 Today we're in Romans 16, we're going to look at verses 17 through 19 and allow me to read you verses 17 through 19 and give an introduction and we'll look at this as we get together here in this passage. Beginning at verse 17, Romans chapter 16, beginning at verse 17, reading to verse 19, Paul writes, I urge you brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them, for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple, for your obedience has become known to all, therefore I am glad on your behalf, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. We're going to be looking at a passage right now that as we look at it, I'm going to teach it in a different way, I'm going to teach it in a different way than you may be used to here in this church, I'm going to be sharing with you some things, a lot of scriptures to develop some things because this is very important for us to really get. Paul is closing his letter and as he's closing his letter he's beginning to encourage them, he's actually exhorting them when you look at verse 17 and he says, I urge you, it's not just simply a suggestion, it's actually a command that he's giving and you would wonder why would you close your letter with this particular command and it's simply put because everything that he's taught up to this point is leading to this one command which is, listen, I've given to you the essentials of the faith of Christ. These are the things that ought to guide you in the future. There will be people who will enter in amongst you and will be bringing with them error. You now are equipped to be able to note those who do so and so he's basically saying these are the things that are essential for your faith and salvation. He is actually issuing a warning to safeguard the biblical purity of this church and he's writing concerning those who will bring doctrinal division and cause offenses to the body of Christ. So his concern is purity of doctrine and there's a reason for that. It's because doctrine produces behavior. What you believe is going to motivate how you act and Christian behavior and attitude cannot be separated from our knowledge of God. Reality, the reality of our gospel, the claims of the gospel, are substantiated by the way that we live and the way that we live is grounded in what we believe which provides a foundation for our witness. You see in the gospel of John Jesus lifted up a prayer to his father. It says in John 17 verses 21 through 23 that he prayed that his disciples may all be one as you father are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me and the glory which you gave me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one I in them and you in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me and so what we believe is really the foundation for how we live and how we live is really the foundation for our witness to a world that doesn't know the Lord. So Christian love and unity produced by his truth is to be an argument for the gospel. The truth of Jesus is intended to make people loving and compassionate and Christians speak of and point people to a God of love. We therefore do not simply speak of a God of love. We demonstrate the truth of God's love by loving one another. And so part of loving one another is the pursuit of unity with one another. Like it says in Psalm 133 1 behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. So the truth of the gospel will unite but bad doctrine creates divisions and it causes stumbling. So Paul is giving them an order here in verse 17 of Romans chapter 16. He gives them an order to identify false teachers and to avoid them. Notice how he says note those note those who cause divisions and offenses. Now when you make note or you mark them or you're aware of them, you're not judging them and it's not unloving to do so. In reality what it is doing is safeguarding the church. So he says note those in other words keep a close eye on them because the fruit of their ministry will be seen. It is division and it is offense. Division speaks of dissensions even sedition. The word offense is a Greek word scandalon. It means a stumbling block. It's a trap or a snare. It's an impediment that causes people to stumble. So he says note those keep an eye on them, mark them out. He says note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. Now why would they do that? Why would Paul order them to note as well as avoid certain people? Well because failing to guard against those who cause division will destroy the work of the church. These people are going to bring in pet doctrines. They're going to teach contrary to what has been taught and in doing so they're going to undermine the foundations of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one, I want to develop that a bit further. Over the centuries the Christian faith has held to teachings that are recognized as being orthodox. When the doctrine is not what would be called an essential then it is graciously tolerated if you will. And the general method of approaching these differences is in essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty but in all things, charity. So we are those who unite around those things that we believe are the weightiest. The things that are the most important, the essentials while we should give liberty to those things that are called non-essentials. Now the non-essentials are also called peripheral and some beliefs are what are called peripheral. For example these beliefs that are in the church that are not essential would include things like infant or adult baptism or what we say when we baptize somebody or belief about particulars concerning creation or belief about the end times, belief about the pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib rapture, the security of the believer, the place of Israel in our theology. These are things that we can speak about and maybe different certain finer points but they're peripheral issues. Those are not essentials. They're not essential to salvation. Sometimes we might even have discussions within the church concerning personal liberties and practices like the order of church service or the kind of music that we play or the volume. You know there are those people who think that church needs to have certain kind of music. You play organ music or whatever and they're very comfortable with that and I have no problem with that at all if they like that, that's fine. Other people think that you're supposed to play real quiet music because after all the house of the Lord and I have no problem with that. That's fine if that's what you want. And then there are others that say that no, an organ playing in church is not something I appreciate and I don't really like quiet music all the time and that's understandable too. I remember years ago now we were in a small hall at that time, it sat 427, we used to put 475 in it. And I remember that in the front row of this very small hall was an elderly lady who was in her 80s at that time and she sat right in front of one of the amplifiers. I mean right in front of it. I mean she wasn't three steps away from it, this huge amp and our bands have always been loud and I knew her grandson so I approached him and I said Steve, I said your grandma. I said she's right in front of that amp. I said doesn't it bother her at all? I was basically saying you gotta move grandma to the back so she's not, you know her ears aren't being destroyed and he says oh grandma doesn't have a problem with that at all. She just turns her hearing aid down and that's what she was doing and she just turned her hearing aid down and she was just fine with it you know. So some people get upset with the volume, some people get upset with the kind of music and that's peripheral. That doesn't mean you're saved or unsaved so sometimes people have made that into an argument to prove that you're unsaved. Some people believe that women cannot come to church wearing pants so they have to wear dresses and some people say that women can't wear jewelry in church and that they shouldn't wear makeup and that's their idea and that's what they believe as for me I appreciate women wearing makeup very much. It's one of the benefits. They're non-essential but people argue over those things and get mad over those things they'll divide churches over those things. Those are non-essential things, practices as well as non-essential doctrinal beliefs. Those things do not matter as it pertains to salvation but there are things that are essential. You need to believe these things and hold these things true. You need to embrace these things by faith and live these things or else you're not saved and they're very essential. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the blood atonement, bodily resurrection, the inerrancy of scripture, the belief that Christ is the only way to salvation, the belief in the Trinity, that salvation and justification comes through grace, through faith and Jesus Christ alone. These are essentials that you have to believe in order to be saved. You cannot say these things are not true. You want to argue about whether I should baptize somebody in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit or there's another kind of formula. That's something we can discuss. You want to talk about a child being baptized versus an adult, we can discuss that but the essentials are the things we hold fast to and these are the things that are necessary. False teachers are beginning to infiltrate in the very early days of the church and Paul is warning the Romans there that these false teachers will infiltrate and the result will be stumbling the believers and causing division. And this is something that wasn't just with the Roman church, this is something that the church had been consistently warned and prepared for from the time that Jesus was speaking concerning the creation of the church. When asked a question concerning the last days and they asked him in Matthew 24, what is the sign of your coming? You know, what is it that we should be looking out for? We know Matthew 24, we know how the Lord begins to speak concerning things like earthquakes and pestilence and wars, rumors of wars, things of that nature and we see all of those as the list that he gives but the question was what is the sign? And Jesus said the sign is false teaching, false doctrine creeping into the church. So the Lord Jesus Christ himself gave to us a foundation that from the very earliest day until the conclusion of the church there will be infiltrators who enter in and they undermine the truth of the gospel. So the church has been consistently warned and prepared for this. Now when Jesus was speaking concerning the church he spoke of its endurance, he made it clear that the church is intended to continue as well as be victorious. He said in Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church and the gates of Haiti shall not overpower it. But on the other hand he warned the church of an invasion of false prophets. Satan is going to empower false prophets and false teachers to undermine the effectiveness of the gospel. And many of them would be almost indistinguishable from the true prophet and the true teacher. That's why Matthew 7, 15 reads, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. They're going to have an appearance of being the genuine article but their internal motives are destructive. When you go through your New Testament you'll