Glory to God Who Is Able

Transcript

GRM 969
9/10/2006
Glory to God Who Is Able
Romans 16:25-27
Gil Rugh


We’re going to take a break in our study of I Corinthians, I want to turn your attention to Romans 16. We’re going to be focusing on the closing verses of this chapter, at the end of his great unfolding and detailed discussion of the wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is God’s provision for our salvation, God’s plan for providing for us so that we can be forgiven our sins, become His children, belong to Him and have Him as our Father, and be destined for the glory of heaven. The closing verses of Romans 16 really connect almost directly to the opening verses of chapter 1. So it’s sort of like bookends for this great letter, where Paul ends with a similar kind of emphasis that he began with. And it’s all about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why don’t you turn back to Romans 1, now that you have chapter 16, and just note the opening verses with me. And then when we move through these closing verses you will have the similarity fixed in your mind. Paul begins the letter by identifying himself by name. Paul, and then as a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, a called apostle set apart for the gospel of God. And this is the gospel that had been promised through the Old Testament scriptures. It concerns the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, but the resurrection from the dead, verse 4 says. And Paul says that it’s through Him that we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake. To proclaim the message of Christ so that Gentiles can hear and be saved. Now Jews could hear and be saved as well, but the marvelous thing to the Apostle Paul was that God would save Gentiles. Remember he is a Jew, raised as a Jew, understood God’s program for the nation Israel and their ultimate salvation. But now the message of Jesus Christ is being proclaimed to Gentiles and being a Gentile, I am thrilled with that, that God’s plan of salvation includes me, includes you, it includes the world.

He’s writing to all the beloved who are in Rome, in verse 7. They are called saints. And then he says in verse 8, first I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Here are people who have turned from their sin and placed their faith in Christ, have been brought together as the church of Jesus Christ in Rome. And their faithfulness to Christ and testimony for Him is being talked about throughout the whole Roman Empire. What a great testimony they have. So the book of Romans is about the gospel of Jesus Christ and lives that are changed by Him.

And what he’ll do through the first three chapters, you remember, is talk about our sin. If you don’t understand you are a sinner, you can’t be saved. You must understand you are a sinner, and the book of Romans makes clear there are none righteous, there is none who does not sin. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That includes every single person on the face of the earth. The first three chapters of Romans establish clearly that we are sinners, guilty before a holy God. You may be better than someone else, you may be worse than someone else, but the fact is measured against a perfectly holy God, we are all sinners. And the wages of sin is death, not only includes physical death, but it includes separation from God for eternity in hell.

Then picking up in Romans 3:21 and running through 5:21 he talks about God’s righteousness. The righteousness of God has been provided for sinful people through the death of His own Son. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, suffered and died to pay the penalty for sin, so that you and I, by believing in him, could experience forgiveness. That’s why Paul said in Romans 1:5 that the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to Gentiles to bring about the obedience of faith, that they would obey God by turning from their sin and believing in His Son. And they received the righteousness of Christ credited to their account.

Then he went on to talk about how that changes a life. You become a new person with a new life when you are born again through faith in Jesus Christ in Romans 6-8. Then chapters 9-11, he talks about the sovereignty of God in His work of salvation, and how that impacts the nation Israel and how they fit into all this. Now that the gospel is being preached to the Gentiles, now that we live in the days, Romans 11 says, that the fullness of the Gentiles when the Gentiles are experiencing the wonder of God’s salvation, what about Israel. And Paul made clear in Romans 11 there’ll come a day when the time of Gentile opportunity will pass and God will bring about Israel’s salvation. All in the marvelous plan of God.

We get to chapter 16 he’s ready to close out the letter. In the first part of chapter 16 he sends greetings to many people in the church at Rome. He appreciates their faithfulness. Think about it. What a privilege. We don’t know many of these people, we don’t know what they did, how they contributed. But the Spirit of God has marked them off in the eternal Word of God. A reminder, everyone of us is known by God, our service for Him, our faithfulness to Him. And so the first 16 verses contain those greetings.

