Establish in Christ

according to my gospel, in the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery,
which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested,
and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations,
leading to obedience of faith. To the only wise God, through
Jesus Christ, be glory forever. Amen. Paul has finished his readings. He has concluded with his warnings. Paul has but to wrap up this
great epistle. And he does so here, even as
he would, give all praise and glory to God, he can’t help but
drive home the point of God’s blessing and God’s great mercies
towards us one last time. I’ve entitled the message, Established
in Christ. And Paul, that stems essentially
from the thought that Paul characterizes the God who is owed all the glory
in two particular ways. First of all, he is a God who
is able to establish us. And second, he alone is wise. Both of those essentially form
the cause or the call to praise and glorify God himself. But what he wants to focus on,
when he can’t help but draw our attention to, once again, is
God’s means of grounding and establishing believers in Christ. There is, in this interesting
doxology, an absolutely recognizable echo from some of the main themes
in the opening of Paul’s reading. In Romans chapter 1, Paul opened
this epistle by saying that Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus,
called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. Here in verse 25, as we just
read, now to him who is able to establish you according to
my gospel. He goes on to talk about, in
the opening chapter, this promise, this message that had been promised
beforehand, and he returns to that theme as well here in the
16th chapter. He says, here is the revelation
of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past. He points to the fact that this
was all born out of the Old Testament through his prophets in the holy
scriptures in Romans chapter 1 and he echoes that here again
in 16, the scriptures of the prophets. He says that all this
ultimately is to bring about or to be known to all the nations. Chapter 1, he had pointed to
the fact that this would go out among all the Gentiles. And the great purpose in all
of this, in Chapter 1, verse 5, his whole cause in service
of Christ was to bring about the obedience of faith among
all the Gentiles. And he echoes that thought here
in Romans 16. God will be known among all the
nations, leading to the obedience of faith. As you know, my habit
is to crunch it down to the simple sentence. Well, I would call
this the not-so-simple sentence, because there is no verb. Paul just says, now to him who
is able to establish you, and you essentially can jump down
to 27 and begin to complete the sentence, to the only wise God,
and you have to supply the verb be, glory forever. To him who is able to establish
you, to the only wise God, be glory forever. Less than verse 25 if you would. When Paul said, now to him who
is able, if you are a seasoned of Scripture, you recognize that
formula because Paul uses it again and again. He uses it most
cheaply in the doxologies. Paul used that same formula when
he gave the doxology at the close of those three incredible chapters
in Ephesians. Now to him who is able to do
far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. This expression
that he is able points far beyond ability because it implies a
desire on God’s part, the willingness to do what he purposes to do. Not only is he able, he is completely
able, he is the unbounded source of all potential. The dear pastor said, well, may
the saint trust such a God. If God were stinted in might
and had a limit to his strength, we might well despair. God is
able. But seeing that he is clothed
with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard for him to answer, no
need too great for him to supply, no passion too strong for him
to subdue. No temptation too powerful for
him to deliver from, no misery too deep for him to relieve.
God is able. But this recurring phrase, another
phrase that occurs in the opening chapter of Romans, that he is
able to establish us. Romans 11 says that that was
the very purpose that Paul desired to visit this great city. Romans 1.11 says, I long to see
you, so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you
may be established. Now Paul knew, Paul knew when
he said that, that God ultimately is the one that establishes us.
That phrase just pointing to the fact that we would be confirmed,
strengthened in the faith, made steadfast, And he refers clearly
here to a spiritual strengthening, not a physical thing, not some
kind of establishment that is going to leave us impervious
to political pressure or persecution. One described it in these terms.
He said it was to render you firm and constant, to keep you
from falling. That’s what we need. And that
was Paul’s great desire for his churches. He said this to the
Thessalonians, that his great desire for them in his prayer
was that he may establish your hearts without blame in holiness. Paul wanted them to be grounded.
