00:01: In 1997, there was a new company formed that had decided they wanted to challenge the industry leader for home video viewing.
00:14: I remember as a kid going to the video store with my dad, there was this no-name company that had converted a house into a video store.
00:22: And so you go from room to room and they had all these racks with videos.
00:26: And eventually, we didn't have it in my town, but most towns ended up with something called a Blockbuster.
00:32: Do you guys remember these?
00:35: Blockbuster video stores.
00:37: Well, in 1997, a little company started and said, we want to take a bite out of Blockbuster's market share.
00:44: A company you may have heard of them called Netflix.
00:48: And they had this idea, instead of making people go to the store to rent a movie, what if we mail it to them and then they can mail it back whenever it's convenient for them?
01:00: No late fees, just mail.
01:02: It'll come right to your door.
01:03: The invention of DVDs allowed for this in a way that video cassettes had not.
01:09: And year by year, they closed in and gobbled up more and more of Blockbuster's market share.
01:17: And then in 2007, something else changed.
01:23: High-speed internet became commonplace.
01:28: Many, many folks, most folks in fact, had access to high-speed internet.
01:33: The internet used to be really slow.
01:34: Do you guys remember that era?
01:36: And you'd have to intentionally make your computer connect.
01:39: It wasn't connected all the time.
01:41: And it would make obnoxious sounds as it was dialing on.
01:45: And then you'd wait for the web page to load.
01:48: You couldn't watch videos hardly at all.
01:50: You certainly couldn't watch a movie.
01:51: But as high-speed internet arrived, Netflix said, let's not only mail DVDs, let's let people watch it right away.
02:01: They want a movie, they can watch it right then and there at their home streaming over the internet.
02:08: And at that point, when Netflix shifted to online movie streaming, they won the war against Blockbuster.
02:19: The end was written for Blockbuster at that point.
02:22: By the time Blockbuster had any idea how badly they'd been beaten, it was too late to regain their footing.
02:28: And by 2014, all company-owned Blockbusters closed.
02:34: There's still technically one Blockbuster opened, not by a company, but by an individual out in Oregon.
02:40: But they mostly get their money by selling merch to baby boomers and other folks that are just hungry for nostalgia.
02:47: The war was won before the battles stopped.
02:52: There was still some stuff that needed to play out, even though the writing was on the wall.
02:59: The Christian life is lived between 2007 and 2014.
03:06: Between that moment when the battle has been won and when the fighting stops.
03:11: We live between the victory of Jesus at the cross and His final return when He sets all things right.
03:20: We live in that era of in-between where the war has been won.
03:27: Christ has done everything necessary to guarantee the salvation of all trust in Him.
03:31: To ensure that Satan is going to end up in hell.
03:35: To ensure that everything God has purposed will come to pass.
03:41: And yet, it's still unfolding.
03:45: The implications are still being day by day, year by year, lived out and expressed.
03:54: There is nothing that you or I need to do as believers in Jesus to ensure that Jesus wins.
04:01: And not just Jesus Himself, but team Jesus, Christianity, the believers across time.
04:08: There's nothing that we bring to the table, nothing that we must do to make sure that God's purposes in redemption are brought to their full and final fruition.
04:18: The last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation, the message of that book is primarily this.
04:24: Persevere, Christians.
04:26: Keep following and trusting Jesus because the end is sure and certain and Jesus will prevail.
04:36: The end has been written already.
04:42: That's the place in which we find ourselves today.
04:45: We don't yet see everything that Jesus has died to purchase lived out.
04:50: We don't yet see the enemy fully defeated.
04:53: We yet see opposition to God and God's people.
04:56: But we can live in light of the ending and we already know it.
05:03: Last week we were in Romans, two weeks ago we were in Romans chapter 16 verses 17 and 18.
05:10: And it leads into where we're going this week.
05:13: We saw in verses 17 and 18 the following.
05:15: 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.
05:26: Avoid them.
05:27: For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites.
05:32: And by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
05:36: So Paul there is warning these believers in the city of Rome, watch out.
