Good morning.
I’d like you all to turn with me to Romans 16. Those of you who receive the email know this will be the last message on Romans. We’re trying to do the whole chapter because I think it’s really one thought. To break it into two, as I’ve normally done with many of the chapters, would not serve it well. So, we’ll try to get through the whole chapter. It’s not quite as long as the other chapters, and we’ll consider what the Lord has to say to us.
You know, this has been three years. I never expected this to happen. Years ago, Brother Kong said to us young brothers, who did not know much about the Word of God, “Choose a book and read it fifty times.” He was not quite the disciplinarian that Watchman Nee was. Watchman Nee told two elderly sisters who came to him with a question about Revelation, “Read it a hundred times.” Brother Kong would snicker and say, “Hey, I’m not a disciplinarian.”
I chose Romans. I often think that shows my intelligence. It is the longest book Paul wrote, by two hundred words over 1 Corinthians. Had I been a smart man, I would have chosen Jude, Philemon, or 2 John and 3 John. But I did not, and praise the Lord for this book. This book is so, so precious.
The rest of the story is that this book has been precious to me through all these years. I have read it many times. When Jack and I got involved in Pakistan, the folks there shocked me. One day, out of the blue—they knew nothing of this history—they said, “Brother, would you teach us Romans?”
I said, “Oh, no. I don’t know about that. Let me pray about it.” Ben Hebert happened to be staying with Linda and me shortly afterward, and I told him about it. He said, “Yes, brother, you ought to do it.” If you know Ben, he is absolute.
Then I said, “Ben, they want me to do it twice a month. I don’t have the time for that.” He said, “Yes, you ought to do it.” So here we are at three years.
Beginning with Romans 16:1:
I commend to you Phoebe, our sister,
who is a minister of the assembly which is in Cenchrea,
that you may receive her in the Lord worthily of saints,
and that you may assist her in whatever matter she has need of you;
for she also has been a helper of many, and of myself.
Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus,
who, for my life, staked their own necks;
to whom not I only am thankful,
but also all the assemblies of the nations;
and the assembly at their house.
Salute Epaenetus, my beloved,
who is firstfruits of Asia for Christ.
Salute Mary, who labored much for you.
Salute Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and fellow-captives,
who are of note among the apostles,
who also were in Christ before me.
Salute Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
Salute Urbanus, our fellow-workman in Christ,
and Stachys, my beloved.
Salute Apelles, approved in Christ.
Salute those who belong to Aristobulus.
Salute Herodion, my kinsman.
Salute those who belong to Narcissus, who are in the Lord.
Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord.
Salute Persis, the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.
Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas,
and the brethren with them.
Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas,
and all the saints with them.
Salute one another with a holy kiss.
All the assemblies of Christ salute you.
But I beseech you, brethren,
to consider those who create divisions and occasions of falling,
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned,
and turn away from them;
for such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly,
and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
For your obedience has reached to all.
I rejoice therefore as regards you;
but I wish you to be wise as to that which is good,
and simple as to evil.
But the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Timothy, my fellow-workman,
and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.
I, Tertius, who have written this epistle, salute you in the Lord.
Gaius, my host, and the host of the whole assembly, salutes you.
Erastus, the steward of the city, salutes you, and the brother Quartus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Romans 16:25:
Now to Him that is able to establish you
according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery
as to which silence has been kept in the times of the ages,
but which has now been made manifest,
and by prophetic scriptures, according to the commandment of the eternal God,
made known for obedience of faith to all the nations—
the only wise God, through Jesus Christ,
to Him be glory forever. Amen.
Now, Lord, we come to You in absolute dependence for You to open Your Word to us, that You would shed light by the Holy Spirit upon this chapter, Romans 16, and that we would understand it—understand Your Word in a new and living way.
We say this again and again because You alone have the words of eternal life. Speak to us as we gather this day in Your presence. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, I have told you before that I consider the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle Paul’s masterpiece. There is nothing like it in all of Scripture. It is the clearest, the most complete, and the most comprehensive explanation of the glorious gospel of God in all the Bible.
There is much to say about the glad tidings, the gospel, or the good news in the Bible, but nowhere has it been presented as thoroughly and clearly as in these sixteen chapters, as the Holy Spirit helped Paul to present it here. I am so thankful that we have been able to have this time together.
Now, there are three things I want to say so that you understand. This may not have been, to you, a Bible study. You may consider it strictly an exposition of the Word of God. Expounding the Word of God is most important.
