This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Drive Time Devotions, we're going through the book of Romans
together. We're in the last chapter of Romans, Romans 16 this week, day three of
our look at this chapter, verses 17 to 20. We have talked the last few days
about unity that comes from our relationships in Jesus Christ and Paul has
commended many people for the fact that they had contributed to the unity and
the growth of the church.

And now in verse 17 he turns to talk about that which threatens the unity and
the growth of the church. Let me read for you Romans 16 verses 17 to 19, "I urge
you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in
your way that are contrary to the teaching you've learned. Keep away from them,
for such people are not serving our Lord Christ but their own appetites.

By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Everyone has
heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you, but I want you to be
wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. " Paul is just being
honest here, he's saying there's a lot of great things in the church, a lot of
great people in the church, but let's just be honest, there are some who cause
divisions in the church.

And he's speaking very specifically here, you see in verse 17 he talks about
those who cause divisions, place obstacles, and are contrary to the teaching of
the Bible. These aren't just people that irritate you, these aren't just people
that you have a disagreement with about parking spots at church, these are
people who cause divisions, they place obstacles in the way of the gospel, and
they're contrary to the teaching of the Bible. What do you do when you meet
somebody like that, how do you handle that relationship?

So Paul says here's three things that you do when you get involved in a
relationship like this, in a challenge like this, he says you watch out, you
keep away, and you be wise. First he says watch out, at the very beginning in
verse 17 watch out for those who cause divisions. He says be aware of it, watch
out for it, there's the fact that not everyone is working for unity, so let's
just be honest about that and watch out for it.

How do you watch out? How do you recognize someone who is not working for unity,
who's causing divisions, who's working contrary to the teachings that you've
learned? Well I've learned in 30 years as a pastor that there's one key way to
find out that somebody is working in this way in the church, and it is through
gossip.

When you see somebody who is a gossip, you see somebody who's causing divisions,
who's putting obstacles, who's contrary to the teaching. In fact later Paul says
by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Gossip is
the sin, like no other sin, that can destroy the fellowship of a church.

Because it breaks apart the unity that we need to serve one another in Jesus
Christ. That's why when many times in the New Testament Paul gives a list of the
most difficult and dangerous of sins, he includes gossip in that list. So if
gossip has become a habit in your life recently, this is a reminder of the fact
that it's not some little thing, it's extremely dangerous.

And if listening to gossip has become one of those little secret things that you
think well it's not that bad and I sort of enjoy it, it gives some excitement to
the day, Paul says watch out. Because in the end what you get is not the thrill
of some little morsel, some little tidbit of news that no one else knows. In the
end what you get out of a gossip is divisions and obstacles and the destruction
of the teaching that's happened in people's lives.

So watch out, Paul says. In fact he says not only watch out, he says keep away.
Keep away from them.

Now let me be clear about what the Bible is saying here. It's not saying to keep
away from anyone that you disagree with about anything. This is saying keep away
from those who cause divisions, who place obstacles contrary to the teaching of
the Bible.

It focuses on God's teaching. If I disagree with someone about what kind of
music should be sung in a church service, the Bible doesn't say you keep away
from them. If I disagree with someone about what you should wear to church on a
weekend, I don't keep away from them.

But if somebody's causing divisions when it comes to the clear teaching of God's
Word, the Bible says you warn them once but then you don't become involved in a
relationship that's only an argument because that doesn't do anybody any good.
When you become involved in a relationship with another believer that's only an
argument, you think well I need to stay close to them so I can argue them back
into the right way of thinking. When you become involved in a relationship
that's only an argument, it does you bad and it does them bad.

It does you bad because you get more and more angry and all of a sudden instead
of focusing on doing good, you're focusing on winning the argument. It does them
bad because the more they argue, the more they harden their wrong position. So
Paul says there's just some people to keep away from, not forever but for a
time.

Keep away while they're going in this direction. Watch out, keep away and then
he says be wise. He says I want you to be wise.

I want you to be wise about what's good and innocent about what is evil. Paul
says I want you to be wise because these people in verse 18 he says are serving
their appetites and not the Lord. This idea of serving our appetites comes up a
number of times in the New Testament and the truth is you'll never do away with
your appetites as long as you live in a physical body in this planet, on this
earth, but you do have a choice.

