Garland, Texas - Complete Commitment — J. Edwin Orr

Complete Commitment to God

For those who are here for the first time, I mention again that this has been a series of meetings, one message following on another. Not like an evangelistic campaign where you can bring someone along and hear a gospel message, a way of salvation made clear.

I love to preach the gospel. By the way, if you have unconverted friends and neighbors, I intend to present the gospel news of salvation to them on Sunday morning. Bring them along. But the ministry the Lord has given me has been one of a message to believers in the churches.

That's what I propose to do tonight, to speak to believers. You may remember I spoke on repentance, which means a change of attitude. I spoke on conscience and conviction and confession. Last night I spoke on hindrances, and now I want to speak on commitment.

The Two Dogs and the Christian’s Inner Conflict

There was a Hopi Red Indian giving testimony in Arizona. He said, Before I get converted, I go to town on Saturday night, get drunk. My big black dog bite everybody. Then, said he, Jesus Christ come into my life.

He give me great big white dog. White dog love everybody. But he said, Now I have two dogs, and they fight. A chief on the front seat said, Which dog winning? Brave hesitated for a moment, then he said, Whichever one I say, sick him.

When I heard that story, I thought how true it is. When I was a teenage Christian, sometimes I got so pious. Not only did I go to church twice on Sunday without being told to go. I went to Bible class, to Sunday school.

I went to the midweek service. I went to missionary meeting, gave out hymn books. I even did my social service. I went to a bakery and bought pastries slightly damaged at half price and distributed them to the poor in the slums.

I was feeding the big white dog. But sometimes I backslid somewhat, ran around with a gang of boys on Saturday night, kept bad company. I didn't curse and swear and get drunk, that sort of thing, but I certainly compromised my testimony.

I was feeding the black dog. Now, isn't that really the problem with the Christian life? Our Nazarene friends teach that you can shoot the old black dog dead, but they admit that you can start with another black pup.

So we'll not worry about the age of the dog. What is your greatest enemy in living the Christian life? The Communist Party? Not at all. It's yourself. That's what I want to talk about. I remember coming to Texas in 1950.

Commitment Beyond Church Programs

Billy Graham asked me to come. It was his first campaign, and the editor of the Baptist Standard had made a strong attack on Billy, calling him a Unionist, a Huytonian, and several other names. Billy said, I wish you'd go to Texas and explain to the good folks there that when God blesses his people, he blesses them all.

So I drove all the way to Lubbock. I was so broke I slept in the car the first night. But next day I went to the BSU. There I met a BSU worker. Her name was Ardell Hallock, daughter of Preacher Hallock of Norman, Oklahoma.

And she said, there's a young evangelist in town from New Orleans Baptist Seminary. His name is Buckner Fanning. So I went along to see him. And he wanted to talk about what is the doctrine of commitment.

He said, you know, some say that what's wrong with us Baptists is we dip them and drop them. I said, that's not fair. You don't dip them and drop them. You dip them and then get them into the program.

That's the answer. Get them into the program, the program of the church. And what a variety of programs we have. Now supposing a converted man has a rotten bad temper, what does the program do for his bad temper?

What does his bad temper do for the program about Rexit? I find the average Baptist can explain the steps of salvation, telling people to repent of their sins and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and so on and so on.

But if you say now, what about the problem of the Christian life? Well, come to the church and get in the program. They don't have a clear theology at this point. So I want to speak about the doctrine of commitment.

Billy Graham and a Crisis of Consecration

And I'd like to point out that practically everyone that I know that's been greatly used of God has had a crisis of commitment. I have one of my old books here, and in the little summary at the end, I mentioned the wonderful touch of revival that we had at the Forest Home Conference grounds in San Bernardino Mountains in California in 1949.

One of the other speakers, a young friend of mine, he wanted to talk about revival and he wanted to talk about commitment. One night we saw such a moving of God's spirit that we had 17 after meetings going on simultaneously.

He came to me after midnight at my cabin, said, I've never been closer to God in my life. But then he said, why did you say that I wasn't totally surrendered to the Lord? I said, I didn't say a word about you.

Well, he said, it must have been the Lord speaking to me. I've said here, I think the climax was reached after midnight one Wednesday night when he opened his heart and told me of his desire for a renewal of his consecration, an anointing of the Holy Spirit.

We talked about that for an hour. Then he went out into the woods to pray. I think you'll find an account of this in the first issue of Christianity Today in 1956. At two in the morning, he came back to my cabin to tell me that he had not only received an infilling of the Holy Spirit, but an assurance that he was going to see revival in Los Angeles.