Then there is a word of warning, Romans 16:17, I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned and turn away from them. You are to have nothing to do with those who would teach things contrary to what I have written to you in this letter, contrary to the truth of the Word of God, if you will. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of their own appetites, by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Paul’s concern is that those who would alter or change the truth of the Word of God, then come and be such good speakers, be such convincing talkers, seem so genuine that the believers in the church at Rome might be confused and move away from the teaching they had received from the Apostle Paul. We have the Word of God, this is the standard. Truth is truth, not because I preach it, but because God has said. This is the standard by which all is measured. Remember Isaiah 8, according to the law and the testimony, according to the Word of God, if they do not speak according to this word it is because they have no life. Almighty God has spoken. Most important thing is to understand now what is said.

Paul’s concern in verse 19 for the church, for the report of your obedience has reached to all. Therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. Paul’s concern is that they finish well. Remember in Romans 1:8, the testimony of the church at Rome had spread throughout the Roman world. Now Paul is concerned about false teachers, already present, because he says keep your eye on these kind of men, watch out for them, don’t have anything to do with them and their teaching. For the report of your obedience has reached to all. What a tragedy it would be if the testimony of the church at Rome got marred or shattered by the turning away from faithful obedience to the Word of God. Well you know what it’s like. It takes time to build a strong testimony for Jesus Christ, but you can ruin and shatter that testimony in a very short time. And it would become known through the world that that church in Rome that had declared their allegiance to Jesus Christ and faithfulness to His Word and seemed to be living a life for Him, has turned from the truth. Paul is concerned that that not happen.

Remember we studied in I Corinthians 9 Paul’s concern and fear, lest when I have preached to others I, myself, should be adakimos, disapproved, rejected. So his concern for the Roman church, be faithful. The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet. Paul saw this not just as a battle with false teachers, but with a battle with the Spirit forces behind the false teachers, satan and his demonic forces.

After words of greeting from those that are with Paul as he writes this letter, in verses 25 and following he closes out the letter. 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 which has been kept secret for long ages past, but is now manifested by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God has been made known to all nations, leading to the obedience of faith, to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever. He wants all the glory to go to the God who is powerfully at work. We want to focus on that in these closing verses. The God who is able in His power in establishing and giving stability to His people through the ministry of the truth concerning Jesus Christ. It is absolutely essential that we grasp this so that we finish well. It’s great to have been faithful in our lives personally and as a church, but it’s absolutely necessary that we continue to be faithful and finish well.

That expression, now to Him who is able. That word translated able, we get the English word dynamite from it—dynamo, dynamic. Comes over from this Greek word, dunami. And here and there we’ve just brought it over into English. It means to have power—dynamo, dynamic, dynamite, power. Now to Him who has power to establish you, He is able because He has the power. He is God who has power, and it is His power that works to establish you. That word translated establish means to fix something firmly, to give it stability so that it is not moved or changed. It’s the work of God to establish the believer. Now He does it through His Word. I can preach the Word of God to you. It may do something in your heart and life, it may not. I can’t make that happen. You must respond in faith to it. You share the truth of Jesus Christ with a family member or a friend, you can’t change their heart, you can only share the truth concerning Christ, which can change their heart and make them new. But it is only the power of God working through the Word of God that carries that to the heart and mind of a person and transforms that person, makes them new and now brings them to stability. This is in the context, remember, he’s warned them in verses 17-19 about the danger of false teachers, those who would corrupt the truth of God by their smooth speech. They are good talkers, they are interesting. You might be lured away from the truth, but God has the power to establish you, give you stability.

