Him Who is Able to Strengthen You

Introduction

Able to Strengthen You to Obedience of Faith

As Paul ends this masterful epistle with a recognition of the power and sovereignty of God in our lives and in our faith. This letter should not be construed as if it is Paul’s effort to help the Romans has the ultimate say in their final salvation. We remember Paul’s doxology in Romans 11 of how God has orchestrated the plan of salvation so that neither Jew nor Gentile could boast in their salvation, but all glory goes to God. This is a strong push against synergy, the idea that our work alongside God’s can bring about salvation, and reminds us that above our own will and work there is the mighty hand of God active in bringing about his purposes.

So in this goodbye, one which would last until Paul’s house-imprisonment at Rome some time later, he gives them over to the hands of God. He has said what he means to say. He has dealt with the known issues at the church of Rome as best as he could, and the Spirit carried him along in doing so. He is confident in his gifting and ministry and knows that he is in God’s will in doing what he is doing. He trusts the power of Christ goes with him, and so he has reason for confidence. Now, he must hand them over to the divine hand of God. He delivers them verbally into providence, not knowing the whole picture but only certain in what God has revealed to him. In faith, he does his work and leaves it in the hands of a cosmic sovereign actor to accomplish.

This is a place for faith for the believer. He is able to strengthen you, he is able to keep you from stumbling, Jude says. Today, as I wake up, as I pray and read my Bible, as I go into a world full of evil that is ready to destroy my soul, with a sinful heart that is ready to indulge every temptation thrown my way, there is one who is able to give strength in such need. When dependence on myself wastes away, there remains him who is able to strengthen.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a place where your faith is hanging on by a thread. It is a desperate place, a haunting place, where God feels so far away its almost as if he doesn’t exist. You scold yourself for wondering if he really does. A desperate cry goes from your heart and from your soul, Lord, please hang on to me! Give me strength, lend me aid, come quickly before my faith gives way. Come save me! Such a place is not uncommon for the believer who searches deeply for God, a place where you come to ask whether you really do believe what you believe, or whether it is a myth you tell yourself. But something in your heart, something not fully you, an urge reaching out of the darkness and into the light, makes this desperate cry. When all is stripped bare, you see whether the Spirit is really there or not. He makes himself known in such a cry, a prayer from the deepest part of your heart. Where it comes from, you do not know, but it is there and it holds on. The last thread of your faith holds when nothing else can. This is the strength of the Holy Spirit. This is the powerful faith that holds you, though it is as thin as a spiders web it is strong enough to hold against the black hole of unbelief. You hold on, but not of your own strength. Another holds you to himself, a cord attached to your fallen will that all but gives up. It is a love, a faith, a hope that you cannot let go of. This is the strength of God at work when all other strength has left you.

Does this mean we let go? Is all effort pointless? Absolutely not, for that cord of God’s strength is tied to your will. When your will gives up, the grace of God is lost. What I’m talking about is a will that is higher than yours and yet attached to it, molding it into true and saving faith. This you cannot lose, but this exists truly in your will. To deny it is to prove its not really there, but to see it is to see real power beyond your own. Indeed, to follow this will, the desire which comes not from your heart but is alien and redemptive, is to increasingly prove its reality. And when it is really there, it draws your will to itself, to faith, obedience, humility, trust, peace, and restful service. It draws you to hope, to love, to purity, because when it is there nothing is more beautiful than the grace that is revealed through it.

According to My Gospel

But how does this strength come about? What mechanism brings it to empirical reality in my life? Paul says “according to my gospel and the preaching of Christ”. Of course, by “my” gospel, Paul means the gospel he received not from man but from Christ Jesus himself. This is Paul’s claim to apostolic ministry, that the Gospel was revealed to him from Christ, a gospel that proved to be genuine as it was the same gospel the rest of the Apostles received from Christ. This is the one gospel, the message preached that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the true incarnation of God’s essence and person. It is the message of the cross which brought peace to sinful humanity, and of the empty tomb which is the hope of eternal life and glory with him in whose blood we have life. By faith, this promise is ours. Faith which God plants in the heart of a listener. While the preaching of the Gospel is our responsibility, the work of saving faith is again from the strength of God. Through this message, true life is given to the one who believes. Their heart is drawn to Christ, they are humbled and open to trust God completely for the first time. I remember this moment like it was yesterday, the willingness to release my hold on control. In a humbled state, resigning myself to the hand of God’s grace. To let go and rest in his everlasting arms, to trust his goodness and desire to release the captives, to set the prisoners free, to save even one such as I.

