Well, good morning. I'm very glad to be here with you this morning.
I hope you are glad to be here as well.
Let's open our Bibles to Romans chapter 16.
Our text for today is Romans chapter 16, verses 17 through 20.
We find ourselves back in the final chapter of Romans this week
and have an additional eight weeks.
I'm just kidding.
We don't.
We have a planned additional one week until we'll conclude our study of this letter.
The last time we were considering this book,
we took a look at Romans 16, verses 1 through 16,
and then verses 21 through 23.
We look at the text this way because they contain greetings to people
and greetings from people.
These 19 verses mention 35 people by name,
as well as the mention of groups of Christians in households
and companions to people mentioned by name.
Today, we are stepping back to a four-verse interjection,
and I want to take a moment to explain why I think the interjection exists.
Paul is making a point, at least in part, in these four verses
that I've been laboring to make to you over our time together in this book.
We must be so careful with our doctrine,
and we must be so careful that we assign doctrinal importance
so that the gospel is preserved.
I've made this case for theological triage to you again and again.
I'll spare you today making that case.
But we need to be careful in thinking about what hills we die on.
In this letter, Paul teaches that justification or salvation is by grace alone.
It's his kindness toward us.
Through faith alone, this is the means in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
And then he teaches us what the life liberated from the power of sin looks like,
and the driving characteristic of that life is unified love.
So I think that in 16 verses 1 through 16,
Paul has expressed all of these wishes of embrace.
Remember that term, greet.
That means to pull in tight, to embrace.
For people that he loves,
and then, because he loves them,
he can't help but give them one more exhortation.
It was, after all, Paul who wrote in 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 6
that love rejoices with the truth.
So join me as we look at this interjected, final exhortation of Paul's letter to the Romans.
Romans 16, I'll begin reading in verse 17.
Let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us,
written for his glory and our good.
And so we would all do well to listen to it
in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
I appeal to you, brothers,
to watch out for those who cause divisions
and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine 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.
We have a very simple three-point outline
for our study this morning,
which is as follows.
Number one, Paul's caution.
Number two, Paul's encouragement.
And number three, Paul's confidence.
Number one, Paul's caution.
And we see this in those first two verses.
What I think we first need to consider here
is what Paul is not cautioning against.
He is not here speaking about the lesser order issues.
He is not talking about varied opinions.
There are many things that we don't entirely see eye to eye on
in the Christian faith.
I'm sure you can draw many of them to mind.
This is a text about false teachers.
Those who do not serve are Lord Christ.
Notice that in verse 18.
Remember that Paul has encouraged unified love
in this letter in chapter 14.
This is verse 1.
As for the one who is weak in faith,
welcome him,
but not to quarrel over opinions.
And then later, verse 13 of the same chapter,
Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer,
but rather decide never to put a stumbling block
or hindrance in the way of a brother.
Paul commands us to bear with one another
over the minor points.
Elsewhere, like in Titus 3.9,
Paul tells Titus to avoid foolish controversies,
genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law,
for they are unprofitable and worthless.
And in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 23,
he tells Timothy,
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.
You know that they breed quarrels.
Paul wants us to find the right hills to die on.
He wants us to be sure that we hold in our closed fists
what we are willing to fight for.
And those doctrines are the highest order doctrines.
In a day where every bit of news
seems to send people into existential tailspins,
we need this word.
Listen to the astounding words of Paul
written from a Roman jail cell in Philippians chapter 1.
This is verse 14 and following.
And it just amazes me every time I read it.
Lord, that I will be more like Paul in this way.
He says, beginning in verse 14,
And most of the brothers,
having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment,
are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry,
but others from goodwill.
These two categories, right?
Brothers are being emboldened to speak the word
because of Paul's imprisonment, right?
Some from goodwill,
some from envy and rivalry.
The latter do it out of love,
those from goodwill,
knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition,
not sincerely,
but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
And I don't know exactly what's going on here,
but it sounds like these brothers had some sort of competitive intention
with the ministry of Paul.
But what is it that they are proclaiming?
He says, verse 18,
What then?
