Gospel Guidance, Greetings, and Glory
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

Below is an automated transcript of this message:

Good morning church ! It’s great seeing you here this morning as we conclude our expositional series through the book of Romans. Over the past four years, we have done four chapters a year, verse by verse. Now, we come to the end of the book; we come to the end of chapter 16. I have to admit that I’m somewhat excited about finishing, but at the same time, sentimental about it, because I’ve enjoyed studying this book together with you so much.

We have entitled this series, “Righteousness Revealed,” because in the first chapter, Paul says that the Gospel is the righteousness of God, revealed to us through Jesus and that the way of being made right with God is through Jesus, His son. That’s what the book is about. That’s the theme of the book – the only way to be right with God is through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, as Paul concludes the book of Romans, it’s almost like the way you conclude a phone call. There’s these last minute things he’s thinking of, that the Holy Spirit is inspiring him to say. He briefly says something about this and then something about that. I’ve titled this message, “Gospel Guidance, Greetings and Glory,” because there’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that in how he concludes. We just want to follow verse by verse, the way Paul does.

It reminds me of phone calls I used to have with my mom when she was still living, before she “graduated” to heaven. I would call her weekly, usually on a Friday morning. I would talk to her at other times, but especially on Friday mornings. Itseemed to be the time that she would receive my sermon tape. Do you remember tapes, cassette tapes? Do you remember those, older people? Explain this to the younger people, what we’re talking about. I used to mail my mother a sermon tape on Monday. She’d get it by Wednesday and she would have listened to it by Friday, so I could talk to her about it. It was always sweet to hear her voice. My mother encouraged me in my preaching. After we would talk for a while and we were about to hang up, she would always give me a little last- minute guidance. Kinda like Paul does here. She would say to me, “You’re looking too skinny.” I’d say to her, “Mom, I am ok. I’m not looking too skinny.” She would say back to me, “You need to take better care of yourself.” She would have these things that she would say to me. She would give me the family news, “Oh, by the way, your Uncle Basil said to say, ‘hello,’ and the next time you’re in to come see him. Your grandfather…” She would go through the list of greetings of people who had been asking about me. Before we could hang up, we would always say, “I love you” to each other. She would say that she thanked the Lord for me and that she was praying for me.

It sounds like this as I’m reading this last part of the chapter. It feels like we’re getting a phone call from Paul and it’s these last minute things he’s saying to us. I wonder, do you have someone like that in your life? Someone you can talk to, that will give you some guidance that you need to hear, that would give you some greetings, some warm fellowship and draw your attention toward the Lord. I hope you have someone like that in your life; someone who really loves you and cares for you.

May I say that I have good news for you today. Jesus cares for you like that. He cares for you like that. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, I pray, before this message is over today, that you would decide to follow Him. That’s our deepest desire and that was Paul’s desire – that people would hear the good news about Jesus and give their lives to Him.

Aswe look at this last section of Romans, the apostle Paul closes his letter with a word of Gospel guidance, greetings and glory” to God. I believe, as we close this letter, he was showing them how to relate to people, depending on where they’re at and how to relate to God through the Gospel. I think as we look at the text today, we’ll see three ways we can apply the Gospel to how we relate.

Let’s look at the text: Romans 16:17-27 (ESV) 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 isevil 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.

We’re looking for three ways that we can apply the gospel to our relationships. Here’s the first:

1. Follow godly guidance on troublemakers and false teachers.

We will always have relationships with people that make trouble everywhere they go. They leave a trail of broken relationships wherever they go. Paul is not naming anybody specifically here. In fact, some might say that it seems kind of abrupt. Earlier in Chapter 16, he’s saying to greet this person and greet that person in Rome. He’s greeting people. In fact, last week we had to read 27 names. Remember those 27 names of people that Paul had heard about or knew personally that attended the church in Rome? He would say hello to such and such; he named 27 people. I’m wondering, who read the scripture in your small group this past week? I heard that, in my son’s small group, they said to him, “Hey, you read it last Sunday, you go ahead and read it today.” Nobody wanted to read that section. There’s a lot of names. 27

