Paul's Final Words in Romans:
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THE GOD OF GRACE AND GLORY
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.
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 26 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— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
You will recognize, of course, that these are the concluding words in Paul’s letter to the Roman believers. The book of Romans is indeed the most profound statement of the Christian Gospel ever composed in human language. When you come to the book of Romans you come to the Mt. Everest of the New Testament. You study the Gibraltar of the Christian faith. If you want to know what the Bible is all about, if you want to know what the Christian faith is all about, if you want to know what we are preaching about as we stand in this pulpit Sunday after Sunday then you have to understand the book of Romans.
The book of Romans tells us the wonderful good news of how God can take a guilty, hell—deserving sinner and by His grace save him give him a brand new life, make him an effective person and then take him to heaven to experience in its fullness the glory of God. What a wonderful message is the message of Romans and what a wonderful message is the message of the Bible. You will notice in verse 26 he says “to make known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” That’s the way Paul began the letter, that’s the way he concludes the letter. The bottom line is obedience to the faith. The bottom line is that people might understand that Jesus died on a cross for their sins and by faith obey this message of the gospel and be saved. The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It is in this wonderful salvation experience that people can have a life that makes sense and has meaning, and it is in this experience of salvation that the deepest needs of the human heart and experience can be met.
So, in these closing verses of Romans he really gives a summary of everything he has talked about in the previous chapters.
First, he gives some words of greeting in verses 21—23.
I. GREETING.
I. GREETING.
21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.
At the beginning of the chapter, Paul said, hello, to some believers who were friends of his in the church at Rome. Also, Paul had some people who were traveling with him in his evangelistic ministry and now they send greetings also to the believers in Rome.
He begins in verse 21 by saying, “Timothy, my work fellow.” Timothy was the young man who Paul led to know Jesus as his Savior. He became an associate of Paul’s, traveling with him in his journeys. A young convert Paul took under his wings. It’s a wonderful thing when you and I have the privilege to lead someone to faith in Christ. Those people we win to faith in Christ, we then have a responsibility to disciple. Teach them the things of the Lord. Instruct them and show them how to live for the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of you in this service are soul winners. You tell other people about the Lord. Let me encourage you to take those you have won, lead them to follow the Lord in baptism and in church membership and then train them and teach them to be a soul winner themselves. I look over our congregation and I see a lot of people who have been faithful for a lot of years in our fellowship. Then I see some young Christians. If the Lord tarries His coming there will be a time when the older saints of God pass off the scene into heaven and the younger believers will be the ones who will pick up the load. The younger Christians will be the ones who will continue the work of the Lord. Every church is one generation from paganism. Every society is one generation from paganism- so; we must lead younger ones to the Lord. Teach them the things of the Lord and prepare them for leadership in the future.
He mentions three other names —— Lucious who was one of the prophets or teachers in Antioch. Jason who opened up his home to Paul and his party in the city of Thessalonica. And Sosipater who was one of the delegates to the Jerusalem conference. He says about all of them —- my kinsmen and they say hello also. In other words, Paul is just simply recognizing the people who were working with him. I was thinking about this week in the light of our fellowship here. So many of the workers of the Lord in our fellowship —— our ushers -— God bless you ushers. Our worship team — God bless you, musicians. Our deacons —— God bless you. Our Outreach Leaders, Sunday School teachers -- God bless all of you faithful people who make it possible for us to do what we need to do in the ministry of our First Baptist family.
Then in verse 22 here is the man who actually wrote the letter of Romans. This man who actually wrote the letter of Romans as Paul dictated it now picks up the pen and says “I Tertius, who wrote this letter, salute you in the Lord.” A man gifted to write. When I saw that name, I thought about all of those who have been gifted to write Christian books. Aren’t you thankful for people who write Christian books? Can you think of a book that has recently been a blessing to you? Can you think of some writer who has written something that has helped you in your Christian faith? Thank God for Christian writers.
