WEBVTT 00:00:13.120 --> 00:00:26.480 In chapter one of the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that he was not only praying for the church in Rome, but he also wanted to visit them in Romans 1.12 for mutual encouragement, that they'd be encouraged, they'd be mutually encouraged. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:26.880 Right? 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:29.200 This wasn't just a him to them kind of thing. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:33.039 Like there's there's this idea of them being mutually encouraged together. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:38.960 And again, we know that Paul has actually never visited this church that he's talking to. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:43.520 He's just heard from his and all the people he's gonna greet here in a minute in Romans 16. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:46.159 He's just heard about everything that's going on there, and he's excited. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:47.679 He just really wants to get there. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:01:02.719 And he says, listen, I I want to get there, I want to be there, I want to be mutually encouraged by uh by fellowship with you, but I am um, as he says later on in Romans chapter 1, I have a um an obligation to preach the gospel elsewhere, but I'm hoping to get there, right? 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:08.719 And that's what he's kind of pointing to uh throughout really the book of Romans, but there especially in chapter 1. 00:01:08.960 --> 00:02:00.560 Verses 1 through 6 of Romans chapter 16, verses 1 through 6 of uh I'm sorry, 1 through 16 of Romans uh 16, are all about Paul's relationships with individuals in and around the Roman church, including there in the beginning, Phoebe, uh who is kind of the person who is charged with bringing the letter to the just thinking about that too uh when I was reading through this like think you imagine that you have the manuscript for Romans for the book of Romans, and you're it's your job to take it to like I listen, I remember Chris and I were looking at pictures last night of of us whenever we first got uh we first got when uh Les, my youngest child, was born, and we were looking at pictures, and my in-laws took pictures of our car driving on uh Plano Parkway there in Plano, Texas. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:03.679 And you know, Dallas, the roads are just crazy. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:09.360 You know, it's like six lanes in the neighborhood, and uh that's not a joke, Bozeman. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:17.200 Okay, I don't need to be taking shots at county government. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:23.280 Okay, uh, so like that we were we were driving like in the middle of of the neighborhood in like three lanes. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:39.199 I drove in the middle lane, and you know, again, it's Texas, so it's 70 miles an hour through the neighborhoods, and uh like I was in the middle lane with our with our newborn child in the back, just terrified, holding on to like gripping the wheel, people flying by us probably. 00:02:39.359 --> 00:02:41.120 I'm in the middle lane in the neighborhood and driving. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:41.919 I'm just so scared. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:43.039 I'm just thinking about Phoebe. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:44.800 This isn't even in the message. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:53.359 Uh I was just thinking about Phoebe just now, thinking about her holding the letter to the Romans, like, oh my goodness, are y'all gonna let me leave here with this, Paul? 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:54.879 Seriously, is there another? 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:04.879 Anyway, all right, so first 16 verses of Romans chapter 16 are all about Paul talking about, hey, and he says over 26 different individuals. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:07.919 He says, give my greetings to this person, give my greetings to this person. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:15.520 And I I, you know, as I've thought about that, maybe in the same way I think about the genealogies in the in the Bible, I think, okay, that's just there, it's just there. 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:23.199 But you know this is so important because it helps us understand the whole posture, not only of Paul, but of God. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:26.159 None of this. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:30.719 The Bible is not about a simple theology lesson. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:37.199 The Bible is meant to explain and point to the fact that it's about a relationship. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:46.639 And here in the first 16 verses, Paul is saying, and this is stuff that makes the canon, that is, makes the Word of God, 2 Timothy 3.16, to all scripture is profitable. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:54.080 How is this profitable for us to hear everybody who Paul wants to say hello to and give a high five to, or in that time a heavenly kiss to? 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:55.680 How is this profitable? 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:56.960 Well, I'll tell you one way. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:05.680 It helps us remember that the church, uh, that God's plan is a plan of restoration of a relationship. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:07.840 And Paul's saying, this is all about a relationship. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.080 All theology, uh, all of this is meant to be done in relationship. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:21.520 It's not just about Steve and God, and that's it, and I'm just thinking about that, and then heaven becomes this idea of it's all I think about with heaven is what I'm gonna receive. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:25.920 It's it's it's God, yes, but it's all about me and living my best life then. 00:04:28.400 --> 00:04:34.880 Well, that's not what it's not, it's not this individualistic idea of eternity, that it's all about a relationship. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.640 And Paul's saying, hey, greet this person, greet this person, greet this person, greet this person, and if I miss anybody, give them a kiss too. 00:04:41.280 --> 00:04:44.240 This is what Romans 1, or 16, 1 through 16 is about. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:50.720 And it's really all throughout, it's in the margins throughout the book of Romans, and really all of his letters, and really the whole Bible. 00:04:52.640 --> 00:05:01.200 Again, it's not strange to Paul, it's the same posture, and all, or it's not uh strange for Paul to say this, it's in every single letter he writes. 00:05:01.520 --> 00:05:10.800 So then, remember in the Garden of Eden, back in you know, a long time ago, even longer than 44 weeks ago, remember in the Garden of Eden what was lost in the rebellion of man. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.960 What was lost in the rebellion of man? 00:05:13.200 --> 00:05:14.400 Relationships. 00:05:15.520 --> 00:05:21.520 When man sought himself by taking the fruit, it was exactly what he received. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:23.120 He got what he sought. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:25.120 He got himself. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:26.880 Right? 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:28.560 He wanted to be self-sovereign, right? 00:05:28.640 --> 00:05:30.960 He wanted to be able to be the decision of what's good and evil. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:35.760 He took it selfishly, he wanted to be like God, and what did he receive? 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:37.360 Himself. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:39.600 And what did it do? 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:45.200 It fractured, it broke community, it broke fellowship. 00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:53.920 Man severed perfect community with God and with the rest of creation. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:55.280 And remember what happens. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:00.240 How do we we it's very I'm not like I'm not this is not trying to give you some new insight. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.720 If you read the story, what does he do first? 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:03.360 What does man do? 00:06:03.440 --> 00:06:06.000 What does Adam do first whenever God says, hey? 00:06:06.640 --> 00:06:08.640 He says, Oh, it's hurt. 00:06:09.520 --> 00:06:09.920 Right? 00:06:10.080 --> 00:06:13.360 So his first act of seeking himself was to what? 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:14.880 Blame the other. 00:06:15.200 --> 00:06:15.840 Her fault. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:17.840 Her fault. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:18.800 Her fault. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:22.960 So relationship severed between him and Eve. 00:06:23.200 --> 00:06:26.480 That which was good became fractured and broken. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:27.680 Right? 00:06:28.320 --> 00:06:32.240 God said, and he created Eve, and it was good, right? 00:06:32.400 --> 00:06:33.360 Relationship. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:39.760 And he dwelled with man in the garden, he walked with him, and then man sinned, sought himself. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:41.280 That's what he got, himself. 00:06:41.760 --> 00:06:44.240 Fractured that, immediately blamed that. 00:06:44.320 --> 00:06:45.520 And then what did man do? 00:06:45.760 --> 00:06:48.240 Well, before that, he ran and hid and did what? 00:06:48.400 --> 00:06:52.400 Covered himself from other and from other, right? 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:56.720 Sought to uh separate himself from each other. 00:06:56.960 --> 00:06:57.920 That's so important. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:03.360 And I it's not just like a something for like a flannel board, like, oh, this is interesting, you need to know this. 00:07:03.440 --> 00:07:10.560 Uh because it it is, it is actually how things are gonna end, is gonna be the restoration of that, of what was lost. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.880 And it's what Paul is going to point to here in the book of Romans. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:20.960 The enemy seeks division and separation while God seeks fellowship and presence. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:25.520 Again, to be the God of peace means to be the God of wholeness, of fullness. 00:07:25.760 --> 00:07:30.560 God is the God of restoration of what man rejected in the garden, and that is community and fellowship. 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:34.080 Paul ends the letter to the Romans with the greetings to those whom he loves. 00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:42.880 He takes 16 verses to talk about his relationships, and then he warns the church of those who would divide and create obstacles in verse 17 on. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:47.040 We know that he's not speaking on behalf of some church growth movement. 00:07:47.280 --> 00:07:54.960 Paul is declaring the plan and purpose of God eternal, that we would walk in fellowship with one another and in fellowship with him. 00:07:55.520 --> 00:08:09.840 So this morning, with Paul's desire to be in their presence in mind, we're gonna focus on his warning, assurance, and full of I'm sorry, we're gonna focus on his warning and assurance of full restoration and praise of God in Christ Jesus. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.360 So, first 16 verses, obviously important. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:19.680 They illustrate, they show that Paul did life in relationship. 00:08:20.320 --> 00:08:24.800 We're gonna look and focus, our focal text will be verses 17 through 27. 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:26.640 17 through 27. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:28.480 So read this with me. 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:30.400 Reading from the English Standard Version. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:37.600 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. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:38.879 Avoid them. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:47.440 For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:57.440 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. 00:08:57.680 --> 00:09:01.279 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.160 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:06.560 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:11.680 So do Lucius and Jason and Suslipiter, my kinsman. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.680 It's going to be the name of our next job. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:17.759 Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. 00:09:17.920 --> 00:09:21.600 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:25.360 Erastus, the city treasurer, and brother Corderus, greet you. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:26.560 And now look at verse 25. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:27.600 Here's our doxology. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:28.560 This is the end. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:50.800 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. 00:09:51.920 --> 00:09:52.560 Amen. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.000 Let's pray as we look at those verses. 00:09:56.160 --> 00:09:58.720 Heavenly Father, thank you for this day that you've given us. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:02.240 Thank you for the day that you're holding together, you're sustaining by the word of your power. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:08.000 Father God, I pray as we look at these verses, we would be warned, we would be assured, and we would be led to praise. 00:10:08.160 --> 00:10:09.759 Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:11.040 It's in his name we pray. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:11.759 Amen. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:19.840 I'm gonna give you a purpose statement, and it's it's on your screen, but it's a uh uh it's different than the one that's in your bulletin. 00:10:19.920 --> 00:10:24.879 So if you're looking at the bulletin for the purpose statement, it has changed. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:31.840 Uh last night I had already printed the bulletins, and you know, instead of hitting reprint this morning, here we go. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:33.680 So here's the purpose statement. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:46.800 The pursuit of man leads to and ends with separation from each other in God, but praise God for his gospel in Jesus that leads to and ends with the full restoration of fellowship with him and all those who trust him. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:47.519 Right? 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:51.759 So that's what we're going to look at in this passage today. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:59.279 And again, I believe this is a faithful representation of what these verses are saying, really the whole chapter of Romans. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:00.879 So three three parts of that. 00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:02.480 The appeal, the assurance, and the amen. 00:11:02.560 --> 00:11:03.840 The appeal, the assurance, and the amen. 00:11:03.920 --> 00:11:06.320 So first the appeal, verses 17 through 19. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:07.920 It's on your screens again. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:09.440 It's in your Bible as well. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.399 If you have a Bible, Romans chapter 16, 17 through 19. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:20.080 So Paul begins his one last thing here uh in the book of Romans with an appeal. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:25.759 Again, so remember, he's first 16 verses of Romans 16, he says, Hey, greet these people, greet these people, greet these people. 00:11:25.920 --> 00:11:28.399 And then he says, Oh, one more thing. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:34.240 Kind of like you know how I do at the end, like, oh, and in conclusion, which means you got 20 minutes left. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:41.840 Uh and so uh one one last thing after he said tell everybody hello, he writes this in 17 through 19. 00:11:41.920 --> 00:11:48.480 I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles, contrary to the dark doctrine that you've been uh taught. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:55.759 For such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.879 All right, let's look at that, 17, 18. 00:11:59.040 --> 00:12:02.720 So Paul begins that with a warning to the church, this this part last part. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:11.200 So out of the past two chapters, 14 and 15, Paul has been encouraging the church not to be divided over non-essential things. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:15.120 Don't make those who've been welcomed by God feel unwelcome at his table. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:16.320 We talked about that for a while. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:22.960 Hey, listen, God has welcomed a group of people, so we don't sit around and try to unwelcome them. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:25.680 Oh, you don't do this, you don't do that. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:26.480 Oh boy. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:28.720 What do you mean you're not in a small group? 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:29.920 Are you kidding me? 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.600 And make people feel unwelcome. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.920 What do you mean you don't know the difference between a minor and a major prophet? 00:12:36.160 --> 00:12:37.840 Are you kidding me right now? 00:12:38.160 --> 00:12:43.600 What do you mean you had to look at the index to find out where that book was in the Bible? 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:44.639 Are you serious? 00:12:44.800 --> 00:12:46.800 You don't know what agape is? 00:12:47.680 --> 00:12:53.680 And whatever it is, when there's this kind of this posturing in the church and this rivalry, what do you mean you've never been on a foreign mission? 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:56.560 Whatever it may be, at this time it was food and drink. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:02.080 Whatever it may be that we would use to kind of separate, to make other people around the table feel unwelcome. 00:13:02.160 --> 00:13:09.440 And really what we're doing is we're gonna find out here, it has less to do with making other people feel unwelcome as it has to do with us feeling welcomed. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:11.200 Born out of insecurity. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:12.720 And so we posture. 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:24.960 And then here, so in this chapter, he takes a step further and says, watch out for those who cause division and create obstacles to the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:31.440 Watch out for those actively trying to create and divide, create a divide in the church. 