Main idea: Because salvation is all by God’s grace, it is therefore all to his glory. This powerful gospel unites the church (local and universal), gives assurance in suffering, and makes us eager to preach the word of grace to all nations. So, we rejoice in…
1. The power of God In The Gospel (Romans 16:25-26), and
2. The wisdom of God in The Gospel (Romans 16:27)
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good morning, dear church. It's good to be with you this morning, a real privilege to to serve you by teaching the Word of God and joining in this this series in Romans again. My name is Corey Millican. I am the son, the middle son, of Bob and Janice Millican and Walt and Pam Takisaki are my my mother and father in law. I won't name all of my family members, but there's a whole bunch of them. But I am privileged to be here this morning, and I count you a part of my family as well, my spiritual family. We live in Northern California, just outside of Sacramento, about 30 minutes, and the church there Gold Country Baptist Church, gives you greetings, sends you greetings, and we just want to say how thankful we are for your partnership and ministry. Maybe don't know this, but I interact with elders here at FBC from time to time for different issues of counsel and encouragement and wisdom, and what a blessing it is to have a connection with your church here, the leadership here, as we've been sent out into ministry as really agents from FBC To be a blessing to the world. We're so grateful that we get to call this home in many ways. In fact, often when I think about home, I think of FBC, and this is, this is the place where God saved me and where I grew up in the faith. And it's a blessing to as we've kind of referred to in the past. Going to be a postcard from Spokane from FBC to to Northern California. So we're so thankful for you. I would love to read the Scriptures with you. If you would stand with me, if you're able, we'll read together and worship the Lord as we come to Him and His Word. This morning, we're reading from Romans, chapter 16, verses 25 to 27 what's known as the doxology at the end of Romans. Here Romans 16 verses, 25 to 27 Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise God be glory forever more, through Jesus Christ, amen. This is the Word of our Lord. Amen. Let's pray together. Indeed, Lord, we do give you thanks for this gospel, not just any gospel, but the gospel of Jesus, Christ, the Lord we give you thanks that you have revealed yourself to us through Your word in the world, in creation, your might and your power, your eternality, but specifically Lord, we praise You for the revelation of Christ in your word apart from which we would have never come to know Christ. Could not say that we belong to you, that we have hope for eternal life or any of that. And so indeed, we do give you thanks for your precious Word. And Lord, we ask for your blessing. Now, as we come to Romans, chapter 16 and the end of this series that my brothers and sisters have been enjoying here this summer through the book of Romans and Zephaniah, oh Lord, we pray that You would help us to see the beauty of grace and wrath, grace that we the gift of eternal life and salvation and being called children of God that we did not deserve, and the wrath that you have spared us from and will spare us from when you come again, Lord Jesus, the Lord Also that reminds us of the weightiness of eternity, that heaven and hell are real, that you are a just judge, and you will in no way pardon the guilty unless the Lord they have taken refuge in Your Son, Jesus Christ. And so Lord, would You draw us nearer to yourself through Jesus Christ? And would you draw all men to yourself for salvation and for your glory. Bless us now, Lord, as we come to your word and as we continue to worship together in Jesus name, we pray, Amen, amen, where you may be seated.
