Paul said in verse 32 of Romans
chapter 15, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God
and may with you be refreshed. I've entitled this message Refreshed. I'm glad Andy read that passage
of scripture about the Sabbath day because it has something
to do with resting. That's what the word means. What
is more refreshing than resting? And I think it's glorious how
even in the Ten Commandments, the Lord has this command about
the Sabbath day. I realize the religious world
is blind to it, but what's the command of the Sabbath? Don't
work. This isn't really talking about a day off so you can get
energized that you can't work to be saved. I'm so thankful
the Lord's put that in the scriptures. Isn't it refreshing to be around
somebody you find to be refreshing? It is, isn't it? You feel encouraged,
recharged, and ready to get back at it after being around them.
Their example of faith in Christ, love to Christ, their attitude
of humility. Isn't it great to be around someone
that's humble rather than someone that's proud and arrogant? Their
attitude of graciousness just refreshes you and you leave their
presence encouraged, seeing the power of God's grace in their
lives. Now, if we're not that person,
we ought to be. You agree with that? If we're
not that person, we ought to be. Now let's look at what led
Paul to make this statement. Go back to verse 30. Now I beseech you, brethren,
for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit,
that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for
me." Now Paul gives them a two-fold reason to strive with him in
prayers to God. For Christ's sake and for the
love of the Spirit. Now let's consider those two
glorious concepts. For Christ's sake. I beseech
you for Christ's sake. I want you to think just for
a moment what God has done for you for Christ's sake. Be kind,
tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, I love
this, for Christ's sake has forgiven you. He didn't have to find a
reason in you to do it. He did it for Christ's sake. All of salvation is for Christ's
sake. I want you to think about what
Christ did for your sake. I quoted that scripture this
morning. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. Who can speak
on that as it ought to be spoken of? You know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
he became poor. Oh, the poverty of Christ, that
you, through his poverty, might be rich. Now, for Christ's sake,
is the only reason that's needed to motivate us, isn't it? For
Christ's sake. You know, we would find it a
great privilege of God, a great gift of His grace, if we would
be allowed to die for Christ's sake. That would be an honor
none of us deserve, wouldn't it? Oh, the power of this statement,
for Christ's sake. I beseech you for Christ's sake.
And then he says, I beseech you, and this is the only time we
find this phrase in the scriptures. I beseech you by the love of
the Spirit, or for the love of the Spirit. You strive together
with me in your prayers to God for me, the love of the Spirit.
Now, this is the same construction of language as 2 Corinthians
5, 14, where Paul speaks of Christ. He says, the love of Christ constrained
with us. His love to us, our love to him. It constrains us, doesn't it?
His love to us, Well, he uses the same construction language
in the love of the Spirit. The Spirit's love for us, our
love for God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit, the third
person of the Blessed Trinity, equal with the Father, equal
with the Son, yet subordinate to both. God the Holy Spirit,
the author of the new birth, the author of regeneration, the
author of faith. If you have faith, He's the one
who gave it to you. If you love Christ, He gave you that love. All we experience of God, as
far as our experience goes, All we experience of the God of glory,
all we experience of the Lord Jesus Christ is through the Holy
Spirit. I beseech you by the love of
the Spirit. I want you to think about how
He loves you. He's given you faith. He's given you a new heart. He's made you to see the beauty
of the Lord Jesus Christ, so you really believe that Christ
is altogether lovely. You really believe that he's
all in your salvation. You wouldn't dare look anywhere
else. Why is that? Because God the Holy Spirit loves
you and has done something for you. We love him. Now he's mysterious. There's no doubt about that.
He's mysterious. But what isn't mysterious that we believe? He's
mysterious and we love him. We love him for what he does
for us. And that's enough of an argument.
