and Lastly,

Romans, Chapter sixteen, verses seventeen through twenty seven, which is

to say, the last section of the Letter of Romans.

Why don't you read along as I read aloud Romans

sixteen seventeen. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out

for those who cause division and create obstacles, contrary to

the doctrine that you've 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 the

Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Timothy, my fellow worker,

greets you, so do Lucius and Jason, and Susipator my

kinsman I Tertius, who wrote this letter, since Paul's secretary,

he probably.

Had better penmanship than Paul. 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 Kuwartas 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 now has 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, men ready to sing. Sorry,

just give me twenty five minutes. Got to start my

stopwatch because I don't know what time I'm supposed to end.

Is all upside down today. So we're finishing the letter.

We're finishing this letter. Paul has finished this letter. This

is the way he signs off. He sends it off

to the Roman Church. I can just imagine it's probably

read in one sitting, right, so if they've read it

to the entire church, and.

He can see, Okay, he's signing off. Now.

This is what he wants you to remember. It's kind

of like the last day of school, right. I was

talking to a teacher this week and she's like, on

the last day of school. They remember nothing, and that's

the one time I'm trying to tell them, Hey, if

you remember nothing else from my class, I want you

to remember these things.

Just take this with you.

I want you to be ready for the next class

or life or whatever. Take these with you, Just these

couple of things.

This is what you need.

Of course, they're listening to nothing because the summer is

on the other side of the door. And this kind

of has that feel Paul saying, Hey, these last couple

of things. What is it that, Paul, what is it

that God would have for us? As the closing thoughts

of the greatest letter ever written? What does he want

us to make sure we're ready for? I think the

answer is two perspectives. He wants us to walk away

if for with nothing else. These two perspectives, these his

closing thoughts. One of the perspectives is horizontal. It's about people,

it's important. And one of the perspectives is vertical, it's

about God, it's more important.

A horizontal perspective and a vertical perspective.

And then he signs off, well, what is the horizontal

perspective he wants us to have. Let's look at the pieces.

I think The first piece we have to notice is

the way he spent the first part of chapter sixteen.

You remember from last week this blood bought list of

people that he is so enthusiastic about. Right, just quick

run quick highlights right, Verses one and two, he's talking

about Phoebe, the servant of this church, who has who

has been a.

Patron of many. She's been a generous giver.

And then from there he goes on to Priscilla, and Priscilla,

Prisca and Aquila, fellow workers in Christ, they risk their

own necks, and verses five through twelve, He's got a

whole list of people who are beloved in the Lord,

and and and and known to the apostles, and and

and we're fellow workers and.

Fellow prisoners.

Even verses thirteen through fifteen, he goes on, there's there

are those who are sisters and brothers and saints. Someone

who even acted as Paul's own mother must be interesting

to mother and apostle.

But you know, I don't know how you.

He winds the whole thing up with greet one another

the holy kiss, right, greet one another with a holy kiss. Conclusion,

Church people are awesome?

Is that all? There is to say about church people. No,

that's just one piece.

Then we got this other piece, and this other piece

is not This other piece is not exclusive to this

one paragraph in the New Testament. All you have to

do is flip through the pages of the New Testament

and you will see a very mixed picture of what

it's like amongst church people. Sometimes I just read First

Corinthians for encouragement because they're a mess.

It's important.

It is important to realize that all church people are awesome.

Just isn't the perspective of the Bible. That's important for

your soul. That's important. If you're here this morning, you're

not a Christian. You need to know what the Bible

has to say about church people is that it is

a very mixed bag. I'm sure you've heard stories. Some

of them are true, I'm sure some of them are false.

Look at First seventeen. I appeal to you, brothers, to

watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles,

contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught, avoid them.

If you think church people are all awesome, you're gonna

get wrecked.

It's just not true. There are good guys, and there

are bad guys. And I know that many of you

know this because after.

The first service, when I was out there in the lobby,

those are conversations.

They came right to me. They're bad guys.

Now, to say there are only good guys and bad

guys is reductionistic. There's also a lot of just a

lot of us that are just stumbling along, just stepping

on people's toes sometimes and making our best decisions as

we can go.

Like you know, there's a lot of that too.

It's not just there are good guys kissable right with

the Holy kiss guys and bad guys. That would be reductionistic.

But to say there aren't good guys and bad guys

would be naive. And so Paul gives us the whole

paragraph here of navigating principles. Navigating principles in this muddy,

messy mix.

Here are five navigating principles from this paragraph.

When it comes to church people, watch what they cause.