Peter, likewise, used this term to talk about our being confirmed
and strengthened and established in Christ, 1 Peter 5.10. See, a strong Christian A strong
Christian is a Christian in whom the principles of Christianity
are lively. You might even say they’re vigorous,
they’re active. And that leaves us in a mature
state where we are found to be intelligent in the things of
Christ, where we are found to be wise in the things of God. We are found to be holy in our
behavior, in our speech, in our thought life. We are found to
be active in our life in the Church and in our life outside
of the Church. We are found to be very useful
to God and to His Kingdom. So God desires that a Christian
be strengthened, that he be firmed up. But it’s God only that can
do this. And Paul knows it. We can’t do
it for ourselves. We can’t pull ourselves as if
we’re up by the bootstraps. God has to build us. God has
to strengthen us. God has to make us to stand. One pastor said, from this we
learn that the establishment in the faith is not of ourselves
but of God. It requires the very power of
Jehovah to establish his people in the truth. So far from being
able to bring themselves into the faith of the gospel, they
are not able to continue in it without God. Did you hear what
he said? Through our study of the Book
of Romans, we’re reminded that it’s God that moves first, that
it’s God who is sovereign in salvation. We are not able to
pull ourselves up from the sleep of death. We are absolutely dependent
upon God breathing life into us through the process of regeneration,
granting to us faith, what makes us think that we can keep ourselves
alive. so far from being able to bring
themselves into the faith of the gospel, they are not able
to continue in it without God. What blindness, then, it is to
boast of the power of man to believe and to keep himself in
the truth. We need God’s help, if we are
to sin. So Paul, writing to the Roman
church, who he knew in their midst were those who were weak,
Those who were feeble, those who were young in the faith,
those who were wounded in the faith. Paul knew that even among
them there were those who were strong, those who were vigorous
and active in the faith. Paul knew that God had done it
all. Paul knew that God was the one that had established them
in the first place. If they were strong at all, it was God who
had done it. And if they were to remain strong,
God must. God must continue to be involved
in the process. God must continue to supply the
grace so needed. And so Paul, even as he said
this, he’s begun, remember, a doxology, now to him who is able to establish
you to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever. But Paul, just on that thought,
of Him who is able to establish you immediately goes to the means
that God would use to do so. We are established by God, but
by what means? How are we established? And in a most fascinating turn,
Paul says the same thing three times. With a little subtle difference
each time, but he essentially says the same things. How is
God going to establish us? First of all, glance down at
the passage, verse 25. According to my gospel. It’s according to my gospel.
That’s how he’s going to establish you. That’s how he’s going to
strengthen you. It’s because of what my gospel
declares. Paul, don’t misunderstand, when
Paul says my gospel, he’s not saying that Peter had one version,
that he had another, that Silvanus had a version, that Barnabas
had another. Paul just has so embraced this gospel that he’s
just taken 16 chapters to unfold in the most incredible manner
that Paul had bought in. Remember, Paul started this epistle
with the discussion of the gospel of God. And now Paul can’t pull
back any longer. It is his gospel. He has fully
absorbed this message of the gospel. And it was the gospel
that was entrusted to him. It was entrusted to him and it
was the gospel that he so faithfully preached. Galatians 2.7, I have
been entrusted with the gospel. 1 Thessalonians 2.4, just as
we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel,
so we speak not as pleasing men but God who examines our hearts.
1 Timothy 1.11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed
God with which I have been entrusted, would to God that more people,
more pastors, look at the message that they bring in that light. We don’t come with our own deal.
We don’t come with our own message. We don’t come with our own ideas. We come with the gospel with
which we have been entrusted. That’s our calling. His gospel is the gospel. It’s the gospel that offers justification
by faith. It’s the gospel that presents
Christ as crucified, and that He alone is the means, the great
means of salvation. But Paul wants to drive this
point home. Remember, he’s talking about how the believer is established,
and he says first and foremost it is by means of the gospel,
and that we need to review the elements of that gospel, that
Christ has died for us. and that we have placed our faith
in Him, and that in Him alone is the great means of salvation. But Paul says the same thing,
the second way. Look at verse 25. Not him who
was able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching
of Jesus Christ. It’s not different than the gospel. It’s not altogether different,
but it does present another element of what he’s trying to drive
home in our minds. He says it’s the proclamation
of Jesus Christ, and there was no little wrestling match here
with the commentaries about, is this the preaching about Jesus
Christ? Or is this the preaching by Jesus
Christ? And either one, grammatically
speaking, is possible, but it would certainly seem strange
for Paul to limit this statement only to Jesus’ words in this particular setting. When he had just finished this
lengthy epistle proclaiming salvation by Christ, it was Christ’s words
It’s the message that Christ brought, it’s the message that
Christ lived out, but it’s everything. It’s the totality of the message
about Jesus Christ. This term, this word, preaching,
you can’t narrow it down and crunch it down only to the messages
or the act itself of preaching. It’s the totality of the message.
