Glory to God Forevermore

0:52That's what we will do now. Past few weeks, we've been in Romans chapter 16, which serves as Paul's conclusion to this long letter. And in this final chapter, he issues a few final greetings. By a few, I mean nearly 30. And in that chapter, he warns us to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles that are contrary to the gospel. He reminded us that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.

1:25Isn't that good news? As we struggle in this fallen world, We struggle at work and at school, difficulties in parenting, difficulties in marriage, so many hard things brought on by the fall, brought on by Satan. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. Paul ends by writing this doxology. The Greek word doxa means glory, and the Greek word logos means word. So, what you have is word of glory. That's doxology. And a doxology is a short hymn of praise, an offering of worship to God, praising Him for who He is and for what He's done. And that's fitting because Paul has just spent the first 15 and a half chapters of this letter talking about Christian theology.

2:22You see, theology and worship, doctrine and doxology, they belong together. Look at this fantastic quote: Theology can make no real progress without the spirit of worship. Doctrine and doxology belong together. Worship divorced from sound doctrine degenerates into superficial emotionalism. Doctrine divorced from true worship lapses into barren intellectualism. Amen. Doctrine and doxology belong together. If our doctrine doesn't lead us to worship, something is wrong. If studying biblical truth does not make you feel anything, it doesn't stir you to rejoice with your mouth and rejoice in your heart to praise the God of all creation, something is wrong.

3:32If theology doesn't fill you with gratitude, with thanksgiving, to the point that you have to talk about it, you have to share it, you have to sing about it, something is wrong. Friends, the truth is, if you can read the Word of God, or hear the Word of God, or sing the Word of God and feel nothing, you may not be a Christian. Now, the Christian life is no honeymoon. And so I don't want you to hear me saying that every time you open the Bible, every time you read the Bible, every time you come to worship, every time you go to life group, you're going to feel these fuzzy feelings inside. You're going to feel excited and emotional. That's not what I'm saying.

4:17But I am saying that if you never feel stirred to worship, if you never feel moved by the word of God, you may not be a Christian. Because theology leads you to worship. That's what it does. And after spending so many chapters, so many words writing about Jesus and what he's done in his life and death and resurrection, Paul cannot do anything but end with doxology, end with this word of glory. Now, I think that Christians generally understand that we are supposed to glorify God.

4:54I think that we get that, that our lives and our lips should bring glory to God. And I think that Christians generally understand how we glorify God by expressing praise and thanks with our mouths, through our obedience and our trust in God's word, by humbly and faithfully receiving what God brings into our life, including the hard things. In general, I think that Christians understand that we are supposed to glorify God, and I think we understand generally how we are supposed to glorify God. But I think sometimes what gets lost is why.

5:34Why are we supposed to glorify God? We do it. We understand how to do it, but why do we do it? And that's what Paul is going to hit on in this last section here. Here's what we're going to see this morning: through Jesus Christ, we glorify God for who He is and for what He has done. Through Jesus Christ, We glorify God for who he is and for what he has done. And in these short verses, three reasons emerge why we glorify God.

6:10We glorify God for his perfect wisdom. We glorify God for revealing the gospel. And we glorify God for strengthening our faith. So let's begin with that first reason we glorify God. We glorify God for his perfect wisdom. Now, before we jump in, we remember that the Apostle Peter said of the Apostle Paul's letters that there are some things in them that are hard to understand. And this paragraph for me falls into that category. Like, what are we doing here? John Stott, my favorite commentator, brilliant theologian, wrote, the grammar of the doxology is hard to unravel. Amen. I felt that way all week. The grammar of the doxology is hard to unravel. Now, part of the challenge here is that Paul is writing 2,000 years ago.

7:04He doesn't write the way that we write. He doesn't talk the way that we talk. Part of the challenge is that Paul is writing in Greek. And if you know more than one language, you know the challenge that comes with translating one language into another language. It can sometimes be a bit clunky. And part of it is that Paul, if you've ever read our beloved brother before, the dear apostle. Sometimes we'll start a thought and then pivot to something completely different and then return to that first thought.

7:40Pastor Cody said he's like-minded. It's kind of what's happening here. So, in our English Bibles, look here, verse 25, Paul begins, now to him. But Paul doesn't finish that thought until verse 27. Now to him. Look at verse 27. To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen. So, really, the thought that starts in verse 25, now to him, who is him, the only wise God, and what is to him? Glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. He begins in verse 25. He concludes in verse 27. So you have like this Oreo cookie situation.

