In the sermon 'Established by the Gospel,' Scott Brown delves into the latter half of the book of Romans, emphasizing the themes of justification by faith and the establishment of believers in the Gospel. The sermon highlights the challenges faced by believers living in pagan cities, drawing parallels to modern times. It underscores the tragic exchange of God's glory for lies prevalent in such environments. Paul, under the Holy Spirit's inspiration, addresses the core issue of exchanging divine glory for falsehoods, leading to spiritual wounds. The sermon explains that true comfort is found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The structure of Romans is likened to Ephesians, where doctrine precedes practical application—justification leads to a transformed life. Brown discusses the doctrine of sovereignty in salvation, using the analogy of 'tulip' (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints) versus 'daisy' (He loves me, he loves me not). He emphasizes that God's sovereignty does not negate human responsibility in evangelism. The sermon elaborates on applying the Gospel in daily life through presenting oneself as a living sacrifice, exercising spiritual gifts, and fostering love and unity in the church. It addresses submission to authorities and maintaining harmony despite differences in the church. The sermon concludes with a call to be established in the Gospel, finding comfort and stability in the divine assurance of salvation.

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 9. And as you know we're summarizing the last half of the book of Romans after this study that we've been engaged in. Last week we covered Romans 1 through 8, now we take 9 through 16, and I'll spend a few minutes speaking of it, and then we'll come back around and read it together out loud and one will come after another and will be having the joy of reading this great letter to the Romans. Well, We should never forget who this letter was written to. It is a letter to the Romans, to the believers living in a great pagan city overcome by idolatry and every form of debauchery and rebellion against God.

God has something to say to all people living in pagan cities. We happen to be those same people living in these great pagan cities of the world. We've driven through them. We've lived there. We know what life is like.

We understand the pressures. We understand the ethics that rule the great cities of the world. And here we are reading a letter to a group of people who have been justified by faith. And yet there are many, many struggles that those who are justified have in living in these great, great pagan cities. And so the Apostle Paul does what he does so well under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he puts his finger right in the wound.

He puts his finger right at the heart of the problem. And that is that a great and tragic exchange has been made. And it has caused bloodshed in the souls of men, and it is the exchanging of the glory of God for a lie. This is the great temptation, this is the great liability of the cities of the world and the pagan nations, is that they've exchanged the glory of God for a lie. This is our greatest problem.

All of our sorrows, all of the cataclysms that would be ungodly in us come from this great wound. So the apostle does a loving thing in taking his finger and putting it right in the wound of mankind. And that is the exchanging of the glory of God for a lie. We have so many wounds because of this problem. And in a lot of ways, we are like comfort-seeking missiles.

You've heard of heat-seeking missiles. You know, a missile that just goes for the heat. We are comfort seeking missiles and we exchange in our pursuits the true comforts with the false comforts. And so the Apostle here is presenting to us where there is only one true comfort. The God of patience and comfort will show you what it is to have true comfort in this life.

And this comfort is something that can only be had in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We seek comfort from so many things, and yet it is true that there is only one comfort in life and death, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's a word that summarizes the book of Romans and that is the book that is the word justification And here we learn that God justifies sinners. He justifies all kinds of sinners. He justifies those great pagans of the world who have exchanged the glory of God for a lie and who are immersed in every kind of debauchery you can imagine.

That's what we see in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2 we see that God also justifies religious sinners because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, no matter how religious, No matter what law and principle you might think has helped you, only God can justify sins. And even the religious need justification. You know how shocking it is that God would create men, they would fall into rebellion, and then he would justify them while they were in their rebellion. That's the amazing principle in the book of Romans.

It's even more scandalous to think that this justification comes without any works of the law. Abraham has proof of it, that righteousness is by faith. It has nothing to do with circumcision. It has nothing to do with understanding one single point of the law. It has to do with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And of course the Apostle never demeans the law in the book of Romans, he exalts it, but he makes it very clear that nobody was ever saved by one point of the law. He uses this word justify, but he also uses another word that I think sums up the book of Romans, and that is establish. At the end of the book of Romans he says, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel. And it's the power of God that puts a person on a rock instead of shifting sand. And he establishes us.

