Job 26;7 Atlantic Lyman Conf. — J.M. Davies

Job 26:7 and God’s Sustaining Providence

I want to read with you the verse in Job chapter 26 to begin with. 26th chapter of Job, and we'll come to consider Romans afterwards. Job 26 and verse 7. He stretches out the north over the empty place, hangeth here upon nothing.

Sentence of that verse that I want to just leave with you in connection with our service for God in southwest India. It may seem like a strange verse, but it was a verse that God gave to us with a promise.

Years in India, and on one occasion in a time of peculiar need, for the Lord seeking for some guidance and help, seeking for a word from God to give some confidence as to the future. And this was the scripture that came to my mind.

He hangeth the earth upon nothing. I could not have told you at the time of where it was found, but soon found out. Because the scripture came to me with such force, the way it appealed to me was this.

God can take a world up, fling it out into space, keep it traveling in its orbit as it's been rolling around. Then God can take up his servants, and he can fling them out into the far ends of the earth, and keep them going without any physical means of support.

Physical means of support, they are words which we heard very often in our early years in India. Very often we had questions asked us by friends. Have you any physical means of support? Are your physical means of support?

We couldn't just understand the way we'd gone to India. We'd been brought up in assemblies, knew nothing about them. I came to this country 50 years ago this last July, and went out to Montana. And then through the goodness of God there, in touch with a man who was a Presbyterian, who knew the Lord, and a preacher in a little village, the village of Potomac, near Missoula.

And through him, I was brought to understand a little more of God's salvation, and professed to be saved before coming to this country. And I've never had any teaching, never had any ground put beneath my feet.

Instrumentality, I went from there to Chicago in 1915 to study at the Wooley Bible Institute. That man was a graduate of the Institute. And studying at the Institute, I came into touch with the assemblies in Chicago.

The late Mr. Alfred Mace was the first one I ever heard ministering the Word amongst the ten. And in 1916, I was welcomed to remember the Lord in the assembly that then met in Austin. I wanted to serve the Lord.

I had nearly joined up with a mission society to go to India, a faith mission society. Then, one day in conversation, we were sitting together about Acts 13, and saying rather sarcastically that when Paul and Barnabas went out, there was a mission society formed in Antioch to look after them.

That was about all I heard. It was not intended for my ears. They were just talking together. But God intended me to hear those words. In the Scriptures, of course, there was no such a thing. There were two men commended to the grace of God, and they went out to serve.

But then the question was, that was all right in apostolic days. Is it all right now? Is that which obtained then, is that possible today? We've had a good deal of exercise. There was a man named Sutcliffe at the time in the Institute.

He was a Presbyterian, too, but was very fond of assemblies, and very fond of coming to conversation with him one day. And he said, David, don't join that mission. In other words, stick to the brethren.

With the tears running down his cheeks, counsel he gave me. Some years later, it was my privilege to meet him out in Portland, Oregon, and to remind him of the conversation, and to tell him that I wish he had carried out, taken the advice that he gave me to himself.

He was then teaching at the Multnomah Bible School. And so it was after a good deal of exercise, with regard to what the scriptures teach us, the service that we set out for India in 1920. Father said to me, as we called at home, anybody in America that you'd care to write to, supposing you're ever in need, this society, join the faith mission society, supposing you're ever in need when you get to India, have you anybody that you'd care to write to?

Or anybody that you can write to? There's nobody that I care, that I would care to write to, if you're ever in need. The scriptures make it clear that he would not send forth soldiers at their own charges, that he will send forth, he will supply both seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

I promised, I said, we are going out to India. He looked at me and shook his head. And he anticipated that before very long, there would be some SOS appeals for some succor and help from his son, that had so foolishly gone out in this seeming foolhardy way out to India.

During those first years, it was a time when God gave us, on one occasion, this verse. Many a time did one pray then, God would give us the opportunity to to bear witness to his faithfulness, to his trustworthiness, to the validity of his promises, to give us the opportunity of getting back to one's people, to bear witness to the fact that God is faithful.

And over the 45 years since we first went out, these are the words one would like to write, that God has been faithful, in spite of much unfaithfulness as far as we have confirmed and our service is confirmed.

