The sermon for this morning is based upon some of the words of the Apostle Paul found in Romans, Chapter 15. Romans 15. We are surveying this book. We've been doing so, I think, for a few years. Before we look together at some words given to us by the Holy Spirit, let us acknowledge our need of the minister of the Spirit understand his truth correctly. So let us now pray. Our blessed Lord, we believe what you have revealed to us in your word, and you have said that all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction in the way of righteousness, that we, your people, might become more mature. So this morning we ask that you would guide us as we reflect upon the words of your servant, given to your church long ago, preserved down through the ages. We believe in your divine providence that you have brought us to this place, this hour, and to these particular words. So we ask for light, for understanding. Take your truth, press it down upon us, cleanse us, equip us that we might better serve him who loved us and gave himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. What would you guess to be the most often used personal pronoun in the current presidential campaign? What would you guess is the most often used pronoun, personal pronoun? Now, I haven't done any research, I don't have any information, but I'm simply giving you my guess. My guess is it's that personal pronoun, I. I, I, I, I, I. If I become president, I will do this, and I will do that, and I will do this, and I will do that. You know, you need to remember all that I did in the past, and I this, and I that. It's just I, I, I. Don't you find it a little irritating at times? All this self-promotion, all this talking about And it amounts to kind of like, look, I'm here and you need to know how wonderful I am. And it kind of reminds me of an old story, and I've told it before. This lady went back to a 20-year high school reunion. And after graduating from high school, she went to Hollywood, got involved in movies, and was somewhat of a success. So she goes back to her 20-year reunion and she walks up to a group of her former classmates and says, hey, how are you doing? And then immediately she starts talking about her movies. Tells them about the latest movie that she's involved in. Tells them about past movies. Talked about who starred with her. Talked about all the countries she went to to do filming. On and on and on about her movies, her movies, her movies. And finally she caught herself and says, Oh me, oh my. Here I am. I've been doing all the talking. Now I want to hear from you. You tell me what you think of my movies. You see some people, they just can't get over themselves, always talking about themselves, always boasting. And so I wonder, what do you think? Is it wrong for a Christian to engage in boasting? Is it wrong for him to engage in boasting? We'll all answer it this way. Yes and no. Now that's a good politician's answer, isn't it? Yes, no. Yes, boast in the grace of God. Yes, boast in what God has been doing. Boast in how God has helped him do thus and thus. But no, not in vain glorying in self, not promoting self. And so this morning we come across a passage in which we read about a little boasting. The Apostle Paul and boasting. And so we pick it up this morning in verse 17. You notice Paul says, Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. And the word translated here, glory, you could accurately translate it as to boast. He says, I've got good reason to boast. Well, in what? In Christ Jesus, in the things which pertain to God. And you notice that, therefore, immediately sends us back to the preceding context. Well, what has he been talking about? Well, if you look at verse 14, he expressed his confidence in the maturity of the Roman saints, and then he brings in the fact, nevertheless, in particular areas, I've been very bold, very straightforward in reminding you of certain things. And then he brings it on, he speaks about the grace given to me by God that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. And so what is he boasting in? Well, he's boasting in this grace of God that made him a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles. And in so menacing to the Gentiles, certain things have taken place in which he boasts, the things which pertain to God. And I notice you've got italicized words which pertain to God, and so it's legit, you've got to kind of smooth it out. And so here's a man glorying, here's a man boasting first and foremost in this grace of God. What is he saying? It is the grace of God that made me a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles. And so Paul was a man who was quite often boasting, what, in the grace of God. And you remember what he said to the Corinthians, I am what I am by the grace of God. And so if you stop and think about it, and we've somewhat reflected upon this before, the Apostle Paul preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, really preaching the gospel to whoever he might find in audience, what a manifestation of grace! You recall how we were introduced to this man. Stephen is being shown. They put down the clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, his approving of that scolding. And then you come on into the eighth chapter of the book of Acts, it says, Saul yet breathing out threatening and slaughter and murder. This man had a vengeance to destroy these Christians. I mean this heretical group, you see, that was saying that Jesus was the Messiah. That should not be! That's contrary to the