05:40: Now specifically keep your eyes peeled for these kind of people.
05:43: Those who cause divisions.
05:45: People who are dividers in the context of the church.
05:48: And those who create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught.
05:53: He's saying you've got to keep believing what you've been taught to believe.
05:57: The New Testament apostolic message.
05:59: You've got to stick with that.
06:01: And people that try to lead you away from that are the dividers that you need to watch out for.
06:05: And then he goes so far as to say avoid those kinds of people.
06:09: That is watch out for people that create division by contradicting biblical teaching.
06:16: And in the service of preserving unity in the church divide from such people.
06:22: You've got to separate Christians from those who cause division by teaching different than what God taught through the apostles.
06:30: There is a sense in which disunity is required for the sake of unity.
06:37: If we had a group of folks come in on some Sunday and said, Hey, we want to join Faith Chapel.
06:41: We want to be part of this church.
06:42: And we think church should be all about basketball.
06:45: Well, that might be fun.
06:47: But we'd have to say, No, that's not what we're about.
06:50: That's not who we are.
06:51: That's not the centerpiece of what binds us together.
06:54: And so we'd have to say, No, we can't join with you in that.
06:57: That's not right.
06:59: The church in Rome then, the church today in all places and all times, must be alert to and ready to take action against those within the church who would mislead in order to get us to go in the direction that gets them what they want.
07:16: Notice in verse 18, he says that they're not serving Jesus in this.
07:19: Rather, they're serving their appetites.
07:22: They're doing what they're doing to get what they want.
07:25: They want this.
07:26: They have an appetite for this, whatever that thing is.
07:28: And so they're going in that direction to get their way.
07:31: How many of you have ever been tempted along that route or have done so yourself?
07:36: You really want this.
07:37: And so you find a way to justify it.
07:39: Oh, yeah, here's how I can explain that.
07:41: That's okay.
07:42: You know better.
07:43: We've all been there.
07:44: We've all done that.
07:45: But when we start talking about doing that with doctrine, it's a big deal.
07:49: I think we're seeing some of that in our congregation's present situation with our denomination.
07:59: And I rejoice that this church is on board with standing firm on the matters that our denomination has begun to compromise on.
08:08: Standing firm on the doctrine that has prevailed for 2,000 years of church history across denominational lines.
08:15: And that is plenty clear in God's word.
08:20: I say that partly as an encouragement, partly because I see Paul doing the same thing here.
08:25: In verse 19, Paul says, For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you.
08:33: But I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
08:37: Paul didn't plant this church.
08:38: He didn't have personal relationship with most of the folks in this church.
08:44: And yet, their reputation had reached far and wide.
08:48: They were known as a church that was faithful to Jesus.
08:51: Specifically, the language he uses is that of obedience.
08:54: Not obedience to Paul.
08:56: This is the first time that he's directly written them that we know of.
08:59: Rather, their obedience was to Jesus.
09:02: And he's saying, I love that you guys are sticking with Jesus.
09:04: That the truth that you were taught is exactly where you're staying.
09:09: You're staying put there and you're not shifting from it.
09:11: I love that.
09:12: I rejoice over that.
09:15: That's the right thing.
09:17: We want to be like that, don't we?
09:20: I read that and I think, I want to stand firm there.
09:23: Here at Faith Chapel, we say that our mission is for every believer to become, make, mature, and multiply, fully surrendered disciples of Jesus Christ.
09:33: There ought to be no part of our lives that we say is off limits to Jesus.
09:38: No part of our lives where, if we're honest and call a spade a spade, we're trying to say, well, I don't really want to do what you want here, Jesus.
09:45: I want to make my life easier or get my own way in this peace.
09:50: Fully surrendered means we say yes to Jesus every time in every way and no to our flesh.
09:58: No to that part of us that wants our own way.
10:01: Not our physical body, though it can include that.
10:04: But no to thinking we know better than God.
10:08: No to doing what comes most naturally as we give in to whatever tempts us in the moment.
