Alright, if you will take your
Bibles and turn with me to Romans chapter 15. Romans the 15th chapter. Tonight we'll be looking at verses
14 through 16. As I was preparing this message,
I was looking at these verses, and sometimes a message don't
come right away. Sometimes it takes a lot of struggle. And this was a struggle at first,
and then the Lord just plainly revealed a message to me, and
it was like the light bulb going off. That's good. I like when
that happens, and I'm thankful for the Lord for it. But I pray,
without the Spirit of God, it won't mean anything, will it?
Without God applying it to our hearts, it just won't mean very
much. So no matter how good it's prepared or whatever happens
that I've done, if the Spirit doesn't accompany, we won't be
blessed. Let's pray that the Lord will
be pleased to bless our hearts with this. The title of the message
tonight is Commendation, Commission, and Commitment. Those are my
three points that I'll be having tonight. Commendation, Commission,
and Commitment. Romans chapter 15, starting in
verse 14. Paul says, And I myself also
am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness,
filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another. 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, that
I should be a 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." Paul here, in these few
verses, is starting his conclusion. Paul's conclusions are usually
a chapter or two, and this is no exception. He begins here
in verse 14, starting his conclusion to the church at Rome. Now, after
he had given to them the great gospel of God's sovereign grace
and His mercy in Christ, after he had delivered to them the
Christian duties and privileges. He did not consider them in all
of this. He did not consider this church
at Rome after giving them all of these things. He here is showing
us that He did not consider them deficient in any way. He did
not consider them deficient in the Christian doctrine that He
preached in the early chapters, and He did not consider them
deficient in Christian practices, which we have started in chapter
12 on to this point. He did not consider them deficient,
yet in order to calm their hearts, of those that he perceived would
think such things about him. After he had preached about the
doctrine, some people might say, well, I know that. What is he
trying to tell me that for? I already know that. Or something
in practicality that he's administering to, well, he may sound hard and
some people may say, well, you know, hey, why is he telling
me that? Well, in order to calm their hearts and calm their spirits,
Paul here, as he normally does, is going to issue them three
things. Issue three things that is sent
to calm the hearts of these people here at Rome. And those three
things are the title of my message. First, the commendation. Second,
his commission. And third, his commitment. First,
let's look at his commendation in verse 14. We'll look at each
verse, and each verse is a point. Verse 14, Paul says, I myself
am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness,
filled with knowledge, and able to admonish one another. Now
I'll tell you, wouldn't you like to have that commendation? Wouldn't
you like to have that commendation from the Apostle Paul to this
church here? I would. And you know what? You
do. You do have that commendation
from the Apostle Paul and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Apostle
Paul here says, I am persuaded of you. I'm confident of you. Perceiving that they might misinterpret
his intentions, Paul said, I'm persuaded of you, my brethren.
He sees there are three things here concerning the Christian
character. that each and every believer
has. Each one of these things, each one of these commendations
that the Apostle Paul is giving, I'm going to show you that you
and I have them tonight. They are ours. They are ours.
First of all, he says in comforting their hearts, the commendation
of this, you are full of goodness. Isn't that a good commendation?
Isn't that something that we long to have? Now, what is Paul
not speaking of? I want us to figure that out
first. What is he not saying? The Apostle Paul is not saying
that we are full of goodness in our flesh. We are not full
of goodness in our flesh. But we remember what he says
in Romans chapter 7, that, "...in my flesh dwelleth no good thing."
He's not talking about our flesh. And let me say this, it is a
mistake that is commonly made by new believers in Christ to
assume that when they come to Christ, that they will be free
from the very presence of sin. And that's not true, is it? Is
that your experience? Not my experience. I still got
this flesh. We still have this old man hanging
around our necks. We're not to perceive that sin
is annihilated at the new birth. It dwells in us and with us.
And we know this, don't we? I'm telling you nothing new.
I'm telling you nothing that I haven't said before and the
Scriptures haven't said before. Yet equally, as equally as we
are to detest and to renounce our flesh, we are also equally
to embrace the goodness of God that dwells in us. Equally embrace
it. It is to have equal prominence
to be given to it concerning the goodness of the inner man.
You that are believers in Christ, are you not born again? You ever
heard that term, born-again Christian? It's saying the same thing, isn't
it? There's no Christian that hasn't
ever been born again. We all have been born again of
the Spirit of God. Well, what is that new birth?
