Friends And Foes In Our Christian Journey

0:00 Before we get too far in finishing off the book of Romans today, you heard me right. I'm going to ask you to get out your camera and take a picture. All of you deserve this. All of you deserve this. Five years we have been working on this diploma. Take a picture for yourself. We started on April 11th, 2021. It is March 1st, 2026. I stalled as long as I could waiting for the Lord to come back, waiting and waiting for him to return during the book of Romans. But maybe he's sooner now than ever before. But the fact is, if anybody ever tells you, your church doesn't study the Bible. You can say, what? You can say, we just spent five years going through the book of Romans, and that was time well spent. And this is not five years of me being gone. This is, I forget the number of sermons, but it's a massive amount of sermons.

1:02 I just hope I'm never asked to put this in a book form. I'd rather be dead. This is too much. I'm going to read the scriptures together. Let's stand. I'll read them for time's sake. But, you know, let's do this. We don't have the time. Sit down. Please sit down. Sorry, but you needed a stretch anyway. Friends, listen. When you go to the book of Romans and any commentary that you pick up, you know, it's the book of Romans chapter 16. It's the end. isn't it funny that it has the least amount of commentary by commentators, those are biblical scholars, they have the least amount to say. You want to know why? Because Paul doesn't talk any doctrine at all. It's all love, heart, feelings, and emotions that he's speaking in his farewell address.

1:57 He is saying things here that begin to tenderize your heart. and so we can't put this study in chapter 16 in three points and two illustrations and and these meanings of this no can't do it why because it'd be as though we're invading some very dear personal letter that someone would write to the other and insert ourselves and say I don't think you should have used that word there or how come you didn't do three points on that one No, you know what? This is Paul saying to them, I love you guys. and I am speaking to you personally, he's saying. So the title of this message is Friends and Foes in Our Christian Journey.

2:47 We start with this in Romans 16, and again, I'll just read it and comment on it. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant, watch, who is a servant of the church in Centuria. how many churches today function because of faithful women this church does that you may receive her in the Lord in the manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you. Is Christianity brutal on women?

3:30 Is faith in Jesus Christ and the word of God? Is it a man's religion? you have Paul the apostle saying Phoebe is precious among the saints so whatever she needs you do it because she has labored she's awesome Phoebe you can search her name out later some of you I commend this study to you do a biographical study on the names that you're going to hear you'll be super blessed Phoebe he says for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also. God bless the women of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ who throughout the gospels and the book of Acts have proven to be some of the greatest pillars. in God's work.

4:22 So says the Bible. Remember that. Verse 3 goes on to say, Greet Priscilla and Aquila. I find this fascinating. Whenever you hear Priscilla and Aquila mentioned, Priscilla is always mentioned first. What does that mean? It means that she probably has the influence first. It probably means perhaps that she came to Christ first, and then her husband, Aquila.

4:49 But this couple were amazing. They were disciples of other believers. They loved taking people in and strengthening them in the word of God. One of them is Apollos. Do you remember the man, the young man, Apollos? Apollos was a tremendous orator. I mean, this guy could read a menu and people would get saved.

5:12 But he didn't have theology all that straight. and guess who came and straightened him out? Priscilla and Aquila sat him down and said, buddy, dude, you've been anointed, but you're really dumb about a lot of the stuff in the Bible. We're going to help you with that. And they discipled him. Couples today who love the Lord Jesus. Be today the Priscilla and the Aquila of your culture, your generation, those that are around you in life. This is the church of the living God. We are not a company. We're not a business. We are a family. And husbands and wives who walk with Jesus need to teach other young people how to walk with Jesus too. It's no time for us to be silent. I wonder how many in this service God's good hand is upon this particular couple or that couple or this couple over here and their disciples and they don't even know it yet.

6:09 don't answer out loud but are you a married couple are you uh walking with the lord then i would say this to you be looking for how god wants to use you and he goes on to say there in verse three my fellow workers in christ jesus who risked their own necks for my life wow to whom not only I give thanks but also the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. They had a home Bible study. Romans 16 verse 5 says, greet, by the way, the word greet, you're going to hear it a lot, greet. It can mean embrace. It can mean most technically in that culture. We don't do this. I get it. And I don't want to do it in this culture, but you know, the kiss on either side of the cheek. Okay.