You remember that the Lord Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away.” We need to expound the Word of God. But we need more than exposition.
We need to experience for ourselves what the Word of God is saying and bring it into our subjective experience. If it does not become part of our subjective experience, it is good doctrine. I am not against good doctrine. This is the best doctrine in the Bible concerning the good news. But we need it to become experience.
Furthermore, it needs to go from experience into devotion. Do you understand? It should provoke in you the strongest devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, if you have those three things—exposition, experience, and devotion—you have a complete experience of the Word of God. May the Lord help us as we look at this chapter.
Sometimes I think people ignore this chapter. They think, “All those names—I can hardly pronounce them.” I had some help, by the way. I have a Bible-pronunciation app. Computers are good for some things. I could go and hear how they are supposedly pronounced. I still think I will be making many apologies in glory.
But, brothers and sisters, we come to this wonderful chapter. When I read Romans for the first time—those fifty times—I could not wait to get through chapter 16. I thought, “Ah, chapter 16. It’s a bunch of names. It’s just names. There is hardly any encouragement, it does not look like, and hardly any doctrine.”
So I sometimes called it the flyover chapter. Those of us on the East Coast and those of us on the West Coast think we are the most important people in the United States, and all the country in between is flyover country. Many of us skip this chapter, and that is wrong.
In this chapter is the perfect will of God. When we come to this chapter, we see the expression of what God was always after in mankind. That is why this long list of names is here.
I reckon this chapter to the finale of a great fireworks display. I am not talking about illegal fireworks purchased in Powhatan and lit in your driveway. I am talking about the great finale at the end, the explosion of fireworks that lights up the entire dark night.
That is what this is: an explosion of names in which the perfect will of God is explained.
It is not just greetings, not just salutations with a few closing remarks. This is the climactic ending of God’s great heart for people, and how, in the end, it was manifested and expressed in a people.
So the title the Lord gave me is “The Testimony of Jesus Expressed: A People for God’s Own Possession.” That is what Romans 16 is about.
In the end, we come to this glorious finale, this final part of a grand symphony, and we hear the explosion: “Here they are. This is what I am looking for.”
It is the names.
May the Lord open our eyes and show us the testimony of Jesus expressed, and a people for God’s own possession.
The outline is simple:
Let us turn first of all to the first sixteen verses. This is by far the longest part. Sixteen of the twenty-seven verses concern these greetings.
Notice the names. There are a tremendous number of names. Some are indirectly referred to, but most are spoken. There are thirty names or references in just these sixteen verses.
Now, I will give you a little secret: ten are women, and twenty are men. I think the sisters are going to love me at the end of this message, and the brothers will never speak to me again.
Paul had such an appreciation for sisters and their ministry. I think you will see something of that as we go through. It is the names.
Griffith Thomas called this long list of names “a galaxy of saints.” Another called it “a grocery list.” I do not like that so much—a grocery list of saints, of names.
One thing you need to understand when you read Romans 16 is that there is nothing like this in any of Paul’s epistles. Paul may begin one of his thirteen epistles with a name, or end it with a few names and short comments, but nowhere—nowhere except in this masterpiece—has Paul accumulated so many names and given so much information.
There is a reason. He wants us to see that God’s testimony was expressed in a living and powerful way. It is the names.
I remember lying in bed one night after I had meditated much on this. I woke up. I used to be a good sleeper. I do not know what happened—I got old.
Sometimes I wake up at three or four in the morning, and after I do what I really have to do, I lie there. Sometimes a flood of light comes, and the Word of God is made alive. I see things I never saw while I was supposedly awake.
I remember one specific morning when the Holy Spirit seemed to say, “It is the names. It is the names. Here I am made known through the people who know Me. Here I am expressed. Here I have a people of My own possession.”
As 1 Peter 2:9 says, we are a people for God’s own possession. This is where you have to begin in Romans 16. It is unique in all the books of the Bible, and unique in Paul’s writings.
If you read to the end—and if you are still awake when we finish—Paul mentions eight more names in Corinth, where the letter was written. This is always the case. This is the perfect will of God.
This is the living expression. The Greek word ekklesia, the word for “assembly,” occurs 115 times in the New Testament. It occurs many times in Paul’s epistles and Acts, and two-thirds of those occurrences are in Paul’s epistles alone.
Paul knew the church. He was the apostle to the church. He loved the church.
