Welcome to Faith Bible Church's Sunday sermon. I'm here with the lovely and talented Gina Battle. Say hi, Gina. Hi, Gina. And I pray that you're all well and coping with this current crisis. Don't let it steal your joy or your hope. There may be a scarcity of resources out there, but Christ followers have the greatest resource of all. in times of trouble. We have the hope of the resurrection. We know that this life is not all there is. In good times, people forget that death is coming for everyone. But Jesus has conquered death. So let's use this time to offer hope, the hope of the gospel, to our friends and family and neighbors. And we can proclaim with Job, who in the midst of the most horrendous suffering said this, for I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has thus been destroyed yet in my flesh I shall see God. We know that he will transform these mortal bodies into glorious bodies like his own. So contact me here at the church if you want to talk or you need something just let me know. And for those of you who are members here or members of another body please do your best to stay in contact with one another. Try to be creative in how you communicate with one another. These Sunday sermons are important but they're not church. Church is the gathering of the saints. So since we can't gather physically let's be creative and figure out ways to communicate. during this time. We need to encourage one another all the more through this time. So let's pray before we begin the sermon. Lord, you've called us into one body, one body of Christ. Lord, help us to remain connected, to stay connected to one another in this time of trouble. Lord, help us to be creative in reaching out to our brothers and sisters. Help us to see the needs of our community and to meet those needs in meaningful ways. Lord, I pray that your church throughout the world will be a light shining in the darkness of this present time. Father, I pray that you use this time in your word today to prepare us and strengthen us for the task before us In the name above all names, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. So today we come to the end of our study in the book of Romans, the gospel of God's grace. It's been a year-long journey through this most comprehensive and systematic explanation of the gospel that's found in the Bible. I'm going to attempt to sum it up in three minutes now. So here we go. In the Book of Romans, God's special agent, the Apostle Paul, presents God's gracious invitation of salvation to all mankind. It begins with the declaration of God's righteousness as being revealed to all the world through the good news of the gospel. But immediately it moves into the bad news of God's wrath. his wrath towards a rebellious creation. We are shown to be utterly and without exception guilty and helpless to free ourselves from our sin. And once God has shown us the hopelessness of our situation, he offers a remedy. Romans 5.8 says, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God gave his son. to die for the sins of the world, which not only provides forgiveness, but transforms unrighteous sinners into righteous saints. This righteousness is only obtainable through faith, and not through any works of our own, especially the Old Testament law of the Jews. The law can only condemn. Jesus reversed the curse of the law and death and introduced a new way. He enabled his followers to have peace with God, to be adopted as his children, to be freed from the power of sin, and to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, and finally, to have eternal life. He then reveals how this plan relates to God's chosen people, the Jews. Their whole history, beginning with the promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him, culminates in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. And even though the majority of the Jews have rejected Jesus, that opened the door for the Gentiles to come in. And eventually all Israel will be saved, and all the promises made to them will finally be fulfilled. Then after all this deep theological truth, he gives us several chapters of practical instruction. on how to live this new life in the context of the church that he has established as a witness to the world. God's people living in unity through the power of love. Then he begins to wrap things up by announcing his plans for future ministry. And as we saw last week, he personally greeted many of the Christians in Rome that he knew or knew of. So now we come to the grand finale. And consistent with the rest of his letter, Paul uses it to proclaim God's grace and his glory. There are three brief sections here in verses 17 through 27. First a warning, then a slight detour in which Paul's colleagues greet the Romans, and then a final glorious doxology. The scriptures will be on the screen, but if you have your Bibles, it will be helpful if you have them with you to follow along. So first, the warning. Romans 16, 17. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them. You've heard the saying, you are what you eat. There's a vast continuum of things you can eat, from healthy food to junk food all the way to deadly poison. And that's true of our spiritual food as well. What Paul wants to guard against here is the deadly spiritual poison of false teachers. That poison is the kind of teaching that causes division and stumbling blocks, obstacles to the gospel. Apparently, There weren't any reports of this going on yet at the Roman church, but Paul wants them to be ready for it when it does inevitably arise. He told the same thing to the elders of the Ephesian church. He said in Acts 20 verse 29, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert. What causes the division? What causes the obstacles? It's the twisted things that they teach. It's the teaching contrary to the doctrine that's already been delivered. And they do it for selfish reasons. Verse 18. