Romans, the first chapter, we'll read the first 16 verses. Paul. a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated under the gospel of God, which he had promised to for 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 the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. by whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name, among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ.

To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me.

Now, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oft times I have purposed to come unto you, but was let hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So, As much as in me is I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. 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 to the Greek.

I've taken my title through this message out of this 16th verse. The power of God now the scriptures have much to say about this subject about the power of our God and the power of our Savior. And I want to look at several of those tonight. Now this word power it has many meanings but the one I found that most best applied to our God is this the ability to control people and events to have dominion over. Now the very first place that speaks of God's power is the very first verse of this Bible that you're holding in your lap. It says in the very first verse in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth to create something means to bring into existence something new, something never seen before. And how did he do that? We're told by the power of his word and of his will, he simply spoke And it happened. That's hard for us to imagine.

Numerous times in this first chapter of Genesis, we read these words, and God said. And I thought about that for a long time. What kind of power must one possess when he can create something as vast as this universe with just a word? And God said, I have made the heaven or I have made the earth and created man upon it. I even I have stretched out the heavens and all the hosts have I commanded Isaiah 45 12. And we read much the same thing in Jeremiah 51 15. It says he hath made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom and is stretched out to heaven by his understanding the location and the path of every heavenly body that we can see And certainly those we cannot see, our God sustains and directs.

I was reading a little bit this week and last week. This universe, so scientists tell us, is so vast, they claim it's ever expanding. I don't know how they know that, but it can't be measured in miles. It's measured in light years. And a light year, as you know, is the distance that light travels in a year. Light travels, I think, 186,000 miles per second. That's almost eight times around the Earth in a second. It travels at over 670 million miles per hour. That's one light year. The scientists tell us that the observable universe is 93 billion, with a B, 93 billion light years. And our God spoke that into being. And you tell that to people and they say, nobody has that kind of power. No, they're right. Nobody has that kind of power except the God that we worship.

The God that we worship, his power is completely incomprehensible to the human mind. Our grandest imaginations of his power don't even begin to scratch the surface of his true abilities. This God who we worship, whose name is Jesus Christ the righteous created all things according to John 1 3 all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in Colossians 1 15 says much the same thing speaking of Christ who is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. He upholds these things by his power. Jeremiah tells us, he hath made the earth by his power. He hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Our Lord told us, I have made the earth the man and the beast that are upon the ground by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto them whom it seemeth to me meet.

And this power of our God, we can't imagine this, knows no limits. He declares in Jeremiah 32, 27. I love this. Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? How about you turn Antarctica into a desert? Not a problem. How about you take the Rocky Mountains and cast them into the Pacific? Not a problem. Is there anything too hard for our God?

God is not subject to what we call the laws of nature. God is the laws of nature by his very presence, by his very power. Our God has never tried to do anything. He simply speaks. He simply thinks it, and it happens.

And we've heard people say, I know you have, and I have, when something bad maybe happens to somebody, they'll say, maybe the Lord's trying to tell you something. The Lord doesn't try to tell anybody anything. I've got news for you. If the Lord wants you to know something, you will get that message. resoundingly loud and clear. There will be no missing or misunderstanding the message.

And he not only created the universe by the word of his power, we're told that he sustains everything by the same power as in Hebrews 1 3, speaking of Christ again, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by what? the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

Turn with me over to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. I'll begin reading in verse 15. Ephesians 1 15. Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power? Paul runs out of words. The exceeding greatness of his power to us were who believe. And how do we believe? According to the working of his mighty power, that same power, we're told, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion. and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come and have put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all

the power of our God, which raised Christ from the dead is the same power that raises lost sinners from the spiritual death into which we're born. And Paul tells the Ephesians here in verse 17 that any understanding, any knowledge that we have or ever will have of anything spiritual is given unto us through his Holy Spirit. Like salvation, spiritual understanding is a gift of God. It is given. It is not earned.

Now Christ told his disciples in Luke 8, 10, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. That understanding of the mysteries of God comes from a source outside of ourselves. It is given to us by the power of our God. Paul wrote to the Colossians about the mysteries that have been hid from ages and from generations, but are now made manifest to who? To his saints. Those to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christ in you is the only hope that you will ever have of seeing glory. It's the only hope you have. It's the only hope you need. And in verse 18 of this text in first Ephesians or the first chapter of Ephesians, he tells us that we know the mysteries of the kingdom of God by the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, not by our own wisdom, but by that which is given to us to see the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, which teaches us that we are called by the Spirit of God into the very family of God, children of the Most High, heirs to an unimaginable inheritance.