10:17: Final marching orders that Jesus gave the church are called the Great Commission.
10:21: And in there, he talks about making disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded.
10:34: We are missing the mark if we are not teaching Christians to obey Jesus.
10:41: And we are missing the mark if we ourselves are not growing in our obedience to Jesus.
10:46: Obeying, following, staying faithful to Jesus, including doctrine, is non-negotiable.
10:53: It's non-negotiable.
10:54: I remember as a baby Christian at a Christian college, I had a fellow I was introduced to who was going to be leading a small group.
11:04: He was going to be discipling some freshman fellows.
11:07: And as he described this opportunity, well, we'd meet weekly and we'd be reading this and we'd be doing our Bible reading and so on.
11:15: He said something that scared the daylights out of me.
11:18: He said, I expect obedience.
11:20: I don't think anybody of my parents had ever said anything remotely like that.
11:25: But he said it differently.
11:27: He didn't say, I expect obedience to me.
11:31: He said, I expect obedience to Jesus.
11:34: I expect that if you're in this, we're going to follow Jesus together.
11:38: And as much as you understand about what God desires for you, you're going to say yes to that.
11:42: And you're going to follow Jesus in obedience.
11:46: It's kind of scary to hear that, but I thought, I can't find anything wrong with that.
11:50: I'm supposed to follow Jesus.
11:51: I'm supposed to obey Jesus.
11:53: He's expecting me to do what the Bible tells me I'm supposed to do.
11:56: So I guess this is okay.
11:59: And it turned out it was one of the best choices I've ever made in my life to go ahead and dig in that way.
12:05: Paul says, your obedience is known to all so that I rejoice over you.
12:12: Then he goes a little further.
12:13: He says, but, it's not like it's over and done with.
12:17: He says, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
12:25: Wise as to what is good.
12:26: I want you to get this.
12:28: I want you to understand this.
12:29: I want you to understand and live out that which is good.
12:33: But I want you to be innocent on evil stuff.
12:35: I don't want you to have that in your resume.
12:40: I think really he's saying the same thing that Jesus did in Matthew 10, 16.
12:44: Jesus said to his disciples, behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
12:48: So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
12:56: I read something about this and it made me wonder how different paraphrases capture that.
13:01: So I looked up a number of different paraphrases and then I landed on the Phillips paraphrase of this.
13:06: And I thought, that, that nails it.
13:08: The Phillips paraphrase of verse 19 reads, I want you, I want to see you experts in good, but not even beginners in evil.
13:21: Isn't that where we want to be?
13:22: Isn't that what you want of yourself and your spouse and your children and your parents and grandparents and grandchildren?
13:30: You want to be experts in good and not even beginners in evil.
13:38: That's Paul's heart.
13:40: He's saying, yes, you're obeying Jesus.
13:41: Yes, you're being faithful.
13:42: Yes, keep at that.
13:43: But don't start playing around with the stuff that you shouldn't be.
13:47: Don't even begin to go down that road.
13:51: As I've raised my children, I've given instruction to them on various things.
13:55: And some of the things that we've talked about, I've said, don't even sample this.
14:00: Don't even begin to try that out and go down that road because it will mess you up.
14:06: It will have long-term lasting effects.
14:09: Don't even, don't even begin to think about thinking about going there.
14:15: It's Paul's heart here to the church.
14:17: It says, don't, don't even begin to think about setting foot in that direction.
14:21: He is serious about Christians living well for God and serious about not even toying around with the wrong stuff.
14:30: This isn't just Paul.
14:32: I think about, and not just here, I think about Paul's writing to the church in Ephesus, chapter 5, verse 3.
14:37: He says to them, but among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity or of greed because these are improper for God's holy people.
14:49: Not even a hint.
14:49: Not even like, well, you know, everyone's got a little bit.
14:53: No, he's like, not even a hint of it.
14:56: Matthew chapter 5, Jesus talking.