He says in verse 23 — “Gaius mine host, and of the whole church.’ Gaius was a man who had the gift of hospitality. He had opened up his house and allowed Paul to stay there during his days in Corinth. It was from his house that Paul wrote the book of Romans. There are some of you who have the gift of opening up your house. We have an annual pastors conference here in the month of February. Many of you, for a number of years, have opened up your home and made it possible for Christians and other servants of the Lord to stay during these days in our Bible Conference. You have found some real friendships there. Thank God for people who have the gift of hospitality and who use that gift to be a blessing to God’s people.
Erastus — who was the treasurer of the City of Corinth? Quartus - a brother. Here is a city official who is in one of the highest levels of power in the city and Quartus was evidently a slave. I think he was a slave because of his name. The name Quartus literally means four. That’s where we get our name for our coin we call the quarter. A quarter is a fourth of a dollar. Quartus was just a number. Evidently just a slave and in those days they many times just gave slaves numbers. The devil just makes a number out of you. The Lord Jesus makes something special out of you. You have a name for Jesus. You count for Jesus. You are special to Jesus. Aren’t you glad we have a salvation that lifts you into the family of God, that makes you God’s child? So, here is Quartus who is a slave. Watch the comparison here. Here is Erastus who was a city official and on the other hand here was Quartus who was a converted slave. Yet they are one in the household of faith. When I read that I thought again about our church family here. We have folks in our church family who occupy highest levels of authority and power in this city and even in this state. Then we have others who have very commonplace, ordinary roles in this city. I’m glad It’s that way. I’m glad Jesus makes us all one in the Lord. Nobody is no more important than anybody else in the family of faith - in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every body is welcome. Doesn’t matter your social status in life. Doesn’t matter the color of your skin. Doesn’t matter what your culture or lack of culture may be. It doesn’t matter how educated or uneducated you may be. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. So, he has here some concluding words of greeting.
II. GRACE
II. GRACE
24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Notice in verse 24 he has some concluding words of grace. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Paul couldn’t get away from the grace of God. In verse 20 he said it up there. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” He says it again in verse 24 — “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” Paul is overwhelmed by the grace of God. Paul is thrilled by the grace of God.
What is the meaning of grace? Grace is God giving us something that we do not deserve, but desperately need. Grace is God’s unmerited favor. You and I don’t deserve to be saved and yet God saved us. You and I don’t deserve to go to heaven and yet because of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary it’s possible for us to go to heaven. It is by grace that we are saved. It is by grace that God lifts us out of the pits and puts us in the palace. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ... Notice there that the full terminology for the Savior is used. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace comes through Jesus. God demonstrated and displayed His grace through the giving of His Son, the Lord Jesus.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
the Bible says “for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be made rich.” In
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
it says the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
You see Jesus coming into the world living a perfect life. You see Jesus going out to that cross and dying, his bloodshed. All the sins of the world laid on the perfect Son of God and through that death of Jesus Christ it now being possible for you to be forgiven and for you to be saved. That’s grace.
Look at this grace. “Our Lord Jesus Christ.” The term, Lord, there reminds us that grace is sovereign grace. God is the one who takes the initiative. God is the one who knocks at the door of the human soul. If there is someone sitting here who for a period of time God has been dealing with your life. Maybe it’s a series of circumstances. Things haven’t been going just right. Things have been falling apart in your life. You are troubled.
There is someone else sitting here today and an addiction has wrapped its tentacles around you and you can’t get yourself loose. Somehow God has been working in your life. You had unusual stirrings in your soul, unusual desires that are unfulfilled in your life. It could well be that God is knocking at the door of your heart today. God takes the initiative. The Lord seeks us long before we seek Him. God is interested in us long before we were ever interested in Him. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden the Bible tells us that the Lord God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day and said, “where art thou, Adam?” God always takes the initiative. Salvation is sovereign grace.
Notice not only our Lord, but our Lord Jesus. Grace is saving grace. The name Jesus means Savior.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
the Angel said, “And thou shall call his name Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins.” In
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
the Bible says, “there is neither salvation given in any other name save at the name of Jesus.” It is the only name upon which a person can call and that call will bring salvation.