So the first thing you must focus on when you come to this long list of names is Paul’s absolute and complete love for the church. This is what I want to impress you with. If I fail to impress you with anything else, I believe this is absolutely important.
When we talk about the names, remember the disciples in Luke 10. The Lord gave them power, and they went out. They came back happy campers and said, “Even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”
The Lord said, “Do not rejoice in that. Rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven.”
These names are written in heaven. Think about how Revelation ends. After the great white throne, Revelation speaks of those whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life? That is the one thing that is most important at the end. We are speaking about the end here, the end of the epistle—but at the end, this is the issue: Is your name written?
How wonderful are these names. There are twenty men and ten women. They are Jews and Gentiles; slaves, free men, and free women who used to be slaves. Think of that. Does this not sound like the church to you?
Galatians 3:28 says:
There is neither Jew nor Greek;
there is neither bond nor free;
there is neither male nor female:
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
These names are referred to as sisters, brethren, saints, servants, friends, fellow-workers, and fellow-prisoners. What a group of people—all saved, all being the expression of the testimony of Jesus on the earth.
In these sixteen verses, Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” and “in the Lord” ten times. This is what it means to be the testimony of Jesus: it is simply those who are in Christ.
There are only two options. You know my affection for the twos in the Word of God. But in the end, there are only two options: you are either in Christ or you are not in Christ. You are either in the Lord or you are not in the Lord. That is it. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it is true.
The other thing I want you to notice in Paul’s love for the church is his intimate knowledge and intense affection. If you have read this chapter a hundred times and missed that, you have missed everything.
Paul had never visited Rome before writing this letter. How, then, did he have such intimate knowledge? These are not casual greetings, like saying, “Tell Mike I said hello. I remember meeting him one day passing in and out of the bathroom.”
No. Paul spoke with intensely intimate knowledge of every one of these people, and he spoke with intense affection. How Paul loved the church.
Brothers and sisters, you know where I am going. The perfect will of God is that, in the end, we would not only love the Lord, but we would love the church. This is what we see in Romans 16.
William R. Newell said of this sixteenth chapter:
It is by far the most extensive, intimate, and particular of all loving greetings in Paul’s marvelous letters.
How powerful. I think that is absolutely wonderful.
First of all, in Romans 16:1, we read about Phoebe:
I commend to you Phoebe, our sister,
who is a minister of the assembly which is in Cenchrea,
that you may receive her in the Lord worthily of saints,
and that you may assist her in whatever matter she has need of you;
for she also has been a helper of many, and of myself.
Phoebe, a lady, is mentioned first. She was from Cenchrea, the port city of Corinth, only miles away. This lady was a businesswoman, by the way, and she was going to Rome. Paul was commending her. This is basically a letter of recommendation: receive her and help her in whatever need she has.
Paul pays the highest compliments to Phoebe. She was a businesswoman, but she was far more than that. She was doing the Lord’s business.
Brother Kong once spoke to us about the difference between an avocation and a vocation. An avocation is something like a hobby, something you do on the side. A vocation is what you do for your living.
This sister’s avocation was being a businesswoman, but her vocation was serving the Lord. Do you understand?
For all of you within the reach of my voice, remember this one thing: you are on earth not to be a great businessman, doctor, lawyer, or carpenter. That is your avocation. But you have a vocation.
If you are in Christ, if you are in the Lord, you have a whole new vocation. You may do like me and keep working until you are seventy-one years old.
One of my partners came up to me and said, “Pitt, you worked too long. You missed your calling.” I did not take that lightly. I said, “No. No, I did not miss my calling. I am in the Lord. I am in Christ. This is my calling. This engineering we do together, partner, is secondary.”
This is Phoebe. May the Lord adjust our thinking when it comes to our place in the world.
She is referred to as a sister, a saint, a servant, and a helper. The word rendered “helper” means one who helped many, as Darby translated it. I love that alliteration.
She was a sister. She was a saint. More than that, she was a servant. The word there means deaconess. She was a helper of many, and Paul concluded, “and of myself.”
This testimony of dear sister Phoebe is wonderful. You may not know this, but she actually delivered Paul’s Epistle to the Romans to the church in Rome. Most commentators of any worth agree with that.
Think about Phoebe. What a ministry she had. She carried this marvelous epistle to the Roman church, and that was her business.
Paul sent the letter with no carbon copy. Today, we have copy machines. We can produce a hundred copies and distribute them all over the world. She took the original letter. Can you imagine what was entrusted to her?
