Dale Partridge - Romans 16_24-27 The Closing Doxology of Romans

00:00:00.000 Well, it's good to be with you this morning and to preach this final sermon on the book

00:00:09.640 of Romans. A few months ago, I think I need to clear up a number. I was looking at my files

00:00:19.220 and was counting both my notes and my sermons and came up with a number, but I realized today

00:00:25.120 is actually sermon number 124, and it is my final sermon in this great book. You know, when I first

00:00:34.340 stepped into the book of Romans, I truly believed that I needed Romans just as much as the church

00:00:42.000 needed Romans. I chose that book particularly because I thought it was an excellent book to

00:00:49.120 found a church upon its doctrine. What better book could you take than the magnum opus of the

00:00:55.740 New Testament to found the church, a local church upon it? Now, along the way, this book has

00:01:05.240 sharpened my understanding of a variety of gospel issues, from the fallenness of man that we see in

00:01:13.040 the first few chapters, to the beauty of covenant theology, to the grace and sanctification that we

00:01:18.540 see in chapter 5 and 6 and 7, all the way into the doctrines of grace that we see in chapters 8 and

00:01:25.240 9 and 10, and the way that we are to view our relationship as Christians with the nation of

00:01:31.000 Israel or the Jews in chapter 11, and the marks of a true Christian in chapter 12, and how the

00:01:37.740 behavior of our lives should be reflecting the belief of our doctrine, and then moving in towards

00:01:43.960 the latter part of this letter, which we have just discussed, and now to this great doxology.

00:01:50.220 Now, this doxology is the longest doxology in the New Testament. It is a great praise saying.

00:02:01.660 Now, I have drawn from a variety of great texts and commentaries and sermons and videos

00:02:10.980 over these last few years when I've been in Romans, but there's been two in particular that

00:02:17.820 I really want to give credit for just because they have been a great blessing and a great means

00:02:22.280 of grace to me by the Lord. And it's been Robert Haldane's commentary on the book of Romans,

00:02:28.600 which was originally written in 1835. It was published by Banner of Truth Trust

00:02:33.280 and has been a great tool of God to help me understand this text.

00:02:39.240 The second was Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, who did a series on Romans,

00:02:44.340 which was 366 sermons, about triple the length.

00:02:48.720 It took him 13 years to get through, but I had watched and listened.

00:02:53.340 Well, not really watched because there was no video,

00:02:55.100 but he listened to the many of these sermons.

00:02:58.340 It's really beautiful because Dr. Lloyd-Jones was born in 1899.

00:03:03.280 And so to be able to listen to his sermons going through this great book was a great

00:03:08.580 blessing to me and hopefully a great blessing to you.

00:03:14.320 Before we push forward into the introduction of this sermon, I did want to just remind

00:03:20.440 us that we are going to be starting in Genesis.

00:03:23.300 And I think, I expect that we'll be there for about 30 weeks.

00:03:28.140 And what I'm saying is that I'm not going to do a verse-by-verse exposition through the

00:03:32.840 entire book of Genesis. We would be doing that probably for about four years if I'd made that

00:03:36.940 decision. But I've chosen about a select group of passages that I think will take us about 30

00:03:44.980 weeks to get through. And we're going to be covering everything from the creation account

00:03:49.620 to the Garden of Eden, to the fall of man, to the promise of redemption, the flood, the Tower of

00:03:55.900 Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, the covenant with Abraham. We're going to get through most of the 0.56

00:03:59.660 first 20 chapters that we see in the book of Genesis, and I do believe that it will help

00:04:05.660 establish this congregation an even stronger and more systematic doctrine. Having seen many of the

00:04:13.360 things that Paul references in the Old Testament, and now going back, I believe it'll strengthen

00:04:17.880 our covenant theology. Now, as for today, we've been working through Paul's epilogue,

00:04:24.100 which is his conclusion, right? It's the opposite of his prologue. And chapter 16 was divided really

00:04:34.380 into three sections. And in chapter one, or the first section, I should say, it addressed those

00:04:39.760 practical issues that we dealt with a few weeks ago around female deacons, around the practice

