Welcome to Soul Bible Church. We're so glad that you're with us this evening. This is a day that the Lord has made, and the day has slept into night, so we will sing tonight 109—Silent Night, Holy Night. I guess that was a surprise. So, we'll sing—let's sing all four verses. We can stand to sing. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. It's 109 in our Korean English almost. I don't know why I like that song. Why? All is bright. Oh, really? No, because I like students' silence. You like what? I love students. You know, it's the same silence I keep. Why do you like it? Sometimes. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright, round yon virgin, Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night, all is calm. Shepherds, hear the angels sing, Alleluia, reign o'er thee. ♪ The Savior is born ♪ ♪ Christ, the Savior is born ♪ ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ Son of God, love's pure light ♪ Jesus, Lord at Thy birth. Jesus, Lord at Thy birth. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, to Bethlehem. ♪ Christ our Savior is born ♪ Amen, good singing. You may be seated. In the back, I think we have some song sheets that we might finish up this evening with, but we also have notes that you're welcome to use there. Our sermon title this evening is God's Name, Our Names. and we are finishing up, Lord willing, the Book of Romans. We've been here in Romans since March, and it's time to bring this thing to a close. So as you open your Bibles to Romans 15, I want you to think about the question, do you spend a lot of time singing about your name? A classic song that rejoices in our salvation by A former pharmacist, C. Arthur Miles, has this refrain. There's a new name written down in glory. And it's mine. Yes, it's mine. The white Rome angels sing the story. A sinner has come home. For there's a new name written down in glory. And it's mine. It's mine. Oh, yes, it's mine. With my sins forgiven, I am bound for heaven. Nevermore to Rome is the refrain. You know, brothers and sisters, as Christians, we know that God has given us a new name that reflects the new character that we have when we trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord. We are adopted into God's family. When you are adopted here on earth, you get a new family name. It might be Bright, Kim, it might be Ackley. You get a new name when you're adopted. And when you are adopted into God's family, you also get a new name. You are now a child of God instead of being among the children of the devil. John 8, 44, Jesus condemned the children of the devil. So we are redeemed. We are free from sin's power, from its guilt. As freedmen, we are willing servants of God. And so, out of love, we serve God, rather than being chained to Egyptian-style sin and slavery. Names are important in life. The very title, our title, as believers in Jesus Christ is Christian, which means little Christ. During December, during Christmas time, we make much of the names of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel named Jesus. Jesus, because he would save his people from our sins. And Jesus reflects That name, Jesus, the Old Testament Joshua, reflects that he's our Savior. The fact that we call him Jesus Christ, Christ meaning Messiah, anointed one, tells us that he is the one who is our perfect high priest, our accurate prophet, after the order of Moses, right? Mosaic prophet. He is our supreme sovereign. our king, the Davidic king, heir of the covenant, the Davidic covenant, the promise thereof. So this is the season when we remember Emmanuel, God with us. When we remember Jesus Christ, Isaiah 9, 6, he is our wonderful counselor, almighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So this evening, as we finish the book of Romans, and thinking about how we should respond to this wonderful, doctrinally intense book, we are looking at four names of God that we find here in Romans 15 and 16. And then from those two chapters, we will see the application that we respond to who God is. by our relationship with one another by seeking to work with one another. All right, so you see there the four names of God we find here in Romans 15 and 16. This is near the bottom of your first page. Each title for God here is an attribute of God. We learn about God, we learn about a part of God's essence, his attribute, his very nature by these titles, these names for God. And so as we meditate on these four names, these names should give us an increasing confidence. Despite our sinfulness, we should have confidence because of who our God is. It should give us strength in our weakness. It should give us courage when we are fearful. As you reflect on who your God is, as you reflect on His attributes, the result should be that you will love your Lord even more, that you will trust Him, that you will serve Him. Look in your Bibles. I'm going to read Romans 15, verses one through six. Romans 15, one through six. Now then, we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope Now the God of patience and consolation grants you to be like-minded, one toward another, according to Christ Jesus, that ye may, with one mind, one mouth, glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse five, we see two of these names of God, two of these characteristics. Look there at Romans 15, five. Romans 15, five. Now, we need patience, and God has provided a source of patience for us in the Scriptures. We saw there in verse 4. But notice, think about this. Do you ever think that God needs patience? I see someone enthusiastically nodding. Now, think