Lesson 51a
Romans 12:3-8 · Courtney Hemenway · Apr 5, 2020
Romans (2018-21), No. 106
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261918186721

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So this is the Romans class. We are in Romans chapter 12. Lesson 50, Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. And again, we've gone through most of 1. We're working on number 2. So I kind of want to review on question 5. Well, actually, I wanted to start on something else. from this week while we have other people who are checking in. I wanted to read this. I thought this was really good as we're going through this crazy time with all the shut-ins and all the fun stuff. It was a great one on the hungry heart. I want to read a couple paragraphs of it. It was for 4.2. And I thought this was very good in this time that we're living in.

The Lord Jesus not only died for every sin in our life, But he lives for every second of our life. And again, thinking about what we're going through, he lives for every second of our life. We cannot rest in him until we realize that there is never an instant that he is not caring for us. It is though each of his own or his only one.

Do you feel that way right now? Hopefully, yes. So many saints are disturbed, so many are restless, because they are not living in the knowledge that they are under the care of the Lord, and there is no power to walk. Why have you so little power in walk or service? It is because you are not clear that the Lord is caring for you, that He is in all watchfulness over you, that He has let down His strong pinions of His protecting care till they sweep the ground around you. And if you are wise, you will creep up close under His wings, into his very down. So, I thought that was really good as far as what we're going through right now. Hopefully you feel his care. Moment by moment, instant, every instant he's caring for you. So I thought that was important while we go through all this craziness.

So, back to the lesson. And again, I want comments, so please step up on the comments. So, question five, I just want to go back through and I think Patty got the gold star last week. We were talking about what it means to be transformed and what the difference is between conformed and transformed. Patty had it right.

The conforming is the outward, to fashion-alike conform to the same pattern outwardly. Then we got to transform, which is a complete change, new, inward. As we looked at the Greek word for it, metamorpho, which is very similar to our metamorphosis. So a complete change from a caterpillar to a butterfly, and as Mike brought out last week, it's not only just a change like that, it is actually not even the same DNA.

We are completely transformed from one to a new, completely new, as we see in 2 Corinthians 5.17, that we are completely new creatures. This metamorphosis has us completely transformed.

So that is the backdrop, and we went through Mike's favorite verse, 2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.

So first of all, we said, who does the renewing? Do we do it? God does that. God does, but who specifically? It's God, but it's the Holy Spirit who does renewing. So I was asking last time, what does that mean for us? Do we just sit around and hang out, wait for the Spirit to renew us? Is that what happens? How does it happen? It's an act of faith and the Holy Spirit reveals the things of Christ to us. Right, it's not that we just hang around in a room, meditate on whatever, and wait for the Holy Spirit. We have to, by faith, believe all the things that He's told us.

And that's where the renewing comes from. So, we said in verse 2, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. So, the question is, what's being renewed?

That'd be our mind, wouldn't it? Yeah, that's the interesting part. It's not our spirit, it's not our bodies. Remember the first, we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice? So it was kind of interesting. It was about our bodies being sacrificed as a living sacrifice. Now, it's the renewing not of our spirit, not of our bodies, but this is the renewing of our minds. It's kind of interesting that, again, first we did the bodies, now he's addressing our minds. So what is the mind associated with? What would it be? Spirit? Body? What's the last thing?

Soul. Exactly. It's the soul. So that's what is the essence of who we are. You know, Mike, myself, whoever. It's the essence of who you are. That's what's being renewed now, the mind. God has allowed us to associate with creation through the five senses. He gave us a mind for reasoning, imagination, and memory. Now he's going to renew that part of us. We've now given our bodies as living sacrifice. We are now having the renewing of our mind. So it's a process and it's really kind of cool. We've given our bodies as living sacrifices now.

With that, he's now going to renew our minds. Newell puts it this way, the whole mind therefore must become the object of the Spirit's renewing power. The entire soul life in human existence must come under the Spirit's control. So again, we've given our bodies now, the Spirit is working on us through faith in all the things He's talked to us about or told us in His Word about now do we trust that, do we believe that, do we understand that. That's the renewing of our mind and that's working on the soul essence of us. Again, just remember it's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit doing this. It's not our hard efforts to do this. It's the Holy Spirit convincing and convicting us of the truths that are revealed to us in Scripture.