Watch what they cause is watch out for those who

cause divisions and create obstacles, cause divisions.

This is what the enemy.

Loves to do, is to create divisions between brothers, divisions

between sisters, to create factions in and amongst the body

and family of Christ.

Not hard to do.

You actually have to be quite committed to the gospel

of Jesus Christ and the grace that our Lord has

shown us and showing that to others to keep from

creating divisions. All it takes is for someone to step

on your toes and then instead of living up to

the commitment of going to that person to resolve that,

instead of doing what we're commanded to in Matthew eighteen,

of going to your brother, of seeking a relationship of

repentance and forgiveness with that person, instead not trusting the

grace of God can cover such things. Did you just

go and you just plant seeds of dissension and division

with other people and tell them all about the nasty

things Brothers, so and so, I'm sure he meant to

watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles.

Call contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught by

doctrine that you've been taught, he means with the churches

have been taught by Him by the other Apostles, which

has now been captured for us in the New Testament.

Contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught doesn't

mean just like whatever you happen to have been taught right.

And there are different ways that obstacles are created that

are that is contrary to sound doctrine from scripture, usually

one of two ditches, one of two ways.

Either.

There are those who would create obstacles by teaching Christians

to live below the line of scripture or above the

line of scripture. Let me explain what I mean by that.

Is when the Bible teaches that this is what holiness is,

this is what it means to honor God with your life.

This is that's what it means to walk in obedience.

There are those who would teach the people of God

you don't actually have to obey.

You can live below the line of scripture.

God calls you to sexual purity, but you know what,

who does that anymore? And there are those who would

create obstacles of all sorts, saying that you don't have

to be obedient to the Lord to honor him, where

the scripture tells us completely opposite. If you want to

find people who will teach you to go ahead and

live below the line of scripture, spend five minutes on

the internet.

That's all it's going to take.

But then there are those who would say that in

order to live a life that honors God, you have

to live above the line of scripture. So whatever God

teaches us about what is right and pure just, you

need to make some extra rules about that. And if

you live by those rules, those pieces of it, these

pieces of wisdom, then and only then are you then

walking according to God's ways, locking people up and binding

consciences in legalism that isn't present in scripture, creating obstacles

contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught. Jesus speaks

about this in Mark. He says to the Pharisees, you

have a fine way. You have a fine way of

teaching as the commandments of God the traditions of men,

and thereby nullifying the commands of God. You see, whether

someone is teaching you to live below the line of

scripture or teaching you that you must live above the

line of scripture. Either way, what they're teaching you is

that the line of scripture is what doesn't matter.

It gets erased, it gets nullified. Watch out for what

they cause.

Navigating principle number two, consider who they serve, Consider who

they serve. Verse eighteen starts this way, for such persons

do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.

They don't serve the Lord Christ. I've known and known

of plenty of church people, church leaders who are so

excited to talk about the grace of God, all the

free forgiving grace of God, which is beautiful and it is,

it's so beautiful. But they speak of it in such

a way not because they want to glorify our Lord

Jesus Christ for his abundant mercy, but because they want

to use it as theological cover to continue on in sin.

They want to use the grace of God, they want

to trample the blood of Christ so that they can

serve their own appetites in continuing in sin.

Watch out, and I know you know.

Of prosperity preachers who would preach about the importance of

generous giving. They be right, generous giving is important, But

they're not preaching so that they can inform the flock

of what it means that where your treasure is, your

heart will be also and live with an eternal perspective,

and let's band together financially so that we can advance

kingdom work. They're doing it because not to serve the

Lord Jesus Christ, but to enrich themselves and of their

own appetites. Watch out consider who they serve. Navigating principal

number three, ignore mere talk, Ignore mere talk. Verse eighteen

goes on and saying, and by smooth talk and flattery

they deceive the hearts of the naive. Smooth talk and flattery. Man,

if you want to meet nice people, go to church.

You will meet some of the nicest people. There are

others too, but man, you're gonna meet some people who

say the nicest things, so encouraging, so complimentary. Everything they

have to say they say with a smile.

Such a nice guy. They'd never say anything that was

in any way.

Uncomfortable or hard or confrontational.

It may be flatterers.

I learned a phrase when I was doing some ministry

and a really rough part of downtown Dallas. It's with

some other folks, and they were talking about somebody who

just always seems to say the right thing.

And never follow through.

And they said this, Yeah, funky pair of lips can

say anything. I would saying that for fifteen years now.

