Romans 16:27 - God's Wisdom in the Gospel

Romans 16:27 - to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Message: God's Wisdom in the Gospel

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome.
 
What the Lord is Saying:

And here is Paul's last sentence in his book Romans. It is good for me to finish this book.  I began my study of Romans on April 21, 2014. It has taken me 16 months to get through it. I guess that is a chapter a month. I've had many breaks along the way. But, I feel good about persevering and enduring and finishing the book. 

The only wise God
Wisdom is an attribute of God. Wisdom has always been one of those traits that I have wanted in my life. Wikipedia says, "wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight." I want to be a wise decision maker. Sometimes I think I struggle making quick decision well because I desire to survey the different possibilities first. Quick decision, I think, often get me in trouble.

In James 3, it says:

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James makes a point that wisdom is something that is seen when we honor God. Wisdom is not bitter jealousy. It is not selfish ambition. It is not to boast and be false to the truth. The result of these attributes is disorder and every vile practice. But instead wisdom comes from God. It is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And it finally brings peace.  

God has perfect wisdom. He is pure. He is peaceable. He is reasonable. He is merciful. He is fruitful. He is impartial. He is sincere. 

• Pure - clean, clear; unmixed; unadorned; chaste, undefiled
• Peaceable - peaceful, freedom from civil disorder, tranquility, absence of war
• Gentle - free from being harsh or violent; fine, good, fair, worthy, of noble rank or family; it is not severe or rough
• Open to reason - having sound judgment, sane, rational, intellectual faculty that adopts actions to ends, statement in an argument, statement of explanation or justification
• Merciful - God's forgiveness of his creatures' offenses, reward, gift; kindness, grace, pity; it is not giving people what they deserve
• Fruitful - it is good enjoyment, delight, satisfaction; proceeds, produce
• Impartial - not one-sided, not to have bias
• Sincere - pure, unmixed, that which is not falsified, correct, honest

Through
This is a very important word. God is glorified forevermore through Jesus Christ. The agent of God's glory is Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith." The way we get to salvation is through faith. The way you get to God is through Jesus Christ. 

I think one of the reasons I have heard this phrase, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ into your life or in your heart?" is because Jesus is the means to which we get to God. And so the big quest for man is to trust in Jesus. It is to accept Jesus. It is to believe in Jesus. It is interesting, many people think that they only need to know the attribute of God that He forgives sin. There hear this much of their life and because God forgives they think they are not accountable and their sin will always be overlooked. So, they may see themselves as having done sin, but they are fine before God because he forgives. Yet, that is simply an attribute of God. 

The real thing that people need is Jesus and it is to believe or have faith in Jesus, for through Jesus man gets to God. Man needs God, but it only occurs through Jesus. 

• John 1:3 - All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  
• John 1:7 - He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 
• John 1:10 - He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 
• John 3:17 - For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 
• John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
• Acts 3:16 - And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. 
• Acts 7:25 - And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 
• Acts 10:43 - “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” 
• Romans 5:9 - Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 
• Romans 8:37 - But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
• Romans 2:16 - on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

I am reminded of the importance of using these verses because people often respond to me that God forgives and so therefore they are off the hook. But, God's forgiveness is an attribute. God forgives just like God has mercy or God is all-knowing or God is all wisdom, peace, impartial.  

Promise: Christ lived and died to cover your sins (giving me access to the forgiveness of God) with his righteousness; he cleansed me from sin by His blood, and gives me peace with God. It is all through Jesus. No wonder his name is cursed so much. He is offensive. The gall to say that outside of self, outside of my good behavior or my own reason or my own ways or own thinking or own definitions of life, that outside of all that is me I must accept and trust Jesus is quite offensive.