One Soul Purpose

By Bobby Blakey on February 2, 2025

Romans 15:7-13

AUDIO

One Soul Purpose

By Bobby Blakey on February 2, 2025

Romans 15:7-13

Go ahead, grab a seat. Are you ready for the climax of the book of Romans here today? Well, I want to invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Romans 15:7-13. And as I was studying these verses, multiple sources refer to this as the climax of all that Paul has been teaching in Romans, and yet these are not verses that I think are very often quoted or looked at. And so, I am eager to dig into this Scripture with you all here today. And as you're turning to Romans 15, verse 7 to 13, I just want to ask you a question. What is your purpose? It sounds like a very Mr. Miyagi, Master Shifu kind of a question, if you know what I mean, like a Sensei, what is your purpose? Do you know? And there are a lot of right answers people could give. There are a lot of mission statements people could give. There's a lot of stereotypical cliches we could say about our purpose, but I'm actually asking you, why did you do what you did this week? What's the driving motivation? What's the compelling reason? What is your purpose? And I think that your purpose, if we pay close attention today, will actually be found here in this text of Scripture, Romans, 15, verses 7 to 13. Out of respect for God's Word, let's all stand up for the public reading of Scripture. And I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention, because this is what God's doing all over planet Earth and Huntington Beach, Long Beach, and places we don't even know about. This is what God's doing. Please follow along as I read Romans 15:7-13.
Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. There is a handout if you want to take notes as we go through these verses together. And we're going to start in verse 7, where you can see it begins with a “Therefore”. So, in our English translation, verse 7 is kind of tucked in at the end of this paragraph that we've been going through here in Romans 15. But the “Therefore” kind of sets verse 7 apart, like let me give you a conclusive statement now. Based on all we've been learning in Romans 15 this year so far, in 2025, even going all the way back to what we learned in Romans 14. If you can remember, last year we talked about judgy church people. We did a series through Romans 14 and so therefore, based on all of that, “welcome one another just as Christ has welcomed you. Because when you welcome one another in the same way Jesus welcomed you, you glorify God.
So, there's a command here, “welcome one another.” It's actually the same command if you go back to chapter 14, verse 1. If you can get your eyeballs back over to the previous chapter that began this thought that he's now saying, “Therefore” in Romans 14:1, “As for the one who is weak in faith,” what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to welcome him. Now, I'm so glad we get to talk about this again, because definitely I've grown in my understanding of Romans 14 and 15 over these last months that we've been studying it and preaching on it and talking about it in our fellowship groups. Because there's this idea that people are weak and they need to be welcomed. Now, of course, that would begin with greeting them, that would begin here at church, that we’ve got to bring people in. But this is actually saying something way deeper than just giving someone a greeting on Sunday morning. Let me put the Greek word up here on the screen, proslambano. It's an imperative verb, and imperative means it's a command. So, when it says “welcome one another,” it's saying to take to oneself, to receive, to welcome. So, it's like bringing someone completely into your life. It's like treating a person you don't know as one of your own people. So, this idea, proslambano, like this is the kind of thing, like if you took someone aside to talk to them. So, it's not just hi, let me shake your hand. Let me welcome you. It's like, hey, I want to get to know you. I want to become your friend. Let me take you aside. Like, remember when Peter took Jesus aside? Jesus said, I'm going to go to Jerusalem. They're going to kill me. Peter's like, that's a bad idea, Jesus, let's talk about it. You dying. I don't think that's our plot, right? And Jesus says to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. Right? So how about when Apollos was preaching The Way, and he was powerfully preaching, but Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and they taught him the way of God more accurately. This word might even be used about food, like you take food all the way in, you welcome it in. Right? That's the idea. So, when we say welcome, we're not just talking about the beginning of a relationship, but we're talking about people who are different, people who are strangers, people who are not like one another, and then we receive them like they are one of us.
And what's our inspiration in obeying this command? Why should you actually pray and consider about welcoming somebody you don't know, like they're with you, because that's what Jesus did for you, and so that's the compelling motivation. You were completely different than Jesus, and now he's brought you in, and he's reconciled you to the Father, and you're now a brother or sister through the blood of Christ, you will now share as a joint heir in the inheritance of Jesus, in Jesus eternal glory that he has with the Father. You will share in that glory forever. Has Jesus brought you all the way in? The answer to that is yes, so go. Welcome somebody else that same way. It's a command.
Let's get it down like this for point number one: “Make your goal the next soul.” Make your goal the next soul. Jesus came to save you, but he wants to use you now to reach out to somebody else. So, you’ve got to learn to think this way. You’ve got to learn to think that people, they are souls. They're eternal beings made in the image of the living God. They're going to live forever somewhere, and I want to welcome them into the way of Jesus, because look what Jesus did for me. So, we see here in Romans 14 that some people are weak. Now let's really think that through together. Now that we're coming all the way to the “Therefore,” we've done our whole study of Romans 14 into Romans 15. What is the real issue here? Okay, some people are weak in their faith, and the weak don't want to eat the meat. The weak want to celebrate certain days. But the strong look at Romans 15:1. It said, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” And again, why would you want to come to church? For other people, not for yourself? Well, look at verse 3, “For Christ did not please himself.” Christ came for you. He came to save you. So, you can't come to church now, selfishly motivated? No, you’ve got to come to church the same way Jesus came for you, for other people.