Only that in every way,
whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is proclaimed.
And in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice.
So there's these men with poor intentions
about their gospel proclamation,
and yet they're proclaiming the gospel,
and Paul rejoices in this,
and his attitude is incredibly instructive.
Some of you act competitively
towards other Christians or other churches.
The kinds of elitist things you say
reach my ears from time to time,
and it grieves me.
We desire to be as faithful to God's word
as we can possibly be.
I hope that you have chosen
to fellowship with this church
because you believe that we are being faithful
to all that it commands.
We're headed in that direction.
If we are not there yet,
and we're not,
we are headed in that direction.
The moment you think
that we have no faults,
or simply act towards others
like we have no faults,
then you have become
a destroyer of the unity
that is ours in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is an aside.
This is not the main point
that Paul is making here,
but I want to say to you,
let's rejoice in those who preach the gospel,
even if we disagree on some minor things.
Let's rejoice with anyone,
and with any church,
that is clear on the gospel.
Justification by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in the personal work of Jesus Christ alone,
because this matters so much.
Now, we could get into all kinds of doctrine
and talk about all kinds of things.
I'm not trying to over-reduce this
simply to grace alone,
faith alone, Christ alone.
I'm not simply doing that.
But the two large categories
we need to be thinking is,
is teaching that messes with the nature of God,
and teaching that messes with
the person and work of Christ.
I think those two broad categories
are really helpful to us.
Note from today's text
that there is a real enemy within.
Those who claim to speak on behalf of our God,
but do not.
Let's keep our false doctrine radars
focused in the right direction.
Let's choose the right hills to die on.
Okay, so that said,
he's not talking about that.
What is he cautioning against?
He says,
I appeal to you,
brothers,
watch out for those who cause divisions
and create obstacles
contrary to the doctrine
that you have been taught.
Avoid them.
I think that this includes everything
that he has taught
up to this point.
Here's the caution.
We are to watch out.
Be on the lookout
for people who teach error.
False teachers.
This is a great concern
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He said in Matthew 24 and verse 24,
for false Christs and false prophets
will arise and perform great signs
and wonders
so as to lead astray,
if possible,
even the elect.
They're going to do impressive things
to distract people from the truth.
Then in Matthew 7,
verse 15 and 16,
he says,
Beware of false prophets
who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Paul teaches us in Ephesians 4,
verse 12 and following
that the work of church leaders
is to equip the saints
for the work of ministry,
for building up the body of Christ.
To what end?
Until we all attain
to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge
of the Son of God
to mature manhood
to the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ.
Why?
Verse 14,
So that we may no longer be children
tossed to and fro by the waves
and carried about
by every wind of doctrine,
by human cunning,
by craftiness
in deceitful schemes.
Right?
These things happen.
Right?
And the work we're meant to be doing
is standing against
this kind of teaching.
Rather,
verse 15,
speaking the truth in love.
We are to grow up in every way
into Him who is the head,
into Christ.
That's the work of the church.
Right?
Church leaders equipping all of us
to speak the truth
to one another
so that we'll grow up
into maturity.
Peter,
in 2 Peter 1,
verse 20,
into chapter 2,
verse 3,
following grand words
concerning the nature
of the Scripture,
says this,
knowing this first of all
that no prophecy of Scripture
comes from someone's
own interpretation,
for no prophecy
was ever produced
by the will of man,
but men spoke from God
as they were carried along
by the Holy Spirit.
And then he says in chapter 2,
Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul Paul
and their destruction is not asleep.
So, we are to watch out.
Be on the lookout for people who teach error.
If someone teaches in contradiction to the doctrines of Christ,
we are to identify them.
But what are we to do with them once they have been identified?
There has been much error in this way.
And I'm going to read to you a paragraph from John MacArthur's commentary on this
because he's just succinct and I think it's helpful.
What are we to do? That's the question.
What are we to do when we have identified a false teacher?
He writes, a caution about Paul's caution should be given.
He was not teaching or implying that true believers have the right to do physical harm to heretics.
During the Reformation, some Protestants as well as Catholics committed grave inhumanities in the name of Christ.