We have eight names in this passage today. These eight names, that are in this latter part of the chapter, are not people in Rome. They are people that are with Paul in the city of Corinth, where he’s writing this letter from because he’s never been to Rome yet. He wants to go, but he’s writing from the city of Corinth and he includes the names that we read today. Here, he’s all of a sudden saying, ‘Oh, by the way, watch out for people that cause trouble. Watch out. I appeal to you brothers. I’m begging you. Watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles and cause divisions. These are troublemakers.’ These are people who stir up trouble, usually through gossip, Hey, did you hear what such and such said about you? They just stir up trouble. Sometimes it’s because they’re immature. They’re a believer, but they’re just immature and they need to grow. Sometimes, it’s because they’re wolves in “sheep’s clothing” and they’re sent there by the evil one to destroy the church. It just depends. It’s hard to know. Watch out for them.

He gives two instructions. He says to (1) watch out for those kinds of people and then, he says (2) to avoid them. Those are the two instructions. Watch out for them and avoid them. Avoid those who cause divisions. That’s troublemakers and creates obstacles. The word, “obstacle,” is where we get the word, “scandal.” They cause traps; they set traps for people. They are false teachers. They will teach something contrary to the doctrine that you’ve been taught. They, especially, like to deceive the hearts of the naive; that’s in verse 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.” They’re attracted to the naive– the people that haven’t been believers very long. They’re attracted to them, especially, so that they can give them false teaching. Watch out for them and shun them; avoid them.

Notice something here – he describes the type of person. He doesn’t name anybody because he’s not been to the church in Rome, so this is not a specific warning. This is more like a general warning to the church at large. He’s not even talking to any leaders. This is not a formal thing. It’s like a ‘Hey, I’ve been a pastor for a long time. I’ve planted churches all over the Roman Empire. I’ve got several decades of experience. Just watch out. I’ve seen this in in Glacier. I’ve seen this in Corinth. Just watch out for the kind of people that come in and want to stir up trouble.’ He said to watch out for them. Paul talks about, in verse 18, some of their character traits; such persons do not serve our Lord Christ. Their goal, their motivation is not to serve Jesus. What is their goal; their own appetites? It literally, in the Greek, says “their own bellies,” which is the way the King James version translates. It’s their own appetites, their own bellies. They just want to serve their bellies. In other words, that which feeds them. It doesn’t necessarily mean food, it could mean their pride.

Often, someone who has low self esteem feels like, ‘Oh, I got some information that maybe you don’t know’ and it makes them feel like they’re knowledgeable because they can gossip and tell you information about someone else. It makes them feel important. They’re feeding their pride or feeding some other motivation. Their motivation is not to serve Jesus, but to feed themselves to build up themselves.

A couple of ways that you might see them do it is “smooth talk;” See that in verse 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.” What is “smooth talk?” You know what I think this means, especially in our time, that it is someone who has mastered the way to speak at church. They’ve mastered “christian-ese,” if you will. They’ve learned how to gossip by saying it’s a prayer request. ‘Do you know what I heard? I was at the women’s prayer meeting yesterday and I heard such and such talking about somebody else who is about to lose their marriage and I just think we need to pray for them.’ They’re couching it in prayer request language, but the truth is, they’re just gossiping. They’re just gossiping and what they’re creating is a conflict because now they’re causing the people that hear it to fall into sin and to begin to talk about it. They’re good at “smooth talking.”

Satan was a “smooth talker;” he’s a “smooth talker.” There seems to be something in view here because Paul mentioned Satan in verse 20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Do you remember how Satan talked to Eve? He was a “smooth talker.” He told Eve, ‘Did God really say…?’ That’s what Satan always does, he always questions God’s word and he causes people to question God. ‘Did God really say that?’ Eve said back to him, ‘I think he said that.’ Satan convinced her, ‘look at that fruit, doesn’t it look good?’ The fruit did look pretty good. Satan told her, ‘if you eat it, you’ll be like God.’ He’s a “smooth talker.” He was a “smooth talker” and Eve was naive; she fell for it.

