God's Glory Personified

We're privileged to be able to go online and pick up where we left off. I feel like a stranger here. I've been gone the last couple of weeks and it was neat just to listen to Roger this morning teaching last week. Some of the issues that came up last week I found were somewhat interesting. It's always nice to be unable to respond and listen to the lesson.

That way your own input is irrelevant and that's probably the best way for me at times to be irrelevant rather than being part of the Anyway, today's topic in Romans 15 is entitled God's Glory Personified. In a sense, this kind of deals with the oneness of the body before the Lord, and we're going to see as we go through the text how everyone is kind of part of this personification.

But I think this is kind of, if you will, a benediction, and I'll mention that in the teaching here this morning, kind of a benediction of the doctrinal aspects of Romans. After this morning, we're going to kind of get more moved into the field and the way God works through Paul and his travels, sharing the gospel. But this kind of concludes the doctrinal aspects of the Book of Romans.

And as you know, we've been at this two years. There's a lot of doctrine here. And we're kind of wrapping it up here this morning. And the last verse of this morning, verse 13, really is a very outstanding verse. And in fact, Newell has shared this maybe as one of the greatest verses for the believer that can be actually experienced. So we'll come to that near the conclusion of this morning's lesson. So let's go ahead and read the text before us now. And I'm not going to go back where Roger left off last week.

Keep in mind that in the last verse of chapter 14, one of the great phrases of the Bible, whatever is not of faith is sin. And you touched on that some, I think we could spend a whole lesson on that phrase, that whatever is not of faith is sin. Boy, in context it really relates to a lot of the issues that we were discussing in terms of not offending your brother and accepting of other people's choices and the flexibility you have in the spirit in terms of what is right and not right. reflects the kind of the life of the body. Now we kind of, in the beginning of this chapter, kind of went back to the Lord Jesus Christ and really dealt with some of the issues of infirmities and suffering and weakness and his, the reproaches he experienced.

And now we'll set the stage for what we're going to do today. So who's ready with this text? Gail, can you read 15, 4 through 13? For whatever things were written in earlier times, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another. Glory to Christ Jesus, that you may with my mind and my tongue glorify God as the evil father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to receive you one another as Christ also received us. Glory to God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was the minister of the circumcision of the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers.

And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written, For this promise I will confess to thee among the nations, and sing unto thy name, and again say, Rejoice, ye nations, with this people. And again, praise the Lord, all ye nations, and laud him, all ye peoples. And again, Isaiah said, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise to reign over the nations, and in him shall the nations trust. Now the God of hope will you evolve joy and peace in the living, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you, Gil. All right, verse four. For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. And we're going to begin today's lesson with hope, and we're going to end with hope. So it's a good place for us to be dwelling in hope. So earlier times and for our instruction.

What are we talking about here? Sounds like a good answer to me. Everybody okay with that? Okay. So what about that? Well, let's just turn to Scripture to comment on Scripture. It's always the way to do things rather than what we think, no matter what the Word of God says. So in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, it says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Now that doesn't say that some of Scripture is profitable, right? I mean, in a sense, we need to tuck it in all the way from Genesis through Revelation.

But I do have a statement that I'd like to make. You know, all of Scripture is for us. But it's not necessarily about us. We've got to be clear that we don't live in Deuteronomy. That doesn't mean Deuteronomy is not valuable. The entire Word of God is for us and is there for instruction. But it's not all about us.

And I think that's where the neo-evangelical community has gone astray a bit because they pull verses out of Proverbs and Psalms that are applied to the church inappropriately. It's not really what the verse says. The verse says all scripture is given by inspiration. We don't doubt that, do we?

And it's profitable for doctrine. I mean, if you think about it, the New Testament body of Christ doctrine is built on from whence we've come. And the book of Galatians, as Berne is teaching, really very appropriately puts Galatians in its appropriate context of law versus grace. So it's inspired by God, it's profitable for doctrine and for all the things that follow in righteousness that the man of God may be complete and that completeness really is the principle grace applied to the background of law from whence it's come.