She took the original letter and delivered it to Rome. Paul sent it with this woman over the long and dangerous journey to Rome.
One man said, “Phoebe carried under the folds of her robe the whole future of Christian theology.” What a responsibility.
Can you imagine if we did not have the Epistle to the Romans? Where would we be in understanding the gospel? This is most precious.
Phoebe is mentioned only once in the whole Bible. Is that not extraordinary? But if you had this written about you, I think you would be pleased. One mention—and how grand it was. What intimate knowledge. What intense affection.
The next people mentioned are Priscilla and Aquila—or Prisca and Aquila, as the version I am using says. This is a husband-and-wife team. Priscilla is a diminutive of Prisca; it means little Prisca.
Here is a husband-and-wife team that were fellow-workers of the Apostle Paul and were from Rome. Paul says:
Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus.
They fled Rome because Claudius expelled all the Jews from Rome. Then we have the wonderful history in Acts 18:1-3, where Paul met Priscilla and Aquila. They were fellow tentmakers.
They went with Paul to Corinth. Later, after Claudius died and his edict was revoked, they went back to Rome—to the people they loved, in the place they loved.
Paul says, “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus.” Then he says something never said elsewhere in all his writings: they risked their own necks for him. They laid down their lives for him.
Paul says that he is thankful, and all the assemblies of God are thankful. That is understated.
Nowhere in Paul’s writings—not in 2 Corinthians 4, not in 2 Corinthians 11, not in the Book of Acts—is this incident mentioned. But here, intimate knowledge and intense affection come through. He says, in effect, “I am indebted to this brother and sister. I would not be here had it not been for them.”
Think of it: if we did not have these people. How unselfish they were. I wonder what they did. Paul does not explain it, and it is not recorded elsewhere in the Bible. But somehow their lives were on the line, and they were willing to give them up.
This elect vessel continued to serve until he was martyred. What a precious revelation.
Then there are the beloved greetings. As you know, I am not an English major. I am fond of saying that, but I happen to be married to one, and I will get coaching afterward on the words I missed.
The word beloved can be pronounced either as a three-syllable word or a two-syllable word. You can say beloved or beloved. There are certain English rules I still do not understand.
But here are the beloved saints. Paul says again and again, “my beloved.” How did he know these people if he had never been to Rome?
I can imagine Priscilla and Aquila sitting around the campfire at night with the Apostle Paul while they were making tents. I can imagine them saying, “Oh, this dear brother in Rome, this dear sister in Rome.” They spoke with such deep affection that it infected the Apostle Paul.
This explains how he gained his intimate knowledge. During those years in which they were exiled from Rome, they were fellow-workers with Paul.
In Romans 16:5, Paul says:
Salute Epaenetus, my beloved,
who is the firstfruits of Asia for Christ.
His first convert. Paul did not just say, “Say hello to Epaenetus.” He said, “My beloved.” His affection for the church is so clear.
In Romans 16:8, he says:
Salute Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
These are brothers, so go easy on me, men. What affection. Do you have that kind of affection for brothers and sisters?
Did not the Lord Jesus say that all men would know we are His disciples if we have love one for another? What deep affection.
In Romans 16:12, we meet another sister, Persis:
Salute Persis, the beloved,
who labored much in the Lord.
“The beloved” seems to be a special, intimate recognition. The Wuest translation renders her labor as laboring to the point of exhaustion.
Can you imagine people like that? This is the perfect will of God. I know some brothers and sisters like that, though I am not including myself—those who labor to the point of exhaustion because, like the Apostle Paul, they have been infected with a love for the church.
May the Lord find some of those in us. Persis is mentioned only this once in the whole Bible. Is that not wonderful—that Paul wrote what he wrote about her?
Then there are Tryphena and Tryphosa, two dear sisters. Some have said they were twins, but most agree they were slaves. These are slave names. Yet they loved the Lord, and they served the Lord. Oh, that we would be like that.
Romans 16:13 speaks of Rufus. I like that name. It has a good ring. If Linda lets me get another dog, I am going to name the dog Rufus. It is a great dog name.
But perhaps this Rufus was the son of Simon of Cyrene, who carried the cross of our Lord Jesus. In Mark 15:21, Simon is identified as the father of Alexander and Rufus. So some believe this was that Rufus.
Think of this divine arrangement. Simon of Cyrene was the only human being ever to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus physically. He was compelled. Roman soldiers grabbed him as he came in from the field, and they imposed that burden upon him.