When a group of Samaritans refused to render hospitality to Jesus and the disciples,
James and John, whom Jesus had nicknamed Sons of Thunder, asked,
this is in Luke chapter 3,
Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?
Jesus replied,
One of Jesus' several strong rebukes of Peter was given in response to that disciples cutting off the ear of one of the high priest slaves
when the Jewish leaders brought Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus.
Put your sword back into its place, he said to Peter,
for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
Even protection of the Son of God did not justify the use of physical violence.
So, a caution against the caution.
What are we to do?
Well, the right response is right here in the text, is it not?
Avoid them.
We are just to avoid them.
We are to turn away from what they teach.
We are to warn others against what they teach.
We are to instruct others in the truth so that the error can be most readily identified.
Why?
Because these teachers do not serve our Lord Christ.
Verse 18.
But their own appetites,
that is to say,
their own greed.
They are doing it for themselves.
And by smooth talk,
appealing talk,
and flattery,
they deceive the hearts
of the naive.
So, those who are immature in the faith
need to be protected
from these false teachers.
In thinking about this very issue,
I was so helped by Paul's words to Timothy
in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
In thinking,
what is happening in our age
that so many people are so drawn in
by false teachers?
And I was very helped here.
Paul instructs Timothy,
this is verse 1 of chapter 4.
He said,
Here's what he says.
Preach the word.
Be ready in season and out of season.
Reprove, rebuke, and exhort
with complete patience and teaching.
So he says,
Preach the word.
Why?
Verse 3 says,
For the time is coming
when people will not endure
sound teaching,
but having itching ears,
they will accumulate for themselves
teachers to suit their own passions
and will turn away from listening to the truth
and wander off into myths.
It is going to happen.
It is happening.
What are we to do?
With complete patience.
Now it seems today that the only heresy
is saying that there is heresy.
But if we are to follow Paul's instruction here,
we must speak with great clarity
for the truth and against falsehood.
This text does not give us space
to gloss over false teaching.
Great clarity for the truth
and against falsehood.
Listen to another warning of Paul's
concerning false teachers
in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
This is verse 13 and following.
There he says,
For such men are false apostles,
deceitful workmen,
disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder,
for even Satan disguises himself
as an angel of light.
So it is no surprise
if his servants also disguise themselves
as servants of righteousness.
Their end will correspond
to their deeds.
People will be misled.
They will look at the shiny glitz
of much of what is being taught
out there
and they will be deceived.
What part can we play
in rescuing them
from such false teachers?
All we can do, beloved,
all we can do
is speak with great clarity
for the truth
and against falsehood.
And you may say,
But Nathan,
doesn't that cause division?
And my response to you is,
No.
To the contrary,
it is the false teachers
that cause division.
Paul tells us,
These are the men
who cause divisions.
Their departure from the truth
is divisive,
not the correction of it.
The correction of it
is trying to bring us back together
around the truth.
If we're to love people
as we should,
we're going to rejoice
in the truth.
So allow me to give you
two broad examples.
The first is Roman Catholicism.
We are Protestants
for a reason
and we still protest
against Roman Catholicism.
Now as a quick aside,
I said in a Bible study
many years ago,
over a decade ago,
that Roman Catholicism
was the world's largest cult
that I said this
because his girlfriend
at the time
claimed to be a Catholic.
And so I simply said,
Well, let me tell you why.
I call Roman Catholicism
a cult.
And I began to explain
the things that Rome teaches
and he,
to each thing I said,
said,
She doesn't believe that.
I went,
Okay, well,
that's good.
Here's another thing
that Rome teaches.
Oh, she doesn't believe that.
And we walked through
a litany of things.
And at the end of that,
I just said,
Your girlfriend's
not a Roman Catholic.
And he said,
this is after about
an hour on the phone,
Yeah, she's going to
a non-denominational church
right now.
I went,
Why do we have
this conversation?
I stand by the statement.
So,
this is from,
and what I'm going to read to you
is from the Council of Trent.