It’s the gospel again. So preaching about Christ. Flip
back if you would several chapters to Romans chapter 10. Just by
way of a reminder of this high view that Paul had of the gospel
and of the privilege to preach Christ. Romans chapter 10, let me repeat.
Just a few verses here. where Paul says, but what does
it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,
that is the word of faith which we are preaching. That if you
confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes,
resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, whoever
believes in him will not be disappointed, For there is no distinction between
Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord over all, abounding in
riches for all who call upon him. For whoever will call on
the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call
on him whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him
whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without
a preacher? How will they preach unless they
are sent, just as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
those who bring good news of good things. Paul says, look,
it’s the preaching of Christ, it’s the preaching of the gospel,
which are one and the same. They’re the great means of establishing
believers in the faith. The more we hear about Christ,
and hear about the nature of Christ, and the life of Christ,
and the doctrine of Christ, The more we are confirmed in the
faith, the more we are strengthened, the more that we understand,
not just about the troubles of this life, but about the glory
to come. Paul said that the Corinthians,
we preach Christ crucified. Later to the Corinthians, he
said we do not preach ourselves, we preach Christ Jesus as Lord. It’s the fullness of Christ that
Paul is pointing to here. If we’re going to be usable for
God, if we’re going to be His faithful emissaries in this world,
we’ve got to be grounded. We’ve got to know Christ fully
in order to make Him known. The great object of Paul’s preaching
was Jesus Christ and faith in Him. There’s a third way that
he says this. plants down once again in verse
25. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my
gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation
of the mystery. The mystery? See, he’s just saying another,
it’s another view of the same exact truth that he had already
declared to us. It’s the gospel, it’s the preaching
of Christ, it’s the revelation of the mystery. This mystery is not an uncommon
word in Paul’s epistles as you know. He points to another description
here of the gospel. It’s not just the gospel that
he points to, Paul’s gospel, it’s not just the preaching of
Jesus Christ, it’s the revelation of the mystery that he says here
at Thurber. And they’re all essentially,
as I said, pointing to the same thing. This mystery, what does
it mean? Essentially, we understand it
not as some of our movies or books present a mystery. This particular mystery is from
a biblical standpoint, it’s a secret that was once kept dark. And
in some cases, a mystery can remain a mystery. But in these
particular verses before us, it’s a mystery that at one point
was dark and obscure, but has now been revealed. One described
it as In these terms, he said, mystery does not mean something
obscure or incomprehensible, but simply something previously
unknown and undiscoverable by human reason. We couldn’t figure
it out. All the scholars in the world,
the Old Testament Experts in the law could have looked at
the Old Testament law and prophets, the totality of the Old Testament
writings. They could not have figured out
salvation by faith alone and Christ alone in a crucified and
risen Savior, a Messiah who would die on every mount. They had
evidence of that. They saw things, but it was utterly
undiscoverable to them. And if it was going to be known
at all, ever, it would be known by revelation from God. God would
reveal it to us in time. And we know because of the nature
of the Gospel that that was inevitable. God had already set that in motion
in Genesis 3 in the curse of the garden. God would, in time,
make known the Gospel. And what basically Paul says
here His time is up. God has done it. God has revealed
this mystery. God has uncovered it. God has
explained it in full. Many times Paul points to these
truths. 1 Corinthians 2, 7. We speak
God’s wisdom in a mystery. We’re out here preaching the
gospel, the gospel of Christ, but to a great many people it
remains that. They don’t get it. We preach
God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined
before the ages to our glory. God had purpose. God’s plan of
redemption was going forward. God was opening these things
to the saints. Paul says it again in Ephesians,
a little bit different way. Pray on my behalf that the utterance
may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make them with
boldness. The mystery, which is no longer
a mystery, of the gospel. Pray that God would give me the
words so that as I preach, this mystery unfolds before people’s
eyes. And didn’t it do that for you?
