil, what are we to do? And in particular, are we free to avenge ourselves? Now, don't avenge yourselves, says Paul. God says so indeed. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Now do observe that as we pass by, because we mustn't descend into sentimentality, may we? Christ, they say, prayed for his enemies, so he did. Father, forgive them. Oh, but, oh, but be careful when you quote it, won't you? Be sure you add the rest. They know not what they do. He was preparing, praying for men who actually didn't know what they did. Very different thing from men who do know what they're doing, isn't it? And is it so that when he prayed for them, Christ had gone over to the view that God will never judge mankind? No, he certainly hadn't. As he went to the cross and the women came out, and they started to cry and weep for him, he said, don't you weep for me, ladies. You weep yourselves. The day is coming when God will judge. And says Peter, as our Lord Jesus went to the cross, he committed himself to him that judges righteously. He believed in the justice of God. He believed most certainly that one day God would arise and justice would be done over the matter of Calvary and its wickedness. In that sure confidence that God would judge, he was set free. He didn't have to retaliate, and when he was revived, he revived not again, and when he suffered, he didn't threaten. But took the injustice and the suffering, as a blanket will try to stop a bullet. And absorbing the man's hostility, if by any means he might bring them to change of heart and repentance, so that passing away from sin, they might live unto righteousness. The Lord doesn't call us to give up our belief in justice and the ultimate judgments of the world. He does ask us to follow Christ and not avenge ourselves. Indeed, the very opposite, to heap coals of fire upon the enemy's head. By being good and kind, even to those who persecute. And pain us. You say that's hard to do. Wait a minute, let me, where do I put my measuring rod? Get the measuring rod over you. And bodies hurt you? You're smarting under the injustice, and you're going to avenge yourself? That's a funny thing for you to be doing it. I thought you believed the gospel. And that when you were kicking God in the shins and still an enemy, Christ died for you. Don't you believe the gospel? You say, I believe he died for me when I was an enemy. But now you're thinking about avenging yourself. That's a... Our ethics, ladies and gentlemen, are determined by the gospel, aren't they? But then Paul talks about the powers that be. They can be moderately good people or terribly evil, like Pharaoh or Nero. But they are ordained of God. And they are God's ministers for retribution. So you as Christians must respect them. But the magistrate doesn't c- bear the sword in vain. He's God's minister to execute wrath on evildoers. You say, I don't believe in retribution. Pardon? You don't be re- don't believe the state has the right to punish. No, you say, I think retribution is a very bad thing. Half minute, let me get out my rule, the rule of the gospel, and put it on you and your thinking. If retribution isn't just, pray tell me what Calvary was about. What do you believe happened at Calvary? Pleas the Lord to bruise him. Don't you say retribution is immoral? If it is, well, Calvary's immoral then, and your whole salvation goes down the drain. It doesn't give way to the false philosophy of this modern world that retribution is a wrong, mistaken, and evil thing. The measuring line of the gospel tells us so. So, owe no man anything, to come on to the next bit, but, uh, love one another. Why should I love anybody? Ooh, better get the measuring rod of the gospel out again. Uh, because I- I'm not under the law. Well, so you're not, as John pointed out very helpfully. But then Romans eight says that we've been given the Holy Spirit and new life in Christ, that the righteous requirement of the law shall be fulfilled in us. Isn't that so? That's what we believe in the theory. And when as believers we learn to love, love in that sense is not a substitute for the law, it is a fulfilling of the law. And then says Paul, you'll have to watch your Gentile behavior, won't you? Those doubtful nightclubs and things. And those doubtful films. And those doubtful novels. Why? Because he says, huh, get out the measuring line of the gospel, you'll see. You could do with a bit of a clock also. For the night is far spent, and the day is at hand, and the Lord is coming. And it behoves us to wake up and no longer live like the people of the darkness, but to live as people of the night, in light of the fact that the Lord Jesus comes. Our salvation is nearer than when we believed. It's an integral part of the gospel, isn't it? The second coming of Christ. Let's see, we