Good morning, this is Hackberry House. Welcome to God's Word. Lord, thank you for Paul and the Book of Romans and the many, many wonderful things that it teaches us. I pray for grace for us to take it all in today. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hackberry House can be accessed on your computer by simply typing in MyHeartCry.net. When you go there, you find all kinds of teachings from the Word of God and it's all free. Help yourself right now. I want you to go to Lesson 45 on the library page, scroll down to the Bible Studies and find Lesson 45, Book of Romans. When you get it printed out, turn to the second sheet on the back page. It's question number 38, actually, that we'll be doing again. Our job today is to finish the book of Romans. That could be quite a task because there's so much in here. But let's move on and let's see what happens. I didn't quite finish Romans chapter 8. Let's do that now, verses 31 to 39. He's made a case here. He's made a case that God prays through his people, gets his will done, that there is a people of God that's been known from the foundation of the world, and because of that, because of what God knows and what is so secure, then our everyday life is secure too. We don't have to worry about anything if God's for us. But be sure, be sure in your prayer life, be sure that you've totally given your life to Him, that you have truly been born again and filled with God. Once you know that, then you have nothing to fear. God, Jesus died for us while we were still enemies, you know? We'll bring that out later on in the book. He talks about God's elect. Let's don't be afraid of these verses. Let's don't be afraid to believe that there are a chosen. Do you want to belong to God? Then you are a part of that number. Those who don't want Him have never been called by Him and will not be called by Him. Anyone who comes to Me, Jesus said, I will not cast out. So He gives all the things that cannot bother us. that whole long list that you've probably read many times before. We are more than conquerors in all of these things. Not just a conqueror, but more than a conqueror. We win abundantly. We have a lot left over. Nothing can take us from the love of Jesus. This talks about the security of the elect. Not just believers, but the chosen ones of God. Fascinating passage. I can't do anything more with it. You're going to have to take it into your prayer time and make it your own. I need to go to chapter 9 now. We go back a little bit and talking about the deep sorrow that this apostle feels about his own people, the Jews. Now, you understand he's writing to a church that's filled with Jews and Gentiles. This particular chapter is given over to the Jewish thing, but back and forth he goes talking about the Gentiles also. And he's trying to get these two groups of people in Rome to work together, to live together in the Lord, and not to think of one as better than the other. But he says, I love the Jews. I wish I was cursed for my brothers. I hate to see that they're rejecting the Messiah, even though I love them. They're falling away. Now these guys got the adoption as children. They got all the glory when Moses did his thing. They got the covenants from him. They got the law. They got the service to God. They were called specifically to serve God. All the promises were given to the Jews. All the great fathers. All the big names in church history. These are Jewish people. Christ even came, according to Israel, from that family. But they did not receive Christ. They did not come to Christ as Christ wanted them to. The Word of God was given, but they didn't take it. Now he says, that's because just having the flesh, Israel, Abraham, does not mean that you're one of his. He's giving the whole truth now. Sure, God called all of Israel. He wanted all of Israel to be His. They were the chosen people, but they didn't want Him. They fell into their sin. They fell out of covenant relationship. And God says now, I'm not just looking for people who are of the seed of Abraham, but who are of the promise, the children of promise. He says in Isaac, your seed shall be called. First, He differentiates between Isaac and Ishmael. He says, Ishmael born according to the flesh. born according to the program of man, man's thinking, but Isaac born according to the promise of the Spirit. He uses that just as an example to let you know that there is a people in the world who are promised people and a people who are not. So the people who are trying to get in by their flesh or using their own flesh in some way to impress God or to get saved, they're not in this thing. talks about the purposes of God in verses 6 to 13 of chapter 9. He talks about how the promise works. The first promise was, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. Of course, they didn't want to believe that, but they finally did. Not only this, when Rebecca had her children, it was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. There's another promise. And then he goes off into that promise, as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. And people want to know right away, isn't that unfair for him to hate one and love the other? He says, no, look what he says to Moses. Verse 15, I will have mercy on whoever I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on anyone I want to have compassion. So it's not a person who tries real hard to get saved that gets saved, but God who has compassion and draws that person along. You say, well, wait a minute, that's not fair either. How could he find fault with somebody that he hardened and then send them to hell? Who could ever resist his will? And we say that flippantly off the top of our head. And we want to fight with God. We want to argue with God's purposes and plans, not knowing that his plan is perfect, that he would never, ever do anything that's wrong because he is God. And that's what Paul is thinking when he says, verse 20, who do you think you are replying against God? There is justice in everything God does. You're just the created being. Okay, you don't understand something. That's fine. That's fine. But when you finally do understand that little pea brain, you will understand that God did right. That God cannot do wrong. The potter has right over the clay. God, if he wants to show his wrath and Then let him show his wrath. If he wants to show his mercy, let him show his mercy. Don't speak against God. Pretty heavy for us because we do try to figure these things out. Sometimes it doesn't seem fair by our little system of reasoning. We put our systems down on paper and we call them theology books. But you need to burn all of those. Get back into the book. The