8:28Now to him, to the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. That's our first reason to glorify God. We glorify God for his perfect wisdom. He is the only wise God. I want to consider three ways that we see God's perfect wisdom. We see it in Christ. We see it in the cross. We see it in the church. First, we see God's perfect wisdom in. Christ. In our passage, Paul refers to Jesus Christ in verses 25 and 27.

9:08And if you look on the screen, Colossians 2:3 says this: Paul refers to Jesus as the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, and He is the treasure box that holds all of God's wisdom and knowledge. And friends, the key to that treasure box is faith. If you want to unlock all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, you need the key of faith.

9:48You can know that Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, is the treasure box, that he holds all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You can know that, but without the key of faith, you can't open it. You won't have access to any of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And that is the problem for most people. Most people have not received Christ by faith. Look at what the Apostle John said. Jesus was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

10:30You see, faith is the key. Without faith, you have no access to the treasure box that is Jesus Christ, the one in whom are all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So we see God's perfect wisdom in Christ, in whom are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Second, we see God's perfect wisdom in the cross. In verse 25, Paul refers to the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. And of course, the gospel, that word means good news, it's the good news of Jesus' life, his death on the cross in our place for our sins, and his resurrection from the dead.

11:18Jesus' death on the cross is a major sticking point for people. People throughout human history simply cannot see how someone who was killed, who was executed as an enemy of the state, could possibly be the Savior, could possibly be the Son of God. Look at what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom. But we Preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

12:16You see, human beings attempt to know God in their own wisdom. This is what was going on in the Tower of Babel. Let's build a tower that will reach to the heavens. This is what's going on with idolatry as we create things, statues, and many other things, to worship instead of God. This is what was going on with God's people when they crafted the golden calves and worshiped them. This is what people are doing when they say, here is the way to truth, here is the way to wisdom, here is the way to salvation. It's what Muhammad did with the Quran. It's what Joseph Smith did with the Book of Mormon. It's what Joel Osteen did with your best life now.

13:02These are man's attempts to know God through human wisdom, and it doesn't work. Because God must reveal himself to us, and he reveals himself to Jesus Christ and him crucified. A stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles. But the cross is indeed the power of God and the wisdom of God. You see, man's wisdom says we must do something to make ourselves acceptable to God. That is what man's wisdom said. That's the foundation of every other religion. We have to do something to make ourselves acceptable to God.

13:47But friends, there's nothing that we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God. In our sin, we are unacceptable to God. But God, in his wisdom, says, I will do everything to make you acceptable to me. I will send my only begotten Son to be an atoning sacrifice for your sins. He will live sinlessly. He will die in your place on the cross. He will rise from the dead so that through faith you may be acceptable to me. That is the perfect wisdom of God. And we see it in the cross.

14:31And then, third, we see God's perfect wisdom in the church. We notice at the end of verse 26, Paul says that the mystery of the gospel has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writing has been made known to all nations. In the Bible, we see that God's purpose throughout human history has been To save people from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. That throughout human history, he has been working to purify a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, as Paul says in Titus 2. So, for thousands of years, that's what God has been doing: purifying a people for his own possession, from every tribe, tongue, and nation who will be zealous for good works. That people that he has been purifying is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles. And collectively, that group of people is known as the body of Christ, the church.

15:42Paul says that one of the great mysteries of the gospel is that Jew and Gentile alike are both welcomed into the body of Christ, the church, that it is God's wisdom on display. Look on the screen at Ephesians chapter 3. This mystery of the gospel, this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

16:27You see, man's wisdom results. In homogenous cultures. Cultures made up of people that are basically all the same. Same skin color, same background, same socioeconomic status, same preferences. Man's wisdom leads to a situation where there are outsiders and there are insiders, and it is difficult or impossible for outsiders to ever become insiders. That's what man's wisdom does. But in God's wisdom, he has called people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation. He has called Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, to all be brothers and sisters in Christ, part of the body, the church. No other religion is like this.

17:24This is why Hinduism is largely confined to India. It's why Buddhism is largely confined to the Far East. It's why animism is largely confined to the tribal regions and cultures of the islands. It's why Islam has a hard time spreading except through birth. It's because it creates a homogeneous culture. You have to impose Sharia law because there's only one way to get it to work. But Christianity is not like that. The church is not like that.

