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To God Be The Glory (Romans 16:25-27)
I. The Power Of God
II. The Wisdom Of God
As the year comes to an end, and as we attend this last prayer meeting of 2025, I have prayerfully decided to preach on this title, “To God Be The Glory”.
Our text is taken from Romans chapter 16:25–27. Allow me to read for you. “Now to him that is of power to stablish 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 to all nations for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”
There are two things we want to consider, and these two things will lead us to say, To God be the glory.
I. The Power Of God
Firstly, “The Power Of God”.
Just as the year has come to an end, the Apostle Paul had come to the end of the book of Romans. Oftentimes Paul would end his letters with a benediction rather than a doxology. A benediction is a short invocation for divine help, guidance, and blessing, always given at the end of a worship service. A doxology is a short expression of praise or glory to the almighty God.
Here it is a doxology, because it is a declaration of praise to God.
Paul began by saying, “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel.” Whenever we hear someone who constantly uses the first person pronoun mine, it is rather annoying. Someone who is always talking about my car, my house, my job, my wealth is not nice, and especially when he is implying that his is better than yours. Here it appears as if Paul was doing the same thing, but that was not what he meant. He did not mean that his gospel was better than ours.
The gospel is the same for anyone who will receive it by faith. The heart of the gospel is the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world. He is the one who was promised in the scriptures, from the beginning, and who has now come. So my gospel means the true gospel that Paul had received personally by faith, and it also included committing his life to Jesus Christ personally. So it is to take the gospel and make it personal.
Have we forgotten what matters most?
One of the greatest tragedies of the church is that Christians have repeatedly allowed other things to rise to prominence and overshadow the person of Jesus Christ. People would often fight and quarrel over different points of doctrine. They would argue over different views about church government, whether or not to abstain from certain things, or different interpretations of eschatology, etc. While all those things are important, the point is that they have neglected, as well, the fundamental understanding of who Jesus is and what He came to this earth to do.
At other times, the church has allowed false teachers to obscure the nature of Christ, either denying His full humanity or His full deity, or what He has done for our salvation on the cross of Calvary. It is so sad.
The main subject of the book of Romans is the gospel. In fact, the entire Bible is about the gospel. The gospel means good news. But there can be no good news apart from Jesus Christ. That was why Paul said, “And the preaching of Jesus Christ.” Every true church should be committed to the preaching of Jesus Christ, because only Jesus can save us.
As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:23–24, “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” The gospel is not something that some great philosophers have discovered, or some brilliant scientists have invented from the very beginning. It has its origin in God. It has to do with God, and what He has accomplished for us through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The original Greek word for power is dunamis, from where we get the English word dynamite, something very powerful. Sometimes it is translated as God is able. The word establish has the idea of putting or placing something firmly in a location, to fix or to establish something in place that it be not moved. In other words, God is able to establish us.
What is God able to establish us according to the gospel?
He is able to save us
Firstly, according to the gospel, God is able to save us. When God declares at the beginning of the book of Romans that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), it is such a depressing pronouncement. It is even worse when He said the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23a)
But the Bible did not stop there, for He went on to say, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” ((Romans 6:23b) Jesus is able to save us because He is the promised Messiah who died on the cross and shed His precious blood to pay the penalty for our sins.
He is able to keep us
Secondly, God is able to keep us. Those whom God has saved, He will also keep. 2 Timothy 1:12 says, “I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able,” same word for power, “to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
What God promised, He will not lose. It will never happen. It is so comforting to hear our Lord Jesus Himself say, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” He who saves us continues to keep us.
He is able to help us
Thirdly, God is able to help us in times of temptation. Hebrews 2:18 says, “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted,” which means He is able to help them who are tempted.
Perhaps you have been troubled by some sins and temptations in your life, and you find no victory. Time and again you have vowed never to go back to that sin again, but somehow you just cannot overcome that temptation, and you end up sinning again and again.
You may be thinking, “Will I be a failure all the days of my life?” Well, the word of God says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
So you must turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, who knows you—how much you can bear, and how much you cannot bear. For He alone is able to help you in times of temptation.
He is able to raise us
Lastly, God is able to raise our bodies from the dead. Philippians 3:21 says, “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”
Perhaps some people listening to this message may not be able to see the dawn of the new year. It is not a scare tactic. It is a reality. Death may call upon us at any moment. But as believers, we should not be fearful of death.
