Glory to God for the Gospel

Transcript

GR 1483
10/16/11
Glory to God for the Gospel
Romans 16:21-27
Gil Rugh

We come to the conclusion of the book of Romans in our study together today so turn to Romans 16 in your Bibles. Paul has taken this closing chapter to send greetings to those that he knew in the church at Rome. And there was quite a list, some 26 people in the first 15 verses that he gives greetings to, comments about, that he either knows personally or knows of well enough to send greetings to. Then he broke in with a word of warning to the church at Rome about those who would cause dissension and division in the church there. And in verse 17 he warned them that they would be people who bring teaching contrary to the teaching that Paul and other apostles have given. It's absolutely essential for us as believers to keep before us what the foundational issues are. It is primarily the Word of God, and when someone is teaching something that disagrees with the Word of God, it must stop or they must go. The end of verse 17 he said, turn away from them. That is the standard. Not whether we think they are nice, not whether they are friends, not whether we like them, but what they are teaching, what they are doing, does it conform to the Word of God. If not we are to have nothing to do with them. And anyone who is teaching and promoting doctrine and practice that is contrary to the Word of God, verse 18 says, such men are slaves not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites. And they are attempting to deceive unsuspecting people. And we are not to be unsuspecting, gullible people. We are sifting everything through the Word of God.

This is important because the church at Rome had a good testimony, a strong testimony. Verse 19 said, the report of your obedience has reached to all. And so they must be careful to maintain that testimony of faithfulness to the Word. The ultimate victory belongs to us through Jesus Christ. The time is coming when the Lord will crush Satan and all his followers under our feet. We will be revealed to be the victors because our Lord and Savior is the victor of all. He has provided victory in His death and resurrection.

Then he comes back to greetings. In verses 21-23 not sending greetings to individuals at the church at Rome, but sending greetings to the church at Rome from individuals who are with him. And so that's what takes places in verses 21-23. Again, most of these we are not very familiar with. The first one we are very familiar with. Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you. Those familiar with Paul's ministry at the church at Rome obviously was, even though he had not been there, would be familiar with Timothy. We've talked about Timothy in our study of the book of Acts. He is going to join Paul on the second missionary journey in Acts 16. From what the New Testament reveals Timothy is Paul's closest associate from that point in Acts 16 until the end of his ministry. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy, and we won't take the time to go through other portions of the New Testament where Paul refers to Timothy. A number of times he joins Timothy with himself in greeting as he writes a letter. So a very close, trusted faithful servant of the Lord is Timothy.

Then he mentions Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, my kinsmen. And for sure Sosipater and Jason are fellow Jews, perhaps he is including Timothy there who is mixed, whose father is a Gentile but his mother a Jew. But for sure the latter two men.

Then verse 22, Tertius who writes this letter greets you. We know nothing else about Tertius. He was Paul's what we call emanuensis, his secretary. Paul would have dictated the letter to him. This is a long letter, it had to be written by hand and so as Paul dictated it Tertius was the one who wrote it out. And he had the opportunity to send his greeting as the penman of the letter. He is not a co-author with Paul, he is simply taking down what Paul instructs him to write. What an important position he had. And here just mentioned in passing, but he was the penman for this inspired portion of the Word of God. And again it seemed like a laborious task probably, and Paul is not writing a short one- or two-chapter letter as we have it, sixteen chapters. Writing it all out by hand as Paul dictates it, a laborious task. But how important it was he got it right. He was faithful when he wrote down, he did the task well. Little did he know that what he was doing in his contribution would impact the church for 2,000 years. Here we are studying the letter of the Apostle Paul that was dictated to Tertius. And he sends his greeting to those in Rome as well.

Gaius, host to me and the whole church greet you. Paul is writing from Corinth. Gaius was his host at Corinth. Again, another important role to play, to provide a place for Paul to stay, a home in which he could feel comfortable and where he could write the letter that he is writing to Rome. And Gaius also practiced hospitality to the whole church. This may well mean that the church at Corinth often met in his home. We know that the church in various places met in homes, sometimes more than one home because if the church grew obviously it would be hard for one home to contain them. Evidently the church at Corinth would have met periodically in different homes broken down. We talked about like our home Bible studies perhaps. But there were occasions when they came together. Paul wrote to the Corinthians a later letter in 1 Corinthians 11 and said, when you come together as the church I hear there are divisions among you. And perhaps Gaius was wealthy enough to have a large enough home to on occasion host the church together. At any rate he is a man characterized by hospitality and was showing that to Paul even as he showed to others.

Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, men we don't know anything about. Erastus, you might want to read a little bit on him in a good commentary on Romans at this point. He is called the city treasurer, that would have been the city treasurer in Corinth. And they found an inscription in Corinth from this same time period that involves Paul and Erastus. Here he is called the city treasurer. They have found an inscription in Corinth of an Erastus who had an official leadership position in the city. He wasn't called the city treasurer in that inscription, but he had a position of prominence and leadership in the city of Corinth. And it may well be this same Erastus who was the city treasurer. And perhaps in that position as sometimes happens in political kinds of positions, a person then uses that and moves to another position. We don't know anything more about him from that inscription because it just tells his name and position. But having him mentioned here as a person of prominence in the city causes many to think that that may be a reference to this man. Obviously in Corinth a person of some importance to be the city treasurer. He greets you. Quartus, the brother, fellow believers. Individuals that we really don't know anything else about.

You'll note verse 24 has a note that this particular verse is not found in a number of the manuscripts. Doesn't change anything because it basically repeats what was said at the end of verse 20, the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. It may not have been part of what Paul penned as what we have as verse 24.

Now with verses 25-27 Paul is ready to bring the letter to a conclusion with what is really given in the form of a doxology. And it ties the letter together because the content of these three verses is very similar to the content of the opening verses of chapter 1 of this letter. And in this way Paul pulls the letter together, he hasn't lost his way. It's been a very orderly, thought out letter presenting the gospel.

Turn back to Romans 1, I want to read these verses and then when we take these last three verses we'll have in mind the content of the opening verses. Romans 1:1, Paul a bond servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. And this becomes the key of Romans, the gospel of God. Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures. He is going to pick up that promise through the prophets in the Old Testament at the end of the letter. Concerning His Son who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness our Lord Jesus, or Christ Jesus our Lord, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what the gospel is about. Paul will draw that back to our attention—the gospel, the good news of God is the message about Jesus Christ. Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake. That's what he is going to emphasize, the unfolding of the gospel at the end of the letter. For the obedience of faith among the Gentiles, among whom also you are the called of Christ Jesus. Believers in the church at Rome are primarily Gentiles. To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called saints. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Come back to Romans 16. Paul picks up in verse 25, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Now to him who is able to establish you, the One who is able. We have a song about God who is able. He is able to deliver you, He is able to deliver you. The God who is able, here, to establish you. That word to be able, we're familiar with it in English, we refer to it often in our study of the New Testament. It's transliterated, the English word is transliterated over for it, we get words like dynamic, dynamo, dynamite from it. The God who is able, He's the God who is powerful to establish you. The God who is omnipotent, the all-powerful God is the One whose power is at work in the lives of these believers. He is the One who is able to establish you, to strengthen you, to fix you firmly. That's where the stability for a believer comes from. The power of God to establish us, to give us stability, to give us firmness. It's that work of God that enables us to endure, to stay true to the truth that He has entrusted to us.

Turn over to 2 Thessalonians, Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 3:3, but the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen you. That's what we're talking about, He will establish you, He will fix you firmly. And protect you from the evil one. You see this is the work of God. He has warned them about the danger of false teachers, teaching that will be presented even from those who claim to be believers that is contrary to the Word of God. What will keep me from being led astray, the power of God who is faithful to strengthen us, to establish us, to protect us from the evil one. And the evil one works through his followers, and that would include the false teachers. That's why Paul said in Romans 16 that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. These false teachers are carrying out the will of Satan. As Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, you are of your father the devil and you always do what he wants. But we serve a faithful God.