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Well, we've all heard a piano piece, maybe just an amazing guitar riff or a saxophone solo that that left you awestruck, or a bass solo, those are less common, but bass players love it when they get them, or a drum solo that just left you amazed, shocked and in awe, your mouth gaping, your eyes wide open. And you're thinking, what did I just hear? That was amazing. That was incredible. Leaves you speechless. And I think that's probably a little bit how our brother Tertius felt. You may be thinking, who's Tertius? Well, if you read the few verses leading right up to our section here, look at verse 22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter. Greet you in the Lord who is Tertius. He's the guy in the room with Paul mouth gaping wide open, thinking with his pen in his hand. What did I just hear? What did I just write? The most amazing theological treatise ever written in the history of the world. And Tertius, our brother, can imagine him audibly saying, as the close of this doxology comes to the only wise God through Jesus Christ, be glory forever. Amen. And we say amen. And I think probably Tertius did as well as he put down his pen and worshiped the Lord for this magnificent letter that Paul wrote and spoke. That's basically how we should feel when we come to the end of Romans. And again, I'm honored to kind of wrap up this series for you, because this book means so much to so much to so many of us. If you're a new Christian and you've not read through the book of Romans yet, obviously you've heard some wonderful sermons this summer through it, I would encourage you to go back and reread it, and so that you can come to these last few verses and with Paul, rejoice and sing the glories of God and the gospel, which is exactly what these doxologies are. They're meant to cause our hearts to sing because of the beauty of the gospel. It's like a great crescendo at the end of the glorious orchestra piece, a performance and much more than a standing ovation. All of God's people shout amen to what they've just heard. And what we find here at the end of this letter to the glory of God is just that another one of Paul's famous run on sentences for more glory to God Romans is meant to cause us to sing, just like the doxology, Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Father Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. Now, these verses here that we've just read, they contain what I think of as kind of a gracious summary of the book of Romans. And I say gracious because if someone had just written you a letter that was 9422 words long, you know, it might take you an hour to read maybe 15 to 20 pages. You think, Man, I need to kind of go back through that and and rehearse what. What was he saying? Again, I caught some keywords and and some of those keywords in this text really grab some of the themes of Romans and and package them up for us here in this doxology, words like Grace, salvation, wisdom, the Gospel, the mystery, the nations and glory. And our main idea this morning is really taking all of those things and trying to trying to encapsulate them together. And much like Paul, here's a run on sentence for you, for our main idea, because, and you have it in your notes, salvation is all by God's grace. It is there for all to His glory. Our salvation is all by His grace, and it's there for all to His glory. Our salvation and really everything the universe, the future, our great future and hope that we have in Christ, the future of nations in the eternal state and the new earth and everything that exists is all for God's glory. And Paul has been showing throughout this letter, this powerful gospel. It unites the church, locally and universally, what an amazing thing to belong to the saints around the globe we share as a family in the blessings of being children of obedience, children of God. This gospel it unites the church. It gives us assurance in our sufferings, when otherwise we would, we would be tempted to walk away because it was too difficult, and it makes us eager to preach the word of grace to all nations. And we're gonna see how all of this takes place in this glorious celebration of grace and glory this morning. So if you're not already there, we'll be in Romans 16, and we'll flip back and forth a bit from some passages, but we'll be mostly fixed on these three verses here, and we're going to see this morning that because of this, because of our great salvation, that it's all. By God's grace, we're gonna see really just two themes that Paul picks up on here, power and wisdom, the power of God and the gospel and the wisdom of God and the gospel. And interestingly enough, these are kind of the two themes that Paul launches the book of First Corinthians with. It's almost like Paul knew that we were gonna be reading that letter next in our Bibles, and if you read chapter one, we're going to look at it in a little bit here. These themes are central to our theology of salvation, understanding who it is and what it is that we are as God's people, and how we're to live. So this morning, first, let's see and rejoice in and do exactly what these doxologies are meant to do, to exalt and to rejoice in God. First, let's see the power of God in the Gospel as those redeemed by grace. We rejoice in the power of the gospel. Now, the word doxology, maybe you've heard that word. There's some musical there's a musical group called doxology. There's a book doxology and theology. You have a ministry called doxa. And doxology is really two Greek words stuck together. Doxa means glory and logos. The ology part means what word, right? A word of glory, and that's what this doxology is. It's a it's kind of an apostolic symbol crash at the end of this beautiful letter that is meant to ring in our ears, to remind us of the good things of the gospel and to cause our hearts to sing. There's a whole bunch of doxologies, actually, if you read through the New Testament. Paul writes a whole bunch of them. Let me just share some of these with you. Romans, 