about it this way. Remember, God is eternal, right? It means for him, human history is the blink of an eye, the snap of a finger. He's got the long picture in view, right? So for him, does he need patience when he's got all eternity behind him, before him? You know, he realizes that whatever is wrong is, you know, it's there, it's God. God can wait out any trouble, right? There's nothing that's going to overwhelm Him. There's nothing that's going to test His endurance because, you know, He's omnipotent, all-powerful. He outlasts everything. He is eternal. But, nevertheless, God's patience is an attribute that He has needed as he has dealt with us, with humanity, basically from the fall of Adam. Think about this. Throughout human history, people, you and I, have been testing God's patience. That doesn't sound nice, but it's true. We have, since Adam, we all, every single one, have a sinful nature, and God is holy. And so Adam's sinful race has stretched God's patience to its very limits. You say, really? Yes. Look at your Bible. Genesis 6. We've got a people that are swallowed up in sin. They are just swimming in sin. Every imagination of the thought of their hearts is only what? Evil continually. And God is like, I can't believe my neighbors The word that we find there in Genesis 6 is that God regrets making man come. This is patience to the limit, right? Patience to the breaking point. And when he is, you know, at the snapping point, the final straw, he says, you know what? I'll still be patient. will give not another day or two, another century, 120 years before the flood falls. That is patience. That's beyond our patience. And so you notice that we have the flood testing God's patience. In Moses' day, of course, God's patience preserves his nation, the nation of Israel. when he was ready to make a second Abraham out of Moses. Remember, God said, Moses, let's just wipe the slate clean. Wipe out Israel. They've had this whole calf thing. I'm not going to put up with this nonsense. Moses, you want a new nation. You can be the father of a new nation. Moses says, no. We need mercy. We need patience. He exercises patience when the judgment was about to fall as a result of Moses' intercession. And so I want you to notice there under 1.1 that as we have a God of patience, that doubt tests patience. The doubt of God's people, the doubt of unbelief, Pharaoh's doubt, all of these things causes God to be impatient, because he is continually proclaiming himself in his creation. The heavens declare God's glory. Romans 1, we have seen that the creation makes man accountable to God, who is judge, who is sovereign, who is good. And so when we doubt that there is a God, when we doubt God's goodness, when we doubt that God will do what he has said, that is pushing God. Pushing his buttons. Calling upon his patience. But that's not the only thing that pushes God. During Jesus' ministry, you remember the Pharisees, the Sadducees, coming with questions to try to trip Jesus up, to test him, is the scriptural designation of that. So here are Pharisees. Here are Sadducees. These are the religious elites. They were the ones that Jesus said were in Moses' seat. And yet, in their own eyes, they were perfectly righteous. I mean, these were guys that were tithing mint and herbs and all these things to show how good they were about keeping their tithes or making new laws about the Sabbath. They were you know, checking off all the things. But their problem was partially pride. These people were proud of their righteousness. They were self-righteous, not realizing that they couldn't please God with their own effort. And so what we see is they were covetous They weren't hungering and thirsting for righteousness, although they were trying to check off the boxes, but they were hungering and thirsting, what? For fame. For a name that I am good, I am holy, look at me, I'm the best guy here. You think he's good, look at me. And so when I go to a wedding, I want to have the best seat. And Jesus noticed that these guys run to get the best seat. And he notices that these guys are blowing their trumpets when they're doing their good works. You know, look at my act of charity. Look at how generous. And so it's all about the fame. It's all about the name. It's not about doing good. It was about what do people see. It's about image, publicity, PR. And so notice there, number 1.2, that last sentence, self-righteous pride tests God's patience. Jesus basically says, woe to you Pharisees, Sadducees, white pilgrims. Because it was all about the show, it wasn't the real deal. Thirdly, we see Jesus calls his disciples to himself, and these disciples were called to be with Jesus, right? That was a job description of an apostle. They were there to be with Jesus. And they also had the chance to preach, to evangelize. They had the chance to do miracles, as Christ did. They heard Jesus teaching. They saw Jesus performing miracles. They recognized, as we have in our theme for this year, Jesus' promise to build his church was in response to Peter's confession, Jesus, Lord, you are the Christ, you are the Son. And so, the apostles recognize who they are with, they are with their Savior, they're with the Messiah. They saw Jesus, the Almighty God, and they're in the boat, and Jesus is sleeping, and Jesus gets up, Yon stretches and says, peace be still, and the storm stops. And they are scared stiff. And they say, who is this guy? Then even the winds fly his way. And Jesus gets a little irate at that, doesn't he? And time and again when people see Jesus in there, they're afraid. These