When trouble comes your way,
when your heart is heavy, when everything about you is dark
and your soul trembles because of the weight of care that's
upon your heart, where do you go for help? Where do you seek comfort? Some
seek help and comfort in isolation and just getting alone with themselves
and trying to work things out for themselves and kind of brace
themselves and go on about life with a stoic hardness and become
indifferent to things. Others seek to drown sorrow in
merriment and amusement and having what's called a good time. playing
the fool and dealing frivolously with matters of great importance.
Some try to comfort themselves with intoxication, whether with
a bottle or with a pillbox. They try to intoxicate themselves
so they can just kind of put their thoughts and their troubles
out of their minds, live with them. If you're wise, if you're
wise, You will go to the source that was specifically designed
by God to give you comfort. And that's this book. Turn with
me to Romans chapter 15, if you will, please. Sometimes preparing
a message is a little difficult in trying to decide where the
text should be, what text should be expounded, what subject should
be dealt with. But Sunday, as I was finishing
the message to preach to you Sunday evening last week, I was
confident this would be my text this evening, and I've been working
on the message today. I trust God will be pleased to
bless it to your heart. Opening the pages of this blessed
book, we find exactly what we need as we bow before our Father's
throne. and seek mercy to help and grace
in time of need. The Holy Spirit tells us here
in Romans 15, 4, that this is specifically the reason why this
book was written. Do you see it? For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
that we through patience comfort of the Scriptures might have
hope. Now when I speak about the Scriptures,
the Bible, the Word of God, I'm talking about the whole thing,
the Old Testament and the New. The Old Testament is much more
than a book of law, it is a book of comfort. It is just as much
a book of comfort as the New Testament is. In fact, When the
Apostle Paul penned these words, the only portion of Scripture
he had was what was given in the Old Testament. You see, the
New Testament was not written to replace the Old, but just
to complete it, just to explain it, just to make us have a clearer
understanding of it. We rejoice to know that the ceremonies
and statutes of the Old Testament Mosaic Law are forever ended. They are forever ended because
Christ fulfilled them. Their design and their purpose
was to point to Christ and show us our need of Christ. When Christ
came and fulfilled those things, their design and purpose was
fulfilled and they are no longer in any effect whatsoever upon
God's people. Now, I can't stress this often
enough or sufficiently enough or dogmatically enough. People
ask me all the time, well, what about the Sabbath? What about
tithing? What about this? All Old Testament law, all of
it, the totality of it, all the ceremonies, all the requirements,
all the statutes, all the law was given to point to Christ.
And Christ fulfilled it. He is our Sabbath day. We rest in Him. We don't keep
a carnal Sabbath day. He is our Passover. We offer
Him to God and we're delivered by Him. We don't observe a Passover. Christ fulfilled it all. But
that does not mean, that does not mean that the Old Testament
no longer has authority, that it no longer has a message, that
it is no longer relevant to us. Not at all. It is more precious
than ever. It is that which comes to us
now with greater authority than ever. It gives us greater comfort
than ever. For now, as we read the Old Testament,
in the light of the New Testament, it makes sense. You can get hold
of it. I recall years ago, my friend,
Brother Charlie Payne, who's now with the Lord, he was an
elder at Ashland for years, some of you knew him. Someone asked
him one time sitting on an airplane, he was chatting and said, I just,
I can't understand the book of Leviticus. He said, I've been
reading that book and I just can't understand it. Charles
said, read the book of Hebrews. That's the way to understand
it. You understand the old in the light of the new. And we
interpret the old in the light of the new. So that now the Old
Testament has its authority, its message, its comfort clearly
revealed in its completion in the New Testament. And yet when
we read the Old Testament Scriptures, we read the Old Testament Scriptures
together as one word from God with the new for us. Now in this
text this evening, we're told plainly that God's intention
God's purpose, God's design in giving us this inspired volume
is that we might learn the way of life in Jesus Christ and that
we might enjoy the patience and comfort and hope of the scriptures. Now hold your Bibles open in
Romans 15 and I will show you what this text is teaching us.