1136, you've heard this one already, and you'll notice some very similar construction to these, to these doxologies, For from him and through him and to him again. This is a upward looking, a doxological expression of praise to God, a glorious expression of praise to God, For from him and through him and to him are all things to Him, be glory forever. Amen. Philippians 420, to our God and Father, be glory forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians, 320, to 21 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ, Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever, amen. And not just Paul, but Peter. And first, Peter, four, verse 11 to him, belong glory and dominion, forever and ever, amen. And John, the apostle, said in Revelation, one maybe the most most famous to him, or the most beloved, who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom and priests to his God and Father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen. And then Jude who wrote, again, probably this, this is the most famous doxology of all Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory, with great joy to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever, amen. And that's kind of the basic doxology here that we see in Paul. If you kind of take the beginning and the end of it, you could kind of bracket it like this, Now to Him who is powerful and able to strengthen you, to Him be glory forever. And that's kind of the beginning of the end, the end of it. And then you kind of have this doxology sandwich here. What Paul does is, instead, in this kind of run on sentence. He he layers in a bunch of ingredients, layers, layer upon layer about Him who is able, and about the gospel that he's been writing about for 16 chapters already. And in verses 25 to 26 of this kind of apostolic mic drop, we focus in on really, this the power of God in the Gospel. Here, Paul praises God because He is powerful. Now that's interesting. I don't know why the translators do this. In the ESV and the nesb, they say to Him who is able, but really it should be translated to him who is powerful
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and to strengthen you. It's that word dunamos. It's like dynamite, right to him who is powerful? He possesses all power. And what is he powerful to do? He is able to strengthen you, strengthen the muscles of your soul for a life of obedience. In a world of suffering and affliction that Paul knew well, he's able to strengthen you, all plural, all of us, according to what the gospel. What does this mean? We are to rejoice and glory in God, and specifically the power of the gospel. But what is the power of the gospel? We could sum it up this way, that God uses as an instrument the gospel to strengthen his church. Now that word gospel, you know what it means. It means good news. It's something that has happened, that's fact, it's reality, it's history. It really happened, and it's really good, it's good news. And it's not just good news for non Christians, that God is saving sinners by grace. He is forgiving them of their sins. He is justifying them. He is declaring them righteous. He is giving to them an inheritance, eternal life with Christ, Jesus, for all who believe on Christ by faith. That's good news, and that's the good news that we preach today. If you're a visitor and you don't know Christ, and you're wondering, what does it mean to know what is the gospel? It is to know Christ. It is not to follow a bunch of rules and regulations to check a bunch of religious, spiritual boxes. It is to know Christ, and today is a day of salvation. So it is good news for you who do not know Christ. And we plead with you to come to Christ. Jesus throws open his arms, and he says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you. Do you know what kids rest? That's right, children and young and old can come to Christ and He will give you rest for your weary soul. This, it's the good news of the gospel. It's the good news of Christ. But it's not just good news for unbelievers. It's good news for Christians, those that Paul is writing to these Roman Gentile believers. First, John one describes Jesus as the gospel. So when we ask, well, what is the gospel? It's not only the content of a message that you might share with someone, but listen to what John says in First John chapter one, he says he describes Jesus as the Word, the Word of life, and that's what the gospel gives. It gives new life. But how is is a message able to do that? Well, it's because the substance of that message, the the power of that message, is that Christ is the substance the word of life, this this person was manifested to us, and Paul John says he was proclaimed to us so that our joy may be made complete, because our fellowship is with God through Him, and that's through Christ. The Gospel is the message of Christ, and Christ is the message manifested. He Himself is the gospel. He Himself is the one who is strengthening his church. Christ is the substance of our spiritual strength. It's the same for Paul. It was the same for these Roman believers. The Gospel is able to strengthen because Christ is the central word of that news that's good for us to remember in our evangelism, in our parenting, in our in our marriages, in our friendships, our relationships, our ministry is that Christ is the center of it all. Listen, look again, what Paul says in verse 25 Now to Him who is able to strengthen you, according to Paul, says, My Gospel, and it's the preaching of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. But he also says some interesting things about this gospel, as he's exalting in the power of God to strengthen his church. He says that this is a gospel according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages. And what is this mystery? Let's the mystery in summary, is that the Gentiles, the nations, the ethnos, are full and complete fellow citizens with those Jewish believers who are, who are trusting in Christ. We're, we're a part of the family of God by grace. Yes, and that's good news