I invite you now to turn to Romans chapter 15, and we'll read from verses 1 through to 13. And Paul says, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself, but, as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. 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 according to Christ Jesus. that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now, I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written, for this cause I will confess to you among the nations and sing unto your name. And again, he says, rejoice, you nations, with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all you nations, and laud him, all ye peoples. And again, Isaiah says, there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the nations in him shall the nations trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. We ask you to open our hearts, Lord, and open the mind of our understanding, and that we might behold wonderful things from out of your word. I pray that you would use me as your mouthpiece. May your Holy Spirit fill me and lead me, give me the words to speak. And I pray that Christ would increase and that I would decrease. May we all look unto our Lord Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith. who loved us and gave himself for us. And we thank you, Lord, for all you give us. Lead us now, we pray, and we ask it all for your glory in Christ's precious name. Amen. I know that you'll agree with me that there are many things that divide us as human beings. just to name some, some of the big things. Of course, language divides us, our customs, our culture, that divides us human beings. The colour of our skin, sadly, that is a cause of division, and even today is a problem religion divides us, certainly politics divides us. And so we see that as a society, as the world all around, we see that humanity is not united. And indeed, it seems as if reconciliation is really just a dream, that we are not really able to have that. And indeed, as I was thinking about this, I thought to myself that reconciliation, the word reconciliation sometimes might be more of a euphemism, just to get revenge, to make people pay for what they did. and not really want to restore, to forgive. And it's certainly an important aspect in any kind of breakdown of a relationship between two people or between nations or even between people groups within that nation. Reconciliation is certainly something that is important. But when we think about being separated, there is no greater separation that we can be concerned about than the separation between God and man. And we know that sin has separated us from God. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned. And as a result of that, the Lord cast them out of the garden and they no longer had that sweet fellowship with him. And they had to learn that in order to even to approach God, it was by the means of sacrifice, which instructed them of the seed of the woman who was going to come one day and offer himself as that sacrifice. And so we see that what we lose by not having contact or being able to approach God is a terrible thing. However, for the believer, this is what causes us to rejoice, because the same God who would not allow sin to be a part of his relationship with his creation is the same God that opens to us the opportunity for reconciliation. And so while we may understand that, as Isaiah says in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2, that our sins have separated, or our iniquities have separated us from God, and our sins have hidden His face from us, we know that God is a reconciling God, and He brings sinners back to Himself. He is a God that forgives. He is a God that gives peace. And he is a God that reconciles. And there's three scriptures that I want for you to see so that that reinforces in us how beautiful is reconciliation. And I'm still on the subject of being able to be united with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And I hope you'll see that And this is why I'm just establishing some things, first of all. Please turn with me to Psalm 130 first. First of all, Psalm 130. And I just want to read the first four verses. And what we're looking at is the fact that there is forgiveness with God. Psalm 130. We'll read the first four verses. Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. I want you to notice verses 3 and 4 in particular. The psalmist recognizes that if God should call us to account for all our sins, none of us would be able to stand. In other words, none of us would be able to have any cause for justification whatsoever. We would be condemned. But what he holds on to, what he curves straight to, is the fact that he knows, but there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. So we can understand, if you are distant from God, let me say, if you are a non-believer, you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, your sins are still separating you from God. But He calls you to repent of your sins, and He assures you that He will forgive you for all your sins if you repent and ask Him. Because the aim is He wants for there to be peace between you and Him. And we'll see that if you want to turn to Romans, and this time just chapter 5. So back to the book we've been looking at these several months and chapter five and just verse one. So there Paul says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are no longer enemies of God. We are no longer at enmity with him, but we've been reconciled. And we'll see that in a moment, even more particularly. And