NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
› Engage
How many of you here this morning are not liars? Would you raise your hands?
I’m glad that no one raised your hand because if you did, you would be a liar. There is probably no accurate way to figure out how much people lie because in any kind of a study that was done people would just lie about the fact that they lie. But one study I ran across this week suggests that 60 percent of people can’t go 10 minutes without lying at least once. And for that 60 percent who did lie, they told an average of 3 lies in that short period of time.
So I guess it’s not surprising that there is no shortage of information on how to spot a lie. When I Googled “how to spot a lie” this week, my search returned roughly 186 million results. And, at least on the first few pages of results, the answers were pretty similar. Most focused on watching and listening to the person who was suspected of telling a lie and evaluating their voice and their body language.
› Tension
Lies and deceit are also a significant threat to the body of Christ and those who sow those lies often cause divisions an create obstacles that hinder people from becoming disciples of Jesus. But as we’re going to see this morning, there is a far more effective way of dealing with those lies other than focusing on the ones who are spreading them. And every one of us is both individually and corporately responsible for applying that principle.
› Truth
This morning we will wrap up - at least for now - our study of the book of Romans that began in the fall of 2014. I am convinced that this has been a really important journey for us as a church because it has helped us to firmly establish the crucial doctrines that provide the solid foundation for our faith as well as to consider how that doctrine ought to impact our day to day lives as disciples of Jesus.
So go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Romans 16 and follow along as I read beginning in verse 16.
Read Romans 16:17–23
We’ll come back and look at the last three verses of the chapter at the end of the service today.
Hopefully you’ll remember that in the first part of the chapter Paul sent personal greetings to a number of people that he knew there in the churches in Rome. And we developed this main idea from those verses:
The church consists of ordinary people doing extraordinary work in Christ
Then in verses 21-23 Paul lists a number of people who are with him in Corinth and who send their greetings to the churches in Rome along with Paul. Although it’s not the main idea we’re going to focus on this morning, this list of 8 of Paul’s co-laborers reminds us that ministry is always best accomplished by working together with others and not in isolation.
In between those two lists of people, Paul gives one last admonition to the churches in Rome. He warns them to guard against those who would sow lies and deceit in their midst and thus cause divisions and put up obstacles that would hinder people from becoming disciples of Jesus. Unfortunately, that is a warning that is still needed in the church today. In fact, I think it is probably even more of a problem today that in was in Paul’s day.
Paul briefly describes the motivations and the methods of those who would harm the church like that. Although I think there is some value in understanding why someone would do that and the methods they tend to employ, we’re not going to spend a whole lot of time talking about that this morning. That is because there is a better way to guard against those lies and we’re going to spend most of our time focusing on that.
First, we see the motives of those false teachers. Instead of being motivated by serving Jesus, they are motivated by their own appetites. Unfortunately today, we don’t have too look to hard to find those who are in ministry for their own profit or gain. They often ask for other people’s money so they can live lavish lifestyles. They love power and being the focus of other people’s attention. And in some cases they have even taken advantage of others to satisfy their physical desires.
We also see their methods here. They use smooth talk and flattery to deceive the naive. False teachers are often likable and gifted communicators. They flatter people by telling people what they want to hear. They smile a lot and talk about how great people are and about how they deserve to have their best life now. They rarely, if ever, talk about anything negative like sin and judgment. The end result is that they put up obstacles that keep people from the gospel because they fail to help people understand that they are sinners in need of a Savior.
Paul gives two warnings about these false teachers:
• First, he exhorts his audience to “watch out” for them.
When Mary and I go hiking, especially in the spring or fall, we know that there is a possibility that there are going to be rattlesnakes on our near the trail. So while we are hiking, we “watch out” for them.
And that’s exactly what Paul is warning his fellow disciples to do when it comes to false teachers. We need to be aware that they might very well be right there in our midst and keep an eye out for them. In a moment, we’ll talk more about how we are to do that.
• Second, he commands his brothers and sisters to avoid these false teachers. We need to keep in mind that Paul is talking here about those doctrines that we have often defined as the essentials of our faith. He is not talking about the “disputable matters” that he wrote about back in chapter 14 or those minor areas where genuine disciples of Jesus might have some differing views.