14:59: Verses 29 and 30, he says to his followers, If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
15:05: For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
15:10: And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
15:14: For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
15:18: Jesus meant that, but he didn't mean it.
15:21: Now, he didn't mean it literally because gouging out your eye or cutting off your hand doesn't keep you from sinning.
15:29: Right?
15:29: That wouldn't actually keep you from sinning and ending up in hell.
15:32: But he very much meant it in the figurative sense.
15:35: He meant be deadly serious about having nothing to do with sin.
15:40: Be as committed as you can imagine being to have nothing to do with sinfulness.
15:47: You don't go down that road even a little bit.
15:50: That is 100% off limits.
15:53: I became a Christian in the latter part of the mid-90s thereabouts.
16:01: And this was kind of a fun era for me.
16:04: I was figuring out who I was as an individual.
16:07: And I encountered the gospel.
16:09: And I became a Christian.
16:11: And I bought my own computer for the first time.
16:15: I had my own computer.
16:16: And I could get on the internet.
16:18: And I came across this Christian creed or declaration called the Fellowship of the Unashamed.
16:29: And it just resonated with me.
16:32: Brand new baby Christian.
16:33: And I came across this because this brand new cool thing called the internet was out there.
16:37: And I want to share it with you.
16:39: Different folks have attributed its authorship variously.
16:44: Often it's attributed to some unnamed pastor or missionary in Africa.
16:47: But nobody really knows.
16:49: I suspect it's just a random person wrote it and the mythology grew up around it.
16:55: It says, The die has been cast.
16:58: I have stepped over the line.
17:02: The decision has been made.
17:03: I am a disciple of his.
17:06: I won't look back.
17:08: Let up.
17:09: Slow down.
17:10: Back away.
17:11: Or be still.
17:12: My past is redeemed.
17:14: My present makes sense.
17:15: My future is secure.
17:17: I am finished with low living.
17:20: Sight walking.
17:21: Small planning.
17:22: Smooth knees.
17:23: Colorless dreams.
17:24: Tamed visions.
17:25: Worldly talking.
17:26: Cheap giving.
17:27: And dwarfed goals.
17:29: I no longer need preeminence.
17:31: Prosperity.
17:33: Position.
17:34: Promotions.
17:34: Plaudits.
17:35: Or popularity.
17:37: I don't have to be right.
17:38: First.
17:39: Tops.
17:40: Recognized.
17:40: Praised.
17:41: Regarded.
17:41: Or rewarded.
17:42: I now live by faith.
17:45: Lean on his presence.
17:46: Walk by patience.
17:47: Am uplifted by prayer.
17:49: And labor by power.
17:51: My pace is set.
17:52: My gate is fast.
17:54: My goal is heaven.
17:56: My road is narrow.
17:57: My way rough.
17:58: My companions few.
18:00: My guide is reliable.
18:02: And my mission clear.
18:04: I cannot be bought.
18:05: Compromised.
18:06: Detoured.
18:07: Lured away.
18:07: Turned back.
18:08: Deluded or delayed.
18:10: I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice.
18:13: Hesitate in the presence of adversity.
18:16: Negotiate at the table of the enemy.
18:18: Pander at the pool of popularity.
18:20: Or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
18:23: I won't give up.
18:24: Shut up.
18:25: Let up.
18:26: Until I've stayed up.
18:28: Stored up.
18:28: Prayed up.
18:29: Paid up.
18:29: Preached up.
18:30: For the cause of Christ.
18:32: I am a disciple of Jesus.
18:35: I must go till he comes.
18:37: Give till I drop.
18:38: Preach till all know.
18:39: And work till he stops me.
18:40: And when he comes for his own.
18:42: He'll have no problem recognizing me.
18:45: My banner will be clear.
18:48: Amen.
18:48: Jesus expects us to actually, seriously, wholeheartedly follow him.
18:59: He had a lot to say about people who are interested in being half-hearted followers.
19:03: And none of it pretty or encouraging for us.
19:06: Are you all in for Jesus?
19:09: Ready to obey him at every turn?