Now you have an outline before you of what we're going to read here today. And of course, we've become well aware that the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans is an explanation of the Gospel. And then the second half of the book of Romans focuses on application of the doctrine of justification by faith. And the logic of the letter goes like this. Because you've been justified by faith, then you also must come out of conformity to the world.

You must stop making the exchanges. Yes, you are saved by faith, but don't lose your comfort in life and death, which is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the reality is this. You can't really go forward in the chapters 12 through 16 until you understand how to be justified by faith. If daily life is not affected by the Gospel, then the Gospel has not come.

That's the logic of the book of the Romans. We see it in other books that Paul wrote. We see it in Ephesians too, as well. The first three chapters of Ephesians are the doctrine, the indicative, the things that matter regarding the Gospel. And then the second half of the book of Ephesians from five on would be called the imperative what do you do what do you do about this what do you do about this in your home what do you do about this in in every area of life And so the Apostle Paul has arranged the book of Romans in a very similar way that he's arranged the book of Ephesians.

We see that same logic. It's the logic of the kingdom of heaven. Faith without works is dead. And The Apostle sums this up even in the organizational structure of the letters that he writes to the Church. Well, let's begin.

We're going to just bounce through these chapters and I just want to bring some memories from these chapters for us. In 9 through 11 we find more of the gospel. We find the depth and the wisdom of God in salvation. We begin in chapter 9, but at the end the summary is oh, the depth of the wisdom of God. It's absolutely amazing what God has done in his justification of sinners.

You know, in chapter 9 and 10 and 11, here's the report I get back from our men. We heard it on Tuesday morning and I've heard it from a number of men. Here's what many of our men are saying. When we went through chapter 9 and 11, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. That's what happened to many of us as we walked through that, that God was sovereign in salvation.

And it reminds me of the scene I observed at John Bunyan's grave in London just a couple of months ago. You go up to Bunyan's grave and on one side, the side that's accessible most visibly to the public, is a picture of Bunyan with a gigantic burden on his back and he's bent over like an old man about ready to be crushed by the weight of it. But if you walk around to the other side of the grave, engraved in this marble is a picture, is a relief of the burden is off and he's a free man. And that's what we get in chapters 9 through 11. 9 through 11 forces a dilemma upon us.

The dilemma is this, which flower would you like to smell? Are you going to be smelling the tulip or are you going to be smelling the daisy? Now, the tulip flower smells like this. Total depravity. All of sin and fall short of the glory of God.

It smells like this. Unconditional election. God does not base his election on anything that you or I have done. Limited atonement that Jesus died for the elect, that his sacrifice was sufficient for all but it wasn't efficacious for all. And Jesus only bore the sins of the elect.

Irresistible grace, when God calls it his elect to salvation they cannot resist it and perseverance of the Saints that you cannot lose your salvation because your Father in heaven has promised to take you there in the midst of your own inadequacies and sins. That's the tulip. T, total depravity. U, unconditional election. L, limited atonement.

I, irresistible grace or perseverance of the Saints. You can smell that flower or you can smell the flower of the daisy and the daisy smells like this. He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not. But in 9 through 11 you find that the sovereignty of God and salvation, that your salvation does not depend on you, it depends on God and God alone.

Also we find in 9 through 11 a brilliant harmony of the New and the Old Testament. Paul is constantly in every other verse almost. He's pulling Old Testament imagery to explain the continuity of the New and the Old Testament. That there is one gospel and it is the gospel of justification by faith alone as is evidenced by the life of Abraham. And so, God is revealing his nature in very, very clear and beautiful terms.

Paul begins chapter 9 by doing something that's really unexpected. It's unexpected because most people think if you believe in the doctrine of sovereignty of God, then you really don't care about sinners. And that's the problem with Calvinism. Nobody cares about sinners. Well, not Paul, the great Calvinist in all of history, he says at the beginning of 9, I tell you the truth, I'm not lying, my conscience is bearing witness with me.