That new birth is nothing less than a creation of God in us. God has created in us a new creation that is holy and
righteous and just. And just as much as this sin,
this sinful flesh, we count as dung, is still full of sin today
as it ever was, we also know that when we were born again
of the Spirit of God, that that inner man is holy, righteous,
and just, and it can't be anything else. You can't make the inner
man any more holy than he is. He is as holy as he ever will
be. He is created after God. He's holy. He's righteous. He's
a new creation. Paul says this, we are his workmanship. We are his workmanship. It's
like an artist in a sculpture. chisels away and He creates a
masterpiece. Well, God in you right now has
created a masterpiece. It is good. It is good. You, my friends, if you are a
believer in Christ, recognize, embrace this. You, though on
the outward man is sin, on the inward man is nothing but goodness. You, my friends, are full of
goodness. Can you see that? Only by faith
we can see that, can't we? We can only see it by faith.
We believe God. where once our heart was filled
with sin, it's now filled with the eternal fountain of the Spirit
springing forth. We were once haters of God, but
now we love God, and God has created in each one of us a holy
being. You, my friend, I give you the
commendation of this, you are full of goodness. You're full
of goodness. You're full of goodness. We are
His workmanship, and God, this redounds to the glory of God.
Believer, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, for you are
good in the inner man." Full of goodness. Full of goodness.
He did this to comfort their hearts. And secondly, He tells
them, you are filled with knowledge. Filled with knowledge. Look at
that in our text. You are also full of goodness, I am persuaded
you are full of goodness and filled with all knowledge." Paul
said he was persuaded that they excelled in divine knowledge.
Again, let's see what he's not saying. What he's not saying
is he's not talking about earthly, physical knowledge. He's not
talking about worldly knowledge such as science and art and even
theology. He's not talking about worldly
things. He is talking about a spiritual
knowledge, a divine knowledge. He perceived that they would be expounded by the spirit of
wisdom in revelation and knowledge of Christ. Go to Ephesians chapter
1. Flip over to Ephesians chapter 1. A few pages. Ephesians chapter
1. And verse 17, it says that the
God... Paul is praying here for the
Ephesians. He said that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him. Paul said, I understand
you are full of knowledge. You're full of knowledge because
the Spirit of God has given you the knowledge of Christ. Do you
know Christ? Do you know Him as your Lord
and Savior? Do you personally know Christ? Then my friend, you are full
of knowledge. You are full to overflowing with knowledge. The
only knowledge that counts. You all remember doing calculus
in college? You know how much that affects
me? Zero. Nothing. I remember doing some
things, but really, I mean, how many times have I ever used that
in my life? None. It was wasted knowledge. And
now it's gone. But you know what? I have a knowledge
that counts. I have the knowledge of Jesus
Christ. How is that given? By the Spirit
of wisdom and revelation. I didn't get this because I was
smarter than anybody else. We didn't get this knowledge
because we were smarter. We have this knowledge because
the Spirit of God came down and revealed it to us by divine revelation. Divine revelation. The Spirit
of God gave us this knowledge. We, by nature, were ignorant
of the things of God. Now, a person might be well-educated
in the knowledge of this world, but without the Spirit of God,
he is like those mentioned in Romans chapter 10. Remember how
Paul said about the Israelites, he said, I bear them witness
that they have a zeal for God, but not according to what? Knowledge. Was he saying that the Pharisees
were dumb people? No. These were very highly intelligent
people. But what was he saying? He said
they missed it because they went out and established their own
righteous being ignorant of what? The righteousness of God. They
were ignorant of God. They didn't know God. And because
they could not know God by their learning. If you read all the
books in the world, And my friend, you may have an outward physical
knowledge of God, but if God the Holy Spirit doesn't give
you a revelation, then you have no knowledge at all. But if He
has, then you have all knowledge. All knowledge is given to you. Many people like the Israelites
of Paul's day have a zeal for God, but they lack the knowledge
of God because God must reveal Himself. They are striving to
obtain their own righteousness because they are ignorant of
God's righteousness. They have a form of godliness,
Paul said, but deny the power thereof. But Paul was persuaded
and acknowledged of those here that they were given the spirit
of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
As a sinner's perfect and only Savior, they were given the knowledge
to see that Jesus is the only hope, joy, peace, life, and acceptance
with God. And this, my friend, is the foundation
of all wisdom. Scripture says the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You, my friends that know Christ,
you are filled with all knowledge. You're filled with all the knowledge
that you really need to know. You need to know Christ and you
know Him. That's enough. That's enough. Number three,
He says you are able to admonish one another. This is the third
commendation. Not only was He persuaded of
their goodness and of God in them, not only was He persuaded
of their knowledge of Christ, that they were not ignorant concerning
the things of God, but now because of the first two commendations,
He gives the third." You see, the first two commendations are
necessary in order to have the third. You see, none of us have
the ability to admonish one another if we are not filled with goodness
and if we are not full of knowledge. These two must be present in
order to admonish one another. Now, only those who are able
to admonish one another have a heart of goodness in Christ
and a knowledge of Christ are able to rightly admonish one
another. Now, these words here admonish
one another. They have a significance. It
means to stir up or to put in mind of duty. That's what those
words mean. To stir up or to put in mind
of one's duty. Now, we as believers in Christ,
we can and we must admonish one another. We must. We must stir
each other up. I know you ladies cook. And I know if you don't stir
it up, it burns at the bottom, doesn't it? It's easy to see.
