Okay, Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16. We'll take
a look at verse 20, down through verse 27. And as we conclude
our study in the book of Romans, it has been for me, and I trust
for you, a very profitable journey. I believe I'm right in saying
this, this makes the third time that we've been completely through
the book of Romans, word by word, verse by verse, considering all
of God's truth. And I must say that this third
time through it, I'm starting to get a little bit of understanding
of God's gospel. It is a mystery that must be
revealed. We started this last time through
the book of Romans, February 2017. Now we conclude, and it's
been 18 months, 18 months. Now I thought about this, this
18 months is how long Paul stayed in Corinth preaching the gospel. That will be, Lord willing, look
right across the page, in 1 Corinthians, Lord willing, that will be our
study in the coming years, 1st and 2nd Corinthians. It's been
probably 12 years since we've been through 1st and 2nd Corinthians,
and I think that'll make our third time through 1st and 2nd
Corinthians. As we go on this schedule about
every 10 or 12 years, if we come back around to the Book of Romans
again, I'll be a very old man. Maybe I have a little bit of
wisdom by the time I'm about 80 years old. And that's about
where I'll be next time we come around to the Book of Romans.
And some of you will be here and some of you won't. But in
the next couple years, we'll be looking at 1st and 2nd Corinthians. And you know that the footnote,
if you look at the last part of Romans 16, that footnote there
says, written to the Romans from Corinth and delivered by Phoebe. It was written by Tertullus. but written and by Titus, given
by God the Holy Spirit to the Apostle Paul and put in the hand
of Phoebe, remember, she delivered the epistle, Phoebe our sister,
what a great responsibility laid upon her. It was trusted to her. And that letter was delivered
and preserved. You think of all these years
and everything that happened in Rome, the fall of the Roman
Empire and all those different things. But we have the word
of God that's been preserved for us. And that's the very word
that you hold in your hand. Given of God, through Paul, Tertullus
wrote it down, he gave it to Phoebe, and she delivered it
to the Romans, to the Roman church. God preserved it there, and now
we have it here. You see the marvelous, sovereign
providence of God. Now, let's begin at verse 20. And Paul says, the God of peace,
the God of peace, He is the God of all grace, the Father of mercies,
the God of all comfort, the God of peace, shall bruise or tread
underfoot the accuser of the brethren,
Satan, under your feet, shortly, and all this happens by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. So be it. Amen. Now, the Scripture
does not promise us no trials and tribulation in our walk of
faith as believers. If we didn't have trial, heartache,
and trouble, we would get lifted up with pride. That's what Paul
said. Lest I be exalted above measure,
the Lord sent me the messenger of Satan just to knock me down
a little bit, to make me dependent upon the grace of God. Our Lord said, in this world
you shall have tribulation. We're going to see more about
that and study more about that in our lesson today from Luke
21. But the scriptures do promise
us grace to help in our time of need. Three times, or at least
two times in these closing verses, he mentions the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you. When Paul cried to the Lord,
to remove that messenger of Satan that was buffeting him. And the
Lord came back and said, my grace is sufficient. So the Lord sends
grace for the trial. He sends grace for the trial. He tells us to come boldly unto
the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Now we know Satan's power
to deceive us has been crushed. His dominion has been crushed
by the Lord Jesus Christ when Christ put away our sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Now the accuser of the brethren
has nothing to accuse us of. because the Lord Jesus Christ
has put away our sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? He may accuse us, but in Christ
we have no sin. Remember from our study through
the Revelation, where it talks about the accuser of the brethren,
Satan is cast down, and it says, they overcame him, by the blood
of the Lamb. That is our hope. That is our
hope. There's a good article on the
back page in the bulletin today by Brother Fortner and it's from
1 Peter chapter 5 where the Lord tells us that Satan is our adversary
that would buffet us, seeking whom he may devour. And the Lord
tells us to cast all our care upon him, for he cares for us. He cares for us. Verse 20, it
mentions the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Down in verse 24,
it mentions again the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ." And then he says, Amen. And then
again he says, Amen. Now we all need His grace. You know, we're saved by the
grace of God. The mighty, effectual, irresistible,
eternal Grace of God. It's electing grace. It's saving
grace. It's calling grace. It's powerful
grace. Where would we be without the
grace of God? Paul said, I am what I am by
what? The grace of God. By the grace
of God. We all need His grace to save
us and to call us. We need His grace to deliver
us from the bondage of our sin We say with the Apostle Paul,
it's God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace given
unto us. before the foundation of the
world. We need His grace to believe the gospel. We only believe the
gospel through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We all need
His grace to be made righteous before God. And that's the only
way that we are made righteous before God is by His grace. The only way we're justified,
you remember I told you one of my favorite verses? I hope it's
yours now. Romans 3, 24, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. So, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you. That's Paul's prayer. Verse 24,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Now, we have His
assurance that His grace is always with us. Always. You know how I know that? He
said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I am