19:12: My prayer is that you are, or before you leave this room this morning, you will commit yourself to that.
19:24: One of the things that encourages me to live in that manner, totally sold out for Jesus, is the truth that we know how the story ends.
19:32: The story of redemption has been written by God from start to finish, and Christ has already paid the cost in full.
19:38: Satan may have tempted Eve in the garden, and he may have lured humanity into death, and into God's wrath, and into spiritual separation from God.
19:47: But that's not how the story ends.
19:51: It's not how the story ends for us, and it's not how it ends for him.
19:54: Look at verse 20.
19:57: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
20:03: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
20:07: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
20:11: You know what?
20:12: That blows my mind.
20:14: Because in this magnificent treatise on the Christian faith, this is the only time that Paul mentions Satan.
20:20: In the entire book of Romans.
20:22: The only time.
20:22: Now there's an implied reference in chapter 8, towards the end of the chapter.
20:28: It was the only explicit reference to Satan at all.
20:33: And then only to basically say, yeah, he's doomed.
20:36: He's going down.
20:37: Time's coming.
20:39: Don't worry about that.
20:40: God's got that.
20:41: He's going to crush him underneath your feet.
20:45: Did I mention the battles go on, but the war has already been won?
20:48: Have I mentioned that?
20:49: The war has been won.
20:51: We know how this ends.
20:53: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
20:56: Why do you say the God of peace?
20:57: Why do you say God will do this?
21:00: The God of peace.
21:01: Meaning the God who has restored you to relationship with himself.
21:05: You have peace with God.
21:06: This is not the chill God.
21:08: The God who's just peaceful.
21:10: This is the God who has fixed broken relationship.
21:13: This is the God who says, I forgive you.
21:16: I welcome you.
21:17: I love you.
21:18: I adopt you.
21:19: You're for me forever.
21:20: Let's enjoy eternity together.
21:22: That which was broken, I have fixed.
21:23: That God is going to crush Satan underneath your feet.
21:28: When?
21:29: Soon.
21:29: In the scheme of things, it is soon.
21:33: Now, he's not going to do that, I don't believe, under you, your feet individually.
21:37: Your feet, not my feet.
21:40: But we, the church, together, genuine Christians.
21:43: One Christian writer described verse 20 as a broad, general, glorious promise about the triumph of the church over Satan.
21:54: Paul doesn't unpack that here.
21:57: He takes it as a given that this church is already familiar with the various Christian truths that undergird and underlie this claim.
22:05: I want to pause for just a moment and look at some other scriptures that provide the foundation for what he's talking about here.
22:13: If you go back to the very beginning, Genesis, the beginning of beginnings.
22:19: Chapter 1, chapter 2, God creates.
22:21: Chapter 3, man rebels.
22:23: And when God speaks to Satan and Eve and to Adam in that order, after this fall, after man's rebellion against him, and he's delivering news of the consequences, but also hope, he says to Eve, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
22:44: He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
22:49: So the idea is that Satan will stomp on, Jesus will stomp on Satan.
22:56: Has the same sort of imagery of that crushing or stepping on, except in there it's Jesus that does it.
23:04: And in Romans, it's the church, it's Christians.
23:08: Well, how can that be?
23:10: I think the answer is this.
23:12: Every Christian is united to Jesus.
23:15: His life is our life.
23:16: His death counts as our death.
23:18: What's his belongs to us.
23:20: We are co-heirs with Christ.
23:22: And so what he accomplishes is for us.
23:25: What he does through us is his.
23:27: There's that union.
23:30: If I get 20 bucks, that 20 bucks is as much carries as it is mine.
23:35: We're connected.
23:36: We're united.
23:37: What's hers is mine.
23:37: What's mine is hers.
23:38: That really worked out well for me when we first got married because my boombox died.
23:44: And back then, you couldn't listen to online music.
23:47: You actually had to have a radio or CDs.
23:51: My boombox died.
23:52: But she had one.
23:53: And it was mine.