Now he's saying, I want you to strive in prayers for me, for
Christ's sake, and because of the love of God the Holy Spirit,
what He has done for you. Now, you know the feeling of
all you have at the greatness of Christ, when the Lord gives
you the grace to really worship? That's the Spirit of God. You
know when you see the sufficiency of Christ and you know you don't
need to work for salvation? That's the Spirit of God. You
know, when you see the majesty of the God of glory, that's the
spirit of God. Now, I beseech you for Christ's
sake and because of the love of the Holy Spirit, I beseech
you that you strive with me in your prayers to God for me. Now,
I want to remind us of this. God works through prayer. God does what he does through
the prayers of his people. Whatever God intends to do, he's
going to cause his people to pray that he would do that, and
then he does it. That's the way he works. This
is a familiar scripture, but look at it with me again in Ezekiel
36. All the things God says he's going to do for
these people. I'm going to give you a clean
heart, a new heart. I'll sprinkle clean water upon you. I'll save
you from your uncleanness. I'll put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes. He talks about all these things
he's going to do. And then he says in verse 37
of Ezekiel 36, Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. I'm going to do all these things,
and they're going to ask me to do it for them. You know, if
you're saved, somebody was impressed to pray for you. And if you're
going to be saved, you know what you're going to do? You're going
to say, Lord, save me. Save me. You're going to ask him to save
you. God works through prayer. And he always does what he does
through prayer. So, oh, be men and women of prayer. I love the way When Saul was
first converted, and God was speaking to Ananias, and he says,
behold, he prayeth. He never has before. Oh, he'd
gone through the form, but he'd never prayed to God before. But
now he is. Behold, he prayeth. And notice the language he uses,
strives in prayer. There's nothing easy about prayer.
You know when I hear somebody say, well, say a little prayer
for me, I wince. A little prayer? You can say
a little prayer to a little God, but you can't say a little prayer
to the God of glory. He works through prayer, and
there's nothing easy about this. Through Christ, strive together
with me in your prayers for me. And there are four things that
he asks them to pray about, four specific things. I find that
very interesting. He says, first of all, in verse
31, this is the first thing you should ask them to pray about.
He said, pray that I may be delivered from them that do not believe
in Judea. Now, those that do not believe
the word is literally will not be persuaded. No matter what
they hear, they will not be persuaded. They will not believe. Now, Paul knew that his gospel
was hated by the natural man, and he knew everywhere he went,
he was going to take a beating. He said in Acts chapter 20, verse
22, the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city that bonds and
afflictions abide me. Now, can you imagine an existence
like that knowing wherever you went? After you preach, get ready. You're going to get whipped.
You're going to get beaten. You're going to get thrown in
jail. You're going to get stoned. You're going to get put in stocks.
Paul knew all that ahead of time. It didn't keep him from going,
did it? Don't you admire Paul, by the grace of God, what the
Lord enabled him to do? But why is this? Why does Paul
know that he's going to have such a negative reaction to the
gospel? Because the natural man finds the gospel offensive. How so? Gospel offends men's
dignity because it says you're nothing but a sinner before God.
I don't care how moral or how upright you think you are, you're
not. You're nothing but a sinner before the living God. That's
all he sees. I think that scripture in Romans
3, 23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's
what sin is, it's coming short of His glory. And you take the
most moral man, righteous man alive, and you take the most
depraved, debauched, immoral man alive, and how much difference
is there between them before God? None. The gospel offends men's pride
because it says salvation is all of grace. It's all in Christ. It has nothing to do with what
you do. It has everything to do with
what he has done. Period. Don't I do anything? No. Do I make any contribution? No. No? No. No. No glory goes to
man. It all goes to Christ. The gospel
offends men's sense of entitlement because it says, you're not entitled
to anything. You're a rebel against God. Somebody
says, that's not fair. You better not be saying that.
Since when are you a moral compass to God? And you can decide which
part is fair and which is not. God is God. And you and I have
no entitlement before him, no rights before him. The gospel
offends men's love of self because it says we're to deny ourselves,
deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, men don't love the gospel we preach. You found that to
be true. Men don't love the gospel we preach. Paul knew that everywhere
he was going to go, Bonds and afflictions were whitening after
he preached this message. So he said, pray for me that
I may be delivered from the unbelieving men in Judea. And that word unbelieving
means unpersuadable. They hear the truth and they
will not be persuaded. And who wants to, you know, I
would rather the Lord deliver me from getting stoned than have
to get stoned. Pray for me. Pray for me. And I think this
next thing he asked him to pray for is very interesting. He says,
pray, strive in your prayers to God for me that my service,
which I have for Jerusalem, may be accepted of the saints. Look in verse 25, but now I go
into Jerusalem to minister unto the saints For it hath pleased
them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution,
for the poor saints were in Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily,
and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been
made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to
minister unto them in carnal things." Now you read about this
also in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Turn with me there. 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. Verse 1, Moreover, brethren,
we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed upon the churches
of Macedonia, how then in great trial of affliction the abundance
of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their
liberality, their generosity. For to their power I bear record,
yea, beyond our power, they were willing of themselves, praying
us with much entreaty that we should receive the gift. and
take upon us the fellowship of the ministering of the saints.