what happens is we have peace with God. And because we have peace with God, we are able to have the peace of God. And that's important for the believer. Because if we were to follow the subject of the fact that there is much that separates us as human beings, if we looked at the fact that there is no unity among governments and the opposition, among the people even within the land, and we just could multiply examples, couldn't we? We could become discouraged, we could become unsettled, and we could lose the peace of God. That's why I always go back to Philippians chapter 4 where Paul says, don't become fearful, don't become anxious, but if you do, he says, go to God with prayer and with supplication, with thanksgiving, ask God to help you. And he will give you the peace of God that passes all understanding. And it is significant that he then says that then he will guard your mind and your heart, everything about it, you will have that peace. So we have forgiveness with God, even though we were separated from him, he wants us to come back to him. We have peace with him so we can walk with him. We're no longer his enemies. And that means that he has reconciled us. And for that, I want you to turn to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one, verses 20 and 21. It says, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile, there's that word, but we'll see it again in verse 21, to reconcile all things to himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and now verse 21, and you that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled. We have been brought back. And I just want you to notice that the reconciliation came about because of the blood of the cross, of Jesus dying on that cross and paying the penalty for our sins, going all the way back to Adam and Eve and their rebellion against God and all your sins and all my sins, for the believer who repents and asks God to forgive them, believes on the Lord Jesus, he is forgiven, he has peace with God and he's reconciled back to God. In the light of what we've been looking at in Romans 14 and 15, brethren, we can't do the opposite. And as I was thinking about this, I was reminded also of the example of the Apostle Paul. You know, the Apostle Paul never lost the wonder of the fact that God loved him and saved him. We think of the Apostle Paul as the great theologian, as a man who wrote so much of the New Testament, and we are absolutely right in understanding that. We think of the Apostle Paul, whose concept of doctrine was so deep beyond what many of us could even grasp ourselves. You know, when you talk about theologians, often it's said of some people they were not original thinkers. In other words, they didn't come up with concepts about God themselves, but they worked on what others before them had thought about and were able to substantiate from the Word of God. But certainly you'd have to say with the Apostle Paul, there was something about him with what he was able to tell us. But there is one thing that never left him. To the day he died, he was amazed at the fact that God, as he says in Galatians, that it is no longer he that lives, but Christ that lives in him. And he lives by the faith of the Son of God who, remember how precious are these words, who loved me and gave himself for me. When he wrote his first letter to Timothy, and we're talking about reconciliation, forgiveness, coming back together, having peace with God. When he wrote his first letter to Timothy, in chapter 1, verse 12, he says to Timothy, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me in that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. And he says he did this in the light of the fact that before I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor and injurious. I caused a lot of harm, he says, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. You know, we understand from Philippians chapter 3 and Paul saying what he was like before he was saved as a Jew, as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, as a Pharisee. According to the law, he kept the law. Above all his fellows, he was a strict Jew. Let me say this to you very clearly. I've said it before. There was no way that the Apostle Paul would ever have blasphemed the name of Yahweh. But when he met with the Lord Jesus Christ, he realized that his persecution of Jesus, through the persecution of the Church of Jesus, what he would have said, what he would have done, his anger, his hatred, if any of these accursed Christians who dared to try to present God in a different light, if they said anything about Jesus, he probably would have said, I don't want to hear anything about Jesus, and may have even said even more worse things, because you see, He did not believe in Jesus. Imagine the realization when he realized, imagine what it must have been like for the Apostle Paul to learn that he had been blessed with him in Jesus, because Jesus is God incarnate in the flesh. And yet he says, I received mercy. And we're going to see about mercy because Paul himself again talks about mercy in Romans chapter 15. It is a powerful example, isn't it, of how God reconciles sinners back to himself. So why have I been sharing this with you this morning? Well, our theme has been the fact that Paul is addressing the challenges that are that are real in the church in Rome, specifically between ethnic Jews who are Christians and Gentiles who are Christians, and they find themselves together in the same church. And the Jews have got a problem because they can't have the freedom