Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant
you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ
Jesus, 6 so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore, accept one
another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. 8 For
I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on
behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the
fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it
is written, "THEREFORE I WILL GIVE PRAISE TO YOU AMONG THE
GENTILES, AND I WILL SING TO YOUR NAME." 10 Again he says,
"REJOICE, O GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE." 11 And again, "PRAISE THE
LORD ALL YOU GENTILES, AND LET ALL THE PEOPLES PRAISE HIM." 12
Again Isaiah says, "THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO
ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL THE GENTILES HOPE."
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit.

The connection between this message from Romans 15 and the
preceding messages from Romans 9 is the link between Romans 9:6 and
Romans 15:8. Both of these verses affirm that the word of God has
not fallen but stands invincible. Romans 9:6 says, "It is not as
though the word of God has failed" and Romans 15:8 says, "Christ
has come to confirm the promises given to the fathers." The words
of God - the promises of God - have not fallen, they stand
confirmed.

The difference between these two texts is that the ground for
God's unfailing word in Romans 9 is the truth of unconditional
election, and the ground of God's unfailing word in Romans 15 is
the truth of Christ's redeeming work as the servant of Israel.

In Romans 9:6 Paul says, "It is not as though the word of God
has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from
Israel." In other words, within Israel there is an elect Israel,
and these will be saved and the word of God - the word of promise -
will stand and never fail those whom he sovereignly plans to save.
On the other hand, in Romans 15:8 Paul says, "I say that Christ has
become a servant to the circumcision [that is, he was born as
Jewish Messiah to serve his people] on behalf of the truth of God
to confirm the promises given to the fathers." In other words, the
word of God stands because Christ came into the world and did the
work that had to be done to save the elect.

Election and the Saving Work of Jesus Christ

So here is an absolutely crucial banner that needs to be waved
over the teaching of Romans 9. It's the banner of Christmas and
Good Friday and Easter. Namely this: The doctrine of God's
unconditional election must never be separated from the saving work
of Jesus Christ. Mark these crucial words from Ephesians 1:4, "God
chose us in him [in Jesus Christ] before the foundation of the
world." Or mark these words in 2 Timothy 1:9 "God saved us and
called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because
of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus
before the ages began." Or Ephesians 3:11, "[God has acted] in
accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ
Jesus our Lord."

So, God chooses his people in Christ - in relation to Christ and
his saving work - before the foundation of the world. He appoints
them for grace in Christ before the ages. He carries out his
eternal electing purpose in Christ. We must
never think of the precious and glorious truth of unconditional
election apart from Jesus Christ and his saving work on the cross.
God chose people to be saved by Christ. The saving work of Jesus
Christ was not an afterthought. Christmas, Good Friday, Easter were
in the mind of God as he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world.

Therefore the promises of God stand invincible not simply
because he is free and sovereign in his choice of whom to save (as
Romans 9 teaches), but also because he undertakes to actually save
them in history by the coming and dying and rising of his Son,
Jesus Christ (as Romans 15 says).

So today, since it is the Sunday before Christmas, let's focus
on Romans 15:8-9, and ask in particular, Why is it good news that
Christ came on behalf of the truth of God? Let's read these verses
again: "For I say that Christ has become a servant to the
circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises
given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His
mercy."

Now let's read it more carefully and notice the structure of
this sentence.

• "For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision
  . . ." This means that he became a Jewish man to serve the Jewish
  people. Recall what he said in Mark 10:45: "The Son of Man came not
  to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
  many" - that's the service in view, the service of dying for many
  as ransom.
• Then Paul makes the main statement about why he came: "I say
  that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of
  the truth of God . . ." That's the main statement: Christ came to
  serve (to give his life a ransom) in such away that the truth of
  God would be established. Then come two purposes for this
  God-vindicating work of Christ:
• First, " . . . to confirm the promises given to the
  fathers,"
• Second (verse 9a), ". . . and for the Gentiles to glorify God
  for His mercy."