We need to keep that in mind. You know we look around and the world is unsettled, the world is in turmoil, people giving their best guess of what will take place. We are sure, we are settled, we have been established firmly by the power of our God. We are not moved by the ups and downs of the world, by the uncertainty of the world. We're not sitting, biting our nails, fearful and frustrated and worried. Why? God is able, He is powerful to establish you. He is faithful to do it. He will strengthen, He will establish you, He will protect you. What more do I need? We say, yes, I believe that God is omnipotent, all powerful. I'm really worried about what is happening these days. Do you believe that God is all powerful or not? Do you believe His Word when He says He is powerful to establish you, He is faithful to establish you, to protect you. I'm not minimizing the turmoil of the world but you understand as believers we are not of this world. We're here representative of the God of heaven where our citizenship truly resides. The turmoil of the world is not the turmoil of my heart and mind. I have a God whose power settles my life. He is the One in whose hands I am secure and safe.
Come back to Romans 16. Important to note here, verse 25, now to Him who is able, who is powerful to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. The means that God uses to unleash His power in a life is the gospel, which is the preaching of Jesus Christ. The gospel is God's good news. And that is about Jesus Christ. Paul's gospel was the preaching of Jesus Christ, the message that God's Son is the Savior. He has borne our sins in His body on the cross that through faith in Him we might die to sin and live to righteousness. We can be born again, we can be given new life. We become sons of God and His life is produced in us, His Spirit dwells in us. So the God who is powerful, who is able to establish us does it according to the gospel, the preaching of Jesus Christ.

That's the means God uses. That's why we are to be faithful to the Word. Back in verse 17 he warned them about those who would try to teach them things contrary to the teaching that they had received, what we have now recorded in our Scriptures. Because God establishes us and strengthens us in the gospel, what Paul has unfolded through these 16 chapters of Romans, the good news about Jesus Christ. He talked about our sin, about the provision of God's righteousness, about the dramatic, drastic change brought about when we were identified with Christ in His death and resurrection to live lives of holiness. Unfolded the sovereignty of God in the work of salvation. He told us that this impacts us in practical ways, even how we relate to human government when he talked about that in Romans 13. This is where the power of God is unfolded and unleashed in our hearts and lives.

Come back to Romans 1. We just read these verses and he talked about the gospel of God at the end of verse 1. This gospel, verse 3, concerns His Son. The he talks about His Son, One born a descendant of David according to the flesh who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. He's both the Son of God and the Son of man, Jesus Christ our Lord. The gospel is about Jesus Christ, the gospel is the power of God. Down in Romans 1:15 Paul says, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome, as I have done in other places. Why? For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God. That's the same basic word as we had translated able in Romans 16:25, to Him who is able, to Him who is powerful to establish you. I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation. The Almighty, all wise, all powerful God has determined that His power for salvation would operate through the gospel. People must hear the message of the gospel, their wretched, sinful condition. And the death of the Son of God who became the Son of man to pay the penalty for sin which is death, and believe that message. And when they do, the power of God impacts their lives in such an awesome way that they die to sin and are made alive in Christ to righteousness. They are born again. It is supernatural, there is no human explanation. The only explanation is the power of God impacts a heart and mind, the soul of a person in such a way that they are made new. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation. What does that mean? Old things have passed away, behold new things have come. I'm not the person I was, I am a new person in Christ. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, everyone, Jew and Greek alike. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. It is when the gospel is heard and believed that the power of God brings salvation.

You know many people hear the gospel, but the power of God does not work in their lives. They are not saved by hearing the gospel, they are saved by hearing and believing the gospel. Paul developed that in Romans 10, you remember. You can't believe in the One you have not heard ; you cannot hear unless someone comes and tells you. But when you hear the gospel and believe it, the power of God brings His salvation. That's the beginning, that's not the end. And that same power of God works through the gospel to bring about the salvation of your soul. That is the beginning of a life of faith. The just shall live by faith. We enter into life by faith and from that point on our life is a life of faith. Our lives are impacted by the power of God to bring about salvation at that point. And the power of God continues to work in our lives through His Word, through the gospel until we are brought into the presence of His glory.

So you see salvation has a beginning point, but it has no ending point. The power of God at work in our hearts and lives has a beginning point, it has no ending point. God continues to use the gospel, the fullness of that gospel as we have seen it unfolded in the book of Romans to establish us, to bring us further maturity, to give us stability in our lives as believers.