00:04:44.340 of a holy kiss, was this custom, was this doctrine. We dealt with the divisive nature of

00:04:53.620 people in the church and Paul's call to avoid such people in the local congregation. And now,

00:05:02.240 again, we are here and we are closing out this great book of Romans with, again, the New Testament's

00:05:08.260 longest and most beautiful doxology in the scriptures. Now, the word doxa, it's a Greek word

00:05:15.420 and it means praise. An ology is really the idea of a praise saying. It is a praise saying. Now,

00:05:22.840 Paul is giving praise here for the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, if you are aware

00:05:28.000 and have ever read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, you will have seen countless

00:05:33.580 doxologies. It is pretty common for the biblical writers to all of a sudden, in the middle of

00:05:39.620 nowhere, and also at the end of their letters, to just break out into praise. There is at least

00:05:46.040 40 to 60 distinct doxologies throughout the scriptures. In fact, if you look to the book

00:05:52.800 of Psalms, which is the book of Psalms is the hymn book for the people of God. And you see that

00:05:59.740 Psalms is actually broken up into five sections. It's not so neatly broken up in the sense that

00:06:05.180 there's, you know, five sections of 30, but it is five sections of Psalms. And at the end of each

00:06:12.220 one of those books of psalms within the book of psalms ends with a doxology and in fact the end

00:06:19.040 of the book of psalms which is psalm 150 is a doxology in itself and so you see throughout

00:06:25.240 the old testament throughout the new testament the regular reality of the proclamation of the

00:06:31.240 gospel results in these great doxologies that you go oh praise be to god for him forever and ever

00:06:38.540 Glory be to him forever and ever. Amen. You see this constant language that you'll see

00:06:42.900 throughout these doxologies. And so this is what's occurring here. Paul is closing out this wonderful

00:06:50.400 book of Romans, the epistle, the doctrine of the gospel to the people in Rome with this great

00:06:55.680 doxology. Now, the best authors, if you've ever been a student of literature, you understand that

00:07:00.980 the best authors know how to thread their prologue and their epilogue together. There is always this

00:07:08.200 element where they're bringing back at the end of their letter, the very beginning. And that is

00:07:14.080 something that we see here in the book of Romans. By God's design, the opening chapter, chapter 1,

00:07:23.100 verses 1 through 7, but even some will say argue through 1 through 11, is the prologue to the book

00:07:28.660 of Romans. And you will see some striking similarities between the prologue and the epilogue

00:07:34.920 here in the book of Romans. He is closing with the same means in which he has opened.

00:07:40.740 It is a really beautiful parallel. Now, what I'll point out is this.

00:07:48.120 Both the prologue and the epilogue begin with discussing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

00:07:53.260 Both point to the prophetic writings as the witness of God's eternal plan. Both declare

00:07:58.980 Jesus as the fulfillment of that plan, risen in power and here to save and be revealed by the

00:08:06.400 apostles to the nations. Both state the purpose of the gospel, to bring about the obedience of

00:08:11.240 the faith to the Gentiles, and both end with the glorious praise to God through Jesus Christ. So

00:08:18.480 from beginning to end, we see in Romans this beautiful framing up that the gospel is the

00:08:26.800 centrality of the entire Bible. Now, I want to look at verse 25. So let's just start our passage

00:08:34.480 of scripture here, verse 25. And it says, now to him, now to him who is able to establish you

00:08:42.540 according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery

00:08:52.780 which has been kept secret for long

00:08:57.060 ages past. Now grammatically

00:09:00.880 I want you to notice the words now to him. Now to him.

00:09:05.460 Now this is a beginning of a main clause just grammatically speaking.

00:09:09.040 Now to him. You can almost just like cover up the rest of the text for a second

00:09:12.780 and just go now to him.

