Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Series / Romans

Romans 16:25-27

I. To give encouragement to it's people (Rom. 16:1-16)
II. To give attention to problems (Rom. 16:17-20)
III. To give honor to friends (Rom. 16:21-24)
IV. To give glory to God (Rom. 16:25-27)

      Paul now takes the pen into his own hand and writes the ending to his letter. What does he write? A glorious doxology..a magnificent offering of praise to God.  A fitting end to this treasure of God's Word. It is evident that even though Paul has said many things in these 16 chapters that he wants us to remember , the most important is found in the last few verses. We are to give glory to God.

   A. The Work of God
     1. To Him who is able to establish you
        Paul begins by saying that God is able to establish the Believer; to make him/her secure, stable, to make one's faith firm.
        There are no limits here. Paul is intimating that God is able to make us stand firm no matter what the circumstance, no
        matter what the challenge. God is able!...Amen?

        Salvation is not just being saved from enduring the very real fires of an eternal existence in Hell without God.
        Salvation is also God establishing the Believer by His grace...NOW, that we might be settled, strong and unshaken..
        today whether we face joy or sorrow, comfort or pain.

        God will establish the believer, by His marvelous grace RIGHT NOW!

    2. How are believers established by God?
      a. According to my gospel
          Paul says according to my gospel. This is not Paul's own private gospel but the gospel God gave him. Because of the
        intense personal effect the gospel of salvation had on him. He claimed it as his own because it gave him his very life.

      b. According to the preaching of Jesus Christ
          What is Paul's gospel? It is the preaching of Jesus Christ, His birth, life, death and resurrection...it is Jesus Christ alone.

      c. According to the revelation of the mystery
          The preaching of Jesus Christ IS the mystery revealed. How does God redeem  those He will call to Himself?
          Though Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the righteousness of God revealed in the flesh.

   The mystery was hidden for a long time but now has been revealed in Jesus, to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Understand that it was God who revealed the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. Sinful man searching for it could not and will not find it on his own.

  The revelation of salvation is made
     by God alone,
         by His grace alone,
             through faith alone,
                 in Christ alone,
                     to the Glory of God alone!

  And that is what Paul is praising in this doxology.

        3. What is the purpose of God establishing believers?
          a. Obedience
              Their obedience to the faith, the body of teaching God has given us in His Word. We are established to be faithful and
              obedient. That is God's desire. That is His purpose. That is our Joy!

    B. The Wisdom of God
          Paul ends by saying that God alone is wise.

    It was God's wisdom that devised the glorious blending of grace, mercy and justice.

   It was the wisdom of God that made secure the salvation of the elect who were once sinful and bound for eternal separation from God.

   It was the wisdom of God who justified the repentant believer by faith in Jesus Christ.

   It was the wisdom of God that revealed the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ so that we may  have an example of how to live to please God.

                                       To the only wise God, be honor and glory and dominion for ever.

Conclusion/Challenge

  We have come to the end of the study in the Letter to the Romans which is perhaps the single most important of all the books in the Bible.  Paul ends his letter with the word Amen. It means 'I agree' or 'so be it'. It is a heart approval of what has been said.  I will read a few selected verses from Romans and if you agree say a hearty amen after each verse.

Rom. 3:10  'There is no one righteous, not even one.'

Rom. 3:23 'For all have sinned and have fallen short of  the glory of God.'

Rom. 6:33 'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of  God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

Rom. 10:9, 13 'If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
                        you shall be saved. For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.'

Rom. 8:1 'There is therefore now no condemnation for  those who are in Christ Jesus'

Rom. 8:28 'And we know that God causes all things to  work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
                  called according to His   purpose.'

Rom. 8:38-39 'For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor  things present, nor things to
                        come, nor  powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to  separate us from the
                        love of God which is  in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

                                                                        To God be the glory!      Amen!