Funky pair of lips can say anything. You know, Smooth

talk doesn't always equal kindness. Sometimes kindness involves some harder talk,

which isn't mean, which doesn't mean that we shouldn't that

shouldn't be encouraging and complementary towards one another week. We

don't need to overcorrect. Encouragement is a real thing. Being

complementary is a real thing. Paul just spent sixteen verses

talking about all the kissable people. But in other words,

don't be naive ignore mere talk instead. Fourth navigating principle,

invest in understanding.

Invest in understanding.

Verse nineteen says, for your obedience is known to all,

so that I rejoice over you. But I want you

to be wise to what is good and innocent as

to what is evil. Invest in understanding. Be the kind

of person who understands that time and truth go hand

in hand, and people will show themselves eventually. Watch know

how to tell the difference between what the Bible teaches

and what other people might suggest as helpful traditions or

helpful words of wisdom or advice. And by the way,

there's nothing wrong with helpful words of wisdom and advice,

nothing wrong with those at all. I'm looking for advice

all the time, but when it's taught as the commands

of God. When what God commands and what other people

advise somehow just gets mixed up together and not distinguish

between the two. Invest In understanding and discerning the difference

between those two things. Last navigating principle number five importantly,

trust God for victory. Trust God for victory. Verse twenty says,

the God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you.

Here's the thing. Among the people of God, there have

always been those whom Satan will cleverly use to undercut

God's design. It has always been like this, all the

way back to Eve. Satan has used people to get

his work done. But God, even then, straight to Eve

and Adam, he promised that he will see Satan crushed

underneath the heel of the offspring of Eve.

Satan will be defeated. This we know. We will see

the enemy run.

And the way the enemy uses people for destruction.

God will overturn.

He always has been, and he always will, and one

day he will be done. But even amongst the people

of God, when Moses led them in the wilderness, Satan

used Cora to come up and bring a rebellion against

God's appointed leader. And God took that intention and over

turned it and made known whose.

Are his.

Even with Jeremiah, as false prophets came and they all

aligned themselves against Jeremiah to see the word of God

that God had given to Jeremiah, to see that blotted

out and forgotten. God will overturn those people who are

being used by Satan to bring destruction to his people.

Like God's in charge. The Cross is the proof Satan

made the best use he could make, even amongst the

twelfth Disciples. And after the betrayal, and some of you

have experienced betrayal and after the suffering, what were the

results resurrection?

And for you grace.

That's not just a hypothetical example. Your life in Christ

is you living in an element of victory of God

over those whom Satan use to bring destruction to the

people of God, and God overturned it.

That you even love Jesus.

Is evidence that God overturns those who have brought destruction

to the people of God. That you live in the

grace of Christ is proof positive that you do not

need to be afraid of harmful people amongst the churches.

God's an charge he will see Satan crushed beneath your feet.

They're gonna be all kinds of wrongdoers. They're gonna be

all kinds of harmful people in churches. They're gonna be

all kinds of very not awesome church people.

You don't have to be afraid.

Navigate with wisdom, But part of that wisdom is knowing

that God will bring victory.

Don't be naive.

And have your expectations just completely obliterated.

But don't be afraid.

And not be willing to greet anyone with a holy

kiss because you can't tell the sheep from the wolves.

Because God will bring victory in fact, in fact, Now

that Paul has said his piece about the not awesome

people in church, he flips it again and he gets

to the next paragraph, verses twenty one through twenty three.

He says, I got Timothy, my fellow worker.

He's saying hi.

There's Lucius and Jason and Sussipator. They're all saying hi. Tertius,

my secretary. He's putting something in here for you guys.

Gaius Is he's my host. He's saying hi. The whole church,

Erastus Cortus, they all greet you. So Paul has just

gone from hey, hey, say hi to everybody there in Rome.

Oh and by the way, everybody here in Corinth where

we're writing this letter. The whole team is saying hi

to you guys. And of course in the middle he's

talking about the very not awesome people.

What are we supposed to make of this sandwich? All right?

You see the sandwich.

Awesome people on Team Rom, awesome people on Team Corps,

lots of not awesome people, watch out for them.

What are we supposed to make of that?

What is the horizontal perspective he means to leave us with.

I think it's this. It's not that all church people

are awesome. It's not that all.

Church people are snakes.

I think it is see that what we can expect,

if we're wise and not naive, is that we're gonna

have a muddy, messy mix of people in the churches

of God. That's the perspective we need to have, not

afraid God will bring victory, but not naive, not simplistic.

And I think if we move forward from the end

of this letter as people who have a real New

Testament perspective on this horizontal life with people if we

understand that it's going to be a mix, we can trust.