Turn over to II Thessalonians 3. Now that’s further back in your New Testament, past Romans, maybe about halfway between Romans and the end of your New Testament. Right in that section, just before I Timothy. II Thessalonians 3. And in this letter you’ll note that as we look at several passages through our study, the context can be similar where the writer is concerned that believers not be deluded or deceived. He warns them that there will be false teachers. In II Thessalonians 2 he has warned them about false teaching that will come, and ultimately in that time before the coming of Christ to establish His kingdom, there will be a deluding influence and false teaching will permeate the world. Look in II Thessalonians 3:3, but the Lord is faithful and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. The same word translated, he who is able to establish you. That’s the same word. Here it is translated strengthen. He will strengthen, empower and protect you, give you stability. That firmness, that unshakableness comes from God and His work in the life. You’ll note God is faithful and He is the one who is able, and He is the one who brings stability to His people. This is absolutely essential for us as the church of Jesus Christ today to understand, that God provides for His people stability so that we are not moved away from the truth of the gospel.

Come back to Romans 16:25, now to Him who is able to establish you. Now note how this happens. God just doesn’t zap you, but He will, by His power, establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. The means which God uses to establish us is the good news concerning Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the preaching of Jesus Christ. That’s what the book of Romans has been about—he has unfolded how hopelessly lost we are in our sin, defiled and guilty before God. But God has provided His righteousness for us. Even though we can’t be saved by our own works of righteousness, we can be saved by His grace through faith in the provision of His Son, who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, was raised in victory. Now we can live to new life He gives us as His righteous children. That’s the preaching of Jesus Christ, the truth of the Word of God.

Jesus told the religious people of His day, you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life. And it is the scriptures that testify of Me, and you will not come to Me that you might have life. What a tragedy to ready the Bible, to be able to talk about the Bible, but not come to place your faith in the Savior of the Bible. It is through the message of Christ and that truth unfolded in the book of Romans and through the rest of scripture concerning Christ that God's power works through His Word to establish us as His children.

Go back to Romans 1:15, Paul says, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. That word translated power is the word translated able. To the one who is able to establish you. Here the gospel is the power of God. Same word. That is the ability of God at work for salvation to everyone who believes. There can be many people sitting here, many people hearing the same gospel. But it is only powerful for salvation in the heart and life of the one who believes it. Well God could save me apart from the Bible. No He can’t, because it’s the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ revealed in the Bible that you must believe for the power of God to save you. Doesn’t that limit God? No, God has limited Himself. He has determined that His salvation will only be provided to those who believe the truth concerning His Son and His death on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, the just shall live by faith, the righteous shall live by faith. So the gospel has God’s power for salvation. That truth concerning Christ brings us salvation, and then we are further established in that truth and we become more settled as we are taught the Word.

Turn over to Ephesians 2. Just go from Romans through the letters to the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. You might want to leave a marker or bulletin in Ephesians, we’re going to come back here a couple of times, so it will be easier to jump back to it. In Ephesians 4:11 we’re told the gifts of the Spirit that we will be studying in our study in I Corinthians down the road here, He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. All these gifts are associated with the verbal teaching and preaching of the Word of God. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. You see these gifts are given to the church to teach the Word of God so that God’s people can be nurtured and nourished and prepared by Him to do what He would have them do. And as believers are nurtured in the Word and the power of God uses the Word in their lives, then they are able to serve Him. And as believers serve Him together the body of Christ, the local church, is built up, becomes mature. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, which is being like Jesus Christ, His character produced in us. Verse 14, as a result we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. Characteristic of a child. They are gullible. We have multiplied tragic instances of children who have been lured away by smooth talking men who have brought disaster to them. And we get concerned for our children and we warn them. Why? Because they are afraid that someone might come up to them and say, I’m going to want you to come over here, get in my car because I’m going to hurt you? No, because they’ll speak to them in a smooth, convincing way and lure them. That’s what the scripture is concerned about. God doesn’t want His children to be lured aside by these smooth flattering false teachers, doesn’t want us to be like children who can be swayed by this and swayed by that and swayed by this. Isn’t it good to know God wants us to have stability as His people. That’s why we study the Word of God together. Not because that’s more “fun” than doing something else. Paul wrote to Timothy and told him to labor diligently as a student of God’s Word so that he could be approved by God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth. That’s why we study, because that’s what God uses so that His power works in our lives, first to bring us salvation through faith in the gospel, and then to continue to grow and become mature and stable.

