Okay, brethren, let's go to Romans
15. Romans 15, and I want to look
at verses 13 through 17 with you this morning. Now, I've titled
this message, Filled with the God of Hope. Filled with the
God of Hope. I think it's good just to kind
of bring us up to what we can glean, what we are taught here
in these scriptures. But one of the blessings that
our Lord does for his people is that he brings forth from
us living works. Living works. Living works that's
opposed to to dead works, right? And one of those things is faith.
One of the works that he works in his people is a living faith. And our Lord said in Mark 12,
27, he said that our God is not the God of the dead, but the
God of the living. And therefore, because he's the
living God, He makes his children to be alive, alive by the power
and glory of his spirit working in us that which Christ has obtained
for us by his own righteousness. Because we're alive, we're not
just conformists to religion, the religion of man, right? We're
not just dead conformists to a dead religion. And the reason
why is that our God is a living God. And so his people, his children
are going to be alive in him. When Peter was confessing Christ,
when the Lord asked him, and who do you say that I am? He
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. So there's great emphasis put
on the fact that our God is alive. He's living. He's not a dead
God. He's not a cut down tree stump
made into an idol God of someone's imagination. He is the living
God who himself creates and gives life to his people. And so because
he's a living God, therefore, the service that he calls you
and I to is a living service. And Romans 12, verse 1, Paul
speaks of this living service. He said, 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." So how does this happen? How
do we bring forth living works? How is this possible? Are you
able to motivate yourself to do living works? Am I able to
motivate you to do living works? And no, there are churches that
have, they hire motivational speakers to be their pastors. They do hire people that are
very good speakers, very good motivational speakers. and they
become their pastors. And some people think because
they are well-spoken and can motivate people that perhaps
they themselves are called to the ministry. But all they're
producing is they're motivating people to dead works, not living
works. So you can't affect living works
in yourself and I can't affect living works in you. It's a work
of our God, which he does for his people. Another example is,
can the law, can the law of Moses effect living works in you? The
law can be motivating. It motivates a lot of people
out of fear and concern and worry, but that doesn't mean that those
works are living works. Because the law doesn't give
life. The law only declares that we
either are righteous or not. And we that are not righteous
are dead. in trespasses and sins. And it
can't change that. The law can't, just by reading
the law and trying your best to do the law, can't change that
fact that we're not alive by the works of the law. And we're
not alive by our own works or by our own decisions. It's something
that God has to do for us. All right, so how are we as eternal
souls going to serve the living God in a manner that's acceptable
to him? How are we going to bring forth
these living works in a living way? Because we know it's clear,
the scriptures say that you and me, we naturally come forth dead
in trespasses and sins. Let me read Colossians 2, verses
13 and 14. I consider this a good complimentary
passage to Ephesians 2.1. This is Colossians 2.13. He says, in you being dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, our flesh is dead. It doesn't bring forth living
works. But he says, you hath God quickened together with Christ. When he raised Christ up from
the dead, we that are Christ's, we that were in him, when he
did this work of salvation, we were raised up to the Father. We were raised up alive unto
God. And he says that he's forgiven
you, you that believe, and the qualification isn't because you
believe that we're saved, it's we believe because of what Christ
has affected in us. He's bringing forth that living
work of faith because of Christ. When he raised Christ up from
the dead, we were raised up from the dead, and therefore we bring
forth living works from our husband, not of this flesh, but of him.
We bear the fruits of our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
he says he's forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us. And that's speaking
of when you look at the law of Moses and you're made honest
before the law, you realize I come short of God's glory, of his
perfect, holy righteousness. I'm not measuring up. I try. I want to do what is good, but
in my flesh, I find it not. I don't find the power in me
to do what I know I should do and what God's holiness and glory
deserves. It deserves perfect obedience
and righteousness from me, but I can't bring it forth, and I
certainly can't do it in looking to the law. but he declares to
us Jesus Christ. And he gives us the hope of the
believer in us looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he
took that handwriting of ordinances, that law of Moses, which was
against us, against us believers, which was contrary to us and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. So he's even
telling us that the problem is us. We're the weak ones. We're
the ones dead in trespasses and sins. We're the ones who can't
motivate ourselves or be motivated in this flesh. It's got to be
a gracious work of God doing for you what you cannot do for
yourself. And he does it in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's why we love him so.