23:55: And I got to listen to music whenever I wanted.
23:56: Eventually, I brought it into church.
23:57: I got to listen to it in my office.
23:59: She was okay with it.
24:01: We shared.
24:01: How does this play out?
24:07: Three ways.
24:08: It plays out at the cross.
24:10: Jesus did everything necessary at the cross for this to be true.
24:14: Colossians chapter 2, verses 13 to 15 says, God made us alive together with him, Jesus.
24:23: Having forgiven all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
24:28: This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
24:32: He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
24:40: That is, by taking away our guilt and our sin and our shame so that we don't need to be forgiven anymore because we have been forgiven, God publicly exposed Satan and the demons to shame.
24:55: They've got no basis to accuse us anymore.
24:58: Their only weapon against us is, you're sinners.
25:01: You're guilty.
25:01: You've rebelled against God.
25:02: And God says, well, I've already forgiven that.
25:04: What else you got?
25:05: We see that very reality having been mentioned by Paul in the end of chapter 8 of Romans.
25:12: What should we then say to these things?
25:13: If God is for us, who can be against us?
25:15: He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
25:24: Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
25:27: It is God who justifies.
25:29: If God says you're forgiven, nobody can effectively say otherwise.
25:33: Otherwise, suppose one of my kids gets in trouble with me.
25:38: I talk it through.
25:40: I say, I forgive you.
25:42: Done.
25:44: Then somebody else says to him, oh, you said what to your dad?
25:47: Oh, there's no way that you're okay.
25:49: He's still mad at you.
25:51: All he has to say is no.
25:53: My dad is forgiving me.
25:55: It's done.
25:57: We're good.
25:59: That's the reality of it.
26:00: You are right with God because God is right with you on account of Jesus.
26:06: That's the first basis.
26:08: The second is that God is doing this in the context of the church.
26:12: The men's bi-weekly Bible study has been studying Ephesians, and we just recently were looking at chapter 6 where it talks about Christians putting on the full armor of God.
26:21: And this is all about our ability to withstand and remain steady in the face of spiritual warfare.
26:27: It says, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
26:34: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
26:44: Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
26:52: It acknowledges right there that we're in a battle against Satan and other demonic forces.
26:58: But it says you're going to stand firm.
27:01: Here's the tools for doing it.
27:02: Here's what you need so that you aren't defeated.
27:08: The church gets to experience battle against Satan and gets to experience victory in the resources that God provides.
27:18: 1 Corinthians 15, verses 24-25.
27:22: Then the end comes when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
27:32: For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
27:37: That's where we're going.
27:38: That's where we're going.
27:39: Every enemy of Jesus, every enemy of God, will be brought to submission under the feet of Jesus.
27:47: The victory's been won, but some of them are still trying to fight, still trying to resist.
27:52: And they're going to have to file for bankruptcy someday like Blockbuster.
27:57: And ultimately, this looks like the final victory.
28:01: Revelation chapter 20, verse 10.
28:04: The devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and false prophet were.
28:10: And there they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
28:15: Satan's going to hell.
28:17: Not as ruler, but as victim of it.
28:20: As one who will suffer in hell.
28:22: Jesus doesn't say, well, you know, I'm going to give him his own kingdom down there in the torment place and he'll be in church.
28:28: No.
28:30: Satan is going to hell to suffer every bit as much as guilty sinners who don't return their lives to Jesus are going to hell.
28:39: Hell will be no better for Satan than it will be for those who reject Christ as Lord and Savior.
28:44: Savior.
28:46: The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet.
28:52: I want to show just two final things before we wrap things up.
28:56: Second half of verse 20.
28:58: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
29:01: Doesn't this sound like a benediction?
29:02: Something you say at the end of a church service?
29:05: But Paul's not quite to the benediction yet.
29:07: He's not quite to the doxology.
29:09: He's saying it here.
29:10: And I think it's this.
29:12: God's grace is going to carry you across the finish line.
29:15: God's grace got you into the Christian faith.