The grave is but the waiting place for the body until it is called to life again at the coming of our Lord. Of course, the soul does not lie in the grave. Immediately at death, the soul of the believer goes to be with the Lord. But the day will come when the body will be raised to be joined with the soul in a glorified body. What a wonderful hope we have. And this wonderful hope sustains us in moments when our dearest beloved loved ones who believed in the gospel are called away by death.
It is not the end. We shall meet again in the sweet by and by, and then we shall spend eternity with them in the presence of our Lord.
THIS is the power of God!
Dear friend, this is the power of God to save us, to keep us, to help us in our infirmities, and to raise our bodies from the grave. If you think you are able to save yourself, you are able to preserve your life, you are able to help yourself in times of temptation, and what more, to raise yourself from the dead, then you do not need a saviour.
If you are not able, then come to the only Saviour who is able to save you. This is the power of God to save.
II. The Wisdom Of God
Our second point is “The Wisdom Of God”.
Look at the second part of verse 25: 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.
What is this “mystery”?
The word mystery is an interesting word. Today we think of this word like a typical detective story where there is a murder at the beginning, and a clever detective would then investigate the case and finally reveal the mystery. But the biblical meaning of mystery cannot be found in any modern ideas. It refers to something that has been hidden in former times in the past, but has now been made known. Often it refers to a part of God’s truth that was not revealed, or only partially revealed, in the Old Testament, but now revealed in the New Testament.
What Paul was trying to say is that the gospel is something no human being could have imagined or planned. In the past, it was entirely hidden in the mind of God. In fact, when God began to reveal it to the prophets during the Old Testament period, the details were so puzzling to the prophets to whom the revelations were given. They could not fully comprehend what the Spirit of God had caused them to write or to preach.
The reason why we understand the gospel today is because Jesus has come, and the Holy Spirit has given to us the understanding of who He is and what He has accomplished for us according to the scriptures. The gospel of Christ is not some humanistic ideas, opinions, stories, or something that some individuals have invented. It is only through the wisdom of God.
Throughout the book of Romans, Paul talked about the wisdom of God. Allow me to briefly take you through an overview of how Paul described the wisdom of God.
God’s wisdom in justification
From Romans chapter 1 to 4, Paul talked about the wisdom of God in justification. To be justified means to be pardoned of our sins and be accepted by God as righteous. But the question is, how could God save sinners and at the same time remain holy and just?
You see, if God were to punish our sins, He would remain righteous, but we would be sent to eternal hell. If He were to simply forgive our sins, He would be a loving God, but His justice and holiness would be compromised. Can you see how difficult it would be?
According to God’s holy law, our sins must be punished. But God sent His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to take our place and bear His wrath. On the cross of Calvary, the demands of God’s justice were completely satisfied and the love of God perfected, because He’s able to reach down, embrace, and save the sinner.
The justice of God and the love of God were not compromised but fully intact at the cross of Calvary. Who could ever think of a solution to the sin problem? No one could. But God did, and He revealed it to us in a gospel that is totally beyond our minds. It is only through the wisdom of God.
God’s wisdom in sanctification
From Romans chapter 5 to 8, Paul talked about the wisdom of God in sanctification. Christians who were saved and made alive in Christ have been given this new nature. The old has gone and the new has come. And this new nature will inevitably produce good works, fruits according to God’s holy character.
In fact, this is the only sure evidence of our salvation in Him. Who could ever think of such a gospel? Let me explain. As human beings, we do not naturally hold grace and works together. If we emphasise good works, we will begin to think that we are saved by our good works, so we will strive to do them.
On the other hand, if we emphasise only grace, we have a tendency to remove works entirely and live a life with no loss. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is entirely of grace, and yet it produces good works in those whom He saves.
Who could fathom such a gospel that could save a person and in the process sanctifies the person? No man could. Only the wisdom of God.
God’s wisdom in human history
From Romans chapter 9 to 11, Paul talked about the wisdom of God in human history. God had made special promises to the Jewish people. In Genesis 12:2–3, God said to Abraham, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
This is a most wonderful promise not only to Abraham but to all the families of the earth. But the problem is the majority of the Jews did not respond to the gospel. Does this mean that God has failed in His promises?
