The Old Testament reading is Psalm 115, and this is the word of the Lord. “Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, For the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness, why should the nations say, where is their God? Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak, eyes but do not see, they have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell, they have hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk, and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them, so do all those who trust in them. Oh, Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Oh, house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord has remembered us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great. May the Lord give you increase, you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence, From this time forth and forevermore, praise the Lord.”

Now let’s turn to Romans chapter 16. This is our sermon text for this morning. And we are at the final passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans. The final passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans, Romans 16 verses 25 through 27. “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, 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 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen”. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 

Some time ago, I was listening to a podcast about the history of classical music. And in that podcast, the of the greatest musical composers of all time. Perhaps many would say he is the greatest of all time. And the podcaster was saying that there are some people, today who are so taken, so impressed with, the genius and the beauty of the music that Bach composed. And they see him as such an extraordinary composer that they almost consider him to be something like a god, as though no mere human being can compose such inspired music as he did. And if you know something about Bach, you would find that to be very ironic because he was a devout Christian. In fact, he was a Lutheran. And as a Christian, he would not have wanted to be idolized by others. But he wanted his music to bring glory to God. And at the end of his compositions, he would write out the letters SDG. And those letters stand for the Latin phrase, Soli Deo Gloria, which means glory to God alone, or to God alone be the glory. And we could say that the Apostle Paul, at the end of his letter here, at the conclusion of this letter to the Romans, that in his own way, he has written the letters SDG, to the end of his work. 

This final passage that we are considering today from the book of Romans is, Paul’s doxology. That is, these are his words of praise, of adoration to the God, whom he has been writing about. The God who has brought us salvation, eternal life through his son, Jesus Christ. And so this final passage, this final sentence in Greek, it’s one sentence. But in this final sentence, this is Paul’s way of saying SDG, Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be the glory. And this same praise that the Apostle Paul offers to God here in this passage, this should be in the heart of every believer. This should be our desire that we want to see the Lord glorified and magnified. And there is nothing that we should desire more than that, that the true and living God, the God who is our father, the father of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he should receive all the praise, all the worship, the adoration of all creation. 

Apparently, back in the old days, and I don’t know exactly when this was, but some time ago, certainly not in recent memory. But when a candidate for ministry in the Presbyterian church, when he was examined by his presbytery, he would often be asked the question, would you be willing to be damned in order that God would be glorified? Would you be willing to be damned, condemned for the glory of God? When you think about it, the question is something of a false dilemma. Only somebody who has already been saved from damnation, can really truly have a desire to see god glorified in all things. In other words, God would never put anybody in a position where they would have to choose between their own salvation in Christ and giving God glory. But the question was meant to ask this, is the glory of God more precious to you than even your own good? This is a question that is good for us to ask ourselves. Am I more concerned for the praise, the adoration, the magnification of God as God? Am I more concerned for that than even for my own interests, my own desires? We could put this another way. Is your Christian faith only about your desire to avoid eternal punishment, your desire to go to heaven? Or is your Christian faith all about you have come to a knowledge of God, you have come to know the character of God, you have come to know God in all of his majesty and goodness, and for that reason, above all else as a Christian, you want God to be known, to be worshiped, to be adored by all creation simply because of who he is. And that is where our heart should be as Christians. 

Yes, we give praise to God that he has saved us, that we look forward to an eternity in heaven with all of the the joys and the blessedness that that will involve, But nevertheless, in our heart of hearts, which should be most, important to us is that God receives all the praise and the glory for who he is. And God is worthy to be glorified and praised for who he is and for all that he has done. God reveals his glory in all of his works. God is glorified in his works of creation. He is glorified in his ongoing works of providence. God is even glorified in his works of justice and condemnation. His justice, his righteousness is glorified. But most of all, the one thing in which God receives the most glory, the one thing that he has done that most reveals the truth about who he is, that most reveals his character as a God of grace and mercy, as well as a God of righteousness and holiness. The thing that brings God the most glory is the salvation that he has accomplished for us through his son, Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that God is most glorified. And that is the reason why Paul in this passage gives praise to God. Because his entire letter, as we have seen, as we have gone through this letter, his entire letter is about the salvation that God has worked for us through his son, Jesus Christ. And so it is fitting at the end that God should or that Paul should close his letter by giving praise to God, by giving glory to God for this work of salvation. 