Often as a pastor I’m asked about issues, and somebody will say, well I heard this. Is that right? I’ll say, no it’s not. They say, well how do you know? Well the Bible says….. That’s how we know, isn’t it? The longer you study the Word of God, the more you are in it, the more it becomes part of your life, the more discerning you become, the less gullible, the less susceptible. That’s God’s power working through God’s Word to establish you, give you stability. That’s why the work of the devil is always to lure God’s people and to lure the church away from serious study of the Word of God. Because if we don’t seriously study the Word of God, we’re not sure what God has said. If we don’t know for sure what God has said in His Word, then all we need is people who are convincing in their presentation, and we’re dependent on our feelings. Well I feel they’re trustworthy, I feel like I can trust them. I don’t know what they say, sounds good, I think it’s convincing. All of that is irrelevant. It has to be measured by what God has said. And that’s what brings stability. God uses it. His power doesn’t work outside His Word, it’s through the message of Christ, the truth that He has revealed that brings stability. That’s why we’re taught the Word.

Turn over to II Peter, all the way toward the back of your Bible, a little bit before the book of Revelation at the end, you come to II Peter. And in I Peter 2, I Peter 1:23, you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring Word of God. You’re born again through the Word of God, that’s the seed, by hearing and believing the message concerning Christ. Down in I Peter 2:2, be like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, the unadulterated milk of the Word of God, that you might grow in respect to your salvation. It’s not enough that someone quotes verses. The devil quotes verses. In Matthew 4, when the devil tempted Christ he quoted verses. Jesus pointed out, the problem is, you haven’t taken those verses in their context. You haven’t taken them properly. We need to take the pure milk of the Word to grow.

Come over to II Peter 2:1, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Isn’t it interesting that there will be false teachers that will infiltrate the church, just like false prophets infiltrated Israel. They’ll secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them. Now how could the church be deceived by teaching that denies the truth concerning Jesus Christ. How can you secretly introduce into the church a doctrine that denies Jesus Christ? We say, seems like you’ll pick that up right away. The devil is no dummy, his counterfeits are good. He doesn’t send teachers in to say, I just want you to know I don’t believe the Bible and I don’t believe the teachings concerning Christ that the Bible has. Not at all. They come as added insights, as an explanation that maybe you haven’t known. And they lure people away. That’s the goal. The plan of the devil has never changed. Remember all the way back to the Garden of Eden, what happened? God told Adam and Eve something, wasn’t complicated, wasn’t hard to understand. But then the devil comes and says, has God said you’ll die if you eat of that tree? Well that’s not the way it will be. If you eat of that tree you’ll really know more than you knew before. You know that’s a partial truth, their eyes were opened, they know things they didn’t know before. They didn’t die on the spot, but they did. Spiritual death took hold of them and the process of physical death began. What did he do? He comes in and picks up with God’s Word and says is this what God said? That’s how you understand it? Well that’s not right.

It still works thousands of years later. You know how the devil infiltrates the church? Same idea. And one of the things is, let’s not get involved too seriously to the Word, let’s not get into it too much. You know I don’t go to church to have to use my mind. If it’s enjoyable and I feel good about it and it makes me feel better about myself, what more could I want? Well I need the Word of God, I need to understand what God has said, I need to apply that truth to my life and make sure I’m being obedient to it.