for us, and it's news that has now been disclosed that wasn't fully comprehended in ages past. But now Christ has burst onto the scene like a flood light, and the gospel is now being spread and preached to all nations, even little old Spokane Washington. When I say I'm from Spokane Washington, people go say, I'm from Washington. They say, Oh, DC, it must be really like humid and, you know, hot over there. No, no, Spokane Washington, Eastern Washington. They don't know Spokane, right? We are the ends of the earth. We're the nations. And yet, God is preaching the gospel through you, dear church. Can you believe it God is promoting and sending out this gospel light to the nations through you and me. What an amazing ministry, an amazing work and ministry to be about. He says it's a prophetic word that has now been disclosed, and even though it was hidden in past ages, it is, it is the very old testament, prophetic writings themselves, like in verse 26 that Paul has been revealing, that he's been teaching, he's been expositing throughout the book of Romans. That is this mystery that the Gospel goes to all nations, including Gentile believers in Rome, and now has been revealed through Christ. And then he says, This is good news for the nations. And it was according to the command, look at what he says in verse 26 according to the command of the eternal God. That is that God ordained this plan that at the proper time Christ would come into the world. And the mystery. We all love a mystery, right? We all love a surprise. The mystery has now been solved. The the riddle is is solved. We know the answer. You know what it's like when your kids solve a mystery, maybe you playing hide and seek, or you buried a treasure at the beach on vacation, and they and they find it, and what they knew was kind of there somewhere. It's revealed. It's dug up, it's uncovered, and they rejoice in the mystery that has now been revealed. And that's what's happening here, and that's what's happened to us. And the command, like Paul says, he says it's according to this command, this decree, this command of God from eternity past, part of that command is this glorious purpose to bring about the obedience of faith, the obedience of faith, obedience to God that was not only impossible, but was not desirable. It wasn't on our radar. It wasn't something that we would ever want on our own, but now is the ongoing fruit of faith, we believe God, we trust in Him. Through Christ, we forsake our sin, and we say, Lord, I want to walk in paths of righteousness. All of that according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been revealed through Christ and the preaching of His gospel. And so Paul says that this powerful gospel, it brings about obedience. It's not just theological, but it's very practical. It transforms how we live. Flip back to Romans chapter one, and by the way, it's been so fun listening trying to catch up to where you all have been in these sermons in Romans. These are themes and things that you've heard already, but Romans chapter one, listen to what Paul says. He kind of begins and ends the letter. Remember Dan once taught me the top and the tail of a letter. You kind of pick up the theme of a book by reading the opening verses, and you can read the closing verses. And often you see, oh, this is what this book is about, the top and the tail. And he says in verse four that Christ, Jesus, this one, descended from David, according to the flesh, was declared verse four to be the Son of God and power, according to the spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about what the obedience of faith, for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, that's
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an amazing statement, this obedience of faith isn't just for us. Us. Not only are we called to obedience, but God has in mind a plan to draw, and he's doing it now draw nations to himself who were far off from God, and to transform them into the peace. People of God, and how does the world know that we belong to God, but by our joyful, willing, believing obedience, that his commands are good and they're righteous and they're for our joy. Paul says in Romans, 617, essentially, this is what it means to be converted, that we become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching. In other words, obedient out of love and affection and devotion to God because of who Christ is for us and all that he's accomplished for us and so, so, how does this all this kind of great gospel buffet in verses 25 and 26 How does it strengthen us? How does it do that? How is God powerful to strengthen us by the gospel, according to the gospel. Well, in part, what Paul is teaching these Roman believers is that it strengthens them by them, never moving on from it. Paul is writing to Christians here. He's saying, believers, how are you going to persevere? How are you going to endure affliction, physical pain and heartbreaking loss, devastation in your life, when you're persecuted for the sake of Christ, when they threaten you with death, or they threaten you with unemployment, or you're threatened by the troubles of living in a broken world, whether disease or loss in your family, how is it that you will be strengthened? How does the gospel strengthen us to live in this life that results. Verse 27 in glory forever more to God, Paul says he's able to strengthen you according to the gospel. We are gospel people. We are people who who not only have once believed in the good news of redemption, but we go on living in those precious realities that Christ, who came and lived and obeyed in every way his father fulfilled every righteousness for us, who died a substitutionary death as a sacrifice, and rose again victorious and ascended and now lives to intercede for us. Romans, 834, that those truths are so precious to us that you could take anything away from us. You could take everything away. And if we can remember those truths, that that will be enough, that will be enough because our hearts will be strengthened by grace.