That’s often the mark of a person like this. They’re good at mastering religious language and coming across like they’re really mature when they’re not. They use flattery. Let’s say you’re a small group leader and this person has just joined your small group. This person will build you up like you’re the best small group leader. He might say, ‘I’ve been in five different groups this year, but yours is the best one I’ve ever been in.I’m excited about being in your small group. You’re just the best. You keep our conversations on track.’ This person will just flatter. The leader of that community group will wonder, Well, you know, this person seems kind of disruptive, but they really like me. They get confused about whether or not they should correct this individual. That’s the way that works.

Paul has a lot of experience about this; watch out for people like this. They will come into your neighborhood, your small group, your workplace or your church. They’ll come in and they’ll cause divisions. They’ll cause trouble; watch out for them. If they won’t be corrected, shun them; avoid them. This is not putting them out of the church language here, This is not Paul speaking to the leaders here; he does that in other places. Here, he is talking to the average member of a church. He is saying that if there’s somebody like this, don’t hang out with them because they’re going to lead you into a disunifying situation in the church. It’s good advice.

Paul says 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.” He’s speaking to the church believers in Rome. He says that you’re obedient to the gospel. He is not saying that we didn’t already know about this warning, He is just reminding us because it’s important because he wants us to be wise. He says, “…I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” In the Phillips translation, it says, Romans 16:19 (Phillips) “I want to see you experts in good, and not even beginners in evil.” In other words, he’s saying it like this, ‘I want you to know good because of your experience. I want you to be wise at it, but when it comes to evil, I don’t want you to be experienced at evil. I want you to be warned of it, but I don’t want you to experience it. Paul is saying, ‘I want you to be innocent of that.’

It reminds me of how Jesus talked to those He sent out to witness in Matthew, chapter 10. He said, Matthew 7:15 (NLV) [Jesus speaking] “Watch out for false teachers. They come to you dressed as if they were sheep. On the inside they are hungry wolves.” behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, sounds like what Jesus was teaching.

Then, in verse 20, we see something that seems unusual upon its first reading, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” When I first read that, I wondered why the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to say “the God of Peace.” Why that attribute “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Why why not say, ‘The God of the Lord of Heaven’s armies? The Lord of hosts?’ Why not say something like, ‘God Almighty?’ I like something with a war kind of language, but he says “The God of Peace.” But then, the more that I thought about it, the more perfect that is, because Jesus didn’t come as a warrior or as a judge. He came as a sacrifice and as a Savior. He came as a peacemaker and He laid His life down on the cross.

How did Jesus defeat Satan at the cross? He defeated him by giving His life. He’s the God of peace. He’s the peacemaker. It seems ironic. It seems contrary to the way we would think about it, but that’s exactly how He did it. He defeated Satan that way and he says he will soon crush satan under your feet, speaking of the body of Christ. You see, He defeated Satan at the cross. He defeated him. He’s the victor.

We live in a season where the church is in like a “parentheses,” if you will, between when Jesus was raised from the grave, He died on the cross and was raised. When He returns is the season we live in. That day when He returns, He will completely be victorious over satan so that we, as believers, will no longer be tempted by satan. He will soon crush him under that. That’s the season we live in. It’s a time word, that word “soon.” It basically means there’s nothing between Jesus coming again in this moment. We could say Jesus is coming soon and it could be this next second, this next minute or this next hour. It could be tomorrow or next year, but He’s coming soon. There’s nothing between now and then to prevent Him from coming.

In terms of the way prophecy works, He will soon crush Satan. Satan is a real person. He’s not an imagination. He’s not a myth. He was a fallen angel named Lucifer. He was the one who said, “I will be like the most high God,” and he was removed from heaven. He was removed and cast down to earth and He’s been a tempter, an accuser and a liar from the beginning. Here, we see Paul saying that one day he’ll be utterly defeated.

If you’ll recall, in the book of Genesis, what some people call the “protoevangelium,” is found in Genesis, chapter three, where he said of the serpent and of the woman. He says of the seed of the woman, that you will bruise his heel, but he will crush your head. We all know that women don’t have a seed, which I believe points to the virgin birth. That’s in Genesis chapter three. We, also, believe that he’s talking about Jesus, the Messiah, who’s born of the virgin, and He’s the one at the cross. His heel is bruised. In other words, He is sacrificed, but He was raised again on the third day, He crushes Satan’s head. There’s no accident, I think here that Paul is using some language that should be familiar to those that read the bible. The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet. He’s talking about the importance of watching out for Satan and watching out for troublemakers.