When I put those talks that I gave together in a book, he wrote the preface and he said the messages were of tremendous blessing in my own life. The logical development of the whole subject of commitment and the outpouring of the Spirit stirred the whole conference.

Well, you can guess who that was, Billy Graham, but the man was already an evangelist working for Youth for Christ. But that night, without reservation, he committed his mind and will to the Lord. Emotions anew to God came into it, an experience of what Andrew Murray calls absolute surrender.

Justification and Sanctification

Now, a lot of good Baptists are in favor of commitment like that, but they don't know of the theology of it. So I want to talk to you tonight about total commitment. But I'm going to have to explain two terms, first of all.

First of all, justification, and second, sanctification. I was speaking in a Baptist church in San Diego. My wife was in the audience. When I announced I was going to speak on sanctification, one Baptist lady turned to another and said, that's a Methodist doctrine.

No, it's a New Testament doctrine. The word sanctification is all through the New Testament. But you see, so many people are a little shy of the subject, they think it's a denominational distinctive of the Methodists.

They forget that sanctification is something very important in the life of the believer. Now, what do we mean by justification? Would anyone like to suggest what does it mean to be justified? Would you raise your hand and make a suggestion?

Don't be afraid, it will add to the discussion. Being right with God, yes, being right with God. Anyone else make any other suggestion? That's right, to be acquitted of guilt, to be counted blameless.

I'm surprised that no one has given me the usual answer that I get. Justified means that when God looks at me in Christ, he sees me justified, never sinned. That's a pun rather than a definition, but I don't mind an occasional pun.

I remember asking my Sunday school teacher, who were the Sadducees? He said, the Sadducees were a Jewish sect. They didn't believe in the resurrection of the body or the coming of the Lord. And that's why they were sad, you see, I've never forgotten that.

So if you want to remember it that way, to be justified is to be accounted righteous. But how can God count me righteous if I'm not righteous? Well, you see, that's through the atonement, Christ died for me.

But justification is the work of God whereby we are accounted righteous. I spoke last night on forgiveness. It's more than forgiveness. Way back in 1949, I suppose in 49, I was driving along California Boulevard in Pasadena, California.

I came to a stop sign at the corner of Allen Boulevard. I stopped and I drove north. Now, in those days, there used to be a motorcycle policeman hiding under the pepper trees there. And as I drove north on Allen Boulevard, I noticed in the reflection of my mirror, the motorcycle policeman coming rapidly in my direction.

I said to the Reverend Armand Guesswine, who was riding with me, who's he chasing? He looked back, I had to attend to the steering wheel. He looked back and he said, you're the only one on the street.

And sure enough, the man was after me. But I hadn't done anything wrong. That's true, I was driving a car with an Illinois license plate. I just moved from Glen Ellyn in Illinois. But that's not an offense.

They always give you a few months to change your license plate. The motorcycle policeman pulled alongside of me, said, pull over there, bud. I pulled over, he parked his cycle, he walked back. He laid his elbow ever so nonchalantly on my window frame.

You have to agree, traffic cops have poise. He seemed to be very confident of himself. He said, mister, do you have stop signs back in Illinois? I thought, what a dumb question. But I decided against saying that to him.

I said, yes. Mister, when you see a stop sign in Illinois, do you stop? I thought, there's another dumb question. I said, of course. Then he said, why didn't you stop back there? I said, I did. I mean, I think I did.

I mean, I hope I did. I mean, did I? He said, you put your foot in the brake, but you didn't stop rolling. Show me your driver's license. Mercifully, it was issued in Chicago. Well, he said, I see you are a visitor to our fair state.

We'll forgive you this time. You can drive on. I drove on. I was glad I didn't get a ticket. I was forgiven. I was forgiven, but I wasn't justified. Because I stopped at the next sign at San Pascual and let him see me stop.

If I had gone through that sign, he would have given me a ticket. I was only on probation. Now, that's the blessing of justification. God not only forgives us, but he treats us as if we never sinned in the first place.

That's what it means to be justified. Not only that, he adopts us into his family. Could you imagine going home tonight and find the neighbors out on the sidewalk saying, oh, your house has been burgled?

You say, oh, no. Yes, but we think the burglar is still there. Be very careful. So you go in very gingerly. There's signs of burglary. But you don't see the burglar. Then you find he's locked himself in the bathroom and he can't get the lock undone.