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. And by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. They do it to serve their own appetite for glory and not the glory of Christ. And they satisfy their own flesh, the appetites of the flesh. I don't begrudge ministers making a decent living, But multi-million dollar mansions and private jets probably indicate there's something wrong. The Word of Faith movement, also known as the prosperity gospel, is a glaring example of this kind of thing. The only people who are prospering in the prosperity movement are the prosperity preachers. The pastor of the largest prosperity church in America has a 10.5 million, 27,000 square foot mansion. And he owns another 2.9 million house plus the obligatory private jet. So how does Paul say that these guys accomplished this kind of thing? Through smooth words and flattery. When preaching tends to focus on how wonderful the audience is instead of how wonderful God is, then watch out. Another famous TV preacher recently drove a Ferrari onto the stage at the beginning of his sermon. And he jumped out and he said, God gave me a Ferrari because I am a Ferrari and you're a Ferrari too. So what does Paul instruct us to do with things like this, with people like this, with teachers like this? Well, first he says, watch out. Watch out for them. The NIV says, keep your eye on them. The Greek word is skopeo, where we get our word scope, or telescope, or microscope. It means that we need to pay close attention to what they are saying and what they're doing. And why do we do that? in order to do the second thing that Paul instructs us here. Avoid them. Don't hang out with them. Don't endorse their ministries. Warn others to avoid them. Pastor John MacArthur comments on this verse by saying, false teachers are not to be debated, but to be denounced. I know it might sound harsh, but it's necessary to protect the flock. These teachers are wolves in sheep's clothing, and they will devour the sheep. And notice who it is it says they deceive. It is the naive, not the wicked, not the lost. It's the ignorant and the untaught in the churches. Every believer must be steeped in the doctrine of the apostles in order to avoid these false teachers. And it sounds like the Romans were familiar with their Bibles. Verse 19 says, He's now saying, you guys are doing great, but keep it up. We all need that constant encouragement, don't we? It's easy to drift into complacency. Peter says in his second letter, in 2 Peter 1.12, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them, and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder. That's what true teachers of the word do. They stir us up by reminding us of what God has revealed. And now Paul reminds the Romans of their calling and their destiny. Romans 6 20. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Their calling and ours is to attack the gates of hell. Satan's rule will one day end. And our destiny will be there with the Lord when He crushes the serpent's head. And Paul concludes this section with a blessing. Second half of verse 20 says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. That sounds like final words, doesn't it? In 12 of his 13 letters, Paul ends just like this, or something similar. So why does it go on for another seven verses? Well, imagine this scenario with me, will you? Paul is sitting in a room and he's got several of his colleagues around him and he's just finished dictating this final blessing of the letter of Romans. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And he claps his hands together and he says, well, that's done. But Timothy is sitting there And he says, hey wait a minute, tell them that I said hi. And Tertius, his amanuensis pipes in, and I want them to know that I helped you by writing this down for you. And then the others join in. So the letter isn't quite finished yet. And it goes on. So in verse 21. Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you. So do Lucius, and Jesus, and Socipiter, my kinsman. I, Tertius, wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, city treasurer, and our brother, Quartus, greet you. So we're familiar with Timothy. from the Book of Acts and from the two letters that Paul wrote to him in the New Testament. On Paul's first missionary journey, Timothy was converted in his hometown of Lystra, and then he accompanied Paul on his second trip, and he became a fellow missionary and church planter and pastor. Lucius, along with Jason and Socipiter, don't you love that name, Socipiter, They're identified as Paul's kinsmen, fellow Jewish believers. Tertius physically wrote the letter under Paul's direction. He's a former slave. You can tell that because Tertius means third. They designated their slaves like first, second, third. And then Gaius, he was there because Paul was living in his house at the time. He lived there while he worked at Corinth. And it says that he was also host to the house church that met there. Erastus was a city official in