So again it's all for us but not necessarily about us. We okay with that? Alright. So it says here that for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. So what's the basis of perseverance and encouragement?

Well, the scriptures, isn't it? So what does this look like? And I'm going to ask you for some personal examples. So we're taking the entire word of God and we're saying that it's there for our instruction. And so God's word is there for our instruction and the consequences of that is that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. So what's that look like? What does it mean when it says the perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures? gives rise to hope. You might think of Abraham. He simply believed God was righteous. So that's pretty straightforward. There's nothing very complicated about that. He simply trusted God. But it wasn't a trivial trust in God. It was significant in terms of that particular event with the sons.

So you might say, well, in your life, you may have some situation where you trust God through a difficult time. I kind of see that falling into the perseverance part of that. And intellectually, it may not make sense, right? I mean, the circumstances that surround us may, in fact, not be cognitively sound.

But yet, the fact that the scripture, through people like Abraham, think of Joseph in Egypt and the things that he went through. But by faith, ultimately, that perseverance and encouragement really provided Joseph with something downstream that ultimately was more glorifying than the circumstances he was having to experience. So, plenty of examples in the Old Testament in earlier times. where examples by God's grace of faith really play out for us to relate to. Again, we're not Abraham, we're not David, we're not Joseph, but we see what these men went through without a certainty ahead of them other than the faith that God had given them to respond.

Art? I think especially in these days, maybe more than in former days, Genesis for us and for the church The matter of creation rather than revolution or evolution is very important. And whereas, I think Genesis would be about us or to us or for us, but no. Let it be both for and to us. Genesis was kind of pre-law in a sense, so there's almost a lot more relevance of us in relationship to the fathers, if you will.

Remember, this part of Rome is dealing with the pre-law aspects of the fathers, because that's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, kind of the relationship that that the Lord had with the fathers in terms of those promises do to some extent relate to us by faith in terms of the promises God has for us.

When we think of hope, we do think of promises, do we not? I mean, the hope is that future glorification that we in fact relate to as New Testament believers. So, and the verse ends that we might have hope. If we look at this, this is present active subjunctive, so that means present tense, it's an active tense, we might have it, that we might keep on having it. It's kind of the best translation of having hope, is that we might continue to have this hope. And that's the perseverance and encouragement of the Word of God that gives us that.

And in context, I think if we flip back a few verses, it relates to Christ's sufferings. I mean, the idea here is that our hope is not based on what we're experiencing on a day-to-day basis. But if you look at verse three, for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them, the reproach thee fell on me. I mean, in a sense, it in context relates to kind of the fact that we may have tough times here.

Everything's not beautiful and glorious all the time, but yet our hope carries us through those experiences really to allow God to sustain us by our faith. Other thoughts? Yes, Gail. Going back to the personal experiences, I would relate one that happened when I was 18. Can people hear, Gail? No. It was when I was 18 years old, the Lord got me to Biola College against all hope.

The situation was absolutely, you're not going. And I knew very little then. I didn't know about positions. There was a lot of stuff I didn't know. A lot of confusion spiritually, I'm sure. And yet I hung on to Jeremiah 33.3. which kind of jumped out of the Bible and said, call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which I was not necessarily what it did, and I got there. How about that? Yeah, it was great. So I just kept hoping, hanging on, persevering, saying, I know I'm going, I know I'm going.

I mean, something we were talking about a little bit on Friday night at our Bible study, this whole idea of eternity is a whole different sphere. We're operating on a real temporal time zone here, where today becomes tomorrow and then the next day. But eternally, I mean, we're placed in Christ in ways that we don't understand here. Other thoughts? All right, good. Let's look at James 5, 7 through 11, which is kind of perfect for this section in terms of other scripture. David, could you read that for us, please? Sure.

