A word or two of introduction
before we read from Romans 15. David, the psalmist, wrote in
one of his psalms, Behold how good and how pleasant
it is. when brethren dwell together
in unity. David said, Behold, pause and
gaze upon such a wonder, brethren dwelling together in unity, a
wonder seldom seen, for experience teaches us that most brethren,
according to the flesh, are better off a little apart, as Abraham
and Lot found it to be true. But when brethren can, by the
grace of God, dwell together in mind and judgment, dwell together
in heart and affection, dwell together in doing that which
is good Their fellowship is worthy to behold. David said, behold,
how good, how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together
in union and unity. Their fellowship and communion
is not only worthy to behold, but God thought it fit to talk
about it in a psalm, a holy psalm. And David said, behold, and he
uses the word how twice, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity. When they dwell together
in unity, it's evidence that they're true believers. And where
you find it, study it carefully. For unity is the evidence not
only of true believers, but of God's presence. Therefore, not
only study it, but where it's found, it's worthy of admiration,
how good and how pleasant, and it's worthy of imitation. And
God looks upon the fellowship of believers in unity with approval. Therefore, let us strive. to dwell together in unity and
to be in mind and heart and duty as one. As our Lord prayed in
John 17, Father, that they may be one as we are. I in thee and thou in me, that
they may be one in us. And this is the subject of Romans
15. So I would have you turn to Romans chapter 15. This is
the subject of this chapter, the mutual affection and unity
among those who love God. The mutual affection and unity
among those who believe on the Lordship of Christ. And I call
this message the Fellowship of Faith. Romans 15 verse 1 begins We then that are strong, and
not anyone here would lay claim to being strong in himself. Not
anyone here. Well, what is the Apostle Paul
speaking of here? We then that are strong. Well,
he gives us a definition of true strength. He says, don't turn
to this, I'll quote it. He says in 2 Corinthians 12,
10, when I am weak, then am I strong. When I'm aware of my weakness
and inability spiritually, when I'm aware of the fact that the
arm of flesh provides me no help and no strength, when I'm aware
of my own weakness, then I'm able to look totally to Christ. And at no other time am I able
to look totally to Christ unless I know that there's no help anywhere
else. And when I look totally to Christ,
He provides me with strength, His strength, with grace, His
grace, with understanding, His wisdom. And then I'm strong. You see? Paul says, when I have
nothing to contribute and it all comes from him, that's power. That's power. That's strength. That's wisdom, if it's his wisdom.
That's grace, if it's his grace. That's strength, if it's his
strength. Not unto us. Not unto us, O Lord,
to thy name give glory. So that's what he means when
he says, when I'm weak. then, and only then am I strong. And the strong here is not only
ministers and elders and people who've been around a long, long
time, but these who are strong, number one, there's three things
about them. They are sure of their inability
and of his ability. They're sure of his sufficiency,
the sufficiency of Christ. They say with Paul, I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able. I'm not, but he is. And he's
able to keep that that I've committed to him against that day. He's
able to save unto the very most those that come to God by him.
He's able to do all things. I'm sure of that. And secondly,
this strength is when we're fully dependent on him. Paul said,
I can do all things. through Christ which strengthens
me. Without Him, I can do nothing. Nothing. I can't be a blessing
to you, I can't edify you, or comfort you, or strengthen you. I can do nothing in myself. But
in Him, I can do all things if He speaks through me and blesses
me with His presence. And then thirdly, We're not only
sure of his sufficiency and dependent upon his power, but we're taught
in his word. Over in Hebrews, Paul said, he
has said, he has said, I'll never leave you. So I can boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I'll not fear what man shall
do. I can't say anything boldly unless he's at it. So I say unto
you, the more we're taught in God's Word, the more positive
we can be, and the more bold we can be, and the plainer we
can be in our declaration of truth. If we're taught of God. That strength comes of a confidence
in His sufficiency. That strength comes in a dependence
upon His grace. And that strength comes upon
an understanding of His Word. All right, let's read on. We then that are strong, and
that's the strength Paul's talking about, we ought to bear the infirmities
of the weak. Who are the weak? Well, this
weakness does not arise from a lack of faith. All believers
have faith. He's not talking about people
who have no faith. He's not talking about a lack
of faith, he's talking about an immaturity in faith. They're new believers. These
people are babes in Christ. Those who are weak and those
who are immature in faith are those who have faith, and a faith
that saves. It's not the strength of faith
that saves, it's the presence of faith. It's the truth of faith. But these people are new believers.