book says God can do what he wants to do and we need to let him do that. I'm going to call them My people who were not My people." Lots of Gentiles are going to come. So, the Gentiles have come back into chapter 9 here, and He's letting them know, yes, these Jews are wonderful. Look at all the things that were given to Jews. You better respect the Jews. But, God is going to call a people that was not His people, and that's Gentiles. And you better respect those Gentiles, too. Because it's mercy that matters, not law, not flesh. Isaiah even says, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant, only the remnant will be saved. There's only going to be a few Jews, comparatively speaking, because the Lord will make a short work on the earth. And, as Isaiah said before, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we'd have become like Sodom and Gomorrah. He's saying, compared to all the Israelites that have ever lived, there's just a few Jews. But, what about the Gentiles, backing up to verse 25, I will call them my people who were not my people. There's going to be a lot of sons of the living God among the Gentiles. So we respect each other, Jews and Gentiles. We're in the end of the chapter now. What do we say then? The Gentiles who weren't especially looking for righteousness, not this way, they've got it because of the mercy of God who called them. and the Jews who were trying to find the righteousness according to the law, but missed out on who Jesus was. In fact, what did they do? He says they stumbled over the stone. There's a stone of offense. That's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God. And if you stumble over that stone, you don't get righteousness at all. We need to move on to chapter 10. Brothers, I want Israel to be saved. There's such a zealous people. but they were ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish their own. So he picks up the same theme as he had in chapter 9. In fact, he never dropped it at all. Christ, though, is the end of the law, the purpose of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. You don't go through the law. You go to Christ and you get the law too, you see. But if you go after the law first, you don't get Christ and you don't get the law because you can't do what the law says. He says, Moses wrote about, here's the two systems contrasted. Here's flesh and spirit contrasted. He says, Moses said, the man who does those things shall live by them. So do equals live, according to Moses. And if you could do this, you could do it. Yeah, I mean, you could be saved this way. If you could keep the law perfectly, you could be saved, but nobody can do that. Do equals live, according to Moses. But the righteousness of faith speaks another way, verse 6. It says it's not about doing. It's not about going up into heaven and getting Christ to come down. He's already come down. Verse 7, it's not about going down into the grave and trying to get Christ up. He's already up. It's all done. The Word is near you, verse 8. In your mouth, in your heart. It's not do anymore, okay? It's done. It's done. The Word is right there. What Word? The Word I just gave you, Paul says. The Word that we've been preaching. The Word of faith that's in your heart, that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus. Jesus, that's the Word that's in your mouth. And if you believe that Word, if you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you'll be saved. That's the Word that we preach. And it's inside of you. Just take a hold of it and confess it with your mouth, and you are going to be saved. And whoever believes on Him, just trust God, not be put to shame." What a wonderful teaching that the Apostle is giving us here because whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And how will they call on Him whom they have not believed? I want us to see this verse. I want you to hold on to these verses in these days because they're saying, who's saying? Billy Graham is saying Billy Graham is saying you could sit off in a foreign land somewhere, in a pagan tribe that's never heard the gospel, but you could turn your eyes toward the heavens and want, and want to be saved, and want these things real hard, and that wanting will save you. Now, I won't get into the mind of God here. God can do what He wants to do, but He's revealed to us here. the only thing that we're supposed to go by. Let God be God, yes, but I'm going to go by what God has given us. And God has said people cannot be saved without the preacher coming to preach Jesus Christ. They can't be saved without it. Get this in your mind and have compassion on those who have never heard that you personally will perhaps be going or that you will be sending. You're either going to go or you're going to send somebody to reach that person if you love what God has told you to do, if you love the Word of God. Don't depend on those false teachers who are telling us, well, they're going to find out anyway. What a horrible thing is being preached among us in these last days. How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But, even though the gospel goes everywhere, verse 16, they don't all obey it. We're not responsible for them all obeying it. That's not a part of the Great Commission. The Commission is just to go and preach and teach. Lord who has believed, I'll report. No, they just don't believe. I'll report. But faith comes by hearing. the Word of God. You can't have true biblical faith unless you have the Word of God preached to you. But haven't they heard? He says, yes, indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In a sense, that day the Gospel was going out. But haven't they heard? Had the Jews heard? Oh, the Jews had heard. Didn't Israel know? Moses says, I'll provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation. I'll anger you by the Tentos coming in. But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who didn't seek me. As he rejects the Jews and looks for someone to save. But to Israel, he says, all day long I've stretched out my hands to... Yeah, they've hurt. The Jews hurt. When he's talking about they in verse 18, he's talking especially about the Jewish people. They definitely have heard, and their Jewish scriptures even talked about the coming of Messiah. They heard about the righteousness of Christ, but they stumbled over those kinds of passages and they didn't understand, but there was a remnant. who kept their hearts right, who kept their hearts right before the living God, and they offered their sacrifices. They did everything that was to look ahead to the Messiah. They understood the best way they could about the blood that was to come. And God honored