Final Instructions to the Beloved in Rome

Introduction

I am blessed to be able to preach what is going to be the last sermon in our series on the book of Romans. What a journey the book of Romans is. I have been asked in the past if I could only have 5 books of the bible what books would those be and while some of the books on those list have changed over the years, the one that has regularly remained on my list is Paul’s letter to the Romans. In all of the bible the book of Romans stands as a distilled summary of Gospel truth like no other. Through our study through the book of Romans you have no doubt heard me refer to the book of Romans as the systematic theology of the New Testament. Indeed we learn of the doctrine of God, creation, sin, covenant, election, redemption, providence, and so many others. It the last sermon you no doubt spent time discuss the work of the Lord through the saints in the Roman congregation. As we move into our text today Paul begins to end right where he started his epistle - Romans 1:16–17 “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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””

The power of the gospel in the life of the believer in that which brought salvation and that which keeps.

So as we go to our text this morning I am reminded that final words are often those that can carry the most weight and the most urgent information. Paul’s conclusion here at the end his letter to the Romans is no different.

Main Points

v17-20 “Watch Out”

v21-23 “Band of Brothers”

v25-27 “The Strength of the Believer”

Text

Romans 16:17–27 “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. 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. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. 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 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

Exposition

1. Watch Out V17-20

As Paul begins to make his final remarks in Chapter 16 he begins to send his personal greetings to all the various believers he is blessed to know in Rome. These affectionate greetings are encouraging and remind us of what the spirit of a healthy relationship between believers may look like. He ends that series of greetings in Romans 16:16 like this :“Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.” He encourages them to greet each other with a holy kiss. This is an expression that he uses regularly in his other letters. It is also something that Peter encourages us to use as well. It is very likely that one of the signs of unity between the believers in the NT era was this holy kiss.

He moves from this greeting and expression of unity to an appeal. An appeal to be on the lookout for those who would bring division, obstacles, and deception. I think it is important to notice that what Paul makes here is an appeal. He doesn’t come to them with this in a spirit of command or harshness but with appeal, concern, and love. His approach here tells us that unlike some of the other congregations that he writes to the in the New Testament there was likely not anyone whom he knew about in the congregation who were actively causing division, and laying stumbling blocks before the brothers and sisters there. Nevertheless this doesn’t lower the urgency of this appeal.

When I think of Paul’s appeal here I can’t help but be reminded that this appeal is much like a caution sign or a warning sign. Often, in our modern world when we think of caution or warning signs we can see them has something other than loving. We see them as someone trying to cover their tail so they don’t get sued for someone using a product in a way that is unsafe or unintended. Or as completely unnecessary. In truth though, things that warn us against potential dangers, or pitfalls should be and if done rightly are a supreme act of love.

So, what loving warning does the apostle warn the church about? He warns us about those who cause divisions and obstacles contrary to the doctrine that they have been taught.

Before we get into the obvious implications of this warning, I want to explain what Paul isn’t saying here. He isn’t saying that there is never any time or place to be divisive or to put forward a stumbling block before others. As a matter of fact, I submit to you that if we are to remain committed to Christian unity there will be times that a division is necessary.

For those who have been at Redeemer for a while you may remember a few years ago when we studied the book Christianity and Liberalism by J Gresham Machen. For those of you who are not familiar with the book, Machen wrote that book in he early 20th century as a response and an indictment of what was a false version of so called Christianity he called liberalism. We don’t have time today to discuss the entirety of what that means. If you are interested in the concept and you weren’t with us when we went through that study I encourage you to pick up that book or come see me, Todd, or Andy after service.

Machen saw in his day that there was a drift in the church towards a rejection of the historic truths of the Christian faith like the virgin birth, the providence of God, and the acceptance of unbelieving scholarship that resulted in a system that looked nothing like biblical Christianity. Machen, out of necessity not out of a desire to be divisive had to stand up and call the church to return to biblical Christianity.

Likewise, the same word that is translated obstacle in v17 is also used in 1 Cor.1:23 to describe the gospel of Christ.

Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1:23 “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,”

We preach Christ Crucified a “stumbling block” an “obstacle” to Jews. In many ways there is an offence in the gospel that stands as an obstacle to those who are without Christ and to those who do not understand their need of a savior.

Lets look carefully at the text again at Romans 16:17–18 “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. 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.”

What is the source of division that we are to guard against?

Those that are “contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.”