Be patient, therefore, brethren, for the coming of the Lord. Behold, armor waits for the precious crows of the soil. Be impatient about it until it hits the early and late rains. You too be patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing right at the door. As an example, brethren of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, the Catholic blessed to endure. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's healings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. Good. Thank you. All right.

Combining verses 5 and 6, kind of a theme here in these two put together, New American Standard again. Now, may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement, so this perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures is God-given, right? This verse in a sense exemplifies that. May the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord, you may, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's take a look at that now. Again, scripture modifying scripture.

2 Corinthians 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. The call is to the same mind here according to Christ Jesus. Now, this is kind of Jew, Gentile, meats, no meats. I mean, we're talking about one mind here, but it's the one mind of Christ, not necessarily our mind. I mean, in a sense, we're called to one mind as a body, but now we're called to a higher one-mindedness, and that's of Christ.

Ephesians 1.17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. So, talking about Christ has one view on this whole thing, and we're to have that view, and although we struggle here with our own opinions and our own views of particularly things that could stumble one another, we're talking about the mind of Christ now.

Philippians 2.5, let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus. I mean, the theme here is his mind. And that mind should be personified in the body of believers.

This is our only and perfect metric, his mind. And boy, at times, don't you wish you really could have a perfect view as his view is? I mean, we struggle with these things that we talked about the last three or four weeks about meats and not eating meats and alcohol, not no alcohol, and even tobacco. The Word of God doesn't say don't smoke. I mean, the issue is in terms of these kinds of behaviors, how they reflect really the mind of Christ in the body. So it's his mind that we want and that's the perfect metric. It's not simply being like-minded with one another, but it's one mind with him is what we're seeking here. Any thoughts about this?

Of course, Peter 4.11, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. I don't think you could say it any better than that. The result ultimately is God is glorified.

I mean, if we have the mind of Christ and that's personified in our behavior and our response, then God is glorified. In fact, we're on our own agenda and ultimately there's disharmony among the brethren, then God is not glorified. And how do you think we at Holly Hills are doing here? Do we have the mind of Christ?

Nobody's responding. What is this? What kind of a class is this? We've got a bunch of sleepy people here today. I think we focus on the Word of God and that's the most important thing. I've been to other churches where they may talk about the Lord, but the focus doesn't seem to be on the Lord. The focus is on the ability of the pastor or the music or the the music team, the programs. I mean, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on.

That's why we drive 40 miles or whatever it is to get here. You do. We pass probably 20 churches to get here. Does that mean we have a corner on the truth here? Oh, OK. But I think the teaching is such that we do teach the word of God. That's the focus. The other thing would be that, part of it is that it's a focus on Christ. I mean, the word is on the door-hold of Christ.

We know and understand Him. But it comes down, I might know Him. If you're not endeavoring to know Him, Other thoughts, comments, opinions? Well, we hope, right, that that's true, right? It's not being conformed to our own opinion or persuasion, right?

Remember what Christ said in John 6 about doing the work of God? What's doing the work of God? Thanks, Gail. So it's believing on him whom he had sent, right? So many places are trying to seek God's will for their lives in terms of their service and their works, but in fact it's a higher principle, isn't it? Believing on him who God had sent. So this text here about having one opinion and having the mind of Christ really reflects that as the mission, doesn't it?

Alright, moving onward here. Okay, we'll go back. What verse are we on here? Okay, let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace. So you're kind of asking about what this particular body of believers is about. If they're not about education, then they could be at peace conceivably. They could be at peace about what are they endeavoring to build one another up in Christ. It's like a dual purpose. And as you come down through here, it comes back to the hope that we have, but also it's in this unity of the body. and part of that unity of body is we build one another up. We collectively can be more on the same page.

