16th chapter of the book of Romans. Chapter 16. This letter was written to the
Romans by the apostle Paul. He had a lot of He had a lot of brethren and
sisters that he had much confidence in as to their faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the biggest part of the chapter
is greetings, salutations to various individuals that Paul
knows and loves and are keepers of the faith. And he concludes
this letter with a doxology here in verse 25 and 26 and 27,
and we want to talk a little bit this morning to you about
what Paul says regarding the wisdom and the greatness
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says in verse 25, Now to him, that's God the Father, Now to
him, that is of power. Now to Him that is of power to
establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery. which was kept
secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the
scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting
God, made known to all nations for
the obedience of faith. And that's what I want to talk
about, or at least I hope I can talk about the obedience of faith. To God, the only wise, be glory
through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Now, as I've said, he concludes
here with this excellent doxology wherein he
describes God and also ascribes to God eternal
glory. He describes God and then ascribes
to God eternal glory. Now, two of the main attributes
of perfection is manifested here. First, it's His power. He says
here that He is able to establish you. That's the power of God. apart from the power of God in
establishing a believer in the truth, he would totter and fall on account of his own weakness
and on account of the subtlety of Satan if it were not for the power
of God. to establish a believer in the
truth as to how God saves sinners. If that was not done by God,
we would fall into sin and error. are so great, our weakness is
so great, and his power is so great, that it is the power of
the devil, unless God did establish us, we would fall. Hard to tell what we would do.
And I want you to notice here in these verses that Paul calls
it, my gospel. to establish you according to
my gospel, not according to fairy tales or not according to men's
writing, but according to my gospel, that gospel Paul said
that I received from him, my gospel, because Paul is the
preacher of it. If Paul is noted for anything
in the scriptures, it is for his ability to preach the gospel. There was no hesitation on Paul's
part to preach the gospel. He said over here in the first
chapter of the book of Romans, he said it was his heart's desire,
I believe, He said, I'm a debtor both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians, a debtor to the wise and to the unwise. And he said, I long to see you
that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift. To the end you
may be established. And then he goes on and says,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also unto
the Gentile or unto the Greek. He calls it my gospel because
he's the preacher of this gospel, and then he calls it the preaching
of Jesus Christ. And thirdly, he calls it the
mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now
is made manifest. Now, concerning this revelation
of the mystery, Paul speaks of the means whereby this mystery
is made known. He says it's made known by the
scriptures of the prophets. Over here in Acts chapter 10 and verse 43 is a verse that establishes that. chapter 10 and verse 43. Paul said in verse 42, well,
verse 41, Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before
God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose
from the dead. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people. and to testify that it is he
which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead,
to give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever
believeth in him shall receive the remissions of sin. So concerning
this revelation of the mystery, Paul
speaks of the means whereby it was made known by the scriptures
of the prophets and by the authority of the everlasting God and to
the persons to whom it was made known, that is, the Gentiles
and the inhabitants of all nations. What for? He says, for the obedience
of faith. Let me read it all again. To
him, that's God the Father, that has the power to establish you
according to my gospel, Paul calls it mine, and he calls it
then the preaching of Jesus Christ, and then he talks about the gospel
being a revelation of the mystery that was hidden, which was kept
secret, since the world began. Not a complete secret because
there was some action going through the sacrifices, but not actually
speaking in words that would describe the Lord Jesus Christ,
but it was in type and in picture. But primarily to the majority
of the inhabitants of the earth, The gospel was a mystery, and
it is a mystery even to this day to the majority of the world's
population. They know not what the gospel
is. And so Paul says, according to
the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the
world began, now his subject, understand, is the preaching
of the gospel. but now is made manifest. It's
made manifest now through the preaching of the gospel, and
the gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ, but is now made manifest,
and by the scriptures of the prophets, what they said, Isaiah,
Ezekiel, and Jonah, and all the prophets, according to the commandment,
they said all this according to the commandment of the everlasting
God, that it might be made known to all nations for the obedience
of faith." Well, then he goes on, we'll just keep that in mind
there, for the obedience of faith. He said verse 25 and verse 26,
and the last part of verse 26 has been said in order that we
might find out something about the obedience of faith. What
is the obedience of faith? What does he mean there? All
this was done, the gospel, a secret, a mystery, now is made known
through and by the prophets and through the Apostle Paul and
by the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ for this reason,
for this reason, for the obedience of faith. What is the obedience
of faith? All right, but he goes on here.