Come back to Romans 16. He talks about the message of Christ as something that was a revelation of the mystery. A mystery in the Bible is something that hasn’t been revealed before. It’s not something necessarily intricate, not something complicated, it’s just something God had chosen not to reveal up to this point. In fact that’s defined right here. I was reading something earlier today when I came in and the man was trying to redefine mystery. It’s not something that hasn’t been revealed, it has been revealed. Well it says right here the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past but now is manifested. That’s what a mystery is. We’ll see it in some other passages, too. By the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God which has been made to all the nations, leading to the obedience of faith. So the gospel in its full import and the establishing of the church of Jesus Christ is not something made known in the Old Testament. That’s a revelation of a mystery that God intended to establish the church, and the church would be Gentile in its makeup, and the church age would be a time of the fullness of the Gentiles that it is called in Revelation 11. You read the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi, the church is not there. It’s about Israel. The Bible from Genesis 12 really to Acts 2 is about Israel. And Acts 2 down to our day it’s about the church. And that makes it Gentile-focused. I mean the Jews didn’t understand. Remember in Acts 10 Peter went and preached to Gentiles. You know what the leaders of the church did in Jerusalem in Acts 11? They called him to give an explanation, why in the world would you go preach the message of Christ to the Gentiles? It’s a terrible thing to do. They didn’t understand at that point that God’s intention was to carry the message of Christ and His salvation to the Gentiles and the church would primarily become Gentile in its makeup.

This is the mystery now manifested by the scriptures of the prophets. You say, well if the prophets wrote about it, how can you say that the mystery wasn’t in the Old Testament? Isn’t Isaiah one of the prophets? Ezekiel? Daniel? If it were a mystery kept secret but now manifested and yet it was by the scriptures of the prophets. Well you understand there were Old Testament prophets, there were New Testament prophets. The message concerning the church comes through the New Testament prophets, not the Old Testament prophets. You don’t find out about it in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah talks about the death of Christ, but you don’t find out about the forming of the church in the book of Isaiah. You do find out about it through the Apostle Paul, through Luke, through Peter, through the writer to the Hebrews, through the Apostle John—New Testament writers.

Turn over to the book of Ephesians again, and this discussion on the work of Christ back in Ephesians 2:11. Talking about remember that you formerly you the Gentiles in the flesh. In other words, Gentiles, physical Gentiles who are called uncircumcision by the circumcision. In other words, the Jews marked them off because they were proud of circumcision because that identified them as God’s covenant people and the Gentiles were the uncircumcision. They have no covenantal relationship with God. Remember that you were at one time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And now He’s making the two, Jews and Gentiles, one in one body, the church. Verse 20, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Those are not Old Testament prophets, but New Testament prophets.

Come down in chapter 3 and it becomes clear. Verse 3 says, by revelation there was made known to me the mystery—me, the Apostle Paul. The full revelation of the church comes through the Apostle Paul. That was a mystery revealed to me, he says. Verse 4, 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. So the prophets that write about the church are the New Testament prophets, the apostles. And we have apostles appearing first in each of these references. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. We know the apostles are New Testament, and who are the foundation of the church, they are New Testament prophets as well. We’ll get to this when we get to the study of the spiritual gifts in I Corinthians 12-14.

And in verse 5, in other generations this mystery was not made known. It’s now been revealed to the apostles and prophets. The mystery is, verse 6, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. The Old Testament talks about a Messiah who would come and provide salvation, now we understand God’s plan for the Gentiles in this in His work, the fullness of that had not been revealed. It had not been revealed, verse 5 says, as it has now been revealed. We’re talking about……Verse 8, Paul says, to me the very least of the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 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 might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. You know what? The angels didn’t even understand this plan. They are observing it being unfolded now in the church. That’s the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies, angelic beings. They observe the wonder of God’s plan of redemption, and it’s unfolding to Gentiles as well as Jews, and it’s happening in the church. You know there was never any redemption provided for angels, remember. The angels who rebelled against God at a point in time were forever sentenced to hell. There was never salvation provided for them, never a place of repentance and forgiveness. There has never been an angel who was redeemed. There are two kinds of angels—fallen angels and unfallen angels. But the fallen angels who sinned against God were forever consigned to hell. But the angels observe the wonder of God’s salvation for Jew and Gentile, and it’s happening in the church.

