All right, let's look at Romans
15 verse 13 to begin with encouragement for believers And listen what
the Apostle says he realized as in every situation and every
place that he went That true believers need to be encouraged
We're human. We have a tendency to get down
when we when we're forced to to go through bad times, bad
situations, times that, even times where we just wonder, what
is the Lord doing? We know God is sovereign. We know that his providence,
you know what, when we say providence, do you know what that means?
That means God is governing this world. He's in control. We say that all the time. And
so whatever comes our way, whether it be the coronavirus or whatever,
we know that God is working. God is not evil. He has no sin. He does no sin. Whatever he does
is right. We sometimes in our human minds,
we cannot jibe these two. and work out the dynamics of
it in our mind to satisfy us, but we just know from his word
that he's still working all things after the counsel of his own
will. And we know that all things will work together for his glory
and for the good of his people, the eternal good. And so when
we go through times like what we're going through now, times
of persecution, When we go through times of family problems or whatever,
we need encouragement. And listen to what Paul writes
in verse 30. He says, now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Fill you with all
joy and peace in believing. Now that's key. And in believing
that you may abound in hope, that you may overflow with hope,
like my cup runneth over, that kind of thing. Through the power
of the Holy Ghost. Now listen to what this says.
This is not just the power of positive thinking that is prominent
in religion today. That no matter what you're going
through, just think positive. Now listen to me, I'm not totally
opposed to positive thinking. Negative thinking is usually
not good for us. But that's not what Paul's talking
about. Here's what he's talking about. He's talking about God-given
faith. And faith is the gift of God. This is something that we do
not have by nature. This joy, this hope. People have
hope. But it's not the kind of hope
that Paul's talking about here. This is godly hope. This is hope
that's given by God through God-given faith. This hope is a sure thing. This hope is not just wishful
thinking. Again, it's not just positive
thinking. This hope is the certain assurance
of eternal life and glory based upon the promise of God fulfilled
in the person and glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
hope has a sure foundation. This is like that assurance that
establishes our hearts with grace. Our hope, the Bible says, be
ready to give a reason. When men ask you a reason for
the hope that you have, be ready to give it. Well, where do we
go? Oh, I just feel it. No, sometimes I don't feel it. Sometimes I feel bad. Sometimes
I get angry at the situation. Sometimes I'm skeptical. So it
has nothing to do with I just feel it. Somebody says, well,
I just want it bad enough. No, that's not it either. You can want it really bad, and
it's still not a good hope. This hope is based upon what
God says just like faith. So this hope is the certain assurance
of eternal life and glory because God said it and Christ fulfilled
it. That's the assurance of hope.
And he's the God of hope. He's the God in whom we hope. Our hope is in God. It's not
in ourselves. It's not in each other. We'll
disappoint ourselves, we'll disappoint each other, but God will never
disappoint us. Not if we read his word. We may
think he disappoints us, but he doesn't. That's just our unbelief. But God never disappoints, and
he gives this hope freely to all whom he brings to Christ
to rest in his blood and righteousness for all salvation. And so we
sing that song. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, and all other ground is sinking sand. The verse of
that song says that all of this, all of this that we see around
us cannot, cannot damage our hope. Now it may get in the way
of our sight of it, but it cannot damage our hope in any way. There's
another song, what can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood
of Jesus. There's a verse there that says, this is all my hope
and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. So this is God given
hope and Paul's prayer for these people is the God of hope fill
you with all joy. Now this joy is not just being
happy all the time. And we can be happy in certain
circumstances and situations, we can be sad in others. But
this joy is the eternal joy that comes from a sinner who has been
brought by the grace and power of God to look to and rest in
Christ. This joy and this peace, this
is the peace that passes understanding, the peace that we have within,
because it comes in believing. Believing what? Now this is key. You know, the world today says,
well, if you just believe, if you just believe what? Now again,
this is God-given faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. You can't hear the gospel with
the spiritual ear or see the glory of God with the spiritual
eye until you're born again. You must be born again or you
cannot see. You'll hear the things of the
truth of God, but you won't believe and love them until God brings
you, gives you a new heart impart spiritual life. And so faith,
that faith which brings a sinner in conviction of his sin and
of righteousness and of judgment to Christ for all salvation. Now that's where the joy and
the peace is found. It's not found anywhere else.
This is the kind of joy and peace that you can't even get from
winning the lottery. This is the kind of joy and peace
that you cannot forget if you get the coronavirus and are cured.