I have great sorrow and continue grief in my heart, for I wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brother, my countrymen." He is languishing because of the lost. Those who believe in the sovereignty of God dare not have a hard heart toward the lost or an uncaring heart for the lost. The Apostle leads us to understand how we should feel about the lost by his very own example. And then He gives many examples of salvation in these chapters. He says things that are so startling and difficult for us to acquire.

He says, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. He says that to prove that your family background, your own moral nature gets you nowhere. It's not your family that makes you saved, it's the grace of God. And so he says, he says, think of Rebecca. Rebecca conceived and her children were subject to the electing power of God.

And he moves to chapter 10 after saying I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and compassion on whom I will have compassion and so he casts a vision that God alone is the agent in salvation But then he does something startling again. In chapter 10, he begins to speak of man's agency in salvation. How do you understand that? And he says that, how can they be saved unless there is a preacher? How can they even hear unless someone is sent?

So men are involved in salvation. We must activate ourselves and be involved in evangelism. And we come to these amazing, wonderful words, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, you shall be saved. By the way, I was reading, and someone reminded me of this, that Susanna Spurgeon was saved on these verses. We've talked about Augustine being saved on this verse and John Wesley being saved at the reading instantaneously of another verse and now here, here Susanna Spurgeon is saved in reading Romans 10.

The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." This was the verse that Susanna Spurgeon was saved by. What a blessing it has been to just read through these passages. Who knows who might be saved among us by reading these words, eyes falling on these words one time, and then realizing bankruptcy and desire to walk with God. The word of God is living, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Then we come to Romans 11, the wisdom of God in salvation.

What has happened to the Jews is the question, has God cast away his people? That's the question that the apostle asks right at the beginning. He says, no, of course he's not cast his people away. They've been broken off, but they can be grafted back in. In the meantime, the Gentiles can be grafted into this great vine that God has established.

And then he ends this section, 9 through 11, with this wonderful song of praise toward God. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways, past finding out, for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become his counselor, or who is first given to him, and it shall be repaid to him." And then these amazing final words in the chapter, for of him and through him and to him are all things. So This concludes the section of the Gospel in the book of Romans, chapters 1 through 11. And now the apostle goes to applying the Gospel in chapters 12 through 16.

Faith is declared to be dead without works and the apostle makes that plain. And so in chapter 12, we find the apostle beginning with what really is the heart of the matter in all of our sanctification. And these first two verses answer so many questions that we have about, well, should I do this or that? Should I look at this? Should I listen to that?

Should I go there? One and two are really keystones in the entire argument from here on. But here in one and two you get this interpretive grid on how to live life. Presenting your body, we are bodies. We have eyes, ears, we have mouths, we have feet.

We are constantly presenting our bodies to something. And of course, we've been appealing, brothers and sisters, don't present your bodies to anything that would defile or or silify or stupidify you be so careful with those eyes be so careful with those ears and be so careful with that mouth remember that song be careful little hands what you do be careful little hands what you do, be careful little hands what you do, there's a father up above who is looking down in love. That's the key to it. Be careful little hands what you do, be careful little eyes what you see well that's what the Apostle is saying only he says it in such a profound way he says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your spiritual service And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is the heart of the Christian life.

And the heart of a Christian says, oh Lord, far be it for me to present my eyes and my ears to something profane, that I myself would become profane. We become like the idols that we look at. We are formed into the image of those things we see and listen to and read. And therefore it's so critical that we present our bodies as living sacrifices. Then the apostle moves from this amazing formative thought about what you do with your body.

He moves from there to what you do in the church. Because what you do with your body has a profound impact upon what you do in the church and who you are in the church people who present their their ears and their eyes to silly things aren't don't become very useful in the church And God desires a usefulness in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in verses 3 through 8 he talks about your contribution. How do you apply the Gospel? You present your body.