00:09:16.300 Now from this point forward you're going to see Paul. He's going to pile

00:09:20.960 on just a series of modifiers. Each one of them is qualifying and expanding this great thought

00:09:29.300 and doxology until he brings it to a climax at the very end. And the second half of that clause,

00:09:36.600 second half of that clause, look at the very bottom. It says, be glory forevermore through

00:09:41.020 Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay. I want you to look just for a second, put the top section now to him,

00:09:47.740 and then connect it with that bottom section

00:09:50.420 because it would basically say,

00:09:52.700 now to him be glory forever through Jesus Christ, amen.

00:09:56.240 That's basically the main clause of this sentence,

00:09:59.880 of this one sentence in the Greek.

00:10:02.080 Now to him be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen.

00:10:06.940 That is what's being said here.

00:10:08.320 But Paul fills up the centerpiece

00:10:11.200 and packs inside of all of that

00:10:14.160 layer upon layer of qualifying language

00:10:17.600 of what he means in this great doxology.

00:10:21.200 And so I want to talk about each of those layers.

00:10:24.760 What's happening here between now to him

00:10:27.820 and glory be forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen.

00:10:30.760 What's happening between there?

00:10:33.700 Well, first, I want to talk about this phrase,

00:10:36.700 now to him who is able.

00:10:38.780 Now to him who is able.

00:10:41.780 Now, first, I want you to notice

00:10:44.960 that Paul credits the ability, able, the ability,

00:10:49.640 the ability to establish a person in the gospel.

00:10:53.780 Now to him who is able to establish you,

00:10:56.980 to lay you up on a firm foundation.

00:10:59.580 Do you know how many people are just wayward and weak

00:11:02.860 and have no stability?

00:11:06.240 That is the vast majority of the world. 1.00

00:11:08.480 It is only Christians that have this firm foundation 1.00

00:11:11.820 who have something to stand upon. 1.00

00:11:14.960 It is a great gift to not be wandering through the world of many people

00:11:20.360 that have no idea why they live and who they live for

00:11:23.520 and what is their purpose.

00:11:26.300 They wake up and they just seek pleasure

00:11:28.580 to possibly deal with the ridiculous meaninglessness

00:11:33.600 of what am I and who am I and what am I for.

00:11:36.740 What a great gift to know the purpose of your life.

00:11:44.960 and paul says now to him who is able to establish you now the word able in the greek is dunamis

00:11:54.920 dunamis now dunamis is the greek word that we get our english word dynamite it's power

00:12:01.740 now to him who is powerful enough to establish you is what being said there

00:12:10.240 why does that matter why does it matter that god is the one that establishes you

00:12:18.440 because if you believe that you establish you you have a problem

00:12:24.760 i've often said that if you believe

00:12:34.000 that you can lose your salvation you will always work to keep it

00:12:39.000 if you believe that salvation is you hanging on to God

00:12:45.480 and not rather God hanging on to you,

00:12:49.220 you will change the way that you live.

00:12:52.880 You will always work to keep it.

00:12:55.660 You will not work from rest.

00:12:57.240 You will work from fear.

00:12:59.340 You will work from a desire to maintain and to sustain.

00:13:05.400 You will perform.

00:13:06.500 You will not rest in the love of God.

00:13:11.640 And this matters because it cuts against those who cannot accept God's sovereign nature in the plan of salvation.

00:13:21.760 Scripture is clear.

00:13:23.200 We only believe, we only respond because God first works in us.

00:13:30.700 I don't care if you believe every single point of Calvinism.

00:13:36.500 Okay, what I do believe is that you believe in monergistic salvation.

00:13:40.000 Not synergistic.

00:13:41.120 We don't work together with God to save ourselves.

00:13:43.400 No, monergistic.

00:13:44.880 That God comes in and starts and initiates.

00:13:48.220 And all glory can be to Him.

00:13:50.320 So we can say, as Paul says, to Him be the glory forever and ever.

00:13:56.460 Amen.

00:13:57.800 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

00:14:02.240 All things.

00:14:03.280 Can you say that?

00:14:04.960 Can you say that even your repentance was from Him and that even your faith was from Him

00:14:10.680 and even your decision to follow Christ was from Him?

00:14:14.200 Can you say all of those things because all things are from Him?

00:14:20.840 Who established you?

