Thank you, Mark, and Jake, and Sarah for leading us. Appreciate that. I was remembering back to the COVID days when Michael was answering from the other room because we had Ray Brown who was on our town board up in the town of Irwin. They mandated mask wearing for the meetings, and he refused to wear a mask. So they had him, it was in the middle of winter, sitting out on a wheelchair ramp with the door open. They'd make a motion, and Ray'd say from outside, "I second that." And that was great.

Well, we're here for our communion service. Last Sunday of each month, we do that as Jesus commanded us to do in remembrance of what he has done, what he's accomplished for us. We're working through the book of Romans, and now in chapter 15 in our text this morning, we're coming near to the end of this great book of Romans. Paul's taught us the doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ, expanding these truths and saving message through the first 11 chapters of the epistle. 

He began in chapter 12 to exhort us to apply these truths in our lives with that great exhortation in 12, 1, and 2, where he said, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." 

Paul then expounds the meaning of this concise language in these two verses over the next four chapters, culminating in the words that we've been studying in Romans 14 and 15 for the last several months in our communion services. He says, "Receive one another. Love one another. Have unity in the faith and mind and purpose. Don't let the insignificant things of this life divide you and make you ineffective in that which matters."

It was a bit of a rebuke to these believers, or at least it may have been taken that way. Paul speaks plainly, boldly in these chapters about the need to lay aside our personal preferences in disputable issues and remember why we are here and what we are trying to accomplish as the body of Christ. And so he starts his closing comments to this letter in our text today, encouraging them that they are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. He expresses his full and settled confidence in them because of the grace of God, the salvation evident in their lives. 

Well, these are encouraging words. They are meant to spur them on to good works and fellowship and the effective working in the body and their ministry, as even he has set the example for them in his ministry to the Gentiles and now even to them. Paul characterizes his own ministry in these verses as that of a priest presenting a sacrifice to God, much like the language of Romans 12, one and two, and that sacrifice is the Gentile church, and his sacred work is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness. 

And they and we are fellow workers in this great ministry in Christ by the grace of God, the ministry of the gospel. Paul’s been explaining, teaching, exhorting, concerning the gospel ministry of Christ and the life we are to live in light of these great truths. And in these last words in chapter 15 and on into chapter 16, we see the example of his life and ministry to us, a pattern to follow. 

Paul sees the believers in Rome, a church he did not found, nor does he know by face, as his fellow workers in the ministry that God has given to him and to every believer to be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this includes you, and this includes me. We are all priests to our God. There's no such thing as a priesthood today as such as in the Roman Catholic Church or a hierarchy or a mediating priesthood or propitiatory sacrifices. 

Peter says we, each believer, all of us in the body, are a royal priesthood meant to bring men to God through the preaching of the gospel. This is what Paul's life was about and what he was striving to do right to the end of the time God allowed him on this earth. And what an example Paul is to us.

Let's look together at our text in Romans 15 at verse 14. Paul says, "Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed to make the Gentiles obedient in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about to Lyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." 

And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation, but as it is written, "to whom he was not announced, they shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand." 

I've given you five points on your outline. First, competent to counsel. Second, speak boldly by grace. Third, a minister of Jesus Christ. Fourth, an offering to God. And fifth, the gospel fully preached. 

Well, first we see some encouraging words from Paul to the believers in Rome. He says, "I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me." 

Paul says, "I have been commissioned by God as an apostle to the Gentiles to write this letter to you, and I know that I have been very bold on some points, writing with strength given by the grace of God to correct or remind you, to exhort you. But let me encourage you, here's what I know, that I’m fully confident of concerning you. You are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another." The wording here says, "you have been filled to fullness with all goodness such that you now exist in a state of fullness." 

Here Paul speaks of Christian goodness, that is love, such as love that would bear the burdens of a weaker brother. He's saying, "I know I got into you a little bit there to make a point about the importance of receiving one another and bearing one another's burdens, the danger of division in the church over doubtful things, but I'm confident that you're full of the love of Christ and that you're fully able to do these things because of the grace in which you stand. You are full to the top with the love of Christ."

