As we are quickly bringing our study of the practical section of the book of Romans, we see that the Apostle Paul has opened up his heart in the closing chapters. After giving some greeting to his faithful friends and before saying his final goodbyes of encouragement that are a pattern in his letters; Paul now gives a final pastoral warning to the believers to guard the gospel that is in their hearts. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” We must watch over our hearts as believers. Those in Rome especially had to guard their hearts by guarding the gospel because they were in the epicenter of the pagan Roman Empire. They were surrounded by idolatry and immorality which had previously consumed them before they were saved by the power of the gospel. Paul warns them to guard the gospel because it is only through having deep gospel roots in our hearts that protects us from the weeds of false doctrine. False doctrine or false teachers have always been a threat to the believer. We see that from the Garden of Eden and onward throughout redemptive history. The gospel indeed guards us, but we must guard the gospel from being watered down, manipulated, or hijacked by false teaching terrorists. There is always a danger in the life of the church of those who would come in discreetly with deception that would cause division. It doesn’t appear that it had yet happened in Rome, but we see that this had taken place in other churches. The church at Galatia had to fight the false teaching of the legalist. The church at Colosse had to fight Gnosticism. The church at Thessalonica had to fight corrupt eschatological teachings which is no minor issue. Then we see that in the general epistles of Peter, John, and Jude that they too had to fight false teaching. False teaching is the sowing of tares among wheat that seeks to deceive and divide the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many have fallen prey and those same enemies of the gospel that Paul, Peter, John, and Jude had to fight are still battling the church today.
Today, we will see Paul’s final warning to the church of Rome to be ever guarding the gospel through faithful diligence and as well as reminding them of their gospel victory that gives hope to their hearts. Rom. 16:17-20 says, “17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” The book of Romans begins and ends with the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ. We must guard our hearts from deception and division so that we would demonstrate the power of the gospel and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in our life so that He would be glorified in His Church.
First, we must see that we have gospel vigilance in our daily life. Paul had already addressed the issue of vigilance in Rom. 13:11-14 when he said, “11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” We must be awake and vigilant in guarding the gospel that saves and sanctifies believers. The gospel vigilance that we should have in our practical life of faith is seen in Rom. 16:17-19 which says, “17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” Here, Paul gives a strong appeal from his heart that loves these believers and desires that they would be united in the gospel. There are two things that we see in these verses that help us to have gospel vigilance in guarding the gospel.
One, gospel vigilance begins with the marks of a deceiver. We are told to mark and avoid false teachers who would cause division and disruption in the church through doctrinal deception. To mark them means that we must observe, contemplate, and take heed against them. Not all false teachers are easy to spot, but the deeper your roots are in the gospel you will be able to identify that which is contrary to the word of God. We must be discerning of “them which cause division and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned.” Deceivers seek to put the hook of heresy into your heart, but they will always use bait to get you to bite. False teachers are often shiny and sparkly. They are attractive and seem sincere. They use “good words and fair speeches” to draw you in and lead away from the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. J.B. Phillips writes, “Heresy is always stealthy.” Satan is a stealthy slithering serpent who seductively whispers lies. We see in the text that false teachers not only have a perverted gospel which is no gospel at all, but they serve a different god and have a different goal than a true gospel preacher. The text tells us that they “serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly.” Paul had to deal with this issue in his letter to the Philippians writing in Phil. 3:18-19, “18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” Then again he addresses false teaching in 1 Tim. 6:3-5 which says, “3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” False doctrine isn’t innocent and it can’t be ignored. It is an infection in the minds and hearts of those who are “simple” or innocent in their thinking. Not everyone that speaks of the Lord speaks for the Lord. We must mark these deceivers which leads us to our second issue in having gospel vigilance.
