As the Lord willing, our Bible
studies will be in the book of Ruth, starting either next week
or the week following, depending on what Lindsay does. I think
he's going to bring a summary of the book of Romans next week,
and then the week following we'll start in Ruth. Those lessons
will be up here each week on the front pew. Today I want us
to wrap up this 16th chapter, beginning at verse 17. And the
Apostle Paul, as he concludes this epistle, begins this concluding
paragraph with a very serious admonition that is given throughout
Scripture, particularly in the New Testament, dealing with false
prophets and false religion. Now Paul is giving this tender,
loving admonition, is closing out the epistle, he's exhorting
the saints to unity, he's saluting those who have been special to
him in so many ways, who've done who's done special things, he's
commending them. And one of the highest ways by which he shows
his tenderness, his affection, his love for these people is
by warning them and warning them plainly with regard to false
teachers. Look at verse 17. Now I beseech
you, brethren. He speaks to them with tender
words. He says, I plead with you. I earnestly, earnestly plead
with you, my brethren. mark them, mark them. The word
comes from the word we would get from a watchman, a watchman
sitting on a city, a wall in ancient times would see a stranger
coming and he'd mark it, he'd watch it, and he'd give word,
you watch him, watch him, I don't know what he's up to. This is
the word here, he says mark them which calls divisions. The words
Causing division here is talking about defiling, dividing the
body of Christ. As a matter of fact, if you'll
turn over just a couple of pages to 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians
3, verse 16, Paul says, Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man
defile, the word defile means to defile and destroy. Defile
by dividing, by destroying the temple of God. Him shall God
destroy. Very same word. For the temple
of God is holy, which temple you are. Back here in verse 17
of Romans 16, Paul says, Mark them which calls division. And
the divisions he's talking about are those divisions called by
men who seek to lead away disciples after themselves. You find people
in a congregation or you find sometimes preachers in a group
of preachers who just kind of manipulate. and they cunningly,
craftily spot out people and they pull away disciples after
themselves. They start to be carping and
critical of men and gradually, little by little, pull away folks,
follow me, follow me. And the problem is those who
are causing these divisions are folks who are not united in the
gospel. And the cause of division is
their heresy, the error by which the souls of men are damned to
follow them. All right, read on. They cause
divisions and offenses, this is the key, contrary to the doctrine
which you have learned and avoid them. Now these words of admonition
are given constantly in the scriptures. Let me show you what he's talking
about when he says those who cause division contrary to the doctrine
that you've learned, the doctrine of the gospel. Let's look at
a few texts. Acts chapter 15. Acts the 15th
chapter. In this chapter, you have the
first Bible conference in the New Testament church. There was
a problem that had arisen among the Gentiles. Those apostles
to the Gentiles and the Jews were trying to persuade them
that you need to teach these Gentiles who profess faith now
to live according to the law, to be circumcised and keep the
traditions and ceremonies of the law. And so they had this
conference at Jerusalem, not to decide the issue, but to declare
it. In chapter 15, verse 1, And certain men which came down
from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you can't be saved. Verse five, there
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed.