And he says, to God only wise. To God only wise. Well, he is
said to be wise and only wise. There's nobody else that is as
wise as God. The only wise God. said to be only wise because
none is wise as God, knows all things, can do all things, needs
no teaching or instruction from anybody, said to be only wise
because none is wise as He is wise. All the wisdom of others
is from the wisdom of man and angels, and the wisdom of man
and the wisdom of angels is only likened or to be compared unto
a ray, just a one splendid ray of light. compared to the wisdom
of God, the only wise God. He is wisdom of himself. He really is wisdom himself. And he says, Be glory to God
only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. You remember
we said some things here, I believe, Wednesday night, that the chief
duty of man was to glorify God, and the chief duty of God was
to glorify himself. And so the object of man and
the object of God are both self, same, and one. The chief duty
of man is to glorify God, And the chief duty of God is to glorify
himself. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever
you do, you do all to the glory of God. And so Paul concludes
in this doxology, To God, he said, only wise, be glorious. How? Through Jesus Christ forever. And now let me try to tell you
what I think this means. when it says, according to the
commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. Well, God-given faith, God-given
faith, that's what we're talking about, that's what we're interested
in, you and I, God-given faith. For faith is the gift of God.
Turn with me there so we can establish this beyond the shadow
of a doubt. It's not something that you conjure
up or work up. It's a gift of God. Here in the
book of Ephesians, verse 8, chapter 2, verse 8, the gospel is preached for the
obedience of faith. That's the reason our Lord said
to his disciples in the last chapter of the book of Matthew,
he gave them what is called the great commission to go ye therefore
into all the world and preach the gospel. Why? For the obedience
of faith. What is the obedience of faith?
Here in verse 8, chapter 2, It says, For by grace are ye saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God. Faith is the gift of God. Jesus Christ is the gift of God. All right? The gospel is preached
for the obedience of faith. What is the obedience of faith? Now, God-given faith, faith that
God gives, believes. Listen to me now closely. I want
you to write it down if you can. God-given faith believes and
obeys the testimony of God concerning His Son. That's what true faith
is. He says all this, might be made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. And the obedience of faith, God-given
faith, believes and obeys the testimony of God concerning His
Son. Now, the life of a believer is
the life of obedience, obedience to God. Yet, listen to me now,
yet it is not your obedience, It is not my obedience, but it
is the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ that is our righteousness
before God. Now, can I say that again? God,
given faith, believes and obeys the testimony of God concerning
God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the life of a believer,
is a life of obedience to God, yet it is not our obedience,
but the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ that is our righteousness
before God. The Bible says that Christ was
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now, nevertheless,
The principle remains the same. No obedience or sacrifice to
God in one area will compensate for disobedience to the plain
commands of God in another area. God commands us. He commands us not only to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, but he commands us to follow him. And this is where the hard part
comes in. This other believing part seems
to be an easy thing for us. It seems to be an easy thing
for everybody, everybody that you know of, almost everybody,
nine out of ten, will some way, somehow, identify with the Lord
Jesus Christ by saying, Yes, I believe that He was, I believe
that He is, and I believe that He ever will be so. I believe that. But is that evidence
that they are saved? Not in the obedience of faith.
The obedience of faith God-given faith is the life of faith which
a believer lives. Now, God commands us that not only are we to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, but we're to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's our main business in this
life, as being a believer is to follow after Him who has saved
us. To be obedient to Him. To be
obedient to Him means to follow Him. You can't say that you're
a believer if you don't follow Him. I give unto them eternal
life and they follow me, our Lord says. He commands us. Lay
everything else aside and put me first. If you take a hold
of the handle of the plow and let go, you're not fit for the
kingdom of God. It's to follow Him. And secondly,
it's to confess Him in baptism. You think that baptism is a thing
that's insignificant? Well, then you're entirely wrong.
It's part of the command of God Himself. It's an evidence. Go ye then into all the world
and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Follow Him. Confess Him in baptism. Go down into the water. Be buried
with Him. Identify yourself with Him. Put on His clothes. put on his
uniform, swear your allegiance to him, follow him. It's to be identified with him. And he tells us that in the obedience
of faith, we are to be identified with his people. If a man is
a believer, If he believes the testimony of God concerning his
son, then he'll be identified with people that believe like
he does. You being a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ and you move to Utah, you wouldn't join the Mormon
church, would you? You wouldn't go to a Mormon church,
would you? I certainly hope you wouldn't.
