“YE HAVE OBEYED FROM THE HEART THAT FORM OF DOCTRINE”
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Most people that call themselves Christians seem to have no problem ‘not knowing,’ they are content with not knowing the things contained in God’s word, they say things like “well I guess God has a plan,” or “there’s a reason for everything,” or “I don’t’ know, do you know? Well I guess neither one of us knows,” but this is not how God would have His sons and daughters “in Christ” to think. We are to be “instructed” in sound doctrine; and I know that everyone will say they teach sound doctrine, but how do you know if you are being properly educated? The teacher should be educating you according to doctrine for your “inner man” only! That’s what sonship education is all about. It’s all about the son growing up in Him DAILY! That’s why Paul says “though our outward man parish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day,” Each time you ‘go to class,’ (and that’s what it is a classroom!) you should be edified each time you are listening to the teacher, that’s what sonship education is all about, it is conforming you to the image of His Son, that’s’ the definition of it. It’s about you being as lights in the darkness of this world, first you will start off as a flicker of a candle, where the darkness will not even “perceive” you, then as flashlights, until you become more strengthen where you will be as searchlights, so that you will be as ones who expose the darkness for what it really is, and are an example unto others.
2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
If you ask any ‘church-goer’ what is Satan’s objective, they would have no clue, but his objective is to deceive and to sepreate you from getting your education as a son underway, he deceives people so they will believe a lie and stay unsaved, and to the ones who are saved, he works to keep your education on hold, so you will not be a threat unto him, and the more you become edified, the more you become a threat to him, and his objective, but if you don’t know what he is doing, how do you know whether or not if you have been victimized by him or not.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Paul says “God be thanked,” in verse 17, God ought to be thanked by you, and because of what He has done in justifying you, that ought to be translated into thanksgiving on your part unto God, and you would rather be His servant, rather than continue to serve your own flesh and it’s wants, and desires, and sin itself. It should be about you now giving something based upon what God has done for you, but I know most will say, “well that’s easy for you to say,” but we will see how this can successfully work in our lives, That’s why we see “God be thanked” in chapter 6:17 this comes from a saint who is thanking God for this new life that he is going to live by, he is inspired based upon grace and hope that we are privileged to live by, and to put this new life into practice, and each time we do this, we are being “conformed to the image of His Son,” and each and every time we do this, we grow and learn how to not only deal with these things and gain the comfort that we need, but we in turn will learn to be like Paul; we will be ones who are “exceeding joyful in all’” tribulations.
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
The law pointed out just how rotten we are in God’s sight, and our flesh can never please God, the power of grace is how we are to walk in our ‘new reality’ of walking in the new man, and when we walk in our new man for so long the outward man and remembrance of him will die, he will slowly begin to die off, that’s why Paul says “though our outward man parish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day,” we can make the outward man parish by us killing the outward man daily by our strengthening the inward man, you’re now spending more time in the inner man; it’s like having a new car, and we start to not drive the old car anymore; the old car will start to see decay, and corruption and it won’t be of any usage.
We need to change our way of thinking about how we view ourselves, we are going to see how what we are taught here in Romans 6 translates into the doctrine of our sufferings seeing as Paul himself learned to glory and abound in his sufferings, and he expects us as sons to do the same as well, so we will see what is the means by which this is accomplished.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
We are not to think of ourselves more than we ought to “think,” now how are we supposed to “think”; SOBERLY! That means that we are not to be under the influence of this world’s doctrines, but we are to renew our minds and be under the influence of our Father’s doctrine, and His grace, and what we are being taught by Him, that’s why Paul says at the end of Romans 16; “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them,” you are being educated in the foundational doctrines so that you can be educated as a son the way God intends you to; that’s what we just read in verse 2, like I said last week, this is the first step in understanding and appreciating how to live in your new reality.
2Co 1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
2Co 1:11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
2Co 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
Because of the “infirmity of your flesh” you are going to want to “obey” the doctrine of this world concerning your sanctified life, you are going to want to operate upon man’s doctrines and ‘bi-laws’ thinking that this is what true holiness and godliness is all about, and assume you are bringing “forth fruit unto holiness.”