tradition and the teaching of the prophets! And so he had an eye to their destruction. And then you know how the grace of God took hold of him. The grace of God brought about a change in this man. And isn't that what the grace of God does? It brings about a great change. The saving grace of God. And it's interesting, when you read what the Lord Jesus said to His servant Ananias, with reference to the Apostle Paul, He said, you know, He's a chosen vessel for me. Special to me. He's going to preach to kings. He's going to preach to the Jews. He's going to preach to the Gentiles. And I'm going to show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. Suffer? Yes. And I've always thought it's interesting. Paul's going to suffer a great deal for the name of Christ. What did Paul cause in the church? Suffering! Hauling away men and women. We talk nowadays about breaking up families. That's what he did. Here was a man bent on destruction. But then there's the grace of God. And the grace of God turns him around. And now he's determined to do whatever I can for the elect of God and Jesus Christ. I will lay down my life for Jesus Christ. I have reasoned the glory in Christ. Turned him around. No longer a persecutor. But now he proclaims, as he said to the Galatians, that faith which I once sought to destroy. He rejoiced in the grace of God. And I trust you sit here as a Christian, often you reflect. upon the great grace of God, how it changed your life. You know how often Paul brings it up, I persecuted the church. Yes, he knew it was forgiven, but I suggested bothering him. Images came to mind of those people. I persecuted the church. I deserve nothing but misery and eternal damnation. But here I am, proclaiming the grace of God, a saved man, seeking through the proclamation of the gospel that others might be also saved. And so he boasted in the grace of God, and I trust you do that. From time to time, you reflect back on your life. My, how you used to think, and my, you would speak in some of the actions, and I know some of you were hemmed up in a good Christian home for which you ought to be thankful, and you didn't get all scarred up with the world. But yet there was this mind you had, this imagination you had, and God in the power of His grace turned that around. Your thinking is different now. Your conversation is different now. Your life is different now. For it's a true statement, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things pass away, all things become new. Oh, he says, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus, in the things that pertain to God. and bring back again. I am what I am by the grace of God. And then you notice what Paul says, I labored more abundantly than they all. Paul didn't put on some kind of a false piety that he didn't work. He just relaxed and Jesus did it all. No. Grace made him active. The grace of God moved him. to endure horrible situations. The hatred of men, stoning, shipwreck, lack of proper clothing, lack of food and drink. He rejoices in the grace of God. And so I think we can pick up from that. Grace doesn't always make the Christian life easy, does it? It didn't make Paul's life easy. but it granted him the ability to cope with very difficult things. Gave him the grace to persevere in the face of great opposition. And Paul goes on when you look at that 1 Corinthians 15 passage, I labored more abundantly than they all, but yet not I, but the grace of God with me. The grace of God strengthens a man to endure things. Paul was a man who rejoiced in that grace. The things of God. Well, what might be some of those things? Well, you notice he goes in the opening of verse 18, For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me. In other words, Paul was very honest. He didn't take credit for something that he didn't do. He wasn't involved in it. He didn't say, oh yeah, you know, I did, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No. If he heard about a particular work, he would say, yes. Brother so-and-so was used by the Lord to do that. I didn't have anything to do with it. He wasn't a man who would try to take credit where credit wasn't due. But he simply put forth the things that God did through him. And you notice when you look at how they reported to the church back in Acts 15. Here you have the Apostle Paul and Barnabas. They go back to the church that sent them out in verse 27. And when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them. And then he opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. opened the door, but he reported, Paul did, what God had done with them. You see, God uses men. God spreads his truth. Most often, God brings others to conversion through the instrumentality of men speaking, men preaching, men showing themselves to be true Christians. And so Paul wasn't ashamed of that. I work hard, I do what I can, but I know it's the grace of God. Well, what might be some of those things he mentions? He says, in word. He accomplished certain things through me, through in word. And I think we can interpret that to mean the preaching of the gospel. It was that grace of God that enabled him to go from synagogue to synagogue, knowing that he would meet opposition, and to preach the Word of God. He would preach the Word to Gentiles. He would preach the Word to great crowds, small crowds. He would even sit down and speak the Word of God to a little group of women in a prayer meeting. And you remember, the Lord opened the heart of Lydia and she received those things spoken by Paul. So wherever he would go, it