And this they did not, as we hope, but first gave their own
selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God." Now, that's
what Paul is talking about when he talks about this gift he's
bringing to the poor saints in Jerusalem that these people in
Macedonia had collected. He says, pray that the Lord would
enable them to accept the gift. They didn't have a hard time
with it. They were poor. They needed it.
Why is he saying that? For two reasons. We can't even
accept a gift without the grace of God. And they may be too proud to
accept it. I don't need anything from you.
Or they may have a sense of entitlement. I should get this. We can't even
accept a gift. What did the Lord say? He said,
without me, you know the rest of the verse? Without me, you
can do nothing. You can't even accept a gift. It takes the grace of God to
receive grace. And he is asking that these people
would strive with me in prayer that these people might be enabled
to accept this gift as it ought to be received and accepted. I tell you what, if that's not
a testimony to how needy we are and how much we're dependent
upon grace, I once again, without me, you can do nothing. I like
what Spurgeon said. He didn't say without me, you
can do almost nothing. Without me, you can do nothing,
not even receive a gift that is for your good. And so he says,
pray for me that they might do that. And thirdly, he said in
verse 32, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God. That's in Romans 15, 32. I want to come to you with joy
by the will of God or according to the will of God. I don't want
to go anywhere that's not according to His will, do you? I don't
want to. I want His will to be done, not
my will. I don't know what is going to
happen in Mexico after the Lord taking Cody, but I know this,
His will is going to be done. That's all I want to be done.
If he shuts things down, the will of the Lord be done. If
he prospers it in an amazing way, the will of the Lord be
done. But I want to, wherever I go, whatever I do, Lord, cause
your will to be done. Don't let me go on my own. When the Lord told Jonah to go
to Nineveh, Jonah switches directions, goes in another direction. He
didn't want to go to Nineveh, did he? Well, through that disobedience
of Jonah, you know what we have? The Book of Jonah. We have that
glorious prayer of Jonah from the whale's belly. We have that
declaration of salvation is of the Lord. We have the Lord using
that as the one sign, the sign of Jonah, three days in, three
days out. Blessing there was in his disobedience,
but it was disobedience, and it was wrong, and it was sin,
and he was wrong in doing it. He wasn't going according to
the will of God. Now, I know God's will is done,
but what he was doing was an act of disobedience. And I don't
want to do that. I want, by the grace of God,
I want him to, to make it to where I'm caused to do his will.
You know, I've, I've heard people say about you all, but you all
act like you think you're nothing but robots, you know, with your
belief in God's sovereignty. I tell you what, that doesn't
sound like too bad of a thing to me. You think so? How would you like
to be God's robot program simply to do his will? I've got no problem
with that at all. I really don't. As a matter of
fact, I like it. That's the way I want it to be. I want his will
to be done that he would Take away my will. Take my will and
make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Cause
your grace to reign in me. Cause me by irresistible, invincible
grace that I can't fight off. Cause me to do your will. Now
why are you saying that? Because I know I won't unless
He does. That's why I'm saying it and that's why I'm asking
Him to do it. I want to come according to the will of God.
And you know I want to do it with joy too. I want to do it
with joy. I want to come to see you because
it's God's will for me to come to see you, and I want to come
with joy. You see, the gospel is a thing
of joy. Now, joy doesn't mean happiness. Understand that. I don't want
to be harsh when I say this, but when someone says, I'm not
happy, my thought is, who cares? Really, and I don't mean that
in a, well, I guess it doesn't sound, there's no way you can
say that to make it sound good. But what's happiness got to do
with anything? Really, I'm not happy. Well, every time I hear
that, I grit my teeth because that person's getting ready to
do something bad to make sure that they're going to be happy.
I'm not happy. Happiness is circumstances. Joy is in the Lord. That's the
difference. Happiness is how things are going.
Joy is in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And the gospel of the gospel
we preach, it's a thing of joy. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. I can't express to you the joy
I receive out of knowing that Jesus Christ is my righteousness
and He's the only righteousness I have. And you know what I get
from that? Joy. I love it in that way. I may be miserable in everywhere
else. My circumstance may be bad. I may be sick. I may be
in pain. I may be in want. as far as what
I consider, but I still have joy in the Lord. The kingdom
of God is joy. We read of the joy and the peace
of believing. What about the joy of justification? Justification, when I hear people
talk about justification, well, it's a forensic doctrine, you
know, where you carry... No, the joy of being justified
before God. The joy of being redeemed, having
my sins paid for, put away. The joy of Romans 8, 28, that
all things work together for good, everything. To them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. The joy of thinking, I really don't have
anything to fear on Judgment Day. I really don't have any
sin. The joy of knowing I'm complete
in Him. The joy of the gospel. Oh, we rejoice in the truth of
how God saves sinners by His grace. The joy of His presence. Nothing like it. Paul says, I
want to come to you with joy according to the will of God.