to eat certain meat, and it offends them if other Christians do eat meat that may have been offered to idols. They believe it is important that we observe, even as Christians, that we observe days, special days, not just the Lord's Day, whereas other Christians, being the Gentiles, they don't think it is such a big deal. And this has caused problems in the church, and Paul is aware of these problems, and he wants them to be united. And accordingly, he says that to them in verses, sorry, in chapter 14, in verse 1, When he says, him that is weak in the faith, receive. And the word receive there, we could also, your version may say, welcome him. We do not welcome an enemy, do we? But we certainly can welcome someone who is not an enemy, may have been before, but now there's reconciliation or there's a common, there's something common, and we welcome them. And Paul then goes on to help us understand that there are those who don't have freedom to do certain things, eat certain things, and there are those who have the freedom to do so without their conscience being convicted, and knowing that they don't sin if they eat meat or have a drink of wine and so on. And Paul is helping these people to understand, don't judge those who do what you don't have the freedom to do, or don't look down at others who may, in your estimation, be weak in the faith and silly and so on. Let me just say at this point that even though Paul addresses the eating of meat, the drinking of wine, the observing of days, there are many things, as I've said to you before, that can separate us today in 2021 that as Christians we can disagree on. And there are many things, and one of them might be music in the church and so on. So we need to be understanding, we need to be gracious, because as I've brought out, this is just as a bit of a review, as I've brought out, these are people for whom Christ died. They are received by God, they are loved by God, and we need to do the same. And I hope that, as I mentioned earlier, that in the providence of God, our Bible reading from 1 John chapter 3 mentioned the importance of loving the brethren. So Paul in chapter 15 continues this theme, and that's why in verse 1 he says, now, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities. It doesn't just mean to put up with, but to be understanding, to be able to be aware of where a person may be at, to compensate for that. It doesn't mean, for example, accepting someone who's rude or a troublemaker. Because further on in chapter 16 and verse 17, Paul says, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. So Paul in chapter 15 and 14, he's not just saying about anyone who might be doing their own thing, causing trouble and not caring about the church and the body of Christ and maintaining unity. We've still got to put up with him, still got to allow him or her to do what... No, he's not saying that at all. He's saying about things that are debatable, we might say of second degree importance, not anything to do with salvation. We certainly cannot compromise that. So he's continuing this theme. And in chapter 15, I want you to notice that he does it in two ways. First of all, by showing us practically how we can maintain unity. And secondly, by helping us to learn, indeed, helping the Jew and the Gentile to learn that they're coming together as one body in Christ. was always in the plan of God. And that's why Paul quotes several scriptures from the Old Testament. So we're going to look at those two points. We're going to see how Paul helps us to apply our unity in a practical way. and then look at the fact that it was always God's intention. So if it was God's intention for Jew and Gentile to become one in the body, which is called the church, be called Christians, then how much more should we be able to say, this is something ordained of God, and we can work towards maintaining that unity. and indeed be encouraged by the grace and the mercy of God over all of us. So first of all, we looked at this last week, and just a quick reminder, first of all, we can maintain the unity because Christ is our example in verse 3, for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, And this is a quote from Psalm 69, verse nine, as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. And of course, it is applied to our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, Paul tells us in verse four that we have the scriptures to help us. And this is important. Verse four, let me read it for you. 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. You know, the thought always comes to me every Sunday morning, whether I do the Bible reading or whether someone else, if we're meeting face to face, someone else might do the Bible reading. It always comes to my mind how important it is that we particularly read from the Old Testament as well. Because as you read through the New Testament, and scripture is quoted, and doctrines are established, and prophecies are declared to be fulfilled, these are all given to us in the Old Testament. And so we see how important the Old Testament is to us today. I remember being at a one-day seminar and when it came to question and answer time, someone asked the speaker, why do you use only Old Testament references to back up what you were saying? And this man who asked the question, I think he thought that he had the speaker, because I don't think he agreed with the premise that the speaker had. And so he wanted to say, well, you're just using the Old Testament. You're not using the New Testament. So in that