Looking this morning at Romans
chapter 15, I want to consider verse 13 of Romans 15, and I
trust to get down through verse 17 of Romans 15. These are delightful
verses here. They give us much, much instruction
and encouragement. We know that Paul was a strong
believer in the sovereign and eternal purpose of God and in
the grace of God. But he also believed that the
purpose of God, the eternal purpose of God being accomplished through
the means that God ordained. Now God has predestinated the
end, right? But he's also predestinated the
means to arrive at that end. Two of those means that Paul
mentions in this chapter and foremost is the preaching of
the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. Notice down in verse
19. He says, I have fully preached
the gospel of Christ. Paul made much of the ministry
of the word because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word of the Lord. But also the other thing that
Paul mentions as a means for God to arrive at his predetermined
end, not only the preaching of the gospel, but for praying for
one another, praying for one another. Notice down here in
verse 30 of Romans 15. Paul, even though he was apostle,
had the message given him of God. He was sent of God, gifted
of God, but you know what? As we read through the epistles,
we often find the apostle Paul asking for the brethren to Look
at verse 30, Romans 15. Now I beseech you, brethren,
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit
that you strive together with me in your prayers, in your prayers
to God for me. Now, I remember someone reciting
something that Charles Spurgeon said. He was a very well-known
minister in England back in the 1800s, and he had a large ministry,
a large building that would seat over 5,000 people. And someone
asked him one time, to what do you attribute your success in
the ministry? And he said, well, Well, God
has blessed us with the gospel. But the other thing he said is
my people pray for me. They pray for this ministry.
And we should do the same. I trust you pray for me. I pray
for you and pray for this ministry that God would bless it and own
it and crown it. So we make much of preaching
the gospel, don't we? We put the emphasis when we come
together in the name of Christ, we put the emphasis on taking
the word of the Lord, verse by verse, word by word, that's what
God will bless. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else, but the word, his word. So let's begin at verse
13. And this verse is so full of
goodness and mercy. Now the God of hope, the God
of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing. We have
joy and peace only as we believe God. There's no joy or no peace
for an unbeliever, nothing but trouble and heartache. Joy and
peace in believing that you may abound, that you may abound in
hope. We have a good hope, don't we?
Christ in you is a hope of glory. We have a good hope through grace. Our God, who is God, is a God
of all comfort. long-suffering, peace, and hope,
and he's a God of all grace. Remember over in verse 5 of Romans
15, last week we had now the God of patience and consolation. So he's a God of long-suffering.
He is a God that also gives us comfort in Christ. So our God, who is a God of comfort,
long-suffering, peace, and he is a God of all grace. The God of all grace. Now the God of peace be with
you all. This chapter ends, verse 33. Now the God of peace. We only
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The God of
peace be with you all, amen. And he is, he is with us. He
is with us. The Lord said, I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you. He is the only one, our God who
is God, that can save a guilty sinner and make him a new creature
in Christ. Now, salvation is a resurrection
from the dead. That's why salvation has to be
by God's power and his grace. Salvation is not you making a
decision. I've made some good decisions,
but I've made a lot of bad decisions too. Salvation is not you making
a decision or you turning over a new leaf. Salvation is something
that God does for us. The scriptures clearly teach
that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one
that can save a guilty sinner, make him a new creature in Christ.
He's the only one that can fill you. Look what it says there.
The God of hope, the God of salvation. He can fill you with all joy. Now, we joy in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever we think of Christ and
the gospel, those who believe the gospel, we have joy in God
through Christ. We have joy in Him and we have
peace. Look back at Romans chapter five,
Romans five, look at verse one. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and we rejoice in hope
of the glory of God, of the glory of God. What is the glory of
God? You remember Moses asked the Lord, show me your glory.
