Romans chapter 16, I want to
read the last few verses of Paul's letter to our brothers and sisters
who were at Rome. I'll begin in verse 21. Timotheus,
my fellow worker, my work fellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Socipiter,
my kinsmen salute you. I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle,
salute you in the Lord. This is the only place We know
for sure that's where Paul allowed the person who wrote down what
Paul was saying to him, he actually let him actually write something
and say something here. I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle,
salute you in the Lord. Gaius, mine host, and of the
whole church, saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the
city, saluteth you, and Quartus, our brother. And this is gonna
be the end of my actual text now. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all, amen. Now to him that is of power to
establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ, because there is no gospel apart from the preaching of Christ.
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, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according
to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. To God, only wise, be glory through
Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Pardon me. My subject for this morning,
or I'm probably better by title, is this. God's secret is out
now. You know what I'm saying? God's
secret is out now. Now in verses 21, 22, 23, 24,
Paul and Tertius sends hellos to Rome from some Corinth. Is
there any lesson here? I won't spend much time here.
Is there any lesson here? Yes, there is. Actual greetings in
Christ are never to be just social social niceties. As Earl used
to say, a word to the wise is sufficient. I don't know how
many times someone said to me, if I'm going to another church
or going to meet with other believers, tell them I said hello. And I
forget. And I don't. And if God sees
fit in his wisdom to put even hellos and greetings in the holy
canon of God, we ought to take our hellos and greetings seriously
amongst God's people. Now, lesson learned, lesson learned. So let's consider Paul's concluding
words under two headings, just two. Who God is and what God
is due. I didn't say what God owes. What
God is due. Now Paul introduces these two
things by this phrase, now to him. Now to him. And then he speaks of who God
is. And then he speaks of what God is due. Now to him. In other
words, now to him who is. And now to him who is due, you
see it? 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 and
by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known. The secret's out now. Made known, okay? Made known
to all nations for the obedience of the faith. Preface it by saying,
at one time, this was not made known to all nations. At one
time it was not, and I'll speak a little bit more about that
in a moment. So first of all, the first heading, now to him,
who God is. First of all, God is the God
of power to establish you. You see it? In other words, he
is the God of might and authority, of power and authority or right. Sometimes some men may try to
say, which one is it, might or right? It is always with God,
both. It's never, ever only one. Now we, under God, may be given
some might, even when we don't have the right. And in some things
we may be given the right, but we don't have the might. But
never can it be said about God that he has the might, but he
don't have the right. Or that he has the right, but he don't
have the might. It is God, the God of might and authority. Second,
the God of authority. God is the God of power to establish
you. Second thought under this heading.
God of might and authority to establish. That means to set
fast. To set fast. To turn resolutely
in a certain direction. He's got the might and the right
to turn us and set us fast in a certain direction. Now think about this. Here's
the source of this direction. And we'll give you just a reminder.
We've already looked at this weeks ago. There is a passage. Let me just read it to you. You
don't have to turn. It's in the same letter, but I want to read the
words that Paul wrote. Let me find my spot. Okay, hold on. Just a moment. Okay. Listen to it. For sin shall not, not should
not, not may not, not might not. For sin shall not have dominion
over you. An astounding statement. Especially when I look at myself
and know a little bit about myself. For sin shall not have dominion
over you. Four, so we're gonna get the
explanation of it. Four, you're not under the law,
but under grace. Note, it don't say we have grace,
though that's certainly true, but we are under it. Grace dominates
the life of the believer. And I want to try to explain
it. It doesn't say we don't have any sin in us. We got all kinds
of sin in us. Sin and sins. But it says sin
shall not have dominion over you. What was it that kept you
from believing God in the beginning? Sin. How is it that all of a
sudden that changed? God moved you from under law
and self and sin and he put you under grace. It's a power, not
in yourself, but from Him that's able to establish you. That's
a power to establish you. Now, I can believe God. I find myself believing God in
spite of the sin I see so rampant within me. Why? Because that
sin does not now reign over me. Now, I still have unbelief, it's
still there. And I cry out to God, help my
unbelief. Not even Lord help me to deal
with my unbelief, you can't. You can't handle your unbelief.