Turn over to Ephesians 4:11, we're told the resurrected Christ gave gifts to men. He gave some as apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. In other studies we've noted these are gifts that involve the communication of the Word of God, the giving out of the Word of God. And that is for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of serving, the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith. The growing, the maturing, to a mature man, verse 13, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. We grow to maturity, we grow in stability. And so we are no longer to be children, verse 14, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, the trickery of men. You see the connection when Paul warned them earlier in Romans 16 about these false teachers who teach contrary to the Word of God. And they deceive the minds of the unsuspecting. But we are to be a people immersed in the Word of God and the truths concerning Christ, and to be taught that and to take it in. And that will enable us to function as God intends us to function, and that will bring maturity to our lives. That brings stability. God is establishing us, planting us firmly. Here the picture is the contrast in Ephesians between children, their immaturity. What happens to children? Short attention span, they are easily distracted, they are easily deceived. The tragedy of people committing crimes against children, they are unsuspecting, they are easily tricked. That may be true of a four-year-old, but you don't expect your 24-year-old to be gullible like that. Maturity should have brought stability and discernment. So it is spiritually. As we take in the Word of God, function with our gifts in relation to one another as Paul talked about in Romans 12. Here he talks about it in Ephesians 4. We develop maturity, we become more in character like Jesus Christ. We are conformed more to His character. That brings stability to a life and enables us to live in a world of turmoil, confusion.

In the world you have tribulation, Jesus said. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. So we're in good hands and we have an all-powerful God dwelling in us. You know what happens? We wander from the Word and fail to take it in, believe it, submitting to it. Then we become susceptible to the influences of the devil, we become confused, we become worried, we become unsettled, we become unstable. We are blown about with everything that comes by. This is where we see the church so often today. Every new thing that comes down the road, let's try that, let's do that. Everybody writes a book about it, the church adjusts to try to do that. That gets old and cold and we're on to the next thing. And they're moving around to everything. We have the truth concerning the Savior, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. The One who said, heaven and earth will pass away, My word will not pass away. It's the Word that brings salvation to a soul who believes it, it's the Word that produces maturity and stability in believers as we take it in and submit to it.

Back up to Galatians 1. Paul says that God is powerful to establish you according to my gospel. There is only one true gospel. Paul calls it my gospel because it's a gospel he had received from Jesus Christ. It's not different from the gospel Peter received from Jesus Christ. But the point is this is the gospel that I've received from heaven. Note what he says in Galatians 1:6. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. These are the churches he established on his first missionary journey in Acts that we studied together in Acts 13-14. Those churches were already being influenced by teaching contrary to what they had been taught. They were being turned to a different gospel, which is really not another. He uses two different Greek words for another or different here. At the end of verse 6 he says, for a different gospel, one of a different kind. Then he says, which is really not another one. He uses a different word there that means another of the same kind. The contrast here. You are turning aside to a different gospel. You understand it is totally different, it's not a variation of the gospel that I preach. It's a totally different kind. It's not the true gospel at all. Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. That's serious business. We have talked about this often.

Verse 11, I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. That's why he calls it my gospel. Not because it is different than Peter's gospel. And when they met together to resolve differences over the gospel, Peter and Paul in Acts 15 were in perfect agreement on the gospel and stood together in what is called the Council of Jerusalem. So Paul calls it my gospel because it's the one he preached, the one that had been revealed to him. It's the only true gospel there is and centers in the sinfulness of man, the person and work of Jesus Christ, faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, recognition of the sovereignty of God in bringing about the salvation of those who believe.