Depending on God in Christian Service

And the experience that I went through myself was an experience which enabled me to try to lead others into the same path when we got to India. With a large number of assemblies, and a number of young men keen to serve the Lord, there wasn't always the spiritual apprehension of what the scriptural path of service is.

There were many who thought that possibly the missionary should support them. We got there, the work had been started by a German brother, God had blessed his testimony, and half a dozen or more assemblies had been brought into being, and the first routes to the work had given themselves to the gospel.

And in those days, the support of these brethren was a very small amount, their cost was very little, and Mr. Nargile had fellowship with them in a very simple way as he served the Lord. Home in Germany when we arrived in 1920, and we found a number of Indian brethren dependent as far as their support was concerned, dependent entirely on what was received through missionaries.

Rather difficult, it was quite a heavy burden. One needs very often the needs of other responsibilities. There were brethren who were seeking to serve the Lord, and they were a great help. Jove said partial dependence upon man is better than an unreal dependence upon God.

An unreal dependence upon God can be a snare. And partial dependence upon man may be better than an unreal dependence upon God. We came to the conclusion that as far as these brethren were concerned, we couldn't bring about any change.

But as far as any new brethren going out to serve the Lord was concerned, we could only encourage them to go out in the same way as we had gone ourselves. And as I was telling some brethren yesterday and today, one young brother came who was anxious to serve the Lord.

I was asked to interview him, warning him clearly that he shouldn't depend upon us. If God helped us, we'd be glad to help him. But we had not the slightest idea where our needs were going to be supplied from.

And if ever he was in need, he must not in any way find fault with us. If God had called him, then he must look to God to supply his needs. He stepped out in dependence upon God into this place where there was no assembly, and he went there to live.

He rented a house, and there he sought to live, and he sought to labor. There were times when we were able to help him, times when we were not able to help him. One Indian brother came to me one day. He thought that missionaries should support all preachers.

He said, brother, I think we should think a little more about the needs of our brother so-and-so, mentioning him by name. I knew this brother was in fairly good way in business, so I said, well brother, if you'll give me a tithe of your income, I'll be very glad to look after him and look after many others too.

So he smiled and never said any more. But I hope that he thought to exercise his responsibility with regard to what God gave. But it hasn't been easy to teach Christians in India to give. It hasn't been easy to teach them whatever responsibility it was.

The support of Indian brethren has heard the Lord in the gospel. We started in 1940 or so to have the offering once a month, given entirely to the furtherance of the gospel. Not in connection with expense in our own area, but in other parts.

And it has been very interesting to see how God has blessed that very small beginning. We had mentioned the week before that the offering the following Lord's Day would be taken up for brethren whose names were mentioned laboring in a certain path, and it was interesting to see the way the Christians responded to this appeal to give to the work of the Lord.

And the blessing of God came upon that work. Today, in that area, and also in Bombay, and further south, and where we live, there are brethren, group of brethren, responsible brethren, who give themselves to the work of distributing gifts received for the work of the gospel.

We're very thankful for a number of men who are today seeking to serve the Lord in total dependence upon himself. We must remember the people in the country are poor. A great many of them, the great majority of them, never get as much as a dollar a day.

A dollar a day today would be a very high wage for the majority of the people. The great majority of them would get about 25 to 50 cents a day. Teachers in the day schools, they get about 200, 150 dollars, 150 rupees a month, maybe not that much, and that's about 50 dollars a month, is what the school teachers would get.

We had about 20 of those. We had a day school with about 800 children. We had an orphanage with about 40 girls that we looked after. During the last seven years, we were there, and I was manager of this day school as well.

There was no personal expense in connection with a day school, only it meant a good deal of responsibility with regard to the government. The government paid in full the teacher's salary. There were other expenses, of course, in connection with it.

The orphanage, of course, was something that was supplied and supported entirely by the gifts received from the Lord's people. This work has gone on, and we are very thankful to say that in spite of the poverty of much of the people there, the work has gone on with a good deal of blessing.

Now today, some 30 brethren who've gone from our area, we are right in the southwest, if you get a map of India, we're right down in the, you'll see a little place called Cochin, C-O-C-H-I-N. We're very near there.

The Apostle Thomas is supposed to have labored in that area of India, and Christianity has been there ever since apostolic days. Today, as I mentioned last night, about 200 assemblies of the Lord's people there.