18:00In God's wisdom, he's called people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. He's called Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, to all be a part of the body of Christ. And friends, when non-Christians see that, when they see a diverse group of people unified not around those things that everybody else is unified around, but around the gospel, they take notice. They say, why do these people, young and old, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different skin colors, different cultures, different ethnicities, why do these people all love and serve each other? How could it be possible that they could worship together?

18:40That is the perfect wisdom of God, and we see it in the church. So, friends, God's perfect wisdom is on display in Christ, in the cross, and in the church. The world, in its supposed wisdom, dismisses all of them. Christ was despised and rejected by men. The cross is seen as foolishness. The church is seen as weak. The world rejects all of them. And yet, in Christ, in the cross, in the church, we see the full wisdom of God on display.

19:19Friends, I want you to consider your response to the wisdom of God. Have you been too wise to receive Jesus Christ? Have you been too wise to look to the cross and instead decided that you've got to come up with your own way to make yourself right with God? Have you, in your own wisdom, said, I'm happy to follow Jesus, but I don't really need the church? If so, repent. Receive the wisdom of God in Christ, in the cross, and in the church, the things that the world sees as foolishness. We glorify God for his perfect wisdom in these things.

20:12Now let's look back at verse 25. Let's consider the second reason that we glorify God. We glorify God for revealing the gospel. Verse 25. 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.

20:58In these verses, Paul refers to the word. To the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but now has been disclosed. Paul believed that it was an incredible privilege to be alive after Jesus fulfilled God's promises. Because you see, for so many years, God only partially revealed his plan of salvation. Think about it: to Adam and Eve, he just told them that one of their descendants would crush the head of the serpent. That's all that they got.

21:35Abram was told that through him, he would be a blessing to all nations. Through the prophets, we get bits and pieces that there's going to be one who's going to be a descendant of David and sit on his throne in justice and righteousness forever. We get that he's going to be born in Bethlehem. We get that he's going to be born of a virgin. We get these bits and pieces over hundreds and hundreds of years. But then John the Baptist comes on the scene and he says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

22:10And then Jesus proves that through his sinless life, his words, his miracles, and particularly his death and his resurrection from the dead. So as Paul says here in verse 25, the mystery of the gospel was kept secret for long ages. It was prophesied. Was pointed to, it was explained in part, but now it has been fully disclosed to everyone, to people of all nations. Once Jesus fulfilled every promise made concerning the Messiah, the Savior, there were no more secrets, there was no more mystery. The good news of the gospel has been revealed.

22:53And what was the point of all that? What was the point of God revealing the mystery of the gospel through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? We'll look at the end of verse 26. The very end, Paul says that all of this, the revelation of the gospel, is according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith. What a great phrase that is: the obedience of faith. We notice that Paul doesn't say that God did all of this to bring about the obedience of works, but rather the obedience of faith. Oh, friends, so many people, including lots of people who claim to be Christians, are confused about the nature of Christianity. They think that Christianity is a religion of works, just like every other religion.

23:51A great example is the question that the people asked Jesus in John chapter 6. Take a look at this. Then they said to him, What must we do to be doing the works of God? What's their assumption? It's the same assumption that every human being in history has made, that all religions are basically the same. They're religions of works, and that there are things that we must do in order to make ourselves right before God. So they asked Jesus, what must we do to be doing the works of God?

24:29But friends, Christianity is not a religion of works. And so look at how Jesus responds. Then they said to him, What must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. In Jesus' response, he reveals the good news of the gospel. I mean, imagine if the people had asked, what do we need to do to be doing the works of God? And Jesus said, try harder to keep the Ten Commandments.

25:07That is not good news. That is very, very bad news. And that is what most people think that Christianity is. It is Jesus coming to say, hey, just in case we weren't clear, try harder to do better. Bad news. Because Jesus says, it's not just adultery that's sin, it is lust in the heart. He says it's not just murder that's sin, it's hating anyone in your heart. God is concerned not just with the letter, but the spirit. He's concerned not just with the behavior, but the heart. And so, if you look at the law and you look at yourself in the mirror, you quickly realize, I cannot do this. It doesn't matter how hard I try to do better, I cannot keep this law perfectly every day of my life. I am never going to be able to work myself to heaven.