It says in Proverbs 16:28 (NLT) “A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.” That’s just so true. I’ve had some people in the past come to me and say, ‘Pastor, I need to tell you something. Come here. I need to tell you something.’ They’ll tell me that such and such is talking bad about me. They begin to tell me more. I tell them not to tell me what they’re saying. They really think I should know.

Let me ask you a question. This will be good for you because if you come to me with the same approach , then you’ll be ready to talk to me. I’m giving you some coaching. But this person has been talking bad about you. Well, let me ask you a question. What did you say to them when they were talking bad about me? I didn’t know what to say. Well, then if you’re not gonna defend me, why are you telling me about this? Do you want me to go to them and say, ‘Johnny told me that you said such and such about me.’ No, I don’t want you to mention my name. Then, I have nothing that I can do with this because now it’s just gossip. That’s all it is. All I can do now is to feel bad because you told me. I can’t correct it. Please, next time you hear somebody talk bad about me or somebody else in the church, correct them. You’re the one who heard it; you correct them. This is how seeds of strife are planted and grow up. They grow up by being repeated rather than addressed.

Here’s what Jesus said in Matthew 7:15 (NLV) [Jesus speaking] “Watch out for false teachers. They come to you dressed as if they were sheep. On the inside they are hungry wolves.” Paul is saying to watch out for false teachers. They come to you dressed as if they are sheep on the inside but they are hungry wolves. Just watch out for that; watch out for people like that and shun them. Avoid them.

Paul writes this to Titus, Titus 3:10-11 (NLT) 10 “If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them. 11 For people like that have turned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them.” Paul is not saying to shun somebody just because they mess up. Paul is basically saying to give them a warning or to find out if they’ll repent. If you go to the person and say, ‘I feel like that prayer request is really gossip because it’s not your prayer request, it’s something you heard over here and it might not even be true. I feel like we shouldn’t be talking about this.’ If that person really wants to grow in Jesus it’ll probably hurt their feelings that you corrected them , but they’ll repent. They’ll say, ‘You know what? You’re right. I should not have said that. Please forgive me for gossiping. ‘ They will grow. But, if they just break off the relationship with you and then just conveniently decide to join a new small group or a new church or a new whatever, then you’ll know that that person either was not ready to grow or they’re one of those people that Paul is talking about, that Jesus is talking about that. We need to be on the lookout.

Cancer is a terrible disease. My father died of cancer when I was only eight years old. We lost my daddy; it’s a terrible disease. If you look up the word, “cancer,” in the dictionary, it says this, “A disease in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and destroy body tissue.” That’s the definition in the dictionary. What makes cancer so terrible is that, as I’m reading here, cancer cells consist of the patient’s own DNA, so the body can’t tell that it’s cancer. Then, the body’s immune response is limited because the body doesn’t recognize it as an enemy. Then, it takes over the body until it kills the body. That’s what makes cancer so deadly.

Troublemakers and false teachers are like cancer in the body of Christ. We have to watch out for it. Early detection is what Paul is saying. Then, he warned them because maybe they’re not “cancer;” maybe they’re just immature and need to grow up, or, maybe they are and they need to be asked to leave, to be removed. It’s a hard teaching that Paul gives here, right at the end of his letter, but he loves these people in Rome and he’s giving them this guidance.

Chuck Swindoll gives four questions that every church member should be trained to ask. He calls them “truth filters.” Listen to these four, they have to do with what Paul has written here. He says, (1) Does what I’m hearing agree with Scripture? (2) Does what I’m hearing honor my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? (3) Does what I’m hearing help me become more godly? (4) Does what I’m hearing cause me to think more highly of my fellow believers?” If what they’re saying passes through the four truth filters, then you’ve got no problem. But if not, then maybe you should watch out.

This is what Paul is saying, right at the end of his letter, right at the end of his “phone call,” if you will. He’s saying, ‘Hey, by the way, watch out for this, this will divide the body.’