men, these disciples, spent three years, three and a half years with Jesus Christ. They're with him, they're listening to him, they're hearing his teaching, his preaching, they see his life, they're with him 24-7, they see him do incredible things, feeding thousands, healing the blind, raising the dead. And then Jesus says, you know, I'm going away. And his disciples says, John 13, Jesus, show us the Father, and that will be done. And he's like, I mean, if you're reading the Gospel of John and you've hit John 14, he's already said, I and my Father are one, multiple times. He's nearly been stung for it. He said, I am God. And he's like, dude, whatever the paramagnum dude is, he's like, have you been with me this long and you still haven't Connected the dots. Come on, don't be dense. Don't you know that if you've seen me, you've seen the Father? I mean, He said it, He's shown it, He's done it. What else does it take to show that He and His Father are one? That He is God, that the Father is God. And so you see that one of the things that really kind of stretches God, pushes his patience to the limit, is hard-heartedness. A blindness to what God is doing to you. He says who he is. We've already seen verse four. The way we get patience, the way that we learn about God, the way that we understand reality, understand what's happening, look at the scriptures. We've got the Holy Spirit within us. We've got Jesus abiding within us. We've got the scriptures. How is it that we cannot know God is good, he is here, who he is? He's like, And there are several times where we just see these disciples who were with Jesus, who were abiding with him, who were disciples, apostles, doing all this great cool stuff, miracles, their hearts were hot. Oh, sorry, Jesus, we forgot to bring the bread. No, I'm talking about the bread of life. Come on. I fed 5,000, I fed 4,000. Do you think I'm really worried that you left some bread behind? Come on. You know, God expects us to pay attention. And yes, part of this is a spiritual process. We need to grow in our understanding of the spiritual, in our understanding of God. And part of this is growing simply upon spending time But here we're done, three years with Jesus, and they're still doing this. That's kind of encouraging, because, you know, there are times when we're not, we're not gonna become God's children, right? So we've got, we're in good company when we are this way. So what, as we come to this, the conclusion here about God's patience, God is patient. He deals gently with us despite our symptoms despite our hard-heartedness despite our doubts despite sometimes our self-righteousness We take credit for what God is doing in our lives But God is patient Now think about what we have learned in this book What have we learned of ourselves in Romans 1-3? Here's the people God is patient with. Here's the people that God is patient with, Romans 4-8. The saints. He shows his patience. Remember Romans 7 and Paul's struggle with sin even as a saved guy. So here's God, first of all, patient with the sinners. who deserve to go to hell, and sending the Savior. Then once we trust Christ, God continues to be patient with you and I when we fall, when we fail. And then you come to Romans 9 through 11, and God is not only patient with sinners and saints generally, but he's patient in working out his plan not only for individuals, but for nations, for the human race, for Jews and Gentiles. I mean, you think about God's been working on the seed of Abraham for an awful long time, working out that Abrahamic covenant. And he's not done yet. Right? That is patience. That is endurance. One of the words that in our King James, it's God of patience. Other translations will translate this in German. It's a long-term thing. All right? So we've got God's patience throughout this book. But then we look, we're still in Romans 15.5, and we see he's not only the God of patience, but the God of consolation, the God of comfort. Here is God who is gentle. Here's a God who is gentle, kind and compassionate and restoring to set two saints who fall to people like David, to people like you. And so we, we get in the mire, we get, we struggle, we, we have sorrows, we have depression, we have these things. And we see that the second attribute of God is that He is a God of consolation. 2 Corinthians 1 calls Him the God of all comfort. Now, I don't know where you go for comfort when you need comfort. Some people go to chocolate ice cream. Some people just do chocolate candy bar. Other people just look for a friend. Others... Do you go to God for your comfort when you're distressed? Or do you go, you know, run out 10 miles to get distressed? You know, we all have coping things, but we should cope by going to our consolation and the one who will give us the real comfort, real consolation, not just a hormonal fix of endorphins from chocolate or grain or adrenaline. Okay? Now remember who Paul is writing to. Paul is writing to the Roman Church. This is the place where Nero is. This is the place where Peter will die, crucified upside down. This is the place where Paul himself will die. And he's writing to the Christians in this place who are going to know the fires of persecution. Jews are going to be exiled. Christians are going to be tortured. They're going to need to remember that God is a God of consolation when people in the church are being lit up as human candles by you or sent to the lights. Right? And so what we see here is that God is God. And he sent his son, Almighty God, who is omnipresent, who is omnipotent, all-powerful. And