They're babes in Christ. That's what John called them.
He said, I write unto you fathers. I write unto you young men. I
write unto you little children who are babes in Christ. Well,
how do you deal with babes? Let me show you a scripture.
I want you to turn to this one. 1 Thessalonians 2. Some of you
ladies sitting out here before me this morning, You have little
ones, little children. Some of you have babes, really
small babes. And then some have babes that
are two or three years old. Some have babes that are eight
or nine or ten. How do we deal with them? In
1 Thessalonians 2, 7, he said, But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse, a mother, cherisheth her children. So being affectionately
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted to you not the
gospel of God only, but our very own souls, because you're dear
to us. You treat a baby with tenderness
and kindness and affection, and you do for them what they can't
do for themselves. They're babies. You don't expect
them. and they're too harsh with little
ones. They don't understand, these
little ones don't understand what you're saying, and why you're
saying it, and what you want them to do. One of my grandchildren
said one time, he said yes, and his daddy said yes, he said yes
sir, no sir, what sir? I don't know what to say! I don't know what to say, what
do you want? And this weakness is because
of immaturity in faith, and weakness also is a lack of knowledge.
Babes are babes not only in understanding, they're babes in knowledge. They've
got to go to school, they've got to learn some things. And
how does a believer grow? Well, watch these scriptures.
Ephesians 4 says, Speak the truth in love that you may grow up. Speak the truth in love, that
ye may grow up into Christ in all things. Listen to 1 Peter
2. As newborn babes, immature in
the faith, as newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word, sincere milk of the word, not the yelling
and screaming. indoctrinating the milk of the
word, that you may grow thereby, grow thereby. 1 Peter, 2 Peter
3, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. So we that are strong ought to
bear the infirmities, the immaturities of the weak, and not to please
ourselves. not to please ourselves. The
children of God, we who are children of God, are not chosen and called
and placed where God's put us, to please ourselves. We're not called and chosen and
put where we are to please ourselves. The Lord has blessed us with
a knowledge of himself, not to please ourselves. He's blessed
us with certain gifts and talents, not to please ourselves. He's
blessed us with goods and possessions and prosperity, not to please
ourselves. But all this is to be good stewards
of what he's given us, good stewards of the grace of God. In order,
he says, verse 2, that every one of us please his neighbor
for his good, not please ourselves, not only for our good, for his
good, to encourage him and strengthen him and help him and edify him. Our Lord was teaching his disciples.
They were having an argument about who ought to be the greatest.
James and John said, Their mother came to the Lord. She used her
influence. She said, when you come into
your kingdom, would you grant that my two sons, James and John,
be permitted to sit on your right hand and your left hand? And
the other disciples were upset by this. They were really upset. But they weren't upset over the
mother's immaturity. And the sons, covetousness and
greed, they wanted to sit there. They were upset. They felt like
they were the ones that ought to sit there. And so the Lord
told them, here's what he said. Whosoever would be great among
you, let him be your minister. Whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life
a ransom for many. So God didn't choose me and call
me and bless me with what he's blessed me with to please myself, to draw a circle around my little tribe and live for myself. He's done this for his glory
and the good of his church and the blessing of his people, not
to please myself. Because, verse 3, he said, even
Christ, even our Lord Jesus Christ pleased
not himself. Now this statement applies to
two areas. Two areas. Number one, the subject
we're on right now. We that are strong ought to bear
the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let
every one of us please his neighbor for his good, for his growth,
for his edification. For Christ didn't please himself.
But our Lord is the example of patience and love. and forbearance
and forgiveness unto those who are weak. His disciples were
weak like we are. They were frail, weak men. Can
you imagine? I tried to imagine this when
I was studying this point. Can you imagine how most of his
contacts with these disciples must have vexed his holy nature?