HOW TO APPLY THE GOSPEL TO OUR RELATIONSHIPS:

2. Offer a heartfelt greeting to fellow believers in the Lord.

As we’ve said,Paul had twenty-seven people that he wanted to greet in our reading last week. Those were the people that live in Rome; he named twenty-seven of them. This week, we’re in the latter part. He’s saying now, that these are the people that were with him in Corinth. They might even be sitting here with Paul as he dictates this letter, because what we know is Paul didn’t write this letter with his own hand. He dictated it to a scribe who wrote it. Well, Gary, how do you know that? I’ll explain it to you in verse 22.

Verse 22, “I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.” That’s who wrote this; the scribe was Tertius. Tertius means third, the number three. It’s a slave name because, often, masters would name their slaves – you’re number one, you’re number two, you’re number three… They would just give them a name like that. If you’re looking for names, we have names here for you; if you’ve got so many kids that you just need to number them. We have Tertius here in verse 22.

Then, at the end of verse 23, we have the name Quartus, which means number four. It’s also a a slave name. Tertius was probably a trained scribe. He had really good handwriting. He was trained to do this; he could take dictation and write it now.

Just think about the book of Romans. This letter from Paul was coming from his heart, out of his mouth and through the pen of Tertius. So, as the Holy Spirit would inspire Paul, maybe Paul is just walking around dictating as Tertius is writing. Paul might have said to Tertius, ‘Hey, read that part back to me again. No, that’s not the way the Spirit wants me to say that…’ Then, he gets to this part. I wonder if Tertius was a believer when he started writing this letter. I bet it took a little while to write this letter. Was he a believer at the beginning? Maybe, But what if he was just like a guy that Paul hired in Corinth? I believe that by the end of the letter, he was a believer. He’d been writing down every detail of the Gospel for several chapters. Maybe, Paul says to Tertius, ‘Why don’t you sign your name at the end too?’ Say “hello” to Tertius, who wrote this letter. I greet him in the Lord. We know he’s in the Lord. We know he’s a believer because he said he signs it, “in the Lord.”

Of course, we have Timothy in verse 21. He says, “Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you;” There’s not a higher praise that Paul could give to someone than to say, ‘he’s my fellow worker. He’s my coworker.’

Paul reminds me of my Papa; all he knew was hard work. He would say to me, “I tell you what, Gary, if a man doesn’t work, I don’t have much respect for him.” That was my grandfather. I grew up spending summers on the farm with him. He wouldn’t really respect someone unless they worked hard. Paul, it seems to me, was kind of like that. He gives Timothy that description – he’s my fellow worker.

We know that Paul wrote two letters to Timothy; he wrote first Timothy and second Timothy. In 1 Timothy 1:2 , he calls him, “My true child in the faith.” In 2 Timothy 1:3 he calls him “My beloved son.” Oh , there was no one like Timothy in Paul’s world. He loved Timothy like his own spiritual son.

Then he names three guys, Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, his kinsmen. Kinsmen probably meant that they were Jewish. They’re hanging out in Paul’s presence there. They’re all there at Gaius’s house. If you look at verse 23 I think they’re all hanging out at Gaius’s house. Paul doesn’t own a house.

Paul didn’t own anything except the shirt on his back. He travels from city to city and depends upon the hospitality of others. He owns some books, some letters and some writing tools. And he owns an outer cloak. We know these things because he asked for Timothy to bring them to him when he was imprisoned. He didn’t own a house.

Here they are, all hanging out with Paul. In verse 23, he says, “Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church…” This is Gaius of Corinth; someone that Paul led to Jesus and actually baptized him. Paul only baptized two people in Corinth. We know this, because he says it in 1 Corinthians 1:14 (ESV) “I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius.”

That is unusual; it’s because he was upset at those Corinthians for their divisions. There were some trouble makers that got into that church. Maybe that’s why he’s warning the church in Rome about it. Some of them said, ‘I’m a follower of Paul’ and another group said, ‘Well, I’m a follower of Apollos.’ And these were both men of God preaching in Corinth. The people started saying, ‘Well, I’m going to start a new denomination called the Paul denomination’ and another group started saying, ‘Well, I’m going to start a new denomination called the Apollos denomination.’ They got into an argument and they forgot that they were brothers and sisters in Christ through Jesus Christ. Paul got upset about it. He says, ‘I’m glad that the only two people I remember baptizing among you is Crispus and Gaius. Stop using me as a way of getting in arguments with each other. Besides,what I “planted,” Apollos “watered” and God gave the increase. Stop arguing about this kind of stuff. It’s the mark of your immaturity.’