he sent his son to become the man of sorrow. the man who was acquainted with grief, that he might be our perfect high priest, and as Hebrews 5 says, able to empathize with us, able to know what it is to go through mourning, to weep outside Lazarus' tomb, to know the loss, perhaps, of Joseph before the cross, to know rejection of his own, denial by Peter, betrayal by Judas, the abandonment so that, you know, few of the disciples are there at the cross, John is, some of the women. He is abandoned, he's betrayed, he's denied, he knows what it's like. And so because he has He doesn't just know it intellectually, he's experienced it. And because he has experienced hardship, suffering, hard work as a carpenter, or what have you, he is able to say, be of good cheer, I'm a worker. I've been through sorrows, a man of sorrows, but my gift is joy. And so time and again, In the Gospels, Jesus Christ has said what? To have compassion. For the hungry, when he feeds the thousands, for the blind, the lame, for those who are as sheep without a shepherd. So for spiritual needs, he has compassion. For physical needs, he has compassion. He says, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden. He had the burden of the salvation of the world on his shoulders. And he still showed love for his individual sheep and taking care of them. On the eve of the cross, what is he doing? He's comforting his disciples, giving them instruction, washing their feet. I mean, this is, we don't get that. We live in a world of love. We've got school shootings. We have wars, we have injustice, we have fears, we have troubles, we have financial difficulties, there are health hazards, there's sickness, there's cancer, there's Alzheimer's. Are you weary? Are you just tired of it all? Are you sick? Are you heavy hearted? Do you think Jesus cares? He does. He cares. He has compassion. He is a God of consolation. And where does he give you your consolation? First, for his crushers. Where do you see God? Where do you see his faithfulness? Where do you see that he has promised that those who wait upon the Lord will indeed run and not be weary? They will walk and not hang. They will mount up on the people's feet. This is awesome. A God of patience. A God of hope. And then look at verse 13. He is a God of hope. Now the God of hope isn't that much. You think life is hard. It is. It is. But there is hope in the trouble. Hope in the stress. Hope in the discouragement. Hope in the mourning. The God of hope fill you with all hope, joy and peace in the name of the Lord. That you may, what, not just scrape by on hope, but abound in hope. Verse 13 says. How? Where does this come from? Well, it's not just generated, it's self generated. Just like righteousness is not self-generating, you've got to get it from God. Notice, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Right? Trusting in yourself, giving hope in yourself, maybe that hope will not be lost. But if you have hope in God, hope in the omnipotent Holy Spirit who is changing and using the trial to produce the fruit of the Spirit, developing patience in you. Remember that first characteristic. Wow. So as 2024 wanes into 2025, maybe you are discouraged. Maybe you're overwhelmed. There are times when the future just seems bleak. Depressing. And that long to-do list, instead of getting shorter with your finished ticked-off things, it just seems to get exponentially longer. There are just more things that keep on getting at it every time you look at it, right? The list gets longer faster than you can check themselves. And when that list has your full gaze, peace, comfort, consolation, patience are hard to come by. God is a God of consolation, but how can you take time to be comforted when you've got XYZ to do? that we all struggle to decide how to do it. One way to endure that work patience first is to look beyond. And it's hard to do because there is the now. But look beyond. Look to the end. For those of us who are teachers, there is right now. It's Wednesday, but Friday's coming for us, right? Saturday thereafter. Receive comfort from knowing that God is even now at work. Remember, we have looked at Romans 8 and we've seen that all distress is a blessing. God has calms and is working all things together for our good. Now that good may not be fun and may not be pleasant. It may be producing patience, which is really hard to... We like to have it, but we don't like to get it. Because if you have patience, it's a muscle that's exercised. And it's not instantaneous. So God is at work in you at this present time for your ultimate good and in all these things he is glorifying himself in you and through you. Now that can be hard to believe because we see our own impatience, we see our own misery, we see our own sickness. But God is with you. Amen. He has promised never to leave you. God's not done. You see, we think now is all. We sometimes lose the fact of tomorrow. Eternity. The reward for our effort. There's an end to suffering. The psalms speak of those who go out weak as they've suffered. Let the day of rejoicing, the day of promise, pass on. Maybe not soon, certainly not as soon as we want, but it has to happen. Brothers and sisters, God has a way of giving hope to others. He has a way of really helping us. God knows the future. We know some of the future, but He knows every detail. And so He's given us sufficient grace for this. And that's how He's helping. So God will be with you at every step. The Good Shepherd guides you. He directs you. He's wrong. It's done. Comfort you. He's with you. So, until your mind is sound and clear, don't give up. There will be a time when your duty is done, when the job is accomplished. And so as we look at Romans 5 The Holy Spirit And finally, the final name for God is there in chapter 16, verse 20, the God of Peace. You see how this is all connected, finally, to our activities? Because as God comforts you, as God gives you His joy and affliction, Romans 5, so that we rejoice in suffering, so that we are happy with the attitudes You know if Satan is up and his attacks the temptations that The times you fall are really the reason for your heart's disquiet. As we saw in verse four, look to the Word of God for consolation, for patience. Here in verse 20, we see that Jesus Christ is an angel. Remember, Genesis 3, 15, he's the one who bruised the serpents. 