He's trapped. You've been meaning to fix that lock, but generally you don't use it. But there he is. Then you find he's only a teenager. You feel sorry for him. Transient. So he said, I haven't eaten all day.

You say, well, we'll make you a little bit of supper. Where are you sleeping tonight? He doesn't have a place to sleep. So you put him up in the guest room. On Monday, you take him downtown. Find him a job.

He's so grateful he comes for Sunday dinner every day, every week. And finally marries your sister. What treatment for a burglar? Well, that's exactly what God does for us. He not only forgives us. He justifies us, treats us as if we never sinned in the first place, and then adopts us into the family.

That's the wonderful salvation we have. Now, every Baptist knows this. But what is your definition of sanctification? What does it mean to be sanctified? Someone make a suggestion. Anyone raise your hand before you speak.

Yes, I'm glad I'm getting good, straight theological answers here. To be sanctified. One man said that means to be made holy. I said, what does to be made holy mean? Well, to be sanctified. They both mean the same thing.

One's Anglo-Saxon, the other's Latin. But it means to be set apart for God. Now, notice I said for God because the word sanctified can mean something else. The children of Israel did sanctify themselves to do evil.

That means they set themselves out to do evil, just as we could say hell's angels set themselves out to wreck the town of Hollister. It has that negative sense. But to be set apart for God. Now, that's more than cleansing.

We talked last night about if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. My daughter is married and has three children. I think I told you one is six foot four and he's shooting big game in Africa at the moment with a camera.

But when she was a little girl of 11, I shouldn't say a little girl because she was as tall as her mother when she was 11. I came home late one night. My wife didn't know when to expect me. She'd gone out shopping.

I was too tired to cook for myself, too hungry to wait for her to come back. I asked my 11 year old daughter, how about making supper for your daddy? Oh, she was pleased. It was the first time anyone had asked her officially to cook.

Of course, I knew what I would get meatballs. That was the first thing she learned in domestic economy, how to make Swedish meatballs. Well, I was ready for meatballs. I took the newspaper, began to read.

She would start to sing to herself. She was so pleased with herself. She put the pan on, she put a knife on the table. She put a fork on the table. Then she put a plate on the table. I lowered my paper.

I said, take that plate away. She said, what's wrong with that plate, daddy? I said, that's the cat's plate. I'm not going to eat off the cat's plate. She said, but I washed it. I said, I don't care if you washed it a hundred times.

That plate was sanctified onto the cat. It was set apart for the cat's use. I remember once I had a quartet of young men singing in my meetings. They stood in front of the communion table, a little nervous when they started, but they relaxed when they were singing their second number.

And one fellow heaved himself up onto the communion table. I said, get down, get down. That table is sanctified for the Lord's supper, set apart. You don't use it for ping pong or anything like that, do you?

No, never. So to be sanctified is to be set apart. Now, I don't mean to be out of this world. But in Adelaide, in Australia, I stayed with a young couple who had just been converted. They thought they had a lot to learn about the Christian life, so they volunteered to put the evangelist up, offered hospitality.

I noticed they were a little, shall we say, nervous. And after a few days, I said, are you disappointed having an evangelist? Well, we didn't know what to expect. We thought you'd come into the room and say, peace be unto you, or something like that.

Now, to be sanctified doesn't mean to be out of this world. It means just to be usable for God, to be set apart for God. It does not mean that you cannot have fun, doesn't mean you can't have entertainment.

It doesn't mean you can't have sport. It doesn't mean you can't have recreation. But it means you must be set apart for God. Don't expect the Lord to bless you on the Lord's Day if the devil has the use of your life on Saturday night.

Three Biblical Dimensions of Sanctification

That's what it really means, to be set apart for God. Now, this is all my preliminary explanation before we come to the meat of the message. But I'm going to say something further. Why is it that believers disagree so much about a subject like sanctification?

For instance, there are some who teach that sanctification is a position. You might say, who teaches that? I don't know if you've ever heard of a theologian called John Nelson Darby, one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren.

You say, that's a very small denomination. It has a wide influence, though. Dallas Theological Seminary is influenced by Darby's teaching. So is the whole of the dispensationalist movement. They emphasize that every believer is set apart for God.

That was Darby's emphasis. Is it true? Oh, yes. In the opening of the epistle to the Corinthians, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, and Sophonis, our brother, to the church at Corinth, sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.

Hold on a moment. The church at Corinth, where there was drunkenness at the Lord's table, and immorality in the congregation, and fanaticism in their meetings? Yes, but he called them saints. They were set apart for God.