While there is a place within the church for a small number of well trained disciples to confront these false teachers, the general rule is that we are to avoid them. There is a good reason that we are not commanded to confront or attack them. As we’ll discuss more fully in a moment, there is a danger in being overly exposed their falsehoods.
That doesn’t mean that we have to stop caring about these people or praying for them, or even being friends with them. But it does mean that we can’t have the same kind of deep fellowship with them that we can with those who share our faith in Jesus and the essential doctrines of Biblical Christianity.
I have some acquaintances who would certainly fit into this group and I still treat them with respect, but even as a pastor, I’m not going to have the kind of relationship with them that I could have with any of you.
With that background in mind let’s get to the heart of this passage, which we find in verse 19. Let’s go ahead and read that verse out loud together:
Romans 16:19 ESV
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.
That verse provides us with our main idea this morning:
The best way to guard against lies is to be armed with the truth
In the United States, the Secret Service not only guards the President, but is also responsible for investigating counterfeit money. And when they train their agents to spot counterfeit bills they do so, not by teaching about all the different types of counterfeit bills, but rather by having the agents become totally familiar with the genuine currency. They come to know every detail about the real thing so when they run across fake money, they can almost always immediately know it is not real.
In this passage, Paul reveals that is the same way we are to spot lies in the church. We are to become so familiar with the truth that when someone espouses a lie, we will immediately recognize it as one.
Paul begins here with a commendation. The churches in Rome have a reputation of holding to the doctrine that Paul has laid out in his letter. And that gives Paul great joy. But he understands that it would be easy for the people to be deceived by these false teachers to the point that would no longer be the case, and that would destroy their testimony. So, in the last part of verse 19, he instructs them on how to watch out for and avoid the false teachers:
…be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Paul was thinking back to the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew’s gospel account:
Matthew 10:16 ESV
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Jesus was also addressing how to live in a world where we are surrounded by people who are peddling lies and deceit.
› Application
You’ll notice that this morning, I haven’t given you a bunch of blanks to fill in. I’m not going to give you a number of principles to apply or steps to take. That’s because Paul has already given us the two things we need to do:
1. Be wise to what is good
2. Be innocent as to what is evil
So I’ve just written those two phrases down in your sermon outline and I’ll let you make whatever notes might be helpful to you.
I’m actually going to begin with the last part first:
Be innocent as to what is evil.
The key word here is “innocent”.
innocent=
“unmixed, simple, pure”
It was a word used to describe wine that had not been diluted or metal with no impurities. So the point that Paul is making here is that we are not to mix even a small amount of evil into our lives. Or to put it a different way, we are not to “dabble” in sin at all.
That’s not an easy thing to do in our culture. If we turn on the news or watch TV or go to a movie or turn on the car radio, there is a good likelihood that we’re going to be bombarded with evil. Most of the time, the world is not going to point us to the things of God or things that will make us wise to what is good. So how do we remain innocent to evil in a world that promotes it? Let me share a few passages that give us some help.
First, let’s look at Jesus’ prayer for His disciples, and that includes us, the night before His crucifixion. In that prayer, Jesus prayed these words:
John 17:15–16 ESV
I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
So obviously the answer is not to completely isolate ourselves from the world. That would defeat the purpose for which Jesus left us here on this earth after our salvation - to bring the kingdom of God near to others. The good news here is that Jesus is praying for us and asking His Father to protect us from the evil one. But that doesn’t mean that we can just sit back and do nothing. Let’s look at a couple other verses that reveal our part in the process of being innocent to what is evil.
In Ephesians 4, Paul writes about how we are to put off our old self and put on the new self that God has created through our faith in Jesus. In the middle of that discussion, he writes these words:
Ephesians 4:27 ESV
and give no opportunity to the devil.
I really like how the NIV translates that verse:
and do not give the devil a foothold.
Unfortunately, there are some in the church who have argued that since evil is a part of our culture, we need to be versed in it in order to reach the world around us. But that is a very dangerous way to think. When we embrace things that God calls evil to any degree at all, we lose our innocence and we give the devil a foothold.