The first time that you heard the elements of the gospel, was
it not absurd to you? That’s what scripture says. We
counted it as foolishness. Did Jesus die? And then he was
raised. And then our eyes began to open.
God began to open them. We began to see that not only
was this plausible, this was the truth. That Jesus Christ
had come down and taken human flesh. No other payment would
do. And the payment for sin, we certainly knew that we were
sinners. We certainly knew that we were bankrupt. We couldn’t
pay the debt. And that mystery begins. to become
unclouded, to begin to see. Paul said the same thing to Nicolaus. Of this church I was made a minister
according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your
benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word
of God. He’s just talking about the great privilege that he had
to carry forth the gospel. Listen to this. That I might
fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is,
The mystery, which has been hidden from past ages and generations,
but has now been manifested to the saints. Not everybody gets
it. Not everybody grasps it. To some people it remains foolishness. It remains a mystery. It remains
something far beyond finding out. But Paul speaks of this mystery
as the revelation of the mystery. God’s uncovered it. God has revealed
it. Something that, up until the
time of Christ, was totally covered. Bewildered. Truths and principles in the
Old Testament that just didn’t seem to add up. Now it’s unveiled,
now it’s declared, now it’s wide open. turn, if God’s people would,
to the book of Ephesians chapter 3. In a commentary on his own
thoughts, Paul clarifies it for us when he talks about the revelation
of the mystery. Ephesians chapter 3, let’s start
at the first verse. Listen to this. For this reason
I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles,
if you indeed have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace, was
given to me for the… You see, these things keep echoing. It’s not that Paul’s saying one
thing to one church and another to another church. He’s echoing
the same great truth that he had been called into ministry.
If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which
was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made
known to me the mystery. As I wrote before in a brief,
by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight
into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not
made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to
His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. To be specific,
that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the
body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ, in Christ
Jesus, through the gospel, of which I was made a minister according
to the gift of God’s grace, which was given to me for the working
of His power. To me, the very least of all
saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the
unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light What is
the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden
in God, who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of
God may now be made known through the church, to the rulers and
authorities and the heavenly places? Paul says, look, we’re
going to declare this far and wide to the highest heavens. We’re going to proclaim Christ.
The mystery is no longer the mystery. It’s revealed. The secret, once a secret, is
the whole purpose of God. It’s God’s great plan of redemption
of man. Ultimately, it was formed in
eternity past. And while God had given pieces
of this puzzle, and almost in Cyprus over the centuries now,
all the pieces begin to pull together and the mystery is no
longer a mystery. One pastor said, God, who rules
over all the eons or periods of time which have passed and
are to come, is working out an eternal purpose in the world.
For ages it was a mystery, now in these last days it has been
revealed, and this revelation explains the meaning of God’s
working in the past. The preaching of Christ was the
revelation of the mystery and explaining God’s purpose in the
world. And so now we can go back to
the Old Testament. We can go back to the Old Testament
now easily. Isaiah becomes very clear to
us, doesn’t he? Go back and you read the curse
in the garden. That unfolds with great clarity,
doesn’t it? If you read some of the Psalms
that testify of God and what God was going to do, we understand
that now, don’t we? Paul said, look, this mystery has been revealed. And he drives from this point,
look at verse 25 and 26, which for long ages have been kept
secret. Over and over again in Paul’s writings he talks about
this, the hidden wisdom of God, hidden in God. Hidden from ages
past, but no longer. Now it’s manifested,
revealed, uncovered completely. And again this, it’s God’s revelation,
it’s only by God’s revelation, it’s the only way we would ever
know God’s secrets. We pride ourselves a lot of times
in the things that we can figure out. We couldn’t have figured
this out. This was the work of God. We
understand that this revelation is progressive. And even there
are still elements of Christ that remain to us unknown. We
haven’t seen Him return yet. We haven’t seen Him burst through
the skies. We haven’t seen Him happen yet. We haven’t seen glorified
saints yet. We haven’t seen what it’s like
to worship Christ for eternity. We haven’t seen that yet. We
read about His life on earth. That was revealed. We read about
His death. Revealed. We understand now that
He was raised from the dead. Revealed to us. Ultimately, His
ascension. That was part of the revelation
that the apostles and disciples were taking in. That this ongoing
manifestation of Christ grows new every day. Lay it down, if you would, at
verse 26. As Paul develops his thought,
he drives his point home. He tells us how and why, to whom
and for what. Why? What about all this mystery? Why reveal the mystery now? He
tells us how. It’s by the scriptures of the
prophets. He tells us why. It’s according to the commandment
of the eternal God. God demanded it. Now’s the time. Today’s the day. Can you imagine? The Godhead in eternity deciding
today’s the day that Christ becomes incarnate. And the whole plan
of redemption essentially begins to unfold before human eyes.