Here we see that Gaius is not only Paul’s host, but the church meets at his house. Look at verse 23, “Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church…” He’s a “small group leader;” a church meets at his house. They’re all hanging out there. I think Paul wrote this letter in the home of Gaius with Tertius writing it down for him. That’s beautiful, isn’t it? That’s like a family.

Then he says, continuing in verse 23, “Erastus, the city treasurer and our brother Quartus, greet you.” Erastus, the city treasurer, greets you. I, especially, am drawn to that name because I’ve been to the ancient ruins of the city of Corinth. Because I’ve been there, I took pictures. You know what I have to do now, right? I have to show you the photo I took, so here it is. This is a paver on a street that was built in the first century. It’s 2000 years ago. They discovered this paver – there’s Erastus in Latin. It goes on, in Latin, to say that this is Erastus, the treasurer or the city magistrate, who paid out of his own pocket for this street. This was a common practice in Rome during those days, that a prominent person, a person of means, would be a patron who would pay for a certain section of the street and then, they would get a big paver. This one is seven ft. long. You can’t tell from the photo. I tried to take a photo with perspective but I couldn’t get a good photo. Every time I tried to take a photo, this dog kept laying down on that paver. Also, the tour guide kept saying, “Come on, Gary. You’re holding us up. We need to go to the next site.” So, I’m quickly trying to get a good picture of this Erastus paver. You know why I show you things like this. It’s because the bible describes real people in real places. This stuff really happened. It’s not mythology, this is real history and this person, Erastus, was the city magistrate that paid for the section of the street at his own expense. That’s what the paver says.

Not only that, Paul talks about him being a helper in the book of Acts. We see this in Acts 19:22 (ESV) “And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.” I think that Erastus has now retired from being a magistrate. He’s a man of means and he becomes someone that travels around and helps Paul. This is a beautiful story. These names are real people. Paul is saying now that they’re the ones with me at Gaius’s house and they send their greetings.

It’s kind of like when you’re sitting at home sometimes and you’ve got your spouse and your kids and you’re talking to grandma, ‘Oh, by the way, little Susie says hello to you. Say hello little Suzy, to grandma.’ It’s like that; that’s what’s going on right here. Paul might have said, ‘Hey, Tertius, you have written down every word I have said. Now, why don’t you say hello to them?’ “I Tertius greet you in the name of the Lord.” That’s what this is right here. It’s family, its relationship and it’s how we greet one another and how we do it in the Lord.

Remember last week, I told you that span class=”messageTimecode” title=”Play the video starting here” data-timecode=”2027.87″>this is a command that Paul gives us, but be careful about it, because it might not go over as well as it did in the first century, with greeting one another with a holy kiss. I suggested last week, maybe we should just greet one another with a “holy fist bump.” The idea being that you greet one another like family.

I’ve been to the Middle East and I know the practice of the Middle East. It depends on the part of the Middle East– some give one kiss and some it’s a double kiss. When I first went to Amman, Jordan, back in 2005, I was there to visit some missionaries. I was greeted by someone; Jordan is known for the triple kiss. By the way, the men don’t actually touch and I didn’t know that they kiss in the air; it’s a triple kiss. If you don’t know which side they’re going to start on, that’s a problem because you can break a tooth off trying to figure out how to move. I found it’s just better just to hold your face still and let them do the triple kiss thing. It’s too confusing.

Romans 16:16 (ESV) says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” This is not a lustful thing. This is not a wrong thing. This is a family thing. Sometimes in my family, we have people over to our house. Maybe they’re from the north or from some other part of the world. From the north is not like that’s some other part of the world. I didn’t mean it like that, but anyway, I apologize to those of you that are above the Mason Dixon line. We’re huggers from the south; we’re huggers . We greet one another with a holy hug. Some people might say, ‘I don’t do hugs.’ Okay, well, if you are family, learn to treat one another like family. Greet one another with a holy kiss or with a holy hug or with a holy fist bump. Treat one another like family.

