Creek Road Baptist Pulpit · Creek Road Baptist Church

Romans 16:16-20; Paul's Benediction

August 29, 2025·29 min·2 clips

A confident salesman stood on the pastor's porch and said, 'Please, David, say yes,' mirroring false teachers' tactics.

The text begins in Romans 16. The preacher reads from verse 16 down through verse 20, including the holy kiss, before tightening the sermon around verses 17 through 20. Notice is the hinge. Paul's call to mark those who cause divisions is treated as a command to the church, not advice to admire from a distance. Avoid them, he says, and he does not pretend that is easy. People want to be liked. People want peace with everyone they meet. Grace is what makes discernment possible. Without God's grace working in believers, he says, the church may miss division, misread apostolic doctrine, and get pulled toward attractive error. Then the warning gets sharper. These teachers do not serve the Lord Jesus Christ, he says. They serve their own belly, their appetite, their own desires. Fair speech can fool people. He points to the modern prosperity preacher as an example, someone who preys on the lost and weak to siphon money from desperate hearts. Charm is not the test. The test is whether words and works match the doctrine the church has learned. Obedience can be seen. Paul can rejoice over the church and still call them to be wise unto what is good and simple concerning evil. The prayer brings it home. The preacher asks God to help the church mark false teaching, avoid it, stand against it, and have bitter roots torn out. The promise stays close: the God of peace shall bruise Satan under the feet of his people shortly. He ties that to grace right now, today. The sermon ends in pleading, asking the Father to save the lost and fill believers again with goodness, because the enemy is already defeated.

As heard by us

A blunt Romans warning about smooth words, divided loyalties, and grace-fueled discernment.

The review tracks Romans 16 from greeting into warning, and it keeps the focus where the sermon puts it: divisive teachers, smooth speech, and the need for ordinary Christian caution.

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Why you'd press play

For when you need a blunt warning about bad teaching and a steadier way to spot it.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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