What an amazing statement. To whom? Made known to all the
nations. That was something the Jews didn’t
grasp at all, right? The Jews thought that salvation
was for them. Relationship with God was for
them. That it was an exclusive thing.
God says no longer. It was always designed, just
as His promise to Abraham was going to be for all the nations.
That anyone could come to God through faith in Christ. How,
and why, and to whom, and for what? Why? Look at the last clause,
leading to obedience of faith. That’s Paul’s, essentially, favorite
phrase in this epistle. The obedience of faith, we’ll
touch on that in a moment. Everything that he says here
in this few little sentences, he essentially echoes what he’s
been detailing throughout this epistle. that the Old Testament was in
unity with the New Revelation. The fact that Christ had come
according to the promise of the Scriptures. There wasn’t a break
in God’s plan. The Scriptures foretold it, we
just didn’t grasp it. This salvation, salvation by
grace, faith alone, in Christ alone, was pointed clearly by
the Old Testament prophets. Let’s look at them one at a time,
just briefly. The scriptures of the prophets. It’s a fascinating phrase that
he uses, pointing very neatly to the Old Testament in its totality. He’s not just talking about the
twelve minor prophets, or if you will, adding the major prophets. He’s talking about the totality
of the Old Testament revelation. It was all prophets. It was all
pointing to Christ. That Old Testament was a great
prediction of the Messiah. We just didn’t understand it.
But Paul and his fellow apostles now, now they can take the scriptures
of the prophets, they can look back into the Old Testament,
and everything becomes crystal clear, and that’s how they can
bring in passages that Here to force seemed totally obscure,
beyond discovery. Peter said it this way, 1 Peter
1, verse 10-12, as to this salvation. I mean, you can hear in Peter’s
voice the humility with which he approaches the subject. As
to this salvation, regarding this salvation, the prophets
who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful
searches and inquiries. The Old Testament prophets, they
looked at the stuff they were writing and they didn’t get it.
Isn’t that amazing? They made careful searches and
inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of
Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings
of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them
that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which
now have been announced to you. For those who preach the gospel
to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which
angels long to look.” Not only did the prophets not understand
all these prophecies, neither did the angels. And God would
slowly begin to reveal them. And now, Peter looking back,
Peter looking back says, look, we understand things now, by
the grace of God, that not only the writers didn’t understand,
the angels themselves didn’t grasp it. Amazing. The Paul says that this revelation,
this revelation, this mystery, is according to the commandment
of the eternal God. This was part of God’s eternal
plan. And God essentially came to the point where he said, today’s
the day. Not only did he decide that we
would do it, he decided that today is the day. Today is the
day that Christ will take on human flesh. Today is the day
that the plan of redemption begins to unfold before humanity. And that command essentially gives
authority to all the apostolic work. We’re told to do this.
This was God’s plan unfolding. This gospel had now been revealed
by God’s own command. Look at the third phrase. The
purpose, if you will. It’s been made known to all the
nations. It’s been opened to the Gentiles.
