Romans 15:13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
14  And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
15  Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,
16  That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Life is good for those who love the Lord and serve Him faithfully. There is hope for those who are saved. There is no hope for those who are lost. They get up every day and do the same thing every day. They live for themselves and fight and quarrel to try to stay or get on top.
Those who are saved understood the need to humble themselves and repent toward God and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. After a person is saved there is a need to remind them of who they are. God knows that His children tend to forget or become careless with the facts.
As we read in verse 13, the God of hope will fill the saints with all joy and peace in believing. We see here that the failure of God’s children is not because they do not have access to all that is needed to be successful. God says He fills His child with joy and peace. This filling happens through believing the truth.
This is not a pie in the sky fantasy. This is believing in God. God promises joy to His children. He also promises them peace. If you claim to be saved and yet do not know the joy and peace of God, it is your fault. The solution is not difficult. It is up to you to go back to what God made you.
Humility is extremely important for the child of God. We should not go back to being babes in Christ. We need to grow in Him. However, no matter how much we grow, there is never any room for pride. That will destroy any true child of God.
When we are filled with God’s joy and peace, we will also abound in hope. This world is a wicked place. It is getting darker all the time. The world is not going to all of a sudden turn to God in repentance. However, individuals can be saved. As bad as the news is, it is not depressing for the true child of God. The true child of God knows the solution to the problem. He knows that the Gospel of Christ is just as effective now as it ever was. We are not in charge of the response of the hearers. We are responsible to know the truth and to live the truth.
As the true saints live for God, they can present that hope to the world. It is the Holy Ghost, Who indwells the true child of God, that provides the hope we need. It is the Holy Ghost Who also works in the heart of the lost.
God often reminds those who are saved, of the blessings we have in Him. He is the source of blessing. The Christian life is all about God. It is living for Him and reaping the blessings of serving Him. The true child of God is fully dependent upon the Lord in order to be successful.
In verse 14 the apostle Paul knew the power of God. He knew that God changes those who are truly saved. The apostle Paul was not saved to be a baby sitter. He was saved to help babes in Christ to grow in the Lord. His preaching and writing bears that out.
The saints need to be filled with goodness, with all knowledge, and also able to admonish one another. The word translated as “admonish” means to “put in mind, to caution and to reprove gently”. None of this involves the psychological mumbo jumbo of today’s weak-kneed crowd. We look at the apostle Paul and at Jesus Christ and at any Godly person in the Bible and we learn what gentleness involves. It is a matter of coming alongside and rebuking with a heart of love. We do not want to leave the saint broken. We address any sin necessary and we come alongside with prayer and with a helping hand to help one another to get up and grow in the Lord.
In verse 15 we see this expressed. The apostle Paul was bold in his admonishment toward them. He did this because of the grace of God that was given to him. We have talked before that this grace is that helping grace that is necessary for the saint to be faithful to the Lord. It is not a pleasant thing to need to come alongside a brother and have to rebuke him. However, as the faithful servant of God listens to the Lord, he can not only rebuke, but also help the weaker brother or the arrogant brother to get right with God and to grow in Him.
Some people like to get bent all out of shape because they were exposed for their sin. Rather than respond in the flesh, the faithful child of God must accept the correction and learn from it and grow from it. When the child of God goes on the war path, they will never grow.
In verse 16 Paul reminded the saints in Rome that he was called by Jesus Christ to minister to the Gentiles. His ministry was with the Gospel of God. Notice again, that the Gospel is defined. There are many false gospels today. The Gospel of God is clearly defined in the Bible. It begins with salvation and it continues from there with sound doctrine that shows the right way to walk.
The offering up of the Gentiles needed to be acceptable to God, not to man. Everything the true child of God does needs to be acceptable to God. We do not live for ourselves if we are saved. We live for the Lord.
The only way that can happen is when the Holy Spirit is allowed to do His work in your heart. The true child of God must be sanctified. Sanctification is being set apart unto holiness by the Holy Ghost. We see here that the foolishness promoted by the Charismatic crowd has nothing to do with the Holy Ghost. That is of the flesh. It does not produce holiness. It produces vanity and heresies.
In my short lifetime, I have encountered many Charismatics and their false teaching. They are adamant that they are just a little better than others. They want to lead others into their heresies.
Those who are truly saved must be sanctified by the Holy Ghost. That sanctification will be according to God’s Word.
Jesus stated:

John 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

The Charismatics make claims that are not supported by the Word of God. They dismiss the Word of God and exalt their experiences. They insist that their experience is valid and should not be questioned. They want others to agree with their excesses and are offended when others will not accept them.
We do not help anyone when we behave like babes who are tossed about with every wind of doctrine. What we need is men who are truly saved and who are growing in the Lord and thus able to help others to do the same. We have all the help we need from God through His Word and through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Those who are faithful to the Lord need to remind others of the truth. Those who are saved, but still babes, need to be admonished to grow in the Lord. As we do this we can also help others who are lost to see the importance of knowing the true God. There is no other way to live, than to know the true God. Do you know Him today?
Pastor Bartel