that remnant people who kept their hearts right. And when Jesus came, His blood went back and took away all of their sins. They were perhaps in a holding position until then, but the blood of Jesus took away their sins as they looked ahead to the Christ that was being preached to them. But when Christ is not being preached, nobody can look to Christ. Let's go to some questions right now that we have passed over. First, going back to chapter 8. Since the foreknown and the glorified are the same group, what assurance is ours? We're His now, so we'll be His then. We can't be separated from the love of God. Number 39. What was Paul's sorrow? That his Jewish brothers were lost. Sarah, Rebecca, Jacob and Esau, Moses, Pharaoh. What point do they all prove? That there is an election according to God's promise, according to God's grace and mercy, and not according to works. Number 41. What is man's natural reaction to this teaching? Well, we can't resist God. It's not fair. That natural reaction needs to be tempered with God's true reaction through Paul. God's response, number 42, who do you think you are? I make the rules here. Let God be God. Number 43, what is the stumbling stone? I believe that stone is Jesus. Salvation by grace, not by the law. But the law is a part of it. God wants us to keep the law, but He wants us to keep it because we are His, because we've entered into covenant relationship with Him, not in order to get to know Him. There's a huge difference in those two lifestyles. How far away, how difficult is salvation, number 44? Why it's very near you. It's in your mouth. It's in your heart. So why was Israel not saved? Well, they didn't believe. They didn't obey the good news that came to them. Number 46, on what basis? Well, we're going to stop right there. That's what brings us to chapter 11. Israel's rejection is not total. Israel's rejection is not total. God hasn't cast away His people. Oh, no. He says, I'm a Jew. He didn't cast me out. God didn't cast away the people that He foreknew. You see what He was talking about? In chapter 8. The people that He foreknew. In 8.28. Whoever He saw ahead of time, He's going to save. He saw some Jews there. He saw a group of people that would follow Him. Now, if you're worried about predestination and all these things, look at Israel. They had their chance to be saved. They all heard the Word. Look at Israel. But among those people, God knew that not all of them would. If you look in the book of Deuteronomy and the great sermons and warnings that Moses had to give to the people of God, he knew that most of them weren't going to accept it. He knew that from the beginning. And that God didn't cast away His people whom He foreknew. There were a group of people inside of Israel. Just like there's a group of people inside of us. And it's not too difficult to find these folks. And we can't always tell. But you know, the ones who are bearing fruit for Jesus Christ, who are living their lives daily for Jesus Christ, it's pretty good. I'm not talking about making that decision and that judgment based on people you see in church every week. if you only see your church folks once a week. But you get to know, after a while, who the people of God really are, don't you? It becomes obvious as you fellowship with them. There are surprises from time to time. Well, he says there's a remnant. There's a remnant. He talks about Elijah. Elijah thought he was the only one, but God said, no, I've got 7,000. There's a bunch of folks out there. You don't know about them because they're just secretly, privately, keeping their lives pure before me. But they've never bowed to Baal. And they never will. And so at this time also, he says, there's also this election of grace. And if it's grace, then it's not works. You've got to see this clear, clear division. If you're saved by grace, you're not saved by works. If you're saved by works, you're not saved by grace. That's what he says in verse 6. It doesn't get any clearer than that. You've got to make a decision. Are you wanting to be saved by grace or works? If you're wanting to be saved by grace, Accept your forgiveness constantly when you make a mistake just ask for forgiveness Because he's faithful and just to forgive your sins. You're not saved by works. Anyway, thank God for his constant grace the election Have received grace because they're seeking it by grace If you go back seeking it by works you fall from grace. That's the scripture So is all of Israel going to be lost? That's not what it says in verse 11. Have they all stumbled that they would all fall? The individuals have fallen. There's no question about that. But we're talking about Israel as a nation. National Israel and the whole group called Israel. No, no, he says. Through their fall, the Gentiles have come in and thanked God for our salvation. And their fall has become the riches of the world. But how much more will it be when their wholeness comes in, when all the Jews do come back into Christ in a certain generation? In verse 13 he says, I'm an apostle to you Gentiles. He's speaking to both groups here. I'm an apostle and I glory in this, I magnify it, but I want you to know, I want you to know that they're coming back. Don't get nervous about this, the Jews are coming back. If the first fruit is holy, The lump is holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. Verse 16, Christ is the root here. The root was holy and Christ and what he did among the Jewish people to begin with, that was a holy thing. That was the root. And that's, you know, some of the branches that came later on were broken off and you, you Gentiles, were grafted in. That's wonderful. But he says don't boast against the branches. Don't get in there and say, see, I'm better than the Jewish people. No, you're not. You were a sinner saved by the grace of God. Just like every true Jew who is still in the tree is also a sinner saved by grace. And those fell away were sinners whose hearts were hardened, who didn't want to be in the tree. But don't boast yourself against the branches. If you boast, remember, you don't support the root, the root supports you. When you say, wait, those branches were broken off to bring me in. He says, yeah, because of unbelief. If you start getting into unbelief, you'll show that you didn't belong in this thing either. He'll take you out too. He may not spare you. He's trying to be very cautious here about shaking them up as far as their assurance is concerned. But he said, don't get haughty in this thing. If you're lifted up with pride and boasting, it could be that you're not even a part of this anyway. Consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell. Severity. but