In this sermon, the speaker discusses the book of Romans and its presentation of salvation through Jesus Christ. He emphasizes the importance of having a reverent and faithful mindset, as well as fostering fellowship in the gospel. The speaker also mentions the need for humility, using the example of Christ and Paul as models of self-surrender. The sermon concludes with a brief mention of the book of Titus and the importance of understanding the gathering, gifts, and government of a local church.

Thank you for coming out. Pray the Lord will bless the word of you. Some of these days the sun's going to shine, and we're going to enjoy it just a little better. Now today we move into the second division of our subject, the subject of education. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. And we saw that salvation coming in the person of Jesus Christ. For the law was given by Moses, it was imposed. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, it was bestowed. And we trace the presentation of that salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord, in Matthew, Mark and Luke and John and Acts. Now, our text goes on to say, teaching us, our education begins after salvation comes. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Although we have said that the Acts of the Apostles is a historical book, and of course it is, yet we can notice also how the apostles everywhere taught the young churches to live soberly, righteously and godly. In the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles were accused of being drunken at the beginning and of being mad at the end of the Acts of the Apostles. Peter says, these are not drunken, as you suppose, on the day of Pentecost. And Paul says, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. Living soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Now, we want to move on to the epistles today and see how far we can go in those various letters which were written by the apostles. We want to begin today in Romans, the Romans epistle. Perhaps I should say that Romans was not written by the apostle Paul, right? It was written by a man whose name was Tertius. You discover that when you get to the end of the epistle. He was just the man who answers the apostle Paul. He wrote for Paul. The content of course was Paul, to be sure. The message was Paul. But when I go to Bible school, I begin by asking the students who wrote Romans. And they all say, Paul. That's just by the way. The content of course is from the mouth of the apostle Paul. It is in contrast to Galatians, where some of the same ground is covered. In contrast to Galatians, it is written in orderly fashion and without heat. The Galatian epistle, as we shall see, is written in haste and in heat because of the pressure of the opposition. In the epistle to the Romans, there is no such pressure. There is an orderly unfolding of the great general subject of the gospel of God. And by the way, you can't help but notice in chapters 1 to 8 of Romans that in those chapters the grace of God is seen bringing salvation, by the way. Because the apostle Paul, after his introductory verses, shows the whole world needs the gospel, needs that salvation. He brings in Gentile and Jew guilty before God. And then he says, but now the righteousness of God is revealed. And he proceeds to show that salvation coming unto all and upon all that believe. He goes on to pursue the subject of that salvation in the aspect of justification. And then he goes on to sanctification and finishes up in the end of chapter 8 where he tells us that there is no separation between us and the love of God. Now after the parenthetic portions of chapters 9 to 11, in which Paul digresses to assure the Jewish believers that he is not an apostate from the Jewish faith. That God still has things in mind for Israel. In Romans 9, he will take up Israel's election of God. In chapter 10, he will take their rejection. And in chapter 11, he will take their reception. Their election, and their rejection, and their reception. In that parenthetic portion, Romans 9 to 11. Now when you get to chapter 12 of Romans, he comes back to the general subject of the salvation of God. And the first thing you'll notice is that in chapter 12, he teaches us to live soberly. In chapter 13, he teaches us to live righteously. And in 15. And then he teaches us to live godly. Let's see if that's so. Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. We can't devote too much time to these books, but we want to corroborate what we are saying. Romans 12 and 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man a measure of faith. Now, all the way down, the appeal is to the individual. It's teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly. We should be right ourselves in relation to God. And, of course, the first step in that being right in relation to God is the presentation of our bodies, holy unto God. And then he'll proceed to show us how many ways that is to be true of us as individuals. But when you come to chapter 13, grace teaches us to live righteously before the world, first of all. Before the world. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. 