26:03But thankfully, Jesus doesn't say that, does he? When he's asked, what do we need to do? What work do we need to do? He says, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. That's why Paul says the goal of preaching the gospel is to bring about the obedience of faith. The obedience of faith. Look at Ephesians 2 on the screen, these well-known verses. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

26:45Oh, friends, the gospel is very good news. And so, if you have been in a place where you have been trying to work yourself into God's favor, understand this morning, that day is never coming. It's never coming. It doesn't. matter how many more Sundays you come to church, it doesn't matter how many more days you read your Bible, you are never going to be able to work your way into God's favor. The work of God is believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. That is the good news of the gospel, that he has come and done everything, so that now all of the work that we do comes from faith.

27:26From faith that we are accepted by God already because of Jesus Christ. Not working for that acceptance. So we praise God. We glorify God for revealing the good news of the gospel. Now let's return once more to verse 25 and let's look at that last reason. We glorify God for strengthening our faith. Verse 25. Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Now your English translation might render that phrase, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Strengthen, establish, they capture the sense of that Greek word. The sense here is causing someone to become more firm in their beliefs. God is able to... Do that. He is able to strengthen us. He's able to establish us. He is able to cause us to stand on firm ground, solid footing.

28:42But why do we need that? Why do we need to be strengthened in our faith? I want to give you three reasons: because of our sin, because of our enemies, and because of our calling. First, we need to be strengthened because of our sin. Back in Romans 7, Paul said this on the screen: For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

29:28When we believe in Jesus, we are declared righteous. We are not made righteous. We are justified. We are not sanctified yet. We are in the process of sanctification, of becoming more like Jesus. But that process doesn't end until we see Jesus face to face. That's when that ends. For now, we have been declared righteous. So we need God to strengthen us because all of us know this battle that Paul is talking about as a Christian. I want to do the right thing. I want to. Obey. I don't want to sin in this way anymore. I do want to bring glory to you, God, but I'm struggling day after day after day. We all know that battle. And so we need God to strengthen us because of our sin.

30:16Second, we need to be strengthened because of our enemies. And according to Scripture, our enemies are both earthly and heavenly. Look at Matthew 5 on the screen. Jesus says, Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Look at Ephesians chapter 6. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

31:13According to Jesus, his followers are always going to have earthly enemies who persecute us because of what we believe. For our trying to follow Jesus in this fallen world, we are going to always have that. And according To Paul, we have heavenly enemies, spiritual forces of evil, who oppose us and who oppose all of our efforts to follow Christ and to make more followers of Christ. That is always going on. So we need God to strengthen us so that we won't falter in the face of persecution. When you get mocked for your faith in the classroom, when you get mocked for your faith at work, when your faith costs you family members or friends, one day it may cost us our freedom. We may be thrown into prison for following Christ. Just like a lot of Christians are around the world every single day, it may cost us our very lives.

32:20So we need God to strengthen us so that in the face of all of that spiritual warfare, we don't falter. We don't stop following Jesus and we don't stop making followers of Jesus. And then third, we need to be strengthened because of our calling. Paul spends nearly a third of his letter outlining how we are supposed to live in light of Jesus' life and death and resurrection. So Romans 13:8 is a nice, concise summary. Take a look at that on the screen. He says, owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

33:06Well, over the next few chapters in Romans, Paul outlines what loving each other requires, right? We like to leave that undefined. Love your neighbor as yourself. Yes, sure. But no, over the next few chapters, Paul makes sure to give it very specific definitions. Loving each other means building each other up with our spiritual gifts as members of the body of Christ. Loving each other means rejoicing with each other when there's good things going on. It means mourning with each other when people are sad. It means bearing each other's burdens, not just saying, oh, I hope you get through that trial. I hope you get through that time of suffering, okay? It means coming alongside them and sitting with them and practically helping them.

33:54Loving one another means submitting to authority, governing authority, authority in the home, authority in the church. Loving one another means welcoming each other when we disagree over opinions. Paul spent nearly two chapters talking about that. All of that stuff is hard. That's what loving each other requires, and that's why we need God to strengthen us because we've been called to love and serve each other as the family of God, as the body of Christ. So, friends, we need God to strengthen us. Because of our sin, because of our enemies, and because of our calling. And as we see in verse 25, how does God strengthen us? Through the preaching of Jesus Christ.