How do you apply the Gospel? You make a contribution by exercising your gifts in the church. And so he covers that from verses 3 through 8. He says, having been gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. So he acknowledges that there are different gifts and different measurements of gifts.

But just because one has a little and another has a lot doesn't mean that those who think they have a little shouldn't be doing a lot no do a lot is what he's saying a church should be filled with people who are poised for service to exercise the gifts that God has given them. And so, we have some church leaders here in the room. There are a number of pastors and elders of churches here. So what in the world do you do with people who will not serve the church? Well you must preach to them, you must help them, you must chastise them for living a selfish life, for going their own way.

No, they have been created to bring a blessing into the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they do it by exercising their gifts with diligence. So every person in the Church must have an eye to how may I serve the Church. They must have a prayer that says, oh Lord, help me to know how I would serve the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today. And so he deals with it.

How do you apply the gospel? You don't just enjoy the gospel and go home and do whatever you want. No, you apply the gospel by exercising your gifts. That's how you apply the gospel. And then he moves on and speaks about relationships.

Because whenever you're involved in a church and whenever you're involved in exercising your gifts, you happen to be serving alongside of people who will challenge your love because they're people. And so then he begins to talk about love in the church and how it's exercised. Of course all the application of the gifts should be enveloped in love And so he begins to speak about specific qualities of love. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abort what is evil.

Cling to what is good. Verse 10. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging behind the diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." So the Apostle turns toward the expression of love in the church And he really implies the danger of a loveless church. You know, affection is so important in life. You know, doctrine is important, but doctrine without affection is dead religion.

And so God has called us both both to a right application of the Gospel and how we present our bodies then how we operate in the Church and then also how we treat one another in the Church. And so this long section, beautiful section about love. What do you do when you have an enemy in the church? Have you ever had an enemy in the church? What have you done with your enemies in the church?

Well, he says here, he gives specific direction. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and curse not. That's what you do. That's what Christians do.

The pagans don't do that. But often we are on layover, man. We keep thinking like the pagans. We react like pagans in the church even though we've been touched by the grace of God. Paul says, no, apply the gospel.

Have the same love for your brother as I had for you. You are a sinner, by the way, and therefore you should bless those who persecute you. So in Romans 12, there's this beautiful explanation, exposition of love in the last part of it. Then we turn to another aspect of applying the gospel. There's so many ways you can apply the gospel to everything in life, by the way.

This makes it so clear that you can now he's talking about how do you apply the gospel to those ruling authorities over you there are lots of different kinds of authorities most people think that this passage only has to do with government authorities I don't believe that I think it absolutely does have to do with government authorities. But he speaks generally of authorities first. The authority of your father and mother. The authority of your boss. The authority of your local civil government.

The authority of the national government. There are many, many authorities over us. And we are required by God to relate to those authorities in a proper way. So how do you apply the gospel? The gospel is not a dead letter.

It has to do with what you do in your regular life as you respond to authorities in your life. And so he says, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. What a blessing it is to have people in the realm of the civil government who understand that God has placed authorities over them. How happy is that people whose God is the Lord? How happy is that son and daughter who knows that God has given them a father and a mother to be an authority.

How happy is that worker who can acknowledge that God Almighty has given him that boss as a gift to sanctify him and to purify him. Most of us think, oh, my boss is a jerk. You know, hey, I don't have to take this baloney. Well, you know what? God says something completely different.

No, no, recognize that I have put that boss over you. I have done it by my own hand. If you kick against the goads there, you will not find the comfort and the joy that I have for you. How blessed is that people who know that God is the Lord and He has put authorities in different ways. What a peaceful thing it is to know that God has arranged these things.

And they may be displeasing to us, they may be hard toward us, and we don't understand why this could possibly be happening to us. But God said, no, I am the one who has put the authorities over you. I know for a fact that there are a number of you who are having struggles with bosses over you. I know it. What will you do?