So, there's a clear theme here that the strong in their faith need to bear with the weak in their faith. In fact, go back to Romans 5. If this is the climax of the book of Romans, let's go back and review some of the greatest hits that we learned along the way and in Romans 5:6, it gave us this awesome passage about what Jesus did for us here in Romans, chapter 5, verse 6. “For while we were still…,” what everybody? What were we? We were the weak. We were the weak when we got welcomed in. Now, if we're strong, we need to go and welcome in others who are weak. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Not the people who already belonged to God. The people who were against God, the people in rebellion, anti-god, that's who he died for. Verses 7-10, For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were…” what does it say there, everybody? Enemies. Enemies. That's when we were reconciled. That's when we were welcomed. We were received. Jesus took us in as his own when we were really weak, ungodly, sinful enemies, that's when we got brought in.
Do you see how different that is than how people at church think these days? People at church literally say things like, well, I want to make sure I'm in a group with people like me. That's what they say. I want to go to a church where there are lot of people like me, common interests, common life stage, common personalities, common backgrounds. Put me in with the people like me. We weren't like Jesus when we got brought in, and now we're being told to welcome in other people, receive other people, take other people in as your own, when they're weak, when they're not thinking the same things as us, they're not coming from the same places as us.
So are you still judging people based on a fleshly level, based on how they look in the wrapping of their skin and bones? Or do you see people as souls, and just like Jesus came to save your soul, you need to be able to welcome in another soul as well. This is a command here, welcome one another in the same way that Jesus welcomed you. And so, this isn't just, get to know somebody. This is like, make a disciple of somebody. Start with a real difference between the two of you and keep going together until you're on one mind, one voice, one in Christ. And so, let's think about this. Some of you already do this. Some of you are already reaching out to other people here. And you pray for them, you talk to them, you follow up with them. You're trying to receive them. I hope that this verse, this command, will encourage you. That's what you should be doing. Keep doing that. Don't stop. Don't grow weary in doing good to the household of faith. And some of you, as you come in here today, you're new to this. You're checking this out. You're trying to learn what it means to stand on the foundation of Jesus. What does it mean to repent of your sins? What does it mean to transfer your faith into the death and resurrection of Jesus? Well, we're here to welcome you in.
Some of you are the people who right now you're being welcomed in, but those are the only two groups of people there should be at church on a Sunday morning, there should be the welcomers and the people getting welcomed because this is the command, welcome one another just as Christ welcomed you. But are those the only two groups of people here in this room today? No, there's a large group of people who expect to come to church to benefit for themselves, but do not come to pass on, to pay it forward. As they learn the way of Christ, they want to receive and take in somebody else into that same teaching of Christ. And so, this command, it's saying, hey, are you learning how this works? Because Jesus, when he came to save, he didn't just come to save a group of people. He wants to actually work through the group of people, to go to all people.
Now, go back to Romans 14:15, because that's kind of the context here. The context here is the saints in Rome are composed of Jews and Gentiles, and that's really what the difference is here in Romans 14, going into 15. The difference between the strong and the weak is the strong are those who can see that in Christ is a whole new way. And some of the old ways, they don't have to do anymore because they have a strong faith in Christ. But those who are weak in their faith in Christ, they're like, okay, I believe in Jesus, but, at the same time, I think that meat is unclean and I don't want to eat it. They go back to the dietary laws from the Law of Moses, or they go back to the keeping of the Sabbath, or the new moon festivals, or the feast weeks that they had in the calendar of Israel. And they're like, okay, I believe in Jesus, but I'm going to keep keeping the Sabbath, because that's what I've been doing my whole life. That's what I'm familiar with. And so, I'm just going to keep doing that, even though Christ has fulfilled the law. Christ has declared all foods clean. I don't know if I'm going to eat that, because I've never been eating that my whole life. So that's some of the difference. The difference is Gentiles are coming in. They're believing in Jesus. They're not thinking they’ve got to keep the Law. But maybe some of the Jews are still thinking, I don't know. I believe in Jesus, but I think I need to do some of these other things, too. And so, you have strong in faith and weak in faith. You’ve got the Jewish people coming from a whole culture and a whole heritage. And then the Gentiles. Gentiles is like the nice way to say it. Gentiles, the people of the other nations, heathens, they might say, pagans, people who don't know God, and now they're coming in.
You’ve got two really different groups of people coming in as the strong and the weak. And it's like, receive one another, take one another in. We don't start out thinking the same things. We don't start out coming from the same places, but we’ve got to bring each other in. That's the context here. It's not just church people. It's talking to more church people. A lot of people go to church like, even a lot of pastors preach like they're talking only to people already in the club. There is not supposed to be a club when it comes to Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Okay. The problem with the Jewish people was they made it all about them, and they didn't want to pass it on to other people. The problem with the church people today is they make it all about them, and they don't want to pass it on to other people. This is saying, pay it forward. This is saying, did you get welcomed? Great. It wasn't just about you. Welcome somebody else.
