Romans 16:17-27: Final Words of Warning and Worship

Romans 16:17-27: Final Words of Warning and Worship

Please turn with me in your Bible to Romans 16. If you’re using one of the Bibles we provide, that’s on page 787. For the past ten months, we’ve been working our way passage by passage through Paul’s letter to the Romans, and this morning we finally come to the last passage in the letter, Romans 16:17-27. Romans 16:17-27:

17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 19 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. 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. 25 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 26 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— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. 

The Bible tells us that there’s an invisible war raging all around us—a war in the spiritual realm. And we may not be able to see it, but that doesn’t make it any less real or any less dangerous. After all, you usually can’t see termites eating away at your house either, but that certainly doesn’t make them any less real. In fact, their ability to carry on their work largely undetected actually increases the damage they’re able to do. Likewise, in the spiritual realm, the forces arrayed against us are waging a war that’s very real and that we dare not ignore. 

A few years ago, I was reminded of just how real this war is by something that happened to a person that I counted a dear sister in Christ. Becky and I knew this woman and her husband and their child extremely well. In fact, we saw them numerous times a week. And we had some great times of Christian fellowship together, doing Bible studies, talking about the things of the Lord, praying for each other. In fact, they were the very first family when we first moved here to Pittsburgh that said they wanted to help us start the church. And they both seemed really solid spiritually. The wife even led someone to the Lord and personally discipled that person for several months using John MacArthur’s discipleship curriculum that she picked out. But then, we noticed that this woman started to question certain things—things directly related to the gospel. This caused a lot of tension in her marriage, so we did some marital counseling and the couple also sought outside counseling as well. Yet in spite of all of our efforts to care for her and help her and love her, this woman eventually ended up leaving our church, leaving her husband, and even leaving the faith entirely. Just about all of the biblical convictions that she once held so firmly seemed to evaporate in an astonishingly short amount of time. It stunned all of us—including her husband. To date, her departure has probably been the saddest and most difficult thing we’ve experienced during this whole process of starting the church. 

Yet it’s a clear reminder for us that we’re in a real spiritual war. There are real casualties and a real enemy, called Satan, who’s fighting against us and who would love nothing more than to destroy our faith—just like he destroyed this woman’s faith. And we dare not ignore his efforts. That’s why Paul writes the things he writes here in this passage in Romans 16. Although he only mentions Satan by name a single time in these verses, the entire passage is written with Satan and the tactics Satan employs in mind. And here’s Paul’s basic message. He tells his readers to watch out for those who destroy the church and look to him who builds the church. That’s the main idea that emerges from this passage. Paul tells his readers to watch out for those who destroy the church and look to him who builds the church. So let’s look at each of those ideas. 

Watch Out for Those Who Destroy the Church

First, watch out for those who destroy the church. In verse 17, Paul writes, “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” So notice, these people—who, as we’ll see, are accurately described as false teachers—harm the church in two ways. First, Paul says they “cause divisions.” They start teaching things and saying things that are divisive by design. They love to stir up controversy because it gives them an opportunity to create a following for themselves. Then also, Paul says they “create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.” In other words, they bring in doctrines that are contrary to the gospel and that have the effect not of helping people but of creating obstacles for people. They hinder people from having a close relationship with God and from becoming the people God wants them to be and from having the joy and the freedom God wants them to have. So these false teachers are really tripping people up spiritually and wreaking havoc in the church.

And in case you’re thinking that these false teachers were only a problem in Paul’s day, I would encourage you to think again. False teachers have been a significant problem in every generation throughout the church’s history. Today, perhaps the clearest example of false teaching in the church that resembles what Paul’s talking about here is the so-called “prosperity gospel” movement. The prosperity gospel—which is really no gospel at all—teaches that God promises Christians health, wealth, and prosperity if they’ll simply claim those things in faith. “Name it and claim it” the saying goes. If you want a nice job, claim it in faith. If you want to drive a Mercedes, claim it in faith. If you want to be healed of your debilitating illness, just claim it in faith. God supposedly guarantees all of these blessings for his children. So you can see that, in this system, God becomes little more than a cosmic vending machine, ready to dispense whatever earthly blessings our hearts desire. Some prosperity teachers will even say that Christians are “little gods,” in the same “spiritual class” as God himself. The result is that the words we say supposedly have real power. In a sense, we can make things happen in our lives by essentially speaking them into existence. Yes, there are teachers who are actually teaching that. 