This is the 16th century,
long ago,
but this is a response
to Reformation teaching
of
grace alone,
faith alone,
Christ alone,
right?
If you're not on the same page
as me,
justification by grace
through faith in Christ,
if I'm saying that to you
and you're going,
I don't even know
what he's talking about,
please come talk to me.
We have talked about it
a lot
throughout our study
of the book of Romans.
I want you to be very clear
on this.
If we are to be saved,
it is because God
shows us grace,
gives us something
we don't deserve.
He uses our faith,
which he gives us,
right?
And it's in what Christ
has accomplished
on our behalf.
Full stop.
Justification by grace
through faith
in Christ alone.
This is their response.
Canon 24.
If anyone says
that justice received
is not preserved
and also not increased
before God
through good works,
but that those works
are merely fruits
and signs of justification
obtained,
not because of its increase,
let him be now
for the things
that I'm saying
to you.
Right?
This is divisive.
This is against
what the scripture teaches.
Not what I'm saying.
Canon 30.
If anyone says
that after the reception
of the grace
of justification,
the guilt is so remitted
and the debt
of eternal punishment
so blotted out.
Let me just stop
for a second there,
right?
If anyone says
that after the reception
of the grace
of justification,
the guilt,
if anyone says
to you that
if you have been justified,
your guilt
is expunged.
It's so remitted
and the debt
of eternal punishment
so blotted out
that no debt
of temporal punishment
remains to be discharged
before the gates
of heaven can be opened.
Let him be
anathema.
That's the Roman Catholic Church.
That's what they teach today.
They still hold
the Council of Trent
to be true.
False.
False,
false,
false.
And so we protest,
right?
We are not Roman Catholics.
That is a hill
to die on,
justification
by grace
through faith
in Christ.
Alone.
The theologian
Herman Bavink,
this is true,
I'm about to say.
This is yay for Herman.
This is not a falsehood.
This is on the back
of your bulletin.
If you care to read it
with me,
it says,
faith is not justified
by its own essence
or act
because it itself
is righteousness,
right?
It's not saying
the faith itself
is the good work
that justifies you,
but by its content
because it is faith
in Christ
who is our righteousness.
That's so good,
right?
The object of the faith
in the person
and work of Christ alone.
If faith justified
on account of itself,
the object of that
faith,
that is Christ,
would totally
lose its value.
But the faith
that justifies
is precisely
the faith
that has Christ
as its object
and content,
right?
That is what
we teach,
right?
So,
broad example,
Roman Catholicism,
Council of Trent.
Now,
bring it to the
more clearly
modern day
and speak a bit
about the word
of faith movement.
And I want to
strongly warn you
against the word
of faith movement.
I use the term
movement because
it's not a denomination.
It's a collection
of a lot of teaching
that's going on
in the world
these days.
Some would
qualify this
and just say
it's the prosperity
gospel,
but that comes
in varied degrees.
So there's a lot
of it that doesn't
look like prosperity
on the surface,
right?
It's not
purple suits
and private jets,
but it shares
much.
It confuses
the nature
of God
and the person
and work
of Christ,
right?
When I talk about
the person and work
of Christ,
I'm talking about
what Christ
has accomplished,
all that's contained
in the word
it is finished,
which includes
everything that he did
and everything
that what he did
guaranteed
would happen.
So it's all of the promises
that he's granted us
as well,
right?
Our glorification,
right?
Future glory
with him
is guaranteed
by the death
and resurrection
of Jesus Christ,
right?
So it's encapsulated
in that,
okay?
Word of faith
confuses the nature
of God
and the person
and work
of Christ.
I'm about to give you
two examples,
right?
Number one,
this is Bill Johnson
from Bethel Church,
okay?
Bethel music,
that's the connection
that's going on here.
This is in Redding,
California.
He says this,
I quote,
For many years,
I misunderstood
the biblical concept
of desire.
Psalm 37, 4
tells us,
delight yourself
in the Lord
and he shall give you
the desires
of your heart.
Like many pastors,
I foolishly taught
that if you delighted
yourself in the Lord,
he would change
your desires
by telling you
what to desire.