If we're not building up, we have a brother that maybe over here is in the law, wants grace, and they're connected because they haven't been taught. So that's all about the body, and if they go together, peace just doesn't come, oh yeah, we're peaceful here. It's gotta come because we've been taught what the truth is. This doesn't happen.

It happens diligently as we look at God's word and we endeavor to understand what it says. Well, if you think about it, even in this teaching of the Book of Romans, which is almost two years old now, right? I mean, there have been times where there's been issues that have come up, right? And we've tried as teachers in this body, in this class, tried to reconcile those differences. And by the way, when those differences have not been reconciled, ultimately there's been times where there's been a bit of parting of the ways. I mean, even though that's not the goal here, we do need to have the mind of Christ. In the mind of Christ, the best we can discern it is spirit-led and kind of is there to reconcile differences.

I mean, if you go to a lot of churches, the reason there's three and four thousand is because everything is okay. I mean, up to a certain point. I mean, there is probably a basic doctrine that people go to that church for. But ultimately, if we're okay for this and okay for that, is that having the mind of Christ? Probably not.

But yet we're not here today to try to pick apart other bodies of believers. It seems that from observation, But many people go to church because of church programs. That's what Margaret was saying, yes. And we're not here for programs. We're here to learn the word of God. And that's really the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not?

Yeah, that's nice. We should put that on our website. Or you get the green or red revenue. Now that may not be a heavenly reward, Art, so don't necessarily, there's no room for cockiness here, so we just want to make sure we bring this into appropriate perspective. All right. Verse 7, therefore receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God. So that, you know, that's a high principle here. What's the therefore therefore, as J. Vernon so often says, right? So what are we relating this to? What's the therefore therefore? Well, it's related to things that have come before, is it not? To this kind of receiving of one another really is kind of taking to oneself. It's kind of having a oneness of mind. and includes all.

I mean, this is an all-inclusive. So here at Holly Hills, the goal here is one body having the mind of Christ. It involves the strong, the weak, the rich, the poor, the Jew, the Gentile. All is all-encompassing. We want the body to function as one and that's where the mind of Christ really acting out in the body. So we all come to Holly Hills because we're all comfortable enough with what we represent here as the truth of the Word of God, right? And so we want to reconcile to one mindness, to accepting one another, no matter what our backgrounds and how much we make and what we do. And that's the principle. It's not the overwhelming principle of the body of Christ. We're one in Christ.

Okay, 8 and 9. Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God. to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written, for this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name." Now, let's go back to Matthew a second. Matthew 15, 24. Donna, can you pull that for us and just read that? Because this was the reason, if you will, that Christ came, wasn't it? Maybe we should go back a few verses before that.

And then Jesus went from there and departed into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same borders and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a demon. 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 said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Wow. So what do we make of this here? So I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God. I mean, a servant to the circumcision. By the way, that's the only time this is used in the Bible. I mean, it relates, does it not, that Christ actually came to the nation of Israel with his message? But we know that it wasn't limited to that, don't we? I mean, we can read through this and say it wasn't so narrowly provided that his purpose was to bring the message to the nation of Israel. But yet Christ is all to all, and I think that's really what the verse says.

So let's turn to other texts and make sure that we don't overly, excuse me, narrowly interpret what the message is here. And again, using scripture to modify scripture, that's the best way. It's not what Bob thinks, or Roger thinks, or Jim Poole thought, or what Randy thinks. It's what scripture does to modify scripture.

You always got to come back to the Word of God to clarify. And yeah, I don't know, as a non-believer, I remember in college in my young adult years, I was always critical of people that claimed a verse because I thought that, you know, we can find a verse anytime we want to tear down what people are taking their position to defend God's Word about. I mean, you can always hit one verse and cream it, can't you? I mean, that's because one verse isn't all in all.

Christ is all in all. And so when we use scripture to describe and to interpret scripture, we go back to Romans 9, 4, and 5, among other verses, and there it says, Who are the Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises? Of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ Jesus came, who is over all the eternally blessed?

