06/05/11  Sermon:
“Hold On to Jesus’ Teaching!”
( Romans 16:1-27 )
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     Today is the LAST sermon in my sermon series on the Book of Romans.  What a trip this has been!  In fact, the title for this sermon series is:  The Romans Roadmap

     You see, The Book of Romans is like a map that shows you how to travel from the very beginning of The Book of Genesis all the way through the end of The Book of Revelation – helping you understand how all the teachings of Scripture are connected and unified around the Person and Work of God’s Son, Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

     The text for today’s Sermon is Romans chapter 16 – the last chapter in the Book of Romans.  In verses 1-16 and 21-24 Paul asks the Christians in Rome to greet various people on his behalf and he, in turn, sends them greetings from other people – and all these people are fellow Christians who hold to Jesus’ teaching. 

     With that said, today’s sermon will focus on Romans 16:17-18, which reads:  “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.  Keep away from them.  For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.  By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naïve people.”  
     
     If I could sum up these words in a simple way I would use today’s sermon title, which is:  “Hold On to Jesus’ Teaching.”  Paul is reminding us that his words are Jesus’ words because Paul and the other Apostles have passed on to us the teaching that Jesus entrusted to them.  Therefore, when we hold on to the inspired and inerrant words of Holy Scripture we are thereby holding on to Jesus’ teaching.

     Now, what is the central message of Jesus’ teaching?  Obviously, Jesus teaches us many things in Holy Scripture.  But the primary teaching of Jesus is about WHO He is and WHAT He has done for us.  In other words, the very heart and center of the Christian faith is summed up with two points: 1) Jesus is the eternal Son of the Father, that is, Jesus is God is human flesh, and 2) Jesus took on human flesh to save His enemies from the eternal damnation they deserve by taking their sin upon Himself and suffering damnation in their place upon the cross and then conquering death for them by His own physical resurrection from the dead.

     

     Regarding point #1, WHO Jesus is, Paul writes about this at the very beginning of Romans chapter 1.  Listen:  “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God – the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead:  Jesus Christ our Lord.”

     Did you hear what Paul said?  The Old Testament Scriptures point ahead to Jesus who is fully HUMAN because He is a descendant of King David.  God had promised that the Savior of the world would come from King David’s family line, and the Virgin Mary was a descendant of King David.  Therefore, as a human, Jesus was called the Son of David.

     However, Paul also teaches us that the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus’ resurrection as evidence that Jesus is also the eternal Son of the Father.  Therefore, Jesus is not merely one religious teacher among many.  Jesus is totally unique!  Jesus is God in human flesh!

     Now, regarding point #2, WHAT Jesus did for us, Paul sums this up in Romans chapter 3 where he writes the following:  “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood.”

     Again, did you hear what Paul said?  We sinners who deserve nothing but death and eternal damnation can be saved through faith in God’s Son who suffered death and damnation in our place when He died on the cross for us.

     Of course, many people today wonder why we humans are sinners if God created this world.  Why would God create a world full of sinners?  The simple answer to that question is:  “He didn’t!”  God created Adam and Eve perfect and without sin.  

     But all that changed when the devil tempted Adam and Eve to reject God and decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong – and their sinful nature was passed on to every human descended from them.  Paul writes about this in Romans chapter 5.  Listen:  “…sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…”

     So, what is the evidence that we are sinners?  Simple.  We all DIE!  You see, contrary to what some people teach, death is NOT  natural.  When God created Adam and Eve He intended that they and all their descendants would live forever in God’s love.  Death was not part of God’s original creation.  But our sin against God changes all that.  God allows us to face suffering and eventually physical death to get our attention and show us that something is wrong – and what is wrong is our rebellion against God.
     But the good news is that God loved His enemies so much that He sent His One and Only Son into this world to suffer the damnation we deserve and to conquer death for us so that through faith in Him we sinners might receive forgiveness and the hope of the resurrection and eternal life with God in the New Creation He will make for us on the Final Day when Christ returns in glory.