constantly keep it to the fore. The dear old Thessalonians, when they got converted, says Paul, four or five or six weeks after, or a month or two after, when he wrote to his new converts to explain to them what had really happened. They turned to God from idols, to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his son from heaven. From the very first they knew about the second coming of Christ, and it became a very potent part in the motivation of their Christian lives and in the control of their Christian lives. This is not mere philosophical ethics, this is ethics informed at every movement by the gospel. And now he comes to this big thing about Jews and Gentiles. Chapter fourteen, him that is weak in faith. So glad that John emphasized that, not weak in the faith. Hoo-hoo, you're weak in the faith, Paul would chase you round the north pole, up by the south, and and round again east to west. Aha. There were some fellows in Galatia who were weak in their faith. And when old Pete, uh, not old Peter, of course not, when the respected Apostle Peter allowed himself to indulge in a little bit of dissimulation, and before a whole conference load of people, he pretended not to believe what he did believe. That's what dissimulation is. It's a form of hypocrisy, isn't it? And made out he didn't believe the doctrines of salvation solely by grace, but behaved as if he still believed that circumcision somehow confers a difference. And Peter took him by the scruff of the neck, and there in front of everybody rebuked him full saw. Why? Because the very gospel was at stake. Not Peter may be allowed to get away with compromising the basic faith of the gospel. When somebody tried to force Titus to be circumcised, Paul said, not on your life. Why did he resist? Says Paul, so that the truth of the gospel might continue to you. For if Paul had compromised on the gospel, where should we be sitting tonight, ladies and gentlemen? We shouldn't know whether we were saved or we weren't saved. Not talking about weak in the faith. And if a man is weak in the faith when it comes to the deity of Christ, you don't say, well, never mind, he doesn't believe in the deity of Christ, but that's near enough. We don't, we don't make any difference about little matters like that, so long as we love one another. We certainly do. It's weak in faith, not in the faith. And in particular, it's talking about this relation between Jew and Gentile. For many Jews there were who saw as clearly as daylight that they were not saved by the keeping of the law, not saved by the keeping of Sabbath, not saved by the food laws of their Judaism. But they felt that now they were saved by grace, that the righteousness of the law should be fulfilled in them, of course, that we all grant. The question was, did those food laws still apply? Did the Sabbath law still apply? Christians still disagree about that, don't they? Some people as clear as daylight that you're not saved by keeping the Sabbath feel nonetheless that if you are saved, you ought to show your gratitude to God by keeping the Sabbath. And it offends them grievously if you don't. Others feel, no, that too was part of Israel's, uh, symbolic, uh, ritual. Now, as Gentile believers, those rituals are abrogated. We have the spiritual reality of which the Sabbath was a picture. And to this very present day, seriously minded Christians disagree about it, don't they? What are you to do? When it is matters like that, not fundamentals of the faith and of the gospel, but how people ought to regulate their lives now, how much of the Old Testament ritual is still binding, so to speak, and so and so. Uh, Paul says, how should you treat that man? He he has a bit of a conscience about eating certain meats and thinks he only ought to eat vegetables. Shall you receive him or shall you not receive him? Wait a minute. Get out your, your, your ruler. Put it over the chair. The gospel. Has God received him? Has he taken his place as a sinner and put his trust solely in Christ, in nothing else? Has he been justified by faith and at peace with God, and has God received him on the basis of faith plus nothing? Oh, yes, there's no doubt about that. God has received him. Well, ladies and gentlemen, then if you're going by the gospel, you receive him too. You wouldn't think you're denying the gospel, would you? By refusing to receive somebody whom God has received, who is walking as godly as he knows how. Hm. But how should we settle these questions? Well, Paul goes on to talk in chapter fourteen, doesn't he? Should I, am I free to eat pork or not free to eat pork? Must I keep the Sabbath as a Sabbath, or don't I have to keep the Sabbath as a Sabbath? One says this, one says the other. If only the Bible, I've often thought about that in my wild moments of rewriting