Well, do this. Do this. Let every soul be subject. And do it with cheer. Do it knowing that God is mightier than your boss or whoever might be exercising a wrong authority over you.

And then he interestingly ends chapter 13 with a fascinating discussion about love. Because whenever there are authorities over us, love is challenged because there are no perfect authorities. That's really a problem. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just marry a husband who had who always ruled so well wouldn't it be so nice if your boss was sensitive and wise and he understood business wouldn't be just so good if if the the mayor was wasn't such a dull light bulb wouldn't that be so nice well that's the problem and so the Apostle says here is how you fulfill the gospel. You fulfill the law.

And he does that in the second half of 13. And love fulfills the law. We're getting ready to go into our study in the book of Deuteronomy. Here's what we will find. We will find love in every phrase because love fulfills the law.

We will also find Christ in every phrase because Christ has fulfilled all the law. And so Romans 13 in the second half says, Oh no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. How do you apply the gospel? You apply it to those governing authorities by your submission and your love. In the midst of these conflicts and difficulties, you know it's interesting.

I'm looking around the room, and I see many of you. You're working for some of the great pagan companies on the planet today. IBM, Microsoft, Broadcom, whatever it is, you're working not data tech. You're working for these companies that are founded on licentiousness. What will you do?

Here's what you must do, fulfill the law. Love your neighbor as yourself. And so he concludes chapter 13 with this principle of love and it's absolutely wonderful. Aren't you amazed at the wisdom of the Apostle Paul as he is leading us through how to apply the gospel. He is so brilliant.

He takes us at the beginning of matters and then takes us through all the different problems and qualifications that are necessary for us to be Christian people in the world. Well, then he, to add insult to injury, then he speaks of the problems that we have in the church in chapter 14 and 15. Problems of conscience, problems of disagreements in the church, problems with weaker and stronger brothers. And this problem was, is, and ever shall be until he comes. So we must know how to conduct ourselves in the church when we have disagreements over debatable matters and even not so debatable matters, but he's talking about debatable matters.

It's, you know, one of the things that really rankles me is that one man's debatable matter is another man's hard doctrine. And I, we just have to keep working through this and keep and keep you know studying the Word of God but he speaks of our attitudes toward the weaker brother toward those who have disagreement with us on a matter of practice and he says this here's what you do here's what you do with your brother whom you disagree with. Verse 1, receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to dispute over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables." He's talking about eating and food sacrifice to idols. That's the example that he's given.

And he's saying, who are you to judge another servant? Don't you know that every child of God has God as his sanctifier. God is able to make him stand. You don't have to be his final judge. Yes, you can talk to him, but you cannot destroy him.

You cannot treat him badly. Receive him. And he says in verse 19, therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace, and the things by which we may edify. So he lays that as the groundwork. And then in chapter 15, he expands on it with more detail about how we deal with these problems with one another in the church and he speaks of your like-mindedness.

How do you maintain like-mindedness? Here in this text we bump into a word that I think is terribly misused by us. I've misused this word many, many times. But it's the word like-mindedness. Have you heard people say, I'm just looking for like-minded believers?

Translation, I'm looking for people who think the same thing I do about everything. Well that's not what like-mindedness is here in Romans 15. Now, If you want to make up a new definition of like-mindedness, I think that's okay. But that's not the biblical definition of like-mindedness. Like-mindedness is not finding people who agree with you on everything.

To the contrary, like-mindedness in Romans 15 assumes many disagreements on many fronts. And the like-mindedness is found in this one area. And that is the mind of Christ. What mind of Christ? The mind of Christ towards sinners.

He says be like-minded according to Christ, meaning that our like-mindedness is not that we agree on every single point of doctrine, but here's what we do agree on that I'm responsible to love my brother like Christ loves him our like-mindedness is Christo centric it's not first from our doctrinal understanding It's on our understanding of the love of Jesus Christ toward one another. So like-mindedness means that you have the mind of Christ toward your brother. And it's interesting that he appeals, the apostle appeals to the nature of God in this. He says, now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another. You know, people forget that patience and comfort are in the same sentence as like-mindedness.