So, question 7. What is the will of God and how do we prove it? So in verse 2 it says, Do not be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

So, what is the will of God? To be conformed to the image of His Son. Conformed to the image of His Son? What else would it be? What's the will of God? Yeah, to be conformed to the image. But what is that? Is that just it, conforming to the image? We would reflect His life. Okay, to reflect His life. Okay. Anything else? glorify himself." To glorify himself. Good. All these are good.

The way it may be restated is, what is willed of God. So any of these things, to reflect His glory, to reflect His life, to be conformed to His image, all those things are what is willed of God, what He has told us in His scripture, in the Word. So all of these things are what are willed.

Again, going back, so that we may prove what the will of God is. So, Newell puts it this way, and he refers to Sanday, the will of God is here not the divine attribute of divine will, so it's not that part of it, but the thing willed by God, the right course of action. So again, this is not God's divine will, this is what He has willed for us in His Word.

How does this compare to what our will is? Is it right in line with our will? If it is according to our flesh, it is not. Correct. Does our will in the flesh come even close, or can it be associated with the will of God, what God wills for us? No way, because it's affected by our sin nature. Yeah, there's no way. We're weak. We're completely at enmity to God. The flesh is at enmity to God. So our will is not anywhere close to what the will of God is for us.

So that's what the renewing of the mind is. The renewing of the mind is to have us believe by faith what is true of us and to reflect that. So, again, when you compare what the will of God is to our will, it's not even in the same zip code. It is completely different. Because we're selfish, we're foolish, we're weak. God is pure, righteous, and holy.

So, we're to prove His will. How do we prove what the will of God is? Because it says we're to prove it. Is this for us to seek after blessings? victories in the Christian life, or instruction in our Christian life? Is that what it is? How do we prove it? It says we're supposed to.

Maybe to be in it? To be in it, alright. Would it be by the renewing of your mind, by the Holy Spirit? You're getting there. Because that's what he told us, by the renewing of your mind. We prove it by what? Transformation. What's that? Transformation. Transformation, yep, by the renewing of our mind.

It's all that we're to, and I think somebody said it earlier, maybe it was Jim, we're to enter into the will of God. If we're doing what, don't mess with the mic, I'm good. We are to enter into the will of God. So how do we do that? How do we enter into it? And you've already kind of hit the answer. Debbie said it, I think, in that, to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. So we're being transformed. If we're being transformed, then what are we being, what's happening to us?

It's what Alan said, we're being conformed to the image. If we're being conformed to the image, are we proving what the will of God is, who we are in Christ? So it's the process. Everything he's laid out, Paul has laid out in Romans, is now coming to these important verses about now kind of our conduct or how we are to be manifesting this. So again, it's by the transforming.

We're being renewed and transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. our life will prove what the will of God is. So it's that manifestation of Christ, it's that being an ambassador for Christ, representing Him, showing who He is through us. We were just told in, actually I can probably click back in the verse here, if you can read it, were to be, your body is a living and holy sacrifice acceptable of God. This is your spiritual service of worship.

So again as we fall in line with the will of God, we are being renewed, we are being transformed, that metamorphosis, we are now changed, we are now being conformed outwardly to the image of Christ. And now, are we representing Christ? Are we entering into the will of God when we are manifesting Christ?

Yeah, I would think so. Absolutely. So, it's kind of cool when we dissect these verses, you know, my minute little sections, but when you really lay it out in the process, it's really kind of fascinating and it's all logical. The engineer in me, the logic of this is, given our bodies as a living sacrifice, we are to provide this spiritual service. Well now, how do you do that? You renew the mind, you transform yourself, the inner mind is being transformed by the Holy Spirit renewing our mind.

And then we enter into the will of God. We manifest Him. You know, we're the living representation of Christ now. That's how people see Christ now, is through us and through His Word. So again, Paul is laying this out, and it's kind of cool. We are now the living representation of Christ when we're entering into His will, as we're said here.

So again, it's kind of a cool process. So, any other questions on that? I had a comment. Okay. When it talks about, then we'll be able to test and approve of God's will, do you think sometimes through trials really kind of shows what we're made of, if we really do believe this stuff, or if it's just kind of a spiritual discussion in our heads, you know, we're all giving right answers to you in Sunday School class, but are we really believing it, is our mind really being transformed and all this crazy stuff in the world is happening.