person's mind, then the speaker's argument was flawed. But the speaker simply said to him, why shouldn't I use the Old Testament? Is it not scripture? Is it not inspired? Is it not what the Lord Jesus referred to when he said, I came to fulfill the law? Isn't it what Paul quotes so many times throughout this letter? And he's talking to a New Testament church. the majority of which are not Jews, who didn't know the law, who didn't have the promises, who didn't have the covenants, who didn't have the ordinances, and yet Paul freely gives them the examples of the Old Testament. So you and I have the Word of God. Let me ask you this, how is your reading of Scripture? How's your meditating upon the Word? You know, we envy men and women who were great in faith and who were able to accomplish great things. If you study their lives, the Word of God was a part of their life. So we have God's Word, the Scriptures, to help us. Next, I want us to understand that we also have God who enables us because of his attributes. And I don't know if you noticed it, let me just walk you through how Paul describes God, the God who is there to help us. First of all, in verse 5, we see that he is the God of patience and consolation. I guess what Paul is wanting to bring out here is that if God is patient towards us, and he's also consoling in that when you go to God and you say, Lord, I've sinned, and then you use the adjective again, and it's the same sin that you said you wouldn't do it again, but you did. And it highlights how precious is the blood of Jesus Christ because it cleanses us from every sin. It strengthens us because we are reminded that we are justified, not by making sure we do the right thing every day, but we are justified by faith, by the grace of God through faith. And he consoles us, he comforts us. You know, have you stopped? and just thought to yourself and said, Lord, I want to meditate on the fact that you love me. I know you know that. I know you know that God loves you. But have you stopped and thought? Have you allowed yourself to say, Lord, you love me because I'm actually very special to you. Because you sent your son to die for me. I want to understand this love that you have loved me with for all eternity, because there never was a time when you didn't love me. I want the realization to really shake me that God loves me with all His love, always. I want to know that this love will bring me home and that will permit me to see you. and that I will be able to walk with you and talk with you. And that somehow, and this is my understanding, that somehow I will be able to enjoy a relationship with you as if I am the only one in heaven. Now, of course, I won't be. You'll be there. but you will be able to appreciate, enjoy and marvel at and exult in this relationship that God has chosen to have with you because he loved you, forgave you, reconciled you and he's bringing you home one day. Have you allowed yourself to meditate upon that? Because that's what he wants you to do. So he is the God of patience and consolation. He's also the God of mercy. In verse 9, Paul says, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. And we all are recipients of God's mercy. And we also are able to know that He is the God of hope. Verse 13, now the God of hope. He is the one that gives us this hope. He is the one that fulfills our hope in Him. He is the one that helps us to understand that hope isn't just some empty maybe, possibly, or, you know, the empty I hope so when we don't really know, but with all assurance This is the guarantee what God has said he will fulfil. And this is the hope that keeps us going with all confidence. In the light of this, that he is the God who is patient towards us, consoles us, has mercy towards us and gives us hope so that we can commit our very lives into his hands. How much more do you think Paul is driving at and bringing home, if you like, the importance of you and I loving each other, being patient with each other, consoling each other, being merciful to each other, and indeed giving each other hope. And finally, Paul wants us to understand that it is through Christ that we can be like-minded. He says that in verse five. May God grant you to be like-minded one toward another. It is through Christ that we can give God the glory through our unity. And we read that in verse 6. But I want you to notice verse 7, which I believe is the key verse in this section. And it's a powerful verse. Like, oh, they all lie. I understand that. But look, read with me verse 7. Receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Let that sink in. We have been received by Christ and If we were honest, we would say with the Apostle Paul, when he said to Timothy, you know, God has counted me faithful that he's put me into the ministry. But Timothy, I want you to know I was a blasphemer. I was injurious and I did all sorts of things against the Church of Jesus Christ. And therefore, I did it against Jesus Christ himself. And that's why he's able to say, but I received mercy. And in that section is where Paul says, this is a faithful saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. And that's Paul's description of himself. And the grace of God is so magnified to Paul. And he's just amazed at it. And now we can say, if Jesus received me to the glory of God, and remember, you and I do not add to the glory of God, otherwise he would be dependent on us and our worship of him. But Jesus received us, and Paul says now, as Jesus received you, you are to receive your brother and your