That is, these fellows were still self-righteous Pharisees, but
they professed faith in Christ. They said that it was meaningful
to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
Verse 24. For as much as you have heard
that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words,
subverting your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep
the law, to whom we gave no such commandment. Now this is the
problem. These fellows come and they claim
to believe the doctrine of the gospel. They claim to believe
salvation by grace. But they come along and they
start adding things to the grace of God. adding things to Christ
crucified, adding things to the simplicity of the faith, and
when they do, they subvert your soul. By adding something to
grace, you destroy grace. When you add something to Christ,
you nullify Christ. When you put a plus to the work
of Christ, you make the work of Christ null and void. Look
over in the book of 1 Timothy, if you will. Let me find the
reference here in Romans 16. But the Apostle gives this warning
concerning these false teachers, and he gives it over and over
again. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 3, Paul speaks here and says, If
any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which
is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but
doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy,
strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men, of
corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness. From such, he says, withdraw
yourself." Now here, back in our text, in Romans 16 verse
17, Paul says, you mark these fellows who cause divisions,
contrary to the doctrine you've learned, and avoid them. Avoid
them. You separate yourselves from
the ministries. You have nothing to do with the
ministries. You don't bid them come into your house, and you
don't bid them Godspeed. Turn over to 1 John. Let me show
you a couple of passages in this regard, this matter of avoiding
them. In 1 John, or 2 John rather,
verse 10. In verse Nine the Apostle says
who so transgresses transgresses and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath not God He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ
the doctrine of Christ being the gospel the doctrine Concerning
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ his accomplishments
is our Redeemer He hath both the father and the son and look
at verse 10 If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine
Doesn't matter who he is, doesn't matter what he preaches, doesn't
matter what denomination he comes from, doesn't matter what credentials
he has, doesn't matter who follows him. If he doesn't bring this
doctrine, receive him not into your house. Neither bid him God
speak. Don't say to him, well, I'll
pray the Lord to bless you. Don't do that. I've had fellows say
to me, well, I'll pray for you, you pray for me. I said, no,
I'm not going to pray for you. I'm not going to pray for you. I
will not pray for God's blessings on you. I pray God will conduct
you. But I'm not going to ask God's
blessings on you. Read on. For he that dideth him God speaketh.
The man who says, Lord bless you, Lord be with you. The man
who says, well, we don't exactly believe the same thing, but I'm
going to help support your ministry because I believe you're a nice
fellow. He is partaker of his evil deeds. And this is what
that means, buddy. If I preach a false gospel, And you sit here
and support it. You're as guilty as I am. That's
exactly what it means. You sit and support a man who
preaches a false gospel, support a ministry where the gospel of
God's grace is not preached. You're as guilty of damning the
souls of men as the man who preaches it. Turn over to 1 John chapter
4. 1 John chapter 4. Now what Paul is telling us is
that we're democracy. Preachers mock them, identify
them, but you yourself Mark those who cause divisions contrary
to the doctrine of Christ. You are responsible for your
own soul. You are responsible to search
the scriptures and to try the spirits. You're responsible,
as you listen to this preacher, to listen with a discerning ear
to see if that which I speak is according to the word of God
and the gospel of God's grace. If so, hear it, submit to it,
bow to it. If not, don't hear this preacher. Look here in 1 John chapter 4.
Beloved, believe not every spirit. Just because a man comes and
says I'm a preacher, just because he's got preaching credentials.
Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits. Now he's not
talking about trying spirits, which you can't see. He's talking
about testing the spirit of a man. Test the spirit of this man who
preaches to you, whether they are of God. Because many false
prophets are going out into the world. Now, if you're not aware
of that, you ought to be. If you're not aware of that,
it's because you've shut your eyes and stopped your ears to
the Word of God. Many false prophets are going
out into the world. Hereby know you the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Now, what does
that mean? Well, certainly then that means
that the Pathists and the Mormons and the Baptists and Presbyterians,
the liberals, the modernists, the conservatives, the fundamentalists,
they're all of God because they all say Jesus Christ came to
flesh. Who do you know who denies that Christ lived in this flesh? Who do you know? Nobody. Nobody would deny that fact of
history. No, that's not what it says. That's not what that
means. When a man confesses that Jesus Christ has come into flesh,
this is what he confesses. He's confessing that Jesus Christ
is God Almighty, that he came into this world in human flesh
on an errand of mercy and accomplished the work which he came here to
perform. Now that's what it is to confess that Christ has come
into flesh. And the apostle speaks again. He says, verse 3, and
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come
into flesh, Everyone who denies the accomplishments of Jesus
Christ, the incarnate God, is not of God. And this is the spirit
of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and
even now already is in the world. Okay, turn back to Romans chapter
16, look at verse 18. Paul says, you mock these fellows
and you avoid them. For they that are such serve
not the Lord Jesus Christ. False prophets are self-serving
men. They serve their own interests,
and their preaching, their doctrine, their teaching is according to
their own carnal lust. Look at it. They don't serve
the Lord Jesus, but their own devil. Reasonably, the apostle
speaks of them as dogs. Reasonably, in the Old Testament,
false prophets are spoken of as dogs because they Everything
about them is manipulated and controlled by their passion,
by their belly, by their appetite. And what Paul is saying here
is that those men who come and preach up works, who preach up
free will, who preach up that which causes men to speak well
and think well of them, Then they're declaring to you that
which is according to their own natural flesh, their own carnal
desires, that which pleases the flesh. He says they serve their
own belly and by good words, good words. I mean, these fellows,
they don't stand up with a red suit on, with a long tail and
horns and a pitchfork and say, I'm the devil's servant. No,
no. They come with good words. They use the same words you find
right here. Same words. They talk about substitution. They talk about redemption. They
talk about grace. They talk about the new birth.