And then we go to Romans 4.16, Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. who is the father of us all. Now notice we talked a few minutes ago, didn't we, about reflecting back on the fact that we can identify with the principles of faith by grace in the book of Genesis.

And so here in Romans 4.16 it says, you know, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. We, in fact, are walking in faith, just like Abraham did. And Abraham was pre-law.

The Old Testament quotation in verse 9 here, that we're studying today, is a lift from Psalm 1849, and this is the first of four Old Testament references that also call the Gentile nations to praise God. So in context now we're going to see in the next few verses that four times the Old Testament is quoted. But yet it also are quotations that utilize the fact that utilize the principle that God in fact was going beyond the Jewish nations.

That in fact reaching out to the Gentiles. So it says in the end, for this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles. The confession really means to glorify. If you look at the Greek New Testament, often these words are interchangeable. To confess is to glorify.

All right. So the sequence of events. Acts 13, 46. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first, but since you're rejected and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. All right? Same message, same truth. But if you don't want it, goodness, God's going to take it to other nations. All nations. All. The Gentiles reflecting the rest of the world, not the Jew to whom the message was initially given.

Let's look at Ephesians 2.12 to 3.8. That's a long passage, but I think to do justice to this whole concept, we've got to make sure that we understand the principles of Jew first and then Gentile, but the message is the same and ultimately there to make sure that we understand the principles of grace. Okay, so I'm gonna go ahead and take the liberty to read this just to make sure that we move this along and that we can all hear this portrayed.

Ephesians 2.12, New King James, that at the times ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God of the world, but now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off, or made nigh, or near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, meaning Jew and Gentile, and hath broken down the middle wall of partitioning between us. having abolished in us the flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you who were far off, and to them that were near. for through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Therefore ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord. in whom ye also are built together for habitation of God through the Spirit. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me towards you, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in a few words, by which we then read, Ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

Therefore the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promises in Christ by the gospel, of which I made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual working of his power. unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, in this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

A long section of scripture, but really, ultimately, the message is for all. Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, meats, no meats. Let's go ahead now into looking at the ultimate fulfillment of this truth as it applies to both the Jew and the Gentile. And again he says, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. Old Testament. And again, Old Testament. Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Laud him for you peoples.

Okay, Deuteronomy 32.43 and Psalm 117.1, God's call to the Old Testament nations to rejoice with Israel.

In Deuteronomy 32.43, he actually really approaches this importance by the Song of Moses. And this is the prophetic recitation of the history of Israel with a view of the millennium. Interesting. So here he's dealing with again, he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. So he's calling the Gentile nations to really rejoice with the Jew, in terms of what's going to be happening, not only now, but into the future. And Psalm 117, interesting enough, is the shortest psalm of all the 150 psalms. It just has two verses.

And in that psalm, notice that all is used twice. here all nations all people okay 1512 again Isaiah says there shall be a root of Jesse and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him the Gentiles shall hope again Old Testament to the Jew to all nations Isaiah 11.10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people. For the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious. That's Old Testament Scripture everybody.

Isaiah 11.10 And I don't recall in the teaching of Isaiah whether Verne mentioned this. Does anybody recall whether or not he brought this forward? Remember, Verne kind of emphasized certain aspects of Isaiah, but this clearly he may have, I just don't recall, but he may have or could have really used this, again, as to the broad message of the prophetic voice of Isaiah. And you know, this passage relates to several passages in the books of Revelation and Daniel.

In Revelation 5, it says, But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and loose the seven seals. Root of David, right? Jesse, David, all wrapped up in Old Testament. Revelation 22 16 I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches I am the root and the offspring of David the Bright and Morning Star and Daniel 7 14 and to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom that all peoples all peoples right nations all and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." So again, this constant reiteration of the fact that this is not Israel only, but in fact includes the Gentiles, all nations, all languages, all peoples, for all time. It's all based on his resurrection.

