Protect Yourself 01-28-24

Overview: Paul wrote a letter to the Romans with practical applications for believers. He emphasizes that God alone deserves our worship and that we are in spiritual warfare externally and internally. Paul encourages prayer for deliverance, fruitfulness, and joy. He also instructs believers to prepare themselves by putting on the whole armor of God. Additionally, Paul highlights the importance of surrounding oneself with the right people who are fellow workers in Christ. Choosing good friends is crucial in shaping one's life. Transcription: Paul has written one of the greatest theological, doctrinal letters in the New Testament in the book of Romans. And we have waltzed verse by verse, chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph through this book. In the past two chapters, in verse 15 and 16, he really pushes into the practical application and challenges the listeners, the recipients of this letter, which would include us today, on how to apply these things and what that means for us, and give us even some steps to take as believers today, given the things that we face. And I should not continue to be surprised, but am constantly surprised at how God orchestrates things in His services that we call worship services, because He is the center of those things. But as the songs we sing this morning, I want to draw our attention first and foremost to the very end of chapter 16, what is titled the benediction of this letter. As we sing about the glory and the praise and the honor belong to Him and Him alone, Paul agrees with that statement because he closes this letter out in this way, verse 25, when he says, Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith, to God alone wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. I want to start this morning by saying this, that God alone is worthy of our praise. That God alone is worthy of our worship. That God alone is worthy of us proclaiming His greatness. That there is nothing great in and of ourselves. It is only because of Him that we are able to meet. It's only because of Him that we are here today. It's only because of Him and His grace and His mercy that we have the opportunity to worship Him in freedom this morning. And so with that said, I want us to be aware of the fact that we are in spiritual war. This is nothing new. This has been the case since before the time of Christ. But we read in Scripture about this spiritual warfare when Ephesians 6.12 tells us, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. And 1 Peter 5.8 tells us to be sober, to be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Spiritual warfare from the outside, but let us not also neglect the truth that we battle spiritual warfare from the inside as well. When the book of James 1.14-15 tells us that each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown brings forth death. And so beloved, we are in spiritual warfare in every realm of our life, externally and internally. Let us not neglect that fact, because when we begin to say, well, the devil made me do it, we fail to realize how sinful and depraved we are. We're broken people, beloved. There is nothing good in us. Scripture tells us that we are filthy rags. Scripture tells us there is none that do good, no, not one. And we have to begin with that premise, because the minute we think that there's something good in us, then the problem is everybody else. Doesn't that sound like the culture today? It's never our fault, it's always somebody else who did it. Pointing the finger, putting the blame on somebody else. Beloved, let me tell you something. Let me lovingly tell you this. The problem is you. The problem is me. You're not alone in that though. But relax, there's a solution to the problem. Amen? We are in spiritual warfare, and Paul addressed this in chapter 15 when he tells us to pray for yourself. And as you pray for yourself, he gives us three really key things to ask for. Ask for deliverance from our enemies, deliverance from temptation, deliverance from ourself. Ask for fruitfulness as we begin to live for Christ, as we begin to try to worship Him with our lives. We can ask for fruitfulness in that ministry and in those missions, and then to ask for joy that this world will try to steal that, try to squash that. This world will try to push that down deep, but beloved, true joy is there no matter what our situation, our circumstance, because our true joy lies in Christ and the work that He accomplished on the cross that cannot be taken away. The grace that He offers, the mercy that He offers, the forgiveness that He offers for everyone at all times, for all situations, in all circumstances, and that cannot be taken away. And so we can find joy in this life because we have joy in Christ. Pray for yourself. And coming out of this chapter for just a moment, when we look into this idea of spiritual warfare, then we are instructed in Scripture also to prepare yourself. You see, Ephesians 6, the same chapter that we got that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, also gives us the whole armor of God. And Ephesians 6, 11 and 13 says, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. He says we want to fight this spiritual warfare. We want to win this spiritual warfare. We want to overcome these things in our life. We need to prepare ourselves by putting on the belt of truth, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by putting on the shoes of the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, by taking up the shield of faith that quenches the fiery darts of the wicked one, and put on that helmet of salvation to take up that sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and to pray always with all prayer and supplication. And even in Romans 16, verse 20, we read this truth, that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and all of God's people to that truth would say, Amen. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of feeling like Satan is winning. I'm tired of feeling like Satan is taking over the lives of our children, over the lives of our schools, over the lives of our community. I'm tired of feeling like Satan is overcoming my life. I don't know about you. I don't know what you're walking through today. But there's times in my life where I'm beat down. I'm tired. I'm worn out. I give in to temptation and sin takes root in my life. And I feel so far from God. And I'm tired of feeling like Satan is winning. And I need to feel like this first, that God will crush Satan under my foot soon. I want to feel like that. I want to wake up tomorrow and say, Take that, Satan. I want to feel like I'm having victory in my life. So then the question becomes, How do I get there? How do I get there? Scripture tells me, In this world you will have troubles, but fear not, I have overcome the world. Scripture tells me that we are more than conquerors through Christ who strengthen us. That we can do all things through Christ. So Scripture tells me all that. I know all of that. I believe all of that. But then why do I fight so much? Why do I experience hurt and heartache? How do I begin to experience victory in my life? I believe Paul gives us really three things in this chapter 15 to pray for yourself. In Ephesians, Paul writes that letter. He says to prepare yourself. In chapter 16, he gives us another idea of how to experience that when he says to protect yourself. He says protect yourself by surrounding yourself with the right people. I read a book some years ago, Twice Pardoned. It was a story, it was a testimony about a man who played professional football. He gave a ride to some people who needed a ride and was innocent enough, but to come to find out, those people had robbed a store, killed somebody. They got busted, but who did they blame? Him. Found himself in jail for years for murder and theft. But while he was in jail, found Christ. Got saved. Started living that. Started leading Bible studies. Started being the perfect inmate that he could be in that situation. And so, lo and behold, he received a pardon years later from the government. They reviewed his case and realized these men were busted later on doing the same thing. And they realized that it wasn't him at all. And so he received a full pardon from that state. And so his book is called Twice Pardoned because it's testimony of this. He was pardoned from Christ first and then from the government. His situation that he found himself in was all because he chose to surround himself with the wrong people. And we oftentimes, as parents and grandparents, we've got to teach our young ones. Pick good friends. Friends are important in your life. Friends can dictate the trajectory of your life. And we teach them and we train them and we push them. But oftentimes, as adults, sometimes we forget that that truth remains for us too. That we need to pick good friends. That we need to surround ourselves with the right people. And Paul teaches us that, shows us that, the importance of that in chapter 16 when he says, surround yourself with the right people. And the right people are headed in the same direction. They are fellow workers. Look at verse 3 of chapter 16. He says, Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers. Verse 6, Greet Mary who labored much for us. Verse 9, Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ. Verse 12, Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis who labored much in the Lord. What's he saying? I want you to greet all of these people. Now again, he's writing this letter most likely from Corinth to Rome. These people that he is saying greet are in Rome. So they're separated. They're not together at this moment. But what he's saying is these people at some point in my life, we were together and we worked. We had fellow workers. We were headed in the same direction. We had the same purpose. And what was Paul's purpose? To preach the Gospel. For people to come to salvation in Christ. That was his purpose. And so he surrounded himself with people who are laboring and working for that direction. Beloved, what is your direction? Where are you headed? Are you headed in the direction of self? Are you headed in the direction of this is what I want. How can I get it? What can I get out of it? Because if you're headed in that direction, what you will do is you will surround yourself with people that are headed in that same direction. But here's the problem. They will head in that direction as long as it benefits them. Why? Because they're serving self. And so if they think it benefits them to come alongside you, yeah, I'm going to help you, I'm going to help you, I'm going to help you. The minute that helping you doesn't serve them, guess what? They're gone. And you will find yourself alone. Paul says, no, no. Let's head in the direction of serving Christ. I'm going to surround myself with people who are serving Christ. And as long as we're serving Christ and we're heading in the same direction, then beloved, we'll never find ourself alone because we'll be heading in the same direction. Fellow workers, fellow believers. Look back at verse 5. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Eponidas, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ. He was the first person, one of the first people in that country to be saved. His faith in Christ alone is what saved him. He is one of the first ones in that area. Greet him. Verse 7, greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. They were saved before Paul was. Fellow believers, verse 8, greet Amplius, my beloved, in the Lord. Verse 10, greet Apellas, approved in Christ. Verse 13, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord. And verse 15, greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympus and all the saints who are with him. All the saints. These are people who are in Christ, beloved. Paul's big push at the beginning of the Roman letter is that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. That is how we are saved. We're not saved by coming to church. I'm glad you're here. I really am. We've got a good looking crowd this morning. Right? Amen. Y'all