Because he's revealed this faith in us and this hope in us. And
so the Lord, that's what he's doing. He's revealing to us in
his word that I can't do this. If you're striving to please
God by your works and you're finding that you can't do it
and you're frustrated and upset with yourself, that's not a bad
thing. The Lord teaches his children
that we can't do it. He's making us to know the weakness
and the infirmity of our flesh so that we stop trusting in this
flesh and stop trusting in religion and the things that we're doing
to make us acceptable to God. And we are made by his grace
and power through the preaching of the gospel. He's teaching
us to look away from self and to behold his servant, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to behold his son and to rejoice in him and to
cry out for his righteousness and his grace and mercy to be
shown to me, a sinner. As the Syrophoenician woman prayed,
this is what the Lord brings forth from you. Help me, Lord. Help me. Have mercy upon me. Don't pass me by, Lord. I can't
do this, which you require, but you've provided everything, your
son. Help me, Lord. Cleanse me of my sin by the blood
of your son, Jesus Christ. That's his gift to you, to you
sinners, to you who have no righteousness of your own. That's his gift.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the unspeakable gift, which our
clay lips can hardly describe and can't describe to the fullness
of the glory he deserves for what he's accomplished. in us. He says, when he was speaking,
well, we know idolaters. They can put on an appearance.
We know many people that we think, they're better than me. They appear to be much better
than me. And they don't even like what I declare concerning
Christ and my hope. They hate that. But they appear
to be better than me, an idolater. can put on a good show. But the
Lord strips us and he takes us down to behold our need of him. And that's what he was saying
when he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. In John chapter
four, verse 10, he said, if you knew, if you knew the gift of
God and who it is that speaks to you and asks you for some
water, you would have said to him, Lord, give me that water
to drink. Give me that living water. I
need from you, I need your gift. I can't give you anything of
any value and what you're worthy of, but Lord, give me that living
water. And he says, I would give it
to you. I'll give it to you. And because the one that asks
for mercy, they find it and they find it because the Lord has
given it to them. He's revealed it in them. And
that's what he did for that Samaritan woman. She asked, Lord, evermore
give me this water. She didn't even know what she
was asking for. She thought it meant not to thirst
again and not to have to come down to the well to gather up
water for herself. And then the Lord taught her,
right? He gave her life and then he
taught her and revealed more fully under the preaching of
the gospel. I'm certain of it. All right.