Come back to Romans 16. Now to Him who is powerful 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. Paul says something new has been revealed, it was kept secret in the long ages past. That's what a mystery is in the New Testament, it is something that had not been made known before but now it is being made known. According to the mystery which has been kept secret in long ages past but now is manifested and by the Scriptures of the prophets. So what he is saying is there are things that God had not revealed until present times, Paul's time. The prophets talked about it but it wasn't revealed in its fullness and clarity. What he is talking about is that the gospel is carried to the Gentiles primarily. He mentions that, according to the commandment of God has been made known to all the Gentiles. Now he mentions here that it now has been manifested and by the Scriptures of the prophets. If we went back to Romans 1, when he said he was set apart for the gospel of God in verse 1, in verse 2 he said, this gospel of God was promised beforehand to His prophets in the holy Scriptures. The Old Testament prophets prophesied it, now Paul said it has just been manifested. And yet it had been revealed by the prophets. Which is it? Did the prophets prophesy about it? Or is it new revelation? The answer is it is both. The prophets prophesied. Isaiah 53 prophesied about the rejection of Jesus Christ, His death, His burial in a rich man's tomb and His resurrection. That is not new. The Old Testament prophets spoke of that. The Old Testament prophets prophesied that Gentiles would be saved. We saw that in our study of Romans, we've seen it in the first part of the book of Acts. The Old Testament prophets prophesied Gentiles would be part of the kingdom when Christ established it on earth.

So the fact that Gentiles would be saved is not new. But what is new is the clarity and explanation on the death and resurrection of Christ and His resurrection as the culmination of Christ completing the work of salvation by His death on the cross. What is new is the death and resurrection of Christ would result in Israel being put under the judgment of God and no longer be the focus of God's work of salvation in the world. Now God's work of salvation would center primarily in the Gentiles. Some Jews would be saved, but they would be a minority. And God would bring Jew and Gentile together into a new entity called the church. That is totally new. The Old Testament prophets didn't understand how the Messiah of Israel could suffer and die and also rule and reign in glory. Peter referred to that in his letter. He said the Old Testament prophets didn't understand. They searched and tried to figure out how could the Messiah suffer and die and also rule and reign. Now we understand. We look back and say yes, his death and resurrection, part of His purpose. He is coming a second time. They never saw that there were 2,000+ years between the first coming of Christ to suffer and die and be raised and the second coming to rule and reign on the earth. So without that knowledge they thought these two events together, how do you figure that out? They never knew that Israel would come to a time when they were not the focal people in the plan of God in His work of salvation in the world. The Old Testament Gentiles occasionally got saved, they identified with Israel. That was the debate leading up to Acts 15 in the Conference there, remember. Do Gentiles have to convert to Judaism to be saved? The answer is no. They don't have to take upon them any of the responsibilities of Judaism for salvation.

You understand in the Old Testament there was no program outreach to the Gentiles. Who carried the message of salvation to the Chinese? You know the only nations mentioned in the Old Testament are those that impacted Israel because God's work of salvation from Genesis 12 on centered in the nation Israel. That's not the case anymore.

Come over to Ephesians 2:11, therefore remember that formerly you the Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision. In other words they viewed the Gentiles as uncircumcised, you are cut off from any relationship to God and God's provisions. You're not His people. Remember that you, verse 12, at that time were separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ and that middle wall separating you. The Law of commandments, the Mosaic Law, has been broken down because God's intention now, the end of verse 15, is that He Himself might make the two, Jew and Gentile, into one new man. Might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross.

You come down to Ephesians 3:3, by revelation there was made known to me, Paul, the mystery. By referring to this you may understand my insight into the mystery of Christ which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, but has now been revealed to the apostles and prophets. What was revealed? What was new? That the Gentiles, verse 6, are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. And Paul was given the responsibility of preaching, the end of verse 8, 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 be now made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. Even angelic beings observe and realize something of God's eternal purpose in bringing salvation to fallen man by observing what He is doing in the church today. You ought to thank God that you as a Gentile were born on this side of the cross. There was no evangelism program in the Old Testament. Those that are recorded as saved have experienced God's blessing in the contact through the nation Israel. But now we Gentiles have the remarkable privilege. And we saw this in Romans 9-11. We live in the time of the fullness of the Gentiles when God's work in salvation to the world centers in the Gentiles. It is still open to the Jews but they are a small number. Even when I lived on the east coast where we had a much larger Jewish population in our churches, there were few Jews who had been saved. Primarily it is Gentiles being saved today.

God has a future for Israel, we saw that in Romans 11, Romans 9-11. And this is what is revealed. God has created a new entity, the church, and Gentiles and Jew alike are joined in the one body. That's why Paul is carrying this message out to the Gentiles. Be excited, be thrilled. God is saving Gentiles by faith in Jesus Christ. And He is also saving Jews by faith in Jesus Christ. And that work of salvation now is building the church of Jesus Christ, not the nation Israel. He will return to His program with the nation Israel at a future time.