sister. Christian, why don't we stop and think about this for a moment? Stop thinking about the negatives about each other. Don't think about the positives of the other person. Think about what Christ has done for you and is doing. And seek to do it in the same manner as Christ is your example, as Christ received you, receive each other. Would you imagine what might happen when that is being practiced? Do not allow Satan to come to you and say, that's impossible, that's hypocritical, you know what you feel about him, what you feel about her. No, no, no, no, no, no. Think about what Jesus has done for you, what God has done for you, and then show the same love. Because even Paul in Colossians chapter three tells us that we are to forgive each other. How? As Christ forgave us. And of course, we can't escape us men. What does the Bible say? What does Paul say about how we are to love our wives? in the same way that Christ loved the church and gave himself for us. So, as Paul says in verse 7, wherefore receive, in other words, that's the same word as we read in verse 1 of chapter 14, when he says him that is weak in the faith receive, it's the same word in the original language In verse 7 here in chapter 15, when Paul says, Therefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. In other words, we could say, welcome. Welcome him. Welcome her. Secondly, the second point is that Paul wants us to understand that the fact that both Jews and Gentiles will be one has always been in God's plan. And I don't have the time to go to Ephesians, for example, where we read there, the Paul tells us that the church was a mystery in the Old Testament. And it certainly would have been a mystery to the Jews that God would bless the Gentiles in the same way. But what we see here, and just let me quickly go through because time is away, He wants us to show that the union between Jews and Gentiles becoming one in the body, that is, the body of Christ, the Church, it was not unexpected. In verse 8, we see that Jesus came to confirm or establish the promises God made to Israel. That was first and foremost. God is faithful to his word and he'll fulfill it. And he did so. And that's why the Bible says he came unto his own. It was to the Jew first and then to the Greek. In verse 9, we read that it was God's intention all along to extend his mercy to Gentiles as well, all along. As a result, verses 10 and 11 show us that both Jews and Gentiles will rejoice together. And Jesus, verse 12, shall reign over both Jews and Gentiles, and together they will rejoice in him. So you see that one of the themes of Paul in this letter to the Romans, you remember, it was how can he present that God is faithful to his promises that he made to Israel and at the same time save Gentiles who are outside of Israel? And of course, the key factor is the key person is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. and it is in Christ, and Christ alone, the walls of separation are brought down. That is why, Christian, the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, the light of the world, the gospel is what people today need. Not a new government, not a new political party, not greater weapons, not anything else. The world needs the Lord Jesus Christ. And the world needs the Lord Jesus Christ today. Your message, your witness of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is crucial. It is far more important than what any government thinks that it can achieve. Do not allow yourself to be discouraged by just focusing on what is happening in the world and wringing your hands and saying, dearie me, what are we going to do? Dearie me, I'm worried for my children. Dearie me, what's going to happen next week? What if there is a war? And so on. You are a child of God. You have a message. That message is what brings freedom to people. Jesus Christ brings freedom to people. And if God makes us free, then no one can put us back into bondage. So in closing, I want to finish by looking at verse 13. It's almost as if Paul could finish right here, isn't it? It's almost like a benediction. Now the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so it's almost like Paul is saying Rather, it's almost like Paul is being overwhelmed, that he's got to almost stop and just gather his thoughts again, because he's so taken up with the amazing thing that God has done. Having quoted these scriptures from the Old Testament, he says, now, look to the God of hope, trust in him. Don't look at the world and despair. we have something that the world cannot give and the world cannot take away, and that is the Lord Jesus. Our hope is in him because it is assured to us by God, the Holy Spirit. May God bless us as we, as his people, seek to live out the fact that we have been reconciled to God, that we love the brethren, that we love the lost, and that we are here not to fulfill our own agenda, but to minister the gospel to the lost and serve the Lord while we wait for him to come back and take us home. All glory be to God. Let's pray. We bow before you, Lord. and just thank you. We confess that we have only dipped our toe, as it were, into the waters of which there are depths beyond our real understanding. Oh Lord, thank you. Thank you for what you've done for us. Help us to be those believers who follow you, Lord Jesus, and so that we can receive others as you have received us. We want to praise you and thank you and acknowledge all that we have is a gift from you. And we are humbled and honour you, Lord. We pray you bless us now in Christ's name. Amen.