And all this came to pass, verse 19 tells us, by the exceeding greatness of his power. That power that is only toward the usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Paul wrote. That same power that raised our blessed Savior from the dead. Now we marvel when we read of Christ being resurrected. This man was mutilated beyond anything we can imagine. And yet three days later, he is raised from the dead with the only scars remaining, appearing to be in his wrists, his feet, and his side. He was again recognizable as the Christ that the disciples knew.

And then in verse 20 of Ephesians, Paul tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ, because of his obedience even unto death, had been given the highest place in all the universe. We're told, far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.

Colossians 118 tells us, that Christ has a preeminence in all things. All things. And he has not only been given a place of preeminence, he has been given a name that is above every name. But above all that, Jesus Christ, the one that we worship, the God that we worship, tells us that he has been given all power.

That fact alone ought to dispel any and all fears that we have of what may happen to us in the future. Our pastor used to say, if he has all power, it means nobody else has any. Such a simple, simple statement, but so very true. If he has all power, nobody else has it. There's none left for anybody else to have.

And Christ Jesus not only has all power, we're told he is the very power of God. This is proclaimed in First Corinthians 124. Paul wrote, But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

So we've already seen that our Savior has all power, and that power includes the power over life and death. The Lord Jesus told his disciples in John 10, 17 and 18, he said this, Therefore, doth my Father love me because I lay down my life, that I may take it again, No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.

This commandment our Lord said have I received of my father pilot that pompous ruler when the Lord stood before him. He asked the Lord speak it's not thou unto me. No it's not that I have power to crucify thee. and have power to release thee. But our Lord set him straight when he told him this thou could have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above.

And that statement is true of every ruler that has ever sat over a kingdom in the history of mankind. All were given the power they had to rule over other men by the God of this universe. We know this from Daniel 221. He removeth kings, we're told, and he setteth up kings.

What did he say to Pharaoh? Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Unbelievers find this way of thinking unimaginable. They ask How can you believe that a God who loves everyone that's where they go wrong in the first place. How can you believe that a loving God could put men like Mao and Hitler and Stalin in power and give them the power to eliminate exterminate millions of lives.

And yet it is true nonetheless. Paul declared it to be so in Romans 13 1 when he wrote this let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God. The powers that be the men who are in power are ordained of God.

And this is what Jehoshaphat knew when he proclaimed in Second Chronicles 20. He said Oh Lord God of our fathers are not thou God in heaven and rule us not thou over the kingdoms of the heathen and in thy hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee.

David also said in First Chronicles 29, Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. Pretty much covers it all, doesn't it? For all that is in the heaven and all that is in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted head above all. Both riches and honor come from thee. and thou reignest over all, and in thy hand is power and might, and in thy hand is to make great and to give strength to all.

Further, we are saved by the power of God. We're told, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, John 1 12. And in his prayer to the Father in John 17, our Lord Jesus Christ said of himself in verse two, as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him.

And this gospel that we preach is the gospel of the power of our God. First Corinthians 118 confirms that fact. Paul wrote, for the preaching of the gospel is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us that is saved it is the power of God. And he said in verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness. And verse 24, which we just read a minute ago, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now we read at the beginning of this message in Romans 1 16, where Paul wrote for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now when this gospel is preached it is just not a man standing speaking words. But as Paul told the Thessalonians it is accompanied by the very power of God. He said this but our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance that power of the gospel that Peter tells us brings all things necessary to us that enables us to believe on Christ.

Peter said this according to his divine power hath he given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. How. Does that come about through the knowledge of him that have called us to glory and virtue? Second, Peter one three.

Further, we're not only saved by the power of God, we are kept by the power of God. Peter also wrote in first Peter one that we are saved to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and it fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you. You who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed. In the last time we are in able to persevere in the faith to continue believing till our dying breath by the power of God, the power that sustains us in the faith. First Corinthians two five that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, the flesh can do nothing to help us continue in the faith.

People, you hear it time and again, keep the faith. Keep that. I don't even know what that means. Keep the faith in what? Keep the faith. That is strictly a work of the spirit and the power of our God. Psalm 79 11. David wrote this. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee according to the greatness of thy power. Preserve those that are appointed to die.