Of late years, Pentecostalism has been a great difficulty, and they have come along with tongues and profess healings, and they of course are divided. There are six or seven brands of Pentecostalism there.

Sometimes in a small village, you'll have six or seven different and varying groups of Pentecostalists, but they're very aggressive, and some of them preach the gospel very clearly and see souls saved, but they're very disturbing in the way they preach and teach regarding tongues and healing, and one has had to give counteracting ministry to that all over the past years.

That's why I don't know if any of you saw the two booklets I have printed on tongues, on one on tongues and one on healing. I'm hoping that before a few months are over, there will be a book with a much fuller uh teaching on the subject printed.

They're now with the printers. I haven't yet heard definitely that Erdman will accept them for publication, but I'm hoping that they will. But these 30 presidents that I referred to have gone to other parts of India.

Many of them are graduates, many of them are men who could have good positions if they stayed in their home country as school teachers, government employees, and they've gone with their families, and they've lived and learned the language, and they're laboring and carrying on a witness for God in these very difficult parts of India.

Some have seen a good little blessing in souls being saved and an assembly being gathered together where they are. Others are largely still occupied with pioneer gospel work. Our son is still out in India.

He went out this last January on his second, for his second period out there. He went the first time out in 1956. He and his wife, he has married a girl from Vancouver, and he has been connected with a hospital in Tiruvalla, and at the present time they are very much in need of a nurse.

One of the nurses has had to leave. Of course, there are a large number of Indian nurses. I'm speaking now of missionary nurses. There are only two, and one of them has had to leave. The hospital has about 300 beds, three branch hospitals, and I suppose about a thousand operations per annum.

Well, very large work and a very heavy responsibility. Along with that, of course, there is the privilege of preaching the gospel and ministering the word of God in the surrounding assemblies in connection with the conventions, and we value prayer for death.

Now we turn to the word of God in connection with Romans 6. We value prayer for ourselves. It's what the future holds for us. We don't know, in the mercy of God, all our family are in crisis. They're all married now and scattered, seven of them, three boys and four girls.

Two girls in Canada, in Vancouver, one boy in India, one son in Africa, and three in London, so there's rather a scattered family. But, in the mercy of God, all are saved, and all in a friendly fellowship.

Romans 6: Union With Christ in Death and Resurrection

That's what our future passes to be. We don't, I don't see very far ahead at the present time. Now, yesterday evening, we were looking at chapter six, verses one to ten, and pointing out that in this section, the apostle answers the question asked in verse one.

What then? Should we sin because we are in order that, shall we, should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? The answer is given in verse two. Very brief, very unequivocal. A rejected statement.

God forbid. How shall we, who died to sin, live any longer therein? Now, that answer is explained and enlarged in verses three to ten. In verses three, four, and five, we have the illustration. Then, in verses six, seven, and eight, we have a reference to the believer's identification with Christ in death, and in verses nine and ten, we have a reference to the once-for-all character of the death of Christ.

The answer of the apostle seems like this. For a Christian to continue in sin is a denial of what we have in verses nine and ten, a denial of the once-for-all character of the death of Christ. Christ died unto sin once.

That's something that never will be repeated, never need be repeated, and never will be repeated. There is something that is final in his character. For a Christian to continue in sin after having died to sin would be a denial of the once-for-all character of the death of Christ.

In verses six to eight, he answers that it would be a denial of the once-for-all character of the believer's union with Christ in death, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him. The believer's union with Christ doesn't take place in baptism, it takes place in crucifixion.

Baptism is burial, and death must take place before burial. They can't bury people alive, must be death before burial, and so the union of the believer with Christ in death is what you have in verse six.

Our old man was crucified with him, and again in verse eight. Now, if we died with him, the old man is the same as the first man in that he set a new covenant, we thought, he makes us a first old. The first covenant became old because a new covenant came into being, and the first man became the old man because God was brought into being a new man in Christ, and we have died with Christ, and if we have actually died with Christ, then we have come under the judgment of God in the death of Christ, and having died with Christ, we are declared free, we are justified, we are discharged from every charge of guilt that he says in verse seven.

