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“Beginnings and Endings, Part II” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUnDKD1NMH4
Two weeks ago, we began a new Series called, “Beginnings and Endings.” We celebrated the Fourth of July last week, with a standalone Discussion called “Liberty,” but tonight we are going to resume the new Series. In our first Installment, we examined the Beginnings of Creation, we identified Jesus as the Creator, and we reviewed the Beginnings of Jesus' Ministry. All of the Beginnings we looked at were physical in nature. Tonight, we are going to zero in on Spiritual Beginnings... or, more accurately, our Spiritual Beginnings.
On His last night on earth, Jesus prayed to His Father in, what is, His longest recorded prayer. In the prayer, even though He would be facing unimaginable brutality, His focus through most of that prayer was on His disciples. We read in John 17:20: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;” Originally, the disciples' word was personally and audibly spoken as they preached Christ. But then they had the presence of mind to write down the major events of Jesus' Ministry. They became the Four Gospels: what we know, today, as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We are each here because of those writings, along with the epistles of the Apostles Paul, John, Peter, and James.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John present Jesus Christ's Beginnings in very different ways. As his Gospel Account opens, John presents Jesus as “The Word” with an Eternal pre-Existence in John 1:1-2. But then He tells us The Word “was made flesh, and dwelt among us” in verse 14. Luke traces Jesus' human lineage back to ; Matthew to . Mark, however, bypasses all of Jesus' human Beginnings. He records nothing of His lineage, birth or childhood. We simply read, rather, in Mark 1:1: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;” In essence, Mark writes: “The Messiah has come. Here is His Gospel.” It is that Gospel that we respond to when we, personally, come to Christ for forgiveness of sin, for Salvation, for adoption into the Family and Kingdom of God, and the Gift of Eternal Life through Him.
We need to understand that when we reach that point in our lives where we recognize that our own efforts to do things our way has brought us nothing but grief and pain, our turning to God for help does not come from within us. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:18: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:”
Albert Barnes writes, “There could not be possibly a stronger expression of belief of the doctrine of total depravity. It is Paul’s own representation of himself. It proves that his heart was wholly evil. And if this was true of him, it is true of all others. It is a good way to examine ourselves, to inquire whether we have such a view of our own native character as to say that we know that in our flesh there dwelleth no good thing. The sense here is, that so far as the flesh was concerned, that is, in regard to his natural inclinations and desires, there was nothing good; all was evil.
This was true in his entire conduct before conversion, where the desires of the flesh reigned and rioted without control; and it was true after conversion, so far as the natural inclinations and propensities of the flesh were concerned. All those operations in every stake were evil, and not the less evil because they are experienced under the light and amidst the influences of the gospel.”
The desire we experience to repent, to make an about-face away from the destructiveness of sin, and rebellion against God, actually has an external Source. God is calling us... drawing us to Himself. Jesus confirmed the external nature of repentance when He said in John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Of this, Adam Clarke writes, “But how is a man drawn? St. Augustin answers from the poet, Trahit sua quemque voluptas; a man is attracted by that which he delights in. Show green herbage to a sheep, he is drawn by it: show nuts to a child, and he is drawn by them. They run wherever the person runs who shows these things: they run after him, but they are not forced to follow; they run, through the desire they feel to get the things they delight in. So God draws man: he shows him his wants - he shows the Savior whom he has provided for him: the man feels himself a lost sinner; and, through the desire which he finds to escape hell, and get to heaven, he comes unto Christ, that he may be justified by his blood. Unless God thus draw, no man will ever come to Christ; because none could, without this drawing, ever feel the need of a Savior.”
Jesus goes on to tell us in John 15:16: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you...” Alexander MacClaren writes of this: “notice how Christ’s friends come to be so, and why they are so.
‘Ye have not chosen.’ Our Lord refers here, no doubt, primarily to the little group of the Apostles; the choice and ordaining as well as ‘the fruit that abides,’ point, in the first place, to their apostolic office, and to the results of their apostolic labours. But we must widen out the words a great deal beyond that reference.
In all the cases of friendship between Christ and men, the origination and initiation come from Him. ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ He has told us how, in His divine alchemy, He changes by the shedding of His blood our enmity into friendship. In the previous verse He has said, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ And as I remarked in my last sermon, the friends here are the same as ‘the enemies’ for whom, the Apostle tells us that Christ laid down His life. Since He has thus by the blood of the Cross changed men’s enmity into friendship, it is true universally that the amity between us and Christ comes entirely from Him.