2Co 7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
2Co 7:5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
2Co 7:6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
2Co 7:7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
Most if not all Christians would think you went crazy if you said what Paul said in verses 4 and 5 if you ever experienced anything similar to what Paul went through, which most of us will never face anything like that, but Paul was “exceeding joyful” in his tribulation, this is because Paul was inspired by hearing that these saints were pulling for him, and praying for him while he went through these things, it comforted him in knowing that he was not doing this in vain, and that the Corinthians were beginning to be effected by what Paul had earlier delivered unto them. Verse 6 is not saying that God put a blanket of peace upon Paul so he wouldn’t suffer anymore, it was that because of God’s word, and doctrine Paul had another opportunity to know God as the God of all comfort again.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Notice it says “who” that’s Satan, and this world that tries to separate us from “the love of Christ,” also note that those 7 things start off from the mild sufferings, to the extreme sufferings, you see, that is the way the adversary works against the son, he works in a progressive manner because he knows how the Father progressively gives the son the doctrine that he needs to educate the son on a ‘step by step’ basis.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
“For thy sake” is the 3 words we to operate upon when we face any or all of these things, that’s why Paul says “as it is written” right after the sufferings, there is a difference between “as it is written,” and “for it is written.” “As it is written” draws a direct parallel between the subject, and what was written prior; “for it is written” amplifies upon what was just taught. “For thy sake,” means ‘for your cause Lord,’ or ‘for your purpose Lord,’ it should be all about His cause, and His purpose when we go through things, and we are going to go through sufferings whether we are saved or unsaved, we go through what we go through because of Adam.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Satan knows that there is a few things that can separate you from the love of Christ, the first is “fear” the others are mentioned here in verse 35, the others in verses 38 and 39, just like Satan went to work on Job, and how Peter denied Christ, and that’s why Paul warns the saints and even Timothy, because when a saint is being afflicted, he can, and will abandon his education, and if this ailment is not properly cured, he could throw in the towel, and give up all together on his education in being conformed to the image of His Son.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Verse 36 says “for thy sake,” we are to operate upon “hope” doctrine, we are supposed to be ‘inspired’ by the “hope” that we have in Christ, when you hope for something, you long after it, you “obey by the heart” the thing that you have now begun to long after; we patiently “wait for it”, we are to “hope for that we see not,” this world hopes for that which they see! Because that’s all they see! Operating upon hope is like being shipwrecked at sea, and you are in the water for 3 days and you feel like you just can’t hang on any longer, and you feel like you want to give up, and in the night you see a light from a small boat far away coming your way, it might take hours to get there, but you are now encouraged, and inspired where you now have a new hope, and a new reality, you don’t feel as in distress as you once were.
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
That’s why we see “God be thanked” in chapter 6:17 this comes from a saint who is thanking God for this new life that he is going to live by, he is inspired based upon grace and hope that we are privileged to live by and to put this new life into practice, and each time we do this we are being “conformed to the image of His Son,” and each and every time we do this, we not only grow and learn how to not only deal with these things, and gain comfort, but we in turn will learn to be like Paul; we will be “exceeding joyful in all’” tribulations.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Being “killed all the day long” Satan is trying to kill your desire to get your education underway, and to separate you from the love of Christ, and what He loves, which is the Ministry, and you being conformed to the Image of Christ, it’s about your continuance in these things, that’s the only way you can be killed all the day long.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Notice “IN” we are going to go through “these things,” but it’s up to you how you want to deal with your sufferings, if you deal with them according to man’s ways and doctrine, you will ‘never know’ how to deal with “these things,” but if you follow God’s instructions, you WILL be MORE than a conqueror in your problems because you are now operating upon grace.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The one thing that can separate a son from the love of Christ is “fear” as we seen earlier in 2Corinthians 7:14 and in here in 2Timothy 1:7, that “fear,” and being “ashamed” is what can cause the son to ‘clam up,’ and stall his education as a son, and much worse; it can cause the son to no longer proclaim the doctrine of Christ, which is the objective of the adversary.
2Ti 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
The godly steps that we are shown to be “more than conquerors” in Christ:
Romans 6 begins your instructions by the Father to now DO something based upon your new identity that you now have with Christ, and for the first 11 verses you are told that sin is dead unto you, and you have a “newness of life,” and you are asked of your Father to “reckon” ourselves to be dead unto sin, and to “yield” ourselves unto God, but then we are introduced to the key component in how we can truly learn how to walk in this newness of life; grace!
- But God be thanked.
- Being led by the Spirit of God, not this world and its laws Rom.8:14
- Hope doctrine Rom.8:23-25 This is what we operate upon when we are in our ‘new reality.’
- Being conformed to the image of His Son Verses 28-32 Wise sonship understanding that shows the Father’s objective for your souls, your motivating factors showing just how grace does go to work for you, and that these verses here show how we can be “under” grace, and “led” of the Spirit.
- For thy sake, It is these 3 words that we replay over and over within us, knowing that when we go through these things it is for the Lord’s sake, but because we are identified with Him, and we are being conformed to the image of His Son, it is for our benefit too, when we are more than conquerors.
Rod Jones