We just began a new series on Romans 12 that is titled “Shaped by Grace” and is taught by Alistair Begg. I have the link to the audio message below. The plan it to listen to a DVD and then the following week to have some discussion about the material he has covered. The notes will be a combination of his message and some thoughts or questions I might have that reinforce the lessons he gives. For some of you, it might be an introduction to Alistair Begg. I have enjoyed his teachings through many of the last years and listen to him when I can while in the car. I also carried a lot of messages from his library when I traveled overseas to Africa, as even when we are teaching others, I need to be challenged to walk closer to the Savior.
In His hands, Bob Allen
2 Cor 2:14
Begg – Romans 12 – Week One – Notes & Discussion
Message online is found at: http://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/call-commitment/
Romans 12: 1-2
Alistair began with a description of being all in – do any of you have a story about being all in? Something that supports the same principle but from your own observations, or even an example of those who live with that “all in” mentality about anything, from poker to service for God.
“Jesus Christ has all of me”. Is a quote from Booth, from the Salvation Army. What does it mean for Jesus to have all of us? What does that look like?
Alistair uses the phrase that every chain is only as strong as its weakest link. What if the church was only as strong as you are right now? I don’t want you to answer this, but just think this through, what would the church look like if the very strength of the church depended on you?
Paul urges us in Romans 12:1 – not a command but it comes from the heart of someone who desires to urge his family towards higher objectives. And that appeal is based on what? On God Mercy – why would Paul want to make that appeal based on God’s mercy when he had so many other great remarkable things to choose from?
Can you remember when you called out to God – when you pleaded for God’s mercy? What is a small picture of the moment you came to grips with your lost state? Until we are aware of our lost state, then we have no need for a Savior. This is the verse – restore to me the joy of my salvation, this is call to God to remind the writer of the Psalms that he desperately needs God’s grace.
Let’s talk about Total Depravity. – There is no area of our lives that has not been touched by our sinful nature. It doesn’t mean that there is no imprint of God’s goodness left in any part of humanity. People do kind things, people who don’t know Jesus still love their children, and charities depend on people who don’t know the Savior.
Titus 3:3-5 – encouragement to Titus to remind people – “but when the kindness of God our Savior and His love appeared, He saved us, not because on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to His mercy.”
Eph. 2:3-5 – “we were the objects of His wrath even as the rest . . . But God, being rich in mercy”
We talk a lot about the love of God but we don’t speak very often of the mercy of God. How would it change the conversation of the believer if there were a greater focus on the mercy of God? You see, people who talk about mercy understand that we are not better, but rather that we have acknowledged our need for mercy. Some times we talk so much about God’s love some could begin to believe that we attracted Him to ourselves but the truth also found in His mercy. I think mercy speaks more about our need for His intervention in our lives. How would this change the way we witness to others if there were a greater emphasis on God’s mercy?
When a person is convicted about sin, the story of God’s mercy is remarkable and fresh. When a person has no conviction about sin, then the message of God’s mercy is irrelevant. What would the purpose of the fire department coming to your house if there is no fire. But they can’t come fast enough when there is a fire.
The conviction of sin is not your job. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of God applies the Word of God to your life, this is when conviction happens. First I need to understand what I deserve, before I’ll bow down and worship the One who has taken that upon Himself. John 16:8
Religion says do this and you’ll be accepted – Grace says, do this because you’re accepted. This is the defining line between works and grace. Works is the effort to earn passage way into heaven. Grace is the knowledge that my place in heaven has already been freely provided. Grace was not free for God, but it is a gift He offers to those who could not achieve the goal of grace through any other means.
God’s mercy is the foundation for the believer, and Paul builds his message of evangelism from this base. His appeal to call believers to commitment is based on God’s mercy.
If you don’t know God, nothing else is worth trying to do.
Converted and Committed.
God isn’t calling for money, or intellect, but ourselves. Everything that we are, all our capacities, all the difference I can make in the world, take all of that and put it in.
He brings in the story about the gamblers who was ‘all in’. There is something fantastic about that kind of commitment. Are you all in
Starts with
- Getting converted (Committed)
- Joining the church (Connected)
- Getting committed (Committed)
- Being prepared to being disrupted.
How much time is there left before the Lord returns? Are we committed to seeing unbelievers’ become committed to following God?