Don't be a cul de sac. Be an intersection. Let it continue. Let Jesus build his church. And we’ve got some cul de sacs sitting in the chairs today, and God’s speaking to you right now. If you just come to church, because that's what you do, like it's a tradition, well, that's what the Jews were doing, and that made them weak. And the strong, they need to come and welcome in the weak. So that's the context that he's given here, and that's one of the reasons I love being a part of this church.
See, I am one of the church people. My dad got saved in the 1970s there was this exciting time in Southern California called the Jesus Movement. A lot of people got saved on their college campuses. A lot of churches that became famous churches, they really grew up because, all of a sudden, it was in season in America to go to church and learn about Jesus from the Bible, and people just started doing it. And God did this amazing thing. And so, because my dad got saved and that he met my mom through that. I was born. I mean, my earliest memories are Sunday mornings were at church, where I'm learning the Bible, I'm learning about Jesus. This is the story of my whole life. And I've seen a whole lot of church people. They sit in the same seat, they talk to the same people, and they just kind of hang out with the church folk. And what I've loved being a part of this church is, Huntington Beach is not just where the Jesus Movement happened like a generation ago now. No, Huntington Beach is also like the rehabilitation and recovery capital of America. Right? Costa Mesa, Newport, like, if you’ve got a problem with drugs and alcohol and you want to get sober, people are coming from all over America to where we live, to go to all these sober livings and all these detoxes and rehabilitation centers. And so, there are a lot of people in our community dealing with drugs and alcohol, and Jesus is saving people out of that. And so this church has been an exciting place for me to be a part of, because we’ve got the Sunday School graduate and the criminal sitting right next to each other here at this church. We’ve got somebody who's got more tattoos than you can count, and somebody who's got more verses memorized than you can count, and they're giving each other a high five after the service. Because it doesn't matter if you've been at church since day one or if this is your first day, we can all be one in Christ. See, that's how it's supposed to be. The church is supposed to be the most eclectic group of people happening on planet Earth. Because it literally doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, born in the USA or born somewhere else was born somewhere else. It doesn't matter what your background is, what language you speak, we can all come together in Jesus. That's the point.
And so, welcome one another, and then he gives it to us. This is the climax, starting in verse eight. We need to welcome one another for the glory of God. And before I get into verse 8, I just want to ask you, do you see people as souls that, based on this point number one, like, have you learned that? That was something God helped me to do when I moved to Huntington Beach. I could start seeing this person that's serving me my food at Chick fil A. They're not some sauce dispenser for my own personal gratification. This person has a soul made by God, and they're going to live forever. And I start asking myself, when I'm looking at people, does this person know Jesus? Are they dead in sin, or are they alive in Christ? And how can I talk to them? How can I pray for them? See, I stop seeing what color their skin is. I stop seeing all these like physical factors about people, and I start seeing spiritual things about them. I mean, I see neighborhoods. They're no longer places of houses. Neighborhoods are like fields where souls are growing up. Cars are, oh, look at that cool car. No, it's like a box. Carrying a soul around, is what it is. I meet somebody at church. I don't see them as some new person, some random person, some person I don't know. I think, is this a soul that Jesus is going to save? And how can I get to know them and welcome them in? So, have you learned to see people for how people really are, not what you see with your eyes, but that people are souls in need of Jesus? And then you can reach out to them in that kind of a way, because he says in verse 8, now, building from the command into this climactic thought, “For I tell you that Christ became a servant.” Now, I want to just draw your attention to two things about that statement, “Christ became a servant.” He doesn't say “Jesus became a servant.” He highlights the title of Christ. What does Christ mean? Messiah is the way you say it in Hebrew, the Anointed One, the chosen one, the one prophesied that God said was coming. And all the Jews, they would have thought about the Messiah. What's the Messiah going to do? Be King, reign on a throne, rule over all the other nations, restore the glory of Israel, just like good old King David did.
So, Messiah is a very high and lofty position in the mind of the Jew. But the Messiah, the Christ, he became a… What does it say there? A deacon is really what it says there. He became a deacon, a diakonos, a servant. So, the one who's like the one that we're all waiting for, the one who is the one, the name above all names, the only name that can save people. He came to just serve the people of the church, to just serve God's people. He didn't come for himself. No. In fact, he even said his kingdom is going to work in a radically different way, because if you want to be first in his kingdom, then you need to be last.
And so, Christ became a servant. And look what he came to do. Notice how he has a twofold purpose here. He wanted to serve the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. So, he came to the serve the Jews by God's promises to Abraham and David. They are all the covenants that God made with the people of Israel. They're all fulfilled in Christ. So, he came to be the fulfillment of God's promise to his chosen nation of Israel. But notice verse 9, and here's the other part of his purpose, in order that the Gentiles all the other nations might glorify God for his mercy. So, he came to bring salvation to the Jews, but also, it might say sometimes to the Greeks or to the Gentiles, to those who don't know God. And then, bam, bam, bam, bam, four times he just hits it. And this is why it's the climax. It's like fireworks.