And unfortunately, this prosperity gospel movement has proven enormously popular, both in America and around the world. Prosperity gospel teachers include some very big names like Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, T. D. Jakes, and Benny Hinn—just to name a few. They have their own TV shows, bestselling books, and churches with tens of thousands of people. I think Joel Osteen has a church of close to 50,000 people and T. D. Jakes isn’t trailing too far behind with a church of 30,000 people. 

Yet the Apostle Paul warns us against teachers like these. He says they “create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught”—obstacles to God, obstacles to godliness, obstacles to the truth of the gospel. Then Paul continues describing these teachers in the first part of verse 18. He says, “For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites…” So notice that these people aren’t making an honest mistake in interpreting the Bible the way they do and teaching the things they teach. Instead, they’re intentionally deviating from the Bible and from the gospel for the sake of what Paul calls “their own appetites.” They have an insatiable appetite for large bank accounts and luxury vehicles and spacious mansions and private jets—not to mention an appetite for intangible things such as international fame and power over their followers. I think of Creflo Collar with his $65 million private jet and Benny Hinn spending $10,000 per night to stay in the penthouse of a luxury hotel. That’s what’s driving them—“their own appetites.”

Then in the second part of verse 18, Paul states that “…by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve.” So the way these teachers peddle their message is through “smooth talk and flattery,” Paul says. They’re very good salesman. They know how to deliver a message and present ideas in a very persuasive way. They usually even manage to quote a few Bible verses—nearly always out of context—to make their message seem even more plausible. They’ve mastered “smooth talk.” They’ve also mastered flattery. Prosperity gospel preachers continually remind their audiences of how amazing they are. To give you just one example of the kinds of things they say, here’s a quote from Joel Osteen in his book Break Out. Osteen writes, “God did not create you to be average….He created you to do something amazing. He’s put the seeds of greatness on the inside.” Doesn’t make you feel good? Who doesn’t want to hear that they have the “seeds of greatness” within them? That’s the kind of flattery you incessantly from these prosperity teachers. And tragically, people buy into it. A lot of people buy into it. 

So what’s the answer? What should we do? Paul tells us in verse 19: “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.” So Paul says we should “be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” I would suggest that the former leads to the latter. Being wise about what’s good leads to being innocent of what’s evil. To state it another way, being an expert on true doctrine will protect you from being deceived by false doctrine. And by the way, notice the phrase Paul uses for false doctrine here. He actually refers to it not as “false doctrine” but as “evil.” Now, why do you think he calls it “evil” instead of simply “false”? Well, it’s because false doctrine hurts people. It causes people great harm—sometimes even eternal harm. That means even though T. D. Jakes may refer to his church as a “global humanitarian organization,” it’s actually the opposite. It’s actually quite anti-humanitarian—or against the welfare of humanity. The things false teachers teach are “evil,” Paul says.  

And again, the main thrust of Paul’s instruction here is that the way to be innocent of this evil isn’t by extensively studying the evil but by being “wise as to what is good”—becoming an expert on true doctrine. So don’t feel like you have to spend your time becoming an expert on what prosperity gospel preachers are saying. Also, don’t feel like you have to spend excessive amounts of time studying other false teachings such as Mormonism or Jehovah’s Witness-ism. Instead, focus your attention simply on studying the Bible. Learn how to interpret the Bible in context. Become thoroughly familiar with biblical theology. It’s often said that the government officials who have the responsibility of identifying counterfeit currency don’t study counterfeit bills. Instead, they study genuine bills and become so familiar with those genuine bills that they’re then able to spot the counterfeit. 