In one sense, the moment a man says, I put my trust in Jesus Christ, he's set apart for God. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. Any danger to this? Any heresy? Oh, yes. If you turn around to the negative side and say, then it doesn't matter what I do, then you've missed the whole point.

Now, another John, John Wesley, emphasized sanctification as a crisis of commitment. Any scripture for that? Oh, yes. Romans 12 and 1. Present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is a reasonable service.

That's commitment. I remember speaking in the Queensland Bible Institute in Brisbane, and I said, anyone care to define sanctification for me? A girl in the class stood up and said, sanctification is moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, growth in grace.

I said, thank you. As any other definition, a young man, I suppose he was of Methodist extraction, he got up and he said, sanctification is the deeper blessing. Then another young man with a big Scofield Bible under his arm spoke, and he said, every believer is sanctified.

And in one minute, I'd heard what seemed to be three contradictory definitions. Now, Baptists and Presbyterians and some other denominations are committed to the idea of sanctification as growth in grace.

The Methodists and the Nazarenes and the Salvation Army speak of sanctification as a crisis of commitment, and the Plymouth Brethren and others of the dispensationalist school say every believer is sanctified.

It's a position. It's your privilege. How could you reconcile these positions? Now, you may notice that I preach my own theology. I did study in seminary, but I had to learn things for myself. I'll tell you this, a lot of things they don't teach you in seminary.

And you begin to learn things afterwards. One day I was puzzled about this. So I took my Greek New Testament. I took the word hagios, which means holy or sanctified in its various forms and made a list of every time it occurred in the New Testament.

And it fell into, first of all, one or two categories, growth and grace. That was obviously there. But then it also referred to a crisis of commitment, like presenting your body a living sacrifice. And then I found some that wouldn't fit, and I was able to put them into another category, and that is the position of the believer.

And it helped me to understand the moment a man is converted, he belongs to Christ, but he may not yield his life to him. So there's a danger of just saying this is my privilege. I heard Harry Ironside say once, every time the Bible mentions the privilege of a believer, it adds something about his responsibility.

That's certainly true. And then I believe that there comes a crisis in the Christian life where a believer says, I try to live the Christian life and I find it difficult. And those that really are used of God come to the place where they say, all right, I'll let the Lord do it for me.

I'll surrender my life completely to him. Then growth and grace occurs. So when you ask me which school of thought I belong to, quite cheerfully and sincerely, I say to all three. I believe the moment a person gives his heart to Christ, he set apart for God.

But he's got to live up to it. I believe that he'll find as he moves along the Christian life, he'll find that he's he needs something more. I never call it a second blessing. I believe it's all in Christ.

I believe there are 152 blessings or more. And then he's all right, Lord, you're going to have all there is of me. And then I believe he really grows in grace. Now, I've said that by way of preliminary, but tonight we're not going to talk about justification as a subject, but we're going to talk about sanctification.

Where the meaning clearly is. Committing your life completely to God and growing the way he wants you to grow. All right, then, Suzanne, if you'll come and sing again, then we'll stand and sing a chorus afterwards.

And I want to give you the rest of my message. Now that we've talked about these words, justification and sanctification. And I quote the first present your body, a living sacrifice. Let's turn to the epistle to the Romans.

Romans, Justification, and the Problem of Sin

If you have a New Testament with you, turn to the epistle to the Romans. I already told you that I heard Campbell Morgan say a text without its context is no more than a pretext. What's the context? Look at Romans one, verse eight.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. Because your faith is proclaimed in all the world, where the Roman Christians of that day above average. Average or below average in faith, what would you say?

Because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. What would you say? Above average. My next meeting is in Toronto at the Great People's Church, the largest church in Canada, founded by Dr. Oswald Smith.

I was his associate pastor at one time before World War Two. If I were to write to that church, the present pastor is Dr. Paul Smith, his son, one of the great preachers of Canada, who was my song leader at one time, believe it or not.

If I were to write to that church, I could say, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your missionary giving is spoken of throughout the whole world. That's probably the most missionary-minded church in the world.

In Oswald Smith's day, they were supporting 300 missionaries, and it wasn't a wealthy congregation. Does that mean they're above average, average, or below average? Above average in mission giving. It's quite clear that the Apostle Paul was writing to spiritual people, to people who had faith that was talked about all over the Christian world.

I'd like to ask a question. You have read the Epistle to the Romans. No doubt you've studied it in Sunday school or Bible class. What would you say in a couple of words? The topic, the subject of the first three chapters of the Epistle to the Romans.