Paul also mentions the “revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has not been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations.” This mystery of the gospel, he holds both here and elsewhere, is the gospel for all nations. The fact that God is drawing all, both Jew and Gentile, into fellowship with himself through the blood of Christ. Any and all divisions and fractures that previously existed are mended. Sin is forgiven, distance is removed, all may enter the temple of God now. Jesus truly is immanuel, God with us, for in him and his gospel God has come to dwell with us.

This is the mystery that for ages was revealed over time by the prophets, and in this last times was made fully known in Jesus Christ. We see the need of the OT, as it is through expounding the prophetic writings that the Gospel shows its true depth and power. Through the OT Scriptures, all people may come to know that Jesus is the Christ. It is the puzzle put together piece after piece, page after page, with one glorious piece missing. Then, the gospel of Jesus Christ fits in perfectly and brings to life a picture more hopeful and glorious than previously imagined. This message, now revealed in Jesus, brings to all the nations of the world a way to God.

This accords to the commanded will of God, so that the “obedience of faith” may come about. That is, submission in faith to this gospel as revealed through the prophets and the Apostolic preaching retained for us in the NT. In God’s plan over the ages, from the moment of Adam’s sin, the calling of Abraham, and all that followed, the mystery was being revealed. Now that the message is complete, it is ready to bring to the world so that the nations may hear and obey, not with works of the flesh, but by faith in the God-man, Jesus Christ our Lord. This is Paul’s great passion, and oh that it would be ours as well. Such hope, such love, such purity, such beauty, such life comes through this Gospel. We must not keep it to ourselves, it must be shared. The nations must hear and obey. We, like Paul, cannot be silent about this. The human race exists to hear and believe, oh may it break our hearts that some on this earth, after 2000 years, still do not know the hope and life of this gospel.

To the Glory of a Wise God

In verse 27, the wisdom of God is mentioned to point us again to the sovereign hand at work in the revelation of this greatest of mysteries. The grand secret revealed to us in so great a story, the greatest of all stories, in fact the core of all good stories points back to this one. The wisdom of God in revealing himself through a story of redemption and salvation, for we are story-minded creatures. All we find meaning in is tied to story. We see history, our own lives, and even scientific facts within the context of story. The context of change, development, and hope of a glorious conclusion. In this story, the coming of the Son of God, we see God for who he truly is in all the fullness we can behold in this life.

And so, all glory be to God, for in this monergistic work God shows himself in the greatest clarity and purity. The glory of God is the majestic sight of who he is through seeing what he has done, said, and authored. To see God is to see glory. And yet, in this story we become partakers. We are part of this story so while we have no glory in ourselves, we become partakers of such glory. With white robes in an eternity of praise and celebration, we will shine like the stars around the sun of God’s glory. All glory is his, and in our obedience to faith we do not add to it at all, but we come as sinful, dark, and defiled. These are taken away and replaced with glory; his glory!

Conclusion: Continuation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Such is the nature of our hope, such is our faith in him who is able to strengthen us. The great and unbearable burden of lending glory to God is removed, for we are unable to add an ounce to who he is. Instead, we are free to participate in such glory. We are free to go into the world with all confidence that his will will be done and his Kingdom does come through us in our obedience, and obedience flowing from his own strength to sprout saving faith in us.

Where does all this lead us? Where else but what Paul means for his readers in Rome? To continue in the faith in which we have all these hopes and promises. To continue in the confidence we have in Christ. To obey in love and hope, knowing that our God strengthens us and gives our lives purpose. This is what you were made for. This is why you exist. This is what you are built to do and to have. There is nothing but the mere trifles of this life to risk, and there is eternity to win. Christ has already clear you of sin and guilt in the eyes of the Father, who loves you as his own child. The Spirit intercedes on your behalf, and gives you confidence that you are his. Look at all you have going for you, look at the promises, look at the empty tomb and the hope it speaks to you. You are his and he is yours. You eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, for you are one with him by eternal and imperishable covenant. Don’t lose heart. Don’t quit. Don’t look back. Push on and make it your own, for Christ has made it yours and you are his. Strive for greater faith, strive in humble service, strive for wisdom and patience, strive for mastery over your fleshly desires, this is it! This is the goal! The prize is waiting, Christ is with you, the angels are cheering you on. Take hold of faith and pursue glory with all your heart, for it is given to those who seek it. Think of him who died for you. Think of the crown of life. Think of a city without a temple, for no wall will ever again keep our loving Father from his children. Let us run for the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our sure and undying hope. Amen!