7:06 Look, go to Europe, knock yourself out, but let's not do that here. We have germs here. See, Pastor, are you afraid of germs? No, but God wants us to walk in wisdom, so you keep your germs, I'll keep my germs. But they would kiss, greet each other many times in the Bible. It says greet each other with a kiss. Now, if any young man says to your daughter, the Bible says greet each other with a kiss, that's where you... send them away And so, greet my beloved Aponitis, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ. Do you know what that simply means?

8:00 Paul is saying, will you guys, remember that guy? Can you guys tell him hi? I'm on my way to Rome, but tell him hi for me. That guy, I understand he was the first convert when the gospel was preached. he was the first guy to give his heart to Christ. Isn't that cool? Firstfruits. You know some people who are firstfruits.

8:23 It's beautiful. He says, greet Mary or Miriam who labored much for us. We don't know exactly which Mary this is. There's a lot of Miriam. It's Miriam. There's no Mary in the Bible, by the way. It's only in English. It's Miriam. Miriam. who labored much for us. Verse 7, Greet Andronikus and Junia, my countrymen, that means fellow Jews, and my fellow prisoners. Oh, that means they had been arrested for the gospel. Paul wasn't the only one to experience arrest and persecution. Who were of note among the apostles. Wait a minute. Wow. these two are mentioned here, Andronikos and Junia, they're not apostles, but they are note among the apostles, meaning this, they may not be apostles, but they are doing the work as though they were apostles.

9:25 I like that. Christian, do not be a spectator to what God wants to do. Well, I'm not ordained. How do you know? Do you think ordination comes from me giving you that diploma that you saw a moment ago? Do you think ordination comes from Liberty University or Dallas Theological Seminary or Multnomah or Moody Bible Institute? Is that how ordination comes? The Bible says no. The Bible says in John chapter 15 that ordination comes from God and it is observable by the fruit that comes from his ordaining us into the ministry of our great king and savior. I would say with confidence, if you are a born-again believer, you are ordained as a minister of the gospel of God to the work that he has called you to do.

10:20 But my friend, Colossians warns us, do not judge yourselves among yourselves lest you be found to be a fool. Don't look at somebody else's work and say, well, they speak a lot better than I do. I guess I shouldn't speak at all. Don't do that. don't do that. God has called you. Don't compare yourself to Billy Graham or some great orator. Well, I can't do that because of them. Excuse me, no, listen. That was their field to work in. You have yours, Christian.

10:58 And so... he goes on to say in verse 8 greet Amplius my beloved in the Lord and greet Urbanus our fellow worker in Christ and this name is hard to say everybody I try to get pronunciation in the scripture I even went to a Greek thing and they messed it up too greet the guy who we couldn't say his name Paul calls him my beloved isn't that awesome you think that's listen my beloved that's a very tender hearted comment Paul a man of God weak in physical appearance strong in faith Paul says you know that guy we couldn't ever say his name he's beloved to me.

11:53 I love that guy. It's awesome. and so he goes on, and he says in verse 10, greet Apelles approved in Christ, that means the man was tested somehow, greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus,

12:23 by the way, you know these names, many of them are Greek gods, These people were named after Greek gods. And then they came to Christ. I like that. All your life you've lived with a little metal god that you were named after, that you have maybe crafted out of wood. This is how you've been identified all of your life. Hey, that's the guy whose name we can't pronounce. and that's how you've been identified in life and then Jesus steps into your life and says yeah you know what before we get going any further we're just going to cut this necklace off of you because you don't need this God anymore I'm going to be your God from here on out. And you don't need any totem poles or any statues or icons. I'm in your heart now.

13:20 You don't have to wear anything over your heart. Because I'm in it. it's the way he rules he's precious he says in verse 11 greet Herodion my countrymen so this is interesting because when Paul says my countrymen the guy's got a Greek name so he must have been a Jew that was somehow paganized and he's come back to faith in Jesus because Paul calls him my countryman. So that's pretty cool. This Jew that Paul is referring to was a Jew who had grown up in what was man-made Judaism then, but was given a Greek name. I'd like to hear his story. How did that happen?

14:14 I mean, why wasn't he named Samuel? Or Ezekiel? Or Yohannin? No, no, he was named this pagan name. But he's come to Messiah and Paul says, my fellow countrymen. Greet those who are of the household of narcissists. How'd you like to have a name like that?