If the government comes out tomorrow and says, well, it's all gone
now, we did it, we stayed away and we done this, we're not hugging
and kissing and shaking hands, we beat it. We'll be joyful and
we'll be a little bit more at peace, but that's not this kind
of joy and peace here. This comes in believing. Now
what do we believe? Well, faith, that's what faith
is, believing. It's believing what we know to
be true because God has convinced us it's true. It's that which
gives us scent. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. So it's based on the word of
God. It's object is the Lord Jesus Christ and the work that
he accomplished on Calvary as our substitute or as our surety,
our substitute and our redeemer. It's the faith that admits that
we're sinners and deserve nothing but hell and damnation, whatever
pain and problem we're going through. That's the consequence
of our sin and we deserve it. And if God were to ever judge
us based upon our best, we would get nothing but His wrath. But
it doesn't stop there because it's joy and peace that comes
through Christ that you may abound in hope, that you may overflow
with an assurance. An assurance of what? An assurance
of salvation. An assurance of a right relationship
with God. An assurance of being kept and
guarded, protected. God is my refuge. God is my hiding
place. He's my strong tower. He cannot
and will not impute sin to me. He cannot condemn me. It's Christ
that died, yea rather He's risen again. That's the overflowing
hope. See, that we get by looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and it's through
the power of the Holy Ghost. Why is it through the power of
the Holy Ghost? Because if it weren't for God saving us, bringing
us to faith, keeping us, and establishing our hearts with
grace, we would fail. It's through the power of the
Holy Ghost. How do I know that I am one in whom I can be assured
of the power of the Holy Ghost? Well, it's not because I can
be healed of all diseases. Because I'm not. I was thinking
about this the other night, you know, when dealing with back
pains and all kinds of pains. You know, as you get older, Pain
never stops, does it? It just kind of moves around
from one place to another. And that's the way it is, you
know, and I believe that's part of God's providential way of
weaning us away from this life. We become to desire more and
more to go home to be with him as we get older. So it's not
this, the fact, if I were, here I am 66 years old, if I were
the picture of health, which I am not, if I were the picture
of health and looked like I was 35, you know, they'll show these
people sometimes. Here's a guy 100 years old running
a marathon. Well, I couldn't walk a marathon,
let alone run it. All right, well, that's no indication
of the power of the Holy Spirit in that man, not at all. It's
just providential that God has given him that much time to live
and he's been in pretty good health, all right. But if he
doesn't have Christ, what's gonna happen when he dies? He's gonna
die. If you don't have Christ, what's gonna happen? You die
in your sins, the wrath of God. Now you may have had 100 years
of healthy life here on Earth, but what joy and peace could
you have from that if you die in your sins? But here I stand,
a person, with all the pain and the problems I've had, I'm blessed. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Who can condemn me? It's Christ that died. Now that's the evidence of the
Holy Spirit's work inside, on the heart. So now that's the
encouragement, to overflow with the hope of the gospel that we
may abound. And then look at verse 14, he
says, and I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you
also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish
one another. Paul, he's convinced of their
salvation. Somebody says, well, he's making
a judgment call. Yes, he is. But it's based upon
their testimony. He calls them brethren. You know,
when you call a person a brother or sister in Christ, that's serious
business. Do you know that? Everybody calls
everybody brother anymore or sister. But here's what we have
to know. If you're my brother in Christ
or you're my sister in Christ, I have to know this. Do you have
the same father as me? In your earthly families, you
wouldn't consider anybody your brother or sister who didn't
have the same father and mother as you, physically speaking. Brethren. Brethren. The Bible says it's good for
brethren to dwell in unity. Brethren there, our brothers
and our sisters in Christ. That means we have the same elder
brother. And the elder brother's Christ,
he paid the price. He brought us in redemption.
We're adopted into the family of God. That means that we're
all born of the same spirit, if we're brethren. And how do
you know that that's the case? Well, you gotta go back to verse
14, or verse 13. What gospel do you believe? And
I say this all the time. I know people today, they don't
want to talk about doctrine and they think doctrine divides and
then there are people who claim to believe doctrine but talk
about how cold and dead that it is and stuff like that. Listen
to me. The first step to calling anyone
brother or sister in Christ is to find out what they believe. Who do you believe? What's your
ground of hope? He talks about the God of hope. Well, what is your ground of
hope? What is your hope? Well, I made a decision when
I was 12. Walked an hour and got baptized. See, that's not
my brother or sister in Christ there. Now, I'm not saying that
just to be mean and unkind and exclusive or elitist. I'm saying
that because they don't have the same hope that I have. I
walked an aisle too, and I confessed my sins and got baptized, but
I didn't know Christ. That's not my hope, and there's
nothing in the Bible even close to that kind of thing to give
God's people hope. Religion can give you hope, but
it's a false hope. Morality, good citizenship. Good health can give you hope,
but it's a false hope when it comes to salvation and a right
relationship with God. So when I call somebody brother
or sister, I want to know, do you have the same hope that I
have? Is it the hope of eternal life and glory based upon the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ freely imputed and received
by faith? And so Paul says, because this
is your testimony, this is your hope, Then I've written the more
boldly unto you in some sort as putting you in mine because
of the grace of God given to me of God in verse 15. So go
back to verse 14. You're full of goodness. Doesn't
the Bible say there's none good, no not one? So haven't Paul say
they're full of goodness? I tell you haven't because they're
full of the glory of God in Christ. Christ is my goodness. I think about the Apostle Paul
in Romans 7. Let me just read this to you. Now remember what
Paul said here, you're full of goodness. But listen to this. He says here, verse 19 of Romans
7, he says, for the good that I would, I do not. but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now here's what Paul's saying. The good that I want to do, I
don't do. The evil that I don't want to
do, I do. Well, what's wrong with you, Paul? You got a problem?
