But the thought for our lesson
really begins there in verse 7. So we're going to kind of
briefly review that. That's where the thought begins.
Paul writes, Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also
received us to the glory of God. We looked at this last week that
we are to receive one another the same way that Christ received
us. We're to love one another unconditionally because that's
how Christ loved us and received us. We're to welcome all believers
into our hearts, because that's how the Lord received us, into
His very heart. We're to receive one another
into our fellowship, no matter whether they're weak or strong,
whether they're rich or poor, whether they're male or female,
all different kinds of sinners, because Christ has received all
different kinds of sinners. And if Christ has received someone,
then I will too. They may not have done anything
in the past to deserve being accepted by me, But you know
what? I never did anything to deserve
being accepted of Christ either. Receive one another just as Christ
received us in the same manner, the same way. Even old enemies
at one time who were enemies now are to receive one another.
And that's the example that Paul's talking about here in the lesson
this morning. The Jew and the Gentile for ages
have been enemies. But we're still to receive one
another as Christ received us. Because no matter what our background
may be, we all have a lot of different backgrounds, the thing
we have in common is this. At one time, we were enemies
of God. And Christ received us anyway.
And that's the way we're to receive one another. And we could go
on and on and on with examples of this. There's going to be
lots of cultural differences between us. Lots of personality
differences and thought processes. They're different. But God's
grace overcomes all those things. You've heard the saying that
blood is thicker than water. Well, the blood of Christ is
thicker than water. And the water is all the cultural
differences and the personality differences that we all have.
The blood of Christ is thicker than those things. It overcomes
all those things. And Christ receives all kinds
of sinners. In verse 80, Paul shows us he
received the Jew. In verse 80 he says, Now I say
that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision. for the
truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. And we
know that Jesus Christ was born a Jew. He was born under the
law of Moses. He is circumcised according to
the law. He grew up and spent his life.
He kept the Sabbath day and the feast days and the Passover days,
all the ceremonies, all that law that the Jews were under,
he was born under. Unlike all the other Jews, he
kept it perfectly. Every jot and tittle, every minute
detail, he kept it perfectly. He came to the Jews first. He came unto his own, but his
own received him not. But he still came, even though
they didn't receive him, that nation as a whole. He received
him. He received his elect out of
that nation. And he came knowing that the Jews, knowing they wouldn't
accept him, but he came as a Jew to fulfill God's promise. that
the Messiah would come to Israel, to the Jews. He came as a seed
of woman that was promised to Adam and Eve. He came as a seed
of Abraham who was promised to Abraham that in him, in that
seed, shall all nations of the earth be blessed. He came just
like he was promised as a son of David. Mary, his mother, was
of the house and lineage of David. He came as a son of David. He
came just like the old prophecy of Jacob. as Shiloh is going
to come from between the knees of Judah. He came as that prophet,
like Moses. He came as a king, like David
and Solomon. Look at Isaiah 11. He came as the branch of Jesse. He came to Israel. Isaiah 11, verse 1, And there succumbed forth a rod,
out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his
roots." That branch is capitalized, that's talking about a person.
That branch is the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of Jesse, the
seed of Jesse. Now look at Micah chapter 5. Micah chapter 5. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrathah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting."
That's the child being born and the son from everlasting being
given. He's going to come and he did
just like promised. He came in Bethlehem. He came
to Israel. He came to the Jews. And he came
that way, keeping the promise of God to the fathers, to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, to David and Isaiah and all of them. He came
keeping the promise of God concerning the Messiah. He came as the truth
of God. He is the truth of God. But he
also came for the truth of God to confirm those promises to
the fathers. We know this. God always keeps
his word. Always. Everything else will
fail. Everything else is going to fade
away and be gone. Accept God's Word. It's forever. Always keep His Word. And He
confirmed it by coming to the Jews. And even though they rejected
Him of that nation, they were sons of His elect. He accepted
them. If you look in verse 9, on the opposite end of the spectrum,
He accepted the Gentiles too. And this is the way we're to
accept one another. and that the Gentiles might glorify God
for his mercy, as it is written, For this cause I will confess
to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again
he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise
the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud him, all ye people. And
again Isaiah saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall
rise to reign over the Gentiles. In him shall the Gentiles trust. See, there are many promises
of salvation in the Old Testament Scriptures made to the Jews,
made directly to the Jews that Christ is going to come to that
nation Israel, that those Jews are going to find salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He's going to come to them. They
have many, many, many promises, many pictures and types. Now,
to the Gentiles, there were no promises made directly to the
Gentiles because the Scripture wasn't given to them. It was
given to Israel. But there were many Old Testament
promises and prophecies about the Gentiles. Not necessarily
to them, but about them. Verse 9 is a quote from David
in 2 Samuel 22, talking about how he's going to glorify God
for his mercy and confess among the Gentiles. Well, more than
likely, David never confessed to the Lord among the Gentiles.