In Paul and Silas were placed in the prison for their faith in the Lord. At midnight they were singing songs and hymns of praise to the Lord. God, in heaven, got happy and started patting His feet and caused an earthquake and that old jail flew open. The jailer thought he had lost his prisoners and he was ready to take his life. Paul said, “Do thyself no harm, we are all here.’ Then the jailer said, “What must I do to be saved.’ Paul replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” It’s the only saving name. There is salvation in none other than in the name of Jesus.
It is sovereign grace, our Lord. It is saving grace, the Lord Jesus. It is satisfying grace, Christ. The title Christ used for Jesus Christ literally means the anointed one. It means the one who is the prophet, priest and king. It’s just another way of saying that Jesus Christ totally satisfies every desire and every need of your life. Jesus Christ fulfills. His grace is sufficient.
Paul had an experience in his life. He had an infirmity in his flesh and he couldn’t get free from it and was troubled and perplexed about it. He went to God in prayer. He says he went three times. He probably went three thousand times and asked God to deal with the problem. He had a need in his life, something that was troubling him and he asked God to do something about it. Finally the message of the Lord came to Paul. God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” You have certain needs in your life that will never, ever be fulfilled in anything that this earth can supply. Sometimes people marry, they have needs in their lives and they think their mate can supply those needs. Some of you are expecting more out of your husband and more out of your wife than they are able to deliver because the deepest needs of the soul cannot be met by your husband or your wife.
Others of you have alcohol and drugs because there is an unfilled need in your life. You think you will find it at the bottom of a bottle. You think you will find it with a hypodermic needle. But you won’t find it there. You don’t meet the deepest needs of you life in a bottle or in a needle, Ultimately there is only one who can satisfy the needs of your heart and his name is Jesus. When you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ you will find that His grace is sufficient. You will find that He can grow you into the person you ought to be. You will find that He can satisfy those heart—longings you are experiencing. You will find that He can take you through the toughest problems you are experiencing. In fact, you will find that when you even come to the ultimate enemy -- death itself -- the grace of God will be right there.
I believe in dying grace. I believe when a person is saved by grace that God’s grace goes with them all the way through. In
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
it says “for by grace are your saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast.” When you by faith receive Christ God’s grace comes into your life. Though you and I don’t deserve it God is there every step of the way. Every problem we experience God is available. God can minister to you need. I believe that when you come to death God’s grace will be sufficient for your life.
So he gives us here words of greeting. He gives us words of grace. He also gives us words of -
III. GLORY.
III. GLORY.
27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Verse 27 — “To God only wise, be glory.” He starts his praise with grace in verse 24 — he concludes his praise with glory in verse 27. Have you ever noticed how those two words are linked together in the Bible? Grace and glory are always linked together in the Bible. In it says, “The Lord will give grace and glory.” Grace is the word that describes how the Christian life begins. Glory is the word that describes how the Christian life ends. Grace is the word that describes the opening of the flower of salvation. Glory is the word that describes the full bloom of the flower of salvation. Every thing that begins in grace ultimately ends in glory.
— “To God only wise, be glory.” He starts his praise with grace in verse 24 — he concludes his praise with glory in verse 27. Have you ever noticed how those two words are linked together in the Bible? Grace and glory are always linked together in the Bible. In
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
it says, “The Lord will give grace and glory.” Grace is the word that describes how the Christian life begins. Glory is the word that describes how the Christian life ends. Grace is the word that describes the opening of the flower of salvation. Glory is the word that describes the full bloom of the flower of salvation. Every thing that begins in grace ultimately ends in glory.
I’m simply saying that if you will come to the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior and be saved your grace there is guarantee in that experience of grace that you will ultimately be with the Lord forever in glory. Anything that begins in graces always ends in glory.
Let’s talk about glory for a moment. Paul is just really praising the Lord. Verse 27 - “Now to him...” this is a doxology of praise. He is praising God for His glory. He is praising God for the glory of His power. “Is of power.” He is saying glory to God for his power. I was think thing this week as I was reading a futurist. A futurist is a person who analyzes the future. They make projections and they talk about what’s going to happen in the future. This futurist made the statement that the church in the west was not going to make it into the 21st century. The church in the west was not going to survive the 20th century. When I read that I chuckled. I’ve been preaching since I was a 16-year-old boy and I have heard all kinds of projects and predictions made. This is just another in a long line I have been reading for a period of years now. Here’s a futurist who says, “Poor little week anemic church. Not going to make it through the 20th century.” Alongside that I place the words of the Lord Jesus when He said, “Upon this rock I’ll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Don’t you get all upset about whether the church is going to make it? We have a God who is a God of all power. He is a God who can save us, He is a God who can keep us and He is a God who will carry us into glory. He has all power.
