Romans Chapter 16:21-26

The Bible also says that he that started a work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Again, note the pronouns. It didn't say, you know, it was going to be, it's all up to me.

No, no, no, no, that's not what it said. It says he who started the work in you. Who started the work in you? God.

Who's going to finish it? God. He will keep you. He will establish you.

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. Many believers think that if we're too good enough, God's love will increase. The truth is our God is a keeping God and his love isn't dependent on how great we do. Find out why this truth is so important today as Pastor David continues in Romans 16 with grace.

Here's David McGee. Jason and social pater, my countrymen, greet you. So he's talking about his partners in ministry. Friend, let me share.

You know, there are some real to me. They're heroes of people who come here so often and serve. The volunteer, I refer to him so often as volunteer staff. People who serve here on a regular basis, the staff, the elders, the deacons.

I mean, they really are awesome and a gift from God. gift from God to you, gift from God to me as we serve together and do what God has called us to do and have walked through so many storms and trials and of course at this point these people have walked with Paul through all these storms and trials and he's noting these things. Verse 22 says, I Tertius who wrote this epistle greet you in the Lord.

I tell you what, we'll read through 23 and come back to 22 because there's something else there. 23, Gaius my host and the host of the whole church greets you, Erastus the treasurer of the city greets you and Quartus a brother. I wanted to read that because of Quartus is an interesting name, Tertius is an interesting name. Tertius means three, Quartus means four and why do they have names for numbers? Because these guys were probably servants or maybe you'd use the word slaves and they didn't have names, they had numbers.

Had number three and number four. As I thought about that, you know in this world sometimes you can kind of feel like you're just a number, just something of no consequence and certainly the wisdom of the world would say that well you've gone from the goo to the zoo to you and nothing is, it's just all a cosmic accident and I reject that. I believe each person as an individual is unique in their giftings and talents and God has created them that way. And while the enemy may come to you and say well you can't make a difference, you're just another piece of the puzzle, you're just a number if you will, the word of God and the power of God is something different. It says that you can make a difference in this world.

Even by small things, inviting someone to church, as easy as that is, as little time as that would take can change the world. So these guys have numbers and turdious means third and you know I talked about something last week and maybe I'll clarify but it might, I don't know, attempting to clarify, I might cloud it more but you know I talked about you know God, family and ministry and you know that's kind of an order of priority and at the same time I realize as a pastor that it's not a nice neat little quadrant that that fits in. That you know that your family needs to see you loving God, God needs to see you loving your family and both your family and God need to see you serving in ministry. See because if you grow up and you know you're raising your kids and you're saying well we need to serve the Lord and sacrifice for the Lord but you never do it, what are you showing them?

Because you know kids, they listen to what you say but much more, they watch what you do, watch what you do and as you pour out for the Lord they see that. Now verse 23 it mentions gaseous and mensa cordis and this hospitality, gaseous my host and the host of the whole church. So that kind of reminded me of when we were home Bible study home fellowship and hosted the whole church and I remember that you know I started cooking on Thursday nights for everybody that would come. For some reason we had larger crowds on Thursday night than we did Sunday morning but you know we'd cook on Thursday night and we'd all eat and have the Bible study and host it and you know it was a whole family thing. Family would help clean the house and get everything ready and again it's important to offer hospitality to one another, to have people over for meals, to fellowship with them. Romans 12, 13 tells us when God's children are in need be the one to help them out and get into the habit of inviting guests for dinner or if they need lodging for the night.

So we see guests, my host and the host of the whole church. Here Paul is listing these people that are serving and I think that's a good thing and if you've ever noticed on Sunday morning me taking note of different minister groups and maybe you felt like well that's kind of weird because they're getting applause for man. You know what the people I bring up on Sunday morning and they have poured themselves out and simply by Sunday morning me making note of that and us applauding is encouraging them in the work of the ministry and that's very valid because here's what, Paul could have left these names out and not noted the people who was serving with him but he did know these people. Romans 13, seven, again so much of Romans, so much stuff in there says give to everyone what you owe them, pay your taxes and import duties look at the last part and give respect and honor to all to whom it is due.

The people that have served here, give here, pray for this place, you know what to me you deserve my respect and you deserve me honoring you if you will. Now let's talk about Gaius because he's kind of an interesting character. His name's gonna pop up a lot in the New Testament. It pops up in 1 Corinthians 1.14 as a matter of fact.