What's wrong? Have you got some bad habit that
you can't shake or what? That's not what he's talking
about. He's simply saying the good that I want to do. Now what
good did he want to do? He wanted to be like Christ.
He wanted to be perfect in righteousness, in his thoughts, in his motives,
in his actions, in his words, as perfect as Christ. Isn't that
our goal? But he said, I don't do that.
I'm a sinner saved by grace. And the very things that I don't
want to do, the evil, that's what I do. I'm a sinner saved
by grace. Does that sound like a man that's
full of goodness? Well, he is, he was, and he is. But what goodness? The goodness
that he's talking about here is the grace of God. He says,
look in verse 14 of Romans 15. You also are full of goodness,
filled with all knowledge. Knowledge of what? Knowing that
I'm a sinner, Who, if God were to judge right now, based upon
my best, I would be damned forever. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? Thank God. Who shall deliver
me from this body of death? I'm full of that knowledge. I
know it all the time. But that's not the only knowledge
I'm full of. I'm full of the knowledge of
God's sovereign mercies. His mercies endures forever. because His mercy's in Christ.
I'm full of the knowledge of Christ. I'm full of the knowledge
of God's love. Nothing can separate me from
the love of God in Christ. And it's love that's based upon
a just ground. I'm full of the knowledge of
God's justice. I've been judged for all my sins
in the person of my Savior on the cross. My sins were imputed,
charged, accounted to Him. His righteousness is imputed,
charged, accounted to me. I'm full of that knowledge. I'm
full of the knowledge of his grace. And then able also to
admonish one another. To admonish means to correct.
To admonish means to bring about, to teach, and to do that in love. So verse 15, nevertheless brethren,
I've written the more boldly unto you in some sort. I can
be bold, I don't have to hold back and walk on eggshells around
you. You know the truth. If I call
you a sinner, you're not gonna be offended because you know
what you are. I'm one too. And if I say you are righteous
in Christ, that's not gonna make you proud. That's gonna make
you boast in the cross because you know your righteousness is
not you or of you or from you. It's all from God in Christ.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. And putting you in mind because
the grace that is given to me of God. It's all of grace. We're
all in the same boat. Look at verse 16, he says, he
says that I should be minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.
This was Paul's main calling as an apostle. He preached to
both Jew and Gentile. Normally when he would go into
a city, to preach the gospel, the first place he would seek
out is if there was a synagogue in that city. But his main realm
of ministry was to the Gentile world, and God used him greatly
to establish churches in the Gentile world. He said, ministering
the gospel of Christ, that's what he was about. He was going
about to preach the gospel. He told Timothy, he said, I do
it for the elect's sake. That's why I suffer. opposition
and put up with this because it's for the elect's sake. God
has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
He said that the offering, you might have in your concordance
the word offering, there's sacrificing, that the offering up of the Gentiles
might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Paul was preaching
the gospel. He himself could not save sinners,
he knew that. He was a sinner himself, saved
by grace. But in being used of God, what he was doing was presenting
these Gentile converts unto God, just like a priest would. Now
Paul wasn't a priest or a high priest as far as the old covenant,
but he's a priest in the sense that we're all priests unto God,
meaning that we have free access to God. But what he was saying
literally, that he ministered as a priest of the gospel, Referring
to himself, again, not as a priest ministering the service of the
tabernacle, not like Christ who is our high priest, the one and
only high priest, but his ministry among the Gentiles promoted salvation
by the grace of God in which these Gentiles were presented
unto God in Christ. This is a sinner saved by grace. I believe what Paul's leading
to here is to show, look, we are all, all who are saved by
the grace of God, we're acceptable unto God. because of his grace
by Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with being
from Israel or a descendant of Abraham or a Gentile. It's all
of Christ. So look at verse 17. He says,
I have therefore whereof I make glory through Jesus Christ in
those things which pertain to God. Paul boasted in the ministry,
not because of his power, his goodness, his eloquence, but
because of the grace of God in Jesus Christ to save people through
the preaching of the gospel. In other words, I know this is
true, Paul's saying. I know this is the way. So his
boasting here is not in his own goodness, it's not in his own
abilities, but it's in the grace and power of Christ. giving glory
to God. So read the last two verses of
our lesson. Verse 18, it says, for I will
not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not
wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedience by word and deed. Paul
said, I'm not going to brag about things that I had nothing to
do with as far as being an instrument of God here. But he says, verse
19, through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the spirit
of God, so that from Jerusalem and roundabout unto Illyrica,
I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. What Paul's doing
there is he's giving glory to God for his power, for his greatness,
for his goodness in using Paul, an instrument like Paul, a broken
clay pot like Paul and like any of us, to bring the gospel to
his people and to save them by his power and his grace in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. All right.