Don’t skip over the names when you read the bible. These are real people and we’ll see him someday in heaven. You will get to say hello to Erastus, Quartus, Tertius, Gaius and Timothy.

HOW TO APPLY THE GOSPEL TO OUR RELATIONSHIPS:

3. Give God the glory for the gospel through Jesus Christ!

We’re right at the end of this letter. We have just a couple more verses to go. Are you ready to wrap it up? He’s been talking about the Gospel for sixteen chapters. He’s let everybody say hello to each other and he’s given some final warnings. Now he does this doxology, this giving God the glory. The word, “doxology,” is a big word that describes what it means to give God the glory. “Doxa” means “glory” in Greek; “ology” means the word. So “doxology” means a “word of glory.” That’s what he’s doing here.

If you look at verse 27, he says, “to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” These final verses, 25 through 27, are a doxology. He does something amazing here. He takes all the threads of everything he’s written in Romans and he pulls it all together in this doxology, in summary fashion. Instead of just listing it, like a summary, he offers it up to the Lord as a doxology; as a glory to God.

He does it with three “according to” statements. You’ll see them there – according to the Gospel, according to the revelation and according to the command. He asks for three means by which God will strengthen us.

I would remind you how the book began. It says in Romans 1:16-17 (ESV) 16 “For I am 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. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” His theme for the whole book is in the first chapter. What he reveals to you is this Gospel and that you can be made right with God. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Jew or a Greek, you can be made right with God.

Now, Paul begins to close and pull all of the threads together. He says, in verse 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.” This is the second attribute he’s mentioned here. Of God earlier, he said the “God of peace;” that’s an attribute of God. Here, he says “to him who is able;” the Greek word underneath is “dunamis,” which is where we get the words “dynamite” and “dynamic.” God has power like dynamite.

He’s able to strengthen you, but how is He going to strengthen you? He’s going to strengthen you according to my gospel. If you think about it, that’s how Paul starts in Romans. In Romans one through eight, it’s all about the Gospel; he’s describing the good news. It’s the doctrine of the Gospel. It is according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

Now, are you bothered that Paul says it’s “his” gospel? Think about it for a second. He’s not claiming authorship, he’s just claiming ownership. Think about that. He says it was according to the preaching of Jesus. Do you see that? It’s not his gospel; he didn’t author it. It was revealed to him, but he owns it. He made it his own.

Have you made the Good News yours? Everyone of us in this room, I pray, before leaving today, if you haven’t already, you’re able to say ‘It’s my gospel. It’s my good news. I’ve made it mine because I’ve said “yes” to it.’ Paul says, “according to my Gospel, I want you to be strengthened.” I want God to strengthen you with His dynamic power, according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus. So that, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, you’re empowered by the gospel. It has become yours as well; you’re forgiven by faith in Jesus. He has counted your sins upon Jesus. He died on the cross for your sins, so that now sin is no longer accounted to you, but righteousness is now accounted to you because you’ve said “yes” to Jesus. I pray that God makes you able and He strengthens you through that. Paul talked about this for eight chapters.

Here, Paul is summarizing, in the form of a doxology. He says, in verse 25, “…according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages.” Now, when the bible uses the word, “mystery,” it’s not like a mystery book, a mystery novel or a mystery movie where, the whole time, you’re trying to guess ‘who did it?’ and maybe you’ll get it right. Maybe you hit “pause” and you turn to your spouse and say, ‘I think it’s him, I think he did it.’ No, it’s not that kind of mystery. It’s a secret that no one could discover unless God reveals it.

When the bible uses mystery here, it’s a secret. He says it like that. Paul says,”according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed.” What’s the secret? That Jesus, when He died on the cross and became the Savior, He would be the Savior of the whole world. Jew and Gentile would be one in Christ when they believe. The prophets didn’t see that one coming; it was kept from them. Paul talks about that for three or four chapters in the middle of the book, chapters 9 to 11. He’s talking about Israel, the Greeks and the Gentiles and how the gospel works. There he is; he’s summarizing here in this doxology, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations.