Let me give you rapid fire, four verses about how it's always been that the Gentiles, the nations, God isn't coming for some people. God's sending Jesus for all people. And that's always been God's plan, because look four different quotes about the Gentiles here. So yeah, let's think about what Jesus came to do. He came for the Jews, but also for everybody else. He came for you. But it doesn't stop with you. Go back to the beginning of the book of Romans. Like I said, if this is the climax, we want to review and we need to remember how this got started. The reason Paul wrote Romans is he wanted to go to Rome and teach the church there and preach the gospel there in the city that was like the center of the world at the time, but he was not able to go there. And because he was prevented from going there, instead of going there and giving his teaching, he wrote his teaching down and sent it ahead of him. And aren't we glad that we got kind of the ultimate example of Paul's master class on the gospel in the book of Romans. I hope you've learned some things in Romans. The depth of theology, the specific practical application.
Romans has definitely tested my ability to preach the Word. There are so many great things to think about, so many specific things to do that Paul has given us. And here was his heart. Let's go back to his original passion. Verse 13. Romans 1:13. “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians,[b] both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” or the Gentile. How many people is the gospel, the power of God to save? Everyone who believes it? Do you realize that by saying that that is what is going to call cause Paul to die is his passion to take the good news to the other nations. The Jews become so against that that they follow Paul around, persecuting him, getting him arrested. Eventually he gets killed because he thinks God's in it for everyone. And the Jews are like, No, it's just us. And Paul's like, no, no, no. It is for the Jews, but it's also for everyone who believes. So, you’ve got to understand the Jew, Gentile context that Paul was in, and then we’ve got to understand it from our perspective, because our perspective… we might have some Jews here among us. Can we give a round of applause for the Jews that we have here among us? God's chosen people. But the majority of us, I would imagine here this morning, are Gentiles. Do I have any fellow Gentiles here today? Give yourselves a round of applause, because you can also be God's people.
That’s the good news, right? And he's ready to take it to everybody. And see, are you just ready to be one of the church people? Or are you ready to welcome other people? See, Paul was like, it's so important that it's not just us, it's all, yeah, it's everyone who believes the Jew and the Gentile. So, this is a really big point that he's trying to make in Romans. And now go to chapter 15. And in fact, if you've got the handout, you've got a little chart with these four passages that he quotes to make his point in the most emphatic way possible. And he started with this. He's referred to it, especially in chapters 9,10, and 11. Does God still have a plan for the nation of Israel? The answer to that is yes. Is God also grafting in Gentiles of every nation to be a part of his olive tree? The answer to that is yes. God has a plan for the Jews. That's still going, and he's got a plan for the Gentiles, and God's going for all people. And so, here's Paul now nailing this four times to try to really leave with an exclamation point. And if you look at 15 here, you can see after these four quotes, he gives this kind of climactic statement, “may the God of hope fill you.” But then, look at Romans 15:14. “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, and you yourselves…” See, starting in 14, if you come back next week, he starts to get personal about that specific group of saints in Rome. Hey, let me talk to you guys about some of the things that are going on there with you. He's going to do that the rest of 15. Even in 16, he's going to mention a lot of them by name. So that's why people say this is the climax, because this is kind of the culmination of his teaching. And then next week, he starts to get more to a personal thing with those specific people. But if you were to hear Paul preach, if you were to hear Paul make his point, he would be bringing you to where God is in it. Here's how God will save you, even though you're a sinner. Here's what Jesus did, and here's the radical change Jesus can make in your life, where you're totally walking in a new life, just as Jesus rose from the dead.
But God didn't just come for you. He came for everybody. He didn't just come for the Jew. He came for the Gentile. And that's the exclamation point to Paul. That's why they're going to kill Paul. In fact, many of us who are Gentiles, we take it for granted. We feel entitled. Of course, I can be saved. Of course, I can be one of the people of God. You want to know why you think that? Because Paul died for that, because his teaching clarified that, in a way that people actually got the point. The whole reason Gentiles think we can be right there is this guy's saying it with an exclamation point, and they're killing him for it, because he wants you to get this point. So, four different ways, four different quotes that he brings in. Let's go through it now. Let's think, from Paul's perspective, if you want to win Jews over, that it's not just about you, it's about everybody. Who would be a great authoritative source you want to refer to if you're speaking to Jewish people. How about top left here? David. David is the most quoted person in apostolic preaching. Like, if you go back to Acts and you pay attention to what Peter preaches when the church is getting started in Jerusalem, or if you pay attention to Paul's preaching in Acts 13, or if you study seriously the letters of Paul, you will hear a lot of references to David, because David is the king of Israel in the golden age. In the minds of the Jews, David, he's the one who won victory over his enemies.