are like, I don't know. Amen. I'm glad you're here. But you being here will not save you. Look, for the first time in my six years here, the men outnumbered the ladies in the choir. Amen. Amen. Oh my. Y'all are not as excited as I am about that. And I looked down and I told them ladies, I said, ladies, I just want y'all to know for the first time, men outnumber you. Of course, one of my other men said, yeah, we may outnumber them, but we can't out-sing them. Amen. Amen. They're right on that. I agree with that. But listen, I don't even know where I was headed with that now. I got distracted. Singing in the choir won't save us. Leading the music won't save us. Playing the piano won't save us. Running the sound system won't save us. Being a deacon won't save you. Being the longest standing church member won't save you. Only one thing that'll save you. Faith in Christ alone will only save you. That's the only thing. And that's good news for us. Because we don't have to clean ourselves up. We don't have to look a certain way. We don't have to talk a certain way. Well, Preacher, you don't know what I did. It doesn't matter what you did. Because it's not up to you. It's not up to me. It's not up to any kind of work that we can accomplish on this side of eternity. The only thing that will save us is grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone. That's it. Period. And we need to surround ourselves with people who believe that. Now, this phrase is thrown around a lot. And I try not to get on a soapbox when I hear it. Well, I'm a person of faith just like you. Now, wait a minute. Because an atheist has faith. Somebody who believes in evolution has faith. They may be, they could be called a person of faith. Listen, it takes a lot more faith to believe that all this happened by accident than that there was a creator God who orchestrated it all. So I don't want to surround myself with people who say they're people of faith. I want to surround myself with people who say I trust in Christ alone for salvation, for strength, for direction, for purpose, for meaning, for everything that I need in life. Paul said it this way. I have decided to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified. What's Paul saying? That Christ is all. And when he got that mindset, that's why he could say to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's the kind of people I want around me. People who are fellow believers. Headed in the same direction. Have the same heart for you. Scripture tells us to love our neighbor as our self. We need to surround ourselves with people who genuinely care for us. Don't want anything out of us. And it also tells us in order to have friends, we've got to show ourselves friendly. And so if we're going to surround ourselves with people that love us, then we have to love others. Have the same heart for you in verse five. There's that word beloved. Verse eight, again, that word beloved. Verse nine, again, beloved. Verse 12, the beloved. This word beloved is a two-way street. It is a relationship of love. It's not just somebody... Have you ever experienced that kind of relationship that you love with everything that you are, but you don't get it back? That kind of relationship hurts, doesn't it? That kind of relationship is heavy. That's a hard burden to carry. We're not meant to carry it. That's why Jesus says, come unto Me, you who are weak and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. My burden is easy. My yoke is easy. My burden is light because the relationship that we have with Him is a two-way street. We are His beloved. We need to surround ourselves with people who genuinely love us. Not give us lip service. Not brag about us. Not use flattery words. I would rather have someone who is sitting beside me and being honest with me than someone who tells me how awesome I am all the time. Because here's the truth. I know I'm not. I know I'm not. I know who I am. I'm very self-aware of the type of person, hard, bit of a jerk at times. Like, I get that. I understand that. And so I don't need somebody, oh, you're awesome, you're amazing, you're great, you're perfect. You don't see the same person I see. But I need somebody who's gonna say, you know what? That's kind of mean. Surround ourselves with people who love us, has the same heart for us, and has the same heart for your goals. Look at verse two and three. Let's back up to verse one, actually, because we get her name there. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who's a servant of the church in Centuria, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has made of you. For indeed, she has been a helper of many and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. And so we see this first introduced to Phoebe. He says, who's a helper of many and myself also. He surrounded himself with people who are gonna help him achieve his goals. And what was his goal? That everyone would hear the Gospel. Jew and Gentile alike. I'm gonna give you a little story about verse three, Priscilla and Aquila. Not recognize those names. Priscilla and Aquila, Paul met in Corinth. And when Paul left Corinth, they went with him. They followed him. They were fellow workers of his. Paul comes to Ephesus. Now I don't know the exact communication that happened between him and Priscilla and Aquila. Priscilla and Aquila, husband and wife. But he leaves Priscilla and Aquila at Ephesus. That's what Scripture tells us. Scripture tells me, he instructed him, I need y'all to stay here. Now Priscilla and Aquila left what they knew in Corinth to follow him. They get to Ephesus and he says, I need y'all to stay here. And they do, why? Because they had the same heart for his goal that he had. He said, I need you to stay here and teach. I need you to stay here and build these up in the faith. I need you to stay here and be leaders in Ephesus. And it's at Ephesus that Apollos comes into the picture. Apollos starts preaching. Scripture has great things to say about him and his speaking and his teaching and he's well versed in the Scriptures