They talk about all those things, but they put different meanings
to them. Now let me see if I can illustrate
that for you. Back in the late 30s, 40s, early 50s, the fundamentalist,
modernist, or liberal controversy arose in this country and around
the Western world. And there was controversy. Men
were taking the words like resurrection, the words like incarnation, and
they used the words of scripture and the words identifying the
doctrine of scripture, but they just gutted the meaning that
was commonly used. And they made them to mean something
different. So when they'd stand up, a liberal would stand up
and talk about the resurrection, he was talking about just lifting
above your normal way of life to a higher plane of life. He's
not talking about something supernatural. When he talks about the incarnation,
he's talking about just the idea of God coming in the form of
a man. When he talks about the new birth,
he's just talking about a change of attitude. And that's the way
exactly that men do today with regard to Arminian free will
works religion. They use words like the new birth,
you must be born again. But they talk about the new birth
as something you do. Now nobody on this earth in his right mind
would imagine talking about a man being born again by something
he does. The new birth implies something done to you. They talk
about being raised from the dead spiritually. But when they talk
about death, they're talking about really this death is just
sort of a state of sleepiness and you need to sort of rouse
yourself out of it. That's not it. It's death. When
they talk about redemption, they talk about a plan, they talk
about a provision, they talk about an opportunity. Redemption
is not a plan, it's not a provision, it's not an opportunity, it's
an accomplishment. The Lord Jesus Christ actually did something.
Now read on. He says, They serve not our Lord
Jesus, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches. They come along and they talk
so sweet and so kind and use fair speeches talking to people.
And with their simple words, they lead aside and deceive the
hearts of the simple. That is, they turn men and women
away from the simplicity of the gospel, and people who do not
examine them and examine the scriptures and test what they
say by the scriptures, they are just led away. Led away. Led away as simple, simple people
are led to the slaughter like sheep being led away to the slaughter.
I'll write in a little verse 19. The apostle now gives this
tender word of commendation. He says, your obedience is come
abroad to all men. He said, everybody everywhere
talks about this church at Rome. Everybody everywhere talks about
the grace of God and your obedience to the faith. I'm glad therefore
on your behalf But yet I would have you wise unto that which
is good, and simple concerning evil." He's talking now still
about these false prophets. He said, I want you to be wise
in the things of God, and I want you to be simple concerning evil,
and this is the simplicity of it. A man comes and preaches
something besides free grace? No, I'm not interested. I'm not
interested in talking to you. I'm not interested in hearing
you. I'm not interested in debating with you. This is a matter about
which I'm absolutely confident and I'm not even going to give
consideration to something else. People come to your house, Russellites,
Jehovah's Witnesses, others are deceivers, they'll knock on the
door and you'll start to talk to them and first thing they'll
do, well, you would be willing to consider something else if
I showed it to you from the scriptures, wouldn't you? No, I'm not willing
to consider anything else. You mean you're closed-minded?