was the Lord who enabled him to speak forth that word by his grace. And then the apostle makes an interesting statement when you look at Ephesians chapter 4. Here he is exhorting the Ephesians that they should no longer walk as the Gentiles walked in the futility of their minds and that darkened understanding. Then he makes this statement in verse 20, But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth in Jesus. The question is, when do these Ephesians hear Christ? When do they hear him? Christ had ascended into heaven 60, 70, 80 years ago. How did they hear Christ? I suggest they heard him through the preaching of the Apostle Paul. That's how they heard him. You see, where there is that true preaching, Christ addresses his people. Isn't it true? My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me." They hear his voice, the proclamation of the Word of God. You see, preaching is very important. Listening is very important, to hear the voice of Christ. And then he makes mention of this fact of the deeds. Well, what might be some of the deeds? Well, we automatically think of miraculous deeds, yes, but how about the deeds performed by the Apostle Paul? For example, he said to the Thessalonians, after I'd been mistreated in Philippi, that is, severely beaten and jailed, I came to you. I mean, I think you'd have to say that Paul was a pretty tough cookie. Very tough. But even that, it's God who puts us together genetically, doesn't he? Some he gives a very strong physical constitution, others he does not. And God gives grace for a man to endure some very difficult things. And so, deeds. He set forth deeds. And you remember he told the Ephesians elders in Acts chapter 20, he said, he probably showed them, you know these hands? They provided for my own needs. I didn't take up the offering, I couldn't. The reason being because of my enemies and what they'd said. These hands provided for me and for my fellow workers. Deeds. Lots of good deeds. heart-working deeds. And then you notice he goes on and he makes mention of the mighty signs and wonders, and these indeed would be things that only the Spirit of God could do through him. You remember he said to the Corinthians, the signs of an apostle were done before you. And so you read in the book of Acts some of the healings that took place. In fact, people got so excited they wanted maybe a handkerchief to touch Paul so they'd take it home and people get healed. Signs and wonders. And so the apostle Paul says, I do do some boasting. But my boasting is in the grace of God. I am what I am. by the grace of God. And if you sit here as a believer, it's because of the grace of God. You sit here with a changed life, it's the grace of God. Well, let's move from personal boasting to think about a purpose. It seems to me that a purpose is set forth here. You notice when you look at verse 18 again, 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." That's the purpose. The Gospels proclaim to the Gentiles. Mighty things were done before the Gentiles. To do what? To make the Gentiles obedient. Well, I thought you were bringing them to faith through the preaching of the gospel. That's true. Bring them to faith. But you don't have obedience divorced from faith. You remember quite some time back, we started surveying this book. And so you notice what is said in verse 5 of the first chapter. Through Him, Christ, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith. among all nations for his name. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the renewing work of the Holy Spirit brings a person to obedience. Yes, you believe what's in the gospel and you seek to obey what's in the gospel. The old catechism says, what do the scriptures principally teach? Scriptures principally teach. what a person is to believe concerning God and the duty God requires of him. And you remember James brought out, you got faith? Let me see your faith by your good works. Yes, grace, faith, Ephesians 2, but you are ordained unto good works. And so Paul labored amongst the Gentiles. He preached among the Gentiles to bring them to obedience. You see, yes, there is that profession of faith, Jesus as Lord, but that profession has along with it some obedience, some good works. You remember the story in the Old Testament with reference to this matter of King Saul. He started off fairly well when he was somewhat humble, but then he got big for his britches and got in a lot of trouble. And you remember one time how the Lord, through the prophet, gave to Saul a very definite command concerning King Agag and the Amalekites. And Saul just halfway did it. My wife used to say to the children when they lived at home, partial obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. They found out what that meant. Anyway, Saul says, well, you know, I halfway did it, and I saved this, and I saved that, and here's this big sacrifice. And then Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as on obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king. Obedience! Now, when we speak about obedience, we don't mean any kind of sinless obedience, a perfect obedience. But the point is, as a believer, the bent and direction of your life is in the pathway of obedience. You desire to learn and know the Word of God in order that you might put it into practice. When you see Christianity, it consists of more than some joy. When you read about the peril of the sower, you read about some who, with joy, they received it. Oh, hallelujah! But then it says the trials and the temptations came, and they