Then, in verses three, four, and five, he views it as the like of baptism. You see, in verses nine and ten, as I said, it's the death of Christ and the death of Christ alone. In verses six, seven, and eight, it's the believer's union with Christ in death and resurrection only, but in verses three, four, and five, it's the believer's union with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection, as illustrated in baptism.

You see the different note, an added note, in each of these three. The death of Christ and love alone, verses nine and ten, the believer's union with Christ in death and resurrection, verses six, seven, and eight, the believer's union with Christ in death and burial and resurrection, in verses three, four, and five.

Now, in verse 11, the apostle says, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord, or in Christ Jesus. I want you to notice that change, please.

In chapter five, all our blessings are through Jesus Christ our Lord. In verse one, for instance, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 11, we have joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and verse 21, grace rains through righteousness unto eternal life, by or through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But now, for the first time, we have this phrase, In Christ Jesus, and this is the phrase that is found from now on to the end of chapter eight. In verse 23, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Of chapter eight, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Verse two, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and you have the last verse of chapter eight, Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It's not something we receive through Christ, but a position which is ours by virtue of our identification with Christ. We are viewed as in Christ, identified with Christ. Are we to reckon ourselves dead unto sin?

In what way, in what way are we to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin? Are we dead to the temptations of sin? Exhausted here to reckon ourselves dead to the temptations, to the allurements of sin, or dead to the to the inward sense of inward sin?

None of us are dead to the sense of inward sin, and none of us are dead to the allurements of sin, and there's not a single Christian that is dead to the temptations of sin, and yet here we are told to reckon ourselves to die unto sin.

In what sense then are we to reckon that we have died unto sin? Does it mean that we've got to reckon that we have died unto sin, or reckon that we are dead unto sin even though we are not dead to sin?

Does God call upon us to reckon upon something which is not true to fact? Would God ask us to do that? Could God ask me to reckon upon something as a fact which is not a fact, if it's not a fact? No. The answer to it must be found in two words.

In verse 10, we read that Christ died unto sin, or verse 9, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, in that he died, he died unto sin once, and then in connection with that we have verse 11, the first word, even so, even so.

That is, in the way, in whatever way we understand that Christ died unto sin, in that way you've got to reckon that you've died unto sin. So, the way we have died unto sin, if we are going to understand that, we must know how Christ died unto sin.

Did he die to the allurements of sin? Did he die to the temptations of sin? That would be blasphemous. Did he die to the inward sense of sin? Of course not. He had no sense of inward sin. He was without sin.

He was holy. There's only one way in which we can interpret those words, that he died unto sin once. He died to put sin away. He died on account of sin. He died to meet sin's penalty. That's the only way in which we can interpret those words, that Christ died unto sin.

There's no other way in which we can interpret those words. No other meaning can be given to them than that Christ died to put sin away. He died to meet sin's penalty, to meet sin's doom. Now, the apostle says, in that way, wretched, you have died.

In Christ, you've died. Just as Christ died to sin's penalty, just as Christ died to sin's doom, you've died to sin's doom. God never asks any Christian to reckon that he's dead to the sense of inward sin.

God never asks any Christian to reckon that he's dead to the temptations of sin, nor to reckon that he's dead to the allurements of sin, for we are not. Why heard many people say, now, it means that you've got to reckon it.

In spite of the fact that you are actually not dead to sin, in spite of the fact that you're not dead to the sense of inward sin, you've got to reckon that you are. Hmm, well, it's a queer kind of reckoning.

You've got no money in the bank, but you've got to reckon that you have, and you can write other checks for a thousand dollars. Well, the policeman will soon be after you. No, you can't reckon on something that is not a fact, but here is something which is a fact.

We have died to the penalty of sin. That's why he says in verse 7, he that has died is freed, legally freed, is discharged from the guilt of sin. We've had people in India teaching us, and I was taught it by a man in 1915, that it was possible to get rid of the flesh, possible to get rid of the old nature.

It was a very tempting Delilah, very attractive doctrine. To dangle in front of a young Christian, anxious to walk with the Lord, that it's possible to get rid of this old nature, root and branch. And a year since you trusted Christ, you haven't got rid of that yet, have you?

No, but I tried to believe that, and it was teaching given by Mr. Ross, as I mentioned last night, the Chicago conference in 1916, that helped me to understand something of Roman saints. But when I got to India, I learned something of the reason why God let me go through that school, because I found some Indian brethren who had been taught this.