I'll give you a clue. Romans 3, 23 says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What would you say, in a couple of words, is the subject of the first three chapters? Anyone? I take it you've read it.

What's it about? Yes, well, it doesn't mention Christ. It's man's need, yes. But somebody said sin. It's the guilt of sin. That's why he's in need. He's guilty before God. I heard a black preacher in Los Angeles preach justice.

You know how men cry out for justice? But he says, suppose you're guilty, then you want mercy. Is mercy all you want? No, you want forgiveness. There are some great black preachers. He really rang a bell that night.

But everyone, every last man born into this world faces the problem of the guilt of sin. I don't know if I mentioned to you last time I spoke to you, but I remember a man saying to me, I think I did, I mentioned the man in the mayor's parlor who said, if God makes the rules, can't God bend the rules and just forgive you?

But then he wouldn't be God. Do you remember, and I don't mean to be political, but do you remember when President Gerald Ford issued a pardon to Richard Nixon? He had no doubt some good reasons for that.

He thought the trial of a president would wreck the country. So he issued him a pardon. But what about the man who was already in jail? He's been speaking on television recently. What was his name? Yes, Gordon.

Gordon Liddy. Gordon Liddy suffered. Why didn't he get a pardon? We see God cannot make plea bargains or make deals or anything like that. He must be just. Every last one of us suffers from the guilt of sin.

That's our problem. The first chapter of Romans tells us how terrible sin is. The second chapter tells us every Gentile is a sinner. And it says the Jews are sinners, too, even though they have the word of God.

And it sums it up by saying all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Notice the pronoun all. There was only one exception. That was the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I remember talking to some Roman Catholic friends.

And they said, what about the Blessed Virgin Mary? I said, she said, my soul does magnify the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God. My savior. She needed to be saved, too. I believe in speaking highly, always of the blessed, most blessed among women.

Some people is in reaction to Catholicism. Don't give enough respect to Mary, the mother of Jesus. But even she needed to be saved. She was just a human being like us. Only one exception, Jesus Christ.

So there we have a problem. What's the answer? Will you find it in Romans chapters four and five? There isn't time to read right through. So just look at the key verse Romans five and one. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is justification? It means being acquitted of guilt, being counted blameless. Justified, never sinned. Here are sins. We're guilty before God. What happens? God forgives us. Not only forgives us, he justifies us.

Treats us as if we'd never sinned in the first place. I was preaching in Santa Clara, California, for First Baptist Church. I wrote to the pastor. I said, if there's any college or university around, I'd like to have meetings at noon or sometime during the day.

When I arrived, he said, you'll be speaking the University of Santa Clara. I thought, what university is that? I knew the University of California and its branches. I knew the California State University.

I knew the private universities, USC and Stanford. I said, is that a Roman Catholic university? He said, yes. Jesuit. Well, I said, they want me to speak. He said, yes. Well, I said, I'm grateful to join the 23rd.

I went along. The priest said to me, you're very welcome. Just speak. I said, what would you like me to speak about? Our common heritage? He said, if you wish, but we'd much rather you'd speak on faith and works, scripture and tradition.

A definition of the church. A definition of salvation and what Baptists and Catholics may do that there may be one fold and one shepherd. I said, I'll begin with the last point first. I said, Baptists, like other evangelicals, believe there is one fold and one shepherd, the one shepherd, obviously the Lord Jesus Christ and the one fold, all true believers in him.

He had already taken his place among the 600 students. He said, we're not too far apart, then we believe in the one fold, all validly baptized. Immediately, I thought of Adolf Hitler. Who had been, in his words, validly baptized, but it didn't seem nice to mention him.

I mean, so I told him a Baptist story. I said, one of our Baptist students in seminary was held up by a gangster in the alley behind Washington Boulevard, the corner of Sacramento. And robbed the five dollars.

And this fellow said to the gangster, you're robbing the wrong sort of people, my friend, that's my last five bucks, and I'm only a student for the Baptist ministry. If you're going to steal from somebody, why don't you rob somebody who has some money?

I said, what do you say? He said, I say, why don't you rob somebody who has some money? The man said, what do you say about the Baptists? He said, I'm only a student for the Baptist ministry. The man says, I'll give it to you back.

I'm a Baptist myself. Well, of course, my Catholic friends thought this was hilarious. Then they began to wonder why I told that. I said, it's not what you say you are, it's what you are. That's why I say all true believers in him.

Adolf Hitler, no doubt, was sprinkled as a baby. Didn't make him a Christian. And I don't think that even being baptized by a merchant makes people a Christian. They've got to be born again, and that's their confession.