Have you ever studied the power of God and what God is able to do? The Bible says he is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.” He can take someone in the gutter and save them from the uttermost to the uttermost. He is able to save.
Not only that He is able to secure. Paul said in
12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
, “Unto him who is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.” You give your life to the Lord and He is able to save you.
says, “He is able to succor them that are tempted.” That is come to the rescue of those who call upon him.
18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
says, “He is able to succor them that are tempted.” That is come to the rescue of those who call upon him.
In
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
it says, “He is able to subdue all things unto himself.” Got a temptation you can’t handle? Jesus is able to handle it. Got a habit you can’t break? Jesus can subdue that habit. In fact in
20 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,
Paul puts it this way. “Now unto him who is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think.” You wrap it all up like that. That’s an amazing statement. He is able! Glory to God for His power.
In verse 25 he says “he is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.” The word stablish there means to make firm, to make solid, to give strength. You been thinking about giving your life to the Lord, but you know yourself better than anybody else knows you and you know you are weak. You don’t want to be a hypocrite about it, you say, “I am not going to give my life to the Lord until I’m sure I can live it.” Let me shock you. If you are going to wait until you feel you are strong enough to live it to be saved, chances are you will never be saved. You don’t get saved because you think you are able to do it. It is God who is able to make you strong. It is God who is able to take you and lift you to the level of His power. God has the power to raise you to the level of God’s power. God can give you the strength.
When I was a boy in the Comic books and magazines they would have the Charles Atlas advertisements. Here’s weak Charles Atlas on the beach with his girlfriend and big bully came by and kicked sand in little Charles’ face and flexed his big muscles and just dared weasel Charles to do anything about it. Then Charles got one of those weight- lifting, bodybuilding deals. He started pumping that iron. He got bigger. In those advertisement it showed Charles pumping that stuff. He got real big and goes strutting out to the beach. The bullet comes by and old Atlas gets him and tears him to shreds. In the advertisements they would always have a before and after picture. Little Charles and big Charles. All you had to do was send for their special body building course and you could be a giant like Atlas was. I’ve got news for you, it doesn’t work that way. But that’s exactly the way it is with the Lord. You can be a puny, weakling person yourself and you come to the Lord Jesus Christ and He can save you and establish you as he says he is able to do here. I’d like to show you some before and after pictures of people in this fellowship. I’d like to show you some people before they came to the Lord how weak and susceptible to sin they were. Now, show you after Jesus has come in their life and made a strong giant for the Lord Jesus Christ out of them. He can do that for you. You ought to come to Christ this morning and let Him take you for what you are and put you where you ought to be. And take Him from the weak one you are and turn you into the giant for Jesus Christ that you can be. He is saying, Glory to God for His power!
Then he says glory to God for His purpose. He says it is a revelation of a mystery. They Bible uses the word, mystery, and it’s not a who-done-it. When I was a boy I loved those mystery books - the Hardy boys. I always cheated - go to the end of the book to see who done it. Normally when you think of a mystery book you think of a who done it. But in the New Testament when it talks about a mystery it means a secret which you and I could never know — God has to reveal it. A mystery in the Bible is a truth that you and I could never know unless God revealed it. God had a secret. In fact, he said it’s concealed in the Old Testament. It’s been kept secret since the world began. God had a plan, God had a purpose. Then he says, now it is manifest. In verse 26 - by the Scriptures of the prophets. He is saying God had a secret.