And I believe we have to be very diligent in doing this—very diligent in studying biblical truth—because false teaching isn’t always going to be obvious. You know, earlier in the sermon, I identified some very clear errors in prosperity gospel teaching and described those errors in such a way that I hope it was clear to everyone here how wrong those things are. However, prosperity gospel teaching—and really any variety of false teaching—often isn’t that obvious. From what I’ve observed, false teachers almost always mix in a lot of truth with their error. And they’ll include enough truth so that the error often isn’t very noticeable. Kind of like something I used to do in order to get my kids to have more nutrients in their breakfast. You see, my kids loved to eat applesauce for breakfast. And I think applesauce is fairly nourishing, but as I was preparing their breakfast I would try to make it more nourishing by slyly mixing in some baby food that we had left over that hadn’t yet expired—usually the chicken flavor or the beef flavor. Of course, I had to be careful not to add too much baby food. Otherwise, the kids would notice and probably not want to eat it. Now, one time, one of my kids did catch me in the act of adding the baby food—I think he was four years old at the time—and he asked me what I was doing. And since he couldn’t yet read the label on the baby food to know what it was, I told him that I was adding “meat sauce” to his applesauce. And that seemed to satisfy him, so I was able to quickly change the subject and continue adding the “meat sauce” for another few months. 

And in a very similar way to my special breakfast mixture, false teachers almost always present a mixture of truth and error. They say a lot of things that are true and biblical. And so, unless you have a solid grasp of what the Bible actually teaches, you’ll miss the error and think that everything they’re saying is true. For example, a lot of prosperity gospel teachers love to talk about how we as Christians are children of a King. God’s the King of the universe, and we’ve been adopted as his children, so that makes us children of a King. Now how should children of a King expect to live? Should they expect to have empty bank accounts or sicknesses or depression? Of course not. They should expect to live like the royalty that they are—and claim that life of luxury and wellness by faith. So do you see how that line of reasoning incorporates a lot of biblical truth? Yet it twists that truth and runs with it in a very unbiblical direction. That’s why we have to be thoroughly familiar with that the Bible actually teaches. We have to be “wise as to what is good,” Paul says.

Look to Him Who Builds the Church

So all of that is related to watching out for those who destroy the church. However, as we move farther along in Romans 16, Paul teaches us not only to watch out for those who destroy the church but also to look to him who builds the church. Look to him who builds the church. I mentioned earlier how popular prosperity gospel theology is—not only here in America but even around the world. In fact, it’s becoming very dominant especially in third-world countries. Much of what’s often reported as Christianity around the world, and especially in Africa, is actually pseudo-Christianity that’s been poisoned with the prosperity gospel. And of course there are many other false teachings—such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witness-ism—that are pulling countless people away from the gospel as well. Everywhere we look, there seems to be another cult or another false teaching to deal with. So in the midst of this, how can we be hopeful? How can we have the confidence that the truth of the gospel with triumph in the end? By looking to him who builds the church. 

In the first part of verse 20, Paul writes that “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet….” So here we see the source of all of this false teaching—Satan himself, along with the other demons under his command. You see, our real enemies aren’t false teachers themselves but rather the demonic forces that are leading them to do the things they do. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul teaches that “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against…the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Our real enemy is Satan. So false teachers are kind of like child soldiers in the sense that they cause real damage but are also victim themselves, to a degree. Even as they wreak havoc on the church, they’re actually hostages held by Satan. Yet Paul triumphantly reminds his readers back in our main passage that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Satan’s influence is coming to an end. And that will happen decisively when Jesus comes back. 

But what about in the meantime? Well, Paul tells us in verses 25-27: 25 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 26 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— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. 