Okay? In our like-mindedness, there's patience and there's comfort toward one another. We have a responsibility to be a blessing to one another. You were created for a blessing, therefore use your term on this earth, however long it is, to be a blessing and bring the comfort and the patience of God into all of your relationships. And so he says it again in verse 7 in chapter 15, therefore receive one another.

He began 14 saying that. He repeats it again in chapter, in verse 7 of chapter 15. And he says, receive one another just as Christ also received us for the glory of God. Like-mindedness is receiving one another as Christ has received you. That's what like-mindedness is.

And then in verse 13 he brings this beautiful prayer. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So one of our responsibilities with one another is that we have a like-mindedness on the one hand, and that we abound in hope. God desires his church to abound in hope, And we increase the hope in the Church by bringing the love of Christ into it. In all our relationships and conversations.

You know, the problem with the Church is not doctrinal disagreements. The problem is the way that people handle their doctrinal disagreements. And that is the root of the matter for ungodly church splits and brothers who treat one another poorly, because they've forgotten Jesus Christ. They've forgotten that His love is a kingdom of love. And so then in the first half the Apostles talking about like-mindedness.

What is that all about? And then he comes back around and says, well, he's answering the question that's in our minds. And that is, the question is, does that mean that we don't get to discuss anything? Does that mean that we never have a chance to dialogue with the disagreements? May it never be.

So he said, then he says, he says that we have a responsibility to admonish one another, verses 15, or chapter 15, 16, and 17. He says, I'm confident concerning you that you are full of goodness and filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. So just because we love one another doesn't mean that we quit admonishing one another. Both are placed in juxtaposition in a proper balance. These are the kinds of relationships that God wants us to have.

He uses us all together for our sanctification. And so all of our all of our admonitions need to be governed by what what is spoken of here. And of course you know all these things attack our pride, they attack our self-righteousness, They attack our patience with our brothers and instead of being allowed to live the way we want to live and to push away our brother, he says, receive your brother. That's the point of 14 and 15. And then he moves to chapter 16 and in one of the most precious passages of scripture that speak about the ways that different people have had affection for the church, the way families relate to a church.

You have Phoebe who was a servant of the church in Sentria and that she be received in Rome in a manner worthy of the saints. That this dear sister would be received when she comes to Rome. She labors for the Church and so here we have in 16, 1-16 a picture of the way that individuals and families all come and relate to the church and build it up. You have this dynamic couple. May it be that we just have a bumper crop of couples like Priscilla and Aquila who are here in this passage of scripture.

They risk their necks for Paul. And you know what a blessing it is what a couple can be in a church. Think about that. Think about marriages in your church and how important it is that you have unified marriages. You know Priscilla, these names only appear together and they are always involved in ministry together.

It's a beautiful thing. What a power there is in husband and wife, linking strength together, bringing their gifts together, on their knees in prayer, planning for the future, taking their family life and everything that they have to bring benefit to the church. That was Priscilla and Aquila. I am so amazed by chapter 16. Then you have all these different personalities and Paul speaks of them so preciously.

You know these young ladies in the church, Trifina and Trifosa, perhaps they were twins, twin sisters in the church doing their work. You know, do we have any twin sisters here this morning? We have a lot of sisters. What if sisters banded together like these sisters did to bring labor and blessing to the church? This is what sisters and brothers should do.

Here we have we have also near us and his sister, a brother and sister who were a blessing to this church in Rome. And you know what a marvelous thing it is to see the way that God has arranged the world in families so that brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, all these different kinds of people come and are blessed. You know, we also find some implied tragedies. You find a head of the household, but those in the household are saved, while perhaps the head of the household is not saved. And they come into the church, even though the head of the household does not.

So you have all these different relationships where there's one left home ungodly, unsaved, while there are others in the church apparently. I think this passage is so beautiful to me. And So Paul is speaking so affectionately in 1-16 and he's giving praise to God for how these different people, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, how they've all come together to bring benefit to the church. They're building up the church. And then almost as if a dark cloud just came right over, he changes the tone in verse 17.