That doesn’t mean that we’re unaware of the evil around us. That would be impossible anyway. But what we need to make sure of is that we aren’t filling our minds with the things that are in opposition and rebellion to God. So that means that I am very careful to limit the things that I allow to come into my mind. And that does require me to be very discerning regarding the kind of music I listen to, the TV shows and movies I watch, the video games I play and the books I read. But even If I am very careful to do that, I am still going to have things come to my attention that I don’t want in my mind. so what do I do then? Let’s look at one more verse:
2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
What Paul is instructing us to do here is to be aware of every thought that comes into our mind, from whatever source. Then we are to evaluate that thought in light of whether or not it is consistent with the things of Jesus. So how exactly do we do that? That’s where the first part of Paul’s instruction comes in. We are to...
Be wise to what is good
Again, let’s go to a few other passages that will help us understand better how to do that. Earlier, we looked at Jesus’ prayer for His disciples in which He asked the Father to protect them from the evil one while they are in the world. In the very next verse, Jesus prayed these words:
John 17:17 ESV
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
The way that we are wise to what is good is to be armed with the truth. And the way we get armed with the truth is through the Word of God.
When Paul wrote his second letter to his young co-laborer, Timothy, he provided some more insight into how the Bible is God’s tool to make us wise to what is good.
2 Timothy 3:14–17 ESV
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Notice here that it is the Scriptures that make us wise - that is the exact same word Paul uses in Romans 16 - for salvation. We tend to think of salvation in terms of making a decision to trust in Jesus in which He credits us with His righteousness and our sins are forgiven. But, as we’ve talked about before, salvation is much broader than that. It has past, present and future components. And at least in a broad sense, salvation, the way Paul uses it in that letter to Timothy, is very similar, if not identical, to what he calls “good” in Romans 16.
Earlier we looked at 2 Corinthians 10:5 which instructs us to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. As we’ve looked at these last few passages, it is clear that the way we do that is to evaluate each of our thoughts in light of the truth that is contained in the Bible. The Bible is able to make us wise to that which is good by teaching us, reproving us (which is just a fancy word for showing us where we’ve gotten off track), correcting us and training us in righteousness.
So, as we said earlier...
The best way to guard against lies is to be armed with the truth
And the only way to be armed with the truth is by saturating our lives with the Word of God. That is why we consistently stress the importance of reading the Bible consistently and systematically. The only way to get the Word of God into our lives is for us to get into the Word of God.
› Action
That’s why I’m really excited about how many of you have already committed to reading through the Bible together this year. And I know that there are others of you who are already committed to your own reading plan. For those of you who have already done that, I’m excited about what God is going to do in your life this year as you arm yourself with the truth. And I’m praying for you that God will help you to be consistent in your reading and stick to your plan.
If you don’t already have a plan you’re following, then the most important thing you can do in your life to grow in your relationship with Jesus, is to find a plan that works for you and commit to it. We’re early enough in the year that you could easily join our church plan and get caught up really quickly, or even just join us where we are right now and go from there. You can do that through our Faithlife resources or we also have some printed copies of the plan available in the Information Center in the lobby. Please let me or any of the Elders know if we can help you with that.
› Inspiration
The best way to guard against lies is to be armed with the truth
As Paul promises in verse 20, the God of grace will one day crush Satan under our feet. Notice that is all God’s work, not ours. That is why Paul instructs us here to avoid these false teachers rather than to confront our fight back against them. But in the meantime, what we are to do is to make sure that we’re arming ourselves with the truth so that we can recognize the lies and deceit in our midst.
That means that every single one of us here this morning is responsible for evaluating everything we hear in light of the Scriptures. that is not just my responsibility or that of the Elders. I have said this before and I’ll repeat it again this morning. While I do my very best each week to make sure that my message lines up with the truth of Scripture, you should never take what I say as the truth without comparing it to the Bible yourself. And the same is true for any other teaching you might be exposed to, no matter how much you might like or trust that person.
Together, let’s make Thornydale Family Church a place where truth reigns.