So, everybody, grab your Bible and go to Psalm 18, a Psalm of David. So, this is classic Paul here, where it's like, hey, I’ve got to change the minds of the Jewish people. What did David say about this? Let me show them an authoritative figure, in their minds is David. So, I want to win the Jews over to the fact that God's coming for all the nations, not just his chosen nation. Okay. Well, what did David say about it? Well, here in Psalm 18, look at the heading there of the psalm, “To the choir master, a Psalm of David,” the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. So, when God gave David victory, he wrote this victory Psalm, and I believe it's also in 2 Samuel 22. So, this is a psalm that people knew was personal expression of David thanking God for his victory over his enemies. And we will just jump all the way to the end of it, Psalm 18:49 where David in triumph here says, “For this, I will praise You, O Lord among the nations and sing to your name.” So, in Romans 15, when it says “nations,” it calls them Gentiles, because that's the Jewish way of thinking of all the other countries, okay, the goyim, the people, the peoples who don't know God, the heathens, the pagans, the Gentiles. So, yes, David is going to start with glory over the nations. That's your top right box here. Yes, this would have resonated with the minds of the Jews. When the King comes, the Messiah comes, and he wins a victory over our enemies, then we will, the nations will, see God's glory over them, because we will win a great victory in Israel. That's what the Jews would have thought. So yes, the nations perhaps will worship with us after we subdue them, after we have victory over them, then they'll have to worship, because we'll be over them. That's starting with what the Jews might have already thought, referring to David. He begins there.
Then go to Deuteronomy 32. Go all the way back to the Law of Moses. That would be your blank on the left here in the chart. Now he goes back to the Foundation, which is the first five scrolls, the Torah, the book of the law, written by Moses. And he quotes from the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. So, Deuteronomy is Moses telling them the law a second time. Well, then you guys have got to love God with all your heart. You need God to do something in your heart. You're going to go into the Promised Land. You’ve got to know what God said. And Moses, he finishes Deuteronomy with this epic song that he writes in Deuteronomy 32. And if you go all the way to verse 43, all the way to the last verse of this song, so he's referring to a song they would have been familiar with that David wrote. Now, a song they would have been familiar with that Moses wrote. And look at verse 43 in our English translation, it says, “Rejoice with him, O heavens.” But you might have a footnote there that tells you, if you go back to the Masoretic text, if you go back to the Dead Sea Scrolls, even if you look at the Septuagint, which is the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, it doesn't say heavens there. What does it say there? It says nations. It says Gentiles. So, here's even Moses, as he's giving the Law for the Jews, for Israel. He's even calling for the nations to rejoice.
So, let's get that down for the box on the right, there's an invitation here at the end of the law that all the nations could also come and rejoice in who God is and in being the people of God. So, see Paul's trying to build this case. Look at what David said. Look at what Moses said. Then he quotes Psalm 117 I would like everybody to turn to, perhaps one of the most overlooked psalms in all of the Psalms, Psalm 117; such a short Psalm. You could memorize this psalm this week. You could teach this psalm to your kids this week. You guys could all be singing this psalm in the car by Friday of this week, word for word, and look what this psalm is. This is so appropriate that Paul would bring this up when he's making this point, because he says, “Praise the LORD,” all who here, “all nations,” all Gentiles. It even clarifies, extol him, all peoples. I don't care who you are, where you were born, what language you speak, what nation you live in, you are all invited to the Hallelujah. Remember, in Hebrew, that's how you say Praise the Lord. Right? Yah is short for Yahweh, and hallel is to boast, to glorify, to praise. So, this is hallelujah. Up all the nations, extol him, exalt him, lift his name high, and hallow him all the peoples. And then look what it says in verse 2. “Great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD,” the faithfulness of Yahweh, “endures forever,” hallelujah.
This is a universal invitation. This is worldwide. This is global. There is no one who is excluded from this. Everybody gets to be a part of the Hallelujah chorus. That's what this is saying. You ever heard the phrase preaching to the choir? Has anybody ever heard that before? What's the idea behind that phrase? I'm preaching to the people who already know. I'm preaching to the people who already agree. The point is, everybody could be in the choir. Everyone could shout hallelujah. So, this is act. That's the whole point of this psalm is that the invitation is universal to all the nations, and really, it's actually, it's short, but it's actually really deep, because what are the two things it brings up about God there in verse 2, what's great about him? His “steadfast love,” his hesed. And what endures forever about him? His “faithfulness,” that he's going to do what he says, that he's going to be true to himself and his word. And wait a minute, that should sound familiar. Where do we hear about the steadfast love and faithfulness of our God? Actually, you have to go up where Moses is getting a glimpse of his glory, and God's introducing himself, God showing his glory to Moses. Here's God giving his own bio, his own description of himself. And he says, Moses, here's who I am. I'm a gracious and merciful God. I'm slow to anger, I'm ready to forgive people, but I will, by no means clear the guilty. I'll judge people for their sin, because I'm abounding in what two things? Steadfast love and faithfulness, the secret revelation of God given to Moses, whose face was shining and radiating the glory of God after beholding his glory, the message that God gave to Moses to the nation of Israel is now being offered to who everyone can come and know God. Everyone can know steadfast love and faithfulness. Everyone can shout, Hallelujah. So, you can see now we're in the Psalms, the writings, and we're saying, Hallelujah, all nations. Hallelujah, everybody. So, this Psalm has clearly got a universal application.
