SOLI DEO GLORIA

God’s Invitation to Grace ❧ Part 66

Romans 16:25-27 ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve spent two plus years carefully walking through sixteen chapters, 433 verses, and roughly 9,500 words of the book of Romans.  In today’s world of preaching that may seem like a long time, but it really isn’t.  The late Donal Grey Barnhouse spent 3 ½ years going through Romans the first time and 11 years the second! From his study he wrote 11 volumes on the book of Romans alone.  The acclaimed Welsh pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones spent some 12 years in Romans! Why spend so much time in one book of the Bible? For this reason – the greatest need I see in America, and the Church for that matter, is a restoration of and return to the power and purity of the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Romans does just that. It is the most clear, comprehensive, and compelling explanation of the Gospel in the New Testament.  But my goal was not for us to simply go through Romans, but rather for Romans go through us! I’m reminded of the words of one professor to his students: Men, it doesn’t matter how many times you go through the Bible.  What really matters is how much the Bible goes through you.  

If you have your Bible’s, open with me to Romans 16.  As we come to the final three verses of this great book, there is a shift.  Up to this point, Paul had been walking back and forth dictating the words of Romans to Tertius, Paul’s amanuensis.  With quill and ink Tertius (Tertius – “Third,” probably a slave and one of the 35 names Paul lists in chapter 15), carefully recorded all that Paul had been saying.  But now, Tertius hands the pen to the aged Apostle Paul to put the finishing touches on his letter to the Romans (v.22).  This was customary of Paul whenever he wrote a letter, and it guaranteed its authenticity (2 Thess. 3:17,18).  Now, after dictating his theological masterpiece, the great apostle steps away from his lofty theologians’ lectern, so to speak, pushes weighty doctrine to the background, turns his thoughts away from people – lifts his hands and raises his eyes heavenward and gives his full attention to the glory of God. (Read: 16:25-27, NAS).

These final three verses form one long compound sentence that summarize in brief fashion all that he’s just written, and they have one purpose – to give all the glory to God.  Paul’s trademark habit of ending his letters with a doxology, a brief hymn of praise, would later inspire classical artists like the composers Johann Sebastian Back and George Frideric Handel to place these words at the bottom of their manuscripts: Soli Deo Gloria, or sometimes just S.D.G. This Latin expression means “Glory to God Alone.”  The one consistent mark of every great follower of Christ is the desire for their work here on Earth to glorify their Lord. 

In closing, Paul doesn’t haphazardly pull some words from the top of his mind.  Rather he thoughtfully and briefly restates the major themes of this inspired letter.  Paul is doing what every good communicator does.  He tells you what he’s going to tell you (Rom. 1:1-11).  He tells you (Rom. 1:12-15:33). Then, he tells you what he told you (Rom. 16:25-27).   Romans is about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul restates What God’s Gospel Does.  1) It gives us certainty in an uncertain world. 2) It gives us victory over the tyranny of sin and death. 3) It gives us unity in a world filled with division. Certainty, Victory, Unity. 

1. It gives us certainty in a world of uncertainty. The world has no certainty about life, about death, about hope in this world or hope beyond this word.  It has no certainty about God, about His Word, or about salvation.  Paul praises God for His Gospel that offers stability, strength, and certainty in an uncertain world. Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel(Romans 16:25a). The word able literally means power (δύναμις). We get the word dynamite from it.  Paul begins and ends with Romans with this word. In Romans 1:16 he says the gospel is, the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16) The Gospel is God’s all sufficient power to save and to keep.  But Paul is not finished. He connects God’s power with a second word: establish(στηρίζω) that is to make stable, strong, certain. God’s power through the gospel is able to do what we cannot do for ourselves – it makes us able to stand strong, to have certainty.  The Gospel gives believers a confident certainty about life and death we cannot find anywhere else.  Paul is so confident, in fact, he does not simply say THEgospel, but MY gospel. He’s not making a statement of authorship, but ownership. Paul’s gospel was the same as John’s, as Peter’s, and every other true believer. Paul says it is his gospel because he has wagered his own soul on its truth.  Paul understood apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, life has no meaning, no purpose, no satisfaction, no joy.  There is only sin, disappointment, hopelessness, and ultimately judgement. Paul spends the first three chapters of Romans walking through our need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

More than once I’ve witnessed the power of God’s gospel take someone is consumed with the fear of death and dying, and give them a transforming peace, a confident rest in their soul.  On one occasion my mother-in-law and I went to see a woman in a care facility we’d known for years. She was dying and she was terrified.  The very fear of dying had kept her from sleeping for days.  Utter exhaustion and dread filled her eyes.  I told her what she needed was peace and only the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, could give that to her by placing her trust in Him as her Savior.  The very moment she prayed asking Jesus to forgive her of her sins and be her Savior, her Prince of Peace, fear instantly gave way to peace in her countenance.  Jesus anyone to comes to Him will find rest for their souls (Matt. 11:29). Hebrews 2 says Jesus came to render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through the fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives (Hebrews 2:14-15).  No one but a Christian can be absolutely confident about God, about His forgiveness, about His power to heal, about where he or she will spend eternity.  Only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ can we find the certainty we need.  