This discussion about who's going to be the greatest, who's going
to sit on the right hand or the left hand, Who's going to, don't
you know that vexed his nature? His holy nature? Can you imagine how most of his
contacts with people on this earth must have troubled his
holy divine spirit? He who is infinite in love and
infinite in humility and infinite in kindness and infinite in grace,
as he watched the carnality of these men, and our carnality,
and the doubts and fears, and the selfishness, and the ignorance. It must have vexed him. He said
so many times, O ye of little faith, wherein did you doubt? O ye of little faith, how long
will I be with you? O ye of little faith. But he
was always so tenter with them, wasn't he? Always so forgiving. He said, Peter, before the cock
crows tonight three times, you'll deny you even know me. But I
prayed for you. I love you. I'll hold you up. So that's what he's talking about
here. He's saying this. He's our example. We the strong
ought to bear the infirmities and weaknesses and failures and
falls of the weak. and not please ourselves. Even
Christ pleased not himself. But here he is referring, secondly,
to his work of redemption. In redeeming us from sin and
from death and from hell, he sought not his own ease. He came
to this earth to do his Father's will, wishing not that I must
be about my Father's business. I come not to do my will, but
the will of him that sent me. He sought not his own ease. He came to do the Father's will
and work. He always, he said, I always
do those things that please my Father. In obedience, in suffering and
death, please the Father for us. He's a representative. Everything he did was not to
please himself or for himself, but for us. He became incarnate
for us. He was tempted at all points,
despised and rejected of men, a man of sovereigns acquainted
with grief for us. He suffered and died and arose
for us. He ascended to glory where he
seated at the right hand of God for us. Why do you think that
that is referring to his sacrifice for us? I'll read verse 3 again.
For Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, where is
it written? Psalm 69, verse 9, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. Well, let's go over there
and see what that says. The Apostle Paul is wise in the
scriptures, and so when he dealt with this Christ pleased not
himself, He went back and quoted the scripture under the leadership
wisdom of the Holy Spirit. This is Christ speaking, this
is a Messianic Psalm, Psalm 69 verse 9. For the zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that
reproach thee are fallen on me. The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. This is what the Messiah is saying
to the Father. The zeal. What's that word? The
devotion to. The enthusiasm for. For thy kingdom,
thy house, thy kingdom, thy church, thy people. The zeal, the devotion,
the enthusiasm, the commitment to thy kingdom and thy church
hath eaten me up. It's consumed me. I'm taken up
with your glory and your covenant and the work you've given me
to do. And the reproaches, the offense, the sins, the guilt
of all those who reproached you, insulted you, my father, offended
you, my father, all the reproaches of them that reproached you have
fallen on me. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By stripes we are
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
turning everyone to his own way. And the Lord God hath laid on
him the reproaches the offenses, the iniquity of us all. He pleased not himself. So, let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. I and my Father are one,
he said. He that has seen this, seen the
Father. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. took upon himself the form of
a servant, was made in the likeness of flesh, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God is highly
exalted in him, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Verse
4, For all whatsoever things were written aforetime. What
is this? It's the Old Testament. Also,
in our case, the New Testament. Paul is talking to people who
lived in the days of the New Testament, which was not being
written. He says, all these things which were written aforetime
were written for our learning. You and I, this far along in
the journey, can say this is true Old Testament and New Testament.
All of these things which were written aforetime were written
for our learning, to instruct us. Brother man, why do you make
so much of the Word? You read it before the service
starts, you read it during the song service, you read it during
the preaching, and then you preach verse by verse. Because I don't
want you to pay any attention to anything I say that I don't
get from this book. Just don't pay any attention to it. If they speak not according to
the Scriptures, it's because there's no light in them. And
I watch these men preach, I watch them on television sometimes,
just to see what they're saying. And they're prancing around,
entertaining people, and they're not teaching the Word of God.
And these things were written for your learning, that you might
be instructed in the ways of God, in the knowledge of the
will of God, in the knowledge of the Son of God, in the knowledge
of the glory of God. Because let me tell you something.
