Sold Out Obedience to Jesus Christ: A Sermon on Romans 16:19

 Dr. MA Petillo

Come, ye souls by sin afflicted,
Bowed with fruitless sorrow down;
By the broken law convicted,
Through the cross behold the crown;
Look to Jesus;
Mercy flows through him alone.
Take his easy yoke and wear it;
Love will make obedience sweet;
Christ will give you strength to bear it,
While his wisdom guides your feet
Safe to glory,
Where his ransomed captives meet.
Blessed are the eyes that see him,
Blest the ears that hear his voice;
Blessed are the souls that trust him,
And in him alone rejoice:
His commandments
Then become their happy choice.
Sweet as home to pilgrim's weary,
Light to newly opened eyes,
Or full springs in deserts dreary,
Is the rest the cross supplies:
All who taste it
Shall to rest immortal rise.  (TH, 390).

Romans 16:19 NASB

For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.

We ought to demonstrate our Christian faith through obedience.  Obedience is something that spreads everywhere once it is noticed, because God is the Author of Christian obedience.  Obedience is something worth fighting for.  It knows no compromise with the world, the flesh and the devil.  Obedience does not yield to sin because Christ will no doubt forgive, but obedience is something that lasts through the temptation of Balaam.  Johnathan Edwards wrote of obedience,

"...This commitment to total obedience does not mean a mere negative avoidance of evil practices. It also means positively obeying God’s commands. We cannot say that someone is a true Christian just because he is not a thief, liar, blasphemer, drunkard, sexually immoral, arrogant, cruel or fierce. He also has to be positively God-fearing, humble, respectful, gentle, peaceful, forgiving, merciful and loving. Without these positive qualities, he is not obeying the laws of Christ..."

Again on obedience, C.H. Spurgeon wrote,

"...I cannot conceive it possible for anyone truly to receive Christ as Savior and yet not to receive him as Lord. A man who is really saved by grace does not need to be told that he is under solemn obligations to serve Christ. The new life within him tells him that. Instead of regarding it as a burden, he gladly surrenders himself – body, soul, and spirit- to the Lord who has redeemed him, reckoning this to be his reasonable service..."

If you find yourself at ease with the world, you are likely a compromising Christian that has went astray.  Do you agree with the world, the flesh and the devil?  Have you sided with the world in at least one area?  Why, why, why?  If your obedience is seen as madness with uncompromising zeal even among outward Christians engaging in fornication, you ought to continue to stand with Christ.  

That is, it is because of God's predestinarian motivation for holy living in light of the immaculate holiness of the Lord Christ.  We ought to think like Jesus, speak like Jesus and live like Jesus.  That means we are to be holy people set apart from the world.  We are to be Christian people who live in this world but are not of this world.  Such a teaching is contrary to the kingdom of Satan.  The father of lies has already planned the scheme of the failure of Christians.  That is, he wants them to fall into the sexual immorality in advancing through wrongdoing and not yield to the NT commandments of Jesus Christ.  If you are a Christian, you must not be a friend of the world.  If you are a friend of the world, you have fallen from grace.  Do not take part in the plagues of the apocalypse.

Have you not read Third John about the obedience of Demetrius?   "Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true."  Demetrius is contrasted with Diotrephes (3 Jn 9), but he was practicing evil in the pastoral leadership of the local church (3 Jn 11).  Pastoral evil is a greater kind of wickedness than a Christian in the pew, because the pastor has the highest calling.  The OT Psalms contrast the godly with the ungodly (Ps 1), so the Apostle John in the Epistle of Third John practices the same understanding in constructing his NT epistle.   This begs the question on the moral law of God in the Christian life. What place does the moral law of God have in the Christian life?  I suggest to you that the moral law of God is God's standard for our practice in Christian living.  That is, God's Spirit-based commandments should not be only written on the outward man but written upon the heart of the Christian.  RC Sproul author The Purpose of God, An Exposition of Ephesians wrote,

"...The Antinomian heresy is the view that the law of God revealed in the Old Testament has nothing to do with the New Testament church; that the New Testament church is a church without law, a church that lives and breathes exclusively on the basis of grace… But the New Testament is far from abolishing God’s moral law. Jesus calls His disciples to obedience. He says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15)..."   (ref., Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 64-65).

The gospel should shape the way we live out the Christian life.  It does not mean that we should continue to sin because Jesus always forgives.  The truth is that Jesus will always forgive, because there is no limitations to the forgiving power of the Cross.  The Cross has no limitations, but it does not mean to sin with license.  The NT through the superintendence of God's Spirit clearly commands us not to use our freedom for sinning for the Apostle Peter wrote, "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God" (1 Pet 2:15 ESV).  That is, obedience is sold-out service to a holy God.  Rather the obedience of a steadfast recognition and practice of the moral law of God in the Christian life is the work of God's written Word in the power of God's Spirit.   We ought to dwell upon the moral law of God and practice it through the outworking plan of Jesus Christ.  