You can't get the upper hand on, you're not under seeing,
it dominates you because you're under grace. What was it that
kept me from repenting? Sin. That's what it was. What was it that kept me from
saying, I'm the guilty one and I need to turn, turn to God,
turn to Christ, believe Christ, turn away from my idols of sin
and self and self-satisfaction. What enables me to do that? The
God of power. who's able to establish you.
And remember, he that hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. What kept me from enjoying the
house of God? What was it that caused me to
come simply out of duty? later on, or because my parents
simply told me I had to. What was it that kept me from
actually enjoying the assembly of God? Two things, one, the
first one I was in wasn't an assembly of God. So I'm glad
I didn't enjoy it that much. But there did come a time later
in life where I straightened up my act. I became, but what
caused me to enjoy this kind of assembly? What was it that kept me from
that? Sin. Sin, but it doesn't dominate
me now. There are times I had to get
up very early this morning to go to work already and may have
to go back. I'm tired, but I enjoy being
here. When I was dominated by sin,
I'd have used that as a clear excuse not to be. And why is it? Because I'm some
great person? No. No. Now to him that is of power to
establish you. Do you see it? What kept me from
walking in accord with his commands of love and faith? What was it? Sin. Sin. Now sin still causes me to stumble. But he lifts me back up. He establishes
me and he establishes me. And Mackey just keeps establishing
me, setting me in the right direction. When I turn my face this way,
he'll turn me back. He turns me back. And it, as
Joseph, it hurts when it happens. But afterward, you thank God
for it. Why? Because sin don't have dominion
over you anymore. Now Joe, if I could turn my back
on this assembly, and the truth of the gospel to go my merry
way, then God has not established me ever. Because if he begins
the good work in you, he will perform it. He will perform it. But it's performed according
to my gospel and Christ preached. But the reason this guy's so
bad is he don't have enough rules or laws. No, that's probably,
he's acting out against it. loves to rebel against authority. And when you put rules and regulations
on men and women, the flesh rises up and says, I will not. I remember
my papa, my grandfather, we was at a family reunion. And there
was a big mud hole out there. Of course, it was a big family.
There were a lot of kids and middle-aged folk and old people
there at the reunion. And the kids, you could just
tell they was wanting to go stomp in that mud puddle. My papa would
say, you kids, y'all go over there and jump in that mud, play
in that mud. No, it wasn't the one. I'm the one to do it after that.
Because they were told to. Henry Mahan once said out here
at Kirksville Tabernacle, he once said, how do you make men
and women more rebellious? Put laws upon the law. But if
grace, if you're under grace, it dominates you. And you serve
and work and walk by love. You do it because you love to
do it. And that's the big difference
between me now and way back yonder. Way back yonder. It's according
to my gospel, and we know this, you know this. Christ is the
gospel. Paul started that out in this
letter to these people. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God, and
then go back, concerning his son. You see it? Now the parentheses
is vital, but the gospel of God, verse three, concerning his son. Apart from the preaching of the
person and work of Jesus Christ, there is no gospel. God has done all he can, all
he can, and now it's up to you. That's no gospel at all. Make
your decision for Jesus. That's no gospel at all. because
it is this, I turned away from it, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of
God, which he promised, afford by his prophets in the holy scriptures,
concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the
seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be, not
made, and declared to be the son of God with what? Might and
right. Power, you see it? Power, according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. Amazing, according to my gospel
and Christ preached. As Paul said, woe is me. I don't care what topic in this
Bible I'm preaching from, and there are a lot of topics, and
they're all valid and important, okay? But woe is me if when I'm
on that topic, I preach, not the gospel. The gospel's not
an add-on. It's the sum and substance of
everything. It's everything. It's the hub,
it's the spokes, it's the wheel. It's everything. And as I've
mentioned this here before, I didn't know him, but this person said
to, told me this, he said, well, you know, we just gotta get over
this thing about Christ, Christ, Christ. God, help us to never
get over Christ. And this was a preacher who claimed
to preach grace. Get over Christ. If I ever think that, oh God,
turn me back. There's a third thought. God
is the God who has revealed the secret which he kept secret since
the world began. And it's amazing here, the word,
and I know, I don't wanna spend a lot of time hammering on somebody
else or something else. But he uses the word mystery,
you know what that means? Secret. That's what it means, secret.