and very eloquent in his speaking. In fact, the letter to the Corinthians says, some of you say you follow Apollos. Some of you say you follow this person or that person. But you don't need to be following them, you need to be following Christ. And so Apollos has built up his name for himself. Well, he's at Ephesus, he's preaching, he's teaching. Well, guess who's in the synagogue as he's preaching and teaching? Priscilla and Aquila. What do they do? They bring Apollos to the side and explain to him more fully the things of God. Priscilla and Aquila were a key part in teaching Apollos what to preach and how to preach so that he would get to the level that he was at that we read about in Corinthians. Without Priscilla and Aquila coming alongside of him, being these men and women who loved him and had the same goal as him and wanted to help him achieve his goal of preaching and teaching the things of God. They said, wait a minute, you're preaching very well. You're preaching. You've got great things about you, but let me explain to you a little bit more fully what you're talking about. And they came alongside of him and raised up the next leader. Beloved, we need people in the church that are going to surround the preachers, the Sunday school teachers, the music leaders, everybody, and help them and teach them and train them and sharpen them. And beloved, as leaders, we need people to sharpen us because we don't know it all. Where's my deacons at? Deacons, do you know it all? I didn't hear no. So, maybe they think they do. No, I've known these men better. I know their heart. They would tell you they don't know it all. But they have a heart for you. They have a heart for the Lord. They have a heart for this church. Surround ourselves with people that have the same heart for you and your goals. Thirdly, surround yourself with the right people who have a sacrificial spirit. Verses 3 and 4, Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. They risked their life for Paul. Spend just a moment, beloved, your closest friend, your inner circle. Would they risk their life for you? Would you risk your life for them? Boy, that's a hard question. We need to surround ourselves with people that answer that question. Yeah, yes I would. I would sacrifice for them. I would give up for them. I'm not telling you you need to go and do that, but maybe you need to sacrifice a little time to build them up. Maybe you need to sacrifice a little bit out of your busy schedule to touch base with them and see how they're doing spiritually. Maybe you need to set aside a little bit of time to sharpen one another. Set people around you in place that are willing to do that for you and receive it from you. Others above self. Purpose over potential. A lot of these people are only mentioned in this list. The bulk of them, say maybe four people out of this list, this is the only place in all of Scripture that you will see them. But they obviously had a big impact in Paul's life. And Paul wouldn't be where he was without these people that he listed. And he lists some more at the end of chapter 21-24. He lists some people that are with him. Timothy, Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, Tertius, Gaius, Erastus. He's got people around him even in this moment. One of them being the treasurer of the city. They have the potential to do great things in their lives. They say we're going to serve Paul. We're going to serve Christ through Paul, as we're saying. But that's who we're to surround ourselves with. People who are willing to serve for the cause of Christ when it's tough. When it means that they may have to give up a little bit of their time, their talent, and their treasure. Protect yourself by surrounding yourself with the right people. I've got five minutes to tell you to protect yourself by separating yourself from the wrong people. He says in verse 17-19, Now 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. And then, verse 20, if you do these things and the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. Separate yourself from the wrong people. Those that cause divisions in doctrine is what verse 17 says. Those who are going to divide this doctrine. Hey, yes, you're saved by faith in Christ, but then you also have to do these things. You're dividing doctrine. Scripture is clear. Let's not compromise on... You've heard this for the last few months. Let's not compromise on the primary issues. We can have discussions on the secondary. But the primary issues we need to be grounded on and anybody who tries to sway us, to divide us, to mix in it with it, any kind of other doctrine that builds upon the foundation of Christ with some other doctrine is not to be included in our inner circle. Separate yourselves from those who cause divisions in doctrine and in practice, first part of verse 18 says, for those who are such, do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, that should be our goal to serve Christ. With everything that we have, with everything that we are, serve Christ. Find ways to serve Him. Those who want to cause divisions in that, serve Christ on Sundays and Wednesdays, but serve self on Monday. Avoid those. Don't let them in your circle. Those that cause divisions, those that cause offenses, don't serve Christ, they serve their own belly by smooth words and flattering speech. They deceive the hearts of the simple. Those that cause offense, that cause you to go against what you really believe with deception. This started all the way back in the Garden of Eden, didn't it? Hey, did God really say this? I know what God said. Don't touch or eat it or you'll surely die. Ah, you won't really die. But He did cause division, cause offense, cause Eve and Adam to go against what they were told and what they believed with deception. This is what the people who serve self will do. They'll come alongside of you. Their flattering words and smooth talking and they'll make you think that they're really for you only to deceive you so that they can get out of you what they want. Not only that, but with