Now go to the last quote, Isaiah, chapter 11, verse 10, and let's go to the prophets. That's your bottom left box there in our chart is the prophets. Okay, so I want you to see it might just feel like four quick quotes, but look at how Paul is such a good teacher. Here he refers to the authoritative figure, David. And then what does he do? He goes to the three sections of the Hebrew Scripture. So hopefully you've heard this before that the Hebrew Bible, which we call the Old Testament, the part of the scripture that's written in Hebrew. It had three clear breakdowns, the Law, the first five books, the Prophets, and then the Writings. It’s the last collection of their Scripture, and it starts with the Psalms. So sometimes it's called the Psalms, and he went to all three of those sections to show how it refers to the nations, it refers to the Gentiles. In fact, he did those three sections in chronological order, showing that this has been a consistent theme throughout the history of Israel, because you could put next to Moses, 1400 BC, and then you could put next to the Psalms around the time of David, 1000 BC, and then you could put next to the Prophets, at least with the prophet Isaiah, he's a little over 600 BC. So, it's like every 400 years, we're getting the same message that there's an invitation, not just to the chosen nation, but to all nations, not just to the people who already know God, but for everyone to know God. And he's making his point like a master teacher, and he takes you to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11 says there's a future for the kingly line of David. David's father is Jesse, and it says there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. By the time that Paul is quoting Isaiah 11:10, there hasn't been a king in Israel for some time. Romans are ruling over the Jews at this time. And he's saying that out of that stump, yeah, you think that the line of the family tree of David is over well, out of that stump, out of that root, a branch is going to burst forth, a shoot is going to spring out, and there is going to come a king. And let me tell you about what it’s going to be like when that king of Israel shows up. Go down to verse 10, and it says, “In that day, the root of Jesse,” going all the way back to the kingly line of David. In that day, the root of Jesse, “who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” This is a prophecy still to the future, from our perspective that the nations are coming to Jesus. When Jesus does come and he establishes his kingdom, and he reigns on the throne of David in Israel, will it be just for the Jewish people? No, he'll be a signal to the peoples, all the nations will come and see Jesus there in Israel.
And so, it describes this day. Can you imagine if you thought that the people in charge actually had your best interest in mind? Can you imagine a world where you didn't have to worry about your kid playing if there was a lion around or a cobra around, because everything would be peace, everything would be righteousness, everything would be safe and secure. Welcome to the future kingdom of Jesus Christ. That's what it's describing here in Isaiah 11. And it's not just for one club of people, one country of people. It's for all people.
So, let's make sure we get this down for point number two: “God's purpose has always been the nations.” God's purpose has always been the nations. If you're just thinking about some people, you're not thinking on a God-tier level, because God has always been wanting to bring in and welcome and receive and take in people from all nations. And Jesus made that very clear, make disciples of all nations. You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. It even says in Isaiah 11 that there is going to come a day that the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Everyone, no matter who they are, what language they speak, from every nation, tribe and tongue, they will all worship Jesus. That's always been God's plan.
So go back now to Romans 15, now that we've looked through these four different passages, and we've seen Paul's like real intentionality and why he's quoted these different passages, how he's building a case throughout all the Hebrew Scriptures, that God has been working towards all the nations. And then, look at what he says here in verse 12, when he quotes Isaiah, hey, he's coming from the root of Jesse, the future King, the Messiah. He is still coming. And even he who arises to rule the Gentiles, well, he's not just going to rule over them in some kind of victory. What does it say? “In him will the Gentiles hope.” See, he's the hope of the nations. He's the hope of all peoples. And then Paul's like, so “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing, so that by the power of the Spirit, you may abound in hope.” Like Paul gets excited here because he sees all the nations hoping in Jesus, and then he's like so I want you to have that hope. I want you to be full of it. I want you to be walking around with your joy and knowing God and your peace and knowing you're right with God. I want you to have that in your faith. And I want the power of the Spirit of the Living God making you abound in hope. Are you a person of hope? “Hope,” not like we use it today in English, like maybe it'll happen. I hope it'll happen. Hope in Scripture, is a hundred percent confident expectation that you know what's going to happen beyond tomorrow. That's what hope is. Hope is a certainty, a guarantee of the future. And he's saying, may God who has hope, may he fill you with that hope, and may you go around abounding in hope. Because it doesn't matter who you are, you can put your hope in Jesus Christ, and everyone who hopes in him. You will not be disappointed.