Do we really believe that God is in control and he is living in us? No, I think that's absolutely true. I think, you know, it's absolutely what's going on right now. You know, how we represent, how do we going through this show the world that we're different? And, you know, do we believe that God is in control of this? Did God go, oops, miss this. No, we know who's in control of this, and we know, I've said it a hundred times, in Romans 8, we can't be separated from His love, so He still loves us through this, but maybe this is the time we are to exactly do this, enter into the will of God. I think it's a great response. We're to enter into that now. We're to be the manifestation in this time of trial. We're the ones who are to show Christ during this time.

And I think, you know, is that part of why we're going through all this is so believers can enter into the will, manifest Him, because we're renewed. We're now, you know, during this time, I think a lot of us are looking inwardly and renewing of our minds that it's come to this. We have to trust the Lord. And by doing that, we are now renewing our minds. We're looking to the Lord for all of this. So I think this is exactly that. I think this is a perfect time for what these scriptures are saying. We're being renewed during this time because we have to. I mean, I'd feel bad in this time if I was an unbeliever. What do you grasp onto at this point? You know, the world is on its head right now. You know, when you lose your job or you do everything, if you are not a believer, What do you do? Where do you go?

And so I think this really, it's great. I mean, this is the time to show the will of God or enter into that service that, as we had in here, this enter into your spiritual service of worship. That's the time now to do that. So again, it's really a good time for us to be studying these verses because we are renewing our mind now. We're being transformed. We have to be. I mean, to get through this time, it's the Holy Spirit working on us to trust Him, to believe in that.

The other thing that isn't specifically expressed in these verses, but which I think is an important point, is that this renewing of the mind, proving out what my spiritual service is and acceptable and all that goes into this, also means that, especially in the times that we're in right now, we have a unique relationship or intimacy with the Lord Jesus that nobody else has.

What I notice with people that are isolated, stuck in their houses, apartments or something, they're just stuck with them. Or the news channels, or books they're reading, whatever. The unique thing about the believer is that he's not stuck. He is able, because it's quiet, and because of this, to be able to have an intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, in which there is no disappointment. Yeah, and I think that's what I said last week.

During our isolation, who do you want to hang out with? This is the time to hang out with the Lord. And this is exactly on the verses that we are to hang out with the Lord now. And if we hang out with somebody, we begin to be like them. So this is really the time.

I think that God's using this in amazing ways. And I think, you know, for us, hopefully all of you have that peace that surpasses all understanding that God has promised us. And when you look at those verses also, I always look at the end of verses, we always take the kind of the juicy part of the verse.

But what does it do? What does it say at the end of that? It says to guard our hearts. That's what it's not to get us out of the mess. or provide us with a billion dollars or whatever, it's to give us the peace and it's to guard our hearts. That's what he's doing right now, guarding our hearts through this.

And we have that as we renew and we are being transformed, the Holy Spirit convincing us that we are still in God's control. And that's why I read this one, the Lord not only died for our sin in our life, but he lives for every second of my life. When we're alone, shut in, he's living for every second of my life. I can go to him. I have a peace that the world will never understand. And it's because of this renewing of the mind, this transforming that we're being convinced of who we are in Christ and that he hasn't abandoned us. He has an eternal love for us.

So I think this is a critical time for these verses and what we're going through. I think it's awesome, actually. And again, I go back to those verses, you know, consider all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith, that's what's being tested right now, is the faith. We go through a trial. It's not that we're testing anything about fighting or resistance or anything like that. It's testing our faith right now. So all the scriptures come through in what we're going through right now. So I think it's, it's kind of an interesting time for his believers. So. All right. Any other thing? Otherwise we'll move on to the last one, which is kind of a, kind of an interesting one when you think about who we are and what we talked about in the flesh and all that. So what is good? What is acceptable and what is perfect?

So that's where it says the end of verse two. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good, and acceptable, and perfect." So, what is that? Courtney, the Homeland Christian Bible says you may discern what is good, pleasing, and perfect. Yeah, I think that's good, discerning. That's what I said, it's kind of the understanding, by faith understanding what the will of God is, what He has for you. So what is good and what is acceptable and perfect?