But here, perhaps, there was a divine connection between Paul and Simon, and maybe Simon’s son Rufus.
Paul says, “His mother and mine.” It does not mean literally that she was Paul’s mother. But if this account is true, Simon’s wife, Rufus’s mother, apparently had a relationship with Paul. She was a spiritual mother, not a blood relative.
Thank God for that. I hope you get this affection of Paul. I hope we all get this affection of Paul. It is what God is looking for if there is going to be the testimony of Jesus expressed on the earth and a people for God’s own possession.
Some of us are not so good at liking people in the church. Mark Twain, who was not religious—and, as far as I can tell, was anti-religious—said, “I went to church today, and I was not deeply depressed.”
Maybe that is like some of you. You come gritting your teeth, waiting for the football game and wanting to get home. But this list of names is so precious.
Mark Twain also said, “The more I see some people, the better I like my dog.” That was Mark Twain, not me. Dogs are lovely things, but the people of God—these are your eternal family.
You may not like this, but you are stuck with me for eternity. Some people already have a headache thinking about that. And I am stuck with you for eternity. This is the beauty of Romans 16.
Paul had an admonition to the brethren in Romans 16:17-20. You will never understand this admonition if you do not understand the context of the first sixteen verses. It rests upon his intimate affection for the church—his love for the church.
This is the single admonition in Romans 16, the only admonition in this closing chapter. It must be understood in light of that context.
You know the famous hermeneutical saying: “A text without context is a pretext to a proof text.” If you take this admonition out of the context of love for the brethren, you will never understand it. You will think, “Is the Lord really like that? Should I not just love everybody?”
But, brothers and sisters, I believe this single admonition is given because it is so serious. We need to pay attention to it.
Paul says:
But I beseech you, brethren,
to consider those who create divisions
and occasions of falling,
contrary to the doctrine which you have learned,
and turn away from them;
for such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ,
but their own belly, or appetites,
and by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
This is a serious admonition. I wonder whether, in our naivety, we do not understand it. Dare I say that we do not understand it because we do not have real affection for the church?
If you had real affection for the church, you would hate what God hates and love what God loves.
In Proverbs 6, there are six things that the Lord hates—yes, seven that are an abomination to Him. The last one mentioned is one who sows discord among the brethren. Some may think it is last because it is least. I think it is last because it is most important.
Paul says, “Turn away from them.” He says, “I would have you wise as to that which is good, and simple as to evil.”
This is about affection for the church. Paul wrote this single admonition because he saw that the enemy’s greatest tool in the assembly of God is division. He hated it. He hated it the way his God hated it.
He spoke to it in the most loving appeal. He did not say, “I command you. Have nothing to do with them.” He said, “I beseech you. I appeal to you.” Literally, “I beg of you, please.”
Sometimes I think we listen to too much in our so-called love and naivety. There are times when we should walk away. If we had more discernment, if we had more love, we would do that.
Their fair speeches deceive the unsuspecting. They put stumbling blocks before the brethren. They cause divisions.
Remember 1 Corinthians. The problem was divisions. Paul said in the first chapter, “I hear there are divisions among you.” He ended his appeal by asking, “Is the Christ divided?”
We should pay attention to this. This is a supreme issue.
Do you remember the longest recorded prayer of the Lord Jesus, one of His final prayers—His high-priestly prayer in John 17? His appeal was, “Father, that they may be one, as We are one.”
He understood that, when He was lifted up and exalted to heaven, the enemy would seek to divide the church at every opportunity. Here is the One who loved the church and laid down His life for her, as Ephesians 5 teaches.
When Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus and turned to practical matters in Ephesians 4, he said, “Using all diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.”
Here was one who loved the church and poured out his life. He said to Timothy at the end, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering.”
This is the context of this single admonition. We need to be careful—careful what we hear, what we listen to, and even what we let brethren tell us. They may be our brethren, but we need to be very careful.
Then we come to the third point: Paul’s salutations from Corinth. This letter to the Romans was written from Corinth in approximately AD 58. It was delivered by Phoebe, as we have already mentioned. Paul names eight companions or coworkers.
Remember: it is the names.
Think of the broad implications. Here is Paul, the elect vessel of Acts 9. But at the end, he does not simply say, “I, Paul.” He mentions the ones who are with him. How precious that is.
The one thing I take away from this is that even the greatest vessel—the elect vessel, whom the Lord Jesus called to speak before kings and nations—could not do the work of God by himself.