One of the men who came to preach in our house, the Christians met in our home, he began preaching this. He could have brought with him a little plant into the meeting, and he said, now some people believe it's enough just to take off the leaves, slip the leaves.

Some people think they can slip the plants like that, level with the ground. But he said, I believe it's best to take it up roots and branches, and throw it out, he said, and he threw it out through the back door.

The next morning, I called an Indian brother who could interpret, and I tried to help him, but he was beyond being helped. He had reached a plateau in Christian experience, from which he could look down upon the poor mortals that were living in what he thought were the misty flats down below.

Three hours later, I was over in his area, and I was ministering on Romans 7. And he went to the back of the hall. What had happened in the intervening years, he had learned that he hadn't got rid of the roots.

He had learned by bitter experience that the roots were still there, and very active. And I said to one of the brethren, tell him to come up to the house, will you? So he came up, and as he came into my room, he threw his arms around my neck, and he said, oh brother, if I'd only learned this, if I'd only learned this two years ago.

So it's a, it's a, it's a deceptive deliner that would lead a Christian astray to believe, if he tries to believe that he's got rid of the old nature, or to reckon that he's dead to it. We're not dead to it, and God never asks me to reckon that I'm dead to something that I'm not dead to.

Yielding to God Rather Than Sin

Now, the next verse says, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. You see, if I'm dead to it altogether, and I reckon that I am dead to it, then the expectation of verse 12 would be of absolutely no purpose.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. Here is a monarch that has been deposed, and he doesn't say, don't let it dwell. For later, in chapter seven, he speaks of indwelling sin. But here he says, don't let it reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust over you to the positive.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness and to sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of war. The monarch then puts it there as weapons of righteousness.

The word righteousness used five times in this chapter is rather suggestive. It has to do with right character. It's not merely righteousness in the sense of justification, but right conduct, right way of living.

That's the word used here. And the apostle urges the believer to yield himself to God and his members as instruments for right way of conduct and the right way of living unto God and to righteousness.

You see, Darby, in his translation of the New Testament, he has verses 1 to 11 in one paragraph, and then verses 12, 13, and 14 come together, and he puts verses 1 to 11 as positional truth, and then verses 12, 13, and 14 as practical outcome of that.

That verse 11 deals with our position in Christ. Likewise, reckon ye yourselves to have died in deed and to sin. That's our position in Christ. Consequent upon that, he says, therefore, therefore, let not sin reign in your mortal body.

And if sin is not to reign in the mortal body, then the individual must yield himself to God, and his members must be yielded as instruments of righteousness unto God. But now to go on to the remaining portion.

Freedom From Sin’s Dominion and the Nature of Conversion

Look at verse 15. Verse 15. Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Perfection grows out of the statement of verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Very well said the objector. Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? He said, Paul, you're very wrong in not putting people under law. When Israel came up out of Egypt, God gave them the law, and he put them under law.

And here you're telling us we are not under law. And these Gentiles came from idolatry. You're not going to put them under law. You're only going to allow them to live a life of sin. You're giving them a license to live in sin by not putting them under law.

So, the apostle, he answers that in two ways. In verses 16 to verse 23 of chapter 6, he shows the fallacy of such an argument. And then, in chapter 7, he shows the futility of putting a person under law.

You notice the word in verse 16, know ye not. And again, in verse 1 of chapter 7, know ye not. So, the verse 16 of chapter 6, right to the end of chapter 7, deals with... they contain the answer to this question of, shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

First, the fallacy, the folly of such a contention. Look what it says in verse 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are? To whom ye obey, whether of sin and with death, or of obedience and righteousness?

The apostle says here what is virtually said by our Lord, no man can serve two masters. Service for two masters is an impossibility. It's not forbidden. When the Lord says, no man can serve two masters, he's not giving... he's not forbidding such a thing.

He's taking that such a thing is an impossibility. When the apostle says you cannot eat at the Lord's table under the table of demons, that's not a prohibition. That's a statement of an actual fact. It's impossible to have both.

You cannot look east and west at the same time. It's not a prohibition, that's a statement of fact. You can't walk forward and backward at the same time. The thing is an impossibility. When the Lord says no man can serve two masters, he is stating what is an absolute impossibility.