00:14:24.260 It is always amazing to me that people will say gladly that I agree that I had no involvement

00:14:31.080 or choice in my natural creation.

00:14:35.320 But I must have a choice in my recreation.

00:14:40.300 How absurd the thought.

00:14:42.400 The fact that Jesus used the idea that you would be born again

00:14:45.540 as a universal metaphor for the reality that you understand

00:14:48.980 that you had no involvement in your natural birth

00:14:51.120 and you will have no involvement in your rebirth.

00:14:55.360 It is not something to fight against.

00:14:57.120 It is something to accept, to rest in.

00:15:01.080 Philippians 1.6 says,

00:15:04.120 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you

00:15:09.100 will bring it to its completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

00:15:13.920 Who began that work in you?

00:15:15.960 Was it you?

00:15:17.260 Did you make the choice?

00:15:19.180 Well, you responded to the sovereignty of God.

00:15:21.520 Hebrews 12.2 says that we are to look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

00:15:33.660 Where has your faith come from?

00:15:36.600 Was it something intrinsic to you?

00:15:39.500 Was it you that established yourself upon the gospel?

00:15:44.740 John 15.16 says,

00:15:46.920 You did not choose me, Jesus speaking, but I chose you and appointed to you that you should go and bear fruit.

00:15:58.900 Ephesians 1, 4 through 5 says,

00:16:01.740 Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

00:16:10.300 It may appear, because we have a human dimension.

00:16:14.200 We are looking at it from our one perspective that we chose God.

00:16:21.940 It can appear that way, that we chose God, and in truth, we did.

00:16:27.900 I had one friend who used to say, God changes our chooser, and I appreciated that statement.

00:16:36.680 How did you choose God? Well, because God changed your chooser.

00:16:39.280 he made it possible for you to even choose the choice that you chose

00:16:45.520 you chose God but the witness of scripture states that God chose you and what do you do with that

00:16:54.220 it is God's ability that secures our establishment of the gospel

00:17:00.220 now this verse here in Romans reminds us or reminds me at least of the closing doxology

00:17:07.640 that we see in the book of Jude.

00:17:10.080 Now, Jude doesn't have chapters, but you should turn there

00:17:12.900 because it's just basically one page.

00:17:15.520 And so go towards the end of your New Testament,

00:17:17.920 and I want you to find Jude.

00:17:19.660 And when I say Jude 24, I don't mean Jude chapter 24.

00:17:23.080 I just mean Jude verse 24.

00:17:25.860 And we're going to look at verses 24 through 25.

00:17:29.680 It is another great and wonderful doxology

00:17:33.960 that we see at the end of an epistle.

00:17:40.240 It says,

00:17:41.900 Now to Him who is able

00:17:47.140 to keep you from stumbling

00:17:51.380 and to present you blameless before God,

00:17:57.600 yours might say before the presence of His glory with great joy,

00:18:00.620 To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

00:18:13.980 So what I love about this is that Paul speaks to God's dunamis, his dynamite, his power to establish you.

00:18:24.700 And then Jude speaks to God's power to keep you.

00:18:30.620 One has the focus of bringing you in and establishing you on a firm foundation.

00:18:36.880 And then Jude focuses on the element that he will keep you saved.

00:18:45.060 That's Calvinism.

00:18:47.020 That from start to finish, it is a work of God.

00:18:51.120 And you know what it does? It gives you great rest.

00:18:55.040 You don't work for salvation.

00:18:57.540 You work from salvation.

00:19:00.620 You get to rest and obey, not as a means to keep yourself saved, but as fruit and evidence that you are saved.

00:19:15.180 Now this, again, does not erase man's responsibility.

00:19:17.860 Rather, it shows that our responsibility exists under God's sovereignty.