distraction. Distraction, verse 19, for your obedience has become known to all. Let me just distract you for a moment. You know what? You deserve this. You've worked hard. You've been obedient. Man, you deserve this. It's really easy to step into that. You know what? You're right. I do. I do deserve this. How dare they talk to me that way? I deserve respect. Distract us from what we really believe knowing that we don't really deserve anything but death, hell, and grave. Distract us. Cause us to offend what we really believe, but separate ourselves from those that lead to sin. He says this phrase at the end of verse 19. I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. That phrase, simple concerning evil, literally means without mixture of evil, free of guile. It means innocent. He says I wish you to be innocent. I want you to be free of evil. You know what the tree that Adam and Eve ate of was called? The tree of knowledge of good and evil. Because up to the point of where they took a bite of that fruit, all they knew was good. They were created in the image of God perfectly. They had peace with God who walked around the garden and spoke with them. They only knew good. They were simple in knowing evil. They didn't know what it was. They didn't know how to do it. They had no part of it. And we don't know what that's like because we were born in iniquity. We were born into a sinful world. Sin and evil is all around us. We don't know what that's like. But Adam and Eve knew what it was like. From the moment they decided to disobey God, they knew what evil was. They learned what it was like to be enticed by evil. They learned what it meant to sin against God. Paul says surround yourself with the right people. Separate yourself from the wrong people that you won't even know what it's like to be. Now I want to make a distinction right here for just a moment as I close. Because the Bible tells us to be in the world and not of the world. You've got co-workers. You've got acquaintances. You may even have family members that are lost and have no faith in Christ. And they need for you to show the love of Christ to them. This Scripture is not about completely separating yourself from the lost. This is about that inner circle. That group of people that you allow to speak into your life, to affect your decisions, to help you or hinder you from following Christ. It's talking about... You think about Jesus. Jesus was followed by a group of disciples that was huge. It wasn't just the twelve. It was huge. And we know this because He makes some statements in some of the Scriptures that it says the people turned away and followed Him no more. They had followed Him up to that point and then they left Him. But inside that group of disciples, He had twelve. Inside that group of twelve, He had three. The three that He took a little deeper into the garden. The three that He took up on the mountain of transfiguration. The three that He held a little bit closer. Not that He loved anybody less. But those were the three that He wanted around Him. Those were His inner circle. That's what I'm talking about. That inner circle that you have around you. Who are they? How are they speaking into your life? Are they encouraging you in your faith? Are they lifting you up? Are they praying for you? Are they sacrificing for you? Do they love you? And do you love them? Because if we want to experience the victory that's in verse 20, then we need to surround ourselves with the right people and separate ourselves from the wrong. All the glory above this is not easy. It's not going to be easy. Because you've built some close relationships with some people that don't need to be in your inner circle. We've built some close relationships with people that have been hindering our walk with Christ. And we need to push them back a level. And we're... You can still be friends, acquaintances, still talk, hopefully be that gospel light in their life, but not allow them to have the power and the influence over your life that they've had. If we're going to experience victory, if we're going to see God, the God of peace, crush Satan under our feet shortly, then we need to take a hard look at our life and see who we're surrounding ourselves with. As adults and as students. Who are your friends? Who are you surrounding yourself with? We must start, Miss Patsy, if you'll come and you'll play, let's stand together as we start our time of invitation. A little bit of a different message this morning. Challenge for those who are in Christ. Beloved, this victory, this understanding of surrounding ourselves with the right people must start by surrounding ourselves with Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. And that comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. Beloved, where is your faith in place? Is it in self? That won't save you. Is it in prosperity? That won't save you. Is it in your friends or your family? Those won't save you. Only if your faith is in Christ can you be saved. But here's the glorious truth. Anyone who puts their faith in Christ will be saved. Anyone, no exception. If you will confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness, to make you whole, to make you the righteousness of God. But you have to put your faith in Christ. For those of us who have put our faith in Christ, it's a challenging message to examine who we're surrounding ourselves with. Beloved, if I'm going to experience victory in my life, I need to surround myself with the right people and separate myself from the wrong people. If Kingsgrove Baptist Church is going to experience victory, we need to surround ourselves with the right people and separate ourselves from the wrong people. Anyone can be made right through faith in Christ. Maybe there's someone that's on your heart, on your mind now that you need to pray for. Maybe there's a situation you're facing, man, I'm going to have to make this tough decision to separate myself a little bit from this person. You need to ask God for strength. This altar's open. You come and pray however God leads you.