14:35 Who are in the Lord. Narcissist, you know, was a god. Did you know that? That's why people who are narcissistic. You know, narcissists, according to the Greek gods, A narcissist was walking by one day, and he saw a pool of water in a pond. Could have been, some say a fountain, doesn't matter, but it was very still water. And he was walking by, and he looked in, and he saw his reflection. And he had never seen his reflection before, and he was so incredibly blown away with how handsome he was that he fell in love with himself. and that to never disturb the water, watch this, in this belief system, narcissist actually wound up unintentionally committing suicide because he could not, once he saw himself, he couldn't think of something.

15:32 Listen, those of you who have psychology degrees, listen up. Once he saw himself with his own eyes, he fell in love with himself, everything became about him and he couldn't take his eyes off himself to the point that he wound up starving himself to death because he couldn't break the reflection of the water because he couldn't break off at looking at himself. He wouldn't disturb the water because it would cause ripples. So he just looked at himself until himself, I know this is not grammar, he looked at himself until himself he killed. That's a narcissist. They see only themselves. It's all about them. They run. They don't care if anyone dies around them. As long as that person dies for their pleasure or for their entertainment.

16:30 You must love me, narcissist says. You must. You will. Love me. I do! that's narcissist Latin the Latin version would be Newsom no I'm kidding he did it that guy did it over there Lord it was that guy Look, I'm old, I'm near my retirement, what do I care? So, isn't that a terrifying story, though? But you see the reality of a narcissist. We have more narcissists today than never before in human history. You want to know why? It's the same story. Nobody looks at themselves in the water.

17:25 right it's so bad it's so bad a few days ago we went to a laker game and it's la and there are people walking crypto centers right there going across the crosswalk in la this girl she stops. She goes like this. In the middle of the crosswalk. You're supposed to move. Light turns green. The guys are going like this. She's like this. And watch. Watch. Like this. She's trying to like. And this. She's going like this. And I'm walking, I'm walking, and like this, and I'm walking. Narcissist. Narcissist. It's everywhere. Don't think it's not. Listen. Wow.

18:35 But apparently, even if your name is narcissist, you can be saved from yourself. God can rescue you from you because if it's only about you you're going to starve yourself to death spiritually you'll die verse 12 greet Tryphena and Tryphosa who have labored in the Lord greet the beloved Persis who labored much in the Lord verse 13 greet Rufus chosen in the Lord and his mother and mine what? how sweet is that? spiritual mom, she must have been amazing Paul is not saying that she, oh by the way she's my mom, that's not his mom he's talking about Rufus and Paul they enjoyed the ministry of Rufus' mom she was an amazing woman of God have you ever watched Dennis the Menace the one that's by John Hughes do you remember with the with the, who's the who's the great actor his teeth fell out, the guy puts chicklets up his, what's his name? Walter Matthau, oh my goodness, do you, this, this movie depicts this kid in such a way that he's such a nuisance but his heart you fall in love with this little guy but one of the most touching scenes and I gotta tell you it's me it must be me with all the craziness of that show which is very funny there is a scene where Walter Matthau's wife in the show sits down with Dennis, lays down.

20:34 He's going to bed. And mom and dad are away on a business trip and she's going to read him a story. And she reads him the story of winking, blinking, and nod. If you've never seen that scene, I want, I want a mom, I want a grandma like that. It's so sweet. Here's this little monster tyrant called Dennis the Menace. and she's reading this bedtime story.

21:05 I'm wondering if this woman was like that to Rufus and to Paul and how many countless others. Have you ever been around sweet old people who you just want to be with? They kind of have your heart. You know, like doctors tell us if you get a dog, your heart rate goes down. I don't know if that's true or not, but I believe it. I choose to believe it. there's something about older people in the Lord. They're a calming factor in your life. Did you see what happened? Lots of things happened. No, but did you see that one thing? Yeah, I did. What'd you think? Same thing I thought back in 38. it's all gonna blow by it's awesome how many of you are over now I know when no women are gonna raise I know no women are gonna raise their hands to this but how many of you are over 60 raise your hands raise your hands okay how many of you are under 60 I need to see a show raise your hands if you're under 60 some of you are not voting Thank you.

22:16 How many of you are deaf? Yeah, see? Find yourself a spirit-filled, God-fearing, Jesus-praising older person and latch on to them. Paul had that in his life. It's a beautiful thing.

22:42 Amazing. I lost my place. Where was I? Verse 13? Yes, 13. 14. Greet that guy. And the other one. And Hermas, Potrabas, Hermes, that's another god, by the way. These are all gods. And the brethren who are with them greet, let's try this, Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympus. That's a great name. If you've got to have a pagan name, that's a good name. What's your name? Olympus. You better be strong. And all the saints who are with them. Listen to verse 16. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Not here, but back in Rome.