And as believers in Jesus Christ, as those who have been saved by the grace of God, by the gospel, this passage shows us three ways that we give glory to God as his redeemed people. First of all, we glorify God by believing in Christ. Secondly, we glorify God by obeying the word of Christ. And thirdly, we glorify God by worshiping him in the name of Christ. 

So first of all, we give glory to God by believing in his son. Paul says in verse 25, he says, now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel in the preaching of Jesus Christ. The phrase here, to strengthen, can also be translated as to establish. And what that means is that God is able, by his grace and power, to keep us walking by faith in Jesus Christ. He is able to preserve us in our union with Christ, in our faith in him. He gives us grace to overcome temptation. He gives us grace to persevere as followers of Christ throughout this life, through all the tribulations and struggles that we experience. He is able to strengthen, to establish us until the very end. And of course, this is a great comfort for you and me as believers in Jesus Christ, because what it means is that our faithfulness to Christ does not depend upon our own strength, but our faithfulness to Christ depends upon the strength that God gives us by his grace. He is the one who strengthens us. He is the one who establishes us in his grace. And Paul says that God is able to strengthen us according to, he says in verse 25, my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. And so what that means is that the gospel is not just good news that our sins are forgiven and that we have been made right with God, but it’s also good news that because of the work of Christ, what God has begun in us, he will bring to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

In other words, the gospel contains the promise of God that he will care for us, he will love us, he will keep us in his grace until the very end, until he brings us to our heavenly home. He is able to strengthen us according to the gospel. And notice how the gospel is joined together here with the preaching of Jesus Christ. Again, Paul says in verse 25, according to my gospel and the preaching of Christ Jesus. So the gospel is joined together here with the preaching of Jesus Christ. Preaching of Christ Jesus. So the gospel, the good news of salvation in Christ is inseparably bound up with the proclamation of Christ. And this is how this is how this is and this is how the gospel is made known. This is how this is God’s will for how the good news for sinners that there is salvation in his son, it is to be made known through the preaching, through the public proclamation of Jesus Christ. That gospel that is made known in the preaching of Christ. 

He goes on in verse 25. He says, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations. Paul uses the word mystery here. And when he uses the word mystery, he’s not talking about something that is inexplicable, something that is beyond our human comprehension, or something that we just haven’t yet figured out yet. He’s not talking about a mystery like we might call, for example, the Bermuda the Bermuda Triangle. It’s a mystery. He’s not talking about mystery in that sense. But in the New Testament, the word mystery refers to something that was once hidden, but is now revealed, that is now made known. And here in this passage, the thing that was once hidden is the gospel, the coming of Christ into the world, that through the incarnate Son of God, that God will bring salvation to his people. That is the truth that was once hidden. That is why Paul calls it a mystery. It was hidden for long ages. That is from the beginning of history. And what was hidden was what is now revealed in Christ. That through the incarnation, life and death, and resurrection of his son, that God would bring us eternal life. It was concealed, at least in fullness. At least it was concealed rather in parts. But now it has been revealed with the coming of Christ into the world, with all that God has done for us through Christ, the truth of the gospel has been made known. It is manifest. It is revealed. 