00:19:23.500 God initiates and we respond

00:19:27.560 but that initiation and that response

00:19:30.160 are also sovereign

00:19:31.460 I often remind people that

00:19:36.560 no one is made alive

00:19:39.520 and then chooses death

00:19:42.100 that's what we see in the scriptures

00:19:44.520 God brings you to life

00:19:46.700 the regeneration

00:19:48.940 all of a sudden you hear

00:19:50.580 you see for the first time in your life

00:19:54.640 the sin that you loved four minutes ago

00:19:57.820 you no longer love

00:19:58.980 you're alive

00:20:00.980 and you choose Christ

00:20:03.080 you have faith

00:20:04.260 because God sovereignly gives you repentance

00:20:07.880 God sovereignly gives you faith

00:20:09.200 again this how does

00:20:10.580 how does God's sovereignty and man's responsibility interact

00:20:13.920 well there are three great mysteries in the scriptures

00:20:16.700 the trinity

00:20:18.520 the hypostatic union that God is or that Jesus is fully God and fully man

00:20:24.720 and how God's sovereignty interacts with man's responsibility

00:20:28.760 every one of those you will search in the scriptures only to end at a place

00:20:34.860 that you have like a door it is a mystery that the Lord has not chosen to reveal to us

00:20:42.340 at this time.

00:20:45.860 It's a paradox.

00:20:50.360 You know, when Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb,

00:20:54.760 Lazarus did not decide to rise on his own.

00:20:59.360 He was dead.

00:21:02.520 Think about that for a second.

00:21:04.660 So, if we're just talking about the chronological order of events here,

00:21:08.700 when Christ gave life to him,

00:21:11.080 then what did Lazarus do?

00:21:14.340 He responded, Lazarus, come out.

00:21:17.600 Okay, I'm coming.

00:21:21.400 But without life, Lazarus doesn't come out.

00:21:28.000 So life must precede action.

00:21:33.140 Spiritual life precedes faith.

00:21:36.940 it is God who establishes you in the gospel

00:21:43.060 now I want to speak to these two cascading dependent clauses

00:21:49.140 that are right below that the first is

00:21:51.020 now to him who is able to establish you according to one and according to two

00:21:57.300 we're going to see two things according to my preaching or according to my gospel

00:22:01.940 and the preaching of Jesus Christ

00:22:04.580 So he's establishing you how?

00:22:06.700 Well, according to my gospel, Paul says, and the preaching of Jesus Christ.

00:22:12.080 And the second one is according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ago.

00:22:19.460 That's how you were established.

00:22:23.460 Now let's begin with the first.

00:22:26.120 Now this term, my gospel.

00:22:28.580 It's actually used, again, it's used in Romans 2.16 and 2 Timothy 2.8.

00:22:35.320 Paul is not claiming ownership of the gospel, but he's emphasizing that the gospel that he delivered was uniquely given to him for the proclamation to the nations.

00:22:47.300 Now, we know that the Greek word for nations is Gentiles.

00:22:52.580 And so, when we see Gentiles, we can really, truly say he's speaking about the nations.

00:22:57.820 And so Paul is again showing that this gospel of his is the gospel delivered to him by Christ himself. 0.80

00:23:09.320 The second thing, when he says my gospel, he's differentiating it from false gospels, which are often delivered in the ministry of Paul.

00:23:18.100 So we can honestly say to a person, you must be established by Paul's gospel and not by Joseph Smith's gospel.

00:23:30.260 Okay, we can say that because Paul's gospel is the revelation of the gospel hidden in the Old Testament,

00:23:42.080 which leads us to the second point

00:23:45.520 which he says

00:23:47.280 that we are established according

00:23:50.940 to Paul's gospel

00:23:53.160 which is also and according to

00:23:57.260 the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages before.

00:24:03.100 That's what Paul's gospel is.

00:24:06.120 In the Old Testament

00:24:07.460 they had shadows and figures, they had signs and they had symbols.

00:24:12.080 Everything was preparing God's people for and preparing them to look for Jesus Christ. 0.84

00:24:23.320 Jesus was the new and better Adam. 0.84

00:24:27.800 He is the true ark and the ultimate Jacob, and he is the eternal David. 0.87

00:24:32.680 He is the real Passover lamb, and he is the perfect high priest, and he is the real temple. 0.54

00:24:39.680 all of these things were again preparing us for and pointing us to the expectation of jesus but

00:24:47.700 they were hidden and they were wrapped up in symbols and shadows we were all waiting for the

00:24:54.800 substance to come but paul says that god would save sinful humanity by sending his son to die

00:25:05.280 resurrect and restore the world. And while that was not clear, it has now been revealed.