That's my view. So here we have it. Therefore, being justified by faith, then a student said to me, but what about works? Does your Bible say, but does it profit though a man say his faith and have not works?

Can that kind of faith save him? I said, yes. Don't say your Bible. There's only one Bible. There are different translations and versions. Yes, it says that. Then aren't we saved by two things, by faith and by works?

I said, no, not really two things. It's one thing. We're saved by the faith that works. If it doesn't work, it's not true faith. I've already talked to you about repentance and the evidence of the Christian life.

They didn't get me. It was new to them. So I said, now, look, my next door neighbor is a devout Irish Roman Catholic. We're very good neighbors. They wanted to go to a wedding in Mexico, but they couldn't go because they had a tiny little baby.

So my wife said, leave the baby with us. Leave his bottle and formula. I'll take care of your baby. Go and enjoy yourselves. You don't get a chance so often with small children. They said, oh no, Mrs. Orr, we couldn't do that.

She means you don't trust me with your baby. I've raised my own. Oh, no, it's not that, Mrs. Orr. It's just that we wouldn't impose on you. She says, you leave the baby with us. So they did. That's my wife's temperament.

Just as soon as she gets to heaven, she'll measure Peter for a pullover. My wife is not a public speaker, but she has the gift of helps. That's a gift. Now, I said, would you agree that looking after that baby was good works?

They agreed. I said, while they were in Mexico, I was having my afternoon nap. I always try to get 30 minutes as a horizontal Baptist in the middle of the day. I heard our lawnmower go. So I peeped out the window, but there wasn't anyone in our garden.

A man sort of knows subconsciously the sound of his own lawnmower. And I thought, now my wife is really pulling a fast one on me, trying to make me feel guilty. So I got up, but I couldn't see. Then I discovered she was mowing the neighbor's lawn.

I said, what are you doing? She thought it'd be a nice thing, you know, to manure their lawn while they're away, because children just track the dirt into the house while they're away. It won't matter.

Would you go and get a bag of steer manure? Well, it would never have occurred to me. But when they came back, not only did they find the baby in good condition, but the lawn was in good condition, too.

So I said, would you agree that was good works? They agreed. I said, Mrs. Orr didn't do that because she felt that what Christ did on the cross was only 92 .5 effective, and she had to make up for it by 7 .5 good works.

She felt that what Christ did on the cross for her was 100 effective, and she was just glad to do it to please the Lord. So therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's by faith. Hold on a moment. These people in Rome had their faith spoken up throughout the whole world. Why did the Apostle Paul take the trouble to write all this about justification by faith when they already knew it?

They were all justified by faith. They knew this doctrine. Why did he take the trouble of recapitulating the whole doctrine of justification by faith? I think there's a reason for it. He was setting up something for a parallel, because now we're going to deal with a second problem.

The Power of Sin and the Believer’s Struggle

What is the subject of Romans 6 and 7? I'll give you a clue. It's Romans 6, verse 1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? In the King James Version, what shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? In Philip's translation, what shall we say then? Shall we sin to our heart's content and so exploit the grace of God? But isn't that what we do? Remember I asked the question, how many here have not sinned since the day of the conversion?

And nobody volunteered. You say, well, I say, what about those sins? Shall we just keep on sinning that God can forgive us some more? Supposing Sears Roebuck announced that on the 15th of January 1986, to commemorate the anniversary of the firm, Sears Roebuck and company are prepared to forgive every outstanding debt against the firm.

That would be great news for some little widow whose husband had died and left her not enough money to pay the bills. But what do you think would happen between now and the 15th of January? Tom, Dick and Harry would go to Sam's U-Drive and get a truck.

They'd open a charge account. They'd charge it. They'd buy everything they could get their hands on. They would have furniture delivered. Because if they're going to be forgiven on the 15th of January, you might as well run up a big account.

That's human nature. Now the Apostle Paul is saying to us in effect, God has been so decent to us to forgive us freely. What shall we say then? Shall we just run up an account of sin so he can forgive us some more?

In the King James Version it says, God forbid. In the Revised Standard Version it says, by no means. Phillips says, he's an Englishman, what a ghostly thought. It's certainly a negative. My wife said to me, how can they translate something in Greek to mean God forbid or by no means?

Why does it mention God in one case and it doesn't mention the other? She didn't understand how they translated that. Well, actually it's not Greek. It was not Greek in the original statement. You see, the word Amen is not Greek.