the Bible a bit. Well, wouldn't you agree with me? I mean, how convenient would it be to look up the index Sabbath, rule five thousand six hundred and seventy two, turn to the page, well, there it is, you shall keep it. How easy that would be, wouldn't it? Don't you think? And if in all situations of life you had a regulation laid down what you were to do, all you need to do is get up in the morning and look up the appropriate index. I have on time thought of rewriting the Bible in that sense, and I wonder why the Almighty didn't do it that way. In fact, I'd like to make him a suge- suggestion or two. Be a mighty big book, I should think, without him finished rewriting it, wouldn't he? What ho. And I'll tell you what something else it would do, or rather prevent. You'll see, in my more sober moments, I come to the view, hope you don't disagree, that the Almighty knew how best to write the Bible. It was written at the best possible way. Why hasn't he given us detailed regulations on these matters. They're not fundamental to matters of the faith, of course, if God has given you a plain straightforward command, don't owe man anything, don't owe, you know, well, that's clear. But on these matters, whether you should eat Brussels sprouts or not, or so on, why has God left it a little unclear? Well, uh, uh, what about getting out the rule of the gospel and putting that over the question? Do you know why Christ died? He died, this is chapter fourteen, that he might be Lord. That's why in these matters of indifference I have no right to impose my view on you. If you were to consult me, I give you my advice, and I'm sure you would give your advice to me if I consulted you. But in the last analysis, when it comes to things about which the scripture has not stated, then you mustn't impose your view on me, nor I on mine on you, because if I do, for instance, uh, you may eat meat instead of eating Brussels sprouts, but you think you mustn't. Yes? And I come along to you and I impose my view on you. So you eat meat, but you eat it with a bad conscience, thinking it's wrong, but you do it because Gooding said so. You're, you're in a difficult patch when you get home to glory, my boy, if you do that. For Christ the Lord will say to you, now let's come to the matter of these Brussels sprouts. And that eating of meat that you did. Yes, Lord. Were you happy in your conscience about eating that meat? No, Lord. Did you think really in your heart of hearts when you were eating it that you were disobeying me? Well, Lord, yes, I did really, to be honest. Mm. Then why did you do it? Well, Gooding said I... Well, if there ever comes anything like an explosion in heaven, it will happen then. Gooding? Who is Gooding? Gooding die for you? Actually, it didn't matter whether you ate the meat or not. It's a matter of indifference. Neither if we eat it are we any worse, or if we don't eat, are we any worse. But it does matter if I go and do something that in my heart I think- think is going to displease the Lord, and in spite of it, I go and do it. And therefore, not being able to turn up a specific regulation in the Bible over these matters of indifference, oh, do let me stress they're matters of indifference. What am I obliged to do? Well, if I put the measuring line of the gospel over it, this is what I'm obliged to do. I first remember that Christ died for me. Why did he die for me? That he might be my Lord. What, even over the matter whether I eat meat or Brussels sprouts? Yes, over that matter as well. He wants me to get into the habit of coming to consult him and weighing up before him, because he's the one I've got to answer to, the pros and the cons, and eventually deciding on this ground that I think it would please the Lord who died for me. That's important, isn't it? Because the end, I repeat, of the gospel is that his dominion may one day be absolutely complete. That wherever I am in some remote galaxy, asked to go and organize a new formed galaxy somewhere in the eternal galaxies, I hope there are going to be galaxies in eternity or something nice to, well, not play with, but then God doesn't have to work for a living, does he? No, so he has all these things, but I suppose for sheer enjoyment, I don't know, for his pleasure, we'll say, to be reverent, but... And if he allows us to get going in these things, and we're in some remote galaxy to, to insist upon his will, he's got to be able to have the confidence that in everything that is done, I shall remember Calvary. And undeviatingly do what a responsible mind and conscience leads me to think is his will. And that kind of response to the Lord is only brought about by constant repetition and practice in daily life, isn't it? It's not a question of consulting a book merely, but weighing up all the facts before a living