So notice how Paul describes God in verse 25—“him who is able to strengthen you.” In the midst of this onslaught of false teaching, God strengthens us. He’s the only one who has the power to make sure this ship doesn’t sink in the midst of this perilous storm. As Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” Only through God is this war winnable. And we will win. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus declares, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Satan may be strong, but Jesus is stronger. Back in our main passage, notice how Paul describes God. He refers to him as “able” in verse 25, as “eternal” in verse 26, and as “wise” in verse 27. In other words, it’s not even a competition. God is infinitely greater than Satan. 

And now notice that in verse 25, Paul says God’s “able to strengthen you according to my gospel”—or we might say “as taught by my gospel.” You see, the idea of God strengthening us is actually at the very heart of the gospel message. The gospel is a message of how we are so sinful and so depraved that there’s nothing we can do fix ourselves or become right with God through our own efforts. We aren’t able to “strengthen” ourselves. Yet God came in and strengthened us through his Son Jesus. He sent Jesus to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves and to rescue us. The way Jesus did that was by dying on the cross to pay for our sins. Jesus suffered God’s wrath against sin so that we wouldn’t have to. And then, he resurrected from the dead so that he’s now able to offer us forgiveness of rescue as we put our trust in him. That’s what we have to do in order to share in his victory. We have to stop looking to ourselves—as if we could strengthen ourselves—and instead start looking to him to strengthen us and to save us. That the sense in which the gospel is essentially a message of God strengthening us. 

And not only that, but the gospel is also the primary means God uses to strengthen us after our conversion and throughout our Christian life. It’s as we live in light of the gospel and consider the gospel’s vast implications for our everyday lives that we’re strengthened. Let me give you a few examples. This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, but let me just give you five examples of how God uses the gospel to strengthen his people. First, the gospel strengthens us by giving us comfort in the midst of failure. It reminds us that God’s love for us and his acceptance of us aren’t dependent on our performance. So even when we have a bad day spiritually and don’t “perform” very well, we can remember that Jesus “performed” perfectly in our place, with the result that God still loves us and accepts us completely. What comfort the gospel is! 

Second, the gospel strengthens us by demolishing our pride. Any time we start to think too highly of ourselves, the gospel reminds us that everything in our lives that’s in any way commendable has been given to us by God. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” Third, the gospel strengthens us by giving us hope in the midst of suffering. It reminds us that the suffering we encounter in this world is actually quite temporary and that God’s promised us a glorious future that’s free of all suffering and that will last forever. Fourth, the gospel strengthens us by teaching us to love and forgive. As we consider the love God’s shown us and the way he’s forgiven us of our many wrongs against him, how can we not love and forgive those around us? Satan often tries to divide Christians, but through the gospel, we learn to love and forgive one another. Then finally, the gospel strengthens us by providing us with lasting motivation to live for God. God’s grace toward us in the gospel makes us so glad and so grateful that we want to live the rest of our lives for his glory. We’re motivated to do the things we do by thinking about what God’s done for us in the gospel. And whenever we find ourselves lacking in zeal, we come right back to the gospel and remind ourselves of what God’s done for us and get that shot of spiritual adrenaline so that we’re zealous once again for God’s glory. 

Conclusion

And that’s actually the note Paul ends on in his letter to the Romans. He ends the letter by expressing his longing for God to be glorified. He does this through something called a doxology—an expression of praise to God. Listen again to Paul’s doxology in verses 25-27: 25 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 26 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— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. So God being glorified was the cry of Paul’s heart. It’s why Paul was so passionate about warning his readers against false teachers and looking to God to strengthen the church. God’s glory was the cry of Paul’s heart. Is it the cry of your heart? Do you have a longing for God’s glory that’s kind of like an oak tree in that even though it may have started out in seed form when you were first saved, it’s grown bigger and bigger so that it now towers over everything else in your life? Has God’s glory become your highest ambition in that way—much like it was Paul’s highest ambition? That’s probably one of the most accurate indicators of your spiritual maturity. Is the glory of God everything to you?