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So again, how does this all come together? How does God strengthen us? How are we strengthened against all odds, against everything that is against us in this life, to persevere and rejoice and to exalt in God. He does it through the gospel. He strengthens us. He builds us up by the good news of the gospel. Now it's interesting, because that's not how a king exercises his authority and his rule typically, typically a king, you know, and many kings have done this in history, many dictators, even today, they exercise their rule and demonstrate their dominion by crushing and belittling and weakening the people so that they know that what they need more than anything is the king. But what Christ does, but in contrast to that, is He strengthens his people. He strengthens us, a strong people is a threat to a king. We saw that with Israel and Pharaoh, right? We got to take these people out before they overthrow us. And that is the constant fear of a dictator. The strong people is a threat to them. So they they secure their power by by weakening the people, by breaking them by, by breaking them down. But in contrast, Paul draws attention to the unique glory of God in that He strengthens his people. He bolsters their faith with the gospel. God makes you strong with the gospel, and he feels no threat at all, because that's his goal, is to strengthen us for endurance. In fact, the stronger that you are in the faith in Christ and in hope and in love through the gospel of Christ, the greater, the more magnificent God has displayed in our lives. We think about Paul's life, Paul was a before Christ. He was a strong man, quote, unquote, he was a successful man. He was a Jew of Jews. He was a persecutor of Christians. All the Jews loved Paul. Paul thought he was strong, but then Paul was made to be seen that actually he was he was weak, and in his weakness, God's power was magnified. It was glorified because God was using these weak vessels and this weak message to shame the wise, amazing, and if any king ever had the the right and the authority to display his glory by crushing his people. It would be who? It would be God, God of all rulers, of all kings, as has would have the right to do that, to crush us. And yet he displays His glory by strengthening his people. God magnifies His glory by by making us strong with the gospel. He says Now unto Him who is able to strengthen you. You all, dear saints, be glory. Now, no, what does that look like? How by coming to the Gospel, coming back to these rich pillar truths of the gospel. Are we strengthened? How is that displayed? How is that put on display in our lives? Well, think about some of these verses that talk about strength. Listen to what Paul rather Peter said in First Peter three, here turn over there with me. First Peter, three women, some encouragements for you. How is it that you are strengthened by the gospel? For the glory of God, listen to what Peter says in verse three, chapter three, verse six. And again, he has, he has in mind inner strength, not, you know, big, bulky muscles. That's not what God has in mind. What Paul has in mind. Here he's talking about the strength of soul. And Peter says, in verse six of chapter three, he says, Think about Sarah. Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord. He says, You are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. How can a woman do good and not fear anything that is frightening? How could that be possible for a woman to do that? That can only be possible if a woman's hope and her greatest joy and her greatest stability is in Christ, fixing her heart and her mind as a friend, as a mother, as a wife, as a servant in the church, on Christ and saying Christ, you are my King,
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you're my example, you're my leader, you're my Lord, and I will be the woman you call me to be
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because of what you've done for me. Proverbs, 31 verse 25 is talking about this kind of strength when it says, strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. Your sisters, young and old, you can laugh at the time to come, if your hope is in Christ, if your strength is in the gospel, not in your own abilities, not in what the world would say you should utilize as your your strengths, your powers of influence. Your strength is not in being seductive. That's what the world would say, young ladies, right to appeal to to others young men, and that's how you can kind of get your way, make your way through life by by being seductive, by enticing others, by your influence and your beauty and all of that. That is not the power that Paul is talking about here, but the power that looks at the future, that. Able to look at the future and say, whatever comes my way, God, you are good and you do good. Teach me your commandments. That is spiritual power, isn't it? Man, it's the kind of power that is able to strengthen us to lead our families, Ian godliness. Oh, how we struggle and we stumble, even I daily, weekly fighting for help and strength to lead my family. More often than not, it feels like I'm failing, but God is able to strengthen us as we fix our eyes on Christ, who who led the way in purity and devotion and faithfulness to God and gives us His Spirit to walk in obedience. It's the power to to stand at the water cooler the coffee machine at your workplace and say no to the temptation to speak an ill word about your boss or to belittle your employees or to complain about your wife. Spiritual strength for the gospel, it's the power to press on against all of the obstacles in your life that may tempt you to feel like, Man, I just can't catch a break. But instead says, Lord, I'll follow you. I'll follow you because Christ was condemned in my place, and there is no longer. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus, even though I feel condemned by weakness or by lack of wisdom or foresight or whatever it is, I'm safe in Christ. He strengthens his citizens. He doesn't oppress them. He gets glory by strengthening us. That is what Paul is saying here. God is glorified by strengthening his people through the gospel for obedience and by obedience. He says that this is turn back to Romans here. All of this is to bring about the obedience of faith, the obedience of faith, faith that results in glad hearted, joyful obedience to Christ and by God's grace at the end of the day, even though we are tempted to by sin and various paths of unrighteousness, God is is lulling, is wooing us back. And when we see obedience in our life, that is a reminder to us that God has been faithful and the gospel has been powerfully demonstrated in our lives that is not only able to save but to sustain us and strengthen us for obedience. And Paul knew it. Paul was radically transformed in his from his rebellion and persecution of God and His people, and his gospel and his Savior was powerful to work in these believers lives, and he is in ours as well. So we see the power of God in the gospel. We see how the power of God is worked out in our lives by fixing our hearts and minds on the man of the gospel that is Jesus Christ himself. The question is, why does all of this happen? Why does Paul rejoice and sing out in this way? There's one brother who said that God is righteously righteousing the unrighteous by grace through His Son. And the reason that it's God who is righteously righteously, it's a tongue, tongue twister. Righteousing the unrighteous is because only God could do that. That is the wisdom of God, that only God can take an unrighteous, evil, wicked rebel and make him righteous, so that one day, as we stand before the throne of God, we will not be able to boast in ourselves and say, Look at my righteousness. Look at what I did. Look at what I achieved for you, but that we will be able to say, it's Christ. Christ is my righteousness, and that is the wisdom of God. So not only do we exalt in the power of God in the gospel, but number two, we exalt in the wisdom of God and the gospel. Look at verse 27 he wraps it all up. He says to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen, all of this that we've seen so far, it's so that the only wise God would be praised by his church, both in in local churches like here, in Spokane and and in Shingle Springs where I'm from. In Shanghai and the island of Sulawesi and South Sudan, that in all places in the world, God would be praised by his church for being all wise and all powerful. You remember that Paul began his letter declaring what he closes with here, he says this, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the what the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes for in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. There's that theme again in verses 25 to 27 is demonstrate, is manifested. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith from beginning to end. And here's the thing in God's wisdom, this has always been the way of justifying otherwise unjust and guilty sinners, isn't it? Abraham, right, his faith was credited to him as righteousness, but even before God was gracious to him, this is the wisdom of God. It's part of that mystery, something that was simply undiscoverable by human reason. We could have never ascertained this on our own, but it's now been revealed by God. The wisdom of God in the gospel. We rejoice in it. Now listen to this. Listen to how Paul lays out in First Corinthians chapter one, this exact same language. What is this? Wisdom of God? Turn turn one page to First Corinthians chapter one. We're gonna read verses 19 through 25 together, and you'll hear this same exact language about the wisdom of God in the Gospel, and we'll see exactly what it is. Verse 19 for the word of the cross. That's the mess. That's Paul's message, right? The message of Jesus Christ, the word of the cross is foolishness, the opposite of wisdom to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved. It is the what the power of God, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever. I will set aside again the prophetic writings now being uncovered to see the full beautiful picture of God's saving grace in verse 20, Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom, did not come to know God, we could have never searched this out and understood how we could come to know God and have our sins forgiven and be made new, but God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached. And it sounds foolish, doesn't it? It sounds so foolish. It sounds so dumb to the unbelieving ear, just as it did to us, until the lights came on and the mystery was revealed and the floodlight of the gospel shone onto our hearts and we were awakened. It was foolish to us, but to those who believe it's wisdom For indeed, Jews ask verse 22 and sign for signs in Greek, search for wisdom, but they don't get it. They don't actually have wisdom that can lead to salvation in eternal life. But we preach Christ crucified. That's what Paul is calling these believers to preach Christ. He is the wisdom. He's the only one who can save
