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God's Best for Our Lives
The Book of Romans
Romans 16:20-27
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared February 2, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Romans 16:20.
Today we get the end of our verse-by-verse study of Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome.
Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this letter near the end of his third missionary journey.
He was in Corinth for 3 months, making plans for a trip back to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple and deliver a generous love offering that the gentile churches had collected for the persecuted Jewish believers.
*John Phillips explained that while Paul was in Corinth, he heard that his close friend Phoebe was planning a trip to Rome.
She was a dedicated servant of the Lord in nearby Cenchrea.
And at some point, Paul must have offered to write her a letter of introduction to the Christians in Rome.
*And so, he did.
But by the time Paul finished, he had written his theological masterpiece and one of the most important documents in the history of the world.
A skeptic named Renan is credited with the statement that when Phoebe sailed away from Corinth, she "carried beneath the folds of her robe the whole future of Christian theology."
He was right.
(1)
*So, in these last verses, Paul wasn't talking about the weather.
He was talking about some of the best things God wants in our lives.
Please think about this as we read Romans 16:20-27.
MESSAGE:
*Did you ever go to the concession stand, and miss the biggest play of the game?
Don’t you hate that?
We don’t like to miss out, do we?
Well, God doesn’t want us to miss out either.
He doesn’t want us to miss out on His best for our lives.
1. AND IN THIS SCRIPTURE, GOD'S BEST FOR US INCLUDES HIS GRACE.
*One of the many things we can admire about Paul is this: He never got over the grace of God.
The word "grace" is found 131 times in the New Testament, and 99 of those times are in Paul's Letters!
*In today's Scripture we see God's grace at the end of vs. 20, There Paul prayed, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Amen."
And again in vs. 24, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen."
*How are we going to live good and godly lives?
How are we going to have God's best in life?
-- ONLY BY THE GRACE OF GOD!
*But what is God's grace?
It's God's unmerited favor.
Grace is getting good things from God that we could never deserve.
Grace is the acronym G.R.A.C.E.
-- God's Riches At Christ's Expense.
*Romans 3:23 tells us that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
But in Romans 3:24, Paul tells Christians that we are "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
This redemption is the price Jesus paid when He died on the cross for us.
Jesus took all of the pain and punishment for our sins, and now our risen Savior will give His saving grace to everyone who will receive it.
*We don’t deserve to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We don’t deserve to be members of God's family.
But when we trust in our crucified and risen Savior, He washes away our sins, and gives us His everlasting life.
That's God's saving grace.
But it's not the end of God's grace in our lives!
There is more grace, and that's what Paul was praying for in these closing verses.
*"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen."
That's talking about more grace, future grace.
God wants us to know that He has more grace for us!
And this is very important to the Lord.
In fact, this same basic prayer is found 9 times in the New Testament.
Eight of those times are in Paul's letters.
*For example, in 1 Corinthians 16:23, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."
In Galatians 6:18, "Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Amen."
And in Philippians 4:23, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen."
*Matthew Henry explained that God’s grace includes both "the good will of Christ towards us, and the good work of Christ in us."
That's why God has more grace for you and me.
(2)
*This same truth was on John's heart in John 1:16.
There he tells Christians that we have all received "grace for grace" from Jesus Christ.
"Grace for grace" means grace on top of grace, new grace, daily grace, growing grace, God's continual grace in our lives.
Think of Niagara Falls.
God's grace is like that, but infinitely greater, and it never stops flowing!
*It's no wonder then that this prayer for more of God's grace is also the last verse in our Bibles.
In Revelation 22:21 John wrote, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen."
*Here's a little of John Piper's explanation of more grace: "If I say, 'Grace be with you,' I mean, 'starting now.'
Not that you haven't known grace in the past, or haven't experienced it right up to this moment.
But this blessing is for the future.
May God do something gracious now.
May God go on being gracious to you, starting now.
Therefore, the grace in Paul's mind is not the grace of the past, but the grace of the future.
*The death and resurrection of Jesus were great works of grace.
Your calling, and new birth, and faith, and repentance, and justification were all great past works of grace, if you are a Christian.
But that is not what Paul is wishing for you.
He is wishing for something new, something continued, grace upon grace, more grace. . .
*The heart of biblical teaching about living the Christian life, is that to live as a Christian we need to believe in this future grace.
We need to be confident of it, and bank on it, trust in it, and be satisfied by it."
(3)
*Paul knew that everything he ever accomplished was by God's ongoing work of grace in his life.
He confirmed this in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, and said:
9.
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
*Paul lived by faith in more grace.
And that's what God wants us to do.
That's why Hebrews 4:16 urges us to "come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
2. GOD'S BEST FOR OUR LIVES INCLUDES HIS GRACE.
CHURCH, IT ALSO INCLUDES GODLY GREETINGS.
*God's best includes godly greetings like we see in vs. 21-23.
Here Paul said:
21.
Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, greet you.
22. I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, greet you in the Lord.
(Tertius took dictation from Paul on what to write.)
23.
Gaius, my host and the host of the whole church, greets you.
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