Come back to Romans 16. This mystery has now been unfolded. We call this progressive revelation. God has seen fit to unfold over time, and He will reveal more and more of His work of salvation. So now we have the clarity of having the completed Word of God. But you understand we still do not have revelation of everything. We have revelation of everything we need to know for salvation. But you know what? We had one of our number go home to the glory of the Lord this week, we have relatives and friends in glory. Do you know what? They understand and know far more than we do. We read about promises of heaven and glory and so on. I think, I wonder what that will be like. They know. I wonder how this will fit with this and how this will work out and what we'll be like there. They know. I mean, there is more to come but right now God's work is through His Word and everything we need to know about His purposes and plans and His work of salvation is contained in His Word. It's been manifested.

And so this is being made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith. Romans 1:5 Paul refers, that's what he was preaching the gospel for, to bring the Gentiles to the obedience of faith. This is the commandment in 1 John that we are to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another. That's the obedience of faith. God commands us to believe in His Son, it's obedience of faith. You obey God and believe in His Son. You won't be saved any other way. But you understand that's the beginning of a life of faith. Just like it's the beginning of the working of the power of God in His plan of salvation in your life when you believe in Jesus Christ initially. But God's power continues to work in your life, His Spirit continues to reside in you. So you believe for the first time in Jesus Christ and His saving work and believe in the God who is, who has made Himself known. But that's just the beginning. From there on it is a life of faith. So you bring about the obedience of faith, that initial faith in salvation that's occurring among us Gentiles. And now how do we walk? By faith, the life of faith as He continues to bring us to maturity to establish us in His Word.

So he concludes this doxology in verse 27. And this is in apposition to verse 25. Now to Him who is able to establish you, to the only wise God. Referring to the same person. The One who is able to establish you is the One who is the only wise God. He is operating in His wisdom through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory forever. It's all about the glory of God. It brings glory to Himself, amazingly through salvation, the salvation of the Gentiles that in the marvelous, sovereign plan of the all wise God, and I don't pretend to understand all that's involved. But I am responsible to understand and submit to what He has revealed. The all wise God has planned this salvation. He gave the commandment, in the middle of verse 26, according to the commandment of the eternal God it has now been manifest.

We Gentiles live in a remarkable time. God has commanded that His salvation be made known to Gentiles. Jews, it always was made known to Jews. But now the fullness of God's work of salvation and in this particular time is being made to Gentiles. That's why Paul writes to the Corinthians and says, today is the day of salvation. Don't try to put off until tomorrow what God says is to be done today. What a marvelous plan. You say, I have so many questions. Well, that's all right. I have less questions and more questions. I didn't know what I didn't know when I trusted Christ. I trusted Christ in 1953. I won't ask for a raise of hands of how many of you were around in 1953. I didn't know what I didn't know. I thought I had come into the knowledge that was as full as could be, that Christ died for me. I trusted Him, I'm saved, I'm forgiven, I'm going to heaven. Wonderful. Now these many years later I know much more about Him, much more about His work, much more about His purposes, much more about the wonder of His salvation. You need to know and believe that you are a sinner, lost and on your way to hell. That Jesus Christ is the Savior, came to this earth from heaven, the Son of God to become the Son of man so He could die on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin. He was raised from the dead, He is alive. And God has commanded that the message of salvation through faith in Him be preached to all the nations. This is the day of Gentile salvation, it's a day of great opportunity. You don't want to miss it. For we who have trusted Him, we continue to take in the Word to grow to more maturity, to have more stability, to be used of Him in greater ways, to be a light in the midst of darkness.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the richness of your Word. Thank you for the power that you bring to a life when they believe the gospel. Lord, we can't comprehend such a transformation. In a moment of time that sins are forgiven, that a person is made new and we become sons of God and life is never the same because we have a new life, a life that will go on for eternity. Thank you for the power that has come to us in salvation, your power. Thank you for the power that works in our lives ongoing through your Word to establish us, to bring us into greater conformity to the character of our Lord and Savior, the One in whose name we pray, amen.