Two, gospel vigilance continues with the marks of discernment. Watchfulness and discernment are lost arts in Christian living. We, by faith, must discern the truth from error. You don’t need to have a doctorate degree to be able to discern what is true and what is false. How can the everyday average believer in Rome or wherever you are have gospel vigilance and discernment? Paul gives us the answer in the text in the phrase, “the doctrine which ye have learned.” These believers after receiving this letter would have been able to read the depth of doctrine of the gospel, grace, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout Paul’s letter which served to only buttress their establishment in the fundamentals of the faith. We never outgrow the gospel or the fundamentals of the faith. In truth, we only grow deeper in our understanding and application of the transformational truths found in this letter. The foundations of practical faithfulness are the foundational doctrines of the faith. We must search the scriptures, submit to the scriptures, and sit under the continual preaching of the scriptures so that we may grow to discern truth from error. The marks of discernment are twofold. Discernment is being able to mark false teaching and then avoid false teachers. True discernment includes disassociation from that which is contrary to the true gospel in the Bible. We are to “avoid” these wicked deceivers who disrupt and divide the church through doctrinal deception. Biblical separation is necessary. It is not optional. It is critical to guarding your heart and guarding the gospel. Individual believers should be able to be instructed and grow in this, but the responsibility to confront false teachers should be up to the pastors of local churches as under-shepherds of the flock of God as Paul does in this passage. Vigilance without avoidance isn’t vigilance. Imagine if someone warns you of a slippery floor and you even see a bright yellow caution sign, but you continue to walk through the path of the wet spot. It is not enough to recognize danger, but we must vigilantly avoid anything that would deceive our hearts or homes. We avoid deception through affirming and applying the truth which Paul commends them for in this text as he expresses his gratitude for their obedience to that which is true and good.
Second, we should not only have gospel vigilance in our life, but we should live in gospel victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. The book of Romans has already expressed the idea that the gospel has saved us, is saving us, and will save us. To put it another way, we have been transformed, are being transformed and will be transformed. In this last verse, Paul says in verse 20, “20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” Gospel has given us victory past, present, and future. Our gospel victory in this verse can been in that we have victory in the past, in our present, and promised for our future when we leave this world behind. The devil is defeated and destined for destruction. His doom is sure. While the devil is presently causing havoc there is coming a day when it will end (See Rev. 20). The Bible begins with Satan deceiving and then ends with his final attempt to deceive the nations, but it ends with his destruction. Satan is the original divider, disrupter, and deceiver of those who seek to live in relationship to God. In the Garden of Eden he deceives Eve to divide her from her husband and then the whole world is disrupted as Adam bites the hook of heresy that the devil dangled in from of them. Since then, everyone is born deceived and divided from God and their whole life is disrupted by sin. Yet, in the Garden after the sin of man, God promises victory in Gen. 3:15 that the Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled at the cross. Our past gospel victory can be seen at the cross of Christ. There, our old man was crucified (Rom. 6, Gal. 2:20, Col. 2:8-23). The victory over sin’s penalty was won there as Christ crushes the serpent under his bruised heel. Then, we have a present gospel victory that gives us victory over sin’s power in our life as seen in Rom. 6-7. This victory is applied as we apply the transformational truth of the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ as we have studied in the previous chapters of Romans. Our present gospel victory comes through our present gospel vigilance. We also have a promised gospel victory that is coming when we are delivered finally from sin’s presence. The “God of peace” is going to wage war against our enemy, the world, the flesh, and devil. We will be transformed from this corruptible body into a body of incorruption (See Rom. 8, 1 Cor. 15). Satan is presently on a leash that will become a noose. The devil thinks that he has free reign, but the Lord has him on a leash that is in His sovereign hand. God is leading the devil towards his own destruction. The gospel victory that is achieved in the past, applied in the present, and anticipated in the promises of Christ are all by “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” that is always present and active in our life. All of life is by His grace and for His glory. Gospel vigilance and victory is “of Him, through Him, and to Him.” There is something to note before we close this section. We are told by Paul that “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” It is God who does the crushing, but He does so through the feet of those who walk by faith. Our foe will be crushed by God under our feet. One day, our terrible enemy will never have influence or threaten us again. Notice as well that Paul says it will be “shortly” because Paul and likewise ourselves should be anticipating the imminent return of Christ. Paul had done this previously in Rom. 13 as we covered earlier. Guarding the gospel in our lives must be done through watchful anticipation of the coming of Christ. He is coming in and with victory and we must wait for that day with faithful gospel vigilance.
As we close today’s study, are we discerning true doctrine from deception? Do we understand our responsibility of guarding the gospel in our hearts, homes, and churches? Are we on guard against the enemy with faithful vigilance? Only the gospel, grace, and glory of Jesus Christ can guard us, but we must as well by faith guard the gospel from being twisted by those who are enemies of the cross. Many enemies of Jesus claim to be his friends. We must be vigilant in our daily lives and as well we must heed the warnings of those who are vigilant against deception who share the same pastoral responsibility and love that the Apostle Paul does. The gospel gives us victory which should enable and encourage our daily vigilance. Have you let your guard down? Don’t forget these words of Rom. 12:1-2 which says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
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