Well, the Apostle Paul explained God’s sovereign plan of salvation in that when Israel rejected God, they had been set aside for a time in order for God’s mercy to be extended to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles’ salvation will provoke the Jews to jealousy. And when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then the Jews would turn to their Messiah in repentance and in faith. Who could have devised such a plan of that magnitude in world history? No man could. Only the wisdom of God.
So when we truly understand the power of God and the wisdom of God in our salvation, what shall we say? We will say like Paul in verse 27, to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
There’s certainly no better way to end this book than to praise the sovereign, gracious, and eternal God who is all wise. This last verse not only gives praise to God, but it also indicates that He is the one and only God to give glory to, and no other.
Is the Lord first in your life? / Conclusion
This reminds us of the first of the Ten Commandments, which says thou shalt have no other gods before me. It demands our exclusive worship. Today, in our context, we may not have any problem saying we worship the one living and true God, or Jesus Christ is our Lord. But it was a problem for the early Christians.
In the time of the Romans, the people were permitted to worship any variety of gods. There was nothing wrong with worshipping the God of the Bible. The problem was that the Bible demanded only the God of the Bible and no other gods. So Christians were executed not because they worshipped the God of the Bible or they called upon Jesus as Lord, but because they refused to say Caesar is Lord. They refused to worship Caesar as well.
We Christians know that to worship any god other than the one living and true God is to break this command, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). But to break this commandment, we do not need to worship a pagan god like a Roman emperor, or an idol, or a statue.
We do it whenever we give to a person or something the first place in our affections which belong to God alone. We do it when we substitute anything for God. Remember Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37).
Dear friend, to love the Lord with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind is to put Him first in everything in our lives, to put Him first in our thoughts, first in our decisions, first in our relationships, first in our work, first in our stewardship of money, time, and talent that He has entrusted us. And the only way we can do that is to see everything in life from God’s point of view as revealed in the Bible. Allow the word of God to be our guide and the glory of God to be our goal and aspiration in life. That is what is required of us. If we are true believers, if we are serious about our faith, then we must say like Paul, to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
Dear friend, the year is coming to an end. Have you been putting God first in your life? Or is He given the second, third, or fourth place, or somewhere down the line in your priorities, or never even considered as you make your decisions, whether it be for the future or for anything present?
May the Lord forgive us. We ought to give glory to God because of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. It is through Jesus that God is made known to us. It is through Jesus that you and I are safe. It is through Jesus that we are worshipping and glorifying God today. That is what it means through Jesus Christ.
There are so many things in this world that we do not understand, nor do we pretend to understand. There is so much about the ways of God that we do not understand. But what we understand, we believe. And what God says in His word, we say, “Amen.”
God says, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). We say, “Amen.”
God says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We say, “Amen.”
God says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). We say, “Amen.”
God says, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39). We say, “Amen.”
So as this year comes to an end, we say ‘Thank you, Lord, for guiding and leading us, for saving us in the first place, for revealing to us Thy power and Thy wisdom through the gospel.’ As a church, as a family, as an individual, we all say, “to God be the glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”
This is the best way for us to end this year as we wait for the dawn of the new year. And we will say the same thing as the new year begins. “To God be the glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven, indeed often times we do not consider the person of Jesus Christ. We think we know. We do not consider Thy gospel. We think we know. But as we take time to consider the gospel, it reveals to us Thy power. Thy power to save us, to keep us, to help us in our infirmities, and ultimately to raise us from the dead. And we also see Thy wisdom in the gospel. Indeed, who could ever fathom or plan such a gospel? It is only through Thy wisdom.
And so as we consider these two last verses of the book of Romans chapter 16, we ought to say like the Apostle Paul, “to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.” And indeed the year is coming to an end. And as we look back upon our lives, how Thou hast saved us, continues to keep us and help us in our weaknesses and struggles, and how Thou hast promised that even though we may die and our bodies be buried, but they will be raised in glory.
This is what we believe in. And whatever we understand and believe, whatever Thy word has said, we say, “Amen.” And we pray that we will always say like the Apostle Paul, “to God be the glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.”
Indeed, Thou art so good to us throughout this year. And we pray that Thou wilt continue to guide and lead us if Thou would tarry that we see the dawn of a new year. And we want to dedicate our lives today, preparing ourselves to usher in the new year.
We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.