When we jump in there we'll see his name again. Paul says I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius. So Paul is the one that baptized Gaius. Here's an interesting side note is that a lot of people say in order to be saved you must be baptized. I do not believe that, I believe every believer should be baptized.

You've asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, you should be baptized. But if baptism is necessary for salvation, Paul was a miserable failure according to this verse. Because he's writing to the whole church at Corinth that he spent a lot of time with and he said he only baptized two people.

Well that didn't go too well. So he baptized some, you know again you should be baptized. But I think and we'll get more into this when we get into 1 Corinthians but again Gaius pops up Acts 19.29. So the whole city was filled with confusion and rust in the theater with one accord having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions. Here's what I like about Gaius and you can see it through the scriptures and I'm not even mentioning every one of them. But Gaius was not a fair weather friend to Paul. Paul had some snags. This example in the book of Acts, they're rushing in, they're gonna beat him up and all these, and Gaius is still with him. Gaius apparently didn't have a little ministry meeting after that happened and say Paul, Paul, buddy, pal. This whole thing, this is not what I envisioned when you asked me to go on the road with you telling people about Jesus.

I didn't think about getting beat up, thrown in jail and all this stuff. So you know I've prayed about it and I'm going home. I'm not gonna hang out with you anymore. But he stayed with him through thick and thin, through trials, through adversities. According to the Bible we shouldn't be fair weather friends but you know but really walk the road with each other especially when those times get tough. Acts 20 verse four. And so put her of Bria, accompany him to Asia. Also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy and Tachicus and Trophimus of Asia. So we see Gaius is like, man he's latched on to Paul. He is going with Paul wherever Paul goes.

He's serving alongside of him. And again I'm so grateful for those people that serve alongside of me that you know I go there, they go there, we minister together and that's just a huge blessing. And not only to Paul but Gaius pops up in the third of John in one it says the elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth. So this guy why he did not write an epistle or a book of the Bible was some kind of rock solid guy who said you know what, I'm in, nobody can drive me away.

I'm all about the cause of Christ and reaching people for Jesus. So you have to just respect Gaius as you read through this thread of scripture. And incidentally they you know mentions Erastus.

They found a pavement in Corinth with the name of Erastus that they feel like is this guy. Thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge. We'll return to David's teaching in just a moment.

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Again, that number is 877-458-5508 or online at crossthebridge.com. Now let's return to David's teaching. Verse 24 is one of the three closes, if you will. We had one in verse 20, we have one in 24 and then we have another in 27. It's kind of like pastors who often have multiple closings. If you've ever been to church, I was at one church and a guy, he had like five closings.

He started like after a couple of minutes and then in closing and I thought, man, that wasn't long, but he wasn't finished. If you're new here, just keep that in mind. I'm not finished, we're not closing. It's a closing in the scripture here. And he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. Amen is a Hebrew word meaning so be it. If you've ever said amen, you're speaking Hebrew, say amen. Amen, so you're speaking Hebrew. Say hallelujah. Hallelujah, you're speaking Hebrew, hallelujah. Hallelu, praise Yah, God, praise God.

That's what you're saying when you say hallelujah. So it mentions grace. What is grace, is that a girl's name? Yeah, I guess.

Is it what you do over the meal? Yeah, that too. But what is it, what is grace? Grace is getting what you don't deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. You know, I've talked to some people and to me, it's just a comical statement that people make occasionally. They say, well, I just want what I deserve.

You probably perhaps over time have made that statement. I don't want what I deserve. Because I know that through my wrongdoing and through my past, I deserve to be punished. I deserve bad things. That's what I deserve.

So keep that in mind when you're at work or something. Whoa, what do I deserve? I know you don't, don't say that. I don't want what I deserve. Grace, so you get what you don't deserve. And perhaps you're sitting there going, what don't I deserve?

I got a list. And it pretty much encompasses your whole life. Here's what I mean by that. Today, because of the death of Jesus on the cross, you can know for sure that your sins are forgiven. That the shame and the guilt of the things that you've done wrong can be washed away by your belief in Jesus Christ. Your past can be pardoned. So that's grace for the past. You can sit here today and know that even though you don't deserve to go to heaven because you haven't been perfect and perfection is God's standard, that you can sit here today with the assurance that you're going to heaven.