Paul says in verse 26, it has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations. But now you might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute. Wait a minute. How can you say that this gospel was once concealed? That the truth concerning Christ was once hidden from us? How can you say that? Wasn’t the gospel revealed in the Old Testament? Isn’t that something that we believe? Didn’t the entire revelation that God gave to his people Israel, wasn’t that entire revelation in one way or another pointing them forward to the coming of the Messiah, the Christ? Weren’t all the old covenant institutions, such as the sacrifices, the priesthood, the temple, the Davidic kingship, weren’t they all types and shadows of the Christ who was to come? And didn’t the prophets like Isaiah speak of the coming Messiah, the servant of the Lord, who through his suffering would bring healing and salvation to his people? And didn’t Jesus say your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day? He saw it and was glad. And after his resurrection, didn’t Jesus have a Bible study with his disciples in which he opened the word to them and showed them how the Old Testament scriptures revealed him, what he would do, his suffering and resurrection? And didn’t Paul say in Galatians three eight that the scriptures preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations of the world be blessed? And the answer to all those questions is yes. All of that is true. The scriptures of the Old Testament did, in fact, reveal the truth of the coming Christ, and what he would do for our salvation. In fact, when we look at this passage, Paul even says here that the mystery of the gospel that was once secret, kept hidden, but has now been disclosed, is made known through the prophetic writings. In other words, it is through the Old Testament scriptures themselves that we now have this revelation, Paul is saying, concerning the gospel that has now been made manifest with the coming of Christ. And if all that is true, then how can Paul say that the truth of the gospel, the truth of the coming messiah of Christ, that it was once hidden or kept secret? But what Paul is saying here is this, that compared to the fullness of the revelation that would come with the coming of Jesus into the world, that there was a relative, there was a comparative hiddenness, or opaqueness or obscurity in the Old Testament revelation concerning Christ. In other words, the Old Testament did truly reveal the gospel to the people of God, but only partially, only faintly compared with the revelation that was to come that has now been given to us in the person of Christ. 

One analogy that we might use to understand this is to consider the light of the predawn morning, just before the rising of the sun. As the time comes closer for the sun to rise, the night breaks. There is no longer total darkness. There is some faint light. Nevertheless, the sun is still hidden. It is below the horizon. We cannot see it directly. We do not see the rays of the sun, but there is enough light for us to make our way in the world to see where we are going. But then once the sun rises, we see the fullness of the radiance of the sun. We see the brilliant rays of the sun flood the world with light and clarity. And it’s the same way with the coming of Christ. In the Old Testament, in the Old Covenant, God gave enough light to his people that they could find their way to him. He revealed just enough of the coming Christ that the people of Israel that they could put their trust in him, as they trusted in the promises of God. But only with the coming of Christ into the world, only with the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, did God then reveal in fullness and perfect clarity the truth about his son, that he is the incarnate God. And what he would do for our salvation, his crucifixion, his resurrection from the dead. 

John Calvin put it this way, only when God appeared to his ancient people face to face through his only begotten son where the shadows dispersed and the treasures of heavenly wisdom finally opened. Augustine’s famous saying holds true. The new is in the old concealed, The old is in the new revealed. And one thing that this means for you and me, this truth that with the coming of Christ, the fullness of the revelation of what God has done for us, for our salvation, has come to us. 