Paul confirmed to the Romans how it is that we are unable to persevere until the very end when he wrote in Romans 16 25. Now to him that is a 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 this word that Paul uses power to establish it the same obviously is our word establish which means to be in a secure position over a long period of time. And I ask you, what more sure position can we have than to be found in the person of Christ? And we've been there a long time. From before the foundation of the world, we're told before tens of trillions of years in eternity past, we have been in Christ to be in a secure position over a long period of time. That is how our God establishes us in Christ.

But we rejoice in the fact that this God who we worship and adore is not only a God of great power. He is also a God of great mercy. We would have zero reason to rejoice in God's power. if it were not for the fact that we read of his great mercy. The only thing that power would do if we did not know of God's grace and mercy would terrorize us knowing that at any moment this God who has all power could cast us into eternal ruin, into eternal punishment. But when that power is combined with God's love and mercy and compassion toward lost sinner, it is the only hope that we have, the only hope that we need of salvation.

David wrote this. I love this verse. David wrote this in Psalm 62, verse 11. God has spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. That's really good, but the second half of that verse is even better. God has spoken once, twice have I heard this, power belongeth unto God. Second half. Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy. Is there a sweeter word in the English language than mercy? If there is, I don't know what it is. You can let me know after service if you can think of a sweeter one. I can't.

But in Psalm 59, 16, David also wrote, But I will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. For thou has been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.

But the mercy of our God would do us no good whatsoever if he were not able to control all things by his mighty power. Otherwise, his determination to do us good could easily be derailed by things that are completely out of his control. If he didn't have all power, things would happen. I didn't see that coming. Now what am I going to do? There is no plan B with God.

We could have no firm foundation of hope for us, our children, our grandchildren, if we did not trust that God is able to do all that he has promised and purposed from eternity. They will never be one of God's chosen. who dies before he is given faith in Christ.

Our God never, never gets so busy with one thing that another falls through the cracks. Our God is the ultimate multitasker. He can do 10 trillion times 10 trillion things at once and do them all perfectly. And our God preserves his elect, both before and after they are given the gift of faith to believe on Christ. He does that by his mighty power to control and command all things, persons, and events.

And that power of our God to control all events, I think about this often. We talk about prevenient grace in our life, but I've said this before, you have to understand that God's prevenient grace in your life started with Adam. Because if you took one of your descendants out of the whole family tree you would no longer be existing. You would never have been born.

So our God has controlled a number of things that you can't even put a number on since the beginning of time in order for this however many 15 20 people are sitting here tonight for us to be sitting here. That is beyond my comprehension further.

We will be raised from the grave, we're told, by the power of God. Paul told the Corinthians this when he wrote, and God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. And our God made us his promise in Hosea 13, 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues. O grave, I will be thy destruction. which is pretty much what Paul wrote to the Corinthians when he said for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall I put on incorruption and this mortal shall I put on immortality then shall be brought to pass a saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death where is thy sting. Oh grave where is thy victory.

David acknowledged the greatness of the God we worship when he said in First Chronicles 29 he said blessed be thou Lord God of Israel our father forever and ever. Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from thee, thou reignest over all, and in thy hand is power and might, and in thy hand is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name.

And throughout the ages of eternity, we will sing the praises of our Lord Jesus Christ for all that he has done for us and all that he is. We read in Revelation 5.13, And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And Revelation 19.1, And after these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. We shall forever sing and rejoice in the power of our triune God for all that he has done and all that he is. We shall ever praise his power that has brought us to Christ, that keeps us and will one day raise us in glory to sit at his feet and worship.

I pray the Lord has blessed that to your heart. Let's be dismissed in a word of prayer. Our glorious father, we thank you for your mercy and your power, your wisdom, your greatness. Father, we cannot comprehend. A lot of what we read in your word, but you have given us faith to believe that it's so. But there will come a time, Father, that we look forward to. There will come a time when we will no longer walk by faith, but we will walk by sight. And we see our blessed Savior in glory. We see him as he is. And Father, we will be so overwhelmed that we will not get over it for an eternity. We will spend our time gladly praising him who loved us and gave himself for us. Father, dismiss us now in your love. We pray for Chris as he comes to minister us this coming Lord's Day. We pray you grant him traveling mercy, safe travels, and we pray that you would give him a word that would encourage our hearts and exalt the Savior. We ask all these things in his name and for his name's sake. Amen.

Lord bless you, you're dismissed.