Jews and Gentiles were separate. When David saw Gentiles, he's
fighting them. David was writing there, but
that's God the Son speaking. That's David's Son speaking.
He came and His name is published and glorified among the Gentiles.
But you know, in a sense, David did confess. He does confess
the glory of Christ among the Gentiles. In the Psalms that
we read today, I thought this week David was known as the sweet
psalmist of Israel. Well, today, he's a sweet psalmist
of the Gentiles. Oh, we love to read the Psalms.
Read them every day. Because David, he's fulfilling
the Scriptures, glorifying Christ among the Gentiles. Well, verse
10 is a quote from Moses in Deuteronomy 32. It's a prophecy that the
Gentiles will rejoice one day with the Jews. That we're going
to rejoice together in Christ Jesus. We're going to rejoice
in His righteousness. We'll rejoice in His blood. will
rejoice in His mercy and His grace and His love and the forgiveness
of sins will rejoice in His gospel. Verse 11 in a quote from Psalm
117. Look over there, Psalm 117. I
don't know for sure that we know exactly who wrote this psalm,
David or it could have been Moses, whoever it was though, it's a
prophecy concerning the Gentiles in the Old Testament Scriptures. Psalm 117. Oh, praise the Lord,
all ye nations, not just the Jews, not just Israel, but all
ye nations. Praise Him, all ye people. And
what do we praise Him for? For His merciful kindness is
great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Praise ye
the Lord. All ye nations, praise Him for
His mercy. toward us is great. He's kept
all of His promises. And His mercy toward us is great. Both Jew and Gentile, wherever
God's elect are found, no matter what their background is, you'll
find them praising the Lord for His mercy. Fulfilling the promise
of the Old Testament Scriptures. Because we know, I am so thankful,
we know, we don't find salvation in what we've done. In our religious
activity and law-keeping We find salvation in the mercy of God. Forgiveness of sins is found
in God's mercy. And mercy is for the unworthy. Now, I know no son of Adam, Jew
or Gentile, no son of Adam deserves God's mercy. But when it comes
to the Gentiles, the heathen, I mean, you think about, this
is our background now. Our ancestors were found worshiping
idols. offering their children as burnt
offerings to an idol. I mean, you think about that.
They eat one another. It's unbelievable. Humanly speaking, you look at
those Gentiles, our ancestors, and say they're the least deserving
of all. I mean, they're not found near
the temple. They're not found offering the
sacrifices. They're not found reading the
Word. The least deserving of all. That's where God's mercy
is magnified, though. in the least deserving of all. And that applies whether you're
Jew or Gentile, whether you're heathen or whether you're religious,
the least deserving of all is where God's mercy comes. Well,
verse 12 is a quote from Isaiah, from Isaiah 11. Now, turn back
there. We were there just a minute ago in verse 1. This is a quote
from down in verse 10 of Isaiah 11. Verse 10 of Isaiah 11, And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
To it, or to him, shall all the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall
be glorious. Now here in verse 10 we talk
about a root of Jesse. Up in verse 1 it's a rod, a stem
of Jesse. Well you know both of those are
a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the stem, the rod
of Jesse. As a man, he came from Jesse. A rod, a stem, a branch from
Jesse. But he's also the root of Jesse.
He's God. He's the one Jesse springs from.
He's the root. And he's the one that Jesse springs
from. He's God. And Christ is both God and man. And that prophecy came to us
in the Old Testament. telling us about God's electing
grace. That to Him, the Gentiles are
going to seek and they're going to find. They're going to seek
and they're going to find salvation, eternal life in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they're going to rest in
Him. Now Christ came to the Jews, but He has mercy for the Gentiles. He'll receive all sorts of sinners.