So the main statement for why Christ became an incarnate human
being as a Jew is that he came to serve man and vindicate God.
Verse 8: "Christ has become a servant . . . on behalf of the truth
of God." Or to be more accurate: Christ came to serve man by
vindicating the truth of God. It's not as though his service is one
thing, and his proving the truth of God is another thing. His
vindicating the truth of God is the way he served man.

How is Christmas Good News?

So here is the one question I want to try to answer from this
text: Why are we well served by the vindication of the truth of God
through Christ? Why does it do us good when Christ validates the
truth of God? Or to make the message feel seasonal, we could ask:
How is Christmas good news if it means Christ's coming on behalf of
the truth of God?

I see four reasons why it is good for us that Christ came on
behalf of the truth of God.

1. It is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God because Christ's coming shows that God is true first and
foremost to himself.

It is noteworthy that Paul makes a distinction in verse 8
between Christ's confirming "the truth of God" as one thing, and
then, as another thing, the result and purpose of that, namely, "to
confirm the promises." Read verse 8 again: "For I say that Christ
has become a servant to the circumcision (1) on behalf of the truth
of God (2) to confirm the promises given to the fathers." One could
argue, I suppose, that these are two ways of saying the very same
thing: Confirm the truth of God, and confirm the promises he
made.

But there is something deeper in God's truth than his keeping
promises. God is true before he makes any promises. God is a God of
truth before he speaks to man. It's important that we think about
this. Otherwise we tend to think of God only in relation to us as
if his attributes have no meaning or significance apart from us.
This makes far too much of us. And it runs the risk of demeaning
God's self-sufficiency - that he is gloriously and absolutely God
and true apart from us, and without us.

The relevance this has for God's truth is that it reminds us
that God himself is the definition of truth. He is truth. "I am the
way the truth and the life," Jesus said (John 14:6). And he could
say it because he was God the Son. There is no standard of truth
outside God for God to be measured by. God never checks or measures
his thoughts or his statements or his actions with a standard
outside himself so that he can then declare them true because the
measure up to the standard. God is the standard. God is truth. God
is the measure of all things. All things are true to the degree
that they conform to what God is and says.

Therefore, the first and most fundamental attribute about God in
relation to this is not that he is true to his promises, but that
he is true to himself. Here's the way Paul put it in 2 Timothy
2:12-13, "If we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are
faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." Now
that is a very fundamental truth about God. He cannot deny himself.
His most fundamental faithfulness is not first to us, but to
himself. When he contemplates what faithfulness or truth means, he
takes into account the highest standard first, namely himself, and
remains true or faithful to that.

So Paul is saying in Romans 15:8 "Christ has become a servant .
. . on behalf of the truth of God," that is, Christ served us -
Christ did us good - by confirming God's deepest "trueness" his
deepest faithfulness, namely, his faithfulness to himself. Christ
served us by vindicating God's commitment to his himself.
He served
us by establishing and demonstrating that God is true - he is true
to God.

It is good for us that he did that. For if God were not true to
God - if God's deepest and most fundamental esteem and faithfulness
were given to something or someone other than what is most worthy
of esteem and faithfulness - then he would be false, and no true
God. And all our hope for everlasting joy would vanish. And that
would be no service to us. Christ serves us by coming on behalf of
the truth of God.

2. It is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God because this does in fact confirm the promises of God.

God's promises are not his first allegiance. God himself is
God's first allegiance. But then on the basis of that allegiance
comes the next one, his word, his promises. And we see it plainly
in verse 8: "For I say that Christ has become a servant to the
circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises
given to the fathers,."

All the promises that God ever made are true, first because God
is true, and second because Christ came and confirmed them as true.
He bought them. The other clearest statement on this (besides
Romans 15:8) is 2 Corinthians 1:20, "For all the promises of God
find their Yes in [Christ]. That is why it is through him that we
utter our Amen to God for his glory."