Corinth. He's called the treasurer in most English translations. However, the Greek word is oikonomos. That's where we get our word economy. And his duties included the maintenance of public facilities. In Roman civil service, they use the Latin word aedile. So I'm going to show you something here. Here is something called the Erastus pavement. In 1929, excavators discovered this inscription near a paved area northeast of the theater in Corinth. The inscription, which dates from the middle of the first century. Now that's the time that Paul wrote this letter. It reads, Erastus, for his Aedile ship, paved this at his own expense. Now here's a reconstruction of what it would have looked like originally. Isn't that cool? No, we're back. No, that's right. So like many Roman officers, he would have been expected to fund public works generously from his own purse. So is this the same Erastus that Paul speaks of here? We don't know. But the time and place are right, so it very well could be. So why do I include these historical and archaeological details in a sermon? It's because I want you to be confident that we are not, as the Apostle Peter says, following carefully crafted tales. but we're following the truth. We're following inspired accounts of real events that happened in history inspired by the Holy Spirit and preserved for us. And finally Cordus is the last colleague of Paul to chime in here in whom tradition says eventually became the Bishop of Beirut. So Now that Paul has had a few more moments to consider the ending of this letter, he decides to end not with the blessing to the Romans, but with a doxology to God, a grand finale. And in this doxology, he's going to recapitulate some of the most important truths of this letter. And in this recapitulation, he does it in a brilliant burst of emotion. All true theology should lead to deeply felt appreciation of God who we are considering. So, Paul breaks out into praise to the One who has devised and carried out so great a plan of salvation. Romans 16.25, Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages." We're reminded here of Paul's thesis statement at the beginning of the epistle. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17. Romans 1, 16, and 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. It is only God who can strengthen us to live this life, this Christian life. And that power comes through the gospel and through the preaching of Jesus as Messiah. The cool thing though about this is This strengthening gets done through us as well. We participate with God in it. So like Paul said in chapter 1, he desired to impart some spiritual gift to the Romans in order to strengthen them. Notice also that he calls it my gospel. Not because he had any part in creating this gospel, but he was made a steward of it. As he said in verse 1, he was set apart for the world, to all the nations. Verse 26 says, but this gospel has now been disclosed through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring out the obedience of faith. As he said back in Romans 3, that although the prophets bore witness to it, the gospel was only lately revealed through the coming of Jesus Christ. It was a mystery hidden in the pages of the Old Testament. So even the prophets who wrote of Christ didn't understand that mystery. Look at 1 Peter 1 10. Concerning this salvation the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It's all there in the Old Testament, the sufferings of Christ in the Psalms, in Isaiah 53, and the glories of Christ are everywhere, especially in the promises concerning the son of David returning to his throne. Now look at verse 26 again. or at the end of it. The gospel, it says, brings about the obedience of faith. And faith has been a major theme throughout this book. Do you find that phrase puzzling? The obedience of faith? Does it seem to mix up works with faith? Well, listen to Jesus' words. for an explanation here in John 6 28 when they said to him then they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God Jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent believe to believe is to do the work his obedience is simply turning back to God, trusting him with your life. It's believing that he is your creator and that your disobedience to him has cut you off from him. And then it's believing that he provided the sacrifice, that his son died for you so that you don't have to die. That is the gospel of grace. And now Paul's final exclamation. He ends the book with this praise. To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ, amen. He is the only wise God. There are no others. There is no wisdom or truth in the gods devised by men and devils. He alone will be worshipped throughout eternity by those who have been brought into his presence through Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Savior. And all God's people said, Amen. Let's pray. Oh, Holy Father, we praise you for your glorious gospel. We thank you that you've taken us from the depths of sin, Lord, from the ignorance of who you are into your presence. Lord, we ask that you fill us with this knowledge of yourself even more and more as we continue toward that final day when you will gain the victory over Satan and you will take up your rule on this planet. So Father, Take this time and use it in our lives this week. Strengthen us for the work ahead. And we praise you and thank you for what you're going to accomplish in the name above all names, Jesus Christ.