The fullness of that revelation came to the Apostle Paul and then other New Testament prophets. A prophet being a man or a person to whom God communicated His Word, and then that person passes it on. God gives direct revelation to prophets as well as to apostles. With the passing of the New Testament apostles and prophets and the completion of the New Testament, God is no longer giving new revelation. It’s complete. We’ll study about that when we proceed in Corinthians as well.

Come back to Romans 16. This is not manifested by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the eternal God which has been made known to all the nations, leading to the obedience of faith. You know this is according to the commandment of the eternal God. We sometimes say, well the church is a parenthesis in the plan of God. Well it is in the sense it wasn’t revealed in the Old Testament, but it’s part of the eternal God’s eternal plan. That’s the point of according to the commandment of the eternal God. This is not something new to God, it is something He has not revealed to man up to that point. Now particularly, with the coming of Christ and so on, and the revelation through Paul, now He reveals how He was going to include Gentiles in His plan of redemption. And Gentiles haven’t replaced Israel, because Romans 11 makes clear, Romans 9-11, has God cast away His people, Israel? God forbid. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, when the plan of God in Gentile salvation is completed, then all Israel will be saved. Gentiles are still Gentiles, Israel is Israel. In this period of time, Jews who are saved become part of the church. Just like in the Old Testament Gentiles who got saved converted to Israel. That focus in salvation through the Old Testament was in the nation, Israel. Now it’s in the church, which is primarily Gentile. There will yet come a time of the completion of God’s program with Israel as you are aware. He’s the eternal God, He has an eternal plan. It’s awesome, it’s amazing. Think about it. We live in a time of salvation and particularly salvation for Gentiles. Most of you are Gentiles. If you’re here as a Jew, God will save you just like He saved the Apostle Paul, if you will believe the gospel. But you and I as Gentiles, we need to pay special attention. This is the time of the fullness of the Gentiles, not Jews. God has graciously, in His grace, provided a time of fullness for us to hear the gospel of His Son, the end of verse 26, leading to the obedience of faith.

You’re sitting here, why are you here? Somebody invited me, I saw it in the yellow pages, it was raining and I didn’t want to drive any further down 84th Street so I turned in. I don’t know why, but I do know why—the sovereign God brought you here so that you could hear the gospel that His Son died for your sins. And now He calls you to obey Him by believing in His Son—the obedience of faith. God commands all everywhere to repent, no exceptions, all everywhere to repent, for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. This is His commandment, that you believe in His Son, John wrote. The obedience of faith.

To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever and ever. What a God we have. He’s a saving God, He’s the God who is our Savior, and He’s provided His Son to pay the penalty for our sin. Is it any wonder he says now the God who is able to establish you through the gospel. You see it’s God’s power working through God’s Word that accomplishes God’s work in a life. I just want to look at a couple of passages with you, a couple is 3 in preacher terminology.

Go to Ephesians 3. We’ve been in the book of Ephesians several times, we’ll just jump to the end of chapter 3. I want you to note that expression that we had in Romans 16:25, now to Him who is able, has the power. In Ephesians 3:20, now to Him who is able, who is powerful to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power. That word power is the same word translated able earlier in the verse. Now to Him who is able according to the power that works within us, to Him who is powerful, according to the power that works within us. And His power is powerful to do more than we could even consider. How can I get my arms around the infinite Almighty God, the greatness of His power. And that’s a power that works in my life to change me, to cleanse me, to give me righteousness, to make me His child. And now prepare me for the splendor of heaven for eternity. To Him be the glory in the church in Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever. What else can you say to the conclusion of this, but to Him be the glory. He is the One who is able.

Turn over to the book of Jude, all the way back, just before the book of Revelation at the end of your Bible, a little one-chapter letter. You’ll note it’s a similar kind of context as we saw in Romans, warning about false teachers and those who would come in and corrupt the Word of God, which will begin in little ways. I shared with you bad theology always catches up to you. You cannot divert and turn from the Word in little ways, because that little diversion down the road becomes a great apostasy. Jude in verse 3, beloved while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints. Same thing Paul has been talking about, that standard that does not change. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. The infiltration has already begun. The New Testament apostles are not even off the scene and the devil has sent his servants out to infiltrate among believers, infiltrate the church and confuse them and turn them away from faithfulness to the truth.