You wouldn't be identifying yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, but
you'd be identifying yourself with the enemy of God and the
enemy of Christ. We're to be identified with His
people. That's what provokes me sometimes
when I come up here on Wednesday night and see about 20 people
here. That bothers me to no end. There's some that you can point
your finger this way and that way and know they'll be there,
and there's others that It's not that important to them. What
I'm telling you about the obedience of faith, to the believer it's a lack of faith. We're to confess him, we're to
follow him, we're to be baptized in his name, and we are to associate
with his people for the honor and the glory of God and so forth. to be identified with his people,
and certainly to hear his gospel. You don't go to a Cavalite church
and hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, do you? You go
to the Cavalite church, what do you hear? Be baptized for
the remission of sins. They'll tell you that you've
got to be baptized in order to be saved. You've got to be baptized
if you're going to be obedient and follow the Lord Jesus Christ,
but it has nothing to do with your salvation. It's fulfilling
the command and the desire of God in Christ. Identify yourself
with his people to hear his gospel and to separate ourselves from
this world. We're not of this world. We've
been taken out of this world. We are a people, a people that
has God for our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ for our Savior,
and Heaven for our home. And we're not of this world.
Separate ourselves from this world, especially from false
religions. Separate yourself from false
religions. And there's lots of it. Lots
of it. And we're also told a command
of God in Christ to love one another. We're to love one another. Brothers and sisters are we with
the elder brother of the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father. We're all one. What you have,
what I have, belongs to one another, if necessary. And then we're told to pray. We're commanded throughout the
New Testament, Old Testament life, that the people of God who believe the testimony of
God concerning His Son, we do that for the obedience of faith,
And faith is a gift of God. And we, as the children of God,
adopted into the family of God, follow God in Christ. We're told
to pray. When you pray, he said, say,
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And I told you here the other
evening, that even in our prayers, even when we pray, the first part of our prayer
is worship and thanksgiving unto God, and when we get through
with that, then we talk about our needs. But His worship and
His praise comes first. His glory comes first, and our
needs are second. And we're told to pray, to get
in the corner, to get in the closet, to pray. And not only to pray, but to
give as He has prospered us. These are commands. His children
are commanded to follow Him. His children are commanded to
pray. His children are commanded to
give. God as God has prospered him. And we're also commanded by God
not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as some
men do. We're not to forsake. I've noticed
here there's times when we've had the Lord suffer. to remember
the Lord Jesus Christ publicly and openly. As a church, we are
commanded by God, As oft as ye do this, ye show forth the Lord's
death, till it come again. And sometimes we only have twenty
or thirty people. Sometimes not that many. That's
not right. That's not right. That's not
in accordance with the experience of the believers of the Bible,
anyhow. I'll say that. Because he says
here, he says that God's got the power to establish you and
me. He's got the power according to my gospel and the preaching
of Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the mystery,
which was kept secret. But it's now made manifest and
by the scriptures of the prophets. according to the commandments
of the everlasting God, make known to all nations for the
obedience of faith. Not our faith, but the faith
of Him. But this command does not displace
this command when He commands us to be a witness, when He commands
us to pray. when he commands us to love one
another, when he commands us to do this and to do that. And
I'm just citing some of these here for our edification. Not to forsake the assembling
of ourselves together. Not to forsake ourselves from
assembling together for the purpose of Worshipping Him, whom to know
is life eternal. And then he said another command. He said, Be not just a hearer of the Word, but
a doer of the Word. And all of these have something
to do with the obedience of faith. That's what Paul's talking about
here, the obedience of faith. There's one thing to say that
I love Jesus, but it's another thing to manifest that love in
some of these things that I've mentioned. Is that right, Pat?
Try to love one another. Try to love me, and I'll try
to love you. There's nothing too lovely about
me that would provoke you or cause you to love me, and not
much about you for me to love you. But for Christ's sake, for
God's sake, for the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes I get tired and don't
want to come to church. I'd rather stay at home. Sometimes
I do. But that's not the habit. That's
not the bent and the course of my experience. I'm a poor example, I know that. And you're a poor example. And
when it's all said and done, we're all poor examples. And I don't want to live a lie.
I want to be right about this for the obedience of faith. Not my obedience, His. It's the Lord Jesus Christ that
worked out this righteousness for us, wasn't it? You're not
dependent on your righteousness. You haven't got any. You've got
righteousness so-called in your own eyes and in your own mind
you might have a righteousness, but not a righteousness that
will meet the needs of a sinner. You don't have that righteousness.
That righteousness has been provided for the believing sinner by the
Lord Jesus Christ in His what? In His obedience to death. He
freely charges that to our account. We are accepted by God on the
account of His blood and His righteousness, not our righteousness. It's all by the free grace of
God. Even this faith that I'm talking
about is a gift of God. He gives us faith. reveals it
to us, makes the love of Jesus Christ known to our hearts. Not too much to ask out of us
than to follow Him, be dedicated to Him, be baptized in His name,
to give of our time and our money as He prospers us, all these
things, is it? We'll meet again this evening
here, about what time, 6.30? 6 o'clock,
6 o'clock. This stand will be dismissed.
You'll remember now.