There are four things here. My outline is plainly given in
the text. I want to talk to you tonight
about the fourfold purpose of Holy Scripture. Why was this
book written? Why did God give us the Scriptures?
For our learning, to teach us patience, to give us comfort,
and that we might have hope. Now first and foremost, the Word
of God was written for our learning. And this needs to be worked over
a little more than I'm going to work it over tonight. But
the Bible was not written principally to give us historic facts, moral
ethics, religious ceremonies, doctrinal truth. Certainly we
rejoice in those things revealed in scripture. We believe them
and we count them precious and of indescribable value to our
souls. Whether you're talking about
facts revealed, whether you're talking about moral principles
set forth, whether you're talking about doctrinal truths given,
or gospel ordinances laid down. All of those things revealed
in the scripture we look upon as vital and essential. We do
not look upon anything in this book as what men call non-essentials. People say, well, we don't fuss
about the non-essentials. Non-essentials are what you read
in the newspaper. Non-essentials are what you read in history
books. What you read in this book is essential. I don't care
what it is. It doesn't matter how insignificant
it appears to the eyes of men, it is significant, for it is
given by the revelation of God. But the word of God, the scriptures,
were given for far greater, far more spiritual, practical, beneficial
ends than just to teach us facts and ethics and religious ceremony
and religious doctrine. The Word of God has been given
to us so that we might learn the way of life and salvation
in Christ. That we might know God as He
is revealed in this book in the person of His Son. The purpose
of God in giving us the book is to show us Christ. Oh, I would to God I could get
preachers to understand this. The purpose of God in this book
is to show us Christ. Larry, you go to preach next
Sunday. You went down to preach this past Sunday. I'm going out
to California to preach. If in our preaching we don't
show men Christ in the book, our preaching's just a sounding
brass and clanging cymbals. That's all it is, meaningless. I don't care how doctrinally
sound it is. I don't care how morally upright
it is. I don't care how historically accurate it is. The message of
scripture is Jesus Christ crucified. when the scriptures tell us about
the message of scripture. As our Lord spoke to those disciples
on the road to Emmaus, he opened the scriptures beginning at Moses
and in all the law and in the prophets and in the Psalms, expounded
to them things concerning himself. We're told that our master said
to the scribes and Pharisees, search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life, and they testify of me.
when Philip found the master. Better put, when the master found
Philip. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found
him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus
of Nazareth. Here he is, he's the son of God.
He's our savior. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. Now this is what I'm saying.
We preach this book fully. We preach this book completely. We preach this book in its entirety
whenever we preach the gospel of Christ. Now many think, well,
that's just an oversimplification of things. David has the most
profound statement you'll ever hear. Christ is all this book's
about. Christ is all. He is all. It's not a matter of just getting
up and reciting certain facts about Him. We seek to find Him.
We find pictures of Him everywhere. We find studies of Him everywhere. We find biographical sketches
of Him everywhere. We find illustrations of His
power and grace everywhere. And we rejoice in it and rejoice
to declare it. The Word of the Lord endures
forever, Peter said. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. So that in preaching the word
of God, we preach Christ crucified. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. What kind of preaching?
I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. Now in order for sinners to be
saved, they must be instructed in the gospel. They must be instructed
in the doctrine of Jesus Christ. They must be instructed in the
message of this book. Turn with me if you will to Romans
chapter 10 for a moment. Romans chapter 10. Let men argue and debate and
fuss all they want to. I'm telling you, nobody has ever
been saved apart from the preaching of the gospel in this gospel
age, nor will they be. God does not save sinners without
the use of his ordained means. God does not save sinners apart
from the knowledge of the gospel. He does not save sinners without
the knowledge of Christ. Folks, so you mean preachers,
folks have to know the gospel to be saved? Well, of course
they do. Of course you do. Well, I didn't
know the gospel when God saved me. Yes, you did. When God saved
you, you did. You might not have known it when
you dabbled around in religion. You might not have known it when
you made a little profession of faith. But when God saved
you, God saved you with truth. with truth. Christ, who is the
truth? To say a man can be saved without
knowing the gospel is like saying a man can be saved without knowing
Christ. This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Look here
at Romans chapter 10, verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now that word call, you search
it out. I may bring you a message on it again sometime, but that
word call doesn't mean whosoever shall say, I believe in Jesus.