Sometimes when a couple falls in love and he proposes marriage to her and it’s not time to tell it - they are going to keep it a secret. Then one day she just says to a friend, “I want to tell you a secret. It’s a secret, don’t tell anybody but I’m engaged to be married.” The friend goes to another friend and says, “This is a secret, don’t tell anybody about it, but our mutual friend is engaged.” Then this friend goes off to another friend and says, “Now, don’t tell anybody, I promised I wouldn’t tell it, but I know I can trust you. Matilda is engaged to Mortimer.” The next thing you know it’s gone like the four winds, it’s gone through the whole church and everybody knows it and when they get to church on Sunday - “Congratulations! Congratulations! You are engaged.”
God whispered a secret into the ears of the Apostle Paul. It was a secret concealed in the Old Testament but now God says - “Paul, go tell the whole world. God tell the whole world whosoever will let him come and he can be saved, what a Secret! That God has chosen to reveal. Glory to God for His purpose. God has a heart so big that the whole world can be taken in. “For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Glory to God for His purpose. Glory to God for His power. Glory to God for His person. Verse 27 - “To God only wise . . .“ God and God alone, God who is wise “to him be glory.” We give glory to god not only for what He does, but for who He is. He is the only God there is. There’s not many gods, there’s just one God. He’s the Lord God; His Son is the Lord Jesus. He is the God who is wise. When you get to
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Paul has just seen what God has done to make it possible for people to be saved and he praises God for His wisdom and he says his wisdom is unsearchable. Nobody can find it out. The wisdom of God and what He has done to make it possible for sinners like me and you to be saved. Shows us the wisdom of God in all of its clarity and in all of its glory.
I have a set of books in my library and I enjoy a great deal. They are called the Great Books of the Western World. It’s a sixty- volume deal. It has literally hundreds of books in it by the greatest authors and thinkers the great writers in the history of western civilization. I was thinking about God’s glory in the plan that He from his mind and his heart and through his marvelous wisdom has devised for us to be saved. I thought, Lord all these great writers of the Western World, if you took all of them, all the great writers, the great minds, the great theologians, all the great scientists, all the great philosophers of the western world and then if the Lord took all of them of the eastern world, all of the great minds, all the great intellects of humanity of the western and the eastern world, of all times and all places and you accumulated them together in one convocation and you showed them man’s dilemma -— his sins —— and you showed them man’s destiny -— eternal hell. And you said to the greatest minds of all ages and all places - devise a plan that can rescue man from himself and from his destiny. They could meet for a million millenniums and they never would have come up with a plan like God did.
What makes God’s plan so profound? God went to one of the tiniest little countries on the face of the earth - Israel. Just a little speck on the globe. One day God sent one named Jesus Christ. And let that one Jesus Christ die on an old cross - hang on that cross for six hours and suffer like nobody ever suffered. And God said in the death of that Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, anybody who wants to can be forgiven and saved. Never in a million millenniums could the wisdom of the world come up with such a simple and such an effective plan.
In the Old Testament when the Children of Israel were in the wilderness and they were snake bitten. A mother was hanging up her clothes she had washed and she reached down into her bag and from the grass around her bag a serpent bit her and she became filled with it’s poison.
Little boys were playing, tossing a ball. One tossed it too far. The boy ran out to retrieve the ball and when he reached down to get it a serpent bit the little boy and the poison coursed through his veins. There was death all over the camp. People were dying of the poison of the snakebite all over the camp. God said to Moses, “Moses, in the middle of the camp, erect a pole. On that pole put a snake. All who will look will live.” The scientists around said, “That’s the most preposterous thing in the world, it’s scientifically impossible for anything as silly as looking at a snake on a pole can heal a man of the poison of snakebite.
The theologian said, ‘that is absolutely absurd. Who ever heard of a god who would have a snake on a pole and people looking at that snake could be healed from their sickness.”
So, all of the intellengence of the day said, “It is absurd.” But everybody who came to the door of their tent and looked at that serpent on the pole was instantly healed. The Bible says, “That God so loved the world that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Dear lost friend, if you had been the only lost person in the whole world, Jesus would have died on that old cross just for you. If you had been the only one with a hurting heart, Jesus would have come from heaven just for you. If you were the only one today that needed forgiveness of sin and power to live the way you ought to live, Jesus Christ made it available just for you.
Won’t you come to Jesus this morning?