Paul has one more “according to”- according to the command of the eternal God. What’s God’s command? What’s given to us through His son, Jesus? The commandment is this– that we should “go therefore and make disciples of all nations” so that everyone is able to hear the gospel. Paul is summarizing this.

Then, chapters 12 through 15 are the “prescription” of of how to carry the gospel and and how to apply it to our own lives. Paul’s summarizing it in this beautiful doxology. It’s amazing. It’s like the “magnum opus” of the books of the Bible. The Holy Spirit has inspired Paul to write this beautiful piece that we have in our hands today; to study and to reflect upon it.

He finishes. He can’t just say in conclusion; no. He has to say, “glory to God.” He has to recognize that everything that I’ve told Tertius to write down, You have told me to say. It’s all from You. He has to finish. He can’t finish any other way. He can’t just put a “P.S.” at the end of this letter. No; he’s got to finish with a “glory to God,” at the end of this letter, “to the only wise God.”

We see another attribute of God named here, “be glory forevermore.” What is glory? It’s that which can be made known. You see, the Gospel isits goal. It’s for you to be made right with God. The gospel has a goal, it’s that you would be made right with God. It has an even greater goal, as well, that having been made right with God you would give glory to God.

I always try to get my mind around, ‘What is glory?’ It’s that which can be, it’s that which is revealed about God. You can’t look at the sun because if you do you’ll go blind; you can’t look directly at it. So you look at it with your peripheral vision. What you see is the glory of the sun; you see the spectrum of light. You see the light. You can’t look directly at it, but you can see what it reveals. It’s the glory of the sun.

The bible talks about how the glory of man is woman. I think it hints at beauty at that point, that the beauty of man is a woman, that He did this intentionally. She’s the glory of man. The church is the glory of Christ. We’re to be those that give glory and praise to the Lord because of the Gospel through Jesus Christ. We are to be the beautiful bride of Christ. The glory of God–this is the goal of the Gospel and he closes with the doxology.

I was brought up in a church, where when the deacons brought the offering plates, after they had collected the offering, they would bring it back up to the Lord’s table at the front of the church. As we would see them walking down with the plates stacked, we would automatically stand. No one told us to do this. The music minister never stood up and said, ‘Now let us stand.’ There were no words on the screen because there was no screen. We understood. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost . Amen. We would give glory to God for our ability to make an offering. It’s good to give glory to God.

This week is thanksgiving. When we give God thanks for our many blessings, we give God glory. Don’t forget to give a hug and tell each other how much you love each other. Tell as many people as you can because you never know if you’ll see them tomorrow. Always tell them you love them. Follow Godly guidance, give glory to God for Jesus and for the Gospel.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. Thank you for this amazing book of Romans, for in it we see the Gospel, the good news, that Jesus saves. I pray for that person in my hearing right now. Maybe you’re watching online right now, or maybe you’re seated here in front of me. You might be in the venue next door in our Gathering Place. Wherever you are right now, you can do business with God. He can hear you. He knows what you’re thinking and what you’re feeling. Would you pray to Him right now? If you’ve never given your life to Jesus, I invite you to do it right now. All you have to do is decide to follow Him. He’s already done all that’s necessary to make you right with the Father. You could pray like this: “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner, but I believe You died on the cross for my sin, that You were raised from the grave on the third day and that You live today. I believe that with all my heart. Come into my life, forgive me of my sin, make me a child of God. I want to follow You as my Lord and my Savior.” If you’re praying that prayer, believing in your heart, then He will save you. He’ll make you a child of God. This is God’s righteousness, revealed through the gospel of Jesus. You can accept it right now and be made right. Others are here and you’ve already made the decision to follow Jesus, but would you hear what we heard today from the Holy Spirit? Be careful, be on watch for those who want to divide. If you’ve had trouble with that, if you look at yourself today and say, ‘I need to be corrected, I need to repent.’ Then do it right now in prayer. Say, “Lord, forgive me for those places where I’ve gossiped or caused division. Help me to repent of that and to turn everything over to You in my life. I want to be one who loves the other in the Lord, as you have taught us. O Lord, we give you all the glory now and all the praise. In Jesus’ name. Amen