Then he says, "You have all knowledge," here referring again to Christian knowledge pertaining to the word of God, the wisdom of God. They too had the Holy Spirit. They had a good, firm grasp on the words, the truth of God. He did not write them these things because they did not know them, but because he wanted to remind them to set these truths in their remembrance, much like Peter writes, so that they would always have them even after his departure. 

They had the love of God poured out into their hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to them. They had a full knowledge of the words of God, the doctrines of the gospel and the resident truth teacher to guide them into all truth. 

And then Paul says something very interesting. He says, "I’m fully confident, I’m settled, I’m convinced that you are able to admonish one another." The word translated admonish here is the word nuthateo where the term nuthetic counseling comes from. You may have heard of that. The meaning of the word here is to admonish, to correct, to reprove gently. The literal meaning is to put in mind or to remind. 

So this brings us to a very interesting and I think practical application for the church. Paul says, "I am fully confident concerning you that you're able to admonish." Today we would say counsel one another. And what does that counseling consist of? Putting one another in mind. In mind of what? In mind of the word, the truths of God. We could also call this discipleship. 

I remember over 20 years ago when I first started meeting with Pastor Krenz each week, I'd been exposed to Jay Adams' book, Competent to Counsel, and Bobgins' book, Against Biblical Counseling in Favor of the Bible, and Ed Bulkley's book, Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology. I was working through these things, and I asked Pastor Krenz one Wednesday evening about counseling, and this is what he said to me. He said, "We do most of our counseling from the pulpit." 

The point was this: It is the word of God that affects change and fruit in the life of the believer. It is reminding, putting the believer in mind of the truth, the word, the promises of God that causes growth and abundance and joy and sanctification and Christ-likeness, and that also includes a state of well-being and right thinking. 

Paul says, "You the believer in Jesus Christ who have the Holy Spirit, who are filled with the love of God, who have the truth of the words of God, you are the one who is able to admonish. You are the one who is able to encourage, to correct and gently reprove, to guide one another into the truth and focus on Jesus that results in the fruit that God intends." 

I thought of it this way. I wonder if you've ever been discouraged by your local town board or maybe school board or state or even federal government. Let me ask you this: Would you rather have the president of the school board be the guy who has all the credentials, has been to all the trainings and knows Robert's rules like the back of his hand, but who is a worldly guy lost in Adam, or would you rather have a born-again believer, perhaps he's not as well-credentialed, maybe a little rough around the edges, maybe like a John McClain, huh? But he has the Holy Spirit and the love of God and the wisdom of the word of God. 

Who would you rather have in charge of making the decisions that affect your life? So when you're struggling, when you're wrestling with emotions, feelings, the difficulty of this life, who do you want to come alongside you? 

My friends, you don't have to have a psychology degree; in fact, much better if you don't, and you don't have to have a seminary degree. I don't. You are filled with the goodness, the love of God. You have the Holy Spirit. You have the wisdom and knowledge of the word of God, and if this is your method, your source for admonishing, counseling one another, if you're walking in the spirit and pointing your struggling brother or sister to Jesus and his grace and his word and his truth, then you are fully able, much better equipped than Freud himself, to counsel, to admonish, to encourage and redirect, to put in mind the truth of God and his goodness and his grace and his mercy. 

And my friends, we are called to do this for one another in the body. 1 Thessalonians 5, 11 says, "Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you also are doing." Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Romans 1, 12, "That is that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine." 

Hebrews 3, 13, "But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Way back in Isaiah 41, 6, "Each one helps his neighbor and says to his brother, 'Be strong.'" Hebrews 10, 24, "Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." 

It goes on and on. In the body, we are to be encouraging, correcting, reproving by the word of God. This is biblical counseling, and you are fully equipped and able as a believer in Jesus Christ, competent to counsel, Paul says so. 

Next, we see in our text, speak boldly by grace. Romans 15, 15, "Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God." If you are going to gently reprove, admonish, encourage the brethren, then sometimes you have to speak boldly by grace. 