So, when was the last time somebody asked you for a reason for the hope that is in you? Are other people around you getting an idea that you have hope? That's how he ends this, like, if you're ready to welcome somebody, well, the reason you're ready to welcome somebody, no matter who they are, is you believe God's going for all people. And so, if you really see this is what happened to me, I came to Huntington Beach, and I was able to see people as souls. And I would try to pray for people and welcome people and see some people get saved. But God has also allowed me to have a better idea of what's going on all over the world. And I've been able to go to some amazing places like Dubai and see the church there and people getting saved all in the 1040 Window. I went to Tokyo, biggest city in the world, seeing people out of a whole different culture, language, getting saved there. And it's like, wow, there are so many souls. It can be overwhelming, it can be a burden. But God's doing it in a way beyond my comprehension, like God has his people out there, and he's building his church out there, and people are getting saved in languages I can't even comprehend, and cultures that are hard for me to even understand. And yet, still, what do I see when I find there? I see Jesus building his church? See, and what am I looking forward to? What am I confident is going to happen that there's going to come a day where I'm going to go to this place and see. The hope is often associated with the hope of glory, and I'm going to go to the presence of God, and I'm going to see Jesus unveiled. And there's going to be so many people there, people from every nation, of every language, and it's not going to matter where you were born on planet Earth. It's not going to matter what language you speak, because this innumerable multitude of people, we will all be shouting with one voice, hallelujah. And in that moment, I will be like, yes, this is the purpose. This has always been the plan. This is why the Father sent his Son, so he would have a people for himself. And here we are, and there's, wow, God was busy. There are so many more people than I could have imagined, so many different times of history, so many different places on the planet. And here we all are united together as one people of God. Do you believe you're going to be in that place? Do you believe you're going to shout, worthy is the Lamb who was slain, wearing a white robe, and you're going to be, I don't deserve to be here, but because of Jesus, I get to be here. And so, let's give Jesus the glory, and everyone will shout at the loudest possible volume, the glory of Jesus Christ. Do you have that hope? Because if you know that's how the story ends, and if you know God's doing that all over the world right now, guess what? You'll be ready to welcome the person next to you, because we're going to do something that's so much bigger than what we could imagine. And I know I'm going to be there, and I want to bring you with me. See, I wonder, do you just know you're going to heaven, or do you know you're going to heaven? See, are you full of hope? Are you abounding in hope?
Let's get this down for hope. H, O, P, E, his one purpose eternal. See, he has a purpose that we will experience in eternity, where God will be God, and he will be there with his people. And he describes these people to us over and over, people of every different nation, every different tribe of people, every different tongue or language, like the whole language barrier problem will be no problem anymore. The whole different nationality problem will be no problem anymore. The whole curse problem, it will be reversed. No death, no crying, no sin, no mourning, no pain, just glory.
Do you have that hope? Because, see, that is your purpose. The lie of America is that you need to figure out your purpose. No, God has a purpose, and you need to be a part of his purpose. That's what he made you for, to experience his glory. Go back to Romans, chapter 8. Let me just remind you of one of the most quoted verses from the book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 28. “ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his” what everybody? His “purpose,” not your purpose. His purpose for you to be one of his people. “For those whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed.” What are we going to be conformed to? The image of his Son? Who are we going to be made like in heaven? Jesus. When we see him, we will be like him, in order that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn, the preeminent one among many brothers, that's all of us, brothers and sisters, we have been called according to his purpose. And when you know what God's purpose is, and you know you're a part of it, then your eyes are open to the hope of his calling. Do you know you're going to be praising God with all the nations, all the peoples represented there? If you know that, then be full of that hope and believe that right now, the world news, the international news we need to hear, is that Jesus is building his heart church today, on the Lord's Day. Day, all across the world, people have assembled in the name of Jesus. And you know what's happening in all those places? New souls are being welcomed in. And when you just welcome in one soul, if you think about that, all across the world where that could be happening, it will be a massive multitude of people there, all glorifying God.
And so, see, we're going to be in a place of glory. But right now, God is reaching the nations, the Gentiles, for his glory. And so, then when you welcome in that one person, what does that say when you welcome one another in the same way that Christ welcomed you, what does it say? For the glory of God. The epic hope of glory is now happening in the nations, and you can be a part of it, and it's bigger than you can imagine. But here's all you’ve got to do, receive that person, take them in and say, welcome. Welcome to the family of God. I want you to come and be a part of it. Like, to teach you what's been taught to me. I want to pass it on. I want to pay it forward. Are you ready to pay it forward to other people? Or are you just here to receive it for yourself? Some of you, you need to change the way you think about church, because Jesus is building something and you're just coming to a building, and we're here to welcome other people. So, this is a command. This is the climax, the climax of you falling short of the glory of God, and then you being justified in Christ, and then you considering yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, and being sanctified. And you seeing that God's actually the one who chose you, and that the offer is for all people, everyone who confesses with their mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead, they will all be saved.
And since we're saved, how should we now live? Well, we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices. We should renew our minds. And don't do this and learn how to do this and do it together, because in the end, we're all going to be one people of God. That's the point of the book of Romans. And so, you can't just say, Oh, well, now that I've got my salvation, I'm good and check out at chapter 5. Or now that I’m sanctified, oh, I'm good. And check out in Romans 8, or, oh, hey, God saved me, he saved some other people. That's good enough. And check out in Romans 10. No, you’ve got to go all the way to chapter 15. And the point, the climax, is, Yes, God saved you. But it doesn't stop there. You welcome in somebody else. Then you get to experience the fullness of being saved. The fullness of your hope is not just when you know hope, but when you can pass it on, when you are so mature in it, it's so meaningful to you. You understand it so clearly that you could teach it to somebody else, and you could say, hey, come with me. Let me welcome you into the greatest story, the best thing happening, the hope of glory. Come with me. I'd like to welcome you. Let me take you aside. Who are you taking aside? Who are you coming along and saying, wow, look at this. If you're not doing that, you're not getting the full climax of the book of Romans that Paul's trying to leave us with. And so I want to just encourage those who are doing this. I want to welcome those who are new to this.