with you always. If you have Him and He's with
you always, what do you have? Grace. You have His grace to
help in our time of need. Verse 21 down through verse 23,
Paul mentions these. dear brothers who labored with
him, these eight men whose names are
given here in this book, but also we know these names are
written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the beginning of the
world or before creation. God chose his people in that
eternal covenant of grace. He mentions Timothy, we know
him, Paul, by inspiration wrote 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. What a blessing those two epistles
are given to this young preacher. Timothy, the apostle Paul called
him, remember he said, he's my son in the gospel. He's my son
in the gospel. Often times when I write Brother
Mahan, I always, not always, but Many of the times, I close
my letter by saying, your son in the gospel. Your son in the
gospel. And that's the way Timothy felt
about Paul, and that's the way Paul felt about Timothy, my son
in the gospel. But he's my, notice, he's my
work fellow. He's my work fellow. We're laborers
together in the cause of God and his glory. And then he mentions
here, Lucius, Lucius, most of the writers that I read, John
Gill and others, think that this is Luke, Dr. Luke. We're studying the gospel
that's given by Luke, and then we also know that Luke is a writer
of the book of Acts. He was a close companion of the
Apostle Paul, traveled with him, and Luke was a physician, beloved
physician. Paul said, that he's with me. And Paul needed a traveling physician. You know why? Because he was
whipped and beaten and stoned. And he had to have somebody there
to minister unto him. And God provided Luke. Luke. Now I hope to, as we finish the
study through the Gospel of Luke, that Lord willing we'll go through
the book of Acts again. I think that will make the third
time we've been through the Book of Acts. So we kind of give you
an idea of where we'll be going these next few years through
1 and 2 Corinthians and through the Book of Acts. And then he
mentions these two men here. He calls my kinsmen. My kinsmen
salute you or greet you. My kinsmen, Jason and Socipiter,
my kinsmen. No doubt these men were Jews,
and no doubt maybe even of the same tribe. You remember the
Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, was of the tribe of Benjamin? Benjamin. So he said, these men
are my kinsmen, my kinsmen. But by the grace of God, they
were made believers, believers in the Lord. And then he mentions
their, Tertullus, who wrote this epistle,
he was a ready scribe who penned the words like that when we studied
the book of Ezra. Remember, he was called a ready
scribe. And then he mentions here, verse
23, Gaius. Gaius, my host. Now notice the
marginal reference there. is first Corinthians 1.14. If you have the Cambridge that
I have, look just across the page, verse 14, where Paul mentions
this man, Gaius. I thank God that I baptized none
of you but Crispus and Gaius. Gaius was baptized by the Apostle
Paul. But the Apostle Paul doesn't
mention anything of his baptism, but he calls him my host. This
man opened his home to the Apostle Paul. And then he says, and the
whole church, the church or the churches of Corinth, especially
the church there at Sincreia, the whole church greets you. We send Christian greetings unto
you, the believers there in Rome. And then he mentions Erastus.
That word Chamberlain, I looked that word up, it has to do with
an official. Some think that he was the treasurer
of this city, and he was a believer of the gospel. And then he mentions
Quartus, my brother, or a brother, a brother, a spiritual brother
in the Lord, born of the Spirit of God, being made a son of God,
and of the same household of faith, Quartus, A brother. I love that term. Brother. Brother. Brother Jerry. Brother Fred. Brother David.
I love to greet the brethren that way. Brother. Brother David. Brethren. Brethren in the Lord.
And that's, you see, we're born of the same father. Adopted in
the same family. Made heirs of God and joint heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We're brothers. We're brothers. We're one family. One household
in the Lord. And then he mentions the grace
again. The grace. It seems like he just can't get
away from this subject. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is gracious to His people.
He is gracious to His people. He is just and holy. He is gracious. Gracious. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. Now, that brings us down to verse
25, where we have this doxology, verse 25, 26, and 27. Now to
Him. Now to Him. Now to Him. Who's the Him here? Almighty God. Almighty God, our God that is
of power, he has, he's of power because he has all power in heaven
and in earth. Our God who has all power also
has a savior who has what? All power. Because he has all
power, he has a savior who has all power, he has a mediator
who has all power, he has a redeemer who has all power. What does
that mean to us? Well, because we are dead in
sin unless God, who has all power, has an almighty Savior who is
mighty to save, who is able to save to the uttermost, except
God has all power to save, we would have no hope of salvation.
Now, aren't you glad he has all power? He said that before he
ascended to glory. Remember he told those disciples?
He said, go and preach the gospel to every creature, knowing this,
I have all power in heaven and in earth. And remember in Roman
chapter one, how we started the study, verse 16, where Paul says,
I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome. For he
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why aren't
you ashamed? Remember the next word. It's
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes in
that gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. You see, He
has all power to establish you. Where does He establish us? He
establishes us. puts us in Christ Jesus, places
us one with him, and puts us on that solid foundation, Christ
the rock, that's where we are established. Not on sinking sand,
but on the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a power to
establish you according to your good works. That's not what it says there.