You should have stopped
right there.
But that's not at all
what it means.
that verse
literally means
that God wants
to be impacted
by what you think
and dream.
That ought to make you
cringe inside.
It just ought to make you
cringe inside.
This is a direct attack
on God's aseity,
right?
God's saying,
I am who I am.
He is existent
apart from us
and we do not
affect God.
We do not impact
him with our thoughts
and our dreams.
And so,
they're going to teach
that you can speak
things into existence,
right?
Word of faith,
right?
God wants to empower you
and he wants to give you
success and make your
life wonderful
and all you have to do
is say it
and believe that
it's going to be
that.
Another example,
much closer to home.
This is Jensen Franklin
from Free Chapel,
right?
In our back yard.
Now,
this is going to sound
pretty good for a little
while,
right?
I'm going to point out
to you why it's not.
It's going to sound
pretty good.
He says this,
I quote,
There is life
and there is living.
Are you ready to start
really living out
God's plan
for your life?
Good question.
There's more to life,
more to faith,
more to you.
God gives you
the formula for success
which boils down
to two words.
God first.
Still doing okay,
aren't we?
That's where God began.
Look at your Bible.
What are the very first words
written in the beginning?
Genesis 1, 13.
God created
is the rest of that.
He doesn't say that,
but God first
is his priority
that should rule
every decision
of our lives.
In Matthew 6, 33.
So here's where
I'm going to pick on him.
He says,
In Matthew 6, 33.
Now let me tell you
what Matthew 6, 33 says.
It says this.
Jesus says,
Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness
and all these things
will be added to you.
These things
will be added to you.
And what he is talking about
in that chapter
is anxiety about
food and clothing.
He's saying,
Why are you living
like the world lives?
You have a heavenly father
who loves you
and he's going to provide
for all of your temporal needs.
That's what he's talking about
in that text.
Okay?
So he says,
In Matthew 6, 33,
Jesus tells us,
so here's what he's telling us,
Matthew 6, 33 means,
To hear his plan,
receive his direction,
and his blessings.
If you want success
in your life,
in your marriage,
in your work,
in your witness,
putting God first
is key.
If you want everything
to go grand,
everything to be great,
empowered life,
realize everything,
right,
what do you do?
God first,
speak it into existence.
Jesus has told us
to hear, receive,
and go.
Right?
This word of faith movement
is very deceptive.
Right?
Alright.
So that's the caution.
Right?
We need to be
very careful
and we need to be
very clear
about the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Secondly,
there's an encouragement.
Paul has an encouragement.
He says in verse 19,
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.
Paul tells the Roman believers
in verse 19
that he is encouraged
by their good works
and it would seem
the report
of their good works
had been received
far and wide.
Likely,
we see in Romans 118,
he says,
I thank my God
through Jesus Christ
for all of you
because your faith
is proclaimed
in all the world.
It's suggested
that he means
all the known world.
Everywhere that I'm aware
of your faith,
your good works
are being proclaimed.
So,
he says to them,
press on
in your obedience
to the truth.
But then he encourages
further,
be wise
as to what is good
and innocent
as to what
is evil.
And I think
in the context
of identifying
and avoiding
false teachers,
Paul means for us
to see that
bad doctrine
leads to bad
practices
and that poor
theology leads
to sinful
doxology.
How are we
to be wise
as to what
is good
and innocent
as to what
is evil?
We are to be
about the work
of knowing
God's
word.
Now,
I will say
of all of you
generally,
if you are coming
to church here,
you are not
an experience chaser.
I'm thankful
for that.
We are not
creating a lot
of experience
for you.
You likely
already know
that the general
way that God
grows as people
is through the
common means
of grace.
It's bit by bit
over time.
We put in the work.
We are to read
and pray
and sing
and preach
and listen
to the preaching
of God's word.
We are to get
to know it
over time.
Perhaps you are
one of those people
that is looking
for that mountaintop
moment.
Perhaps the Lord
will grant it
to you,
but it's just
not the normal
way he seems
to work.
He seems to work
through patient
dedication
to his word.