Now, that's the teaching which the apostle gives us here. You say a man, now because he's saved and he's under grace, he is going to sin because he's under grace. Well, then that shows that he's not under grace at all, that he's never known the law.

Test him by the law of liberty. You've got lions in the zoo, you've got all kinds of wild animals in the zoo, but they're not tested by the law of liberty. Some of them have never, never done any harm to anybody in their lives.

They were born in captivity and they've been reared in captivity. And some of them live to become old animals still in captivity and they've never bitten anybody. But that's because they're behind iron bar.

That's because they're tested by the law of liberty and then see what will happen to them. They won't be long before they show that they've got the lion nature there still. No tested by the law of liberty.

Let the, let the raven out. Tested by the law of liberty. He doesn't come back, he's got plenty to eat outside. He's tired of having lived in the, in the ark for over 12 months. He's glad to get the chance to get out and feed on the carrion that was floating around.

So Noah learned his lesson and when he let the pigeon out, when he let the dove out, he tied a long piece of string to his leg and said, now here, I'm not going to let you go. I'll see that you come back, all right.

And the dove goes. Noah gets a little bit afraid that he's not going to come back and he says, here. And he begins to pull in the kite. Does he? No, no, no. Let the dove free. Give it its liberty. Give it its liberty.

And it proves that it's a dove by the way it exercises its liberty. You see, that's the, that's the argument here. No man can serve two masters. A man is either a servant of obedience or he's a servant of sin.

Either one or the other. That's the first argument. The second argument is this. It is, you don't realize what it means to be converted. God be thanked, it says in verse 6 -17, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that mold of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Not so much the mold of doctrine that was delivered to you, but that mold into which you were delivered. You've taken on that mold. The doctrine which you heard has become formative of Christian character, and the mold undoubtedly is a reference to baptism, of death, union with Christ in death, burial and resurrection.

That's the mold. And you've taken on that form, the form of that mold. I've watched them in Ford's factory, and they put a piece of hot metal upon the iron table, and they come down with a die upon it, tremendous weight, and then in a few minutes they lift it and it comes out the handle of the car, of the door car.

It's taken on the form of the mold. Now that's what the apostle is here. Conversion is a very radical thing, says the apostle. You don't realize that conversion is not merely the acceptance of some truth, or merely the advent of the mind or something.

That conversion is a radical revolution in a person's life. It's the orientation of man's life. You've obeyed from the heart that mold of doctrine to which you were delivered. There has been a real conversion.

And when a man talks about liberty to sin, even though he's not under law, he is betraying the fact that possibly he's never had a real conversion in his experience. A real conversion. You know, a real conversion is a marvelous miracle, isn't it?

It's wonderful to see somebody really genuinely convert. A brother older than I was converted when we were on our way out of India, and I was staying a few weeks at home, and he was very genuinely converted.

He worked on the farm, and every once in a while they'd miss him. And they'd find him sitting by the hay rake reading his New Testament, carried a New Testament in his hip pocket. Why, for years he wouldn't have looked at a Bible for anything.

Step into the open air, into the little town where we live, and there on his own carry on a gospel meeting. I wish you'd do the same today, but he's not doing that now. He's a respectable Baptist preacher today.

But a conversion is a wonderful change, a complete reorientation, a complete change in a man's character, in a man's life. And when a man talks about, shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace, why, he betrays the fact that he's ignorant of the real power of conversion.

Of true obedience from the heart. You notice that it's not so much faith that the apostle uses here, but obedience. He starts the epistle with the obedience of faith, and he ends with the obedience of faith.

Not the obedience to the faith, as our authorite puts it, but he said we have been given grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith. Faith always begets obedience. If there's real faith, there will be obedience.

Go and wash in the pool of Shiloh, and where there is real faith, it turns out into obedience. Faith and obedience are synonymous. Unbelief and disobedience are synonymous in the word of God. Look at the next of the apostles.

The Flesh, Christian Weakness, and Freedom From Sin’s Power

The next argument he brings. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. Here the apostle is speaking of the of the fact that they were still still possessed of the flesh. If you go through Young's Concordance, you'll find that there are some 28 references to the flesh in the epistle to the Romans, and the word is used in a variety of ways, in very many variety of ways.