00:25:16.220 There's a handful of scriptures I'm going to read to you.

00:25:23.460 Ephesians 3, 7 through 10 says,

00:25:27.400 of this gospel I was made a minister

00:25:30.620 accordance to the gift of God's grace

00:25:33.740 which was given to me

00:25:35.380 by the working of his power.

00:25:38.400 To me though I am the very least

00:25:40.180 of all the saints

00:25:40.960 this grace was given

00:25:42.020 to preach to the Gentiles

00:25:44.740 or the nations

00:25:45.400 the unsearchable riches of Christ

00:25:48.020 and to bring to light

00:25:51.020 for everyone

00:25:53.080 what is the plan

00:25:55.320 of the mystery

00:25:57.060 hidden for the ages in God.

00:26:03.300 That's Paul's ministry,

00:26:04.840 is to reveal the mystery.

00:26:08.480 Colossians 1, 24-27.

00:26:11.440 Now I rejoice in the sufferings for your sake,

00:26:13.980 and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions

00:26:16.800 for the sake of his body, that is the church,

00:26:19.800 of which I became a minister,

00:26:22.300 according to the stewardship from God

00:26:24.880 that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages

00:26:34.640 and generations, but now revealed to his saints. Acts 17.11, it highlights these faithful Jews,

00:26:45.200 the Bereans, that were willing to search the scriptures to see if the mystery that Paul

00:26:51.680 was proclaiming was true. It says,

00:26:55.420 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica.

00:27:00.580 They received the word with all eagerness, examining the

00:27:03.640 scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

00:27:08.120 To see if that mystery was actually revealed

00:27:10.660 in Paul's words. I believe

00:27:15.560 much of the American church is

00:27:19.400 dead because of the failure to reveal

00:27:23.220 this mystery.

00:27:27.220 All of humanity's brokenness, all of humanity's shame and guilt, all of humanity's

00:27:31.120 desire to escape death, everybody's desire to have something, some sort of hope

00:27:35.540 to stand on, all of it is found

00:27:39.760 in the revealing of this mystery.

00:27:45.440 The problem is not that the world isn't

00:27:47.560 searching. And the problem is that it's searching in all the wrong places.

00:27:54.040 The Christian's duty is to 0.98

00:27:55.480 reveal that, hey, what you're looking for, we know where it is. 1.00

00:28:01.160 I know you're broken, and I know you're seeking

00:28:03.100 pleasure, and I know you're seeking purpose, and all of these other things, but let

00:28:07.520 me tell you that the mystery of life, the mystery

00:28:11.420 of pain, the mystery of life and death,

00:28:14.900 it's found in Christ.

00:28:17.560 It's revealed, in fact, it was preached in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament, let me tell you, of Jesus.

00:28:27.440 Everybody that's confused, everybody that doesn't know, they need to know the revelation of the mystery.

00:28:37.560 In verse 26, Paul says, about this mystery that was kept secret, he says, but now it's been disclosed.

00:28:47.560 and through the prophetic writings

00:28:50.440 has been made known to all the nations

00:28:52.160 according

00:28:54.200 to the commandment of the

00:28:56.260 eternal God

00:28:56.920 to bring about the obedience of faith

00:29:00.280 now Paul is not

00:29:04.260 saying this message is being disclosed

00:29:06.800 he's saying that it's

00:29:08.320 been disclosed

00:29:09.520 it's been disclosed

00:29:11.920 and it's

00:29:14.380 first been disclosed in the person of Jesus Christ

00:29:16.180 but a second it's been disclosed in the preaching of Paul's gospel

00:29:20.300 in accordance with the Old Testament scriptures.

00:29:27.280 But what exactly has been disclosed?

00:29:31.420 What has been disclosed?

00:29:33.640 Think about it for a second.

00:29:35.980 Well, it's that God intends to bring about the obedience of faith to the nations.