So Paul tells us by the spirit that believers in our faithful
service is, is, is born out with living works, right? We may not
see them. We may not think they're the
most impressive things and, and we may, not think that we're
going to have anything to stand before the Lord, but he is bringing
forth his living works in his people. Paul wrote in Romans
2 verse 28 and 29, He said, he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. And that speaks to our pharisaical
nature. It speaks to our religious flesh,
which produces the appearance of works. But he's saying that's
not salvation. That's not the true religion,
which our father gives to his children. We can cut in the flesh
and we can take things away and we can add the appearance of
things and do things that we think are right, but he says
that's only a circumcision of the flesh. You haven't reached
the heart of the matter, which is our own corrupt heart out
of which sinful things flow. All manner of sinful thoughts
and ideas and works, they're found in that fountain of sin,
which is man's natural heart, our natural thoughts. And so
he says, he's a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. So even those of us who are the
most vile of sinners, but are given a hope in Christ. We know
we have no righteousness of our own and ought not to gain any
audience with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but he's given
us a hope. He's worked that hope and that
salvation in our hearts. that we would trust in him, and
though we don't even, others may not see it, and though we
ourselves don't even necessarily see it, and usually we are the
last to see it, yet God recognizes his work, and that for whom he's
died and shed his blood for, he marks them as his own, and
he gives them his spear. And he shall appear for them
and save them and take them to himself. And so this is relevant
to our text here in verse 15 because we're talking about receiving
brethren, not to doubtful disputations, not to just get into arguments
with our brethren that are weaker or those that seem stronger than
we are in the faith, but he's talking about receiving our brethren
in grace and in mercy, as he said in verse seven, as Christ
also received us to the glory of God. And so what we understand
of that is it's got to be a work of grace. It's got to be by his
spirit because This flesh is weak and we get offended and
we offend in many ways. And so it's a spiritual work
and it's the Lord that's gonna bring forth living works from
us and cause us to gather together in fellowship and in the joy
of the Holy Ghost and the joy of our salvation, all right? And so it's gotta be the Lord
and that's exactly what Paul confirms to us in verse 13. So
Romans 15 verse 13, he prays to the Lord. He knows we can't
do it, so he prays to the Lord and he says, now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound
in hope. There's one of those living works,
hope, hope in Christ. hoping that he has done for you
what he promises his children in his word, that you're his,
that he's your God, and that he shall return again for you. All right, and so he says, the
God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing
that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. All right, not through your own
power, not through my power, not through the law's power,
but by the power of the Holy Ghost working in you, born and
revealed in you more and more by his grace and his mercy and
glory and power. And so you, child of God, we're
being stripped. We're being stripped of vain
confidences. We're brought low in self that
we should not look to self any longer, but look for all our
confidence and all our assurance from our gracious God who speaks
to us by his son, Jesus Christ, the hope of every believer. And
that's our joy, and that's our peace, and that's our rest is
Him. And you, that hope in Him, that's
of the Lord. That's a living work, which He
bears in you by His grace and power and mercy. And when you
see that, you're joyful, because you're like, thank you, Lord,
for doing for me what I can't bring forth in myself. Thank
you for keeping me and turning me away from myself to behold
your precious beloved son in whom you delight and that you're
making me delight in him too. Thank you, Lord. And so that's
what he's doing. As Paul said, listen, to you
who have that hope in Christ, Paul says in Philippians 3, 9,
that I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's our
hope. And you who heard what I was
saying and delighting in that, you see, wow, I'm actually saying
the same thing in my spirit, which Paul said by the spirit,
right? His spirit's my spirit. And he's testifying that the
work, the hope that I have in him is the same hope Paul had,
the Apostle Paul, who forsook his Phariseeism, who forsook
all his works, that he might be found in Christ alone. And
we that are sinners, that's where we're fleeing to. That's where
we fled to. Lord, have mercy on me and your
son. Don't look at me for me. Look
at me through the blood of your son, Jesus Christ, that I may
stand complete in him, all right? And so the Lord fills his people
with joy and peace in believing. Those are the words he uses.