God for victory.

We can greet one another with a holy kiss, but

we can also watch out.

We'll be ready, We'll be ready.

But that's not where he leaves us. He gives us

the horizontal perspective. It's important, but then he moves on

from there to give us the vertical perspective, which is

way more important and much purer. Here's his transition now,

in other words, now I'm really wrapping up.

This is my final final thing. I have to say.

I'm moving from the horizontal to the vertical. And here

are the pieces. And he puts it all in one sentence,

this very complex, rather meaty sentence. He lays out for

us his verses twenty five, twenty six, and twenty seven.

Let's see how it starts and ends. How does this

sentence end. It's all one thing. It starts with this

now to him, now to him? So this is going

to be about God? And how does it end to

the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ.

Amen exclamation point in there. So here's the takeoff. What

do you call that? The planes go on the runway,

here's the runway taken off to him, landing in glory

and all praise to Him through Jesus Christ forevermore.

Amen.

So we know this plane is taken off and landing

with praise and glory, and I hope you're ready to praise,

because that's where we're going. But he tells us this

very particular reason that God is praiseworthy. He says, now

to him who is able, Now to him who is

able to strengthen you, strengthen you for what. Well, look

how he lands, starts the l ending on this plane.

Strengthen you hop forward to bring about the obedience of faith.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you to

bring about the obedience of faith. In other words, a

key reason that God is praiseworthy, a key reason why

God is worthy of all glory, is because He is

able to strengthen you for the obedience of faith. So,

when you wonder, can God really take my unfeeling heart,

this heart that seems so unmotivated and so unaffected by

the things of God? Can I really take this heart

to Jesus Christ and see that He is able to

strengthen me for the obedience of faith?

The answer is yes, he is able. Take it to Christ.

When you wonder, can can God really take just this externalized, wrote,

unfeeling obedience that I have. I'm just doing the right

thing because it's the right thing. I'm just going through

the motions, and it needs to be so much more,

it needs to be so much.

Realer than it is.

Can I really take that to Jesus Christ and find

that He is able to strengthen me not just for

mere obedience, not just for wrote obedience, but for the

obedience that comes from faith.

Is he able? He is able? And he is worthy

of your praise for it. And when you wonder, is

He able to do that in people who don't want

much or anything to do with him? And maybe that's you,

or maybe that's somebody you love. But let me just

tell you, based on my own experience and the authority

of God's word, he is able.

You got a mustard seed of faith, Bring your mustard

seed to Christ.

He is able to strengthen you for the obedience of faith.

And here's why. Here is why, and in what manner

Because of Jesus Christ, God God strengthens you and you

and you and you and.

Him and her in and through and because of Jesus Christ.

This has always been God's plan. Paul says, this is

according to the command of the eternal God.

This plan is.

Unfolding through Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the

myschie that was kept secret for long ages, but now

has been disclosed, and through the prophetic writings has been

known to all the nations, all the nations as in

the end of the earth, San Antonio. And what you

have received is Jesus Christ himself, Paul is saying throughout

all of his letter to the Romans. The strengthening of

God is because you've been given Jesus. The obedience of

faith is because you've been given Christ. The freedom we enjoy,

the justification we've received, the unity we have, it is

because we have received Jesus.

It is according to.

My Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

What does it mean the preaching of Jesus Christ.

But this preaching of Jesus Christ, you need to understand.

This isn't just mere words about Jesus so that you

can know about him. The proclamation about Christ is so

that you would go to Christ. You don't tell blind

men about one who can heal blindness, just so that

they can know that there's such a one who heals blindness.

We are not told, as poor beggars that there is

one who feeds and clothes and houses poor beggars, just

so that we can know there is such a one.

You and I have been told there.

Is such a one who takes on your sin and

forgives mercifully, and meets you in your weakness and your weariness,

in your stumbling, who welcomes you anyway and stands you

up and calls you daughter.

And calls you son. We have not heard of him,

just to know about him. The preaching of Jesus Christ

is that you would go to Jesus Christ, maybe for

the first time, and from then on, time after time

he is worthy of praise.

That's the perspective that Paul wants to draw our attention

to the vertical perspective, the most important perspective, that God

is worthy of our praise because.

He has given us Jesus Christ. Even here, even you.

The horizontal perspective, people are going to be a messy

mix the vertical perspective. God is worthy of all glory

and all praise through Jesus Christ Amen. And with that

he signs off in his letter, and he says, now

be ready, be ready to walk in wisdom and to

lift your praises