I do have a choice about whether I'll serve those appetites. I may have
appetites the rest of my life but I have a choice about whether I'm going to
serve those appetites. The needs that I have in my life are not to be served.

Jesus is to be served and when I get that straight my day is going to go better.
My month is going to go better. My life is going to go better and Paul says I
want you to be careful that you don't become fooled and he talks about them
fooling and deceiving the minds of naive people.

How do you not be naive? The way to be not naive in the faith is to spend time
in God's Word. Those who are most naive about God, most naive about Jesus' work
in our lives, are those who spend the least amount of time getting to know God's
Word.

He's given us His Word to give us wisdom and then after talking about that Paul
says I want you to be wise, wise about what's good but innocent about what is
evil. Many people read that and they think how is that possible? How can I be
innocent in this world today about what is evil?

Evil is all around me. Well yes, you will be impacted by evil, no doubt about
that. You'll see evil.

But Paul is saying here you don't have to become a student of evil in order to
defeat evil. You become a student of the good because only the good can defeat
the evil in the end. Satan can easily trick us into thinking oh I need to better
understand evil, get more involved even in evil so that I can win those people
who are evil out of their evil lifestyles.

It never works. It never works because trying to defeat evil by evil or win evil
with evil is never going to work. It's always good that triumphs over evil.

So Paul says forget that whole way of thinking. Be okay with being innocent
about what's evil even if the world laughs at you because that's not where real
life is found anyway. Be wise about what's good.

Pour your life into that. In fact he says if you do, verse 20, you will
recognize this truth of hope. In verse 20 the Bible says the God of peace will
soon crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. It's interesting the juxtaposition of
the phrases in verse 20. The God of peace will soon crush Satan.

You have peace and crush alongside of each other. And those don't usually go
with each other. Usually you think when you have peace you're making an
appeasement but not this kind of peace.

This is a different kind of peace. Instead of an appeasement it's a crushing,
it's a defeat of Satan. The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet.

Satan should not be ignored. He is an evil one and he's doing evil work in this
world. But neither if you're a believer in Jesus Christ should you be afraid of
Satan.

Satan is a roaring lion the Bible tells us but it also tells us that Satan is on
a very short leash. So you don't have to be afraid of him. And Paul reminds us
here's the picture you should have.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Now you may feel more
like Satan's crushed you this week but that's not the end of the story. You may
feel defeated by Satan but you're not.

I'd like you to focus in this verse on the word soon. Soon. Genuine peace is
accomplished not through an appeasement of the enemy but through defeat of the
enemy.

The verse says the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Press on
your mind that word soon. Listen you may feel like Satan is crushing you rather
than you crushing Satan.

The decisions that you've made or the trials in your life or something that's
happened to someone in your life has made you feel that Satan right now has the
upper hand. I know that it feels that way. I understand that it feels that way.

I've felt that way. But the Bible tells us that that feeling is not the truth.
The truth is soon.

Soon the God of peace will crush Satan. The truth is you are in the position
because of your love for Jesus Christ and your trust in him. You are in the
position of ultimate victory.

You may not feel it yet it is true. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under
your feet. Let's talk to God together.

Our Father we remind ourselves today of faith, of hope, we remind ourselves of
the truth. Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world, Satan. God
you are greater.

Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. God you are stronger. God you
have a love that's deeper and broader and wider and higher than anything else in
all this world and I can rely on it.

It goes to the depth of my heart, the depth of my need. So Father right now even
in those areas of my life that may look hopeless I realize that the way I feel
is not the truth. The truth is you have a plan and that plan is to give eternal
hope into the lives of all who trust in you and so I refresh my faith in you
today and I ask that you give me the strength to live by faith today.

It's so difficult God not to just live reacting to the circumstances around me
today. I pray that you would give me the strength to instead of just react to
the circumstances help me to have the strength to rejoice in the fact that
whatever the circumstances you are for me, you are with me, you have a plan for
me. Thank you Jesus in your name, amen.