00:13:31.680 --> 00:13:40.080 And Paul says that under this division is a desire, a selfish appetite that seeks to serve itself rather than seeking the service to the Lord. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:47.680 And this self-ambition is a barrier to the building up of the church because those who serve themselves seek to point to themselves. 00:13:47.920 --> 00:13:50.480 Those who serve themselves seek to point to themselves. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.759 Self-absorption is not a victimless sin. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:14:01.519 It destroys community and blocks the beauty of what Christ died for, and therefore veins, empties his personhood, his name. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:13.759 It turns the church into a platform and a place of our own recognition, an arena for our own name to be made known, and so it becomes a place of rivalry and competition and not of worship. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:15.360 Does that make sense? 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:16.720 Paul is clear here. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:18.080 He says this. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:19.840 Avoid them. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:43.440 Those who are here in the church, in the congregation, in the gathering of Christ, those who are here to use it as a platform to declare their own beauty and their worth, and there creates this uh division and obstacle for the gospel, and they they're unwelcoming people, whatever, and they're actively trying to do that to point to their own renown, and they're in their self-absorption, they're actually trying to serve themselves and not the Lord. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.639 Paul says this avoid them. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:49.040 That's clear. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:50.480 Avoid them. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:59.200 And he finishes with a plea to be wise to what is good and to be innocent to what is evil. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:03.360 That is, be experienced in goodness and be a stranger to what is wicked. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:11.759 Keep learning and growing in what it means to do good, what it means and looks like to obey the command of God to deny yourself and love in love for the other. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:19.040 Practice these things, make them your ambition, and conversely, reject anything that is against God in his gospel. 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:20.879 Reject, okay. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:22.720 Listen. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:28.720 We are to, Paul says, reject thoughts of resentment that cause division. 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:33.120 Reject disregard for the saints who think differently than you. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:41.200 Reject our cultural and selfish drive to associate only with, talk to, and be around those who are like you. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:46.639 Reject the self-serving posture of the consumer who is ready to complain. 00:15:47.920 --> 00:15:49.680 Those who cause division. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:56.240 Be innocent of gossip and slander that drives wedges between those whom God loves. 00:15:56.560 --> 00:15:59.519 Put off the envy that causes rivalry. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:05.120 Put off the ledgers that keep account of the good we do and the lack of service of another. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:13.759 Put off the evil, wicked, demonic thoughts that whisper that everyone else do fall everyone else falls short of your example. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:20.000 And like I know maybe some of you are like, oh, that's provocative. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.000 He said demonic. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.399 Okay, if it's not of God, who is it of? 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:32.480 The thought that we would walk around with a ledger and say, Why is everyone else falling short of the example I'm giving? 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.879 I serve, how come nobody else is serving? 00:16:35.040 --> 00:16:36.960 Look at everything I'm doing. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:39.440 Where would that thought come from? 00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:41.279 The father of lies. 00:16:42.160 --> 00:16:42.720 Right? 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.680 I think sometimes it's good for us to understand. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:47.360 We think there's like this neutral thing. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:52.960 There's there's there's the demonic thing, which means you know, Ouija boards and pitchforks and all that stuff. 00:16:53.040 --> 00:16:54.720 There's, you know, the red scary beast. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:56.000 We're not that. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.200 I mean, I wore a button-up Oxford today. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.279 I didn't put on my red outfit. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:02.720 So we're not that. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:08.720 And maybe, yes, okay, maybe these thoughts of resentment or things that say, why is everybody falling short of my example? 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.359 Maybe that's not of God, but it's like this middle thing. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.000 It's like, eh, you should work on that. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:24.160 These whispers, these thoughts, these lies that cause division, resentment in our own hearts are like us taking the fruit of our own self-sovereignty. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.079 And you know what we get in return? 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:27.519 We get our self. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.319 And we get the dust, and we get the death. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:36.079 The death of everything that God and Christ Jesus died for to restore. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:45.680 Be innocent of gossip and slander that drives wedges between those whom God loves again. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:51.759 Put off the clothing of this age and stoop to serve and wash the feet of those around you. 00:17:53.360 --> 00:17:54.480 Let me say this again, sorry. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:02.960 Put off the clothing of this age that stoops and serves to wash the feet of those around you as long as they are willing to do the same. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.880 The church that is gathered by the person of Jesus is meant to look like the person of Jesus. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:09.600 Does that make sense? 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:10.400 Do we understand that? 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.160 We say we're gathered by the work of Jesus. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:15.519 You meant you know that that also means we're meant to look like the person of Jesus. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.880 This is how the world will know we are his, John 13, 35. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.200 How will the world know that we are the followers of Jesus Christ? 00:18:21.360 --> 00:18:22.160 We love one another. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:22.480 Why? 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:26.000 Because Jesus loved other, he gave his life for other. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:27.759 That's the way we're meant to look. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.400 And to drive home the simple and beautiful exhortation to our body here, Redemption Church. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:38.000 May this be a place in which we deny the appetite and hunger for self and seek the good of one another. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:46.400 May we reject the whisper of the enemy to take the fruit of our self-absorption and follow Christ in picking up a cross of self-denial. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:50.240 That's the thing we're supposed to pick up, not the fruit of self-absorption. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.400 We're supposed to pick up a cross and deny ourselves daily. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:53.680 That's what Jesus said. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:01.360 And in doing so, by his grace, we will make this a place in which we serve each other as we point to another. 00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:09.600 A place in which we walk in purity and innocence to what is evil and are jealous to do what is good for the sake of him who is good. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:13.120 So first, Paul begins with a warning. 00:19:13.600 --> 00:19:15.120 Secondly, he moves to an assurance. 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:16.079 Listen to this assurance. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:16.880 It's so good. 00:19:17.600 --> 00:19:19.120 The entire Bible's good. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:23.839 Second point, the assurance. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:25.440 Verse 20. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:27.600 I'm going to read the whole verse. 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:28.799 It's on your screen. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:29.839 It's in your Bible. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:37.039 The God of peace, shalom, fullness, completion, will soon crush Satan under your feet. 00:19:37.360 --> 00:19:39.120 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:45.680 So Paul tells the church to be on the watch for those who seek to divide and separate them from God, verses 17 through 19. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:50.240 And then he writes that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under their feet. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:56.000 The God of fullness will silence once for all those who sought division and separation. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:57.120 Do you hear it? 00:19:57.600 --> 00:19:59.680 Peace being shalom, fullness, completion. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:09.039 So the God of shalom, of peace, will crush the one who seeks to uh to divide, to empty. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.160 Fullness will crush the one who empties. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.880 He will restore what uh we've rebelled against. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:24.720 And we're meant to uh understand that in the already. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:30.000 The figurehead of our self-pursuit will be crushed. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:39.039 We should walk in the confidence that this God, that our God, intended shalom and it will be achieved one day. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.799 The term, I'm gonna use a long term with a lot of syllables. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.200 Just giving you a heads up. 00:20:47.360 --> 00:20:51.039 In case you were wondering how many syllables I was gonna be using. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:52.319 I don't know. 00:20:53.360 --> 00:20:55.200 I don't know why you needed a heads up. 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:58.559 The term proto-evangelium, right? 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:03.920 I know it's in your normal language, is a Latin phrase meaning first gospel. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.799 So proto-evangelium, the first gospel. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:11.519 For Protestants, the proto-evangelium is found in one verse. 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:15.120 So if you, you know, you you know that we think of the four gospels, right? 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:15.920 The revelation. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:23.440 Well, there is a proto-evangelium, a first gospel, a first simple gospel, and it's all the way back in Genesis 3.15. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:28.960 So you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but you want to hear the proto-the first, you look at Genesis 3.15. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:30.079 Here's the gospel. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:32.880 God speaking to humanity. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:35.680 I will put enmity between you and the woman. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:40.000 He's talking to the serpent, and between your offspring and her offspring. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:51.600 He, we know who he is now, it's the capital H, he, it is Jesus Christ, he shall uh uh bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:22:00.880 So the serpent will bruise the heel of this offspring, that is Jesus Christ, and he being Jesus Christ will bruise, really crush the head of the serpent. 00:22:01.120 --> 00:22:09.440 This is what Paul is pointing to in chapter 16, verse 20 an assurance that he being Christ will one day crush the head of the serpent. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:10.559 It's the first gospel. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:12.240 And so Paul points to the church. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:14.720 Paul points the church to this first gospel. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.759 That is, that God would one day crush the head of the serpent. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:26.160 We already know from the resurrection of Jesus in the book of Romans that the venom of the serpent has lost its power, that death could not separate man from his God. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:28.799 And as we know, death cannot even separate you and I. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:32.640 That while death may sting, the stinger has no power to destroy. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:34.559 Do you understand that? 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:36.400 We talked about this before. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:38.400 Why do we all fear death? 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:39.839 Because it separates. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:44.720 That's the thing that we do when we chose the fruit. 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:46.319 We chose separation. 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:47.279 Death, what? 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:49.279 Death separates us. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:56.319 So then, what does uh what does what do we learn that Christ has done is he has defeated death. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:02.240 He has taken the venom out of the stinger, out of the snake's mouth. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:10.480 So you can still get bit by the snake and it stings, but you cannot be destroyed by the snake because it had the venom has been removed. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:11.680 Does that make sense? 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:15.680 So then the serpent has become venomless. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:19.839 The stinger has lost its sting, right? 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:24.640 It may seem strange to hear that the God of peace will crush the enemy. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:29.360 The peace of God is not found in overlooking evil, it is not found in coexisting with Satan. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:33.680 True peace can only be fully realized when the father of lies has been fully crushed. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:43.920 This is the confidence we're meant to walk in, an assurance of the God ordained complete restoration of all things, that is, of all relationships, man and man, and also man and God. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:50.880 And know this: as we walk in the valleys and pastures of this age, the grace that is the Lord Jesus Christ walks with us. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:53.600 Our good shepherd goes with us in all things. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:57.279 In times of great loss or great celebration, he is with us. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:01.279 We cannot be separated, Romans 8, by anything in all of creation. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.759 We are not simply loved from afar, we are loved in the near, while we do not yet see him. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:06.640 We can know him. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:09.440 So then we praise the Lord. 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:14.559 That's why the pastor, past passage. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:15.120 Woof. 00:24:15.360 --> 00:24:17.120 If it's not written down, I forget words. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:26.799 That's why the passage in Romans chapter 8, that there's nothing in this world that can separate us from the love of God is actually the great promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:30.000 It is the great reversal of what happened in the Garden of Eden. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.960 You will no longer, you cannot be separated from the love of God. 00:24:33.120 --> 00:24:35.680 And he says present tense, that means already. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:39.519 And now we know in the not yet it will be fully realized. 00:24:39.600 --> 00:24:40.960 Does that make sense? 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:46.400 Listen, do y'all listen, like this was big news to me this week. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:25:02.319 As I realized, as I was reminded, maybe, realized and reminded of the of the great promise of Scripture and of the God's gospel and the ark of redemption is a full restoration of all relationships with one another and with God. 00:25:03.120 --> 00:25:08.319 Okay, thirdly and finally, which you're thinking, okay, that means 20 minutes. 00:25:09.120 --> 00:25:10.799 Third, um, the Amen. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:15.360 Paul ends the letter with a doxology, and again, another word I know we all use all the time. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.000 Doxology, uh, meaning doxa means uh glory. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:25.600 Uh logos, which is where that word comes from, ology, uh, is word. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:27.920 So glory word, doxology. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:34.400 That's what that's you know, we sing it at the end of every service, the doxology, it's a word of glory, or you could say a pray, a word of praise. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:35.920 So that's what doxology is. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:40.880 That's how Paul ends his letters, that's what we see here in these final verses, 25 and 27. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:50.160 So before we look at the destination of the glory, who that word of glory is pointed to, let's take a moment to see clearly what God has provided in his gospel. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:57.759 Okay, remember the beginning of the letter again to uh to the Romans uh church, to the Roman church there in Romans 1, 16 and 17. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:02.400 This is the passage that I think Martin Luther was actually converted that woke his heart up. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.000 Romans 1, 16, 17. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:12.480 For I'm 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. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:19.039 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:19.360 Right? 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.920 So imputed righteousness unto those who have faith. 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:24.640 So it is the power of God for salvation. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:27.759 But look at Romans 16, verse 25. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:32.960 So Romans 1, this is important, just saw that, just saw this this week. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:40.319 Romans 1 16 says that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:48.079 Romans 16, 25, now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel. 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:56.240 So to make these verses feel more parallel, the power of God for salvation, but also the power of God to strengthen us. 00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:58.319 Strengthen can also mean establish. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:01.680 So here are these two verses that bookend Romans. 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:08.559 The power of God to save us, the gospel is the power of God to save us, the gospel is the power of God to establish us. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:10.880 That's awesome. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:12.960 Because we need both. 00:27:13.360 --> 00:27:16.400 We don't just need to be saved, we need to be established. 00:27:19.120 --> 00:27:21.600 Hear the similarities, but also see the change. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:24.400 Power of God for salvation here in 16. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:26.720 Gospel strengthens or gospel establishes. 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:28.640 That's what the NIV translates it as. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.559 The gospel is the power of God that establishes you and I. 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:33.600 This is important. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:37.839 It's a common misunderstanding in the church that the gospel is the entry point, right? 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.960 So you say Romans 1:16, we all know, we all quote it, right? 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:42.640 It's the power of God for our salvation. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:44.240 It's the entry point. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.360 And then we graduate into religious obligation. 00:27:49.600 --> 00:27:54.640 So you enter through the power of God for salvation, and then you go to religious obligation. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:28:02.559 Here we hear, no, no, no, no, it's not just the power of God for our salvation, it's also the power of God that will establish us in our faith. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:08.079 I was watching television. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:09.680 I'm not embarrassed. 00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:12.319 I actually I think it was a real. 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:14.319 Okay, now I'm embarrassed. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:25.039 But I I, you know, this is uh, okay, you know, I know not everybody watches these kinds of things, but uh uh the NFL draft just happened. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:31.200 If you don't know what that is, it's not where like people who don't want to do something are drafted into something. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:35.279 It's like where people who really want to do something are drafted into something. 00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:37.039 You don't know how the NFL draft works. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:37.839 Uh okay. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.360 So I was watching a video of like this kid, like, and they're all the same. 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:50.160 You can almost like you never get to hear what's on the other side of the phone call, but they show like a picture of the family, and they're all sitting around on couches with all their family sitting around, and they get the phone call and they act surprised. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:52.480 Like, oh, I wonder who could be calling me. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:55.039 It's on TV. 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:57.839 Okay, so they get the phone call and they know they know. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:02.160 So they get they pick up the call and like from from the from the person who's being trafted. 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:03.920 This is the way it usually sounds. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:04.640 What? 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:06.400 Oh my goodness, thank you so much. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:15.360 And then it's it's usually whether it's the general manager or the coach, uh, the the the the kid says something like, I'm not gonna let you down. 00:29:15.600 --> 00:29:16.960 Thank you for this opportunity. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:18.400 I'm showing up, yes, sir. 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:19.519 I'm gonna show up to work. 00:29:19.600 --> 00:29:21.039 I'm I'm going after. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:22.480 You've seen that video? 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:28.160 Yeah, I will, I will like I am going to prove basically that you are you're not making a mistake, right? 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:30.319 You've drafted me now, it's my job to prove. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:31.200