And if you look at Matthew 15, there's a striking illustration
of this. In Matthew 15. as salvation first was sent to
the Jew. Matthew 15 verse 21, Then Jesus
went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
And, behold, a woman of Canaan, a Gentile Canaanite, came out
of the same coast, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy
on me, O LORD, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came, and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she cries after us." But he answered, and he said, I'm not sent, but
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He told them, I'm
sent to Israel, to the Jews. Salvation is sent to the Jews
first. Well, there is mercy. Thank God there's mercy for the
Gentiles. Look at verse 25. Here she met
with the elect in grace. And what did she do? She came
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered and
said, It's not meat, it's not right to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord, yet
the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
And the Lord Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great
is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter
was made whole from that very hour. He was sent to the Jew
first, wasn't He? But there's mercy for the Gentiles.
And one more Scripture. Look at Luke chapter 4. In our
Lord's very first public message, His very first message, He publicly
preached. He told the people clearly that
He'll accept. He's come to save both Jew and
Gentile. He did come to the Jew first, but there's mercy for
the Gentile. Luke 4 verse 25. I tell you of a truth. Many widows
were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut
up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout
all the land. But unto none of them, none of
those Israelite widows, none of them was Elias sent, save
unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman there that was a
widow. God sent his messenger, his servant, to a Gentile widow. In verse 27, many lepers were
in Israel at the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. God's servant didn't
cleanse not one Jewish leper, but there was one Gentile, a
Gentile rebel, a general against the host of Israel. God had mercy
on that Gentile. And religious people, when they're
met, when they meet with that doctrine, that teaching of electing
grace, they hate it. They try to kill the Lord for
preaching that. But sinners love it. That's the one. He's the
one to whom the Gentiles shall seek. And they'll seek and they'll
find mercy. No wonder one of the favorite
choruses of believers is, oh, how merciful. Oh, how merciful. His mercy toward us is great. And that's to whom we'll seek,
both Jew and Gentile. Now verse 13 in Romans 15, our
text. Paul says, Now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound
in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Now Paul's prayer
for these Roman believers, it's a good prayer. It's a good prayer
that we could use for the people we care about. And he begins
his prayer to the God of hope. Why does he call the Lord the
God of hope? Well, first of all, all hope,
any hope at all is found in God. You want hope of forgiveness
of sins? It's in Him. Hope of eternal
life? It's in Him. Hope of salvation?
It's found in Him. Christ is the object of our hope. All of our hope is found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the object of our hope.
And He's also the author of our hope. He's the one that began
it. He's the one who gives our hope. The foundation of our hope. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. All
other ground is sinking sand. But Christ is also the builder
of that hope. He's the foundation and He's
the walls, He's the roof, and He's the one that built it. All
of our hope is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the God of
hope. And Paul prays that the Lord, the God of hope, would
fill us with all joy and peace. Now how are we going to be filled
with joy and peace? Well, it's not through a magic
trick. It's not through some preacher laying his hand on you
and blowing it into you. It's through faith. It's through
believing. Joy and faith through believing. There is no real joy, no lasting
joy to be found in this world. You might find it for a season,
for a very short time, but it will end. It will just go away
because everything in this world is not lasting. It's just temporary.
But joy in Christ is eternal because He's eternal. Every spiritual
blessing that we have in Him is eternal because He's eternal. And our joy, the believer's joy,
is not a thing. Beside doctrine, it's not a feeling. Worldly joy is a feeling. You
know, what we call joy and happiness in the world is a feeling that
we have. But a cloud can come and run
that. You know, I was pretty happy the other day. I was going
to go golfing. And a big thunderstorm came up.
A cloud ruined my joy. I get to leave work early and
go play golf. I had to stay at work longer.