But there is more than that in the words. I do not suppose that any man, whatever his theological notions and standpoint may be, who has felt the love of Christ in his own heart in however feeble a measure, but will say, as the Apostle said, ‘I was apprehended of Christ.’ It is because He lays His seeking and drawing hand upon us that we ever come to love Him, and it is true that His choice of us precedes our choice of Him, and that the Shepherd always comes to seek the sheep that is lost in the wilderness.
This, then, is how we come to be His friends; because, when we were enemies, He loved us, and gave Himself for us, and ever since has been sending out the ambassadors and the messengers of His love-or, rather, the rays and beams of it, which are parts of Himself-to draw us to His heart. And the purpose which all this forthgoing of Christ’s initial and originating friendship has had in view, is set forth in words which I can only touch in the lightest possible manner. The intention is twofold.
First, it respects service or fruit. ‘That ye may go’; there is deep pathos and meaning in that word. He had been telling them that He was going; now He says to them, ‘You are to go. We part here. My road lies upward; yours runs onward. Go into all the world.’ He gives them a quasi-independent position; He declares the necessity of separation; He declares also the reality of union in the midst of the separation; He sends them out on their course with His benediction, as He does us. Wheresoever we go in obedience to His will, we carry the consciousness of His friendship.”
Let us also see how Jesus selected the close and intimate friends who had been with Him for years. He spoke to them the familiar words, “Follow me,” and they did. But He began the relationship. God also took the first step in calling Gentiles into the Family and Kingdom of God even though they had not been close or intimate with Jesus. The original Gentiles who were called were, by definition, not even of the line of Abraham. But it was God who initiated their coming to Him.
When Peter explained to his critics in Jerusalem why he had visited with Cornelius, a Gentile Roman Centurion, He explained in Acts 11 that the Holy Spirit directed him to go and meet with the Gentiles, “nothing doubting” (verse 12). Peter further explained that when He did, the Gentiles received both the Holy Spirit as well as the Gift of Tongues just as the Apostles had on the Day of Pentecost. Peter's critics celebrated the event with the words in Acts 11:18: “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” Notice: repentance was granted unto the Gentiles by God initiating every aspect of the event: Peter's vision, the angel to Cornelius, the direction of the Holy Spirit, and the Gentiles' repentance.
The Preacher's Homiletical tells us, “I. The serious indictment preferred against Peter.—1. The occasion. (1) The tidings that had reached the apostles and brethren in Judæa that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So remarkable a phenomenon was not likely to remain unknown to the Church leaders in Jerusalem. Nor is it readily conceivable that tidings so glorious should have given rise to dissatisfaction in any right-thinking bosom. Yet such actually appears to have been the case. (2) The return of Peter to the metropolis, which was dictated not by any peremptory summons issued to him by his colleagues to defend before them the action he had taken—an assertion destitute of even the slightest evidence—but by a natural desire to explain what had taken place and his relation thereto.
II. The triumphant vindication offered by Peter.
1. The frankness with which it was given. Not standing upon his dignity as chief among the apostles, or resenting their interference with what was so unmistakably a work of God, but recognising their right to have their difficulties stated and, if possible, removed, doubtless also appreciating their perplexity concerning what conflicted so strangely with their traditional beliefs, Peter began and expounded the matter in order to them. A Christian of the right spirit—whether a public official or a private member in the Church—will not fail to exhibit the like anxiety, by means of a frank explanation, to remove any offence or stumbling block which his personal behaviour may have placed in the way of his weaker brethren.