toward you, goodness. If you continue in His goodness. If you continue, that's proof that you're one of the true branches. If you don't continue in His goodness, that proves you weren't a part of this thing to begin with. If they don't stay in their unbelief... Now, He's not saying you can come back and forth into the tree. But He's saying Israel as a whole. He's not talking about being born again twice. He's saying Israel rejected it. But if they would come to Christ, they could be put back in. They're being taken out now because they never have accepted Christ. But suppose they accepted Christ, they'll be brought back in too. I just want you to know, he says, there's a mystery here. Hardening has happened to Israel in part, but only temporary. It's temporary. It's in part. It's not all of Israel, and it's not for all time. When all the fullness of the Gentiles come in, Israel's going to come back too. The Deliverer will come out of Zion. He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. It's going to be a very Jewish kingdom. If you have a problem with Jewishness, you better check it out. You better find out why. Because the church is Jewish to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. Okay, there's a lot more Gentiles now. A lot more Gentiles. But that's not how it's always going to be. The Jews are going to come back into the church. Does that mean now, during the millennial kingdom? It doesn't matter to me. The final kingdom is Jewish. And so much of Jewishness is going back. Not the old ceremonial law in the church. I'm not talking about that. This is a day of grace. God's calling all these people into this tree. called Israel, though. Remember that the tree is still called Israel, that you're there by the grace of God. You weren't supposed to be there in one sense, Gentiles, or you were in the ultimate sense, but remember that physically, originally, it was a natural Jewish thing. Even Jesus, when he came, was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Paul, when he came, through that same spirit of Jesus, finally reached out to us. But we were like almost an afterthought. Just like Paul himself was almost like an afterthought. He wasn't originally an apostle. He wasn't originally a Christian. He was a nothing. He was a nobody. But God, through His grace, saved him. And God, through His grace, at the last minute is going to save Gentiles too. Come on in if you don't know Christ. Come to Christ today. Gentiles are enemies, perhaps now, They came into the faith, Jews, and you need to accept them. He's trying to get people to accept one another as you see in the church of Rome. Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. When God says you're saved, you're saved. When God says you have a gift, you have a gift. You take that and you can walk with that forever. Oh, and he says a few more things and then he finally has to conclude like we all do in verse 33. The depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Oh, what a wonderful way he ends chapter 11. Let's go to chapter 12. Therefore, because of all this grace that's been bestowed upon you brothers by the mercies of God, give yourself to God. Don't hold back anymore. Don't be conformed to this world. Get out of this world. You've been touched by the fire of God. Don't be given yourself to fleshly things anymore. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. If you think you're so high and mighty there in the Church of Rome because you're a Jew, or even because you're a Gentile, you better start thinking like you ought to think. Because we've all got a place in the body of Christ. See this in the context of Jew and Gentile and the fights they were having? He brings in here the body of Christ and the gifts of the Spirit. We've all got different things. Nobody's better than somebody else, but we've all got something that's very important for the body. We're to give it. Some people have just ministry, service, just general service of the body. Others can prophesy. Others can teach. Others can exhort. Others can give. Pardon my voice today. Hopefully it will be back in full scope next time. We've got people who can lead. People who can show mercy. That's a gift too. Whatever your gift, give it to the Lord. And then he goes on and talks about some real practical things of the Christian life. I don't know that I can read each one of these to you because each one is a topic all in itself. But from verses 9, on, in chapter 12, are real practical ways to be a Christian. I wouldn't even try to read them all at once if I were you. Try a little bit of this at a time. These are wonderful ways to live for God. It talks about the enemy, really a major portion of it. It talks about how to deal with your enemies. Verse 17, don't pay back. Don't pay back. And live peaceably with anybody that you possibly can. We're not talking about being a compromiser here. But as much as it's possible to do, you live peaceably with people. Don't try for vengeance. You can't control other people, though. It says, live peaceably with all men. But you can't live peaceably with some people, but don't try to avenge yourself, if possible. Stay away from that. Give place to wrath. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. In fact, you overcome evil with good. Somebody's bugging you, you give them something good back. That's the Christian way. That's so far beyond the world's way. So far beyond what the world knows or does. But you can live that way. Through the power of God in you, you can live that way and God wants you to. Let's go to the questions sheet now as we finish up chapter 12. On what basis is the election and why? Well, it's based totally on grace so that no one can work to attract, to attain it. and boast about what they have. Number 47, how did God use the stumbling of Israel? He brought in the Gentiles. He in fact saved the world that wants to be saved. Number 48, who are the grafted in branches? That's us, Gentiles. What was to happen before the restoration of Israel? The fullness of the Gentiles has to come in. That's all I had. Here's chapter 12. How can we keep from conforming to the world? By renewing our minds. When you have Christ's mind in you, you don't want to be like the world. So, get your mind renewed, then the world will just drop off. You will see. List some other gifts of the Spirit. There's prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, showing mercy. Number 52. What's the Christian attitude toward our enemies? We bless them. We don't worry about vengeance upon them. We feed them. and eventually, we hope, heap coals of fire on them. Now, we don't try to do good things to them so that they will be punished. He's