Romans 15. Romans chapter 15. The title
of the message, Seeking the Happiness of Others. Seeking the happiness,
the well-being, the welfare of others. This is what our Lord
did when He came into this world. He sought our happiness. He sought
our good. He pleased not himself at all,
at any time, at any time. Now, this is a continuation of
what Paul was talking about in chapter 14, this matter of unity. He's speaking of unity, and you
have to remember that Paul's writing to the church at Rome,
which is made up of Jew and Gentile, which were enemies. They were
enemies at one time. But in Christ, we're one. In Christ, that enmity is dropped. It's dropped. And so he's talking
here to them about this matter of unity and walking together
in love. Now, he's not talking about walking
together, and listen, I want you to understand this. He's
not talking about walking together with all religions, all false
religions. He's not saying let's all just
get along. That's not what he's saying because we cannot compromise
the truth. We can't compromise the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Light and darkness can't walk
together. They can't compromise. You know,
light can't compromise with darkness. That would be compromising with
Satan. So Paul's not talking about that.
He's talking to the brothers and sisters in Christ, walking
together in love. treating one another as they
would have themselves treated. And he continues this thought. As I was saying, he's not talking
here about all different religions, you know, false religions, because
Paul says in Galatians 1, now listen, if any man or any angel,
he said even if an angel from heaven come and preach any other
gospel than what I've preached to you, Let him be accursed. Let him be anathema maranatha. Let him be accursed. Now he says here in verse 1,
We then that are strong, and he's speaking here to mature
believers, and he's not speaking about being strong in themselves,
He's talking about being strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. Being
strong in faith in Christ because we know that in ourselves, we
are not strong. If God leaves us to ourselves,
if He draws His hand back a little bit, we are not strong, are we?
We're not strong. You know, it says that Abraham
was strong in faith, giving glory to God. and he believed that
though his body was dead and Sarah's body was dead, God said,
you're going to have a son, and Abraham believed him. But this
same Abraham gave his wife up to a king because he was afraid
that he was going to be killed over her. I mean, that just to
me is unimaginable. But this is what he did. But
the one thing he did not doubt, he never doubted the fact that
God, that salvation is of the Lord. He never doubted that. He never doubted salvation of
the Lord. He never doubted that his redemption, his salvation,
his righteousness was all of God. But in a moment of weakness,
he gave up his wife to the king. So at any given time, those that
are strong can become weak. Paul said this, "...let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Now here's a scripture
in Galatians 6.1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
if he's overtaken, ye which are, and notice that word, it's overtook
him. It's like he walks out the door
and somebody just grabs you. He's overtaken. He's overtaken
in a fall. You which are spiritual, listen,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself,
lest thou also be tempted. That's all that needs to be done,
is be tempted. And the same thing will happen
to you. That's why it says, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
Because all that needs to be done is you be tempted and God
allow the temptation to take its course. But what he's talking
here about is these that are strong are sure of their redemption
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are sure of their liberty
which they have in Christ that they don't have to observe the
eating of meats and drinks as we talked about last week, and
feast days and religious days. Sunday was a day that they wouldn't
do anything on. And then to some, they counted
all days the same. Every day is the Lord's day.
And if you wanna honor it, if you wanna just honor Sunday as
the Lord's day and do nothing on that day, knowing that the
other days are the Lord's days also, or if you honor all days
alike, Paul said, that's fine, that's fine. But the strong ones,
they know that they've been redeemed. They know, here's what strong
in faith is. You know that in Christ, you
are complete. that you don't need to keep a
day, you don't need to abstain from eating meat, you don't need
to abstain from a drink, that you are complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are complete by His work,
by His righteousness. Our completeness is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He says here, Now the strong
ones ought to bear the infirmities of the weaker brethren, that
is, not please themselves. This is completely opposite of
human nature. Isn't it? It's completely opposite. Human nature is self-seeking
from start to finish. It is all about me from start
to finish. That's human nature. But God has saved you. God has
saved me. We're not that way now. We're
not that way. He said you're not to be that
way. The life of a believer is one of self-denial. Wouldn't this be a different
world if we did this right here? If the world did this, all over
this world, if this was done, can you imagine what it'd be
like to live here now? If this was done. You looked after one
another. You sought the happiness of one
another. Self-denial, listen to Luke 9,
23. And the Lord said unto them all, if any man will come after
me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow
me. And deny himself. Paul is talking about making
someone else happy. really genuinely making someone
else happy, looking after them. That's what he's talking about.