Our Lord said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? He said, it's not the man
who says to me, Lord, Lord, but he who does the will of my Father,
which is in heaven. What's he talking about? Call
on the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall worship. at the throne
of God. Whosoever shall worship at the
name of God Almighty, Jesus Christ the Lord. That's what it is to
call on him, it's to worship him. To worship God in his name. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they've not believed? You can't worship him if you
hadn't believed him. Is that what he says? You can't worship
that one whom you don't trust. And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? If you don't know who he is,
you can't believe on him. You can't worship him. And how
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Therefore it is written, as it
is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
but they've not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord,
who hath believed thy report? And Isaiah answered the question.
He said, those to whom the arm of the Lord's been revealed.
So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The scripture says, of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth. Turn over to 1 John
chapter five. I want you to see this. Faith
is not a leap in the dark. Faith is not a man saying, well,
I believe in Jesus and know nothing about him. Faith is not a man
saying, I believe God, know nothing about God. Oh, no, no, no. Faith
is based upon the record of God in this book. That's where it
comes from. Let's see if that's not what
the book says. 1 John 5, verse 10. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath to witness it himself. He that believeth not,
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Now look at verse 13. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God. John says, I
wrote this book, this little epistle to you, giving you God's
record so that you'd have eternal life and know that you have eternal
life. That's the purpose of the scriptures,
that we might learn of God, being taught of God, that we might
come to Christ. All right, secondly, the scriptures
were written to teach us patience. Oh, now I need some help here. Patience is that calm, even temper
and unruffled spirit with which believing men and women Bear
the evils of life in this world. Let your moderation be known
to all men. The Lord's at hand. Children
of God, be patient. Be patient. Oh, but if we would
honor God, we've got to walk before him in patience. In everything. Patience. Patience. Patience
is not a careless indolence. stupid insensibility, a natural
bravery or a constitutional fortitude. Oh no. Patience is derived from
the indwelling grace and power of God the Holy Spirit. It's
nourished by the Word of Truth, guided by Holy Scripture. The
patience of the Scriptures involves many things and reaches in many
directions. Our Lord Jesus said to his disciples,
in patience, possess ye your souls. In your patience, possess
your souls. Patience first is faith's willing
resignation to the will of God. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. And lean not into your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge
Him, and He'll direct your paths. That's what the book says. Trust in Him with all your heart.
Lean not to your understanding. To the degree I lean on my understanding,
I don't trust Him. To the degree I trust Him, I
don't lean on my own, my understanding. Trials come, difficulties come,
and we'll do one of the two. We'll either lean on our own
feeble stupidity we call understanding, or we'll trust God. In all your
ways, acknowledge Him. That means just this. As you
walk through this world, and Satan roars against your soul,
As you walk through this world and the billows of the deep sea
beat upon your little ship. As you walk through this world
and darkness engulfs you. As you walk through this world
and you can't see your nose in front of your face. You can't
see the direction in which you ought to walk. You can't see
where to put your foot down. You walk through the world acknowledging
God's my Savior. And you just walk on. Acknowledging
Him. And as you do, He'll direct your
paths. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and
he'll flee from you. Cast all your care on Him, for
He cares for you. You see, this is the difference,
one great difference between believers and religious hypocrites. Believers willingly submit to
God in everything. Show me what he says in this
book. Any doctrine, any precept, any principle, you show it. Any
believer will bow to it. Every believer will, no exceptions.