2. The fulness with which it was given. The main particulars of the story were related. (1) The vision he had himself beheld in Joppa (5–10)... and that it contained “wild beasts” as well as other animals. (2) The arrival of Cornelius’s messengers, though he did not at all mention the centurion’s name, or at that stage in his tale allude to the vision which had prompted the centurion to despatch his embassy. (3) The inward whispering of the Spirit which had directed him to accompany the strange men from Cæsarea, which prompting he obeyed, taking with him six brethren who were then present, having apparently come up to Jerusalem along with him, and to whom he may be pictured as having pointed—“these six brethren also accompanied me.” (4) The account Cornelius gave of the angel’s appearance in his house with instructions to send men to Joppa for him, Simon, whose surname was Peter, who, the angel said, should tell him words whereby he and all his house should be saved. (5) The descent of the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius and his household almost immediately after he had commenced to speak (the interval between his beginning to preach and the Spirit’s coming down seemed so short), and in exactly the same fashion as it had done upon Jewish believers at Pentecost—i.e., with the same manifestations in the form of tongues. (6) The impression the phenomenon had made upon himself. It caused him to remember the word of the Lord about the difference between John’s baptism with water and the Lord’s baptism with the Holy Ghost. (7) The process of reasoning he then followed—which was that, if God had bestowed on them, the Gentiles, the same gift of the Holy Ghost as He had conferred on Jewish believers, it was manifest God had received them, the Gentiles, into His Church; and that being the case who was he, Peter, that he should withstand God and keep them out by withholding from them the rite of baptism, which was the sign of their being let in? 3. The success with which it was given. (1) The apostles and brethren held their peace. They could say nothing against it. It was as clearly the doing of God as the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple had been (as we read in Acts_4:14). (2) They glorified God, saying, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” What a pity they did not ever after remain in this mind!”
Who, then, in the entire account cited above, was the sole and undeniable initiating Source of adding Gentiles to the Body of Christ and to the Family and Kingdom of God? It was God, and God alone, taking every first step, and Beginning the process. No step can have been taken without Him. It is not within us to turn from evil and follow after God without God's first and full participation.
Paul wrote of both God's initiation of Salvation, and those who responded. We read in Philippians 1:3-6: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
The Preacher's Homiletical writes, “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it. — The observation of the ebb and flow of the tide for so many days and months and ages together, as it has been observed by mankind, gives us a full assurance that it will ebb and flow again to-morrow” (Bishop Butler). Another sort of assurance comes in here. It is an offence to every worthy thought of God that He should begin and not be able to finish.” Consider this cross-reference provided: Isaiah 26:12: “LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.”
Here, again, God is depicted being the One Who has an iron in our every fire. Albert Barnes provides for us an illuminating, alternate translation: “Or rather, ‘... for us. It is owing to thy hand that we are saved.” Matthew Henry adds, “Whatever good work is done by us, it is owing to a good work wrought by the grace of God in us; it is he that puts good thoughts and affections into our hearts if at any time they be there, and that works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Being acted upon, we act. And if any kindness be shown us, or any of our affairs be prosperous and successful, it is God that works it for us. Every creature, every business, that is in any way serviceable to our comfort, is made by him to be so; and sometimes he makes that to work for us which seemed to make against us.”
We read of God's working in us in Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Of this Matthew Henry writes, “It should encourage us to do our utmost, because our labour shall not be in vain. God is ready to concur with his grace, and assist our faithful endeavours. Observe, Though we must use our utmost endeavours in working out our salvation, yet still we must go forth, and go on, in a dependence upon the grace of God. His grace works in us in a way suitable to our natures, and in concurrence with our endeavours; and the operations of God's grace in us are so far from excusing, that they are intended to quicken and engage our endeavours.”
Allow me to repeat this last verse, but to also include the verse that precedes it. Philippians 2:12: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
Adam Clarke addresses that fuller picture: “The power to will and the power to act must necessarily come from God, who is the author both of the soul and body, and of all their powers and energies, but the act of volition and the act of working come from the man. God gives power to will, man wills through that power; God gives power to act, and man acts through that power. Without the power to will, man can will nothing; without the power to work, man can do nothing. God neither wills for man, nor works in man’s stead, but he furnishes him with power to do both; he is therefore accountable to God for these powers.
Because God works in them the power to will and the power to do, therefore the apostle exhorts them to work out their own salvation; most manifestly showing that the use of the powers of volition and action belongs to themselves. They cannot do God’s work, they cannot produce in themselves a power to will and to do; and God will not do their work, he will not work out their salvation with fear and trembling.
Though men have grievously puzzled themselves with questions relative to the will and power of the human being; yet no case can be plainer than that which the apostle lays down here: the power to will and do comes from God; the use of that power belongs to man. He that has not got this power can neither will nor work; he that has this power can do both. But it does not necessarily follow that he who has these powers will use them; the possession of the powers does not necessarily imply the use of those powers, because a man might have them, and not use or abuse them; therefore the apostle exhorts: Work out your own salvation.
This is a general exhortation; it may be applied to all men, for to all it is applicable, there not being a rational being on the face of the earth, who has not from God both power to will and act in the things which concern his salvation. Hence the accountableness of man.”