It is a genuine expression of the love of God that's shed abroad
in the heart. That's what it is. It's a genuine
expression of God's love when you look after one another. And
let every one of us please our neighbor for his good to what?
Edification, growth, growth in grace. He's not saying we're to be men-pleasers,
that's not what he's saying. He's not saying go around being
a bunch of men-pleasers, that's not what he's saying. He's speaking
here of the well-being and the edification, the growth of our
brothers and sisters in Christ. That's what he's talking about.
Now Paul uses Christ as our supreme example. He doesn't just make
this statement. But He gives us the supreme example
of the Lord Jesus Christ. For even Christ pleased not Himself. Christ said, My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent Me. Is that our meat? Well, right
here is a revelation of His will. Look after one another. Love
one another. Seek the good and happiness of
one another. For even Christ pleased not Himself, but as it
is written in the Scriptures, the reproaches of them that reproach
thee fell on Me. Our Lord did not seek His own
comfort. Does it not say that He had no
place to lay His head? I do. You do. He came unto His own, His own
received Him not. He came unto His own world. He
came to His own people over there in Israel. And none of them had
anything to do with Him. And if He hadn't given a few
of them a new heart, they wouldn't have received Him either. And
you and I wouldn't do it either if He hadn't given us a new heart.
If He hadn't just saved us by His grace. He did nothing of His own comfort. He did nothing for His own glory.
It says in Philippians 2, He made Himself of no reputation.
He did nothing for His glory. Everything He did, He did for
us. He subjected Himself to the most inconvenience. He suffered. He suffered the
wrath of God on our behalf. He hung on a cross and suffered
the hell that I deserved. And I mean, He drank that cup
dry. There's none of it left for me
to drink. He did that for a multitude of sinners that the Father chose
before the world began, and He drank it dry. You who believe, you will never
taste of the wrath of God. And that's very real. If you
just look at the history of this world, You know, the things that
have happened. The flood in Noah's day was not
an anomaly. It was not a freak weather thing
that happened. God flooded the earth. This ground
right now where you and I are standing was underwater at one
time. The highest mountain was underwater,
I think it was about 20 feet. The highest mountain on this
earth was underwater by 20 feet. I think it was about 20 feet.
So everywhere you walk on this earth, the flood of God's wrath
was there. Why do you think they find fossils
of fish on a mountain? How do you think it got there? What I'm talking about is real.
He took and suffered the wrath of God. He suffered the fire
of His wrath. I don't have to. The little suffering
that I go through and you go through, Paul said, it's light
compared to the glory that's to be revealed. It's light. Our afflictions. Christ said,
all you that pass by, is there any sorrow like my sorrow? He suffered the full, unmitigated
wrath of God and drank it dry. Scripture says, though he was
rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty
might be made rich. I'm rich. I tell you, I'm rich. You can't count my riches. Somebody
said, if you can count your money, you're not rich. If you can count
it, you're not rich. You can't count what we have
in Christ. You can't count it. It's infinite. Listen, everything about God,
and we need to realize this, everything about God Almighty
is infinite. Can't be measured. His mercy
can't be measured. His grace can't be measured.
His love can't be measured. You can measure everything about
me. I got on the scales this morning. I'm not going to tell
you. but I got on the scales this morning. And I measured myself. The doctor
told me about a year ago that I've lost two inches in height,
like I needed that. It's hard enough buying pants
that you gotta hem halfway up to your knees when you get them. You can measure our intelligence,
IQ. The knowledge of God can't be
measured. The wisdom of God can't be measured. It's infinite. It's
infinite. Do you know anyone wiser to make
the choice in salvation than God? Henry said one time, God's
going to save all He can wisely save. I thought that was so brilliant. What a statement. God's going
to save all He can wisely save. You and I had to learn our name.
We had to learn the simplest thing, our name. God's never
learned anything. He's never learned anything.