Jesus said God is good. Yeah? So that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Mike? In the New King James it says that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Yeah, it's connecting the two. So again, what is good and perfect and acceptable? God's will. God's will. What He has for you. That is perfect. That is good. Newell says it this way, and it can also be rendered this way, that we enter first into God's good will, for although we are ignorant and clumsy at first, God in His goodness gladly calls our work good.

Then, When we learn further, our work becomes, in a higher sense, acceptable. Finally, we stand perfect and fully assured in the will of God. I thought that was kind of a good progression of how we do it. You know, we're pretty clumsy. We don't know exactly, but our work and what we're doing, our spiritual service and that. And then as we're renewed or transforming, as we manifest Christ, as we do that, we understand what God's will is. and we're manifesting that, that's acceptable. And that when we're doing that, we have that peace, that understanding, that rest, that it is accepted or perfect if we're doing the will of God.

So I thought it was kind of interesting just at the end of it when I was thinking about what is good and perfect in us, this motley flesh. But remember, we started to give our bodies. The bodies is living sacrifices. Now we're renewing the mind. And if we do those things, we accept the will of God, what he has for us, and now it's good, perfect, and acceptable. So it's kind of a cool process. So any questions on that? Further comments? I have a comment in that when you go through what we call identification truths in Romans 6, and then the struggle in Romans 7, and then the positional truth in Romans 8.

What God has really done is recreated us in Christ so that we can not only manifest Him, but we can enjoy Him. Oh yeah. You know, that we have the capacity to do that. And that's really what is good and acceptable and perfect. When you read the first part of Ephesians or in Colossians, you know, you start to find out that, boy, we're in the Lord's presence, that's where we belong, and we're not strangers there, that we have been recreated to be there. And that's just the fact that the goodness of that and its acceptability of us being in Christ, we're now acceptable to God right in His very presence. And it's perfect. There's nothing that can detract from that. It's so cool, I think.

Well, that's again when we really, you know, we've been in Romans for two years or plus two years or whatever. When you really lay it out, and that's why I said read last week, I encourage you to read 6, 7, and 8, and just the process and what is so true about us right now. The other is, the interesting part is, and I think positionally, and we are accepted in his presence right now, positionally. This is now conditionally. We're to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We're to renew and do the conditional part of this.

And are you acceptable? Well, you're accepted positionally in Christ right now. Colossians 3.3, we are hid with Christ in God, right now, positionally. But now it's saying, as you understand by faith, believe that, you'll now start to manifest Christ and be a living sacrifice with your spiritual service, and you'll do the will of God.

It's really kind of cool. I mean, do you feel that way? I mean, I hate feelings. I know Mike will jump me on that one. But it's a really, the joy, because we're the manifestation of the Spirit. One of the keys is joy. And when we walk in the Spirit, we have that joy. And I think that's this acceptable service. You have that joy, knowing that you're expressing the will of God, and you're proving what the will of God is.

So again, position and condition. We've learned our position in 6, that we've been co-crucified, we've been raised, we've been placed into Him. And now, this is saying our acceptable service is now manifesting what's true about us right now, positionally. So it all fits together. It's really kind of cool. Any other comments? I've got one.

I like what Newell said, like Cheryl read from the New King James Version, and it had a different twist on it. Newell says that, �Some would render it the will of God, even the thing that is good, acceptable, and perfect.� And then down at the next paragraph he says, �Both these views are true, because they're both positional and conditional.� Right, right, and that's the cool part, it's both! Yeah, and God's will. at the same time that we're saved, but we also progress in God's will also. Yeah, and that was one thing he said, was the process. This doesn't happen right now. It's a process where you're renewing your mind. That's what we talked about last week, that this is a process. This doesn't, you know, one and done. This is a lifetime and expressing that. So yeah, it's pretty cool. I think you need to know your position to express your condition. So I think that what Newell was bringing out there was that coexistence of those two things.

You have to know what your position is, and you're accepted in Him. When He looks at us, He sees Christ. That's positionally how we are right now. And I always ask people, do you really feel that way, that God looks at you and all He sees is Christ, positionally right now? If that's true, that's amazing. And then when you realize that, you're now free to express the will of God to be your spiritual service of worship. It's to express what's true about me. It's really cool. It all fits together. How about we move on to Lesson 51. Does everybody have 51? So again, these are really cool verses and all these things. It's just packed.