Picking it up
in the various
ways that we
pick up
his word.
It's a very
common analogy,
but I think
it's such a good
one that I'm
going to share
it with you
anyway.
Do you know
how secret
service agents
identify
counterfeit
bills?
It isn't
possible for
them to study
all the
possible errors
a counterfeiter
may make,
but what they
can do
is know
in great
detail
what a
genuine
bill
looks like.
Likewise,
we are to
recognize
error by
knowing
what is
true.
As you
grow in the
knowledge of
what is
true,
error will
become more
evident
to you.
Things will
feel,
if you'll
allow the
word,
hinky,
something's
not,
something's
off with
what I'm
hearing taught
here.
Perhaps you'll
know already,
or perhaps you'll
have to do
some digging
around to
understand what
is being
taught in
error.
So Paul is
encouraging here,
I think,
keep up the
good work.
You're doing
well, so keep
up the good
work that you're
doing.
Press on,
dear Christian,
for we have
great reason
to press on.
Which brings
me to my
last point,
which is
Paul's
confidence.
Paul's
confidence.
I love
that Paul
does this.
He is
inspired,
he's being
led along
by God,
he packs
these rich
statements on
the end of
so many of
his exhortations.
Verse 20,
he says,
that the God
of peace
will soon
crush Satan
under your
feet.
The grace
of our
Lord Jesus
Christ
be with
you.
Paul begins
verse 20
by calling
God the
God of
peace.
At the end
of chapter
15,
he does
this in
thinking about
God's
provision for
his people.
Life,
this side
of glory,
is war,
but our
God,
he's the
God of
peace.
We have
peace with
him,
and one
day he's
going to
make peace
on the
earth.
He's made
promises for
us,
and he will
deliver on
them.
We struggle
in this
life.
People ask
me how I'm
doing these
days.
Many of you
have probably
heard me say
this.
My kind of
canned
response is
another day
waiting for
glory,
which is my
way of saying
I'm sad,
but I'm
filled with
hope.
That's the
day-to-day
state I
tend to be
in these
days,
and I'm
glad for
it because
I think
it's a
good state
to be
in.
One day
soon,
the God
of peace
will soon,
it'll come
swiftly soon,
one day
God will
destroy our
enemy,
Satan,
and all
those who
serve him
is the
implication
here.
Paul is
saying,
look,
these men,
these false
teachers that
you're going
to have to
mark out
and avoid,
their destruction
is sure
because Satan's
destruction
is sure.
Look what he
says elsewhere,
Philippians 3,
verse 18 and
19,
for 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.
And then Jude
verse 12
and 13,
these,
speaking of
false teachers,
are hidden
reefs at
your love
feasts.
As they
feast with
you without
fear,
shepherds
feeding
themselves,
waterless
clouds swept
along by
winds,
fruitless
trees in
late autumn,
twice dead,
uprooted,
wild waves
of the sea
casting up
the foam
of their
own shame,
wandering
stars for
whom the
gloom of
utter darkness
have been
reserved
forever.
Now,
texts like
that ought
to want
us to
call those
people even
to repent
and believe
in Christ.
But the
point he's
driving at
here at
the end
of our
text today
is that
we can
be sure
that the
Lord will
set things
right one
day.
So in
the meantime,
we press
on.
We have
great reason
to press
on.
Paul is
confident
of this
and he
needs to
give us
confidence
to
persevere.
And then,
lest we
think that
we can
accomplish
any of
this
on our
own
accord,
he concludes
this section
of his
letter with
the grace
of our
Lord Jesus
Christ
be with
you.
Our
Christian
lives begin
by grace
and our
Christian
lives are
sustained
by grace
and will
be sustained
to the
end if we
belong to
Jesus.
And I
hope that
that gives
you great
measures of
perseverance.
Life this
side of
glory is
guaranteed to
be difficult.
We follow a
Savior who
was hated by
the world.
We should
expect nothing
less, but
we should
persevere
because of
the wonderful
hope that
Savior has
brought us.
Oh, how
grateful we
should be that
our God
provides for
all that
he commands.
Let's pray
together.