This is our God. This is the One who hung on Calvary's
tree. God Almighty in the flesh hung on Calvary's tree that He
might save me from my sins. That He might save a multitude
of sinners from their sins. And He's going to save them. And he says here, even Christ
pleased not Himself, but as it is written, and he goes back
to the Scriptures, the reproaches of them that reproached thee
fell on me. Didn't we look at that Thursday? That was in the
Scriptures. Well, here's Paul's quote in
that Scripture, Psalm 69. The reproaches of them that reproached
thee fell on me. You know what the reproaches
are here? Let me give it to you in another word. The sins, the
sins of them that sinned against you fell on me. Now, in that light, it shouldn't
be hard for me to deny myself for someone else's, another brother
or sister's happiness. Or anybody's happiness as far
as that goes. The Scripture says, He suffered
the just for the unjust. The just ones suffered for the
unjust ones, that He might bring us to God. You see, the whole
work is laid on His shoulders. The government is laid on His
shoulders. Salvation is not Christ doing His part, He's done all
He can do, then you and I got to finish it up. No! No, it's
God saving me from beginning to end. Now listen, I want you to get
this. Here is where true Christianity comes out. We can say we believe a lot of
things. We can say we believe the right doctrines. But where
it really comes out is right here. Our love to one another. Because our love to one another
is an expression of His love to us. And it's the love of God
shed abroad in the heart coming out. It's what it is. It's coming
out. Denying ourselves for the joy
and comfort of others. And I do believe this, where
this is absent, grace is absent. Grace is absent. Now, this quotation
in verse 3 is from the Old Testament Scriptures, Psalm 69. But this
shows to me how important the Scriptures are. The Scriptures. Verse 4, "...for whatsoever things
were written aforetime," Old Testament, "...were written for
our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope." The Scriptures were written for our learning,
not our curiosity. It's not a history lesson. It's
His story. That's what history is. It's
His story. They were written that we might
know Christ, that we might learn of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
we might learn of God. Where else can you learn of God?
I was thinking of this this morning. Take this book right here, the
Bible, take it away. What's our foundation now? What's
the foundation for right and wrong? What's the foundation
for morality? What is it? My grandson said
to me, when he was 10 years old, he was about 10 years old. And
I was talking to him about something that was wrong. I was telling
him about it being wrong. And this is human nature. But
he said something that was pretty sharp. He said, if you don't
get caught, is it wrong? I thought, that's pretty sharp.
If you don't get caught, it's wrong. In other words, I tell
you what, if you take away God, Then who decides what's right
and wrong? You say, well, it just feels
wrong. Well, everybody's got different feelings about it.
Now who's right and wrong? God is the foundation of right
and wrong. And God is revealed in this book. Right and wrong is revealed in
this book. It's not determined in Washington.
It's determined by this book, which is the Word of God, and
it's written. It's written by God. Now, what's
right and what's wrong is given to us in the Scriptures. It has
nothing to do with what I feel. Because the Scripture says that
the conscience... You know, if you take God out
of the picture, where'd that even come from? I mean, where'd you even
get a conscience from? Because the law's written on
the heart. That's why we feel when something's right and something's
wrong. We have some knowledge of it. Because the law's written
on the heart of everyone born into this world. But if you take
God out of the picture, then where's the foundation? Where's the foundation? God's
the foundation of right and wrong. The Scriptures, he says here,
turn to the Scriptures, read the Scriptures, make much of
the Word of God, saturate yourself in the Word of God. I have no
doubt that weakness in faith, in a large part, comes through
weakness in the Word. A weakness of being in the Word
of God. In learning of Christ through
the Scriptures, we learn something of patience. You know, when we
read the Word of God, we read scriptures like this in 2 Corinthians,
all things are of God. We read in Romans 8, all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose. We know as believers, We know
that God sends our trials, they don't just happen. It's not that
Satan snuck one in on us. God sends us our trials, He controls
the trial, the length of the trial, the purpose of the trial.
He controls the lesson. You see, God's the teacher. He's
the teacher and His students learn. Because Christ said, "...all
thy children shall be taught of God." And when God teaches
you, you learn. You may not learn if I teach
you, but if God teaches you, He knows how to make you learn. And that's why we read the Scriptures
and we learn by experience. Experience is what creates patience.