He said, I'll cause all my goodness to pass before you and I will
have mercy upon whom I will. Who is that goodness? Who is
that mercy? God only shows mercy to us in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Fill you with all joy. Fill you
with all peace. We have peace with God through
our blessed Savior. And He is the only one, notice
it's joy and peace in believing. Now, there's no joy or peace
found for an unbeliever. An unbeliever doesn't have peace
with God, nor can he rejoice before God. But we have, as his
people, believing the gospel, we both have joy and peace in
and through believing God. Now remember, Abraham was strong
in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that all
that God had promised, he's able to perform. We have joy in peace
through believing. Now, why are you a believer?
Well, you know, I'm just so smart, I figured it out. Why are you
a believer? Who makes you to differ from
one who hates God, hates the gospel? Why are you a believer?
Who makes you to differ from another? We know the answer. It is God who has made us to
differ. You see, this thing of faith
is called the faith of God's elect. This faith is the precious
gift of God. This faith doesn't bloom naturally
in our dead, wicked, depraved heart. The only thing that's
native to our wicked heart is sin, unbelief, rebellion. If you're a believer, If you
have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're blessed of God.
And believing, we have hope, joy, and peace in believing. That you may abound in hope. We abound in hope because the
Lord Jesus Christ, he's called in 1 Timothy 1.1, he is called
Christ our hope. Our hope. Now, the hope we have
in Christ is not like a shot in the dark. It's not like a
wish. Our hope is based upon the Word
of God as our hope is revealed in Christ. Christ in you is our
hope. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians
2. He says, we have an everlasting
consolation and a good hope through grace. You see what I mean about this
verse? It's loaded, it's loaded. And all this is through, we only
believe the gospel, we're only filled with the gospel, and we
only abound in the gospel through the working of God the Holy Spirit.
You see that? It's not through the power of
the flesh, through the power of the mind, your positive thinking.
Positive thinking won't get you anywhere with God. You'll wind
up in hell if you trust your, you know, someone wrote a book
one time, remember, The Power of Positive Thinking. Well, if your thinking's wrong,
if your thinking is according to the lives of men, then you
have no joy or peace, not before God, through the power of God
in the Holy Spirit. We believe the gospel because
God has given us life in Christ. Believing is the result of regeneration. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Before he fills us and blesses
us there must come a emptying of. He must empty us before He
fills us. He must convict us of sin before
He reveals unto us how sin is put away in the Lord Jesus Christ. There must be a stripping of
self-reliance, self-dependence, self-righteousness before He
clothes us. with Christ who is our righteousness. And when he reveals the gospel
unto us, he reveals unto us that we are complete in Christ, that
we are completely full of Christ. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you're complete in Christ. Nothing needs to be added. If
we're complete in Christ, What can you add to completeness?
You can only mess it up. We're complete in Christ. Christ
is all and end all. And this is all by the effectual
working of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. We know the
chief office of God the Holy Spirit, as the Lord said in John
16, is to take the things of Christ and reveal them unto us. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. He is sovereign
in mercy, but he's also sovereign in revelation. He revealed himself
to whom he will, and he'll have mercy upon whom he will. Now, let's move on one more verse,
verse 14, Romans 15, 14. And I myself, I myself, I'm persuaded. Now Paul uses that word a lot,
persuaded. I'm persuaded nothing can separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. I'm persuaded
he's able to keep us from falling. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed on him against that day. But he
says, I'm also persuaded or convinced of you. I'm convinced of you. Now he's writing to these Gentile
believers at Rome, Rome was that big city with a big government,
the Roman Empire. I mean, it was a mighty Roman
Empire. But God, out of that mighty Roman
Empire, he had an elect in that Roman Empire who lived in Rome,
and Paul greatly desired, we're gonna see over in the end of
this chapter, Paul greatly desired to come and see them. Now he
ended up in Rome, but not the way he planned. But he ended
up in Rome the way God planned. He ended up in Rome not going
there in a missionary journey, although he did, but he went
there as a prisoner, remember? Spent two whole years in prison
there in Rome before he was executed for the gospel. I myself am persuaded
of you. You remember in chapter one,
When we started out in the book of Romans, he said, your faith
is spoken of throughout the world. There were some people there
who were strong in faith, giving glory to God. I myself am persuaded
of you, my brethren, I love that statement, my brethren, we're
brothers in Christ. We're one family with one head,
we're one body in Christ, that you are also full of goodness. Now notice, Full of goodness? I'm persuaded that you're full
of goodness. I'm persuaded that you're filled with all knowledge,
and I'm persuaded of you that you're able to admonish or able
to teach one another. Have a teachable spirit. Now,
Paul was persuaded of these, he calls my brethren, and it's
the same as saying, you're my family. that God who has begun
a good work in them will perform it, will perfect it. These believers
at Rome demonstrated their faith in Christ as all their hope. As Paul said of the Thessalonians,
We know your election is of God because our gospel came not into
you in word only, but also in the power of God the Holy Spirit.