discover that in the New Testament this is universally prophesied because it's actually preparing the way for the Antichrist when these false teachers enter in and undermine the true gospel. In 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2 the spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons speak in lies and hypocrisy having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Second Peter chapter two, verse one there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who secretly shall bring indamnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. First John chapter four, verse one beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Jude three and four dear friends although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share I felt I had to write to urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all and trusted for the saints. For certain men who changed the grace of our God for certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you they are Godless men who changed the grace of our God into license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord. And so they had been warned that this would take place they were to be aware of that but great numbers of people will willingly follow after them and here's the sad thing even professing believers will I can understand when somebody who never reads the Bible because they're not a Christian I can understand how they can be deceived when somebody knocks on their door and begins to share with them certain things and they can be convinced through the logic and persuasiveness of the argument I understand that what is difficult to see is when believers actually fall for the same kind of lines and great numbers of people will willingly follow them even professing Christians and the reason is is because they have what is called a casual faith it's just a casual faith and therefore a casual faith never develops a spiritual discernment and when the false teachers begin to speak their lies the lies are appealing to the people who are listening they tickle their ears in 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4 it says the time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching they will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear they will reject the truth and chase after myths you saw that in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah chapter five verse 31 where it says the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power and my people love to have it so but what will you do in the end? So Paul is warning the Romans here in Romans chapter 16 verse 17 concerning bad doctrine and he says again in verse 17 I urge you brethren note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them note them and avoid them if these people or their agents do not repent of their errors they must be avoided the scripture says warn a divisive person once then warn him a second time after that have nothing to do with him Titus chapter three verse 10 you see as a shepherd Paul was concerned about the sheep receiving healthy teachings they were to receive what Jesus had taught his men the apostles that's where it says in first Timothy two one and two and it says you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses the same commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also so apostolic doctrine is important because it is the truth that makes you free and Paul recognized himself as a trusted slave carrying his master's message because it is of such importance it must be guarded second Timothy one 14 that good thing that was committed to you keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and so he's saying this to them I urge you this is a command brethren note mark out those who cause divisions and offenses that would be speaking of false teachers contrary to the doctrine which you learned in other words you've been established in what you should understand of God and avoid them why verse 18 for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly their own carnal appetites and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple these false teachers love the attention that they get often they're eager for fame for financial gain or power over their followers and often they live live extremely luxurious lifestyles and can even live immorally because people do not understand healthy doctrine or perhaps because sometimes the truth isn't candy coated or presented in a way that is fashionably, fashionably acceptable or perhaps because it's presented in a way that may be more raw than what we're used to people get upset I mean I find it interesting and I'll just say this briefly but I find it interesting how the uproar over this father in Duck Dynasty got so many people upset, right? And there's so many people who are mad right now they wanna ban banion from this show I don't know if anybody in here watches it Duck Dynasty isn't one that I watch to each his own some people do, some people don't I'm not one who watches that but it's interesting that it's under the banner of a reality show and when it gets real people get mad, you know what I'm saying? Isn't that kind of crazy? It's kind of goofy to think about I mean he got real and they got mad because they weren't expecting him to be that real I guess and yet what is it that's so attractive about a show like Duck Dynasty? Well I'll tell you what I have seen it a few times my mom liked it a lot and I had to see it sometimes when I was with her but the Duck Dynasty well they're Christian people aren't they? And they have time around the table where they pray and it's not put on, it's real and for some reason the reality of that table is not supposed to be taken into