just saying this is what will happen. You know, after a while, if you start doing good things to them, you're going to find yourself loving them in the Spirit and praying for them, and you won't want them to be judged. Right now, maybe that's what you want. But as you get to loving them and blessing them and realizing they're no different than you are before Christ, then you're going to pray for their salvation. We go on to chapter 13 now. talking about government. Yes, it's still there. We are to submit ourselves to the governments, the authorities of this earth. And if you resist the authority, you resist God. You don't have to be afraid of your law anymore. You don't have to be looking out the back rearview mirror of your car anymore to see if he's behind you. No, he's not behind you because you're traveling the speed limit. You're not breaking the law, so you're not afraid. And that's what he says in the first seven verses. to anybody, anything that you owe them. Just give them all things. Taxes, customs. Don't get into all these little arguments about, well, I don't know if I should pay everything. Give it all. Just give it all. God said to. This is an evil government. Yes, it is. But so was the Roman government. Come on. Verse 8. Don't owe anybody anything except to love one another. Can you go into debt at all? If you have an apartment, yes, you're in debt. For the next so many months, you've got to pay that rent. You're in debt. So, some people who are buying houses are going into debt. But are they really any more than a person who rents in America I'm talking about? Could it be that Paul is saying, don't go behind in any of your bills. Don't ever miss a payment. Don't ever be behind in anything. Don't owe them that way. Right now, they don't care. We're talking about people who are going to be hurt by you not paying. That's why we're not to owe people, because you don't know what the future is. You've got to deal with God on this one. Be sure that what you're doing is in the will of God as far as your indebtedness. But for sure, this talks about no, no late payments, no coming behind in your debt. He who loves another has fulfilled the law. That's what we like. The verse 8 is not talking about indebtedness, it's talking about love. And when you love, you've kept the commandments. You've kept it. Love does no harm to a neighbor. So love is the fulfillment of the law. When you truly love, as Jesus wants you to love, and that's what the Holy Spirit will do in your life, then you have kept the Ten Commandments. You've kept the law, which is what He wanted from the beginning, but you couldn't do it without Him. Don't try to do it without Him. You still can't do it without Him. And then I like the warning of verses 11 to 14. It's time to wake up, church. Time to wake up. Our salvation is near. You say, wait a minute, I thought we were already saved. The word salvation is used different ways. The world's going to be saved one day. This planet's going to be saved, redeemed. There's a future thing coming. We have only the down payment of salvation now. We have not experienced everything that we're going to experience in Christ Jesus when He comes. Not at all. We've got the down payment. We've only got the little bit. Even though it seems like a whole lot when you really receive all of Christ that He wants to give you now. He's just overwhelmed. But it's nothing compared to what's coming. The night, though, is far spent. The day is at hand. Let's live as children of the day. Let's put on Christ. Let's not worry about the flesh. That's verses 11-14. A warning. Wake up. Put on Christ, as He's coming. We don't want to be caught naked, as He said in another place. Without Christ, we're naked. We have only our flesh showing. Alright, one more quick look at some questions here. Chapter 13, what reasons does Paul give for obeying all authority? Well, it's from God. Also, judgment will come. and also your own conscience and the conscience of those around you. Plus, you're paying their salary. You obey the authority because you're paying their salary. And number 54, sum up the whole law of Moses. The whole law of Moses can be summed up, love one another, love each other. What motivation to wake up right now? Because our salvation is nearer than before, because the night is far spent. It just can't be much longer until the dawn. We're going on to chapter 14 now, talking about the liberty, the law of liberty. A lot of weak brothers in the church. Always, of course. There's always going to be immature brothers. Why? Because people are getting born again, I hope, all the time in your church. If they're getting born again, there's going to be young people. Receive them. You don't have to wait until they're strong to receive them. When you do receive them, when you put your arms around them and love them in the name of Jesus, don't have any question in your mind about receiving them fully. And don't try to drag them into some religious argument right now. not to disputes over doubtful things. There are doubtful things that are among us. Things about which the revelation, even in the revelation in the Bible, is not totally clear. We argue about it all the time. It must not be totally clear. Or the person hasn't grown to see them fully. You know, those kinds of things that we've always been divided about. Don't be starting those kind of things with these young brothers, these weak brothers. There's people that believe you're only supposed to eat vegetables. Fine. Then let them eat their vegetables to God. You don't condemn them. The reason they didn't want to eat meat is because some of that meat, most of it, was sacrificed to idols first. They didn't want to eat it. You say, well, we have knowledge. We know better. We talked about that at another time. But we can't let our knowledge Destroy those for whom Jesus died. You've got to be convinced in your own mind. They argue about which day, which day is it? And here was a chance for the Apostle Paul to say, yes, the day is Sunday, or yes, the day is Saturday, the holy day of the week. You know what? He doesn't get into that. and you won't find anybody in the New Testament ever get into that. You've got little hints here and there throughout Scripture about the day, which day is God's day. But every man's got to be convinced in his own mind, and we don't condemn one another about what the other one found. We can share with one another if they want to share. It's not a matter of browbeating people. That is one of those things that's doubtful. We're not sure. When you are sure, and you're sure the Word is telling you this, you better do it. But there are just some things that we're not