Now, how did these people in Rome hear the gospel? I mean, you look at a map back
in this day from Rome down here to Jerusalem, that's a long trip. You gotta get on a ship and you
gotta sail there. And these folks believed the
gospel before Paul ever went there. How did they hear about
the gospel of God concerning Christ? Well, evidently what
has happened, many of those people who were maybe Roman citizens
as Paul was, Saul of Tarsus, who heard of the gospel and heard
the gospel there in Judea and believed the gospel, when they
went back home What did they take with them? They took the
message of the gospel. And God blessed that ministry.
Maybe God even raised up some preachers in that day who preached
the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And these
people were turned to God, and in turning to God, they turned
from their idols. Notice he says, I'm persuaded
of you that you are full of goodness. Would you consider yourself good
in and of yourself before God? I mean, our Lord said, there's
none good, no, not one. You remember he said to that
young man who said, he called him good master. He said, why
do you call me good master? There's none good but God. Now,
how can we as sinners be full of goodness? How can we as sinners be full
of goodness? Goodness would be synonymous
with righteousness. How can we be full of goodness
and righteousness? Well, it's only by the grace
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
our, He's made unto us goodness. He is our goodness. And as we
stand in Him, complete in Him, we are good. Full of goodness. Because blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works. No believer is
naturally good. And even yet in this flesh, we
say with Paul, don't we? I know that in me, do you know
this? I know that in me that is my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. Not in this flesh. But in my
spirit, I've been made a new creature in Christ. I'm full
of the goodness of God in Christ. That's true of my soul and my
spirit in Christ. And then he says here, filled
with all knowledge, all knowledge. Now this is just not being a,
you know, that man, he's a Bible thumper. He knows his Bible. I've heard people say that. Well,
that man, he knows his Bible. Well, now don't misunderstand
what I'm gonna say here. It's a good thing to know what
the Word of God teaches, but you can quote and know and know,
know all 66 books, know how many verses are in the Bible, know
this and know that. You can know all these facts
and not know the God of the Bible. See what I'm saying? That man
knows his Bible. Does he know the God of the Bible?
That's the question. Those who are filled with all
knowledge have knowledge of God in Christ. Remember, He commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, to shine in our hearts, to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He giving us a saving knowledge
of Him. That is, we know who God is.
He's holy, sovereign, and we know how God saves sinners in
the Lord Jesus Christ. See what he's saying here? These
two verses here are just tremendous verses. I myself am persuaded
of you, my brethren, that you are full of goodness because
you're full of Christ, filled with all knowledge, the
knowledge of God. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that he is
able. And then the third thing he mentions here, able to admonish
one another. Now what does that word admonish
mean? It doesn't mean to beat up on
one another. It certainly doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean to beat up on
one another. You remember over here in verse 19 of chapter 14,
look over there, Romans 14, 19. Let us therefore follow after
the things which make for peace, and the things wherewith we may
edify one another. He's talking about edifying,
he's talking about admonishing one another, admonish one another
as a brethren. That is to instruct one another,
to encourage one another, to help one another, Paul uses that
word in Hebrew, to succor one another, to help, to aid, to
assist one another. Able to help one another. To
build up each other in the faith, not to tear each other down,
not to beat up on each other, but how about love and forgive
one another? Wouldn't that be much easier?
