25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
This is a beautiful doxology, a declaration of praise to God.
MacArthur explains this doxology.....
The good news that Paul preached was that God has the power and God has the wisdom to take a vacillating, fallen, drifting, shiftless, misunderstanding, chaotic mind and settle it once and for all on the truth so that it can stand erect and say, "I know what I believe, I know in whom I have believed, I know what God asks of me and I understand His promises." Without the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, man has fallen, man is unsure, man is insecure, he is unsettled, he is crushed under the weight of sin. He is ignorant of truth and he is thereby unable to do his duty before God.
And frankly, in that fallen and unstable situation he has no defense against Satan. And really in that situation he has no defense against God either. The man without God is not established. The man without the gospel has no footing. He does not know what he believes.....God is able to take that fallen man, lift him up and set him on his feet.....The gospel alone establishes us....
We possess a gospel that establishes fallen man and we possess a gospel that is provided by an unfallen man, the God/Man, Jesus Christ...
Jesus Christ came and brought the saving gospel, something that had never been seen was seen, something that had never been known was fully known. ....The prophets had said that a Savior would come, a Messiah, a deliverer, a King. The Scriptures of the prophets predicted it. But it was never made manifest. It was always hidden. It was always veiled....A mystery is something that was hidden in the Old Testament and is revealed in the New. And listen carefully, the gospel was the unfolding of a mystery, a mystery kept secret since the world began and now made manifest and by the Scriptures of the prophets. Yes, they spoke of it. And it was by the commandment of the everlasting God that it would now on God's schedule be made known. By the commandment of God it was made known in all its fullness....
What is this mystery of which he speaks?....The wonderful unveiled secret is that Jew and Gentile possess the Savior and are one in Him...one in Him. That is it. That is the sacred secret...the union of all believers in the body.....
Oh, he says, I praise God, I praise God, I do my praise saying, I give my doxology, because we have a gospel that lifted us up and established us in righteousness, because we have a gospel that centers on the work of Jesus Christ, a totally transforming work. And then I praise God because we have a gospel that is a mystery revealed, that is the revelation of a hidden secret and that hidden secret is that God would want the salvation that He desired to be made known to all the nations, that they all might be obedient to the faith. How marvellous....
"To God only wise." Why does he say that? Why doesn't he say only powerful, or only loving, or only gracious? I'll tell you why, because only an infinite mind could ever have designed such a plan. God only wise...there is no one who would be wise enough to ever accomplish such a saving work....the whole point of God saving men and the whole point of what he calls the fellowship of the mystery, that is Jew and Gentile loving one another in the church of Christ, the whole point is so that the principalities and the powers in the heavenlies might know the manifold wisdom of God....
what does this say to a believer? ....It says our hearts ought to be filled with... praise, first of all. It ought to be that it spontaneously rises from our lips that we praise God. It ought to be that as we would come to any thought about the gospel we would launch into the same kind of praise and doxology that Paul does.
Furthermore, it causes me to remember that Christ didn't do this wonderful work so that I could continue to live in sin, right? So the very reminder of this work calls me to a renewed commitment to holiness. I wasn't given the fullness of salvation by the perfect work of Jesus Christ so that I could give back God a disobedient life, was I? The Lord didn't do all of that for me so I could serve Him with a half of a heart. And furthermore, it reminds me that He saved us to put us in to a great fellowship and that I want to give all to that fellowship that is in me to give, don't you? I'm a part of the unveiling of the mystery hidden from ages past and now revealed. O my dear friends, should we not praise God that we are a part of what He has done?
Praise His name!
Well, that brings 2012 to a close. I have been so blessed to journey through God's Word with you all together this past year, and I am very much looking forward to beginning another New Year tomorrow!!
Tomorrow's scripture focus, new for 2013!: Esther 1:1-9
Esther passages follow Mark Driscoll’s sermon series
1 comment:
I, too, have been blessed by the journey of the past year and look forward to beginning again tomorrow as well!
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