It's kind of a delight to get back from nothing against the Jewish nation and all that, but 9, 10, and 11, where we kind of did this offshoot. Paul goes on the offshoot now. It's kind of looking back at us. So selfishly, I think it's good to get back in this. So lesson 51, and it's Romans chapter 12, verses 3 through 8. And I'll read that. I'll read it as a whole, because I always like to get the context of where we're going on this. Romans 12, verses 3-8.

For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly, if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith, if service, in serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, and he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

So again, it's kind of an interesting section. Remember, and again, how this all falls, we've talked about the body. We're now renewing the mind, or we renewed and we're being transformed. Now he's going to the body and the individual gifts, which is kind of cool. So it's again, the process, when you look through the whole section, put it together as a whole transforming or process.

So first question I have is, is there a danger of thinking more highly of ourselves? Because it says, through the grace given to me, Paul, I say to everyone among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. First of all, it's Paul's warning by grace given to him. Because he says, I say to everyone. So this is Paul.

So is this a danger? Yeah, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it. You read my notes. That's exactly right. He wouldn't be saying it if it wasn't a problem. So Paul's warning here, it must have been incurring at that time and serves as a warning for us now.

Is it only during Paul's time that this probably happens? No. The answer is no. It's also the first thing that Paul brings up in the list of exhortations he's about to bring out. Paul's always very methodical in how he brings it out and lays out things. So, again, this process that we've gone through and now he's, the first thing he says after this is, alright, you're a living sacrifice, you're a spiritual service, you're being transformed, now don't get a big head about this thing. He gives us this warning. And I always think it's always important, if Paul brings it out, the very first thing he brings out, it must be a very important issue.

And it's probably that he knew what the response was going to be, especially what he's about to address. So I think he's seeing what he's just about ready to address. You've been transformed in it, and now guess what? God is going to give you these gifts.

So the first thing he says is, don't get a big head about what I'm about ready to tell you. All this cool stuff, the position and condition and things, So, he probably knew what was going to go, so he gives us this warning. So, I think this shows that this may be a fundamental temptation of believers, that we get a big head about things. And so, I think we have to take that as a warning today, that we don't become prideful about who we are in Christ, or what gifts you may have.

If you're a teacher, you get a big head about it. You know, Mike and I've talked about that a bunch. We used to say, yeah, great, great class. It's like, well, we shouldn't be saying that it was the Lord working, not us. We're just instruments in his hands. So to get big heads about whatever you're doing.

So Paul, Paul sees this and, and already gives us a warning about that. So I think it's important to position of where this warning is. It's right before he tells us all these great things about some of the gifts. So anything on that? I find it interesting that he says that, through the grace that's given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of yourself. He's saying this because of the grace that's given to him. And he's making a connection between how you think about yourself and the grace that you receive.

And grace, because it's unmerited and unlimited, you don't do anything to deserve it. You can't ever get off of it. concept or the idea or the position that grace is unmerited. He's focusing on the unmerited aspects of grace on the one hand, but the overwhelming blessings of grace on the other hand. Yeah, and it's by grace, it's unmerited, it's all this.

And I think he's also stating his position, I mean him, Paul is the apostle, the one who's laying out everything. Remember, this is a foundational book. You know, and we'll get into this later, about how he lays out all these different things through scripture. So he's now, I Paul, the one who spent the time, I by grace, the grace given to me, Paul, I warn you about this.

And remember where we'd come to with Paul. Remember what happened in chapter 7. Chapter 7 he lays out, he bares his soul and says, man I tried to do this myself. And I thought I knew it all, I thought my brain is telling me to do this, and yet I am doing the exact opposite of what I want to do.

So he knows the warnings about, you know, I'm great, I know the scriptures, I'm bulletproof. I can do it myself. So we've come through that warning and now he says, I, Paul, who just expressed my weakness in the flesh, am telling you, don't get a big head about this. because I'm about to tell you some really good things. God is giving you gifts.

And so, again, I think it's a real important warning for us today, too. Alright, question two. Is the estimate of ourselves to be based on our knowledge? So, how we think of ourselves. Is it based on that I know scripture? I know I have memorized all of Romans.