This is the very thing that Paul was doing in this letter to the Romans. "I've written more boldly on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God." God gave Paul the grace to write this epistle. God carried him along by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth, even boldly, forcefully, sometimes offensively, to remind, that is to set in their minds the truth of God and what that means to their lives. 

This is just what we are to do, put each other in mind of the truth of the word of God as God empowers and gives grace. Sometimes we have to say very hard things. You see, some of, I'm sorry, I almost messed that up. 

You see, none of us have arrived. Okay? Listen to Paul's testimony in Philippians 3. Philippians 3, 12, Paul says, "'Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.'" 

Justification is a point in time, when we place our faith in Christ. Glorification will happen in the twinkling of an eye, when Jesus calls us up. But sanctification, this time in between in which we live, this is a process, sometimes a grueling process. None of us have arrived. We are being conformed, slowly, surely, through trial and trouble and tribulation, through blessing and goodness and love and charity, through teaching and preaching and experiences of this life, through study and agonizing and prayer. 

But none of us have arrived, and because of that truth, this means that change is necessary in my life. I am not what I ought to be. I am not yet what I will be. So there are things, thoughts, actions that are wrong, that are un-Christlike, that need to be conformed to His image. And so the Scriptures and faithful brothers and sisters must offend me at some points by the truth of the Word of God. They must point out the need for change by speaking the truth in love. 

This is necessary in a spirit of gentleness, in love. And this sometimes requires boldness, clarity, plain speaking. Paul said, "I've had to do this at some points in this letter, but I know that you are full of goodness, that you love the Lord, that His love abides in you, and that you all have the Holy Spirit and are able to admonish one another. You're doing great. Now do better." That's what he's saying. 

"I need to keep reminding you of the Word of God, the truth. I need to keep pointing you to Jesus continually because we all need Him every day, and we need each other along the way. Tell me the truth. That's what I want. Even when it hurts a little or a lot, tell me the truth. That's what I need."

So we see competent to counsel, we see speak boldly, and next we see a minister of Jesus Christ. Verse 15 again, "Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God." 

Well, Paul uses some interesting language here. He does not use the normal word for minister, diakonos, slave, or servant. Here he uses the word generally translated, priest. He speaks of his ministry in Christ as a priestly work, and the sacrifice he is offering is not that of an animal or any kind of propitiatory, expiatory sacrifice, but that of the Gentile church. 

He's presenting up the fruit of the labor, what God has done through him in his ministry by his grace, producing obedience in the Gentile world, forming these churches. He's offering that up to Christ, and his means is not an altar or a fire nor death, but rather the full preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Peter uses this kind of language describing a church; he says, "Coming to Him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." He says, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, for the purpose that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 

In Christ, in the church, we are all individually priests, and our role is to bring men to God through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We offer our very lives as living sacrifices to God, as his ministers, speaking boldly the truth of salvation through faith in Jesus. Paul says this was his ministry; he's a minister to Jesus Christ, sent to the Gentiles to preach the gospel. 

Turn over to Acts 20 with me, Acts chapter 20 at verse 17. "From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, 'You know from the first day that I came to Asia in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And indeed now I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more. 

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. Why, Paul? For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." 

Paul says, "I kept back nothing that was helpful. I taught you from house to house. I declared to you the full counsel of God." Paul's ministry was to preach the full gospel to the Gentiles that he might present them to God as an offering, a sacrifice, and his only means was the word of God.

He reasoned from the Scriptures. He taught them; he proclaimed, declared the whole counsel of God. This is his example to us. The Scriptures tell us that to us it has been committed, the words of reconciliation. That we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. That we knowing the terror of the Lord persuade men. The sword of the Lord is truth. The truth spoken, preached, proclaimed. 

We just finished our study of 2 Peter on Thursday nights and the end of this letter is very interesting. I'd like for you to turn to 2 Peter 3 at verse 9. 