     Now, having said all that, we must remember that the devil has not stopped lying to us.  The same devil who tempted Adam and Eve continues to lie to people today in the hope that we will doubt God’s Word and decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong.  

     This reminds me of what Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11.  Listen closely to these words because they apply very well to our world today:  “I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.  But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.  For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

     My friends, Paul was grieving the fact that the devil is constantly tempting us to let go of the teaching of the TRUE Jesus given to us in Holy Scripture and instead cling to a false teaching from a false Jesus proclaimed by false apostles.  Paul writes about this later on in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11.  Listen:  “…such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.” 

     Now we’re ready to get back to today’s reading where Paul writes:  “…watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.  Keep away from them.”  

     Please understand.  Paul is NOT asking us to keep away from people who don’t know the truth of God’s Word or who have been misled by false teaching.  We must reach out to such people and speak God’s Truth in love to them.  How else will they be rescued from the lies of the devil?

     Therefore, when Paul says “Keep away from them.” he means that we should not tolerate or affirm the error of false teachers who lead people away from the teaching of Christ.  We should not allow them to teach or preach in the Church of Christ.  Instead, we should rebuke their false teaching and not allow them to lead God’s people astray.

     That leads to a question:  “HOW do false teachers lead us away from Christ’s teaching?”  Obviously, I don’t have near enough time to discuss all the various lies and false religions the devil uses to lead us away from Christ.  Therefore, I will sum up all the devil’s lies by placing them all into one of two categories of false teaching that Paul deals with in the Book of Romans.  These two categories of false teaching are:  1)  Licentiousness   and  2)  Legalism.

     First I will deal with the false teaching known as LICENTIOUSNESS.  Simply put, licentiousness means that people ignore what God’s Word says about the sin in their lives.  Instead, they affirm their sin as something good and do not fear God’s wrath for their sin.  For example, listen to these words from the Book of Jude:  “I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.  For certain men … have secretly slipped in among you.  They are godless men, who change the grace of God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

     Why is licentiousness such an evil lie?  Because it keeps people from receiving the forgiveness Jesus won for their sins.  If we affirm the sins God’s Word exposes in our lies, we thereby reject the forgiveness Christ wants to give us for those sins.  John writes about this in his first Epistle.  Listen:  “If we claim we have not sinned, we make [God] out to be a liar, and his word has no place in our lives.”

     With that understood, listen to what Paul writes about licentiousness in Romans chapter 1.  He writes:  “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness … for although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened … Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another … They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

     Now, there’s a lot there.  So, allow me to sum it up.  Simply put, Paul is here speaking of people who could care less what God’s Word says about their sin.  In other words, they refuse to repent!  This is important, because as I read this list of various sin I’m sure you heard several sins that you struggle with yourselves.

     You see, as I’ve taught you on many occasions, being a Christian does not mean that you don’t struggle with sinful desires or that you don’t fall into sinful behavior during moments of weakness.  All Christians struggle with sinful desires and behaviors – and that includes your pastor.  

     But as Christians we agree with God when His Word condemns our sins, and so we feel guilt over the sins in our lives, repent of them, and trust in Jesus for forgiveness and the strength to live according to God’s will for our lives.

     However, the devil’s lie of licentious tempts us to affirm the very sins that God’s Word condemns.  When we do this we are guilty of arrogant unbelief and we thereby deny the forgiveness Christ longs to give us.  That is why we must do all we can to rescue people who have been misled by the lie of licentiousness.

     There’s one other thing I must say about this text.  You probably noticed that Paul starts out with the sin of homosexual desire and behavior.  Why does Paul do this?  Well, as some of you know, I deal with this text extensively in my recently published book.

     Simply put, Paul is NOT teaching that homosexual desire or behavior is worse than other sins or much less the unforgivable sin.  In fact, I have good friends who struggle with homosexual desires.  Some of them are pastors in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.  Three of these pastors wrote anonymous testimonies for my book.  One of them is single; one is recently engaged; and one is married and has several children – but they all have the sin of homosexuality in common.