He fills us with joy and peace in believing, right? Because
you that see Christ this morning, you have peace. You have peace
when he shows you that, yeah, that Christ is all my hope. I've
got nothing else but him. And so that's our peace because
we know that's of him. And we know what it is to feel
deadness in ourselves. We know what it is to not feel
hope. We identify with those Jews described
in John chapter two recently, the last couple of weeks, where,
as Mary said, they have no wine. They have no one. They have no
joy and hope and peace. And we've seen how we ourselves
spent years in religion, just like those money changers and
animal sellers set up shop right in the temple doing the business
of men. there where people were supposed
to be gathered to worship God and no one thought anything of
it. They thought it was all fine and normal and this is just how
things are, right? And so we see how, yeah, that's
me and my flesh just dead in religion having nothing to bring
to God and not even seeing the folly of my own ignorance and
and own dead works, but when he fills you with the wine of
his spirit and the joy of Christ, and he brings us again through
the preaching of the gospel, he's causing us to be reminded
of all his precious promises to you, he fills you with that
wine, with that joy and hope and peace and rejoicing in Christ,
right? Because by ourselves, we're just
empty vessels. At best, we can do is fill ourselves
with water and nothing more. But he's the one who turns it
into wine and brings forth that joy in us. All right, so the
way that we're filled with this joy is by the God of hope filling
you with all joy and peace. in believing, right? And that's
what we desire is that God fill us, that we may abound in hope
through the power of the Holy Ghost, right? Because we don't
always want to feel dead. We don't want to keep doing the
practices of this flesh. We want to be filled with his
joy and peace and hope and go and share that with others in
a spirit of love, right? Not a spirit of judgment, but
in a spirit of love, we want to declare the hope that we have
in Christ. Because they can argue with you
on many things, but they can't argue with the joy that you have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They can't take that. They can't
say, well, I don't agree with that, because what he's revealed
in you is revealed in you. And so you can always declare
your hope in him and pray that the Lord bless them to behold
Christ and to seek Him and desire Him. All right? So our Lord,
His power, His wisdom reveals in us that in us, I can't bring
these good works, these living works. He teaches you that. The dead religionist thinks they
can. Or that if they just say the right prayer or just spend
a little extra hour in reading their Bible, that they can then
produce those works. We should pray and we should
read, but we're always praying, but Lord, bless it. Bless it,
because I know it can be a dead work. I know I can't affect anything
precious in me, but Lord, you You can and you do, you do that
and help me to rejoice in this time with you. Help me to not
just desire, but when I pick up the Bible, help me to read
it and to see my savior, Jesus Christ. And so he gives us that
to do that, all right? And so moving on in verse 14,
Paul says, now, right, so the Holy Spirit works this in us,
And then he says in verse 14, and I myself also am persuaded
of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled
with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. He's saying that, though he's
speaking, he's saying, I'm confident in what the Lord has done in
you. I believe the Lord has saved you. And oftentimes we see, We
see fruits in our brethren that they don't see in themselves.
And I trust that they see fruits in us that we don't see in ourselves. And so we rejoice to see one
another and be gathered together. And I think a lot of times people
don't realize just how much of a joy and gladness it is when
the Lord And so we're thankful for that as much as they're able
to do it. And we know there's always But we're so thankful when we
push past those providential hindrances and difficulties that
we may gather with the brethren. And so he actually says a few
of, let me just skip down a few things here. The reason why is
that we're, well, all right, let me say this. So Paul says,
I'm persuaded that God has worked these things in you. And then
the apostle John said in verse 27, similarly to what Paul is
getting at, where he says you're able to do these things, you
can admonish one another, you don't need me, the apostle, to
write this thing necessarily. And John even said in 1 John
2.27, but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth
in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the
same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is true, and
is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
him. And so the Lord is saying to
us that he's given each of his children his spirit. He's given
each of his children a spirit, and because he's given you a
spirit, he's going to complete the work which he's begun in
you. This is similar to what Paul's saying here. And so he
says, well, for example, two scriptures, Philippians 1.6,
where Paul says, I'm confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you shall complete it until the day
of Jesus Christ. And then the companion scripture
to that is first, Thessalonians 5 24 where he says faithful is
he that calleth you Which also shall do it right? He's also
or who also will do it. So he's gonna do that That work
and he's gonna bow. He's gonna bring forth that Boasting