He uses the word secret, you know what that means? Secret.
But it's not the same word. The second one that's translated
secret means secret. But notice it is kept. Secret,
okay? The first we'll know is secret,
which is translated mystery, but what does that mean? It's
always been a secret since the world began, but it has been
revealed to some. A few. The connotation of it
would be a very few compared to the whole. Now I was born
and raised that mystery meant this, this word mystery, especially
when Paul spoke of certain subjects, especially the church. The Old
Testament knew nothing about the New Testament church. I was
steeped in that. And that rubbish still surrounds
me, Ellen, that I have to move some of the rubbish out of the
way at times. God's church has always been in this book. Church
means to be called out. Called out, God's always been
calling out his people. But there was a time when God
only gave his word to a small, very small group of people. He
gave this holy book, especially the Old Testament, only to one
nation. That's the nation of Israel.
And they were not told to make copies and send it out to everybody
else, were they? Were they? As a matter of fact,
it is rare occasion when you find a prophet in the Old Testament
from Israel going to preach even to Gentiles. It's rare. Most of their words, the prophet's
words about Gentiles was nothing but whoa, whoa, whoa. And even Joel was so bold that
God moved him to write, and it shall come to pass Why? Because it hadn't yet. It was
a secret that God was keeping secret until the time that his
secret was to be let out. Joel said it shall come to pass
that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. So there you see the secret. And it's kind of revealed, it
says, whosoever, not just Jews, not just white people, not just
males, okay? And whosoever shall call, but
Joel writes it, and it shall come to pass. It hadn't yet. But now God commands all men
everywhere to repent. And he said, go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. The secret's out now. This book
has been translated into just about every language that exists
upon the face of the earth. And in this country, at least
in most of the hotels and motels I've been to, you can find a
copy of it in about every drawer in every room. The secret's out
now. But that don't mean that men
can readily believe it. You know why? They're under the
dominion of sin. And God has to work a work of
free, sovereign, reigning grace in their soul before the secret
that's out, they can even perceive it and love it and rejoice in
it down in here. So when you read that word mystery
all throughout this room, it simply means, it's not talking
about spooky stuff. It's not talking about something
that can't be understood. It's just something that was
kept secret. Even here in Paul's language,
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. Do you see that? It's out there.
There is stuff, we were recording stuff, and it's some of us even
going out live today to take it here all over the world. Live. Back within a few seconds
of me saying a word, they're hearing that very word. God's
left the secret out. But man is so depraved. And when
I say depraved, I'm not talking about so immoral. Not everybody's
immoral. But man is so depraved, is so unable to love God, that
even when he hears it, he says, I'm not like that. I'll believe
in Jesus, but not that kind of Jesus. As the one guy taught,
I've said this over and over, but I just like saying it because
I like the phrase. The guy told Ralph Barnard, he
said, your God's a monster. He said, well then prepare to
meet a monster. Because the God Ralph preached was the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is the God who has revealed
the secret which he kept secret since the world began, the mystery. In other words, as I said, secret
only few knew. God's secret's out now. You know
why I like that? There is the possibility, I'm
speaking in human terms, the possibility, Paul, it may include
me. It may include me. At one time,
I had to be a Jew. And if I wasn't a Jew, I had
to start living like the Jew. To even hear this on a regular
basis. You hear what I'm saying? To
even hear it on a regular basis. And that didn't mean I saved
just because I started living like a Jew. It's never meant
it. which were born not of blood. That's not a New Testament doctrine.