13 and verse 1. For there's no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Further down he says, in verse 7, Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. In other words, we are to live righteously in this present world. We are to pay our debts, our just debts. We are to pay our taxes, our just taxes. We're not to plot and scheme how we can squirm out of paying our taxes. We are to face them honestly and in the fear of God. We're not to dodge any tax that's imposed on us when we bring in goods into the country from a foreign country. We are to live righteously in the face of other people. Particularly the world, maybe. In other words, we're to be honest in business. We're not to overreach. We're to have always in our business dealings a good conscience towards God. Righteously. All the way down this chapter teaches us to live righteously. In chapter 14, that righteousness is to be extended to our weak brother. Look at verse 1, 14. Him that is weak in the face receiveth ye. Verse 5, one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. My, there's an amazing latitude here in those portions as to how far we go with one another who may not see eye to eye with us doctrinally in a number of things. That's very, very good to notice that. And so he proceeds from that to speak of righteousness to the social, eh? To those around us. That goes on until you come to go down to verse 15 and all the way down to verse 7 of chapter 15. And then grace teaches us to live godly. Our relations to God. And you'll notice, you can't help notice that it says in verse 7 we are to receive one another to the glory of God. It says in verse 9 the Gentiles are to glorify God. And in verse 10 and 11 they are to praise the Lord. It is in this chapter you read that God is a God of patience. In verse 5. He's a God of hope. In verse 13. And he's a God of peace. In verse 33. In other words, it's our relation to God that is in mind. Grace teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Romans 16, the last chapter, shows that those people who once were in that dreadful category of chapter 1 of this epistle are now in the beautiful category of those in chapter 16. So much then for Romans in its presentation of the salvation of the Lord. You'll see that it proceeds exactly along the line of our text in Titus. Now, the next is 1 Corinthians. Now, in a word, 1 Corinthians is the gathering and the gifts and the government of a local church. The gathering and the gifts and the government of a local church. Now, let me say at once that 1 Corinthians is not a popular book to be taught, especially in the churches around us. Even many who claim to be fundamental. You know, you can be fundamental to the gospel without being fundamental to the doctrine of the church. As we know. 1 Corinthians teaches you how to be fundamental to the doctrine of the church, as laid down by the apostles. Now, there are those who say, of course, that much of Corinthians is only local in character and refers to the state of things in Corinth. There's a sense in which that is partly true. But I'd like you to notice some expressions here that we have in 1 Corinthians. Such expressions as you find in, say, 7. Chapters 7 and 17. I think he has said the same thing before this. But we'll notice that we have it in 7. In 17. Notice it says, at the end of verse 17, And so are Danai in all the churches. And in 11 and 16, he says, If any men seem to be contentious, we have no such, or we have no other custom, neither the churches of God. And 14 and 33, he says, For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. In other words, there are four occasions in this epistle. I've given you three. But the apostle Paul insists that what he is teaching does not simply have a local application, but he teaches these things wherever he goes. It's good to keep that in mind in your doctrine of the church. It is the gathering and the gifts and government of a local church. Good to keep that in mind. When you come to 2 Corinthians, you have, I think, what is possibly the most sensitive of the writings of Paul. In other words, he is keenly aware of the opposition that has been raised against him on the part of his Jewish detractors. Every place the apostle Paul went, it seemed, he was followed by Jewish legalists, teachers from Jerusalem, who were sort of combining Judaistic principles with the gospel and seeking to bring Gentile believers up into bondage to Jewish laws and traditions and customs and the like. And they waited until those assemblies were started and then proceeded to discredit the apostle. They said something like this. Well, you know, Paul wasn't really an apostle. He wasn't one of the original twelve, you know. He was a later comer into the faith. He wasn't born and brought up in Jerusalem. He was brought up in Tarsus. You know, he's partly Gentile, really, in his outlook. He hasn't got that authority that the Mother Church has in Jerusalem, you see. And so, from discrediting the apostle, they began to discredit his message, you see. Now, the apostle Paul was sensitively aware of that. And you're aware when you read 2 Corinthians that he's continually on the defensive. Not that he's got anything to fear, but he's aware, keenly aware of the opposition. As he begins his epistle, you can help but notice 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3. Have you ever noticed that Ephesians 1 and 3 and 1 Peter 1 and 3 and 2 Corinthians 1 and 3 all begin in the same way. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you noticed that in Ephesians 1 and 3, please take a note, The apostle goes backwards as far as he can go before there was a world. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him from before the foundation of the world. He goes right back in time. Peter goes right forward to the end of time. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who have begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. He goes away forward. But here the apostle Paul is right in between. And notice what he says. He's not looking backward or forward, he's keenly aware of the present. Chapter 1 and 3. Blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort for which we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ. In other words, as you go down this chapter, you'll see it's all about trouble and trial. He's thanking God for deliverance, but he's keenly aware of the opposition continually that follows him and meets up with him here and there, so that he has to persist in his claim of apostleship and of a revelation that was not dependent upon Jerusalem at all. Another thing you should look for in 2 Corinthians, and that is the apostle Paul looks beyond mere man in that opposition, and he sees the devil. Let me give you just a little run over the development of the devil in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 2, you'll notice he says in verse 11, lest Satan should get advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. We are not ignorant of his devices. And then he'll proceed to give us three things about the devil. Just briefly, in chapter 4 and 4, he's the god of this world who blinds people. In chapter 11, he is the serpent who beguiles people. And in chapter 12, he's Satan who buffets people. They all begin with B. As the god of this world, he blinds the minds of them that believe not. That's what he does to the unbelievers. He blinds the minds of them that believe not. And then when people are saved while they are yet young or unstable, he beguiles people for the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. That word simplicity means wholeheartedness toward Christ. He beguiles them, as Paul says, I fear, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, your mind should be beguiled from the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. And then when you're a devoted Christian, when you're an earnest Christian, when you're a mature Christian, when you're an old Christian, the devil doesn't let you alone either. For in chapter 12, we read about a form in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, to buffet me. So the apostle Paul is aware, as you and I must be aware, that as long as we're down here, we shall never really get away from the devil. If he can't blind us as unbelievers, he'll beguile us from the wholehearted devotion to Christ. And then, when we are devoted to Christ, he loves to introduce a thorn in the flesh, things we pray that might be taken away from us, and they're not taken away. But we discover that the grace of God is there. My strength is made perfect in weakness. That's the development of Satan in 2 Corinthians. We go on now, please, to Galatians. Now, Galatians is the manifesto of Christian liberty. The manifesto of Christian liberty. I have stated that Galatians is somewhat like Romans, only written in haste and in heat. In haste because the apostle Paul is afraid that all that he has preached will be undermined. He says that if anybody preaches any other gospel than I have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Galatians is a contrast between law and grace. It is a contrast between flesh and spirit. It's a contrast between Ishmael and Isaac. It's a contrast between Hagar and Sarah. It's a contrast between bondage and freedom. Look for these contrasts all the way through. The apostle Paul is seeking to deliver those Galatians and us from legality in all its forms. And when he searches by the spirit for an illustration, his mind goes back to Abraham and to Hagar and to Sarah and to Ishmael and to Isaac. And this is what he says. That as Sarah said to Abraham, the son of the bondwoman cannot live in the same house with the son of the free woman, so the apostle Paul says law cannot abide with grace. Law is not to be allowed to stay with grace. Law must ever be cast out that the child of God may stand in perfect liberty. You know dear friends, it's the easiest thing for law to come into our assemblies. And laws be imposed upon people. That if you don't follow with us, if you're not in our circle, we'll cast you out. We'll throw you out. That's our laws. And some of us suffered for years and years over man-made laws and man-made bondage. And it was only legalism and nothing more. It's a great thing to see that it's absolute freedom. The freedom of the Holy Spirit of God in the church. So Galatians is a subtle attack to impose legalism in any form upon the believer and upon the churches. He says, Sarah was the free woman. Hagar was the bond woman. Hagar had a son and Sarah had a son. And these are incompatible. They are not to be mixed at all. And you have of course in Galatians chapter 5, the flesh and the spirit. The 17 bad works of the flesh. The 9 glorious fruits of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit. I sometimes illustrate it in this way, that when we lived in Eugene, Oregon, we had a little corn lot where there were something like 32 scrub oak trees. We noticed that those oak leaves would persist and cling to the tree all winter. The tree might shake itself, as indeed it did, and the winds would blow and the storms would beat down, but those dead leaves would cling to that tree all winter. And yet some mornings when we'd get up in the springtime, we'd find all the leaves on the ground. They weren't blown away, they were all on the ground, dead quietly fallen during the night. What had taken them off? The inner search of the new life in the springtime. Accomplish what all their whims could not accomplish in that rain. And that's a parable. And this is what the apostles are after here. It's the inner urge and search of the new life in Christ that accomplishes in us what all the whims of our legality and striving cannot accomplish. It gives us new life and liberty in Christ. When you read Galatians, look for five aspects of crucifixion. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus Christ, whom I have set before you, evidently crucified. And then we read, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the lust thereof. And God forbid that I should glory. Chapter six. Saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which I am crucified to the world, and the world unto me. It's death to all those things that we might be alive in Christ. That is Galatians. The next is Ephesians. Now Ephesians is quite like Colossians, as we shall see. But this differs. Some have thought that Colossians was a sort of a copy of Ephesians written from memory. Principally because the words to the Ephesians in some of the older manuscripts is just a blank. As if this was a circular letter sent round the churches. Ephesians. As indeed it might have been. But you only have to read these two books to discover the difference. In Ephesians the emphasis is on the church, the body of Christ, of which he is the head. But in Colossians it is Christ the head of which the church is the body. The emphasis of Colossians is to hold the head, to give him his supreme place. But in Ephesians we have the walk and the work and the warfare of the church. In contrast to 1 Corinthians it is rather the church in its universal aspect. Chapters 1 to 3 are doctrinal in character and chapters 4 to 6 are practical in character. In chapter 1 of Ephesians Paul tells us that the Holy Trinity has been engaged for the blessing of men. In chapter 2 he tells us that the unholy trinity have been engaged for the cursing of men. In chapter 1 we read that God is the one who chose us. Christ is the one who cleansed us by his blood. The Spirit of God is the one who claims us for himself. The Trinity is thus conspiring to bless us indeed from the foundation of the world. In chapter 2 you have the unholy trinity. You have this that we once walked according to the course of this world, which means the fashion of the age. We walked according to the principle of the power of the air, the devil. And we walked in the lust of our flesh, an unholy trinity. Chapter 3 takes up the great purpose of God in calling the church universal. In chapters 4 to 6 you have the practical outworking of that in terms of soberness, righteousness and godliness in this present world. That's sufficient. Now Philippians is a very, very happy little book. The Apostle Paul does not have the opposition that he had, as for instance in the Galatian churches, nor the low moral state that he had in Corinth. And because these two things are absent, his heart can flow out warmly to both the Philippians and to the Thessalonians. There are a few little things to correct, to be sure. In the church at Philippi there are two women who evidently are not getting on too well together. And the Apostle Paul is a little bit afraid that this might grow into something more serious. And he beseeches those women that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Now the key word of Philippians is the word mind. M-I-N-D. Mind. That's the key word. If you want a little caption for each of those chapters, let me say that in chapter 1 you have the helpful mind. A mind to help in the gospel. The word gospel occurs six times in chapter 1 of Philippians. Look for it in chapter 1. The gospel. A wonderful study, by the way, if you look at those six occasions. You'll find three beautiful F's in that chapter. You've got the furtherance of the gospel. And you've got the faith of the gospel. And you've got the fellowship in the gospel. It's how to have a helpful mind in chapter 1. Chapter 2, how to have a humble mind. The mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And Christ heads the list of those walking in the path of self-abnegation. Self-surrender. He's first, Paul's next in that chapter. If I be poured out as a drink offering, I rejoice. Timothy, I've got no man like-minded who will naturally care for your estate, for I'll seek their own. Epaphroditus. It's at the end of the chapter where Paul says, beautiful tribute to Epaphroditus. He gets a long, long description of Epaphroditus. And I think the most precious to me is this. Where it says, don't pay any attention to this. He says that Epaphroditus was full of heaviness because you heard he was sick. I think that's lovely. You and I get full of heaviness when people don't hear we're sick. Now don't we? Haven't you said, you sisters? Not to say brothers. You know, I was sick in bed for a week. Nobody came near me. I could have died for all they cared. You're full of heaviness because they didn't hear you're sick. Know what that is? Pride. Pride. They forgot about me. But here's a man who could so forget himself. He was full of heaviness because they heard he was sick. Like a wounded soldier who says to the nurse when he wakes up in the hospital, now don't write home to my mother. I don't want her to know. She would worry. So chapter two of Philippians is the humble mind. How to have a humble mind. In chapter three, how to have a heavenly mind. He speaks of those who mind earthly things in this chapter. And he speaks and says, for our citizenship is in heaven, for whence also we look for the Savior. How to have a heavenly mind. But in chapter four, you know what it is in chapter four? It's how to have a happy mind. It says that if we do three things, we'll have a happy mind. Would you like to have a happy mind? Then you've got to do three things. Be anxious for nothing. Be prayerful in everything. Be thankful for anything that God gives you. You keep that in mind. You're to be careful for nothing. Anxious for nothing. Think of that. You and I get anxious about the little things. But we're doing anxious about the big things. Well, sometimes we do. There's not a person here in this meeting this morning, I don't believe, I don't think there's any person with any doubt that someday God's going to take you to heaven in a body. That you're going to have a body, and you're going to defy the laws of gravity, and you're going to go up and up and up and up and never stop until you're in heaven. That's a big thing, isn't it? And yet, you get full of heaviness and anxious about the little things day by day, as if God didn't care. That's right, you're just like me. The apostle says, be anxious for nothing. Oh, we say, well, I don't want to bother God. You know, we're like the woman that was carrying the big heavy load along the country, and the man came along with a horse and gig and said, jump in, I'll give you a ride to town. So she jumped in and sat down in the seat with her big, big bundle on her knee. After a while, she says, why don't you put that down on the floor? Oh, she said, I don't want to make it any harder for the horse, and I have