We all must be stirred up from time to time. We just float to
the bottom and burn. We must be stirred up. And how
do we do that? We must stir each other up. As
I told you before service, you that are faithful, you stir me
up. You admonish me. You admonish
me. We need to do that for each other.
in the things of Christ. Now, we have a natural tendency
to find out each other's faults, don't we? We have a natural tendency
to look upon others and see their faults, and it comes easy for
us. It's easier for some than others, but still, all of us,
it comes easy for us in some form or fashion. We can see each
other's faults, and many times we see it as our duty to admonish
them. To admonish them. And we say
we've got to straighten them out. That's our duty. That's
what Paul's talking about here. He must be admonished. I've got
to get those people right. I've got to set them on their
course. Give them a good swift kick in the pants and they'll
get them on their way. My friend, that is not admonishing. That is not what he's talking
about. We do not admonish by fear, intimidation, or finger-pointing. That's not the way we admonish.
This is not admonishing each other in Christian love. We can
and must stir our brothers and sisters up. How? By the first
two commendations. Goodness and knowledge. We stir them up by goodness toward
them and knowledge of Christ. And knowledge of Christ. Let's
use Peter as an example. When Peter denied the Lord Jesus
Christ, denied Him with cursing, and said, I know not the man.
And when the cock crowed, he remembered that Jesus said he
would deny Him. And he went out and the Scripture
says he wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. He was hurt.
And when Jesus had arisen from the dead, he went to the tomb
and walked in. See, he didn't believe. He didn't believe. Matter of fact, he wanted to
go back to fishing. He just said, let's just quit this thing and
go on back fishing. But when the Lord met him that
day, how did the Lord Jesus Christ admonish Peter? You want to know
how to stir another brother up? Look at the example of Christ
and see His goodness. He was good, wasn't He? He came
to Peter with such a gentle spirit and said, Peter, do you love
Me? And Peter said, yes, Lord, you
know I love You. Still hurt, still not sure. The Lord said, feed My sheep. And He said this another two
times. Can you not see how then we are to admonish one another?
We stir each other up by love. Love stirs us. Love moves us. We must come alongside our brother
that is hurting and not be condescending, but move alongside of them and
encourage them to love and move them by love. Must move them by love. Therefore, speak the truth,"
Paul says. Yes. I mean, don't sugarcoat
things. We're not saying sugarcoat things
to where it doesn't matter. If someone's in sin, they're
in trouble, we need to be there for them. We need to immediately
come to their aid and help them if they're in trouble. And we're
to speak the truth to them. And sometimes the truth hurts,
we know that. But Paul said, speak the truth,
yes, but how? Speak the truth in love. In love. Speak the truth in love. Not
to cover over their sin. Not to try to hide their sin
of our brothers and sisters. But we are to come alongside
them and admonish them. Hey, you know I missed you. We were worshiping and I missed
you. I remember someone doing that
for me once. And that smote my heart more than anybody pointing
their finger at me. I know you've had that experience
where someone just put their arms around you and said, I love
you. I miss you. We ought to admonish one another
that way. Therefore, speak the truth in love, in goodness, as
Christ speaks to us." Paul said he was persuaded, therefore,
and he commended them. Let us learn a lesson about Paul's
commendation. The Apostle Paul gave a good
commendation to these people. Did not the Lord Jesus Christ
do that to the churches in the book of Revelation? Didn't He
go to the church of Ephesus and did He start out with their bad
stuff? No. He started out with all the good
things that they had done. When commendation is due, let
us give commendation. Let's give commendation when
it's due and praise when it's due, when it's worthy. Let's
give that and learn that lesson. Let's expect the best out of
people and not always look for the worst. We can try to find
the best in them and commend them for what is good. Not to
lie about it. If commendation is not due, don't
give it. But if it's due, give it. Give it. Number two, he comforts
them by his commission. Verse 15, he said, Nevertheless,
brethren, I have written more boldly unto you in some sort,