One thing that this means is that we are so blessed to live after the coming of Christ into the world. We are so blessed to live in the era we call AD, after the coming of Jesus. Yes. The Old Testament saints received the grace of God. The Old Testament saints, they were saved by their trust in the Lord, by his promises, or their trust in his promises of the coming Messiah, but they only saw faintly. They only saw in parts. And the glory of God has now been revealed to us in the Christ who has come. They lived in a time of anticipation, a time of waiting. And so generation after generation, as they held on to the promises of God, they were waiting, anticipating the day when the Messiah would come. Century after century, they waited. But we live in the days of fulfillment. We can enjoy the fullness of God’s revelation of himself to us in Jesus Christ. We can enjoy the fullness of the gift of his Holy Spirit whom he gives to us in Christ. And sometimes we read the Old Testament and we read about Moses or David or Isaiah. We read about how they saw the Lord, or they heard the Lord speaking, or they saw the miraculous works that the Lord did even through them. And we think to ourselves, oh, I would love to have been a Moses, or a David or an or an Isaiah. I would have loved to have seen the Lord perform these miraculous works that he did and to hear the voice of God. But the truth is, Moses, David, Isaiah, all the Old Testament saints, they would have gladly traded places with you and me. They would have gladly taken the place that we enjoy now, just an ordinary Christian, because then they would have known the fullness of the revelation that they were only looking forward to. That God and the person of his son Jesus Christ, that he would come to us, and that he, by his perfect obedience, by laying down his life upon the cross, by his resurrection, he would bring us eternal life and salvation. They would have preferred to know that than even to experience all that they did as God’s people under the old covenant. And with this revealing of Jesus Christ, with the fullness of God’s manifestation of his son, and through his son of who he is, his character, and in his son all that he has done for us for our redemption, 

With this revelation of Christ and with the preaching of the gospel, there is a moral imperative for you and me to respond in faith to what God has done for us in Christ. We are called upon. We are commanded by God to put our faith in Christ. The gospel is good news of salvation for those who believe, for those who turn to him in faith. Romans one sixteen, for I’m not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Your eternal destiny. What will happen to you on the day of judgments? Whether that will be an entrance into eternal bliss and glory with Christ in heaven forever, or an entrance into eternal damnation in hell? All of that will turn on this one question. How did you respond to the revelation of God and his son Jesus Christ? Did you come to him in faith and embrace him as your savior from sin and death? Or do you refuse to come to Jesus and continue in your unbelief? 

Jesus said this in John three eighteen, whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. All will come down to this. How did you and I respond to the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revelation of God and his son. Putting your trust in Christ, embracing him as your savior, This is not just a matter of personal preference or choice. This is not like choosing a certain lifestyle, or, you know, choosing a certain kind of car to drive. It’s not as though it doesn’t really matter in the end whether you’re a Christian, or you adhere to some other religion, or follow some other philosophy, or whether you’re agnostic or an atheist, that in the end, it’s all the same. You take your path, I take my path. They’re all leading to the same place anyway. It’s not like that at all. God commands you and me to turn to Christ in faith. It is a matter of right or wrong. Like I said, it is a moral imperative that we believe in his son, that we respond in faith. And if you reject the truth of the gospel, you make God a liar. You are saying that, no, God. You did not send Christ into the world for my salvation. You hold up Jesus to contempt. You trample underfoot the Son of God. But if you come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, confessing your sin, acknowledging that Jesus alone can save you, then you give glory to God. You magnify the greatness of God because by believing in Christ, you are acknowledging the truth of God, the goodness of God, that he so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that by faith in him we have eternal life. And so as you trust in Christ, believe in him, you glorify God, you bring him praise by receiving, accepting the revelation that he has given us in his son. 

And so, we glorify God by obeying the word of Christ. In verse 26, Paul says that, the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of Christ is now made known to all nations. And he says that the revelation of that was according to God’s command. That means it was according to his perfect plan. And then he tells us what was God’s purpose in that revelation. Why did God send his son into the world in order to save us? It is for this reason. He says in verse 26, to bring about the obedience of faith. Now, if you have a really good memory, or if you have happened to read through Romans recently, you’ll recall that back in chapter one in verse five, Paul uses this very same expression, the obedience of faith. He says, through him, that is through Christ, we have received grace and apostleship, he’s talking about himself, to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. And so, everything that Paul says in the book of Romans, everything that he unpacks for us concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ, all of that is bookended by this one thought that has to do with the end goal or the final purpose, or at least one aspect of the final purpose of what God has done in bringing us salvation in Christ, and that is this, to bring to lost sinners, not just not just to bring lost sinners to faith in Christ, but to bring them to the obedience of faith, to the obedience of faith. And the obedience of faith means the obedience that flows from faith. The obedience that results when someone by faith comes to Christ as a savior, and the obedience that will naturally result from that. And so the obedience of faith here refers not to obeying God’s command to believe in Christ, though we are certainly commanded to do that. But the obedience here refers to obeying all of God’s commandments. It refers to loving God with our whole heart, soul, strength, and mind, loving our neighbor as ourselves, keeping the 10 commandments, keeping the golden rule, dying to sin, living to righteousness, pursuing holiness, and all of that. That is God’s goal, is to redeem his people that they might render to him that obedience. 

