WWUTT 232 Full of Goodness?

There are stories in the Bible that you have probably heard many times, but you know what? That's great!

We should be reminded of these stories over and over again. It is good for us and restores us in the hope of the gospel when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

Find videos and more at our website www .tt .com. Now here's our host,

Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We are in Romans chapter 15 again today and looking at verses 14 through 21.

We'll be in this section both today and tomorrow. So open your Bible to Romans chapter 15 and let's begin in verse 14.

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the

Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God so that the offering of the

Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then,

I have reason to be proud of my work for God, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what

Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the

Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ and thus

I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see and those who have never heard will understand.

So let's go back to verse 14 here. I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

One of the things that Paul is mentioning here is that there were things that he said to them in this letter so far as we've read, and we're coming up on like the homestretch here, we're coming up on the close of the book of Romans, but there are things that Paul has said in this letter that he didn't necessarily have to say to these

Christians in the church in Rome because they knew them already. They are

Christians, they had heard the gospel, they had received it, and Paul says, I am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you're full of goodness, filled with knowledge, and able to instruct one another, but he says these things to them again so that they might be reminded and they would continue to instruct one another.

Paul said something similar to the Philippians. I'm turning to this in my Bible here. I didn't have it marked. Philippians chapter 3,

Paul says, finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and it is safe for you.

So many of the things that Paul was writing to the Philippians, he had already told them before, but he wrote to them again so that they might be encouraged having heard about his imprisonment in Rome and that there are actually people who are coming to Christ through this imprisonment.

The Philippians should not be discouraged having heard that Paul had been placed under house arrest for preaching the gospel.

Rather, they should rejoice because the gospel is going out all the more in Rome as Paul had wanted it to do.

And Paul is writing this letter to the Philippians after he had written to the Romans. So this is actually

Paul having gotten to Rome finally and he's able to preach the gospel there in Rome, which is what he wanted.

And though he had been in prison, don't be discouraged by that because the gospel is going out all the more.

So as Paul was writing to the Philippians to encourage them in these things, he also took it upon himself to extend to them instructions that they had already been given.

But Paul says it's no trouble for me to write these things to you. You've heard me preach them to you before.

It is no trouble to me. And it is safe for you, for you to hear these things again, for you to hear the gospel proclaimed, for you to have your hope restored and for also to be warned and cautioned about those who are preaching falsely.

We must constantly be reminded of the gospel and come back to what is written in the

Word of God so that no one may lead us astray by any plausible arguments, the way that Paul put it to the

Colossians. Paul goes on with the Philippians chapter 3 verse 2 to say this, Look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the

Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Paul is saying that all those who are in Christ Jesus are the circumcision group. We are spiritual

Israel, in other words. And this to contrast with something that was stated yesterday as we were looking in Romans 15 where Paul said,

For I tell you that Christ came a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness. Well, as Paul is saying here about the circumcised, he's referring to the physical circumcised, talking about those who are ethnic

Jews. But where Paul is saying in Philippians 3, we are the circumcised, he's talking about those who are spiritually circumcised from the heart.

We are spiritual Israel. All who are in Christ are the chosen people of God.

And so as Paul is instructing these things to God's people that they might hear them and understand them and know them that they would be full of the goodness of God, which comes from his word, that they would be filled with all knowledge which comes from the word of God and also be able to instruct one another according to the word of God.

So this is what Paul is stating to the Roman Christians, Romans 15 verse 14. Now there might be some people among those who are hearing this letter being read who may not have yet repented of their sins and come to know

Christ Jesus. And Paul kind of alludes to this in Romans chapter 8 where he says,

You however are not in the flesh, but in the spirit if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you

Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. That was in Romans 8 9. So it's as if he's saying

To everybody who is hearing me preach who is hearing this letter being read among the Roman Christians.

You are not in the flesh But in the spirit if the spirit of God dwells in you

So if there is somebody among these Roman Christians that is hearing This letter being read let them repent of their sins.

Let them hear the gospel being proclaimed Let them repent of their sins and know

Christ Jesus and salvation. We read in Romans 10 17 That faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ So a person comes to faith in God because they heard the word of Christ proclaimed.