These things were written for our learning. No one can know
God apart from an understanding of scriptures. Now that's just so. No one can
know God apart from the scriptures. No man, Christ said, can come
to me except my Father drawing, and they shall be taught of God. Whosoever hath learned and been
taught of God, you come to me. How is he taught of God? Through
the scriptures. In 1 John 5.20, Now the Son of God hath come,
and given us an understanding, that we may know him that is
true. This is the true God. And Jesus Christ, whom he sent,
this is the true God. This is eternal life. And these
are written, that you might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
believing ye might have life everlasting. These things are
written. In Luke 24, verse 45, he gathered
his disciples around him, and then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And beginning at
Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, he taught them the things
concerning himself. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? I shall hear what I preach, and
I shall preach if they are not sin. And if they are sin, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach glad tidings of good things. Whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, watch it now, that
we, through patience, perseverance, and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. There's no hope
apart from the scriptures. There's no hope apart from patience
and comfort of the scriptures. The more I'm acquainted with
the word of God, the precious promises of the word of God,
the faithful provisions of the word of God, the more I'm absorbed
in this book and taught this word The stronger my faith, faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. The stronger
my hope, that's what this says here, that they might have hope. These things are written, written
for your learning, that you through perseverance and comfort of the
scriptures might have hope. Stronger my love, and the greater
my peace. We're depriving ourselves of
a growth in faith, hope, love, and peace, because we're not
in the Word as much as we ought to be. So here's the benediction. Now, the God of peace, the God
of patience, the God of patience, oh, how patient he is, how long-suffering
he is with us, how thankful we are and must be and ought to
be how forgiving he is, the God of patience. Aren't you glad
he's called in the scriptures God of grace? There's no grace
apart from him. He's the fountain of grace. He
is love. He's the fountain of love. He
is the God of patience and long-suffering. A scripture I read a while ago,
David said, I would have fainted if I had not believed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, so I wait
on him. God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded,
patient, and comforting toward one another. Be patient, long-suffering,
and forgiving. According to Christ Jesus According to two things according
to his commandment He said you don't forgive I won't
forgive you That's a commandment love one another as I've loved
you By this shall all men know you
my disciples if you love one another that's his commandment,
but that's his example This according to Christ Jesus is according
to his commandment, but according to his example. Listen. When I have forgiven every offense and every wrong,
whether I have imagined it or experienced it, when I have borne
what I think to be hard words, or hard thoughts or bad actions,
what I think to be. They're not always what I think
they are, but when I've forgiven even those I think. When I've
overlooked every weakness and failure in others, when I've
tried to understand and comfort every fall and every failure
of every friend, when I've done all that, if it were possible,
I still haven't borne, endured, or forgiven one fraction of what
God has endured, and borne, and forgiven in me. Isn't that right? Not one fraction. When I've done
all, if it were possible for me to do all that, to forgive
every offense, and every word, and every fault, I wouldn't have
forgiven one fraction of what he had The Lord grants, he says here in verse 6, that
you may be of one mind and one mouth, that you may with one
mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father, our Lord Jesus
Christ. I put this in the bulletin for
next Sunday, that we may with one mind and one mouth glorify
God. the father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. How is God glorified? How can we glorify God? Well,
here's a suggestion, several. God is glorified when the perfections
of his nature are recognized and admired. The perfections
of his nature, who God is. God's holy. God's just. God's loved. God's righteous.
And we recognize and admire those attributes. We glorify God. Secondly, God is glorified when
the work of his hands is praised. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament, the things that are made. The earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof. And when we recognize in creation
and providence and grace the work of his hand and own it and
admire it, God's glorified. God is glorified when the gospel
of his grace in Christ Jesus is believed. That's right. When we believe, glorify God.
When his Son is received and loved and worshipped and exalted
in our minds, hearts, and with our lips, God is glorified. God is glorified when his people
believe him. There's nothing that It pleases
a person more than you to trust
him. Wouldn't you say that? I read
a story about a college football player that
was so good that years ago the pros wanted him. And the president
of the New York Jets came to his school. before they played
their last game, and told this boy they wanted him and they
were going to give him an awesome sum of money. And his coach was
standing there. And the boy said, I'll sign with you. The man said,
well, why don't we do it now secretly? Nobody will know about
it. You sign now, and we can all
rest in this. His coach spoke up and said,
you can rest in it if he says you'll do it. And the man folded the paper
and said, if he said so, you can believe him. And God's glorified
when we believe him, when we trust him, when we worship him,
when we walk in his will and his way. And God is glorified
when brethren dwell together in unity, in one heart and one
mind. Receive ye one another, how? As Christ received us. Receive ye one another as Christ
received us, freely, without reservation, without merit, lovingly. All right, I hope that's a blessing.