Come down to verse 24, now to Him who is able. There is our expression again. We had in Romans 16:25, now to Him who is able. Ephesians 3:20, now to Him who is able. Jude 24, now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. ??????????another way, the same thing is, now to Him who is able to establish you, enable you to be firm, unshakable, unmovable. He is the One who has power to keep you from stumbling, to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. Think about it, you a defiled sinner, me a defiled sinner can stand in the presence of the holy God who is absolutely righteous and be considered blameless. How can that be? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. If you think you are an exception, you are wrong, because God is always right. And yet He says, to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless, with great joy. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, authority, before all time, now and forever. Amen. What can you say to such a great God who is such a great Savior. But you note, verse 25, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is only a Savior through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

How tragic that people think they’re going to be saved by going to church, by being baptized, by doing good works. We’re already condemned as guilty, we are sinners. There are some men who think because they are pastors and preachers they’re going to heaven. Paul said I could preach the gospel to others and myself be rejected, I Corinthians 9:27. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There is only one saving gospel, there is only one sovereign God, and only one way to be saved—through faith in the provision He has made of His Son who died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, which is death. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and make you stand.

And go to the book of Acts, last verse, Acts 20. Similar kind of context. Paul is meeting with the leaders, the elders of the church at Ephesus. Remember the letter to the church at Ephesus, we’ve been to several times. These are the elders from that church, they’re going to meet him at Miletus in Acts 20:17. Paul talks about his ministry he had with them, and what did he do day and night? Verse 20, I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 24, I do not consider my life as any count dear to myself, that I may finish my course, the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify of the gospel of grace of God. I want to finish well.

Verse 26, I testify to you this day I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Be on the alert. Verse 32, now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able. God at work through the word of His grace, which is able. There is our word, which is powerful, which is strong. To build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. God always works through His Word, that is the only way God works in His salvation work—through His Word.

Why should we get confused as the church and think well it’s not important as long as we mean well. How can the church more and more move away from the serious study of the Word of God when God says we are to labor and toil, to show ourselves approved unto God workmen that need not be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth. We are to long for the pure milk of the Word. And yet if we’re not careful we become indifferent to that. Well, it’s not a major thing, let’s not have any conflict over that, let’s not disagree about that. This is the God who is able. I want Him to give me stability, I want Him to keep me from stumbling, I want Him to build me up. This is His truth. I have nothing more precious than what I have through this Word, because it is a message of salvation. All I learn of my God of the salvation He has provided in His Son, I learn here. God’s power at work. What more could we want, what else is there. Am I satisfied with Him? I want His power to work in my life in its fullest.

Do you know Him? Have you ever experienced the gospel which is the power of God for salvation in your life? Not have you ever heard it, but have you ever truly believed it? Understood that you are a sinner, separated from God by your sins, under His condemnation, without hope in the world. And realize, all I can do is turn from my sin and cast myself upon His mercy and grace, believing that His Son died for me. That’s what brings you salvation. Now your commitment to have His Word work powerfully in your life, to continue to mold and shape you, to establish you and make you unshakable so that you do not stumble. But you are built to maturity to be a testimony to His grace, the wonder of His salvation, preparing you for the day when you will be presented in the glory of His presence as one who is holy and blameless and without spot, because you are clothed in His righteousness.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the wonder of your power, that we should be able to speak to you, the living God. That we should be privileged to experience the power of your salvation, that cleanses us from all sin, all guilt, all defilement, and brings us your righteousness. Thank you for the power of your Spirit who uses your Word in our lives to continue to mold and shape us, to establish us, to keep us from stumbling, to build us to maturity until the beauty of the character of your Son is produced in us and preparing us for that time when we will be presented in your presence, blameless. You are the God who is worthy of all the glory. We praise you in Christ’s name, amen.