He says, now, I urge you, brethren, the tongue gets solemn. And he speaks of those who cause divisions in the church. He's just spoken of the way that some people so beautifully affect the church and he says, no, but that's not the whole story, is it? There are some who would cause divisions in the church and he says to do that he gives a specific direction on what to do take note and avoid those are the two things that we should do and there will be people who will try to divide us from one another that's a different than having a godly discussion on doctrine okay There's something different when people are trying to divide one another and separate one another in relationship. And that's what he's speaking of here.

And he brings it about with urgency. I urge you, he is coming alongside to help he uses that great word par calo par calo to come alongside help I let me just make sure you do not lose track of this problem and and and and cease to deal with it properly. And then he assures them at the end of this section, he says that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. There may be divisions, but know that God is Lord. He will crush Satan in his own time.

And then Paul goes back into the sunshine. It's as if the dark cloud goes away again, and then he begins to recall different people who are bringing their greetings to Rome. He's bringing people together. He's talking about, he's saying, now Timothy, Timothy greets you. He's building affection across, he's bridging people by affection and then he says, and Tertius, he greets you in the Lord, and Gaius, my host and the host of the whole church, he greets you.

So the Apostle Paul is connecting people in love. This is what we should do. Instead of dividing, We should bring people together, even those that we disagree with. You understand how important this is? If the whole law is fulfilled in love, how important it is that we bring people together, rather than cause divisions unrighteously.

So the Sun is out, the clouds come in, the Sun comes out again, and he's connecting people, bridging them with mercy. And then he ends the letter with what is the essence of the practical effect of the gospel, your establishment in the gospel. So what has he done here? He has spoken of how you apply the gospel. You apply the gospel by presenting your bodies as living sacrifices.

You apply the gospel by exercising your gifts in the church, verses 3 through 8 in chapter 12. You apply the gospel through relationships of love, love without hypocrisy, And that takes us from 9 to 31 to the end of chapter 12. And then how do you apply the gospel? You apply the gospel by obeying the civil authorities and all the other authorities. And You apply the gospel by fulfilling the law in the midst of these confusing relationships where you have ungodly people over you.

And you apply the law by having patience with the weaker brother in the church. And you maintain like-mindedness. Yes, we must be like-minded according to Christ. And we apply the gospel by admonishing one another as well. And we apply the gospel through our affections and labors for the Church of Jesus Christ.

That in all of our labors in life, we would pour out labor for the Church, the precious body of Christ, and We handle divisive people properly is another way that we apply the gospel and then He wraps it all up with a prayer Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ for obedience to the faith to God alone wise be glory through Jesus Christ." So he ends the letter with a prayer. He begins the letter with the gospel that he is separated from the gospel of God. And then he ends it by speaking of the beauty of the gospel and its practical effect that you would be established in life. So what do we have here? Here's what we have.

We have it that the gospel is our only continuing comfort in life and death. That it's our only hope for stability in this world with all of its authorities and cataclysms and problems. Everyone wants to be established. Everyone wants to be settled and at peace. And what the gospel brings to us in our desire is an understanding that I am not my own.

I've been bought by the precious blood of Christ, that my sins have been fully paid for, that the power of the devil has been broken, and therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And that He will escort me and preserve me to my heavenly home. And that is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'd like to end this time in prayer by using a prayer that Paul has already prayed. He prays three times in the book of Romans.

And I'd like for us to bow now and find ourselves praying this prayer along with the Apostle Paul. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, For obedience to the faith, to God alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.

And now, let's read the second half of the Letter to the Romans. Book of Romans, chapter 9. I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my bread and my kinsmen according to the flesh, 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 came, who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen.

But this is not, but it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of the promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son." And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children had not yet been born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to the election, might stand not of works, but of him who calls. It was said to her, the older shall serve the younger.