And as you well know, we won't have this joy, which we all need,
unless God gives us grace to have it. We'll murmur and complain
and grumble and find fault with God's providence. And you know,
anytime we worry, all we're saying is we don't really believe He's
in control. Anytime we complain, all we're saying is, I don't
think that this is of God. We're upset with it. But may
the Lord give us the grace to rejoice always. And again, I say rejoice. And maybe verse 32 and may with
you be refreshed. Refreshed. Now the word refreshed is rest. What is more refreshing than
resting? What is more refreshing than
ceasing from your own works as God did from his and simply resting
in Christ? Knowing. that all God requires
of you, He looks to His Son for, and there's nothing for you to
do but rest. The Lord said, Come unto Me,
and I'll give you rest. Rest. Oh, I'm refreshed. Rest. There is no rest, there
is no refreshment like Christ himself. But you know, believers
can be so refreshing. Let's take the Beatitudes. How refreshing is it to be around
someone that really is poor in spirit? How refreshing is it to see someone
who truly mourns over their sin? How refreshing is it to see someone
who's meek before God and that anything he brings their way
by way of his providence, it's right because he does it. Whatever
he does is right. How refreshing is it to see someone
hunger and thirst after righteousness, after Christ? How refreshing
it is to see someone who is merciful because they've obtained mercy
and they're merciful. How refreshing is it is to see someone on who
really is pure in heart. They look purely to Christ. They've
got that new heart that believes the gospel. How refreshing it
is to see someone who's a peacemaker. They're not looking for a fight.
They're not being contentious. They're peacemakers. How refreshing
it is to be around somebody like that, a true peacemaker. How
refreshing is it to be around someone who is persecuted for
righteousness sake? They believe the righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness there is. They believe the righteousness
of God is the only righteousness there is. And they're willing
to be persecuted. They're going to be taking such
a dogged stand on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. How refreshing
is it to see the beatitude? You know, you can see it in other
people better than you can see it in yourself, can't you? You can see it. How
refreshing is the fruit of the Spirit. Sing that in someone.
Sing someone who really loves the Lord. They love His gospel. They have joy in the Lord and
what peace they have from simply resting in Him. They're long-suffering
because God's long-suffering to them and they're gentle and
good. Faithfulness, meekness, temperance. Against such there
is no law. How refreshing is the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. How refreshing it is to see someone
cheerful in trial, lowly, meek, generous, quick to forgive, zealous for
God's glory. How refreshing it is to see real
faith, isn't it? How refreshing it is to see somebody
do something for Christ's sake. No other reason. Not to get brownie
points, not to earn a higher award, not to show anybody, but
they still do it simply for Christ's sake. I think of the woman breaking
that alabaster box of ornament. It's the only work the Lord ever
called a good work. Beautiful. Premeditated. Broke
it. Lavish. Expensive. Did it solely
for Christ. Didn't think about anybody else.
Wasn't trying to impress anybody. Wasn't trying to earn a higher
award. She did it for Christ's sake. The Lord said she brought
a good work on me. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that
refreshing? How refreshing it is to be in
a group of people listening to the gospel and loving what they're
hearing and believing what they're hearing. How refreshing it is
when brethren dwell together in unity. How refreshing to see
people of different backgrounds come together in love. How refreshing
when believers dwell in peace, quick to take the lowest seat
in the house, quick to show deference one to another. Refreshing, isn't
it? I want to be refreshed by being
around folks like that, and I want to be a refreshment. May God give everybody in this
room the grace to be a refreshment. He said, I want to be refreshed
with you. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
refreshing gospel, how we thank you for the rest that's in Christ.
Lord, give us the grace. To refresh. One another. Lord, as we face this coming
week, we ask that your hand would be upon us, that you'd order
our steps in your word. Let no iniquity have dominion
over us. And Lord, give us grace to be servants one to another.
Whatever we do, O Lord, enable us to be a refreshment to one
another. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.