sure about. There are seasons and holidays and Jewish things. Why? Because we've got Jews coming into this church. We've got Gentiles coming into this church. And they all had their different idea about what day was holy. He says, you better do this unto the Lord. Because we live to the Lord. We die to the Lord. It's not for one another. Don't judge your brother. Don't come against Him. Don't show contempt on Him. Well, I've got a revelation you don't have. No, come on. That's for babies. That's for babies. Let it go. We're all going to stand before Christ one day, He says. You better wake up here. You guys are not walking in love. You're going to be caught by surprise. Every knee's going to bow to me, Jesus says. So, you know, you're going to give an account to God on these little doubtful things. You believe it and do what you believe you're supposed to do. And don't go against your conscience. But don't be beating up on other people who aren't with you in these areas. Verse 14, I know that there's nothing unclean. This meat that you're afraid to eat, I know there's nothing unclean. I know I can eat that. But if your brother's grieved with that kind of thing, don't do it. Stay away from it. If you could live on vegetables, go ahead and live on vegetables. I'm not talking about a person trying to convince you on cultural grounds or health grounds even, but on spiritual grounds. Trying to convince you you've got to do a certain thing, no, no, no. But if he's convinced of it and you're doing just the opposite in his presence, you could really hurt his conscience because then he'll do it too, but he won't have the same freedom really that you do. So all these Jewish rules about what to eat and so on, they're being brought into the church, of course, because Jews are coming in. Don't put those kind of rules on Gentiles. You couldn't live perfectly the law yourself. Don't put that on them. It's the righteousness of Christ that's in us that makes the difference. So let us pursue the things that make for peace, verse 19, and the things by which we can build one another up, not tear one another down. Don't destroy the work of God for the sake of food. Come on. Everything's pure. Fine. But it's still evil. Even though it's pure, it's evil if a man thinks it's evil. So, you have your faith, verse 22? Have it before God by yourself. I like this principle. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. Wouldn't it be good if you just believed in everything and could do everything? Well, you might. If you don't, don't try it. Wait till God convicts you and convinces you that everything is okay before you just go on out trying to say, well, he does it so I can do it. No, that'll mess up your conscience. It'll condemn you. The he who doubts is condemned if he eats. It moves right into chapter 15. Again, here's another place where chapter division is not good. So, we who are strong, he's saying mature people who have a bigger, broader vision of many things we ought to bear with the scruples of the weak. These people are young, they're learning, they'll learn some stuff, but right now stay with them, bear with them. Let's please our neighbors. Let's quit trying to just please ourselves. Remember, Christ was that way, wasn't he? See how he gets off into a discussion of how wonderful Jesus is here. He says, Jesus let all those reproaches fall on him. So we ought to let reproach and a little discomfort and a little, you know, inconvenience, let that fall on you. It's no big deal. Come on. Grow up, Christians. And then he goes off into the Old Testament, verse 4. He says everything that was written in this verse he quotes about reproaches of Christ, that was written in the Old Testament. He says all that Old Testament writing was written for us. that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, you see how much He magnifies the Scriptures here. It was all written for us, that we might have hope. And now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like this, like you're reading about how Jesus was. You be that way. And with one mind and one heart. You guys at Rome, Jews, Gentiles, or you guys at your church who I'm talking to today, you've got little groups in your church, all of you, start living together. Now, if you've got unbelievers there, we're not talking about that. We're talking about true believers who are fighting one another over things that don't matter. Come on, let's get together in Christ. And these other things, they're going to resolve. Now, what is little and what is not little, I'm not going to say. I'm not going to go there now. But I do know that there are issues in the Scripture that seem to be very difficult to resolve. group-minded, divisive sometimes with these things. There's a worse kind of division we'll get to later on in the chapter. And so, verse 7, you Jews, you Gentiles, receive one another. Christ received you, so let's receive one another. Jesus Christ is a servant to the circumcision. Whoops, Jews are suddenly being praised here. Jesus wants to serve you. for the truth of God, to confirm your promises. You Jews, be lifted up. God does want to confirm you. But verse 9, that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. This is written. You guys, you had the promises, so I praise you for that. But you didn't always keep the promises and now the Gentiles are brought in. For this reason I will confess to you among the Gentiles. And again, he says, rejoice, O Gentiles. So Gentiles, I want to praise God for you too. Verse 12 is another verse about the Gentiles from the Old Testament. Now may the God of hope. He says, In him the Gentiles shall hope. Now may the God of hope. And you see that same God that's in Isaiah in the Old Testament, He's here in the Church of Corinth. Sorry, the Church of Rome. He's here and He's that same God. So would you guys just receive Him that you may be abounding in hope. Let that God just fill you that you can have hope too. You know what, verse 14, I'm confident. I'm confident that you're going to do this. Now Paul does this a lot. I saw him do this in Philemon. Philemon, I'm confident that you're going to do what I say. However, Just to be sure, I'm going to be coming to you one of these days soon, just to be sure that you obey." He says it to the Church of Corinth. I'm so happy for all this. I just know you're going to give more than you've ever given before. But however, I'm sending some brothers over there to be sure that that offering is taken. He says, I'm confident, brothers, that you're just filled with goodness. You've got all knowledge. You're able to admonish one another. Nevertheless, however, I wrote to you just to warn you because God's in