Is that what it's based on? It shouldn't be, but it is. I guess the answer is no. It shouldn't be, and it's not. Let's put it that way, it's not. So what is it based on? If it's not, you know, if it's how much I know or that, what is it based on? Our estimate of ourselves. What does he say?

That I'm in Christ. Say again? That I'm in Christ. No. I mean, that's all the predecessors that were in Christ, the transformation, all that stuff. But what does the verse say? Wouldn't it be of our faith? Bingo. It says. But to think so as to have sound judgment, as God allotted to each a measure of faith." So it's not based on our knowledge. It's not on how many verses.

You know, I've told you a thousand times, you know, and the old brethren church, and these old guys would get up and they would just eloquently spew off verses, you know, in our breaking of the bread service. And they would go, and I was just so envious, there's a problem right there, about how these guys would know the scriptures. And they would just, without looking, just lay out scripture.

And I thought, man, I've got to do that. In order to be spiritual, I have got to know and memorize scripture. And it never worked. It never worked. You know, the only one I think I ever memorized by forced memory was the beginning of James 1, the one that I always quote. That's the only one I've ever really memorized. And other than that, the verses I know now, it's not because I've forced myself to memorize. It's not because I want to know knowledge, because then I'm really smart and I can do these things like these eloquent men.

So it's not based on your knowledge, it's based on faith. And what is the faith? It's trusting in what God has said. And again, the faith is the unmeritorious act. It's nothing that is accrued to our account. It is believing what is true about us. So, go back through this process. We've been renewed. We're transformed.

It's the 2 Corinthians 3.18. We're being transformed by what? The Holy Spirit revealing to us as in a mirror. And it's not The knowledge will come, but it's the faith in what is told of us. I would say, as you're talking, that if we live under the umbrella of grace, and we're to live by faith, so we have to know what we are to believe. We have to have an object for our faith.

But the whole principle is based on my receiving And never on my actuating or the cause of anything. Everything is a reception on my part. And the renewing of your mind, I think, that's as big a renewal issue in your mind as, wait a minute, I'm a receiver of all of this grace. I'm never a cause of it. And that renewal, that's really hard, because we're always taught, well, I've got to, I've got to, I've got to, and if I've got to, then I get to take credit. But if I live under grace, humbly, without any sort of arrogance, you realize I'm just a receiver. And I think the thing I always go back to in that same thing, it's not When Christ was walking on the earth, he didn't have a to-do list of what the Father wanted. His very essence was to do the will of the Father.

It was a manifestation of that. It wasn't that I've got to do X, Y, and Z today. It was I'm just manifesting. It's the same for us today. As we manifest Christ, the service will come. It's not a forced thing. a duty. It's not a rewardable thing in our minds. And so it's completely different. And I was thinking about when we try to do something and try to serve a lot, and I think the Hungry Hearts had several of these lately, about how people jump into service.

That I've got to go and I've got to be this and I've got to do this and I've got to do that and I've got to do this. Without having the foundational renewing. And that's got to come before the service, because the work will become a distraction to the renewing, because you're focused on the work. The renewing is where, once you have that, the manifestation is just a natural outpouring of who you are in Christ. And that's where the service and the effective service is. So again, We are, it's by the measure of faith. So, oh, I'm getting the, Brian, I'm getting the buzzer. Again, you get your job back when we get back here. You get it right away. I don't have it. I'll get the verses next week. I didn't have a slide for it. So we're to base whatever estimation of ourselves on how many Bible verses. We're not supposed to do that. It's based on sound judgment.

So where does that come from? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit? What does it say in the verse? Where is that measure of faith? Oh, God has done that. Guess what? It's not us again. as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. God's the one who gave us the faith, even. He's the one who, through the Holy Spirit, is convicting, convincing us of these truths. So even throughout all of this, God has allotted each of us a measure of faith. It's Him, again. What a surprise. We now see that the appraisal of ourselves is given to us by God through the amount or measure of faith that He has supplied to us through the working of the Holy Spirit.

Remember, we saw this in verses 1 and 2, and then also in 2 Corinthians 3.18. He's the one giving us that reflection, that renewing. So it's pretty cool. God allots us a measure of faith.