23:37 The churches of Christ greet you. Now here, here is the point in Paul's concern. Now, I want all of you to be very, very critical thinking in your mind right now. When I say critical thinking, I mean that in a good way. now, he says, it's a military term, attention.

24:10 Everybody listens up. He said, look, I've been saying all these super sweet things to all you guys because I mean it. Greet you and greet you and greet the other one and howdy doody and super neat and all that cool stuff. Love you all. Now, as I'm getting ready to leave, now hear this. I urge you, Brethren, note. Circle the word note in your Bible.

24:37 Keep your eyes on them. It means mark them, tag them, hold them in contempt. Watch out for them. I'm warning you. Who, Paul, who are you speaking of? Those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you've learned and avoid them. Are you hearing this, church? Gossips, tailbearers, argumentative people, people that you can't win over, so stop trying. People who see wrong in everybody. Paul says, avoid them. Get away from them. People who are, what are they? Fault finders and sin sniffers. Get away from them. The Bible says avoid them.

25:32 Break off that friendship. People who take it beyond that. People who say things. Number one, the Bible says that they ought not to be saying, because they don't know what they're talking about, about people. Well, it sounds like the internet. People making comments. First of all, did you say, like if you do something, if you post something like, you could say something like, I love oranges. And somebody says to you, oh, you must be from either Florida or California. Boo-hoo. And it's like, have you ever seen this before? Those are sick, sick, sick people. the Bible says note them mark them tag them the picture is what you think go up to them get a pair get a pair of pliers and and tag their ear with like number 666 on it and they're walking around like a cow and they got the ear marked there's a guy right over there move. Why do you take them? Because they are so-called Christians who wherever they go, they leave behind a bad conversation.

26:47 they can't stop they're fake they're not of us and you know them in this day and age too they cannot handle that somebody else disagrees with them you want to know why because they hung out looking at a body of water that was still and they saw their reflection and then they post something like whatever it is and if you say or if somebody says, yeah, whatever, that's your opinion. I think this, and they just go into a stark, raving, scathing. Do you understand you're dealing with what the Bible says? Never. People get upset with this. You know what? Pastor Jack, you need to defend yourself. You need to say something. That person said this. You need to say something. Okay, let's all grow up for a second. All of my teachers, at least I was consistent. All of my teachers wrote my parents and said, he won't listen to anything we say.

27:46 He's so stubborn. I thank God for that now that I'm saved. Because when five, six, seven hundred people say something about, you need to answer what that, we need an answer by two o'clock or we're going to blow you up. I don't know what it is. You know what I'm saying?

28:07 As soon as I hear that, the last thing they'll ever get from me is an answer. I'm not going to give them what they want. Why? Because the Bible says, never answer a fool in their folly. So did you know, I found out this week, by the way, see, this is my last sermon. I'm leaving. I'll never see you again. Because I found out this week that I'm worth $25 million.

28:36 It was so easy. I looked at my wallet. It's not there. It's not at my bank. But people posted that on the internet. Now, that would have been cool if it was true. Did I answer them back? No. Did I call my bank to see if it was really there? No. Because it's not there. But listen, you learn all kinds of things about yourself when you listen to lunatics. I don't listen to lunatics. people say, how do you keep standing against opposition? I refuse. I don't listen. I refuse. By God's grace, I survived an abortion. I survived stuttering all my life until God miraculously healed me. You go down the list.

29:30 Listen, by God's grace, I survived myself. And then 36 years of full-time ministry, by God's grace, I have survived that. I have to tell you something. I refuse to be intimidated how can you intimidate somebody who refuses to be intimidated well we don't like you when people say we don't like you my honest response is if they would only stop to realize I totally agree with them most of the time I don't like me either You think about that. Don't let anybody, especially you young people, don't let anybody handle you like that. There's an opinion that matters, and there's only one, and his name's Jesus. And that goes for all of us, folks.

30:24 Mark them, note them, tag them, those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you've learned, and avoid them. For those, listen, 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. Sorry, I believe that with all my heart. Oh, Pastor Jack, this person got deceived by that guy. Let him go. Did you know that's my answer? Sorry. No, go get them. No, listen, Jesus said that he'll go after the one that strays away. He'll go get them. That's what the chief shepherd does. Okay, I'm a sheepdog. When somebody says, oh, you know what? I'm going to go with this. This guy's doing all kinds of miracles. Yeah, some false doctrine, but I'm going to go for all the miracles. Pastor Jack, you've got to go rescue my family member. No, no, no, no.