just couldn't give obedience, so they fell by the wayside. And when you look at Luke's account, he brings out the fact that There were those who joyfully received it, but in time of trial, there's no fruit. There's just this little stalk. Where's the fruit? And are there not many people in the church? Where's the fruit, the real evidence of Christian faith? Now, until just recently, we had in our front yard an orange tree. We planted it three years ago, and it's about like this. And so we anticipated some fruit. We like oranges. Well, we knew not the first year, but what about the second? Nothing. Third? Nothing. Couldn't even get a blossom. I mean, it was a tree. It was green. And I painted the trunk white. It didn't really look nice. No fruit! Finally, we dug it up. They planted a new one. They want fruit. God wants fruit from our lives. You remember what Paul said to Titus. He said they profess to know God, but in works they're denied. A lot of people they can talk. Lots of talk. But they're lies. They're lies. And you've heard it before, the illustration out of Pilgrim's Progress, that one man talkative. Man, he could talk, and one of the travelers was greatly impressed. I mean, talkative even sounds Calvinistic. And he could quote some scripture. But then the more mature pilgrim says, go to his home. See how he treats his wife. That's how he treats his kids. Go to the workplace. See what they have to say about him. Big talker. A lot of big talkers out there. I have a neighbor. I don't see him much, but he found out I was a minister and he let me know. You know, he graduated from Bible college over in California. And I could tell every so often across the fence he has a little theological knowledge. Just a few days back, he made a comment, he says, you know, I'm not worried about what's going on in the world because I believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior is in my heart. And I looked at him, and then he went on in. I tell you, I've heard that man on his cell phone on his back porch. That language would embarrass a sailor. It's terrible. And I think maybe he has a little problem of drinking because one time he got out and said, Oh, give me a hug, Don. I thought, Man, where am I? In a beer joint? Something wrong. We're going to have to have a talk. Talkers. Lots of talkers. Or again, you remember the Lord Jesus spoke about those who, they perform great things. Even miracles. cast out demons. But apart from me, you workers of iniquity, there was no practical obedience in their lives. There was no perseverance in the way of righteousness. And so here, the gospel is preached to bring the Gentiles into obedience. If we be professing Christians, one of the evidences would be this matter of obedience. So you can ask yourself, you've got time in the Lord's day. What about my obedience? Is there a particular area? I'll shove it aside. It would just be too costly. The Lord requires obedience. We grow through obedience. Blessings come through obedience. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. He's a blessed man. But then there's one more thing, quite briefly, and this has to do with power. Power! Paul needed power to do all that he did. You and I need power. What is it? Look at verse 19. Mighty signs and wonders. by the power of the Spirit of God. And so Paul accomplished so much, did so much out of the power of the Spirit of God. You and I have been given the Holy Spirit, and He works within us to will and do of His good pleasure. Jesus told his disciples in the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit will give you power. And you see that power in the apostles and the preaching and the teaching. Here was Simon Peter not too long back. He denied Jesus. I don't know him. Now he proclaims it. So we need the Holy Spirit to give us power. In fact, Jesus said, if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to them than ask Him? And I trust you're always asking. Oh, Holy Spirit, help me. Help me with this. When you read in that eighth chapter of the book of Romans, it is by the Spirit, you see, that we mortify the deeds of the flesh. It is the Holy Spirit who assures us of God's love and of our sonship in Him. We need the Holy Spirit. We all need more of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I read a story recently. A congregation met together. The preacher was preaching away and he said, you know, what do you think might happen to a man who gave himself completely to the Holy Spirit? And there was a man sitting in the congregation, and he said to himself, and in prayer, God, I want to be that man. I want to be that man. What was his name? D.L. Moody. You may not like all his theology, but he did a lot of things. And so could you sit here this morning and say, Lord, I want to be that man, that woman, give myself up more and more to you. Can you say that? Or is there a little obstacle, a little something in your life? You know, you know, it's greeting the Spirit, isn't it? Quenching the Spirit. And so it's the Lord's day. Reflect and pray. Lord, help me to put it out of my life. Give myself more and more to you. Amen. Let us pray together. Lord God, we thank you for your great, your marvelous grace. Lord, you've done remarkable things in our lives, for which we give you thanks. And we know that you are not yet through with us, so we ask that you would continue the work, give to us tender hearts as we reflect upon our lives this day, and may we indeed give ourselves more and more unto Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.