in us of him. It's we're gonna stop boasting
of ourselves and and and trust him but Paul speaking about You
know, the Lord, he's able to affect these things in you, and
he's able to teach you, just as John says, and yet then he
comes back in verse 15. Now, Paul says in Romans 15,
15, nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto
you in some sort as putting you in mind because of the grace
that is given to me of God. And what the Lord is showing
us there is the blessing of being gathered together as a body to
hear his word because he does feed us that way. We do have
the spirit. And so when the truth is being
preached, right, not anybody can, you wouldn't stand to just
hear anybody, even if they're just a good speaker. That's not
why you're, you're gathered here. You don't want to hear a good
speaker. you want to be comforted in Christ. And the Lord does that. We have
the apostles, right, who wrote the New Testament for us, right? And before them, there was the
prophets, and before that, there was the law. And we see the clarity
that the Lord has given in his word, right, from the law through
the prophets who expounded more and revealed more of the hope
that we have of the coming prophet who should be revealed to us
that we are to hear him and and they declared him and then Christ
came and his he spoke his word and it was recorded and the apostles
elaborated on that more so that now we that are pastors and teachers
and and declaring his word we speak of him we testify of what
he's told us to testify of and he blesses that word and so his
purpose that you have the spirit but he gathers you to hear that
word that he's revealed to his to his pastors and for example
if you look over in Revelation 1 look at Revelation 1 and go
to verse 20 and Revelation 120, the Lord says,
he's speaking to John, he says, the mystery of the seven stars
which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks,
the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the
seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. And then over in the next chapter,
in chapter two, he begins saying unto the angel of the church
of Ephesus, unto the angel of the church of Smyrna, unto the
angel of the church of Pergamos, unto the angel of the church
of Thyatira in Philadelphia, right? The angel is the pastor,
that's the messenger, the minister of God, and so it pleases the
Lord too. to speak to them and then I come
and declare what the Lord's put on what he's taught me and showed
me in his word, trusting that the Lord has gathered his people
together to be fed and nourished and that which he's burdened
me with or shown me in his word. And so that's how he does it. He didn't speak directly to the
churches. He spoke to the angel of the church. And then the angel
of the church was meant Now you go and say what I told you, you
go and make sure you are faithful just to repeat what I've revealed
to you in my son. And so that's what Paul's saying
is you have the spirit and therefore by the spirit, you know, if it
testifies with your spirit that he's given you and you're blessed
by it. And that, you know, cause he's
separating the precious from the vile and that was his vile.
He removes from you and that which is precious you hear. And that doesn't mean to say
that sometimes you wish something wasn't vile because it convicts
you, but the Lord is able to teach his people and cause us
to look to Christ. And so that's what Paul's saying
is you have the spirit and as your apostle, I've been given
boldness to declare these things to you and to point you to Christ
and to hear his word. And so Paul, affirms that in
verse 16, now back in Romans 15, 16 and 17, he says that I
should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering
the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable,
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I have therefore, wherever
I make glory through Jesus Christ and those things which pertain
to God. And so I pray that that of all
things that were said here, that you remember Christ, that you
be filled with that hope and that joy in believing Him and
resting in Him, that you find that to be your peace and comfort
and confidence. And because that's how you're
going to bring forth living works. It's all by His power. And the
way He does is He keeps revealing to you Christ and your need of
Him and the confidence that we have in the hope. that we have
in him. So I pray he bless that word to your hearts. All right, let's close and pray.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you for your power and glory and
grace and how you purpose to effect grace and bring forth
living fruits in the hearts of your people and that we bear
them unto our God. As you declare so often in your
word that we bring forth these fruits, Lord, we know it's not
by the law, by the law in this flesh, we only bring forth dead
works, but by your spirit and by the fruit of your son, Jesus
Christ, we are made alive and bear his fruit unto the glory
and praise of your name. Lord, we ask that you would indeed
bless your people this morning, that you would fill our hearts
with love and joy and peace and gladness and all by the power
of the Holy Ghost, taking that which is of your son and what
he's wrought for us in his death, burial and resurrection and has
revealed to us by faith and by your glory and your fruits. Lord,
help us to receive our brethren, help us to love one another and
to walk in faith before you. It's in the name of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ that we pray this, amen. Okay, so
we'll come back at five after the hour, 15 minutes.