That was Paul’s great theme. He returned to this again and
again throughout the epistle. And it’s not just that he’s writing
and grandstanding to a church in Rome that was only Gentile,
because it wasn’t. But it was a great truth that
the gospel had expanded and reached now, not only to the Jew, but
to Gentiles and Greeks. Paul’s purpose in calling Romans
1-5 was that he has received grace and apostleship to bring
about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles. And he
echoes that here in the 16th chapter when he says that all
the churches of the Gentiles greet you. And the great purpose in closing,
he says, is leading to the obedience of faith. That’s a funny phrase. It’s essentially obedience that
faith implies. You see, the command, the expectation
of the gospel is that the hearer would believe. When the gospel,
it doesn’t throw out an option. There is no plan B. When the
gospel is presented to a sinner, the expectation is obedience,
and obedience is faith. It’s belief. It’s a reception
of the gospel of Christ that stops looking for alternatives. And now Paul, now Paul can wrap
up his doxology. Now that he has reminded the
saints one last time of the great means of God working in their
lives to establish them. Paul says now to him who is able
to establish you, the only wise God, Paul says, there’s only one God
and He is infinitely wise. And this great plan of redemption
has unfolded from Him alone. It’s not that God had to improvise. It’s not that God had to cooperate. It’s not that God had to come
up with some kind of compromise plan. conceived of this plan of redemption
in the eternity past and began to put it into effect. And his
wisdom to us opens, it opens to us new every day. Turn if
you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We see
this discussion. Look at verse 21. For since,
in the wisdom of God, the world, through its wisdom, did not come
to know God, God was well pleased, through the foolishness of the
message preached, to save those who believed. Indeed, Jews ask
for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. To Judas, a stumbling block,
and to Gentiles, foolishness. But to those who were called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ’s, the power of God, wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the weakness
of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren.
There were not many wise, according to flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the
weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
and the base things of the world, and the despised God has chosen
the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that
are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing,
you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God,
and righteousness, and sanctification, redemption. Now to Him who is able to establish
you, to the only wise God through Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is
the great means of access to the Father, and Paul tries to
point home one last time. We don’t barge into the Heavenly
Father’s presence, we don’t come into God’s presence, except by
the mediator that was given to us by God Himself. It was Jesus
Christ that is the great means and access to the Father. Now to Him who is able to establish
you to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be glory forever. And Paul echoes that great line
at the end of chapter 11. To Him be to glory forever. One pastor in writing said, all
the glory that will redound to God through the ages of eternity
from the salvation of sinners proceeds through Jesus Christ. Through him it is manifested,
it is through Jesus Christ that we ought to ascribe God to glory. In Christ Jesus all things are
united which are in heaven and on earth. God will be glorified
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come to the end of the
Book of Romans. A book that one author said, for its sublimity of truth, of
sentiment, for brevity and strength of expression, for regularity
of doctrine, and above all, for the unspeakable importance for
the discoveries it contains, stands unrivaled by any mere
human composition.” What a great sentence. He basically says,
there is nothing that any human author could ever write that
could even begin to compare with the truths that are unfolded
in the Book of Romans. But I thought it fit. to close
with Martin Luther’s testimony of the Book of Romans. He said that this epistle is treated
in the most masterly manner, everything that belongs to the
Christian life. Whatever it most concerns a Christian
to know, law, gospel, sin, grace, justification, Christ, God, good
works, faith, hope, charity, all of which true Christianity
consists. How it becomes a Christian to
conduct himself toward his neighbors, whether good or bad, strong or
weak, friends or enemies, and towards himself. All this is
to be found here in such perfection that it is impossible to wish
anything more or better So rich a treasure is it of spiritual
wealth that even to him who has read it a thousand times, something
new will be ever presenting itself. Its study beyond every other
is found useful, and the longer and the more deeply it is pondered,
its excellencies grow upon you. It appears to be constantly becoming
more delightful, more valuable, and more copious. Our gracious God, we humble ourselves
before you, and we thank you for your rich grace in enabling
us this lengthy season to consider these great truths, to ponder
and savor the promises and the principles laid out here so delicately,
so clearly, by our dear brother. Lord, we thank you. We pray that
you alone would establish us in the faith. Make us to be strong
and useful Christians for your glory. By God’s grace, take us
back seasonably to this great epistle. From time to time on
our own, that you would continue the great work of establishing
us in the faith. We thank you and we praise you
in Jesus name.