to. He says, Mrs., the horse is carrying you in the bundle too. And we're like that, dear friends. Be anxious for nothing. Thankful. Careful for nothing. Prayerful in everything. Thankful friends. And, we read, and the peace of God will garrison your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus. It's in this chapter he says, I have learned. The word means initiate. I am initiate. I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Are you like that? Am I like that? Would you say that you're a contented man? Would you say you're a contented woman? Would you? I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know to be abased. How to be abased? A term which means a river in drought. And I know how to be full. I am initiated to be full, and to be hungry. I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, for I can do all things through Christ that sanctifies. Isn't that wonderful? Or if you're like the dear Negro woman, who somebody said to her, how does she get on with your husband? Oh, she says, I just treat him with silent content. You treat your husband with silent content? You should. You should. Content in whatsoever state. Some folks are always wishing they were in some other state. Some folks up north wish they were in the state of Florida, and they discover it rains every day. Sometimes. I have found this as I go about the country, that the folks that live in the hard, cold, dry areas, wish they lived out on the Pacific coast, where it's so mild, but damp. The folks that live out on the coast, where it's cold and damp, wish they lived in the middle states, where it's so nice and dry. Those that work in smelly factories, wish they worked out in the fields, where the air is so good. And those who work in the fields, where the air is so good, wish they worked in the warm factories. And those that are fat, wish they were thin, and those that are thin, wish they were thin. Those who are single, wish they were married, and those who are married... You know, there's a woman who lived in North Dakota, and they moved her husband out to California. Sunny California. But after some years, moved him back to North Dakota. Cold, freezing, wheezy state. And somebody commiserated with her, and said, isn't it too bad, that after living here in North Dakota, going out to sunny California, you have to come back to dismal North Dakota. To the state of North Dakota. She said, I've learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Are you? Am I. Now that's the message of Philippians. I've got to stop, haven't I, mister? Could I go on a wee bit? To cover a wee bit more? All right. We'll take ten minutes, that'll be all right. Five anyway. Philippians. Colossians is next, and as I say, follows quite the pattern of Ephesians. But this difference, now is Christ the head, of which the church, incidentally, is the body. The key word of Colossians, by the way, is the word knowledge. In the Greek language, it's epinosis. Gnosis is the root for knowledge. Epinosis is full knowledge. Super knowledge. The Colossians were suffering from the Gnostics, who were the knowing ones. Their religion was a mixture of oriental mysticism, Jewish legality, with some of the gospel thrown in. They were the knowing ones. Paul writes Colossians and says, I want to tell you about the epinosis, the super knowledge, the full knowledge, that there is in Christ. If you have this, you don't need any more. In chapter one of Colossians, look for three aspects of knowledge, and do you good. The day that you heard and knew the grace of God in truth, that's the day you got converted. To be filled with the knowledge of His will. You have to read the Bible to get that, the knowledge of His will. Not His will individually for you, as a believer, but the knowledge of His will contained in the Scriptures. And then, the knowledge of God, which you get experientially. Colossians is knowledge. And I really must close. I'll close with just a word about the Thessalonian epistles. These Thessalonians, these Thracians, were like the Philippians. No great error to correct doctrinally, no great mortal evil. So, the heart of the apostle goes out warmly to the Thessalonians. Now, in a word, the Thessalonian epistles have to do with the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord. With this difference, and mark it. In the first epistle to the Thessalonians, he corrects this notion that those who had died in Christ, whether persecuted or naturally, those who died would fail to participate in the coming of Christ. Paul sought to correct that error. He says, no. The dead in Christ will rise first. The living will be changed, or be caught up. In each chapter, there's a different emphasis about the coming of the Lord. When you get to 2 Thessalonians, he corrects the error of supposing that their present sufferings was indicative that they were already in the day of the Lord. Now, this all differs in the world between the day of Christ and the day of the Lord. As I said at the beginning, the day of Christ is something to happily anticipate. The day of the Lord is an expression you get in the Old Testament, particularly in the Minor Prophets. And always a day of foreboding and fear and terror and judgment upon the world. Israel and the Gentiles. The terror of the day of the Lord. And even in the New Testament, the day of the Lord has the same connotation. You see? Now, just keep that in mind. Well, that's as far, probably, as we ought to go today. Shall we pray? Gracious God, our Father, again we ask Thee to make these things real to us. Send us a way, Father, to have a desire to differentiate in these books. To be able to say, I know something about each of those. I know what the subject is. I know the divisions. And I know in my heart what they have done for me. Part is with Thy blessing. The blessing of the Lord, which maketh rich, and hath no sorrow thereto. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you.