As it is written, Jacob I have love, but Esau I have hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.

So then it is not of him who wills, not of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Well, the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you and that my name be declared in all the earth. Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and and whom he wills he hardens. You will then say to me, Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will?

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing form, say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have the power of the clay? From the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God wanted to show his wrath and to make his power known, endure with much long suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory, even as whom he called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he also said in Hosea, I will call them my people who were not my people and her beloved who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people. They shall be called sons of the living God." Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel, "'Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved, for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a sure work upon the earth." And as I said before, unless the Lord of Sabbath had left us as seed, we would have become like solemn and would have been made like a moron. What shall we say then?

Gentiles who did not pursue The righteousness have attained the righteousness, even the righteousness of faith. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the words of the law. For they stumble at the stumbling stone as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law.

The man who does those things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above. Or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say?

The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the Word of faith which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.

For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing and the hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard?

Yes, indeed. Their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. But I say, did Israel not know? For Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.

But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. But to Israel, he says, all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people." I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew.

Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I alone am left and they seek my life. But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7, 000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

But if it is of works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears they should not hear to this very day. And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them.

Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see and bow down their back always. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is richest for the world, and their failure richest for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness.

For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if they are being cast away as the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches.

But if you do boast, Remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

For if God did not spare the natural branches he may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell severity but towards you goodness if you continue in his goodness otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in.

And so all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come out of Zion and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. Even so these also have now been disobedient that through the mercy shown to the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. O, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become his counselor, or who has first given to him, and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen." Chapter 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not all have the same function, so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use it in our ministering.

He who teaches in teaching. He who exhorts in exhortation. He who gives with liberality. He who leads with diligence. He who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints and given to hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind towards one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.

Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in doing so you will heat coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except for God and the authorities that this are appointed by God.

Therefore, whosoever resisted the authority, resist the authority named the ordinance of God. And those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not the terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise for the same.

For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject not only because of wrath, but also the conscience sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to his very thing.

Render therefore to all their due taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs fear, to whom fear honor, to whom honor, O know no one anything except to love one another. For He who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness, you shall not convey, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does not harm to the neighbor, therefore love is fulfillment of the law. And do this knowing this time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far-smit, the day is at hand, therefore let us Cast off works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.

Let us walk properly in the day, not in the revelry and drunkenness not in the lewness and lust not in the strife and envy but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh fulfill its lust. Chapter 14. Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat.

And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike.

Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks, and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives unto himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

So then each of us shall give an account to himself, to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a curse to fall in our brother's way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one whom Christ died.

Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by man. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things which one may edify another. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for one man who eats with offense.

It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself on what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith.

For whatever is not from faith is sin." Chapter 15 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of peace and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God. 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 you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, laud him, all you peoples. And 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. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus and the things which pertain to God, for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed to make the Gentiles obedient and mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation. But as it is written, To whom he was not announced, they shall see, and to those who have not heard, shall understand. For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. But now, no longer having a place in these parts and having a great desire these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey and to be helped on my way there by you if first I may enjoy your company for a while.

But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints, For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things. Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain. But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in St. Crea.

That you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and a sister in whatever business she has need of you. For indeed, she has been a helper of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risk their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Epinatus, who is the firstfruits of the KI to Christ.

Greet Mary, who labored much for us. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplius, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachas, my beloved. Greet Appellus, approved in Christ.

Greet those who are of the household of Aristopulus. Greet Herodion, my countryman. Greet those who are of the households of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. Greet Trifina and Trifossa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Pursus, who labored much in the Lord.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Greet Asincratus and Phlegon, Hermes, Patrabas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them. Greet Philologists and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympus and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause to admit visions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience has become known to all, therefore I am glad on your behalf, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil, and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Susat Pater, my countrymen, greet you. I, Tertius, who write this epistle, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, my host, and the host of the whole church greet you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greet you, and Quartus, a brother. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Amen. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for the obedience to the faith, to God alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.