34:44One of Tim Keller's most famous quotes is that the gospel is not the ABC of Christianity, but the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just for non-Christians. It's not just for new Christians. It's for everybody. Because the gospel is the way that we come to faith, and the gospel is the way that we are sustained and strengthened in our faith. Meditating on the gospel through reading the word and singing the word and hearing it preached and taught, those are all faith-strengthening disciplines. Every time you gather with other Christians to worship, every time you gather in a life group to do the things that we just talked about, those are faith-strengthening disciplines. Every time you and your roommates get together to pray, every time you gather your spouse or your family to get together to pray and to read God's word, these are faith-strengthening disciplines. But friends, they are just like going to the gym.

35:53If you go to the gym twice a year, if you go to the gym twice a month, I can. Promise you, it's going to do nothing. You got to go to the gym all the time. And in the same way, we have to have our faith strengthened privately, corporately, together in life groups, together as a gathered body. We need that all of the time. We need it because of our sin, because of our enemies, because of our calling. We need to be strengthened. And so we glorify God for strengthening our faith through the preaching of the gospel.

36:35Well, friends, we've come to the end. The end of this two-year journey. And as we talked about at the beginning, Paul closes with worship because that's the obvious and fitting end to the whole thing, isn't it? His theology has led him to worship. That is why God created us. He created us to worship him, to glorify him and enjoy him forever. So for those who are Christians, the book of Romans is a call to know and embrace Christian doctrine. The truth about who God is.

37:17The truth about sin and what it's done to us. The truth about Jesus Christ and what he has done about our sin in his life and death and resurrection. The truth about our... Eternal security in Christ because it is based on what He has done, not on what we will do. The truth about how we are to live together as Christians in the body of Christ. All of that leads us to worship. And you see this not just here in Romans 16, you see it after Paul gets done with the main body of theology in the book of Romans. Remember how Romans 1 through 11, all of that theology, you remember how that ends? Look on the screen. This is 11:33 through 36.

38:02Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Brothers and sisters, we are called to glorify God for who he is and what he has done. Our theology should lead us to worship.

38:47And if you find that your life is not marked by the worship of God, I don't want you to deceive yourself into thinking that what that means is you don't worship anything. Because you do. Everyone does. You are a human being created in God's image and likeness. And every human being was created as a worshiper. You cannot not worship. Something is at the center of your life. Some person, something. It may be money. It may be academic success. It may be business and career success. It may be a boyfriend or a girlfriend. It may be your children. It may be boys and girls in general. Something is at the center of your life and everything revolves around it. That is called worship.

39:49You do worship something. Something in your life is getting your first and your best. That is worship. And so I want to invite you this morning, because you cannot not worship, to replace whatever that thing is at the center of your life with Jesus Christ. Because unlike all of those other things, which are guaranteed to fail you, you will have academic setbacks. You will have career setbacks. Your money will let you down. Boys and girls will let you down. Your kids will let you down. Your spouse will let you down. Everything in this world will let you down. Jesus will never let you down.

40:35He lived and he died and he rose again for you. So replace whatever it is at the center of your life with Jesus Christ and let your life, your worship, revolve around him because he alone is worthy. Because he alone, as Paul concludes, is worthy of glory forevermore. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we are reminded afresh today that we were made to worship, that we cannot not worship. And so I pray that we would worship you, that we would glorify you.

41:43I pray for my Christian brothers and sisters, we get lulled to sleep so easily and the subtle ways that Jesus gets edged out of the center of our lives. And so then it's like 90, 10, and then 75, 25, and then 50, 50. Before long, Jesus is sharing space with something else that we are worshiping. God, I pray that you would show that to us. Our theology should lead us to worship you, not you and something else.

42:20Help us. Help us repent. Help us receive afresh the grace of the gospel. And God, I pray for those that I trust you are speaking to through your spirit and your word this morning. I pray for the children who are listening. I pray for the teenagers who are listening, college students who are listening, adults who are listening. I pray that they would hear the sound of your voice through your spirit and your word this morning, and that they would recognize that something other than Jesus is at the center, that they are in fact worshiping.

43:04I pray that you would grant them repentance and faith in Jesus, that they would turn to him and receive him in faith this morning and glorify you forevermore. Oh, do it, Lord. We want to see lives transformed, every life transformed. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.