We could turn to 1 Peter 1.21 to take a look at this.

But let's just look at 2 Timothy 2.8. It's particularly nice in context because it mentions the seed of David.

So in 2 Timothy 2.8 is the fact that the seed of David was raised from the dead according to the gospel. And that's really kind of what we're talking about here. The seed of David related to not only Israel, but also to the Gentiles, all nations, all people, all times.

All right, verse 13. And we're going to spend, I think, just a little bit more time here because this is the last verse for this morning, but I think it puts into context really everything that we've looked at. And again, this is the point where, in fact, If you look at this as a benediction, it really closes the doctrinal section of Romans. Jay Vernon brings this up in his commentaries, and I like this. Kind of a benediction of the doctrine of the Book of Romans. In fact, this verse kind of concludes it.

So let's look at this a little bit more closely, a little bit more expectantly, a little bit more comfortably, and a little more in terms of where we're at in terms of our Christian walk. The God of hope. Reflect back on verses 4, 5, and 12. Let's look back. Margaret, can you read Romans 15, verses 4, 5, and 12? 15, 4, 5, and 12? Mm-hmm. Wait a minute. All right. 15, 4.

For whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope, now that the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. And again Isaiah said, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in whom shall the Gentiles trust. Okay, now using all that, we in fact, we can reflect back and see how hope is built on this previous series of verses in this chapter. Filled with joy and peace, is there any better alternative? I mean, what's the alternative?

To be filled with lack of joy, depression, and discomfort, uncertainty? kind of confusion, unsettledness. Also, people are always, I mean, the world is looking for peace. So what does that mean? Peace, what kind of peace? And they want world peace, but they also want personal peace. So they buy more things, they drink more, they do drugs, they They're workaholics. I mean, you can go through just about anything to find peace, that fulfillment. To fill that void and to find peace. And the only peace there is, is in the Lord. No real peace anywhere. But the world is living. Joy and peace. Any better alternative for the believer? Or anybody? Believing and may abound.

Present, active, infinitive. Present, meaning now for everyone. Active, meaning we're part of the process. And infinitive, it's factual. Abound. Here, think abundance, right? Bounds. One plus two plus three plus four is infinity, right? I mean, abounding is something that continues to prevail and it's often thought of as unmeasurable.

Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given us. No disappointment in hope. There's nothing limiting about our hope or the hope that God gives us. God's hope for us as believers.

Help us, Greek, expectation that is typically associated with pleasure. Notice the necessity of the Spirit of God here. Okay, let's look at the verse. It says, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through what? Through the power of the Spirit. Try doing it without Him. Right? I mean, if you think about it a little bit, the Holy Spirit is probably the most difficult concept of the Christian experience, isn't it?

I mean, in a sense, if you think about sharing the Lord, sharing our life, trying to even share with fellow believers, we begin kind of with God. Who's God? Okay? Lots of opinions there who God is. From the very skeptic of no God to all the way to the most lifted up believer living by the spirit. Okay, then next Christ. Who's Christ? Okay. Son of God, huh? Lots of struggles there. But then if you in fact come to the point of agreeing, gee, Christ is the Son of God. born to die, to live forever, that we might relate to that, believe, and in fact that's the message.

Okay, we've come to a point of agreeing that then who's this Holy Spirit person? Tough, right? Who's the Holy Spirit? And how does he work in our life? How would you explain to somebody else either a believer, let's say a non-believer, anybody, who is the Holy Spirit and how does he work? Thoughts? Some skeptical mist. Right? This kind of this, goodness, this kind of nebulous concept of power. I don't know. Tell me. What's that? Okay, comforter. sent to reveal Christ.

Well, I think you almost have to start with the fact that God is the Trinity of God. You've got to start there, otherwise you've got three gods. You've got to start there and study that out. Back to the basics. So it's not like you kind of come to the point, yeah, I set God for who he is, but I'm not sure about Christ. Goodness Christ, yeah, okay, that's all right with me, but this spirit stuff, goodness gracious. Yeah, exactly, back to basics. Other concerns, other thoughts? Teaches? And the purpose and function of the spirit is what?