putting you in mind because of the grace that is given to me
of God. Paul calms their hearts concerning
his commission of the grace of God given to him. This is a comfort
to them. Paul, even though he was persuaded
of their goodness and knew their knowledge of the Spirit and their
ability to admonish one another, he said, nevertheless, even though
I know your goodness, I know your knowledge, and I know you're
able, he said, nevertheless, I have written to you in a bold
fashion. Paul says, that I've been a little
bit more bold with you. That's what he said, I have written
to you in some sort. That means that he was a little
more bold to stir them up to practice of which they already
knew. You see, Paul wasn't telling
them something they didn't know or that he assumed that they
didn't know. He's saying, look, I know you know this stuff. I
know you understand what I'm saying, and I'm not preaching
down to you." He says, I'm preaching to you, but I'm not preaching
down to you. Even though you know this stuff,
Paul says, nevertheless. Nevertheless, take comfort in
this. This commission I have has been
given to me by the grace of God. This commission to preach to
you has been given to me by the grace of God, and therefore it
is incumbent upon me to preach the gospel to you always." Just
like it says in 2 Peter. I'm going to flip over there
and read it. You don't have to move over there. 2 Peter chapter 2. And verse 12 and 13, it says,
but these... I'm sorry, 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter
2. 12 and 13. Well, if I get the chapter right,
it's chapter 1. Chapter 1, 12 and 13. Therefore,
I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of
these things. though you know them, and be
established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long
as I'm in this body, to stir you up." How? By putting you
in remembrance. You see, Paul was given a commission
of God by the grace of God in order to stir them up by the
preaching of the gospel. He was given this commission
of God. And he says, I must, it is incumbent
upon me to do this. And this is the commission of
every gospel preacher. Every gospel preacher, we are
given a commission to preach the gospel to you. We are not
to bring before you anything that you don't know or at least
know in part. When you are filled with all
knowledge of Jesus Christ, you know Jesus Christ. Let me ask
you a question. Do you fully know Jesus Christ?
No. We know Him and we are full of
that knowledge, but yet that knowledge may grow. It may grow. It's like a child is born with
all of his limbs and all of his fingers and toes, yet over time
they grow with nourishment. And that's what our knowledge
of Christ does. It grows. And this is the means by which
God is ordained. He's to speak these things and
to exhort and to rebuke with all authority, he says to Titus.
That's what we are called to do, commissioned to do. It is
incumbent upon us to preach the gospel, and by doing so, stir
up believers' hearts and minds, putting them in remembrance of
the things that they've heard before. I've used this illustration before,
but it's pretty good. Does anybody remember two weeks
ago what I preached? It's very difficult. And if you
know that, that's good, if you know something, if you can remember
something. But we all don't remember everything.
We all don't remember everything. We need constant reminding, constant
exhortation. And I stand again tonight to
the lost and to the saved, and I preach to you, Christ. I stand
before you and say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved. Trust Him with all your heart
and with all things. Rest in His love and grace which
is displayed at the cross. Love each other. Bear the yoke
of one another's burdens. And I preach to you the duties and tell you to give your best
to God. I know you heard that before.
Don't you need to hear it again? Don't you need to hear it again?
Yes, we need to hear it again. I thought of that song when I
started thinking about giving my best to God. I gave my life
for Thee. What hast Thou given for me?
Don't we need to be admonished in those things? Yes, we do. I preach these things not because
you don't know them, but because you might know them more and
do them more. Jesus said, I'll liken a man
who hears My words and does them to a man that built his house
on a foundation stone. But those who hear the words
and don't do them. I've heard them enough preached,
that's enough. I don't need to do them anymore. I've done enough. Your foundation is sand and it
won't last. Preachers are commissioned to
remind you and to exhort you and to encourage you and to love
you. That's what we're called to do.