00:29:44.520 Yes, there's more to that.

00:29:45.920 There's also the fact that God was going to send his son born in a manger to be raised up into a ministry in which he would die and not rule as king in this particular moment,

00:29:57.840 but actually be resurrected from the dead to ascend into heaven to bring the entire world to himself, the successful outpouring of the Great Commission.

00:30:08.940 Yes.

00:30:09.460 But one of the great parts of the mysteries was that God doesn't just intend to save one nation, but the whole world.

00:30:26.040 This was always the plan.

00:30:29.200 Galatians 3.8, referencing the Old Testament, he's talking about the promise to Abraham.

00:30:38.560 He says, the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations of the Gentiles by faith,

00:30:46.540 preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, all the nations will be blessed in you.

00:30:56.480 You see, Paul is a systematic theologian.

00:31:00.840 Paul understands that what happened in the garden is now being revealed in Christ.

00:31:08.560 And everything in between.

00:31:13.240 He understands that salvation began in one nation, but now includes all nations,

00:31:18.780 where all people become one people under God.

00:31:21.880 The church, the ecclesia, the called out ones.

00:31:26.760 Again, it's why Paul opened in Romans 1, it says,

00:31:31.820 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

00:31:37.040 to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

00:31:41.540 He's understanding the systematic nature of,

00:31:44.800 oh, it started with one nation

00:31:48.080 and now it's enumerated with the nations

00:31:52.340 that have been now grafted into one, making one body.

00:31:58.120 Which is why Galatians 3, 28 through 29 says, 0.55

00:32:01.460 there is neither Jew nor Greek. 0.60

00:32:03.200 There is neither slave nor free.

00:32:05.080 There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

00:32:16.920 And then it adds, it says, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs, according to the promise.

00:32:25.380 There is one people of God. 0.77

00:32:27.240 Jew and Gentile brought under into one body, one faith, one baptism, one father who was over all.

00:32:37.920 I'm just basically reciting Ephesians. 0.97

00:32:40.960 There's not two peoples of God.

00:32:43.620 There's not the Jews and then the church. 0.97

00:32:46.500 There is just one.

00:32:48.660 Every person saved in the Old Testament was saved by grace through faith in Christ.

00:32:55.280 Every person in the New Testament is saved by grace through faith in Christ.

00:33:01.920 We have been added together into one body.

00:33:05.480 We have been grafted into those true believers that were in Israel.

00:33:13.640 And now together we have become the new and great Israel, the body of Christ, who is the head of all things.

00:33:22.240 Paul closes by restating the subject and object of this great doxology.

00:33:28.920 He says in verse 27, to the only wise God.

00:33:34.440 He says now to him who is able to establish you, and then he goes on and on and on, and he reminds you who God is.

00:33:41.020 To the only wise God.

00:33:44.700 Be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.

00:33:47.520 Daniel 2.20 says

00:33:50.460 Blessed be the name of God forever and ever

00:33:53.920 to whom belong wisdom and might.

00:33:59.520 It's just like this wisdom and dunamis.

00:34:04.960 If anyone desires to be wise

00:34:07.920 you cannot do so apart from Christ.

00:34:13.320 I've watched many years

00:34:15.220 as I've studied through the philosophical documents of church history

00:34:20.720 to some of the great theologians that have fell into the philosophy of human traditions 0.94

00:34:26.480 to those atheists that have great intellect but are still burning in hell.

00:34:32.240 I've watched the people of modern day from Jordan Peterson to Ben Shapiro. 0.99

00:34:36.660 I've read some of the works of Nietzsche and Darwin.

00:34:39.880 I've seen Bruto and his argumentation.

00:34:42.840 I've seen some of the crazy stuff that came out of Aquinas.

00:34:47.300 But any philosophy, any idea, any wisdom that is disconnected from Jesus Christ is not wisdom at all.

00:34:59.740 Again, Paul says, to the only wise God.