1. It gives us victory in a world of sin and death. The only gospel that can make us certain in an uncertain world is one that involves the preaching of Jesus Christ(Romans 16:25b).  The overwhelming great news of our victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ is not only a major theme in Romans, but in all of Scripture.  Paul said to the Jews the thought of Jesus dying on the cross was a stumbling block, to the Gentiles it is foolishness, but to those who are called, Christ is the manifest wisdom and power of God (1 Cor. 1:23-24).  God’s power has given us certain victory over sin and death. 

For years my wife has collected what are called matryoshka dolls.  They’re wooden Russian dolls that stack one within another from larger to smaller.  Some have five dolls, one inside the other.  I think one doll has about fifteen dolls. The last one is no larger than a grain of rice.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is like one of those matryoshka dolls. Within it are blessing after blessing after blessing. After showing us our need for the gospel and how we can receive it in Romans 1-3, Paul then begins to share the unlimited blessings the gospel brings to those who trust Christ.  In Romans 3:21 through the end of chapter 8 Paul shares an overwhelming number of blessings the gospel brings to the lives of those who’ve been established in Christ.  The gift of being made right with God comes through faith alone in Christ (Rom. 3:22).  This gift is given to us purely by His grace (3:24).  Because of His gift of grace, we now have peace with God (5:1).  We have His free gift eternal life (6:23).  We have been freed from the Law and serve God in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (7:6).  We’re free from condemnation before God; our guilt is gone (8:1). We are now indwelt by God the Holy Spirit (8:9).  We have life in the Spirit (8:11). We are led by the Spirit (8:14).  We have the Spirit’s witness we are God’s children (8:16).  And nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:39).  Through the gospel of Jesus Christ we have victory once and for all over sin and death. 

Above the entrance to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, Germany were the words Arbeit Macht Frei. The words mean “Work makes free.” It was a boldfaced lie suggesting that if the prisoners worked hard, they would be given liberty. The promised freedom was a horrifying death.

Many people believe that if they try their best, if they do enough good works, they will earn Heaven. This is no different than the lie that hung over the entrance Auschwitz. They will learn too late that good works can’t earn freedom. Only Christ’s blood can free us. He died to give us freedom from the penalty of our sin and death.  What does God’s gospel do? It gives us certainty in a world of uncertainty, and it gives us victory over sin and death. Third, …

1. It gives us unity in a world filled with division.  One of the oldest and fiercest sources of disunity in our world is racial.  White against black. Black against white.  Jew against Gentile.  Gentile against Jew and so on. We’ve seen some use it to attempt to further divide our country, especially in our last election.  Paul says God’s gospel unveils a mystery concerning the world’s age-old division, a mystery that has been kept secret from long ages past.  according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen(Romans 16:25c-27).  The mystery (μυστήριον) here is not a mystery novel kind of mystery or some mystical knowledge, but something that in former times (OT) was hidden and has now been made known (NT).  The Bible is full of mysteries.  Paul talks about the mystery of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:7-8), as well as the mystery of godliness (1 Tim. 3:16). Paul refers to the rapture being a mystery (1 Cor. 15:51).  One of the greatest mysteries God shows us is the mystery of Christ and the Church or the mystery of Christ in believers (Eph. 5:32; Col. 1:27). 

But the mystery Paul has in mind here is the mystery of God providing salvation for both the Jews and Gentiles.  They are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promise in Jesus Christ through the gospel (Eph. 3: 6,9).  The mystery that jolted many of the Jews was that Gentiles and Jews would become one people equal before God spiritually as well as positionally.  There were hints of it in the OT. God foretold it in passages like Genesis 12:3 where God says He is going to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham.  In Isaiah God says the Messiah will be a light to all the nations so that His salvation would reach the end of the earth (Isa. 49:6).  In other words, the only answer that will bring unity to our world of all peoples regardless of race, culture, nationality, language, or age is leading them to an obedience of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

The revealing of this mystery through God’s gospel moves Paul to a place of overwhelming gratitude. He breaks out into a crescendo of praise: to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever!  

What a miracle! God in His wisdom made our world just right to sustain life. Just the right distance from the sun. Just the right amount of oxygen.  Just the right pull of gravity.  Just the right plants and animals for food.  To crown it all, He formed man and woman in His own image.  But the greatest of all is that He gave us His Son Jesus Christ who meets our greatest need of all – salvation that gives us certainty in an uncertain world, victory over the tyranny of sin and death, and unity in a world filled with division. How can do otherwise than to join with Paul in lifting our hands and raise our eyes heavenward with gratitude saying: Soli Deo Gloria, Glory to God alone!