     However, they agree with God that homosexual desire and behavior is sinful.  They trust in Jesus for forgiveness and, by God’s grace, they strive to live a sexually pure life – and a sexually pure life means that sex is reserved for ONE man and ONE woman within the context of marriage.  All other sexual behavior is condemned by God as sin.  

     Therefore, a man and a woman who have sex outside of marriage are just as sinful as two men or two women who practice homosexuality.
In fact, I hope you noticed that Paul lists numerous sins in this text and every single one of them can lead us to hell if we reject God’s condemnation of them by affirming them.

     But then why does Paul single out homosexuality?  Simply put, Paul uses homosexuality as an example of how the devil tempts us to engage in behavior that is so obviously contrary to God’s will for our lives.  In Genesis we see that God created Adam and Eve as male and female, and gave them to each other in marriage.  Human anatomy shows that men and women are sexually compatible, but two men and two women are NOT.  Paul is showing us how the devil tempts us to deny the obvious in order to justify our sinful behaviors.
     With that said, I would now like to address the false teaching known as LEGALISM.  What is legalism?  Simply put, legalism is the false teaching that we don’t need to trust in Jesus alone for salvation from sin and death because we can earn forgiveness and eternal life from God by our obedience.

     In many ways, legalism is an even more sneaky lie of the devil than licentiousness.  Why?  Because people who are deceived by the lie of legalism are often very good people who do their best to live moral and ethical lives.  Some of them do their best to live according to God’s 10 Commandments.

     However, if you ask such people why they hope to be forgiven and live forever with God, they will say:  “Well, I’ve done my best to live a good life.  Oh, sure, I’ve done some sinful things, but I’m a much better person than other people I know.  In fact, my good deeds far outweigh my sinful deeds.  Why wouldn’t God have mercy on me?  I’m a good person all in all.”   My friends, in my 48 years of life I’ve met so many people who are deceived by this lie – and some of them even claim to be Christians!

     If you read Romans chapter 2 Paul rebukes those who believe the lie of legalism.  Paul humbles them and reminds them that no matter how good they think they are, they have not done enough good things to make up for even 1 sin!  In fact, if we do good things in order to earn mercy from God, then our motivation for doing those good things is sinful in and of itself!

     Even though people deceived by legalism are often willing to believe what God’s Word says about their sin, they are NOT willing to believe what God’s says about salvation coming through faith in Jesus ALONE!  

     Those deceived by legalism trust in their own works and goodness instead of Jesus who died in the place of all sinners.  Those deceived by the lie of legalism think God gave us the 10 Commandments so that by obeying them we could earn His mercy.  They fail to see that God gave the 10 Commandments to show us our sin and our need for Jesus.

     My friends, if it were not for the teaching of Jesus, we, too, would be deceived and enslaved by the lies of licentiousness and legalism.  We are no better than anyone else.  Therefore, we must thank God every day that He has used others to proclaim the truth of Jesus’ teaching to us with the result that the Holy Spirit has moved us to confess our sins and trust in Jesus alone for forgiveness and the strength to live according to God’s loving plan for our lives.

     In the same way, just as God has used Paul and others to proclaim the teaching of Jesus to us, God plans to use us to proclaim the teaching of Jesus to others so that they, too, might be rescued from the lies of licentiousness and legalism and be saved.
     My friends, the primary reason it is so important for you to hold on to the teaching of Jesus is that the teaching of Jesus is your only hope – and what a wonderful and glorious hope it is!

     It doesn’t matter who you are or how many sins you’ve done or how many lies of the devil you have believed – you can come to God every day with all your sins and know that He will receive you in mercy and love because of His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life in your place, died on the cross in your place of damnation, conquered death for you by His resurrection, and who will return for you on the Final Day to raise your body from the dust of the ground and give you eternal life with God in His New Creation – a world without sin, pain or death, as God intended “In the beginning.”  This is your hope if you who trust in Jesus’ teaching.

     In closing, please hear and take to heart these comforting words of God written by the Apostle Paul:  “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ … revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him – to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ!  Amen.”