me. Verse 15, I just want to be sure that you heard this. I know you've already heard all this before. You ever done that? I know you've heard this before. I know you're really walking in this, but let me tell you one more time, because I've got to be faithful to my calling. Verse 17, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus because of you, because of what God is doing. I don't dare speak of those things which Christ hasn't accomplished in me. I would never talk about things that he hasn't done. But what he has done, oh, he gave this Jew the grace of God and he's given me a ministry to the Gentiles. He's done that. Do you hear me, Israel? He's really calling the Gentiles in mighty signs and wonders, the power of the Spirit of God. I'm not going to tell you stuff I haven't done, but let me tell you what I have done. This Gospel, God has used me, the Apostle Paul, he's used me to go all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum. You know where Illyricum is? Well, if you look on your map, think about your map. We're going to go up around to where Paul lived up there in Asia Minor. We're going to go to the top of Asia Minor and go over the river there, over the water, over into Macedonia, the Macedonian Gulf. But he didn't stop there. He went up and over and if you go due West, in Macedonia, you go to the other side of that peninsula, you're by the Adriatic Sea there, that's Illyricum. All the way from present day Albania, Yugoslavia, all the way down into Greece almost. All that area, Illyricum. Illyricum. If you look on a map, that is a huge chunk of land. And every place he went, he went in the power of God, and the power of God just multiplied his work, and it just spread everywhere. throughout all of Asia and Europe of that day. And he's going to go farther, but not quite like he wants. He says, I've done all of this. I've made it my aim, in fact, he says, to preach the gospel where Christ was never named because I didn't want to build on somebody else's foundation. That's why, verse 22, I haven't been to see you guys at Rome yet. I have been so busy. Every time I think I'm ready to go see you, I see some new territory over here that I haven't been able to get to, so I go preach there. But I'm coming. I just want you to know I'm coming. And he's in the Spirit here, but you need to understand he's also in Paul. This is from God. It was truly His desire. This is the truth. It was His desire to go there. He believed the Holy Spirit was going to bring Him to Rome. He just knew that. Well, the Holy Spirit was going to bring Him to Rome. And you know, later on, He got out. He may have gone to Spain, just like He planned to go to Spain here. But that was His plan. I want to go to Spain. But I want to go to you first, and in fact, I want you to bless me and send me on my way. I'm going to bless you with a whole lot of stuff. I'll give you the Word of God. I'll give you the power of God, the presence of God. You're going to have so much there when I come. And I just want you to take up an offering for me and send me on to Spain to do the same thing. You know, when Paul went visiting from place to place, he wasn't on some vacation. He was not a tourist. He went to give the Gospel wherever he went, and he did it. So I want you guys to do that for me, because I've got to go to Rome. Well, he would go to Rome. Verse 29, I know that when I come to you, I'll come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. He'd do that, but he would do it as a prisoner. He would do it as a prisoner. And thank God, through the grace of God, he was a free prisoner. He was given his own room to preach the Gospel to those people. He had no idea, I don't think, right then, how he'd be doing this. What is it that God's put in your heart to do? And you've been thinking, I've got to do this. I'm going to do this. By the power of God and the grace of God, I'm going to do it. Well, you'll do it. But don't be surprised if when you finally are doing it, it's not quite like you had envisioned it. But you do it anyway. Let God call you. I believe he was filled with joy when he was thinking about going there and preaching the Gospel there like he preached at other places and seeing Rome touched like he had seen other places touched. But I don't know that he had that. I think the fleshly edge of it was taken off when he realized he'd go there as a prisoner. It's not fun. It's not fun to take a Roman scourge in and to be a prisoner and even be rejected by many of the brothers. But he would go and he would do what he said he would do. But he prays. He asks them to pray for him because there's people here, even in Judea, who don't believe. I want my service for Jerusalem to be acceptable." What's he talking about? Well, he's talking about verse 26, that he's taking an offering that he got from Macedonia and Achaia. Does that sound familiar? He mentioned this, and we talked about it big time in 2 Corinthians. The offering that was going to be taken for the churches to go over there. He wanted to be a part of this wonderful thing of blessing Judea. Think of it. These poor Christians that had just become saved are now taking up big offerings, and he's going to be the guy that gets to take it back to Jerusalem and say, look at the offering. This is not just a money offering. This is the spiritual offering of these people who live over in Achaia and Macedonia. What a wonderful thing God's doing. And indeed, it was a wonderful thing. But I want to come to you with joy by the will of God. And in Acts 28, you see that He does indeed do that. Now the God of peace be with you all. Here, He says, Amen. like he's finished, but he's not. He's going to finish four more times in the 16th chapter. Let's get our questions in real quick here. How does Paul resolve the vegetarian debate and the debate over which day? Well, he says, be convinced, but don't judge others and do it unto the Lord. 57. What's a more serious problem than eating the wrong food? Well, judging one another. Number 58. Since everything is pure, can't I eat anything I want? Well, your brother could be hurt if his conscience is wounded. 59. How does the life of Christ address our selfish ways? Well, Jesus didn't please himself. 60. How or why should we receive one another? As Christ received us. 61. What two groups in Rome need to receive one another? Of course, Jews and Gentiles. 62. What was Paul's purpose in writing this established, knowledgeable church to be sure that the Gentiles got their proper due. 63. What is ironic in the announcing of Paul's travel plans and his prayer requests? Well, he wants to come there, but he will come there only as a prisoner later. 