31:20 Folks, right now, God is cleaning what is called the church in the world right now and getting her ready for liftoff. There are people who are among us that are not of us. God is cleaning and preparing the bride of Christ. You keep yourself in the love of God. You obey him. You follow him. Just make sure you do not fall victim to the lies and the deceits of this age that is energized by doctrines of demons and deceiving spirits. Verse 19. 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. this is so great. Be wise in what is good. In other words, learn all the good stuff you can and be really dumb about the evil stuff. You don't need to study evil. Well, I'm doing a research paper on morality, so I have to do 200 pages, but I've done 900 pages on pornography.

32:19 be. Okay, you're crazy. Be innocent regarding evil things. Well, you know, we need our children to grow up. What does that mean? So many crazy parents say things like this. Well, you know, they're going to have to grow up someday. They're four years old and they see this obscene thing. Well, you know, they got to grow up someday. Dude, man, if that's your worldview, I don't want you near my grandkids. In fact, I don't want you near me. Well, we want to make sure that everybody has a real good, that they're all exposed to the social construct of all things. Really? That's a good idea? Really? Really? Are you going to send your kid to Babylon because Babylon exists? Listen, the Bible commands us parents and grandparents to protect the innocence of our children as long as possible.

33:15 Do you understand? You don't have to send them to college to learn evil. It's in our hearts already. We've got to teach good into them. But for somebody to say, well, you know what? I just need my kid to be exposed to all that's out there. You're crazy. Because King David couldn't even handle that. Can you imagine somebody telling David, you know, David, instead of going to war like you're supposed to, send your army to war. You sleep in and then take your walk in the afternoon on top of your palace. And then, you know, look over the railing and you can see down a few hill rooftops over. there's a woman by the name of Bathsheba. Everybody knows Bathsheba. And why don't you take a peek?

33:57 Isn't it funny that clearly David winds up growing, Solomon winds up growing up differently when David says, watch out. And Solomon tells his kids, don't look at an immoral woman. Of course, he didn't follow his own advice. Crazy. verse 20 and the God of peace will crush Satan I love this and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly I hope today is shortly grace the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you amen verse 21 Timothy my fellow worker and Lucius Jason and so so sipeter my countrymen another Jew, greet you. Verse 22, I, this is cool, this is Paul's secretary, because I wouldn't have the time to get into it, but you know how Paul had a horrible vision, did you know that? He writes in another place that you have seen, I've written this epistle with my own hand, and you have seen that I have had to write with you with giant letters. Think of that. And it says here that Tertuus, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.

35:17 So Paul spoke it and he's writing. Verse 23, Gaius, my host, and the host of the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the treasure of the city, greets you. Curatus, a brother, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, he says. Amen. Look at verse 25. He says, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel, that is the message Paul preached and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the foundation of the world began, but now made manifest by the prophetic scriptures. Church family, you should love Bible prophecy because guess what Paul just said? Paul just said the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is prophetic scripture.

36:11 I just want to read the gospels. Just know this. You're reading prophecy when you read the gospels. You like that? I like that. I love that. Made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith. Verse 27. To God alone wise. be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen, he says. What a precious, precious word. When your life is poured into others, this is the beauty about who we are in Christ Jesus. And you can all stand up. You can all stand. In this farewell, he's commissioning those by encouraging them. What a great way to be sent out. He commissions them by first of all telling them, I love you. I greet you.

37:06 Say hi to those guys. Make sure you greet this person. Give those guys a kiss. Can't wait to see y'all. But know this. Protect your walks. Stay away from people who are divisive. And know this. That the Lord will establish you. God will establish you he will strengthen you he's the one that unto him who is able to keep us from falling from stumbling and to present us faultless before his presence with glory Father in the name of Jesus I pray that you would bestow upon these beautiful believers the mantle of the doctrines we've learned in the book of Romans and Lord may we all be shocked to see that the Holy Spirit sovereignly, supernaturally, will take what we've learned over these years and energize our lives into action. And Lord, pretty amazing to think that we will never be together like this in the book of Romans ever again. That's kind of cool. I like that. So Lord, bless them. Cause your face to shine upon them. Be watchful over them. May they not stumble. May they not fail in letting you control them, lead them, guide them, shepherd them all the way to the everlasting arms of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, and all God's people said, amen. God bless you.