00:35:04.480 Proverbs 9.10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

00:35:09.060 can you say anything wise truly if it's not under the comprehension that jesus christ is lord

00:35:19.300 no you might be able to to mumble true facts that are truly wise in the sense that they are facts

00:35:28.640 but a person cannot be wise apart from recognizing the lordship of jesus christ

00:35:37.000 god says that he is the source of wisdom in proverbs 2 6 saying for the lord gives wisdom

00:35:49.180 from his mouth comes understanding and knowledge colossians 2 2 through 3 says christ in whom are

00:35:57.420 hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge you want to know where all wisdom is it's in

00:36:04.960 Christ. Go try

00:36:06.980 to be wise apart from Christ and you'll

00:36:08.880 be Jordan Peterson.

00:36:11.240 Go try to be wise apart from

00:36:12.940 Christ and you're going to be Ben Shapiro.

00:36:17.760 Christ in whom

00:36:18.700 are hidden all the treasures

00:36:21.060 of wisdom and knowledge.

00:36:23.720 Anybody that says something

00:36:24.900 wise is just borrowing it from Christ.

00:36:30.180 If you want

00:36:31.040 to know wisdom, you must

00:36:33.220 know Christ.

00:36:35.700 Paul then concludes by saying,

00:36:37.340 Be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.

00:36:39.640 So all of God's glory, all of God's glory, the triune Godhead,

00:36:46.580 all of the glory, all of the radiating goodness and order and perfection

00:36:53.500 comes through Jesus Christ.

00:36:58.700 That's an amazing theological statement.

00:37:01.560 Hebrews 1.3 speaking of Jesus says

00:37:06.480 He is the radiance of the glory of God

00:37:09.420 And the exact imprint of His nature

00:37:12.060 And He upholds the universe by the word of His power

00:37:15.660 It's why Jesus said

00:37:18.860 Whoever has seen me has seen the Father

00:37:21.460 Amazing words

00:37:25.440 Imagine staring at Jesus when He said those words

00:37:30.500 whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

00:37:37.500 Colossians 1.16 says

00:37:39.080 for by him all things were created

00:37:41.520 in heaven and on earth

00:37:42.940 visible and invisible

00:37:44.220 whether thrones or dominions

00:37:45.820 or rulers or authorities

00:37:46.920 all things were created through him

00:37:48.900 and for him.

00:37:53.180 Think about the insanity

00:37:54.820 of individualism

00:37:57.320 of autonomy

00:38:00.020 of dust and dirt that disobeys.

00:38:06.660 Think about the reality of being born in this world

00:38:09.500 and rejecting your maker.

00:38:12.640 It's insane, truly, by the definition of the word insane.

00:38:20.420 An old Puritan once wrote, as I close here,

00:38:24.580 Christ has always been the center of God's redemptive work,

00:38:27.860 proclaimed in the garden 0.98

00:38:30.100 foreshadowed in the law

00:38:32.320 sung by the prophets

00:38:34.500 revealed in the manger

00:38:36.220 hung upon the cross

00:38:38.080 and risen in the tomb

00:38:39.700 and now he is preached to the ends of all the earth

00:38:43.160 until the nations are gathered

00:38:45.200 into one people

00:38:46.140 and one kingdom

00:38:47.560 under his name

00:38:48.880 I think all we can say

00:38:52.460 to this book of Romans

00:38:54.920 is what Paul said

00:38:56.780 Now to him be the glory forevermore through Jesus Christ.

00:39:00.840 Amen.

00:39:01.780 Amen?

00:39:02.900 Let's pray.

00:39:04.960 Father, we thank you, Lord,

00:39:09.920 for the work that you have done through us in this great book of Romans.

00:39:14.520 Lord, that you not only have established us, but will continue to establish us.

00:39:20.340 through means of grace and the proclamation of your word

00:39:25.360 and through the words of your apostles

00:39:26.680 for the saving of the nations in which we are part.

00:39:33.460 Lord, we thank you for all that you've done in us and through us.

00:39:36.800 To the glory of your name.

00:39:39.520 Amen.

00:39:39.920 Amen.

Dale Partridge - August 19, 2025

Romans 16_24-27 The Closing Doxology of Romans

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