That's what we're commissioned to do, to love you. We desire
to do these things and we don't do them because we desire to
do them. You know, I desire to be here. I long to be here. But
I'm not here because I desire to be here. That's not the reason. What did Paul give as his reason
for being there? Read it in our text. What was
his reasoning for stirring them up? Because of the grace of God
that is given to me. He's stirring them up. He's where
he is because of the grace of God. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul
says, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. Because I persecuted
the church. He said, but I am what I am by
the grace of God. Because of the grace of God,
we do what we do. Not because of anything else. Paul says now, because I'm an
apostle, I could be very, very bold. He says, I was a little
bold. But he says as an apostle, he
could have been very bold, couldn't he? With the commission that
he was given, he could have demanded of the churches and they would
have been accountable. He could have demanded and commanded
them to do this and to do that. Is that how the Apostle Paul
speaks though? Is that how he speaks? No. He doesn't speak
that way. Why? Because what he is, He is
by the grace of God, and therefore we are not as preachers of the
gospel. We don't do that. We don't do
that. Not to be pointing our fingers
at you. We're to be preaching grace.
Grace. Why? Because we were called by
grace. If I was called by grace, why should I speak anything else?
Paul said, let our speech be always with grace, seasoned with
salt. You know, I like salt. Salt adds
that extra flavor, doesn't it? Well, grace adds that special
flavor to a believer's taste, doesn't it? Grace. We are commissioned
by God, and therefore we must preach the whole counsel of God,
whether to babes or to fathers, whether to the lost or to the
saved, or whether to the youth or to the aged. We're to preach
the same message constantly. Let me ask you all, Can you ever
get enough of Christ? Will you ever be so full of goodness
that you don't need to hear the exhortation, hold fast to that
which is good and abstain from the very appearance of evil?
Do we not need that exhortation? Yes. Will we be ever so full
of knowledge that we will never need to hear, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart? Will
we ever be so able to admonish that we don't need to be stirred
up ourselves, where Paul said, let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We need to be
admonished? Yes. Well, this is why God has
called pastors and preachers to admonish you, to continue
to encourage you to keep the faith. And number three, He gives
them comfort in His commitment. Verse 16, He says that I should
be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering
the gospel of God. To minister the gospel of God,
Paul says, in my authority is my commission, but the only source
of the power of my commission is this, the gospel. That's it. This is the power behind my commission. This is what I must speak, and
this is what I was commissioned to speak of. You can mark it
down, no matter how qualified a man is to speak, to preach,
no matter how much he longs to preach. And no matter how much
he's claimed to be called of God, if he does not preach Christ
and Him crucified, he is not called of God. And he has no
authority. The Apostle Paul says, I have
my authority because my authority is wrapped up in this. I preach
the Gospel. I preach the Gospel of God. Notice
Paul says that he was called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Paul had the people that he was
sent to. And you know what? Every preacher
has a people he is sent to. I'm sent to you. God has sent
me to you. Our Father has done this, and
the same commission, the same commitment the Apostle Paul had
to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, I have the same commitment to
you to preach to you the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we, like
Paul, offer those whom God has given us. We offer you up to
God. That's what Paul says in verse
16. He says, ministering the gospel
of God, that in offering up the Gentiles, they might be acceptable
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. What's Paul saying there? He says this, I preach to you
the gospel and I offer you up to God for the results. I offer
you up to God for the results. I can preach every message that
I preach here to you tonight, and every other night, and every
other day I preach Sunday. If any of the messages has had
an impact on your heart, it is not because of me, but it is
by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit that you hear anything. Isn't that right? Isn't it right?
By the Holy Spirit, we are sanctified, set apart. I preach a message
on giving, and one says, I give too much already. And another
person says, man, I long to give more of myself. I preach on faithfulness
and worship, and one person says, I go to church too much. Another
person says, I can't get enough. What makes the difference? Who
makes the difference in the two people? They hear the same message.
God makes the difference. And therefore, as I preach to
you the gospel, I'm committed to preach that gospel to you,
but I offer the results up to God every time I preach. If God doesn't give us results,
There will be no result. At least not for good. Therefore, we must pray every
time you come to worship that God would be present and apply
the message. We must. We must. Be comforted, my friends. God
has filled you with His goodness. Be comforted, my friends. God
has filled you with all knowledge. Be comforted. You are able to
admonish one another. Be comforted. God has sent me
to you by His grace for your good and your edification. And
my commission to you is to preach the gospel always and pray to
God that He would give us good results. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.