Corny, I just want to ask a quick question. Is this salvific faith or is this sanctification faith? What was the first part? Well, salvation faith. Oh, that's a big word. I just pulled out of nowhere. Is this salvation faith that you're saying he's allotting or is this sanctification faith? I think it's really important to differentiate if you agree. And what do you think? this is sanctification faith.

Correct. And if you want to explain that, yeah, I mean, go ahead. Well, I, I agree with you. Otherwise we end up in a reformation perspective, right? Where, um, we, we're given faith first so that, you know, we can be, um, risen. And we, we, we find that process where, um, you know, Vern had talked about in the past, where you have to be given the gift of faith first in order to be given life. So I just wanted to differentiate at this point. Darrell Bock Yeah, that's a great point.

And that brings us back to the focus of all these verses that we're doing. This is nothing about salvation. This is all about sanctification, our growth in Christ, our conforming to the image, our transforming, our renewing. This is all on the sanctification or our growth in Christ. All of these verses are. Nothing is about the salvation. So that's a great point.

None of this is based on the, well, I should say the same saving faith you have is the same faith you have in the belief of what he's told you is true about you. It's the same faith, but it's based on our sanctification. Believing, our renewing, our transforming is based on our faith in what God has done. So, in essence, it's the same faith, which is kind of what I was reading before, I think. A lot of people think, you know, I believe by faith about Christ, the Son of God, paid my sins, death, burial, and resurrection, and now I'm on my own.

That's not it. Many people think now I have the Holy Spirit that's going to help me along to do those things so I can do all these cool things. To keep your faith. What's that? To keep your faith. You're responsible to keep doing what you're supposed to be doing in order to keep your salvation.

Well, that's also kind of the power that now I can do all these things because, you know, the old Adam isn't gone. It's going to fix me up and I'm going to do, I can now do these things because I now believe that I have this indwelling spirit now in my Adamic flesh, I can do these things. Right, yeah, the renewing of the flesh, right? Yeah, it's, well, renewing of the mind, but it's first, again, the process, remember we're six, seven, and eight. where we have the co-crucifixion, our identification, salvation through believing in what has transpired on the cross for us, and then it's now we're into the conditional part, or the sanctification part. Again, J.D., I think that's what he's trying to bring us. There are two different components. There's the positional truths, and now we're talking about the conditional, which is part of the sanctification.

Q. Courtney, I was wondering.

It says here he's distributed a measure of faith to each one. Does that mean he's distributed just a little bit of faith, or he's just distributed faith? He's distributing it based on, and I think this is the process, this is the growth, and I'll get a little bit into this about the growth, the measure. When you're a brand new believer, is it the same as if you've been a believer for 20 years, and you've studied the scripture, you've been being transformed. Is that the same? Yeah, it's different.

I think he's given a measure based on, you know, when I was a first believer, I was all over the board. And he gave me faith. We're saving faith and now faith to believe in these things, but it's been a transforming process. So he's allotting a measure of faith to each one of us based on where we are.

We're individuals, which we'll see, which is kind of cool. We're all individuals. So that's a great point. We're going to see in the subsequent verses about the individuality of the body. So we grow at different rates. Yeah. Our faith increases at different rates. Yeah, everybody is individual in their growth. And so he's allotted a measure of faith based on each one of us. Everybody has been gifted, too. The measure of faith is for the gifts that you have. Right. Yeah. So I mean, it's kind of cool. So the measurement is really with the gift you have and where you are and that.

So Mike is giving me the all cut off here. So why don't we close and we'll start with question three next week and close with a quick prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time again. These are so important verses. And now from the positional truths that we had early in Romans 6 and 8 and the truths that are evident in our life in Christ to now some of the conditional aspects and our renewing of our mind and how cool that is that you are the one making this change in our mind, a complete transformation. And that is, like Mike says, not even the same DNA. We are a new creature in Christ and how cool that is that you're renewing us moment by moment, instant by instant.

As I wrote in The Hungry Heart, you are caring for us moment by moment, instant by instant. There is not a second, a millisecond in our lives where you don't care for us. and concerned about us. It's like each one of us is an individual that you are caring for. And we rest in that fact that that is true.

And again, that you guard our hearts by what you have in your scripture and your word and the indwelling of the Spirit. We just thank you for everything that you do and everything that you've laid out for us. And again, just our life in Christ and what that means. And we just pray again for this day that all that we say and do will honor and glorify you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.