The way of the transgressor is hard. What scripture states, wicked are like a troubled sea,
no rest, no peace. filled with goodness, filled
with knowledge, able to encourage and build each other up into
faith. Now, nevertheless, verse 15, nevertheless, notwithstanding,
it is needful for me to write boldly unto you, brethren, I've
written more boldly unto you in some sort. Paul was a bold
preacher. Now what is bold preaching? It's
not just hollering. Just not yelling and screaming.
There's a lot of people think that man's not preaching unless
he yells and screams. Oh man, that man, he was on fire
today. He did a lot of screaming and
yelling and pulling and yapping and barking and ha! All that
foolishness that goes on. That's not preaching boldly. You know what preaching boldly
is? Telling the truth. The truth of who God is. The
truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that scripture over
in Hebrews 13? He said, it says, God has said,
so that we may boldly say, that's why we can boldly say, because
he has said, the Lord is my helper. He will not leave me, he will
not forsake you. We boldly tell the truth Now,
if I'm preaching in such a way or making such a racket and so
much noise that you can't understand what I'm saying, my dear pastors used to teach
us this. If you're not communicating, you're not preaching. If I can't
communicate to you the message that God's given me, then I'm
not preaching. Preaching is communicating the
word of the Lord from God through his word to the Holy Spirit to
your heart. That's what preaching is. And
we speak boldly the truth of God. And Paul said, I boldly
speak unto you in some manner, some sort, putting you in mind. because of the grace of God that's
given to me." Now, because the grace of God was given to him,
did Paul have an option to preach? Well, we're going to meet this
morning and we're going to talk about finances. We're going to
meet this morning and we're going to talk about the social ills
in Pike County and how we need to eradicate these wicked things. and these moral issues and put
the bootlegger out of business and the pornographer out of business.
We need to eradicate these evil things. I'm putting you in mind because
of the grace of God that's given to me. I'm making you mindful
by the Spirit of God, the things of God, and how God saves sinners
by His grace, by His grace. It is needful for me to write
unto you boldly reminding you of the critical things of God,
the grace of God, that was given to me. Because we're so prone
to forget, notice it says there, putting you in mind, or making
you mindful of these things, lest they run out of our bucket.
Now, if you take a five-gallon bucket and drill a bunch of holes in
the bottom of it and try to fill the bucket up, It's going to
run out just as fast as you can fill it up. And oftentimes, our
bucket is full of holes. It runs out. It runs out. That's why we need to be constantly
put in mind. Constantly, we need the constant
preaching of the gospel because we so soon forget. We are not
mindful of the things of God. Now, you remember I'm thinking
of this verse over in Hebrews 2. Therefore we ought to give
them more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest
at any time we let them slip. Remember the marginal reference
there, run out as a leaking vessel. That's why we need to be mindful
of the things of God. That's why we need to come here
week after week, service after service, to be put in mind of
these things because we're so frail and so soon to forget.
And Paul says, because of the grace of God that's given unto
me, given unto me. There is no grace, but grace
that is given. Notice he doesn't say the grace
of God that I've earned. The grace of God that I'm worthy
of. the grace of God that's given to me. Now, did Saul of Tarsus
do one thing to earn grace? I mean, he did everything in
his power to exterminate believers and to put an end of the ministry
of the gospel. Saul of Tarsus did, but the grace
of God that was given to me. You remember he said, by the
grace of God I am what I am. It is only the grace of God that
has made us to differ. He said, wherefore I was made
a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to
me by the effects of working of his power. Unto me, whom less
than the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
That's what we preach, the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul said in
another place, 2 Corinthians 4, that last reference was Ephesians
3, 7, but he said, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus,
the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Christ's sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ. We have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be
of God and not of us. Well, I'm gonna end right there
because my time is gone. We'll pick up next time with
verse 16, that I should be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Paul was called an apostle to
the Gentiles and a minister of the gospel, that the offering
up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being accepted in the beloved,
being sanctified. Again, he mentions the Holy Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit. Okay.