Find me a believer who won't bow to God's book, I'll show
you a man who's not a believer. He doesn't know God. Same thing's
true in God's providence. You see, believers understand
God sits on the throne. Believers understand that all
things come to pass according to God's will and God's purpose.
And believers submit to the will of God, not perfectly. Oh no,
oh no, we struggle with this all the time. But we submit to
his will willingly. You remember when Samuel came
to Eli? Someone read it here just a week
or two ago in 1 Samuel 3. Samuel had some tough news for
that old priest. He said, Eli, God's gonna kill
your sons, and he's gonna destroy your family, rid the earth of
your name, and take the priesthood out of your family, because your
sons have defiled all Israel, defiled the altar of God, and
blasphemed God, and it's your fault. I'm gonna kill them. That's what God said. So he said,
it's all your fault. Your sons are about to go to
hell and it's your fault. It's your fault. And this is
what Eli said. It is the Lord. Let him do whatsoever
seemeth him good. God teach me such resignation
to his will. That's not escaping, trying to
push aside responsibility. That's not trying to lay aside
responsibility for what I've done. Oh no, even I understood
that, but it is submitting to God's will. Patience is a steady
continuance in faith and obedience. I've watched a lot of people
as you have, go through difficulties, trials, one on the heels of another. And after a little while, the trials have gotten a good
many, destroyed a lot. I've seen a lot of people come
in here make a fair show, look like they're running well, stay
a while, and then some trial comes. And they just can't take it.
They just can't. Their house is built on the sand.
They just can't take it. Their faith dures for a while,
but the care of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the
thorns of this world, weeds is choked out. The sun rises and beats upon
it and the plant withers. But then there are others. I look at you and I wonder, my
God, I wonder where I'd be if I'd been through what they've
been through. I don't know whether I'd be here or not. I just don't
know. But I do know this. There's no
such thing as true faith that's not permanent faith. Believers are not men and women
who take fits and spasms of religion. Believers are men and women who
walk with God in dark and in light, who walk with God in difficulty
and in pleasure. They lean on God. They continue
in the faith. They serve him obediently, lovingly,
willingly, regardless of loss, regardless of cost, regardless
of opposition. And patience has something to
do with bearing one another's burdens, weaknesses, and infirmities
for Christ's sake. This is how Paul uses the text
in which we're looking. Here in Romans chapter 15, look
at verse one. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Life is not pleasing yourself.
Life is not seeking your pleasure. That's the way the world lives.
That's the way the ungodly live, not believers. Let's not live
to please ourselves. Well, I want this. I want that.
I wanted to let every one of us please his neighbor. Live
to please one another for his good to edification. I realize
I've got something else. I've just got to say to Brother
Bob, keep it to yourself. He don't have to hear it. Well,
I believe all it is, bear my chest. If you got poison on your
chest, don't give me any. I don't want it. Keep it to yourself.
What do you do? Don't please yourself, but please
your brother. Read on. Verse three, for even
as Christ pleased not himself. But as it is written, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. Now look at the text.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning. Teach us to do the same thing. that we, through
patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. So as we patiently
deal with one another, patiently encourage and lift up and edify
one another, we encourage faith and comfort and hope in the scriptures. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. Patience is just waiting on God. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. He shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Waiting. I can't think of anything in
this world I have a more difficult time doing, Rex, than waiting
on God. That doesn't mean sit back, fold
your hands, do nothing, so what's God going to do? No, no, no.
That's not waiting. Waiting is patiently doing the will of God
as you wait for Him to accomplish His purpose. Wait for Him to
do what He will. Wait for Him to fulfill His word.
And they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not
be weary. They shall walk and not faint. You see, if I believe God, I
can wait on him with patience and resignation. The scripture
says, though the vision tarry, wait for it. It'll surely come. It will not tarry. Wait for God. He'll fulfill his word. We don't have to do anything,
Oscar, to make God's will be accomplished. He'll do it. We
don't have to do anything to make God's promises be performed.