I want to see if he's paying attention. He says, now to him,
almighty God, that is empowered to establish you, I love this
word, according, according to my gospel. Now why did Paul right
here call it my gospel? Well, God had given him the gospel. He called himself the servant
of the gospel. It's the gospel of God of which
he was made a servant, the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. He was saved by it and preached
it and he owned it and confessed, it's my gospel. Now every believer
has the same testimony, it's my gospel. I don't know what
the gospel is to everybody else, but to the believer, he can say
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the power of God
and the salvation, is my gospel. This is my gospel. God saved
me by the gospel, not another. There's just one gospel. It takes
the power of God to save. It takes the power of God to
hear the gospel. It takes the power of God to
keep us safe. We're kept by the power of God.
The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. And all of this is according
to the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch
this, according to, He's of all power to establish you according
to the gospel and he establishes you this way too, the preaching
of Jesus Christ. That's how we're established
in the gospel is through the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ,
through the teaching and preaching of the word of the Lord. That's
how we're established. That's why we put an emphasis
here upon teaching the word Verse by verse, line by line, the preaching
of Jesus Christ. It's not the preaching of dreams
and visions, it's not the preaching of ceremony and tradition, the
gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's
what the gospel of God's all about, what is our message? What is our message? Preaching
Jesus Christ. You remember Paul said we're
going to see it first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 2 where he said
I'm determined Not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ in
him crucified the preaching the preaching of the gospel I've
never heard a Believer complain that a man preaches Christ too
much. Now, I've heard some people complain,
but I've never heard a believer complain, well, he just lifted
Christ up too high. He just said too much about the
Lord Jesus. He just gave him too much glory.
I won't be guilty of that. I won't be guilty of giving him
too much glory. You see, our message is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That's what we need to hear,
the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the preaching of the gospel,
according to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the power
of God were established in Christ, according to the revelation,
were established also by this revelation, this revelation. Now, how does God reveal the
gospel unto us? How do we have a revelation of
the gospel? How does God reveal the gospel
unto us? By his word, through the preaching
of the word, in the power of God the Holy Spirit. You remember
when Paul said to those Thessalonians, brethren we know your election
is of God, for our gospel came not into you in word only, but
it came in power of the Holy Spirit that takes the things
of Christ. You remember what the Lord said,
when the Comforter has come, when the Holy Spirit has come,
He'll take the things of mine and do what? Reveal them unto
you. And that's what everything is
about, a revelation of the gospel. And the gospel is a mystery.
That's what has to be revealed. The gospel is so mysterious that
it cannot be determined or figured out by science. The world calls
the gospel foolishness. Foolishness. The gospel is a
mystery that must be revealed. And this mystery of the gospel
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ was kept secret since the world
began." Now, you know what I see in that? The gospel of God is
older than creation. It's older than creation, because
we read in the Revelation of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Before there was a sinner, the
Savior stood. He stood as our surety and as
our sacrifice. You see, the gospel It's an ancient
gospel, the gospel of God. But now it's made manifest, it's
revealed that we might be established, it's made manifest, made known,
verse 26, made known by the scriptures of the prophets. The scriptures
of the prophets, and this is according to the commandment
of God, The commandment of the everlasting God made known to
all nations for the obedience of faith. According to the commandment
of the everlasting God, the gospel is made manifest and made known
unto us by the scriptures. All the prophets, what do they
all tell us about? Moses, the writings of Moses,
all the way through Joshua, Judges, right on down, Samuel, Kings,
all the prophets, major and minor prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, to
Him give all the prophets witness. Their message is Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ. All scriptures given by inspiration
of God. The prophecy came not in old
time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. made known by the scripture according
to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations. God has a people out of every
kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under heaven for the obedience
of faith. And that's where faith, the saving
faith of God's elect, is obedient, when God grants faith and God
gives faith, it brings about obedience and submission to the
gospel of God concerning Christ. Saving faith loves the truth,
the obedience of faith, Saving faith is obedient, obedient to
the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Saving faith loves the truth
of the gospel, readily, willingly, publicly confesses Christ is
all my salvation. That's the obedience of faith.
Now, verse 27, who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? not the creature,
the creator. To God only wise be all the honor
and glory through Jesus Christ forever. This gospel of his grace
in Christ gives God all the glory alone for the salvation of sinners. There's just one gospel, there's
just one way, know the name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. There's just one gospel, one
way that's true of the scriptures that will take vile sinners and
make them trophies of His grace, to the praise of the glory of
His grace." You remember Ephesians chapter 1, where it talks about
the Father choosing us, and the Son redeeming us, and the Holy
Spirit revealing and sealing the gospel unto us? You remember
that phrase that's repeated three times? To the praise of the glory
of His grace. The gospel according The gospel that's preached, the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that's according to the power
of God gives God all the honor and glory. I like what Jonathan
Edwards said way back in the early 1800s, the grand design
of redemption. What would it be? What is the
grand design of redemption? Not to keep folks out of hell.
The grand design of God's redemption is the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's it. That's the bottom
line. That's the bottom line. We read, in closing, Jude, in
the book of Jude, remember the last two verses now, to him that
is able to keep you from falling, to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, power, both now and
forever." And it says there, Amen. What's the last word in
verse 27, Romans 16? To God only wise be glory through
and in and by the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever and ever. Now, I give a hearty amen to
everything we've studied from Romans 1-1 to Romans 16-27. I can say amen. Amen. Well, it's been a good study.