Brothers and sisters, we need one another.
First of all, Paul mentions Timothy. What affection he had for Timothy. In 1 Corinthians 4:17, Paul speaks of his affection for his son Timothy.
Timothy is mentioned by Paul more than anyone else in the Bible. He is mentioned in ten of Paul’s thirteen letters. Here is Paul’s beloved son in the faith.
In 1 Timothy 1:18, Paul gives Timothy the charge for the church: “This charge I commit to thee, my child Timothy.” What a work this young man did with this old man.
Sometimes we like to speak about the next generation: “Oh, that God would raise up the next generation.” I do not think there is anything terribly wrong with that, but we need to see it more broadly.
Paul is saying, in effect, that the generation includes me, and the generation includes Timothy. If you look at 1 Peter 2:9, it speaks of all of us as part of the one chosen generation.
Let us not balkanize the church and say, “Throw out the old and bring in the new.” I think that old axiom is telling me I need to clean my attic.
Together, these eight were dear to Paul’s heart. He could not help but recognize them.
Paul spoke of Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater as his kinsmen. That word kinsman occurs four times in Romans. It does not mean necessarily a natural relative.
This is not a natural relationship in which all my cousins, uncles, and aunts can come, but not yours. It means a fellow Jew, a brother in the flesh. Romans 9:3 makes that clear when Paul speaks of his kinsmen, the Israelites.
Then think about Tertius. Tertius says that he wrote the letter. You might think that was Paul’s pen name, but it was not. Tertius wrote the letter.
In Paul’s other letters, he often simply signed at the end with his own signature. You can see that in Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Colossians 4:18.
But in Galatians, Paul wrote the letter himself. He said, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand.” He saw the threat of another gospel, and the matter was too important to leave to his scribe.
Some believe Paul suffered from a degenerative eye disease, perhaps the thorn in the flesh described in 2 Corinthians 12. It was painful and almost rendered him blind.
God, in His mercy, raised up another in the church to be his eyes—Tertius. Is that not beautiful?
Paul told the Galatians, “You would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.” The work of God can never be done by one man. It can never be done by one great man. It can never be done by one very anointed man.
I will never forget Brother Kong standing here many years ago and saying, “The day of great men has passed. This hour is the hour of the church—the Body of Christ.”
Let me end with the final encouragement. I know I have punished you and gone past my allotted time, but I will take the pain.
Paul’s encouragement to the church contains the most encouraging words. He says in Romans 16:25, “Now to Him that is able to establish you.”
Think of that. There is only One, brothers and sisters: the only wise God, through Jesus Christ. There is only One who can establish us.
With all that the enemy would want to do to destroy us, we have this highest assurance: He will establish you. He will establish you.
Paul’s own testimony in 2 Timothy 1:12 was, “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able.” Those are the exact same words: He is able, not us.
He is able to keep for that day the deposit entrusted to Him. It is the same thought as Jude 24: He is able to establish you and present you faultless before His glory.
What infinite encouragement.
Paul says that this is all according to “my gospel.” Did you notice that expression?
At the beginning of this letter, Romans 1:1, Paul says, “I am separated unto God’s glad tidings”—God’s gospel. But in the second chapter, when he discovered the absolute ruin of man and that man’s condition could only be restored by God, he began calling it “my gospel.”
When he concludes this book, he says, “according to my gospel.” Is it your gospel? Has God’s gospel become your gospel?
This is why He can establish us and keep us.
Paul also says this is according to the mystery which has been hidden. Do you know what the mystery is? God did the unthinkable.
God’s decision was to put Christ in you. Colossians 1:26-27 says that the mystery, hidden from the ages and generations but now made manifest, is:
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Can you imagine? No religion talks like this. But the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the mystery once hidden and now made known, is that you will be established because God has done the unthinkable: He has put His Son in you to do what you could never do by yourself.
What unspeakable encouragement.
This is the way Paul ends: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” What grace has been poured out on you and me. What grace. What unspeakable grace.
May the Lord find among us a people for the expression of the testimony of Jesus. May God find among us, even us here in Richmond, with all of our problems, those in whom He can have a people for His own possession.
It is about the names.
Lord, I ask Your forgiveness for not being able to express what is in Your heart. Lord, I pray the Holy Spirit would make it alive. I pray You would quicken Your Word to us.
That we would be those who love the church, the place of Your expression, the place where You find a people, as the Apostle Paul did. Do that for Your glory. Amen.