64. Why had Paul never visited Rome before? He's always going preaching other places. 65. We get to chapter 16. Let's go through this chapter The first verse talks about a lady named Phoebe. Phoebe was a sister in the Lord. It is amazing what people can get out of a verse. Who was she? She was a servant of the church. What's that mean? Well, she served the church. What's that mean? She did things for the church. And Paul's saying she's doing so much for the church that I want you to help her. She's got a really neat ministry there. And when I say ministry, I don't mean that she was leading in any way. I said she was serving. Paul said she was serving. Do you think for one minute that if this woman was usurping authority in any way over the men, or teaching them, or leading them, or being in a leadership position on a board, excuse me, that's an American business word, do you think that Paul would have ever recommended her? Not at all. Not at all. She serves the Lord. She's a servant. She's been a helper of many. That's all. That's all about Phoebe. Let's let Phoebe rest, okay? She was not a church deacon in the sense of Stephen and Philip. She was not a leader in that sense. Priscilla and Aquila I mentioned again. People who risked their lives for Jesus. This whole chapter 16 is just a catalog of people that were in Rome that He wants to greet. He knew these people and they were there now. How did He know these people so well? Not sure about that. But these are people that had passed by him and through him and were now either visiting or residents of Rome. He had met many of the church. That's why he could write to them so freely. He knew so many of them. There was a church in their house. Then Mary, a different Mary than the ones we've known. Another Mary. Andronicus, Junior, fellow prisoners. Not like in Rome will be, but he's been in and out of jail already. And these people he met in jail. He met in jail Amplius, Urbanus, Stachys, Apelles, Aristobulus, all these different people. One of them is even a relative, verse 11, he's got kin in the church of Rome. Triphina and Triphosa, fellow laborers. Yeah, there's a lot of women mentioned in this chapter. They're working in the Lord. Let's don't put them up, but let's don't put them down. They were with their husbands and they were working for the Lord Jesus Christ, serving Him the way that they were allowed to serve Him. And Paul made it clear how they were not allowed to serve Him. Rufus, chosen in the Lord. And his mother and mine. There was a woman there who had evidently taken him in. Rufus' mother had been like a mother to him and he just wanted to say thanks for that right there. Some other brothers and sisters that are mentioned and he tells, greet everybody with a holy kiss. He's really into this church and has a feeling for it. And he says that the churches of Christ, that's not a denominational term. The churches of Jesus Christ. God never gave a name for his church, did he? It's just Jesus Church. You can refer to it in many different ways, but it isn't called anything but the church. Verse 17, we thought it was done there, when he says, the churches of Christ agree to. That's one ending there. That's like a second one already. But here comes a third one, where he talks about people who are causing divisions. He's not talking about the guys like he was before the weak brothers. That he doesn't mention as division. He's talking about people who are against the doctors. Now he doesn't say to stay at peace with these brothers. He says you stay away from them. Here's a time when division is important from your standpoint, but they're the ones causing it. They're causing the division by going in as false teachers and gathering disciples unto themselves. Stay away from those people. Stay away from them. They don't serve Jesus Christ. They're out for the money. They're serving their own belly. They've got their flattering speech, and you've seen them, and you've heard them, and you know what I'm talking about. Stay away from them. Your obedience has been known to all. Notice how he does this with people. He's praising this church about their obedience, but still telling them to obey. If he really believed that they were perfectly obedient, he wouldn't have written them a letter. So I'm glad. But I want you to be wise. I know you have obedience, but I want you to be wise. You need a little bit more. You need to know what to obey. Don't obey these false teachers. You've got great obedience, but don't just use it for everything. And God's going to crush Satan under your feet. And then he feels like here's another ending. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Third ending. Not done yet. Now he's got a bunch of people there saying, wait, don't end it, Paul. Say hi for me. So Timothy says hi. Lucius says hi. Jason, Sisyphus, Tertius. Oh, by the way, Tertius, I'm writing the letter and I'm saying hi too. Gaius, the host. Erastus, the treasurer of the city. Not just Jews, but Gentiles are saying hello to you. Quartus, a brother. He's got these Latin names in there. Jews and Gentiles sending greetings to Jews and Gentiles. Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. But that's no way to end the letter, saying a bunch of names. Let's end it right. He says, now, now, let's sweep all this stuff away. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel, and so on. To God alone be glory through Jesus Christ. What a beautiful benediction, the true ending of Romans. So, who was Phoebe, verse number 65 in the questions? She was a servant. Number 66, how many friends of Paul now lived in Rome? There were 27 of them. Number 67, our attitude toward those bringing in false teaching, note them, avoid them, don't worry about being divided from them. 68, what purpose the scriptures? What? I skipped that. Verse 26, He is now made manifest by the prophetic Scriptures, has been made known to all nations. The good news of Jesus is in the whole Bible. Patience and comfort and the mystery of Christ has been revealed to all nations. That was the purpose of the Scriptures, the Bible, and that is still the purpose. And Paul knew it from the first century. Do you know it? Thank God for you and for you being there today. May God give you a good day as you meditate on something that the Holy Spirit gave you in these eight chapters of Romans. Next time around it's Lesson 46. We'll be going back to Acts. In fact, we're going to finish the book of Acts next time and then go to some letters, Ephesians and Colossians, that he wrote during that time or right around that time. And we have about seven more lessons in this Through the Bible study. It has been good to share with you today. God bless you.