Yes, sir, I'm closed-minded. You mean you're not even considering
the possibility you might be wrong? Oh, I might be, but this
book's not. And I know exactly what this
book teaches concerning God's grace. About these things, let
men speak of it as being, well, you folks are just too simple,
you're too dogmatic. Whatever that is, be wise concerning
good, simple concerning the evil. All right, look at verse 20. Paul gives this promise of victory. And remember the context. Particularly,
he's talking about false religion and false prophets. It seems
that we're always in the minority. It seems that we're always on
the outside. And Paul says, and the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly. No question about it. He's going
to do it. You will triumph after all. As
Janies and Jamborees withstood Moses but could go no further,
these false prophets and the false religion can go no further
than they're costing and they're denying. It's not going to affect
a thing. The God of peace, he who is the
author of peace and the giver of peace, who will ultimately
bring you to the full enjoyment of peace, shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. That grace which is found in
Christ, only in Christ, be with you and with you forever. Amen. The apostle makes this benediction
over and over again in this last couple of chapters. Down in chapter
15, verse 33, he says, Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. In chapter 16, verse 24,
he says again, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And then in verses 21, 22, and
23, these various men are simply giving their hellos. Paul says,
Timotheus, or Timothy, my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Scipiter,
my kinsmen, salute you. I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle,
salute you in the Lord. Now, when you read that word
in verse 21, or verse 22, rather, I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle.
That's not implying that Paul didn't write it, as he said in
chapter 1. But as Paul gave out the word, this man, Tertius,
seems to be the one who transcribed that which Paul dictated to him.
Rather than Paul writing it with his own hand, sometimes he wrote
with his own hand, but usually he dictated his epistles to someone
else, in this case, this man, Tertius. Gaius, mine host, and of the
whole church, saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the
city, saluteth you. And Quartus, our brother. And
then in verse 24 he gives this benediction again. The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. What a benediction. He speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when Paul wants to give the
most exalted glowing turn with regard to the Lord Jesus. This
is how he speaks of it. He speaks of him as our, with
his personal possessive pronoun, our Lord, the Master, the King
of Glory, Jesus, our Savior, the Christ of God be with you
and be with you all. Amen. Now in verse 25, here to
the end of the chapter, Paul gives an inscription of praise
to God. Now to him, to him that is of power, omnipotent, irresistible
power to establish you, to establish you in the midst of these false
prophets and false teachers, in the midst of this false religion,
in the midst of all this flood of opinions contrary to the gospel
of God, God is able to establish you. You know, according to my
gospel, able to establish you in the faith according to this
gospel. And Paul calls it my gospel.
How come? Because it was his by experience,
his by commission, and his by proclamation. This is what I
preach to you. And he says God is of power to
establish you according to this gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ. Now that ought to tell you something.
That's what the gospel is. It is the preaching of Jesus
Christ, and this is the means by which God establishes his
saints in the faith. Read on. "...which was kept secret
since the world began." That is, this message of the gospel
was revealed only in types and shadows in the Old Testament,
and now this message has been made manifest by the appearing
of God our Savior, verse 26, but is now made manifest and
by the scriptures of the prophets, that is, the prophecies given
in the Old Testament scriptures, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God." What exalted words he uses when he
speaks of God. He says, this gospel that I preach
to you is that means by which God, with his omnipotent, irresistible
power, establishes you. And this gospel has been issued
according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known
to all nations for the obedience of faith. We preach the gospel
calling many women to believe. This is the means by which they
are brought to believe. And now he says in verse 27,
to God only wise, to God only wise. He is wise and he really
is the only one. is wise. What wisdom we have,
we have from him, but he alone is wise. Let us be wise and understand
that nothing contrary to that which God has spoken, nothing
contrary to what God has revealed, is wisdom. He alone is wise,
all right? To God only wise be glory through
Jesus Christ Amen. Now that's the ambition and the
desire of every believer's heart, that God only wise have all glory
through Jesus Christ forever, and so it shall be.