I remember hearing a story about Abraham Piper Abraham is one of the sons of John Piper who of course is the pastor or was the pastor of Bethlehem church in Minneapolis, Minnesota And and Abraham had fallen away from the

Lord. He Got I think it was about age 19 He decided that all the things that he had heard his dad preach his whole life

Was not really something that he believed and he left the church. He was excommunicated from the church

They removed him from the membership. And so for about four years he was living life the way that he wanted to live

Uh, he was going to bars meeting girls Drinking kind of living up life just doing what it was that he wanted to do

John Piper has talked about how those were some of the toughest years of his life wanting his son to believe and he did not believe

Uh standing in a pizza hut and proclaiming the gospel to him and yet he did not believe the gospel well, there was one night where uh

Abraham had met this girl and they exchanged email addresses and at the time

Abraham was checking email at the library so he went to the library and he got an email from this gal and Toward the end of her email was her signature and it was kind of one of those automated signatures

You know you program your email to have every email that you have that sends out always has that signature on it

And her signature contained a verse from the book of romans And and abraham just kind of didn't really think anything of it and the way that he tells this story

He went down to the convenience store. He bought himself a tall can of beer and also some uh, Papers to wrap his cigarettes and he goes back up to his apartment and not being able to remember the verse that was in her email

He pulled out his bible and he started at the beginning of romans figuring at some point He would come across the verse that she had mentioned

So he rolled some cigarettes started drinking his beer and began reading in romans chapter one And abraham says by the time

I got to romans chapter 10 The beer was gone. The ashtray was full and I was a christian

And it was by reading the word of god and seeing it proclaimed through the apostle paul

That abraham repented of his sins and he came to know christ finally and for the first time

So it is through the word of god that we have heard the gospel proclaimed And we repented of our sins and we have been brought to the faith by the power of the spirit of god

And so as paul is proclaiming these things to these roman christians He's expecting that the same thing should happen

But he's also putting before the christians that they would test themselves and know that they are in the faith.

This is something that paul said to the Corinthians as well that they would examine themselves and know for certain that they are in the faith

And so as they hear these things proclaimed as they have stored up the word of god They are knowledgeable of god according to his word and able to instruct one another and paul goes on in verse 15

But on some of these points I have written to you boldly by way of reminder Because of the grace given me by god to be a minister of christ

Jesus to the gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of god so that the offering of the gentiles may be acceptable

Sanctified by the holy spirit so that the gentiles would be able to hear the word of god hear the gospel

Repent of their sins and come to know christ. And so as they offer up praise to god

This is the very offering that paul is talking about here presenting one as a sacrifice unto the lord as we read at the beginning of chapter 12

As the gentiles do this that their sacrifice would be made acceptable it would be pleasing to god not doing it just because You know, it's one more god that they can worship

Because the greeks had this belief that they needed to worship every god possible So at some point they're worshiping the right god and that way

There there wouldn't be a chance that when they die, they would go to hades or or wherever but everything that they do would be pleasing to every conceivable god and we see at the ariopagus in Acts chapter 17 where paul comes and preaches at an altar to an unknown god

He recognizes that altar as being the one altar that the greeks had risen up to the god that maybe they didn't know yet Just so that they got all their bases covered and paul started there by saying

I see that you are a very spiritual people But this god is known and he has made himself known to you

Through jesus christ and so it is through the declaration of the gospel of christ that we know god

That we know the word of god and we are able to instruct one another according to the word of god

Our great god as we have read your word today I pray that our faith is restored all the more this world that we exist in can be toxic and there are things from outside That get into our brains and infect our minds.

We need the gospel We need your word to constantly be cleansing our thoughts and submitting us

Fully to your word to the authority of the word of god And so I pray lord that we would know this word all the more that we would praise you because of it the gospel that Has been given to us by those who preached it to us and that we would also instruct one another in the faith

According to the instructions that you have given us the great commission of christ As it was given to us in matthew chapter 28

That we would go unto all nations baptizing in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit

Teaching them to observe all that christ has commanded May we know all that has been commanded in christ jesus and preach this also to the world

Instructing one another in discipleship as we grow in this process of sanctification And we pray these things in jesus name.

Amen You can find a complete list of videos books devotionals and other resources online at Wwtt .com.