And comfort, we find comfort in the Scriptures. Do you really
find comfort in the Scripture? Do you really find comfort in
the Word of God? I find comfort when I've gone through something
or go through something that all things are working together
for my good. It doesn't matter how disastrous it is to me, seems
to me. It doesn't matter how disastrous,
how heartbreaking it is. God said, I'm doing it for your
good. It's for my good. So let it happen. Spiritual good. Now it may not
be good for my fleshly good. You know, it may hurt. You know,
that's why it's called trials, they hurt. If it doesn't hurt,
of course, there is a trial of, you know, he could give you the
trial of prosperity and that's even more dangerous. But we have comfort and hope. Hope, get in the scriptures.
Your hope in Christ grow, get in the scriptures. The Word of God is the foundation
for all that we believe. It's the foundation for all of
our comfort and all our hope. If you want more of it, get in
the Scriptures. And then in verse 5, I'm only
going to do just down to verse 7. He says, Now the God of patience,
verse 5 and 6, the God of patience, That's where it comes from. He's
the God of patience and consolation, comfort. Grant you to be like-minded
because it's not in us by nature. Grant you to be like-minded one
toward another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one
mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Patience here is an attribute of God. The Scripture says He's
long-suffering to usward. He's long-suffering to usward. God's long-suffering with His
human race. It's His, the earth is the Lord's, the fullness are
of, and they who dwell therein. Every person on this earth belongs
to God. They're all answerable. He's
the Creator. We answer to Him. Every person. And how unthankful
is the human race? How unthankful? How many times did somebody just
escape death? And how many times do you hear
this? Boy, I was lucky. Yeah, you're lucky, all right. Like that picture I told you
about that dog in the barber shop. Had one eye, three legs. And his name was Lucky. That's Lucky for you. No, no, no, no. God's patient
with the human race. And He's long-suffering to us.
How much sin have we committed since we have believed? Oh, we sin so much since we believe
God. He continually heals our spiritual
diseases, doesn't He? And He's so merciful, He doesn't
expose our sins. He doesn't expose, He put them
away. He doesn't expose our thoughts. And He says here to be like-minded,
like-mindedness. This like-mindedness is the work
of God because He says there in that verse, God grant you,
God grants you to be like-minded. It's having the same affections
and love toward one another, headed in the same direction,
the glory of God. Now listen, like-minded is absolutely
necessary for true worship. Because we are not of one mind
and one purpose. If we are at odds with each other,
worship ain't going to happen here. Worship is not going to
happen. If you take two people, they're
at odds with each other, they won't speak to each other. You
know, if you don't want to speak to each other, you're saying
that you wish they were dead. That's what you're saying. I
wish that person was dead. When you turn your back on them
and wish you wouldn't, and won't speak to them. Don't think that worship's gonna
happen if that attitude is in anybody. It ain't gonna happen. God knows the heart. Like-mindedness, and then verse
6, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God. Glorify
Him in all His attributes. Glorify Him in the perfection
of His nature. Together, you can't say, well,
I think God's like this. Well, no, I think He's like this.
Well, the Bible tells us exactly who He is. And with one voice
and one mind, we worship God according to the Scriptures. God is who He is, He's not who
I think He is. He is who He is, not who I think
He is. And He's revealed who He is right
here in the Word of God. And last of all, Wherefore, receive ye one another. Seeing this is so, receive one
another." Don't look down on one another. You have to think
of the dynamics that was in that church at that time, and the
Jews, what they had to come out of, what they were saved from,
and the Gentiles. You know, the Jews called the
Gentiles dogs. Well, the Gentiles had no filter,
so it's hard to say what they called the Jews. They didn't
have any filters. But now here they are, they love
each other, they're one with each other. As Paul said in Colossians,
that in Christ there's no other barbarians, Scythian, bond and
free, but Christ is all and in all. He says, Receive you one another
as Christ also has received us to the glory of God. How did
our Lord receive us? Well, He received us as sinners.
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." He received us
as brothers and sisters. We are His brother and sister. He's our brother. He's our elder
brother. He received us in love and He received us with joy.
He didn't receive us with an attitude like, really? That would
be us. We were enemies. He received
us with joy and He received us to the glory of God. And Paul
says, you do the same. You do the same. You receive
one another with love. See, he's talking here about
an attitude of love and respect. Believing a doctrine is not an
attitude. I can believe election. I can
believe particular redemption. I can believe these things. That's
not an attitude. But the way you and I treat each
other, That's an attitude and it's reflective of the grace
of God in me or not in me. That's what Paul's saying. That's
what he's saying here. All right.