Today’s society is full of division and obstacles that have no bearing on truth and are merely the basis of opinion and preference. Indeed the greatest unifying source in the universe the God of truth stands as an obstacle to a world that would rather believe what they want rather than be unified to the God of all truth.

It think that the concepts Paul brings us to back to here is one that I regularly like to bring up in my sermons. We are not to turn to the right nor to the left but we are to know what the will of the Lord is. We are not to major on minors nor are we are minor on majors. In seeking to be faithful to the truth we are to heed Paul’s appeal to be watchful against those who would divide and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine of the scripture.

The division that Paul warns against is not out of necessity in serving the truth but out of a sinful and ungodly desire. We are told to avoid those who seek to manufacture divisions and serve their own lusts rather than that of Christ.

He describes them in Romans 16:18 “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.”

He uses this same language in his letter to the Philippian church in Philippians 3:18–19 “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”

Brothers and sisters, if we are not careful to pay attention to the trustworthy Word of God and not understanding that the talk of those who are against Christ are slick in the tongue we could be in danger of being lead astray.

Paul’s loving concern for the Roman congregation is that they would be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

I love how Paul ends his appeal. Lest we be discouraged by the fact that the world is going to act like the world. Lest we be discouraged into thinking that satan is winning. He reminds us of the truth.

Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

This sounds familiar doesn’t it? This is what was said in Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

Jesus has crushed the head of the serpent. I love how Paul describes this picture of the gospel. Notice that Paul includes Christians in the crushing of satan. “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet.” He is emphasizing that we as believers are participants in the triumph of Christ over the world the flesh and the devil. That is not because we have done it on our own but because Jesus our savior has accomplished victory himself and all those who are found in him.

Are you in him today?

2. Band of Brothers V21-23

As he continues to bring this letter to a close he sends the personal greetings of those who were with him. I just want to mention a few things that I think are worth your consideration. First, Paul was surrounded by faithful workers and fellow laborers for the sake of the gospel. Each of these men had a function and a purpose in accomplishing the work of the gospel. The same is true of you, brothers and sisters. If you are a Christian, whether you are a construction worker, a doctor, a student, a waitress, or entrepreneur you have a contribution to the work of ministry.

In Paul’ band of brothers he mentions in this text you will find, fellow workers, a secretary, a director of public works, and a man who was a host to Paul and the church that was in Corinth. Not each of them was called to be a missionary like Paul but they were all called to the ministry even if that was not their trade or primary vocation.

So I leave you with this: What ministry capacity has the Lord called you to serve in during this season of you life?

3. The Strength of the Believer V25-27

Paul ends this amazing epistle to the book of Romans with a doxology.

a doxology is an outpouring of praise unto God.

It is befitting of the apostle to end this amazing letter that is so full of distilled gospel truth in this way. We will end this sermon today considering these things today.

It is to him who is able to strengthen us according to the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, do you feel week this morning? If so, look to Him the one who conquered all who is able to strengthen you according to the good news that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. You are not able, but he is able to deliver you from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

This good news - the power of God for salvation for those who believe was not an afterthought of God but was his plan from before the world existed. Though for some time the fullness of the gospel was mysterious and not yet fully revealed has now been shown to us through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

It has not only been disclosed to the Jews who were the recipients of prophetic writings of the old testament but also to all nations, tribes, and languages to bring about obedience and sanctified lives.

We are blessed now to understand that essentially the entirety of the old testament scriptures testify of Jesus. We were able to see that clearly last week while Pastor Don preached on Psalm 2. In fact Jesus said multiple times that the Old Testament testified of him.

Jesus said this of himself in Luke 24:44–46 “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,”

He said this John 5:44–47 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?””

Brothers and sisters, we are blessed to know that what was once a mystery has now been plainly revealed to us.

God accomplished all of this for His glory and our good in that order.

Paul’s doxology here at the end of Romans is a proclamation of the good news and the implications that the good news has for all who have trusted and believed in Jesus Christ. If you are in Christ this morning my prayer this week for you us that you would live your live as a living doxology to the Lord. To live as an out pouring of praise and adoration to the God who saves sinners completely and has crushed the devil on our feet. Oh I know you are tempted to be distracted and afraid by the things going on in the world, the battles of the flesh, and the devil but I pray you would stand in triumph knowing your savior is on the throne the conquering Lion of Judah.

If you don’t know Christ today I pray that the Lord would open your heart to repent and believe the good news. That you would come to know the strength that comes from knowing Christ. That you could come alongside and be a fellow laborer for the kingdom of the living and immutable God.