We often hear people boasting of the faith they have, as if they, somehow, whipped it up all by themselves. Scripture tells us otherwise. We read in Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “What our Lord Jesus is to his people: he is the author and finisher of their faith - the beginning, perfecter, and rewarder of it. [1.] He is the author of their faith; not only the object, but the author. He is the great leader and precedent of our faith, he trusted in God; he is the purchaser of the Spirit of faith, the publisher of the rule of faith, the efficient cause of the grace of faith, and in all respects the author of our faith.
[2.] He is the finisher of our faith; he is the fulfiller and the fulfilling of all scripture-promises and prophecies; he is the perfecter of the canon of scripture; he is the finisher of grace, and of the work of faith with power in the souls of his people; and he is the judge and the rewarder of their faith; he determines who they are that reach the mark, and from him, and in him, they have the prize.”
In closing, we are familiar with Jesus' declaration in Revelation 1:8: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
For us, He is the Beginning of the Universe we live in, the earth we live on, the body we live in, and the families, plural, we are members of: our physical family and our spiritual family. Unlike the often seemingly haphazard and random assemblies of our physical families, God had a Plan in place for our membership in our Spiritual Family. We read in John 1:12-13: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Of this Adam Clarke writes, “Which were born, not of blood - Who were regenerated, not of bloods - the union of father and mother, or of a distinguished or illustrious ancestry; for the Hebrew language makes use of the plural to point out the dignity or excellence of a thing: and probably by this the evangelist intended to show his countrymen, that having Abraham and Sarah for their parents would not entitle them to the blessings of the new covenant; as no man could lay claim to them, but in consequence of being born of God; therefore, neither the will of the flesh - any thing that the corrupt heart of man could purpose or determine in its own behalf; nor the will of man - any thing that another may be disposed to do in our behalf, can avail here; this new birth must come through the will of God - through; his own unlimited power and boundless mercy, prescribing salvation by Christ Jesus alone.
It has been already observed that the Jews required circumcision, baptism, and sacrifice, in order to make a proselyte. They allow that the Israelites had in Egypt cast off circumcision, and were consequently out of the covenant; but at length they were circumcised, and they mingled the blood of circumcision with the blood of the paschal lamb, and from this union of bloods they were again made the children of God. This was the only way by which the Jews could be made the sons of God; but the evangelist shows them that, under the Gospel dispensation, no person could become a child of God, but by being spiritually regenerated.”
Albert Barnes writes, “Nor of the will of man - This may refer, perhaps, to the will of man in adopting a child, as the former phrases do to the natural birth; and the design of using these three phrases may have been to say that they became the children of God neither in virtue of their descent from illustrious parents like Abraham, nor by their natural birth, nor by being “adopted” by a pious man. None of the ways by which we become entitled to the privileges of “children” among people can give us a title to be called the sons of God. It is not by human power or agency that men become children of the Most High.
But of God - That is, God produces the change, and confers the privilege of being called his children. The heart is changed by his power. No unaided effort of man, no works of ours, can produce this change. At the same time, it is true that no man is renewed who does not himself “desire” and “will” to be a believer; for the effect of the change is on his “will,” and no one is changed who does not strive to enter in at the strait gate. This important verse, therefore, teaches us:
1. That if men are saved they must be born again; 2. That their salvation is not the result of their birth, or of any honorable or pious parentage; 3. That the children of the rich and the noble, as well as of the poor, must be born of God if they will be saved; 4. That the children of pious parents must be born again; or they cannot be saved. None can be saved because their “parents” are Christians; 5. That this work is the work of God, and “no man” can do it for us, and 6. That we should forsake all human dependence, cast off all confidence in the flesh, and go at once to the throne of grace, and beseech of God to adopt us into his family and save our souls from death.”
All of the above is ours to claim at God's, and only God's initiation. We did not choose Christ, Christ chose us (John 15:16). Our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the Foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Jesus is the “author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). If we as individuals have faith, it was provided to us as a Fruit of the Spirit, working with Jesus as “another Comforter.” (Galatians 5:22, John 14:16). God is the Beginner of all things. Let us joyfully regard His great desire to have us with Him in Eternity, and the great Price He willingly paid for us to be able to enjoy all the Blessings He has showered upon us.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Beginnings and Endings, Part II.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on July 11th, 2018