A cloud ruined my joy. That happiness. But joy in Christ
is not that way. Because the joy in Christ is
not a feeling. The child of God knows heartache. in the midst of heartache and
trouble in this world. A believer, a child of God can
have joy. I mean, that's not faith. It's
not just you put on a fake smile when you're out in public. It's
real heart joy because our joy is a person. It's not affected
by worldly things because the joy is not found in our worldly
circumstances. Our joy is a person. And we have
this joy through believing. Through believing Him. Through
clinging to Him. Since our joy is a person, we'll
have more of that joy. We'll experience more of that
joy by believing more of the person, by knowing more of Him.
And our peace is the exact same way. Christ is our peace. Now, peace is not natural to
human beings. It just doesn't come naturally
to us. What comes naturally to us is looking for a fight. That's
why there will always be wars and rumors of wars because that's
human nature. But we have peace with God through
the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
peace. And again, spiritual peace, just
like joy, it's not a feeling. It's a person. Spiritual peace
is a person. And if you have Christ, you have
real, lasting peace. Even in the middle of the storms
of life, where the tempest will toss you, you have peace. Because our peace doesn't come
from fleshly possessions. It doesn't come from no one.
No matter what the economy does, I've got plenty of money. It
doesn't come from the condition of the flesh. We don't have peace
because we've got good health. Because I might not have it tomorrow.
So I'll tell you what I will have tomorrow. Who I'll have
tomorrow. Or better yet, who will have
me tomorrow. the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our peace. And the more
we believe Him, the more peace we'll have. And Paul says, I
pray that you'll abound in hope. And you'll abound in hope by
knowing more of the Lord Jesus Christ, by believing Him more
fully. That's how we'll abound in hope.
Because every spiritual blessing, no matter which one you want
to name, every spiritual blessing is enjoyed by faith, by believing. And the more strongly we believe
God, the more fully we rest in Him, the more we'll enjoy these
spiritual blessings, the more we'll enjoy this hope, the more
we'll abound in hope. Now, a person with stronger faith
is not going to have a better hope than a person with weaker
faith. Because regardless of how strong
your faith is, our hope is the same, isn't it? The Lord Jesus
Christ, we have the same hope. You won't have a better hope
than someone else But you'll enjoy it more fully by believing
Him more. And the believer's hope, our
expectation, really is for future glory, isn't it? That's what
our expectation is. I'll be satisfied when I awaken
His likeness. That's our expectation. Now,
I know we have hope. We have an expectation for this
life from what we read in God's Word, but our hope truly is for
future glory. Listen to what Matthew Henry
says about this. He says, what is laid out for believers is
but little compared to what is laid up for them. That's it. Our hope is what is laid up for
us in glory. Where moth and rust doesn't corrupt.
Where thieves don't break in and steal. And that's why a believer
who has absolutely nothing in this life, in this earth, you
can just be stripped of everything you've got. But you still have
a good hope. Because your hope is not here.
It's there where Christ sits in glory. Sits on His throne.
And our faith grows. We enjoy hope and peace in Christ
through the power of the Holy Ghost. Now, don't pass that by. Through the power of the Holy
Ghost. I'm so thankful that Scripture saw fit to write it that way.
Through the Holy Ghost. I'm thankful. I don't have to
sit and motivate myself through the week to find up, to rev up,
to have some power to have this peace and joy and hope. I'm really
thankful that as I'm preparing my notes, I don't have to find
a way to be a motivational speaker to motivate you to have that
joy and peace and hope. Because I don't have to whip
you up into a frenzy of faith so that you'll have this hope,
our power to believe. Our power to rest in Christ doesn't
come from the power of name. It's divine power in you. The
divine power of the Holy Ghost. So Paul says in verse 14, he
says, Now I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye
also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish
one another. Paul says you're filled with
all goodness. That's not by nature. Paul said earlier, he says, I
know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. We're not filled with any goodness
in this flesh. But the believer's filled with
the goodness of God by the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts.
And you're also, he says, filled with all knowledge. You've been
well taught. I know we don't know everything.