Lord Jesus. Huh. And so Paul tries to heal in advance what could have led to very serious divisions between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. It could have so easily happened, couldn't it? That for reasons of temperament, old national feelings, pride on the part of Jews, resentment on the part of Gentiles, could have been sparked off into an eruption by some stupid little thing as to should you eat meat or, or Brussels sprouts? In my little experience among the people of God, it is surprising what silly little footling things will spark off great divisions amongst God's people. Divisions, as Paul puts it, that are not according to the doctrine. There's nothing to do with the fundamental things of the faith, but whether Mrs. Jones should be allowed this Sunday to put the flowers on the organ, um, when Mrs. Smith did it last week and all that kind of thing. You know, we thought this morning how God gave Israel a tremendous and unique role to play in history, and how it got spoiled, though God saw to it that it did not, in the end, nullify his great purpose. We've now been formed into the body of Christ, with a tremendous role given us to God. As John pointed out, they had their service and we have ours, our reasonable service, and God has formed this great body of Christ. Let us, by God's grace, see that we don't become a public scandal. But adhering to the fundamentals of the faith, try to preserve the unity of the faith. That won't mean being sentimental, will it? There is only one faith. You add a lot of other things that are not in the Bible at all. You could be guilty of adding things that cause division, couldn't you? Which are not in scripture. And I close with this general observation. I shall come to the end of chapter thirteen— Uh, chapter, uh, 12, sorry. In exhorting us not to avenge ourselves, even though we have evil done to us, Paul says, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good, and introduces the metaphor of warfare. When he comes to chapter, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, thirteen and verse twelve, he continues the metaphor of warfare. The night is far spent and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Armor, mark it. Warfare. And when we come to the end, as John reminded us, we're told the God of peace shall bruise Satan. And he's the ultimate and chief enemy we have. And what a master tactician he is, isn't he? Cool how he will get you before you know where you are, thinking you've won when you've lost. I suffer a wrong, I suffer some evil, and all my natural instincts rise up, and I have got my rights, and I'm not going to lose out, and I'm going to win. And I avenged myself. I won. No, you haven't, you've lost. No, sorry, no, no, no, I won. I got my own back. Oh, so evil has been able to overcome you and make you disobey the Lord, and you've lost. Oh, what would have happened at Calvary when they stuck the nails in if Christ had risen up and said, do you think I'm going to stick this? I'm going to stand by my rights. And walk free of the cross. Would he have won or lost? Watch Watch your your enemy, for he is our past master of making things appear the opposite of what they are. Don't let him overcome you with evil, says Paul, but overcome evil with We're good. good. Satan can get all our sense of proportions wrong, can't he? He'll get us fluffing the fundamentals of the faith in the name of Christian love. La la. The next minute, he'll take some trifling matter, like the aforesaid, many times aforesaid, Brussels sprouts and meat, and blow them up as though they were a foundation of the faith. What a foe he is. Let us remember that Christian ethics is not only practical, it is a warfare in which we fight the very devil himself. Let us put on the armor that God gives us, prepare ourselves for the battle. In the sure and certain knowledge, oh, how it cheers us in the fight, that one day the last battle will be fought, and God shall bruise Satan under your feet, and that forever. And when you come to think about it, isn't a bad idea, is it? Uh, I mean to say, what I was saying is, what isn't a bad idea is this, in all the circumstances of life, when you are pondering this and that, to take out your measuring rod of the faith, the great gospel, and let it have its ultimate say in our evaluations of ourself and others, in the evaluations of our behavior, and the decisive role under the living Lord in deciding how we should behave. And this above all, as we come back to where we started, all get out the measuring rod of the gospel. Measure Calvary if you can. Measure the love of Christ for you and the mercies of God. And by those mercies compelled, offer your bodies a living sacrifice. Thank you for your patience, and God bless our study of his word to that end.