What is the Good News of Christmas?

Here is the essence of the good news of Christmas. Why did
Christ have to come and die and rise so that all the promises of
God would be yes in him - so that all the promises of God would be
confirmed and made sure in him? The answer is that you and I do not
deserve the fulfillment of one single promise of good toward us.
What we deserve in our sin is punishment not promises. And what we
get by faith alone, is fulfilled promises not fulfilled punishment.
How can this be just? Because Christ came not to be served but to
serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He
bought us. He ransomed us. He rescued us from the curse of the law
by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Or as this week's
fighter verse says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the
cross" (1 Peter 2:24). Why? So all the promises could come true for
us even though we are undeserving sinners.

So all the promises of God are bought and confirmed for us by
the blood of Jesus on the cross. That is why we claim the promises
of God in prayer and close every prayer with, "In Jesus' name,
Amen." Don't ever be ashamed of it. Children, listen to this simple
point: when you close your prayers by saying, "In Jesus' name,
Amen," you should mean, "I don't deserve the answer to my prayer,
but Jesus does. And so I ask for it in his name, not my name.
Because he is perfectly worthy and I am not."

So it is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God because it confirms the promises of God by purchasing them for
sinners like us.

3. It is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God because the promises he confirms and purchases are promises of
mercy.

You can see this when the blessing of Christ's coming spills
over the banks of Israel and reaches to the gentiles - to the
nations - according to Jesus Great Commission. Read verse 8 again
and the first part of verse 9: "For I say that Christ has become a
servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to
confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9 and for the Gentiles
to glorify God for His mercy."

When the promises are confirmed and purchased by the coming of
Christ, the blessings spill over the banks of Israel and reach to
the nations. And what the promises spill over with is mercy. Oh how
the saints in the Old and New Testaments love to exult in the mercy
of God! Just this week I read Micah 7:18 where the prophet exults
like this: "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing
over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not
retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love
[mercy!]."

This is the truth that breaks our pride, and heals the paralysis
of hopelessness, and gives us courage to love in hard times, and
moves our hearts to sing a new song. So Samuel Davies turned that
Micah text into a hymn:

Great God of wonders! All Thy ways
Are matchless, Godlike and divine;
But the fair glories of Thy grace
More Godlike and unrivaled shine,
More Godlike and unrivaled shine.

Who is a pardoning God like Thee
And who has grace so rich and free?
And who has grace so rich and free?

So it is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God because the promises he confirms are promises of mercy -
pardon, forgiveness, and the gift of righteousness.

4. It is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God because the essence of the mercy he promised is himself, and
not his gifts.

God's gifts are precious beyond words, and we will sing of them
forever. But the most precious ones you can think of are not ends
in themselves. They all lead to God. Take forgiveness, for example.
When Christ became our servant as a ransom, he took away the curse
of the law and the threat of punishment for all who believe. But to
what end? That we might enjoy sin with impunity? No. But that we
might enjoy God for eternity! Forgiveness is precious because it
brings us home to God.

Why does anyone want to be forgiven? If the answer is just for
psychological relief, or just for escape from hell to have more
physical pleasures, then God is not honored. But Romans 15:9 says
that the aim of Christ's serving us is that the gentiles "glorify
God" for his mercy. But if we exploit God's mercy as ticket to
enjoy sin, God gets no glory from that. God gets glory for showing
mercy when his mercy frees us to see him as the most enjoyable
person in the universe.

So it is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God because the essence of the mercy he promised was himself.

It is good for us that Christ came on behalf of the truth of
God, because his coming this way

This is the meaning of his coming. This is the meaning of
Christmas. O that God would waken your heart to your deep need for
mercy as a sinner. And then ravish your heart with a great Savior,
Jesus Christ. And then release your tongue to praise him and your
hands to make his mercy shine in yours.