Yeah, I mean, because it's all wrapped up in one, but I mean, you'll go ahead, right? He is going to reveal the things of me. I mean, Christ says, I'm leaving, but the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is going to show you showed me the things of me, of Christ. I'm not going to be there anymore, but he's going to show us Christ.

So, I mean, the function of the Spirit is very selfless. I mean, he's going to show us Christ. And that's his function. So, yes, he's God. He's fully God. But his function is to show us Christ, which is kind of astounding. You have an aspect of God which is totally dedicated to show the believer basically who God is. It's kind of a mind boggling, and it's hard to grasp. There's no question about it. I think it clarifies. It clarifies. I mean in a sense it's all in all, right?

Everything's wrapped up into one, but yet the concept of the Holy Spirit really is part of the foundation of the Christian faith, but it's tough to share, tough to convince. But we all know in the absence of the Spirit, you know, goodness, again, How are you doing with your old man gaining these concepts? Yes, Wayne?

He also convicts the unbeliever and shows him the right path without the Holy Spirit. Without him just responding to that conviction. Newell claims that this verse, now again, you don't have to agree. No claims that this verse is the highest development of Christian experience.

Isn't that interesting? How you doing? Agree with that? What do you think? You okay with that? Everybody okay? You wouldn't think of that. At first reading, you probably would not think about it. You probably wouldn't think. There's just tons of other verses that quoted But if you think about it, think about this, Christian growth, save, we all begin, let's think about the process of Christian growth.

Saved from the penalty of sense right the first thing we come to So when you come salvation goodness As I come before God eternally My sins no longer make any difference to him. Okay. I'm kind of the beginning no penalty of sense Next whoops. I got them all written here because I didn't want to use another page Okay, secondly The next kind of concept of growth is power over sin, right? It's kind of what we've been doing here in Romans for the last two years.

Justified, but then who knows? Goodness, what follows? What follows is the capability of living beyond our ineptness. In other words, we got the capability to live in the Christian life because before God we have the potential to living. beyond our sinful nature.

So no penalty of sins, but power, not only penalty, no penalty of sins, but power over sin. Next, service. I mean, in a sense, kind of Romans 12 stuff, forward, right? So the service is, goodness, power, no penalty of sins, power to live above sin, but now the life gets lived.

And then finally, believing and abounding in this hope. Wow. So, in other words, I think what Newell tried to conceptualize here is this takes you on top, keeps you on top. Where are we going with this? No penalty, power to live above, service, believing that that life is lived out to meet the needs of others, and then finally, goodness, the victory to living. a life that is not only believing no penalty, power above sin, and helping others, but yet living to believe confidently, joy, abundance, and hope. Something to ponder a little bit, huh?

I mean, I'm not necessarily going to die for this first, but it's okay, isn't it? Isn't it okay to say, gee whiz, rest, grace, hope. As I was looking through these various commentaries, and Neil came up with this near the end, I took a step back and said, wow, it's okay. In other words, it's okay to fall back and say, maybe no one's right here, goodness gracious, for the sakes of mighty.

Believing and abounding, to rest in that hope and never doubting. Thoughts? Concerns? All right, let's close in prayer. Father, we're grateful here to be gathered to realize the hope that what you have for us is so incredibly deep, but yet we just touched the surface but yet you've given us an opportunity to believe in all things. So as we proceed and are guided by the Spirit, remember always to remind us that your glory is what we are concerned about and our rest and trust exist that we might have hope and never doubt. Never turn back, always looking forward to what you've got for us, not only today but forevermore. We're thankful for the experience and pray that we might continue to consider the importance of this verse in addition to everything else that you've given us. In Jesus' name, amen.