29:18: God's grace has brought you to repentance and trust in Jesus.
29:22: And God's grace is going to be the only way you finish this race well.
29:26: God's grace will continue to be sufficient every step of the way, every day of the journey, from now until you see Jesus face to face.
29:37: You don't have to have the means within yourself.
29:39: You don't have to have the strength within yourself.
29:41: In fact, it's never been intended that it would work that way.
29:44: We don't fight these battles in our own resources or our own strength.
29:48: Even when we take up and put on the full armor of God, Ephesians 6, we're still not left to our own strength.
29:54: In all things, we're called to rely on God for our empowering and guidance.
29:59: In 1 Peter chapter 4, Peter, the apostle, talks about Christians using their spiritual gifts in various ways.
30:05: And he says, not simply use this gift that God has given you, but he says use it in reliance on God for the strength.
30:12: Use it in ongoing dependence on God.
30:15: Not, hey, God gave you a hammer, go hammer something.
30:17: God gave you a screwdriver, go tighten something.
30:20: He says, use these tools in the strength he provides.
30:25: Even the things that we do as Christians are meant to be done in reliance on him because he's the one that provides the grace that we need every step of the way.
30:33: And 1 Peter 4 explicitly says, it has to be this way so that he gets the glory.
30:39: How many of you ever feel insufficient?
30:44: There's a couple people that didn't raise their hands.
30:45: I'm assuming that they are recovering from a recent workout and their arms are sore.
30:50: We're supposed to feel that way.
30:55: Because we're not meant to be sufficient.
30:57: We're meant to find that Jesus is sufficient.
30:59: His grace is enough.
31:03: Finally, verses 21 to 23.
31:04: Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you.
31:08: So do Lucius and Jason and Sasa Patter, my kinsman.
31:13: I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
31:16: Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you.
31:19: Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Cordus, greets you.
31:22: That's the kind of part you skim past when you're doing your Bible reading, isn't it?
31:28: But I think there's some encouragement there.
31:31: The great apostle Paul is writing this letter, this bold, magnificent story of Christianity to this church that he's never been to.
31:39: And at the end, he's like, Tim says hi.
31:43: Right?
31:43: Right?
31:46: Jason says, sup.
31:49: Why?
31:49: Because these guys cared about their fellow believers.
31:55: There's no reason, biblically, to believe that any of these named folks had yet visited Rome.
32:00: Timothy's going to get there later in the unfolding story, just as Paul's going to get there eventually.
32:05: But at this point, probably none of these folks had ever visited there.
32:08: Some of them probably knew some of the believers in Rome, just as Paul does.
32:13: We saw that earlier in chapter 16, where folks have emigrated to Rome from other parts of the kingdom.
32:19: Other parts of the empire.
32:22: But these guys are saying, hey, we're brothers in Christ.
32:26: We may be here, you may be there, but we're trusting the same Jesus you are.
32:30: And so we care about you.
32:31: We send you our best.
32:32: We wish you well.
32:33: We send our greetings.
32:36: Eight names, plus a whole congregation.
32:38: Gaius, apparently a man of some wealth, had been hosting Paul.
32:42: And apparently the whole church in that area, he was hosting them as well.
32:46: Must have had quite the house.
32:49: City treasurer.
32:53: They're all speaking up saying, we care.
32:55: And then you've got Tertius, verse 22, who says he wrote the letter.
33:02: I've been acting like Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome the whole time.
33:06: Does anybody object to this?
33:08: Like, wait a minute, Paul didn't write this.
33:10: What's going on here?
33:13: There's a fancy word.
33:14: It's amanuensis.
33:15: It basically means a secretary.
33:17: Paul didn't have the best handwriting.
33:19: We know that from some other places in Scripture.
33:21: He's like, hey, look what a big letter is when I sign my own name.
33:23: Like, I almost picture Paul as the guy using the chunky preschool crayons.
33:30: Right?
33:30: Like, yeah, Paul.
33:31: And he writes the L backwards or something.
33:33: He was a sharp guy.