GQ interviews I guess you know and when asked a straight question a straight answer isn't sufficient for some people they don't like it what do you expect this guy's a Christian? Now my problem is perhaps the way he articulated what he was saying I believe that there was some crudity involved that perhaps for him is the normal way of expressing himself I'm not here to judge that but I can tell you this what he said is basically when it's actually exegeted when you actually look at it clearly and try and understand what he's saying he's basically simply saying that there are certain things that are wrong and there's certain things that are right and he says me I want to go with those things that are right in doing so what do you end up with you get all kinds of people mad over that and that to me is just an amazing thing they don't want them to be real on reality TV they think it's more wholesome to watch the Kardashians you know that great model family for all to grow from I guess I don't know you know Jersey Shores that's an edifying show isn't it I mean it's kind of hard for me to grasp those things because the fact is is when he was sharing what is basically biblical truth you know the people just get into an uproar because somebody had the nerve to actually oppose the current thought of the age and so I wasn't surprised were you if you heard about it I'm not surprised at what happened at all I would expect that to take place the thing that is attractive is the Christian values the thing that is unattractive is the Christian values isn't that interesting but that's the way the world is isn't it it's kind of like just doesn't have it there's no balance in it and so the church has to stand up and articulate what the truth is and it just so happens that this man did so and doing so he got all kinds of people upset well the fact is again is that there is doctrine that is true and acceptable and has been the way you express it perhaps can use some fine tuning but the bottom line is is it's true and those are things that we believe we all agree with and all and it's really what is called apostolic doctrine it's apostolic because it comes from the apostles who were given that doctrine from Jesus himself and it's a truth that sets us free and therefore because Paul was recognizing himself as a trusted slave he wanted to carry his master's message and give it properly the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives nor are we trying to trick you on the contrary we speak has been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel we're not trying to please men but God who tests our hearts is what Paul said in 1st Thessalonians 2, 3 and 4 now the motives of these false teachers again is the love, the attention that they get and sometimes they live in extremely luxurious lifestyles that's at a moment ago and these people who are out there live in such a way that people get a bad taste of what Christianity is all about you know with again without making judgment on the hearts of those individuals who are involved in that show preachers of LA I most certainly don't think that those preachers that are being shown are really representing the kingdom of God and there are people who watch that and then they get this idea that all preachers like that are like that which is just not true I still remember I've told you this before but it comes to mind every time I make that kind of comment how that Marie and I were buying a car many years ago back in 89 or so we were buying a car and it was a van and we were taking a test drive and the salesman seated next to me as I was driving the vehicle wanted to make some small talk but he was also wanting to see whether or not I was able to purchase this vehicle and so he asked me a question that is asked often and that is this, what do you do for a living? And so I always expect an interesting response when I tell him and so he said to me, what do you do for a living? And I said to him, I'm a pastor you know, the next thing really caught me by surprise to be honest with you when he responded by saying, oh, you're a pastor and I said yes, he goes pastors are thieves and I'm certainly he was taught that in salesman 101 classes if you want to make an impression on the guy who's calling him a thief and I remember him saying that to me, oh, pastors are thieves I said, really? He goes, yeah, I mean he was convinced and so I took my gun out and said, give me your wallet no, I, pastors are thieves and he said, really? He goes, yeah, I said, pastors are thieves? He goes, yeah, I said, oh I said, do you know there are 500,000 Protestant pastors in the United States? No, I didn't know that I said, and I can guarantee you overwhelmingly the majority of those men are honest, God-faring men who are leading churches for the glory of God oh, that may be so I said, well, absolutely so and I said to him, but you want to hear something interesting and he goes, what? I said, the last two cars that I bought I purchased from a lying car salesman I said, but you're not a lying car salesman, are you? You're an honest car salesman, aren't you? And he goes, yes I am I said, well good, I'm an honest preacher it's nice to meet you because people have a tendency of broad brushing everything and so when you have shows like Alley Preachers these preachers of Alley people are going to think that every person who's got a church has got to be ripping them off those are the kinds of things that undermine the gospel of Jesus Christ false teachers very often will live in such a way as to actually make money off the people that they're supposed to be serving he says in verse 18 by smooth words and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the simple