Now if we’ve learned anything from Romans, we’ve learned that we are saved, we are justified, not on the basis of obedience, not on the basis of our works, but we are saved by faith alone, by trusting in the finished work of Christ alone. But we’ve also learned that the faith that saves us, by the faith by which we are saved, we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that union with Christ, we receive from Christ the gift of the Holy Spirit. And as the Holy Spirit abides in us, he changes us, he works in us so that we begin to render to God that obedience that he desires. We begin to walk in his commandments. And so God’s purpose for us in his graciously saving us from sin and death is that we will render obedience to his will. Ephesians two ten, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And so as you rest in Christ as your savior, as you lean upon him and trust in him entirely for your salvation, and at the same time, out of gratitude for that salvation, out of thankfulness for what God has done for you, you begin to render to God that obedience that he seeks by doing his work, so obeying his word. And as you do that, by the grace of God, you bring glory and honor and praise to God. And so we glorify God by obeying the word of Christ. 

And thirdly, we glorify God by worshiping him in the name of Christ. Finally, in verse 27, Paul says this. Here’s the last verse of Romans. We have finally come to the very end of Romans, verse 27. To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen. Now in this verse, Paul is not really telling us what we must do. But in this verse and really throughout this whole passage, Paul is showing us what we must do as the redeemed people of God. And that is, just as Paul does here in these verses, we are to ascribe to God and to God alone the praise, the glory that belongs to him. In other words, we are to worship him. We are to worship him. And really in this whole passage, this is what Paul is doing. It’s as if he put down his pen and he lifted up his voice to simply praise the Lord, now to him who is able to strengthen you. And we are called to join him in that worship. Paul, he calls God here the only wise God, and in the context here, because he’s speaking of God’s works of salvation, The wisdom of God is that wisdom that was manifested in that God through the foolishness of a crucified savior, through the scandal of a crucified Christ. God has brought sinners eternal life. He is establishing his kingdom through what the world considers foolishness and folly. Through the curse of death of the Son of God, God has destroyed death and hell, and he brings sinners like you and me forgiveness and eternal life. God only wise. And we can add to Paul’s praise here as he as he praises God for the revelation of his wisdom in the gospel, that God has not only revealed his wisdom in the gospel, but in the gospel of Jesus Christ he has revealed all that is true about him, his holiness, his truth, his power, his faithfulness, his love, his mercy, his compassion. And so we can add to Paul’s praise, he is not only the only wise God, but he is the only holy God. He is the only true God. He is the only almighty God. He is the only loving God. And all of this is revealed to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so he is worthy, he is infinitely worthy of our praise and adoration and worship. And so we glorify God as we worship him, as he has made himself known to us in Christ. 

As Adam said earlier in the announcements, you’ll notice that in our bulletin, we have begun including questions and answers from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And, fittingly, this morning, the first question and answer is this, what is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. To glorify God and to enjoy him forever by believing in Christ, by obeying the word of Christ, by worshiping God in the name of Christ, you not only give God glory, which is, as the catechism tells us, our ultimate purpose for our existence as human beings in this world, to glorify God. But as you do those things, believing in Christ, obeying his word, worshiping God in Christ, that is the way you will not only give glory to God, but the way in which you will find true joy and delight. Because as you glorify God in these ways, he brings you to and into his presence. He fills you with his love so that you could truly know him and enjoy him as your God and savior. Let’s pray.

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