You can have assurance for the future. And today, friend, when you opened up your eyes today and you took that first breath, you were not owed that. As your heart beat through the night while you slept, as God kept you alive, that was not something he owed you or something that you deserved. Your first breath today was a gift from God. And maybe that's why we call it the present.

So look at this, friend. Grace for the past, grace for the future, knowing that the last breath you take here will be the first breath you take there, and grace for the present. That's why they call it amazing grace, isn't it? And how often are we just, yeah, amazing grace, amazing. No, no, no, no, amazing grace. They asked John Newton, the guy who wrote Amazing Grace, they said, told us, you know, they were asking him some theological questions, and he just stopped him and said, you know what?

Two things I know. I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior. Doesn't it all come down to that? Jesus is a great savior, amazing grace. And when you begin to walk in grace and understand grace, you know, I was pretty sure that I was going to be I was pretty legalistic, and somebody going, no way. Well, yeah, well, I was pretty legalistic.

When I say legalistic, I mean, when I was doing well, and I mean, on fire, praying at least an hour a day, reading 10 chapters, end study, blah, blah, blah. I felt like God loved me, but let me mess up. I felt like God was angered at me and hated me.

And I lived this topsy-turvy up, down, why? Because my relationship with God, I thought was based on my performance. I'd really misinterpreted scripture. I was talking to some guy, well, y'all all about grace.

He says, praise God, and yep, we are. You know, there's this attitude of, well, that's just greasy grace. In other words, you know, just give me grace, and I'll act whatever, however I want to.

No, no, no, no, no, no. No, when you truly understand the grace of God, it's going to change your life. It's going to change your heart. You're not going to be the same when you realize the grace of God. And when people talk about, well, there's too much grace. Friend, let me ask you a question. How much grace does a sinful person need to have a relationship with a holy God? I think a lot. If you're sitting here today, well, I just need a little grace.

No, no, no, no, no. You need a lot of grace. I need a lot of grace. So while we recognize that God has given us grace, you know what it'd be good to do? Only give grace to one another. I love watching television pastors, and I watch some guys that are solid, and to be honest, I watch some guys that probably aren't that solid just to hear what they say. But you know, when I invite people to church, I tell them, and it's kind of a weird thing I have to say, but say, you know, if you come and, you know, I promise I won't yell at you or throw anything at you, I have to tell people why. You know why I have to tell them that? Because they've been yelled at and nothing's thrown at them by pastors. Now, if you're sitting here this morning, you're thinking, well, you know, well, you know, the anointing, when the anointing hits, he'll start yelling.

No, he won't. I don't yell. And to me, that's kind of a, I hadn't gotten in trouble yet, might as well go for it now. Somebody's gonna, no, you already got in trouble, mister. But you know, a lot of times when we watch pastors, we think, oh, when they start to yell, that they're really getting anointed.

That's weird to me. When somebody in the end is shaking and ooh, get him something, ooh, he's shaking. See, somebody be like, whoa. Let me tell you why I don't yell. I'm representing God to you. I'm here on God's behalf. Prophetically, I am speaking on behalf of God to you. It's inappropriate for me to raise my voice.

Because what are you gonna walk away with? God's mad at me. God yelled at me this morning.

Some people weigh the service by how badly they feel when they walk away. Now granted, sometimes we'll come together and you'll get really convicted. Praise God for that. But you'll always understand, at least I will attempt to communicate the grace of God. I want to show you grace.

You are gonna need to show me grace. Why? Because sometimes we're not gonna agree about everything. And there's a lot of stuff that we can agree to disagree about. There's some stuff that we need to agree on to walk the road together.

Amos says, unless two agree on some, you know, how can they walk the road together? But this grace, so important. So important for you to understand. So important for you to receive. So important for you to give to other people.

Important word, important word. Look at verse 25. 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, we'll read on, 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. Now, what is all that talking about?

Well, I want you to notice one thing. Now to him, capital H, whenever you see capital H, when you're reading the Bible, it's talking about God. It's a pronoun him, but it's talking about God. Now to him who is able to establish you.