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we preach Christ crucified to Jews, a stumbling block, a rock of offense, like Peter says, stumbling over him to their destruction and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are being called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, it's Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. There it is, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now I know what you're thinking, Paul, have you ever shared the gospel with someone? It's just foolishness to them. It's so foolish to so many. Is it actually powerful? Is it really wisdom? Because our world worships influence and power and wealth and all of that. But listen, Jesus came as a humble, poor servant, and what he does is he offers his kingdom. Not to those who are the wise of this age or the wealthy or the influential right, not many of us were those, so, Paul says, but to those who are broken and contrite spirit, those who are the poor and needy, those who are the poor in spirit, it's to those who look on Christ and by grace, say, I believe. And this looks foolish to the world, doesn't it, but Christ is the Mighty of the mighty power of God, and the only way to be saved. This is the wisdom of God, but it's complete and utter folly to the world. But dear church, this is why in the kingdom of God, there will be glory. Look at verse 27 again to the only wise God. Forevermore, through Jesus Christ, glory will go only to God, the only wise, forever and ever and ever more, because only in the wisdom of God can men be saved. And this is, this is the message of Romans, isn't this is the message of the gospel that all men must hear is that Christ alone saves by grace alone, through faith alone. And here's the thing, brothers and sisters, in the New Earth, in eternity, as we're working and as we're playing and as we're laboring and as we're serving, we're enjoying the beautiful new creation. And the first hour said, as we're riding on the backs of dinosaurs, I don't know whatever we're doing, it will all be to the glory of God. That is what God is taking us to. That is what all of this is for. But here's the thing, look at what Paul says, specifically, how. How will we do that? How will this be accomplished in eternity? How will God receive glory forevermore? What is the avenue? What is the channel by which this glory will come? Look at what it says to the only wise God be glory forevermore, through Jesus, Christ, it's Christ that we keep our gaze on. It's Christ whose word we look to. It's Christ whose works we look to, not our own. It's Christ's intercession that we look to, not a pope, not a priest. It's Christ, and it's Christ by which we will offer praise that is pleasing to the Lord, and that God is glorified in forever and ever and ever and ever more, amen. And so how will that be? What would that sound like? Listen, listen to just a whole bunch of ways from the book of Romans that you've already heard in which God will receive glory through Jesus Christ. Romans, 118, he will receive glory because through Christ, saving faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. When the nations are there, we will say, Glory to you God, because Christ was preached in the world, and we got to be a part of that. He will receive glory forever more, because on the Day of Judgment, Romans 216 God will judge the secrets of men through Christ, Jesus, God will receive glory through that. In eternity, forever, he will receive glory because forevermore, we, his people have been justified as a gift by grace, through the redemption which is in Christ, Jesus. Romans, 324, he will receive glory forever, forevermore, because Romans five, nine, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, through who through Christ, we're saved by wrath. Through Christ, he will receive glory forever more, because Romans, 521, as Sin reigned in death, yes, it did, as Sin reigned in death through Adam. Now Grace reigns through righteousness, the righteousness of Christ to eternal life. Through Jesus, Christ, our Lord, he will receive glory forever more. Because Romans, 611, even now, we can truly count brothers and sisters. This was Ian's message a couple weeks ago. We can truly reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ, Jesus, we will be alive in Christ. Jesus, forevermore to the glory of God. In eternity, he will receive glory forevermore Because Romans 724, through Christ, Jesus, our Lord, He has delivered us. From this body of death, wretched people that we were, we were so wretched, and we've been delivered. We will never tire of praising and honoring Lord for delivering us from this body of death. Romans 837, to 39 we will he will receive glory forevermore, because in all things, brothers and sisters, in all