33:34: But he had big handwriting.
33:36: And so he'd hire somebody.
33:38: He'd get somebody, maybe volunteer, maybe hire, to do the writing for him.
33:43: In contemporary terms of our church, we call this a Ronnie.
33:48: Okay?
33:49: Ronnie, our church secretary, often does this.
33:52: We all work together.
33:52: We're working on a midweek news email.
33:54: We're working on a bulletin insert or whatever.
33:56: And she's like, how do you want to say this?
33:58: And then I'll try to think out loud.
34:00: And I'll say some stuff.
34:01: And she'll type it down.
34:02: And we'll get it down on paper together.
34:05: Well, who wrote that?
34:06: Well, I wrote it, even though she typed it.
34:09: This is what's going on here.
34:11: This is the guy that's handwriting Paul's letter as he's dictating it.
34:14: And do you notice that he does it differently there in verse 22?
34:20: These guys say hi.
34:22: I say hi, too.
34:24: He gets to go first person here.
34:26: Now, I don't know if he says, hey, hey, Paul, can I do it, too?
34:30: Paul's like, yeah, go for it.
34:33: Or if he's like, hey, me, too.
34:35: Include my name.
34:35: And Paul's like, why don't you say it yourself?
34:37: Why don't you just put it in your own words?
34:39: I don't know.
34:40: But I love that this guy isn't just, well, I'm doing the writing.
34:44: That's my job.
34:45: He's like, no, I care about these guys, too.
34:52: Part of the journey that we face, part of what it means to live out our faith in Jesus, with the war already won but battles still unfolding, is to recognize that we are in it together.
35:07: Father, please do not view your Christian life as you and Jesus, and that's the end of the story.
35:12: And please do not view your Christian life as, I go to this church and we do this gathering stuff and that's the end of it.
35:18: It's personal and it's corporate, both.
35:24: Personal and corporate.
35:26: We together here at Faith Chapel are on this journey of following Jesus together.
35:32: And we're on this journey together with people abroad.
35:36: We talked about J&J.
35:38: We talked about folks from our church that are serving in Africa.
35:47: They matter.
35:48: Our heart should echo with theirs.
35:50: Our prayer should reflect the things that they're facing.
35:53: And even folks that we've never met, there are believers scattered all across the Middle East, in every single country affected by current happenings.
36:03: We should be praying for them.
36:05: Our hearts should be yearning for their welfare.
36:10: We say here at Faith Chapel, even higher than our mission about making disciples, we say our purpose is that we exist to worship God.
36:17: We exist to glorify God.
36:18: We exist to make sure that God is seen as being as awesome as He is.
36:22: And that we do that by enjoying relationship with Him and one another through Jesus Christ.
36:30: The way primarily that we honor God is by enjoying relationship with God and by enjoying relationship with our fellow Christians.
36:40: That's why it has to be through Jesus.
36:41: I don't have the same level of friendship and relationship and harmony with somebody who doesn't follow Jesus as I do with you who follow Jesus.
36:50: And as I pursue unity with you and you with me, as we go through this journey together, He gets the glory.
36:59: I'm not a huge fan of long driving trips.
37:02: But I think you would all agree whether you like road trips or not.
37:07: What is the one thing that makes all road trips better?
37:15: Company.
37:16: The wrong answer is Buc-ee's.
37:18: That's not correct.
37:19: It's company.
37:20: It's being with somebody on the trip, right?
37:23: Y'all were like, what's a road trip?
37:24: I don't know.
37:25: It's company, right?
37:26: It's having people on the journey with you.
37:29: Look around.
37:31: Buckle up.
37:31: These are your company for the trip.
37:35: And God's grace is going to see us across that finish line.
37:39: Let's pray.
37:41: God, would you help us to honor you by trusting you in all things, by standing firm on your word and what you have taught, by recognizing that the end has already been written and the result is secure.
37:58: I pray that you would make us bold in our faith and absolute in our surrender to you.
38:12: We pray these things in Jesus' name.
38:14: Amen.