That's an eternal doctrine from God Almighty. Not of blood, nor
the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but born of God. That mystery, that secret is
now made manifest. And look, the prophets even foretold
it in the scriptures. He says it right here. So it's
not like it's something God never let out of the bag at all. but
he kept that bag very close at hand. And only revealed it to
certain people, and it came a time when he only revealed it to a
certain nation and gave them this word. Think about it, there
was no scripture at all until Moses. None, other than possibly
Job, but we don't really know about Job. Only, it may even
be that the events of Job preceded even, or was during even Abraham's
time. But it may not have been written
about Ellen until years later by whoever wrote it. But there
was no holy scripture till Moses came along. And even then, God
kept it here. What was the whole thing in Egypt?
No blessing was revealed to the Egyptians. It was only two God's
chosen people, Israel. And I'm glad, and I'm gonna say
it this way, I'm glad not all Israel are of Israel. Because the fact that he broke
some off means we could be grafted in. And we're not the church separate
from God's Israel. We are the church, and bless
God, we are God's Israel. If I'm grafted into the root
stock, that makes me a part of it, Jack. Now don't it? I partake
of the root and fatness of the olive tree. That makes me a Jew. That makes me a Jew. Aren't you glad God opened the
bag? He said, here it is, here it
is. And he says, that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And Peter said,
the day of Pentecost, he said, this is when this has happened.
It started just now. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. See, three ways in which God's
secret is out now. As I've done mentioned it. At
one time, very few people were preached to. We know what Jonah
was sent to Nineveh. Did you know of any more? Now
there may be a couple I'm missing, but Jonah was sent to Nineveh.
That's it. That's it. And never were they
making Bibles and have scribes making thousands of copies and
send it to the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Philistines.
God kept it secret. But now this Bible's went all
over the whole blessed world. This gospel's now being preached
what? Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. The secret's out now. And I'm
glad. I'm glad. Repentance was not
once universally commanded. I'm not saying they were saved.
They got to go to heaven. That's not the point Paul was
making. This time to this ignorance, this idolatry, at one time God
weeped at it. He left them alone. He just left
them alone. Now God has sent messengers out
into all the world and now commends all men everywhere to turn, to
turn the secrets out. And again, as I said, whosoever
shall call upon Christ's name, that was once a future prospect,
but now we're living in the reality of it. Are we not? We're living
in the reality of it. Truly God is, to God the only
wise. If I would have never thought
up a scheme like that, would have you? That's beyond my, Jack,
I still have trouble wrapping my puny mind around it all. Somebody says, why did God hold
out for so long? Cause he wanted to. Why did God
leave so many people out? Cause he wanted to. I don't care
if it's 5,000 or if it's I must needs go through Samaria for
one person. That's to the glory and praise
of God Almighty. And it's already been said here,
if God's pleased to hide it, hide it from the wise and the
prudent, praise God. Praise God. And reveal it unto
babes, praise God. But note, even the babes have
to have it revealed to them. We don't know it by nature. We cannot know it by nature.
God's secret is now out. But here's the second thing,
and we'll be long on this. One more, what God is due. Glory! Glory! You see it? To God only wise, here's what
he's due, be glory. Through but through Jesus Christ
forever. That's what Paul wrote, amen.
So be it. What do you mean? Glory, he deserves
the credit. He deserves the merit. He deserves
the praise, he deserves the honor, he deserves the thanks, he deserves
the approval, he deserves the recognition, all is due unto
God. All glory, not most glory, not
the largest super majority part of glory, all glory. Whoever
glory, glory where? In the Lord. And that's why God
did it like he did, because he wants all the glory, he got the
right to it. and he's got the might to accomplish
it, because you realize one day all men and women that's ever
been, save lost, damned, or blessed, will be made to confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. But remember, it's only through
Jesus Christ, and bless God, that's the reason it will be
forever. Wind it up, last thought. Even
in glory, when we are in glory, and when glory will be manifest
even in us. I remember Earl preaching on
that years ago, and I always thought about going to glory.
I never thought about glory being revealed in me. Glory in you,
but even then in that most blessed state, we'll still be giving
glory to who? The land. We won't get over him even then. And if you could get over him
now, you ain't going to be giving any praise to him other than
in your damnation in the world to come. He gets all the glory. Heavenly Father, help us. We're so faulty, so prone to
minds to wonder and to be on other things. Lord, be with us
in Christ's name, amen.