they use polished speech they constantly are always encouraging but they don't preach the entire counsel of God and that kind of flattery will win the mind and hearts of people but it also leads them into deception and error Isaiah 30 verses nine and 10 says it like this this is a rebellious people lying children children who will not hear the law of the Lord who say to the seers do not see to the prophets do not prophesy to us right things speak to us smooth things prophesy deceits in other words tell us what our itching ears desire to hear and he's saying that is what makes an inroad for false teaching their motives well they serve their own belly their own carnal appetites their methods smooth words flattering speech the result they deceive the hearts of the simple the word simple the innocent can also be translated the naive the undiscerning but in contrast verse 19 your obedience has become known to all therefore I am glad on your behalf but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil what is going to help you to stay from being ensnared by false teaching obey God's word the word of God will safeguard you from error it's safeguard you from being reached by those who are bringing it and as one who cared for them he desired to protect their spiritual innocence and that's a motivation of a true shepherd loving and protecting the sheep it's like what he said in 2 Corinthians 11 2 and 3 where he says I am anxious for you with the deep concern of God himself anxious that your love should be for Christ alone just as a pure maiden saves her love for one man only for the one who will be her husband but I'm frightened fearing that in some way you'll be a let away from your pure and simple devotion to our Lord just as Eve was deceived by Satan in the garden of Eden what a great testimony they had though they had a fame for obeying the true message of the gospel and that fame had spread and he knew that they would do it was right in relation to exposing and avoiding these false teachers so he appeals to their past obedience and their reputation for doing what is right and that's a beautiful testimony by the way guys to be known for obedience to the word of God and that motivated Paul to his exhortation to expose evil notice how he says in verse 19 I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil I want you to be wise wisdom very often comes through experience I want you to be experienced in doing what is good put God's word into practice and that develops wisdom but I want you to be simple concerning evil the word simple means to be free from guile to be innocent without a mixture of evil in other words avoid the temptation to experience that which is evil there are those who think that in order to reach the culture we should personally familiarize ourselves with it I don't believe that I have to experience the evil of my culture to understand it I don't have to dig through garbage to discover what made up that pile of garbage because if I do start rummaging through garbage and I remove my hand then I'm gonna have the stench of that garbage on me so why would I go somewhere to discover how evil certain things are on a personal level and yet we have people today who will argue in order for you to have an effect you need to get into that mud and understand it from a personal experience and I have to say that's not true at all that's not true at all and Jesus Christ walked the face of the earth and he never got himself sullied with the dirt of it he just loved the people and he warned them to himself that's what we're supposed to do guys I don't have to play with the garbage to find out that the stench will cling to me once I've played with it and you don't have to go out there and discover evil you need to just avoid it and you need to be aware of it and you need to take God's exhortation to remain away from it in order that you'll be protected from the stain of it and that's how it works in 1 Corinthians 1420 Paul said it like this brethren do not be children in understanding however in malice be babes but understanding be mature grow up so Paul is saying here there will be false teachers who creep in amongst you note them, avoid them I want you to remain pure and the way that you can be sullied the way your purity can be changed into that which is not pure any longer is by giving into the teaching that they bring which will take you to a place that God doesn't want you to be so when somebody enters into the church instead of entertaining their false teaching expose it for what it is you can expose it for what it is by declaring what God's word has to say and living a life that reveals a truth of what God's word has to say and in doing so you are able to with a good testimony and a knowledge of scripture present the truth of the gospel to those who are in error but if they do not repent do not allow them to find a toehold in the church fellowship because they will bring the impurity of their doctrine and they'll begin to undermine the effectiveness of that church so avoid them and that's what the Lord's word tells us we need to know good and avoid evil and that's because good is declared to us in scripture where with all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed there to according to thy word thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against you so Jesus had sanctified them in truth and he went on to say your word is true and so that's what we embrace and we do so from reading, praying and living the word of God our lives are transformed we're aware of what evil is we can present the solution which is the grace of God through Jesus Christ and avoid getting entangled in that and that's the heart of living the Christian life