Everything we do is seen by God.  For the written Word says, "Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known" (Lk 12:2 ESV).  We ought to live in light of God's holy Word because it teaches us about living in the holy presence of God.  To God everything is revealed, but as a Christian this should not cause us to fear unto torment, but rejoice unto obedience.  God has willed that the work of the Christian is not in vain.  "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Core 15:58 ESV).  For the good Lord knows those who are His.  That is, every motivation for every deed whether good or bad will come into account at the Last Day before King Jesus.  "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Ecc 12:13-14 ESV).  It does not mean we are saved in anyway by our works (Gal 2:16), but God will "judge" His people through Himself (Gal 2:20) because we possess His ultimate righteousness through faith alone (Phil 3:9; Eph 2:8-9) by imputation not infusion (Rom 4ff).  

Christians are never to practice what is evil.  Has the world, the flesh or the devil tempted you to sin because Jesus will forgive?  It is true that God gets glory unto justice or glory unto mercy (Rom 9ff).  Every time a Christian sins God cleanses us from our dead works, "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb 9:14 ESV).  This means God is always there for a sinner (but we ought to never sin), but the Cross is there for sinners and Jesus Christ is our Advocate with the Father who is able to pardon (1 Jn 2:1).  This does not mean we are called to indulge the sinful nature.  For the infallible Word says, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"  (Heb 10:29 KJV).  

It is true that the second death of damnation cannot touch a converted elect sinner, because there is no condemnation for those who are forever in Christ (Rom 8ff; Jude 1ff).  If the second death cannot touch us, why do we live in the deeds of the flesh?  We are called to live a predestinarian lifestyle of holiness.   Do you mortify and crucify the sinful nature through sold-out, contrite repentance?  It is true that the plain testimony of the written Word says that we are legally dead to sin and alive to Christ (Rom 6:11).  Do you live this out in your Christian life?  Instead of being dead to sin, are you now alive to sin?  That is, why do you grieve the free Spirit of God through yielding to Satan?   Remember the deeds of the end times started with the murder of the innocent Lamb of God.  Do you wish to partake of those same deeds that put the Savior to a brutal death?  Do not mock on, but mind your ways!  Those of the second death yield to the works of the flesh (Gal 5:18-20), but it is also possible for the Christian to fall into that which is evil with the total neglect of renewing one's mind in the sold-out commitment of obedience to Christ (Rom 12:2) in the transformation of our souls by God's Spirit who conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29).  Is your whole life captive to the unrestrained sinless obedience of Jesus Christ?  We ought to be obedient to Christ in every thought, in every word and in every deed (2 Cor 10:5).  We are no longer under the domination of sin as unregenerate men.  Rather we are Spirit-filled Christians that are set-apart for every good work because of God's creation and ordination (Eph 2:10).  Why remain any longer captive to the will of Satan in your willfil submission to him in the Christian life that has been set free by Christ (2 Tim 2:26; Gal 5:1)?   

"...From all this it is easy to perceive on what principle good works are to be cast aside or embraced, and by what rule all teachings put forth concerning works are to be understood. For if works are brought forward as grounds of justification, and are done under the false persuasion that we can pretend to be justified by them, they lay on us the yoke of necessity, and extinguish liberty along with faith, and by this very addition to their use they become no longer good, but really worthy of condemnation. For such works are not free, but blaspheme the grace of God, to which alone it belongs to justify and save through faith. Works cannot accomplish this, and yet, with impious presumption, through our folly, they take on themselves to do so; and thus break in with violence upon the office and glory of grace...We do not then reject good works; nay, we embrace them and teach them in the highest degree. It is not on their own account that we condemn them, but on account of this impious addition to them and the preverse notion of seeking justification from them. It is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but from belief in works, that is from foolishly presuming to seek justification through works. Faith redeems our consciences, makes them upright, and preserves them, since by it we recognize the truth that justification does not depend on our works, although good works neither can nor ought to be absent...(Concerning Christian Liberty. Found in Luther’s Primary Works (London: Hodder & Stroughton, 1896), Henry Wace and C.A. Buchheim Ed., , pp. 275-277, 288)

Fight the good fight with all thy might;
Christ is thy Strength and Christ thy Right:
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.
Run the straight race through God's good grace,
Lift up thine eyes, and seek his face;
Life with its way before us lies,
Christ is the Path and Christ the Prize.
Cast care aside; upon thy Guide
Lean, and his mercy will provide;
Lean, and the trusting soul shall prove,
Christ is its Life and Christ its Love.
Faint not, nor fear, his arms are near;
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
Only believe, and thou shalt see
That Christ is all in all to thee.  (TH, 484).