By far, we don't know everything. But we have knowledge. By God's
grace, we have knowledge of our sins. We have knowledge of our
unworthiness, knowledge of our weakness. And we have knowledge
of Christ, who he is, his righteousness, his blood, his sovereignty, his
mercy. We have knowledge that we're
complete in him, filled with knowledge. And Paul says, so
I know that because you're filled with goodness and knowledge,
you're able to admonish, to teach one another. That word admonish
is not to berate somebody, they've done something wrong. It's to
both warn and encourage one another. Well, if you're going to be able
to admonish someone else, you've got to have knowledge. You have
to know what it is you're talking about in order to teach someone
else. But you also have to have goodness of heart. That word
goodness not just means goodness, but also kindness. Any effective
teaching is done in truth, in knowledge, and in humility, in
the goodness of the Lord, the goodness and kindness of the
Lord. And you're able to do that, Paul says. He says in verse 15,
and nevertheless, brethren, I've written more boldly unto you
in some sort as putting you in mind because of the grace that
is given to me of God. I know you've got the ability
to teach one another, but I've written unto you boldly. You
do have the ability to teach one another. You understand a
lot of truth. But we still need pastors and
teachers. And you can talk more boldly,
plainly, to someone who's filled with goodness and knowledge.
I can talk a whole lot more plainly to you than Janet does to her
class. You have a whole lot more knowledge.
Much more boldly. And that's good, because we need
to be reminded of the truth. To be reminded to put the truth
of the Gospel, the truth of Christ, into practice in our everyday
lives. All of you here, nearly, are
never going to hear something new from me. You're never going
to learn something from me you didn't already learn from somebody
else. You know the Lord Jesus Christ. But wouldn't you like
to know more of Him? Wouldn't you like to know Him
better? Do you get tired of hearing about Him again? You know the
Gospel. You know the Gospel. But wouldn't
you like to know it better? Will you like to hear it again
and again and again? Do you ever get tired of it?
And that's what Paul says he's doing. And that's what he's doing
to the rest of the world, to the Gentile world. In verse 16
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. was the apostle to the Gentiles,
just like Peter was the apostle to the Jews. And Paul went preaching
Christ to the Gentile world. And he preached to them because
God has ordained to save his people, to call out his elect
through the foolishness of preaching. Men and women are called to faith
in Christ by preaching God's Word. And sinners are made accepted
in the Beloved. How are the Gentiles made accepted?
In Christ. How are they sanctified? How
are they made holy? In Christ. Now that's what Paul
went preaching. You come to Christ and be accepted
in Him. What he's alluding to here is
that Old Testament sacrifice. That animal sacrifice was sanctified
and made accepted by washing of water. And sinners are sanctified. They're made accepted by God
the Holy Spirit applying the blood. of the Lord Jesus Christ
by washing us in the water and blood that flowed from His side.
I'm looking at a bunch of Gentiles here who have been washed. You've
been washed in the blood, made accepted and sanctified by the
Holy Ghost. Now, verse 17, I have therefore
whereof I make glory through Jesus Christ in those things
which pertain to God. Now, Paul says, I have therefore
whereof I make glory. You know he's not glorying in
what he did. He said to the church at Galatia, God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
word glory is rejoicing. Other places in scripture, we
won't take the time to turn there, but other places in scripture,
this exact same word is translated rejoicing. And it should be translated,
I have therefore rejoicing. Rejoicing in Christ. Because
the Lord uses means. He uses preaching. The Lord uses
men to preach, but you know none of those men can take any credit.
Look quickly at 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter
3. The Lord uses men, but we don't
take any credit or any glory. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 4. 4 While one saith, I am of Paul,
and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who is Paul? And who is Apollos? Just ministers
by whom ye believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then,
neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that waters. Who he
is that plants and who he is that waters, they're nothing.
But God giveth the increase. He's everything. He's the one
that gets all the glory. We can't take credit for a thing.
But you know, we can take the blame if we don't work hard at
this matter of preaching, teaching God's Word, work hard at studying,
work hard at planting and watering. The Lord gives the increase,
but the farmer takes the blame if he doesn't plant, he doesn't
water. We preach because the Lord commanded, but can't take
any credit for a thing. But I tell you what we do, we
rejoice. Rejoice, so thankful. in what
the Lord's done. Not what we've done, but what
the Lord has done. That's what Paul says here. He says, I rejoice
through the Lord Jesus Christ, through His power, through His
gospel, through Him giving the increase. The increase in life,
the increase in faith so that you'll have more joy and peace
and hope. Give thanks in Him. And that's
what the Gentiles give thanks for. We accept and receive both. as Christ perceived us. Amen.