things, through your chronic pain that keeps you up at night and makes you wonder if God's mercy has run out for all time in all things, in your deep pain and loss. In all things, in your loneliness, in your sadness over the way you wish things would have turned out. In all things, in the death of a loved one, in all things, in the life of a newborn child in all things, when ministry doesn't go your way, or when that loved one rejects the gospel again, in all things, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us, convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth anymore, Paul, yeah, nor any other created thing will be ever able to separate us from the love of God, which is here to hear it again. Church in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. And as the letter of Romans close, he will receive glory for his wisdom forever more, because we Romans, 12, five, who are many, are one body in Christ and individually, members of one another. And that we, like Andronicus and Junia, Paul's kinsmen and fellow prisoners, we have become in Christ. We are wrapped in his righteousness. We are safe in him. We're baptized into him. We just like he died, we've died and just like He rose, we've been raised in him, or like Urbanus, we fellow workers in Christ, are beloved, and because, like a palace, we stand approved in and by Christ, is that enough reasons to get us started in eternity for glorifying God through Jesus Christ, it is, and we could think of a million more reasons, and probably hundreds and 1000s more from Romans alone, dear brothers and sisters, We praise and exult in God for his wisdom, the wisdom of God that accomplished all of those things and more for us through Jesus, Christ, our Lord. So what is Paul saying? What is he saying? Be strengthened, dear church. Look to Christ. Be strengthened. And look to Him Who alone is able to save, who through whom all blessings spiritually flow to you in this life and in eternity, look to Christ and His righteousness, and don't look away. And when you do look back, keep looking back. Keep going back to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of salvation. Our God has worked in history. It's news. It's good news. He's worked. He is He has done things in history to defeat sin and Satan and hell and death. And what did he do it through? He did it through the gospel.
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He overcame your rebellion against Him through the gospel. He drew your children to himself through the gospel. He is saving your friends and family members through the gospel, and he is able to strengthen you by His power through the gospel of Jesus, Christ, our greatest treasure, our greatest hope, and God will magnify His glory in eternity by those that he has made strong spiritually in this life through the gospel and forevermore. And may we say with Paul to the only wise God be glory, forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen. Amen, let's pray together.
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How rich a treasure we possess through Jesus, Christ, our Lord. Lord, we have sung, we have rejoiced and exalted in the great treasure that we have in Christ. Lord, we confess that at times we are gaze drifts and. Uh, like Christian and Pilgrims Progress we we're wander off the path instead of keeping our gaze on the good king. Lord, would you reorient our hearts and our minds, even this morning, as the series in Romans, glorious as it's been, is wrapped up. Lord, would you help us to look to Christ and His righteousness? Help us to look to the gospel of Jesus? Christ, the good news that has now been revealed that that nations and Gentiles like us are being saved by your power and wisdom. Lord, would you fix our gaze on Christ, our only Savior, through whom you will receive glory forever and ever. Lord, help us to be moved by this book, to be more deeply focused on your glory, bringing honor to you in every area of our life, in our work, in our endeavors to bless the world, in our evangelism, in our standing for justice and righteousness in the world, in our fight for the gospel to be glorified in Our Community. Lord help us to be deeply devoted to your word, as Paul describes in the obedience of faith. Lord help us to forsake paths of sin and habits of life that are distracting us from this glorious Gospel and from our glorious Savior, help us to think about how we fit into this grand plan to reach the nations, whether by going as a missionary or by being faithful. And in this land, think of our roman brothers and sisters who were in the midst of a godless and wicked world in Rome, Lord, as you strengthen them, would you strengthen us? Thank you that you are faithful. Thank you that you are preparing a place for us. Thank you that you are coming again, and we rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, and we give it to you because you are worthy in Christ's name. Amen.
Corey was raised in Spokane and grew up attending Faith Bible Church. After serving at Faith's Youth pastor for a few years, he attended The Master's Seminary. Since graduating he has been a pastor at Gold Country Baptist Church in Shingle Springs, CA. He and his wife, Laura, have three daughters and a son.
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