Thank you, God. You know, you establishing yourself in the faith, that's not the way it's supposed to go. God establishes you in the faith. If you're trying to establish yourself in the faith, I'm not saying there's not things you need to do and decisions you need to make and priorities and commitments, but God is the one that pulls you in. People say, well, I found the Lord. Well, God wasn't lost. I understand the statements, but God was the one looking for you and chasing you. Sometimes some of us for years before we responded, God is able to establish you in the faith.

This is so important. It says in Jude, now unto him, who is able to keep you and to present you faultless before the throne of his glory. Faultless before the throne of his glory. Who can do that? You can't do that. Who can do that?

You can't do that, he can do it. The Bible also says that he that started at work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Again, note the pronouns. It didn't say, you know, if it's gonna be, it's all up to me.

No, no, no, no, that's not what it said. It says he who started to work in you. Who started to work in you? God.

Who's gonna finish it? God. He will keep you. He will establish you. If you get sidelined, he'll pull you back. If you wander off, he'll chase you. This is so important for us to understand.

Why? Because here's the life lesson. God is a keeping God. God is a keeping God.

That little Aaronic blessing that I pray at the end of the service, may God bless you and God keep you. God is a blessing God. God is a keeping God. Jesus in his prayer said that he won't lose any. It gives you the keeping power of God. So understand that God is a keeping God. So now we got grace, we got God who's gonna keep us. Man, what a good word.

And let's notice something here. Verse 26, for obedience to the faith. Obedience to the faith. So much is explained in this book of Romans. There's so much, there's so much deep theology and yet there's so much practical advice.

It explains salvation, justification, sanctification, man of Israel, relationships with one another, relationships with leaders, the government. It's just an incredible book. You know what, if you're newly saved, you've just come to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins recently, it's a great book to read. If you've been walking with the Lord for years and years, great book to read.

It's just, it's been an incredible joy to walk through it. And here's a concept that we need to understand, obedience, obedience. And I just talked about grace. There's a balance to the word of God and let me mention this, obedience. What does that mean, to obey? Obey what, obey God? And you know, as spiritual leaders follow God to follow them and obey them. And Romans talked about being, you know, submitted under leadership and godly authority and we touched on that a couple weeks ago. But here's the thing, obedience. See if somebody says, well I'm walking in the grace of God and they're disregarding what Jesus has told us, they're disregarding the word of God and they're disregarding the Bible, it does give me pause.

I wonder, do they understand grace? Spurgeon said, the grace that doesn't change your life will not save your soul. When you understand Jesus died for you, even though you didn't deserve it, even though you hadn't earned it, life changes, friend. And you desire, say okay, Jesus after you did this for me, what can I do for you?

Are you asking me to give up or are you asking me to pick up? And he'll show you through his word and through Bible study devotions and teachings. But here's the life lesson, we should obey God in the Bible. We should obey God in the Bible. I love hymns, the lyrical content of hymns is incredible.

We did that, what a friend, but even the older hymns, the hymns of the Reformation, Luther and some of these other folks. And talking about obedience, there's that hymn, Trust and Obey, I don't know if you're familiar with it, but I wanna share some of the lyrics. It says, when we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way. While we do his good will, he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. As you're following the Lord, as you're obeying the Lord, there's a joy that comes with the life that's being poured out. A lot of times I see people who say, well, I've been born again. I say, great, you know, where do you go to church? Well, I don't go to church. You serving God in some way?

No, not really, I don't know. And then sometimes that discussion will lead to, you know, gee, am I really eternally secure? You know what, God, you may differ with me on this view, but if somebody's not living for the Lord, it's kinda dangerous for them to feel all secure because they said a few words.

Those people need to be concerned. Often the people that are concerned about being eternally secure don't need to be because God is a keeping God. But you know, when somebody's wandering around in the desert and they're wondering if they're right with the Lord, you know, I use that as an opportunity to say, you know what, you need to come back to God.

You need to be in fellowship. You need to be in the Word of God. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I wanna lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him.

And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. When you call, ask about this month's special offer featuring David's devotional book, Cross the Bridge Every Day. This inspirational book offers 365 daily devotions, as well as a detailed topical index to help you grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord. Cross the Bridge Every Day is available now for your gift of any amount. Again, the number to call is 877-458-5508, or you can go online to crossthebridge.com. Thank you for listening. We pray that you will join us next time as we continue to cross the bridge.