He'll do it. God said to David, said, you're
king in Israel. Well, wait a minute. Saul's sitting
on the throne. Saul's wearing the crown. Everybody calls Saul
king. What's David going to do? His
servant said, let me go kill that man. You're the rightful
king. David said, not until it's God's time. I'll wait. I'll wait. Just wait. Gotta take care of
Saul, and gotta take care of the throne, and gotta take care
of his promise. Wait on the Lord, he will do
you good in all things. Wait on the Lord, he performs
his work, he'll save his people. That means there's never any
reason for fear. Never any reason for compromise. Never any reason for fretting.
Third, the book of God was written. God has given us his word so
that we might enjoy the comfort of the scriptures. Folks say misery loves company.
If that's the case, misery's got a lot of people to love because
there's a lot of bitterness in all of our cups. There's a lot
of sorrow in all our situations. There's a lot of pain in every
man's portion. As we read, Sunday man that is
born of woman is few days and full of trouble. These things
are the portion of sinners in this world, saved sinners as
well as lost sinners. But believers, believers have a medicine the
world can't swallow. The medicine we have, they carry
it in their hands, but they can't swallow it. The medicine we have,
they can look at it, and they talk about it, but they can't
swallow it. For believers, we enjoy the comfort of Scripture. Now, I don't mean by that that
we recite verses to ourselves like good luck charms. You know,
most people, they have a little trouble and they start quoting
scripture or misquoting it usually. And they, like a good luck charm
to them. Well, we believe. No, no, no. Our comfort, Larry, is in the
message of the book. It's in the message of the book.
In the promises given in the book. Our comfort is in the gospel
of Christ. We rejoice to know that since
God spared not his son but delivered him up for us all, he will freely
with him freely give us all things. We rejoice in the fact that he
who is God. He who is God. He who sits on
the throne is my God. And when my heart breaks and
my eyes swell with tears, buddy, that comforts my soul. Because
a father, a loving father's hand will never cause his child a
needless tear. We rejoice and find comfort in
the character of God. The rest of the world chokes
at God's sovereignty. We rejoice that he's sovereign,
he's our father. The world chokes at divine predestination. We rejoice in it. This came to
pass not by accident, but by the design of my father who has
brought it to pass according to his purpose of love and grace
for me. He delights in mercy. Whatever
he does must be merciful. He delights in compassion. God
is love and his love is toward me. Whatever he does is because
he loves me. He's faithful, he's true, he
changes not. And the promises of God, the Lord gives them so many,
so very, very many. He keeps on saying, fear not,
fear not. Don't be afraid. I'm your God. I redeemed you. I called you.
I've loved you. I've given men for you and people
for your life. I'll be with you. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. I'm your God. I'm your God. No need to be afraid.
You believe God, believe also in me, our master said. Trust
him, trust me, trust me. I've redeemed you, I've saved
you, I'll do you good. I love the story of the old woman,
a young pastor was visiting her and he started to read scripture
and had prayer, you know, before he left. He picked up her Bible,
started thumbing through it and he, just every couple of pages,
He'd see Mark, just every few verses, T.P., T.P., T.P. Curiosity got the best of him.
He said, he said, sister, what's this mean, this T.P. beside all
these verses? She said, oh, honey, those are
the promises of God. That's tried and proved. Tried
and proved. Oh, he proves himself every day
faithful to his word. He's a God to be trusted. And
fourthly, the scriptures are written that we might have hope. Hope. We live by faith, believing God
in hope. Hope. based upon faith's reality,
arises from faith in the crucified risen Savior, but it looks to
the future soon. Our Lord's coming again and he's
gonna ride every roll. And He's gonna make all things
appear as He sees them perfectly clearly for the glory of His
name and the good of His people. And we're gonna rejoice in everything
that has been. We're gonna give Him thanks for
everything He has done, no matter who He used to accomplish it.
And in that world, there'll be no sorrow. And there'll be no
sighing. Because bless God, there'll be
no sin. and none of its consequences.
Amen. That's saying my faith has found
a resting place. Number 228 I believe it is.