1 Corinthians 15, he is the victor. not only over Satan and sin, but he is a victor over death itself. And so one day the curse of sin will be lifted. That's our hope. We are looking for a hope of being with Jesus, of being like Jesus, being glorified. And so we have this peace. We know that we are on the side that is wrong, because Jesus has been wrong. And what the promise here in verse 20 is that even if you slip and fall, when you do sin, first John, we confess our sins, he's faithful just to forgive you. And so John goes on in 1 John 2, he tells us about the little children who can defeat the awesome. And so the promise here in verse 20 is you will defeat Satan. He tells his disciples, I saw Satan falling from heaven as they go out and do their evangelism. Revelation 13, we see Satan kicked out of heaven. Maybe it's Revelation 12. But we see Satan is a loser. We are winners because we are on God's side. And so if you've been struggling with sin, where sin happens, God will put your love out of the mind. He will forgive you and wash you. And your crimson red stains will be washed. And you will have faith. Christ will build His church. Nothing will overcome it. What will overcome you? Christ's church which is His mind. We shall be washed in those white rain. We shall wear those white clean raiments. We shall prepare ourselves. So let's make sure we do. And you see that in light of that, we've got seven applications in this chapter. Because God is a God of peace and patience and consolation, we encourage one another. It's not just for you and me, it's for one another. And so, we glorify God by sharing the gospel, by edifying one another, whether we eat or drink, we glorify Him. That's number two. Number three, we enjoy our salvation. We do rejoice with hope, as 1513 says. We enjoin others to come to, I know, I went with the E, so it was the E and the W. So we enjoin others to come to Christ, we evangelize. You see that in 15, verses 16 through 22, on our step. Number five, we enter into fellowship. First John 1, we have fellowship with God and with one another. And so we do see in verses 22 through 29, Paul talking about his desire to be with the church there and how he wants on his way to Spain, he's going to stop, he's going to visit these people, he's going to fellowship with them. So, we need to have fellowship with one another. Paul longs to know these guys, to be with them, to be present with them. And so, as he wants to come, he says, pray for me, look at verse 30, Romans 15, 30, and Paul, I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ says, for the love of God, for the love of the Spirit, strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted as saints, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed. So here's Paul's prayer letter, his prayer request here. He wants to come, he wants God's will to be done, he wants protection, provision, all these things. And so we need to be upholding our missionaries in prayer. We need to be upholding one another in prayer. And then finally, as you finish out this chapter, or the next chapter, chapter 16, we've got 20 plus names, almost 30 names, that Paul addresses. We're not going to list them all. But the point is, Paul knows his to be. And you see that we should entice others not only to fellowship, not only to come to Christ, but to appreciate God's work in others. So he goes from Phoebe, this helper of the church, to all these others who are being a blessing, he's saying, greet them, be a blessing to them, encourage them in the word of God. We need to praise the praiseworthy. We need to encourage those who are doing wrong. We need to express our love for one another. And so there's a mutual thing going on here. Paul's saying, here, greet these guys. Oh yeah, and the people who are with me, greet you too. And that's the last part of 11, 16, 12, 11, 12. Father God, thank you that you have given us your word. Lord, you are patient with us. Help us to be patient in trial, to be patient with those who are in trial to us. Help us, Lord, to find consolation in your Word through your Holy Spirit. Fill us with hope. Fill us with joy. Fill us with the Holy Spirit that the fruit of the Spirit may abound in us. Help us, Father, to realize that you are at work in our lives, in our wounds, in our struggles, Lord, you are the God of comfort and consolation. And Lord, you are the God of peace. As we mourn, as we struggle, as we pray, you give us your peace, a peace that passes all understanding. For Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. So may the God of peace, the peace of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, the Lord just be with all of us. Strengthen us for the tasks we have. Give us a good rest. Amen. All right, I do manage to finish before 8 o'clock, so I think