2 Peter 3, 9, Peter's talking about scoffers, that there will be scoffers in these last days, who will say, "Where is Jesus? Jesus said He's coming. Where is He at? I haven't seen Him. It's been thousands of years. Jesus is not coming." In verse 9, Peter says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 

He's saying the reason the Lord has not come is because He's waiting, He's patient, He's longsuffering. He wants men to come to Christ and be saved. Verse 10, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with a fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." 

"Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with a fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found in Him, by Him, in peace, without spot and blameless, and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away by the error of the wicked, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and forever, amen." 

Peter says the day of the Lord will come, and Peter tells us that in the course of this day of the Lord, we will see judgment of the wicked, we will see salvation of those who believe, we will see the destruction of the earth and the heavens at the elemental level, where everything is stored by fire. 

And in the day of God, we will see a new heavens and a new earth. And the main exhortation in this passage is this, in light of all these things, what manner of persons ought you to be? And the emphasis is on holy living, on abiding in Christ, experiencing His peace day by day, even in the midst of this world. 

And the other main emphasis is this, evangelism, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Peter says the Lord's not slack concerning the promise of His coming and judgment, He's patient, He's long-suffering, He's not willing that any should perish. He tells us that this patience of the Lord is salvation for those who will believe. He tells us that we should hasten the coming of the day of God by preaching the gospel and leading men to salvation. 

Prepare to live in light of His coming. His coming means salvation for us, but it means judgment for those who are lost. And so living in the light of His coming, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, knowing the terror of the Lord, what is going to come, we persuade men. That's what we're to be doing. We preach, we proclaim His truth so that men might believe and be saved. 

Salvation from the wrath of God through faith in Jesus. This is the simplicity of our life in Christ. Abiding, living in peace, living in consistency with who we are by His grace and power and life in us, and telling people about Jesus. This is what it means to be a minister of Jesus Christ. 

This is as priests of God are offering to Him our sacrifice, our spiritual act of worship, as we saw at the beginning of this application section in chapter 12. Our lives, our worship is to offer the sacrifice of ourselves as we live for His glory and preach His Word. 

The gospel must be fully preached. And Paul says, "I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." And so I've made it my aim to preach the gospel. Paul was called and equipped by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He was not building on the foundation of Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, preaching where the Apostles had already been, but he was sent out into the nations, the Gentile regions. 

And God did mighty signs and wonders to confirm that Paul was His man, that the words that He spoke were from Him. Paul boasted in Jesus Christ and the fruit that He produced through Paul. Paul was an obedient servant to Jesus, a minister of Christ, fully preaching the gospel where He was sent. 

Now, brothers and my sisters, is this the aim of our lives as well? We are called to preach the gospel to every creature, to make it clear, to reason with them from the Scriptures, to persuade them, to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Salvation from the wrath of God through faith in Jesus. This is why we are here. This is the ministry that Jesus has given to each one of us. We are the body of Christ. We are in this local fellowship to hear and study the Word of God, to grow together, to encourage one another, to admonish one another so that we might each grow doing our share, being equipped to go out into this world and do this work of ministry. 

And the ministry is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May it be our aim, our purpose, our goal, our striving, our agonizing to preach it fully, to speak as we ought, to be bold, and to love men as Jesus loves men, that they might be saved for God's glory. 

We're here this morning to remember what Jesus did for us. As we sang those hymns this morning several times in there, you know, "I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It's enough that Jesus died for me. It is accomplished. It's finished." This is the message. This is the truth. It's not religion. It's not by your works. It's not that you're a good person. It's that Jesus has forgiven you, finished the work on the cross, paying the penalty for my sins and yours. 

And if we will come to Him and believe Him, trust in what He has done alone, then God gives to us His righteousness, makes us fit for heaven, and we avoid the wrath that is coming. That's why we have communion. That's what we remember. It's done. It's finished. The world, the religions say, do, do, do, do, do. You do enough, you'll be good enough, maybe you'll make it. 

And I don't like that maybe thing. John said, "I write you these things that you may know that you have present possession, eternal life." You can know, but you can only know when you put your trust in Him, not in yourself.