And I want to say those are the only two types of people there should be, the ones who are either growing up in it themselves, or the ones who are ready to pass it on. Don't get stuck in the middle. Look at the questions there on your handout. I'd really like for everybody to answer these questions, to go and talk about them with your fellowship group. Look at this question, “How did Jesus welcome you?” That's what we want to think about now as we're getting ready to take communion together. How did Jesus take you in? How did Jesus receive you? Okay, well, if Jesus did that for you, then question number two: Since Jesus welcomed you, how are you going to welcome your one anothers in fellowship for the glory of God? What does it look like for you to receive to be received by Christ? Okay, well, then how do you pay that forward and receive someone else?
Go with me to Ephesians, chapter 2, which I think really summarizes what we're learning, and will set us up for communion that we're going to take here together. Ephesians, chapter 2, I want you to see verse 11, and following with me, a lot of people know Ephesians 2, where it says, “But God makes us alive. In Christ, we're dead in sin, but God makes us alive. What people don't know as much about Ephesians two is the but now what it says here, starting in verse 11, look at Ephesians 211 it's going to start in the context here of the division of the Jew and the Gentile. And it says, “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ.” Can you remember before you knew Christ, “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.” Underline this.
Write this down under point number three, if you're taking notes having no hope and without God in the world, that's where we all were before Jesus, having no hope, no certainty, no guarantee, no expectation of glorious future in eternity, no hope, because we don't know God. And then look what it says in Ephesians 2:13-22. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances…” Don't worry about the food being clean or unclean. Don't worry about the days or the feasts anymore that he might create in himself, one new man in place of the two. “That he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
This is economics. This is how Jesus builds it, right here, Jews, Gentiles, all brought together as one on the foundation of Christ, on the teaching of the apostles and prophets. God is raising up a people where his worship will dwell. He's building us up to be those people. And so, all of us, we were the weak, the ungodly, the sinner, the enemy, and Jesus, we were far off, and Jesus brought us near by his blood. How could we not say wow, thank you Jesus for welcoming me, receiving me, taking me as your own. Please, now use me to pass that on to other people.
Let me pray for us, and then we're going to take some communion. So, if you can find the elements together, after I'm done praying, the worship team is going to come and do a song, and the song is just a time for you to pray before we're going to take communion together. So, song is the time to meditate on what we've heard and really to think through these two questions. How has Jesus welcomed you? Okay, that out of your Thanksgiving, are you ready to welcome others in the same way Jesus welcomed you. We want to take time to thank Jesus and to pray about how he could use us in the year of our Lord 2025 to receive others for his glory. So let me pray, and then we'll do this song, and then I'll come back out and we'll take communion.
Father in heaven, God your plan is so much bigger than just us. It's so much bigger even than just what we've experienced or what we know in America. Your plan goes all the way back to your chosen nation of the Jewish people, and then it extends to all the nations. And so, God, I pray that we could see that here, this point that Paul was so passionate about, that Paul was willing to die for. I pray that we could see it in its original context, that as Jews and Gentiles were coming together there in the church in Rome, they're coming with different thoughts from different backgrounds, and they need to get over themselves and receive and welcome one another, and I pray that we could now take that and apply that to us here today, that if we're the church kind of person, and we know about God and Jesus, well that's not just for us. That's for us to welcome others in as well. So, I pray that we would hear this command, that we would all feel compelled, that we would feel stirred up. Yeah, Jesus really did bring me in when I was weak. How could we pay that forward to someone else? And wow, Jesus is really doing things, not just in Long Beach or not just in Orange County or in America, but he's building his church. All over the world, in Dubai and Japan and Uganda. He's doing so much more than I can keep track of or know about. Wow, someday we're all going to be there. We're all going to be there, all the nations, all the tribes, all the different languages represented, all shouting, hallelujah. Great is his steadfast love, his faithfulness endures forever. Hallelujah, we will shout, and the echo will ring out. And all the people, all your people, God, will all be there together, just like you purposed everyone you've called according to your purpose. God, please forgive us for thinking I got to go figure out a purpose when you've called us for your purpose. Your purpose is souls. Your purpose is salvation. Your purpose is assembling a people for yourself among the nations that you're not just looking for some people. You desire all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth that there's only one way between us and you, and his name is Jesus, the one Mediator. And so, God, I pray that in this moment, that all of us could thank Jesus for welcoming us, all the Jews, all the Gentiles. Thank you for Jesus bringing us near through his blood. And then God, I pray that you would impress it upon our hearts that it wasn't just for us, but it was that you would use us to welcome even others, to know this salvation, this glory of Jesus. So, God, meet us here in this time, let us pray to you now, put your word on our hearts. Today we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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