This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our look at Romans chapter 16 verses 25 to 27, the last chapter, the
last verses in the book of Romans. Welcome to the finish of our study in the
book of Romans. Congratulations, you have made it clear to the end, and I want
to remind you even as we begin today, now that you've finished the book of
Romans, don't quit, keep downloading this weekly podcast for the next book that
we're going to do together, or you can go and on the drive time devotions
website, you can choose one of the other books that maybe we've done in the past
that you want to listen to.

Whatever you do, let the word of God keep impacting your life. Romans chapter 16
ends this way. Here's Paul's benediction, his prayer at the end.

Verse 25 to 27, "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, 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. To the only wise God be glory, glory forever through Jesus Christ.
Amen.

" The point of Romans is in verse 27. The point of life is in verse 27. The
point of history is in verse 27, "To the only wise God be glory.

" In this closing prayer, Paul prays for glory to the God who is able, this
powerful God. He prays for glory to come to the only wise God. As he prays about
the God who is able, he talks about the God who is able to establish what God is
able to do in your life by my gospel, by the good news, by the proclamation of
that gospel of Jesus.

According to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, the idea
of mystery here isn't that God kept something hidden on purpose, it's that the
timing wasn't right yet. And the mystery is simply Jesus. The mystery is the
fact that what people didn't know in the Old Testament was that Jesus, God
himself in human flesh, was going to come to this earth one day.

And once Jesus came into this world, God's plan is now completely clear. We've
talked all the way through the book of Romans about changing history. To change
history, you have to understand the point of history.

And the point of history is the glory of God. That is where history is
inevitably headed. Whatever I do, whatever you do, that's the inevitable
destination point of history, the glory of God.

One of the most embarrassing things to me about getting even a little bit older,
I'll admit that, is looking back and seeing how much of what I felt at the time
was motivation to serve Christ was mixed up with motivations to make myself look
good, with what I would see now and say now honestly were some selfish
motivations. Thank God in His grace He uses us even with those things. But as
you grow in life and you look back, you begin to see that He used you in spite
of some things.

The motivation was getting ahead. It was mixed in with love for Christ, but
there was a lot of motivation to get ahead. Or the motivation was having the
adrenaline of a victory that I accomplished.

So often the motivation is so mixed up with glorifying myself and not God. But
as we go through life, God who loves us, God who patiently works with us,
purifies our motives if we'll let Him. So that we become more and more about
glorifying Him and less and less about glorifying us.

I don't think we ever get there entirely. I think at any point we could look
back 10 years ago and hopefully see if we've grown at all how we're less selfish
than we were 10 years ago. So I'm not talking about perfection here, I'm talking
about growth.

Most Christians want to glorify God. They just want everybody else to notice
that they're glorifying God. God in His grace purifies us of that again and
again.

Because as these verses tell us, He is the God who is able and He is the only
wise God. He is the God who is able. He has the power to do whatever He wants in
our lives.

He's the only wise God. He has the character. When you put power and character
together, you get change.

You get eternal change. And only God's power and God's character is great enough
to accomplish that. As we've walked through the book of Romans together, we've
talked about changing history.

Changing the history of our own lives, changing the history of our nation,
changing the history of this world because of God's truth. And we've come back
again and again to the fact that to change history there's five truths I have to
understand. To change history I have to understand the truth about sin.

We looked at that in Romans 1, 18 to 3, 20. Romans 3, 23 looking back to that
says, "For all of sin and fall short of God's glorious standard. " I have to
understand the truth that I am a sinner.

And if I don't really accept that, I'll never change anything and nothing will
ever change. I am in daily need of God's grace. The second truth that we talked
about was the truth about salvation.

Romans 3, 21 to 5, 21. Romans 5, 8 says, "Christ died for us while we were still
sinners. We all need salvation.

" As long as you try to be a self-service savior, you'll never make any lasting
impact on this world. Self-service saviors are those who try to pump the gas of
salvation into their own lives. Somehow they're going to do it by their own
energy and strength.

We need a full-service savior and there's only one. Jesus Christ is the only one
who can serve our need for salvation because he is the only one who lived a
perfect life. So he's the only one who can offer us the gift of forgiveness, the
gift of eternal life.

I need to understand the truth about salvation. A third truth I need to
understand is the truth about sanctification. Romans chapter 6 to 8 talk about
this truth of Christian growth.

Romans 8, 29 says, "From the very beginning, God decided that those who came to
him should become like his son. " Sanctification means God wants to change me.
The foundation of all change, all historical change, is personal change.

You'll never lead anyone further than you've gone yourself. As I think about
sanctification and growth, I'm reminded of Augustine's stages as we struggle
with sin, in stage one, two, and three. Stage one when we struggle with sin is,
"Lord, make me good, but not yet.

" Stage two as I struggle with sin and growth in my life is, "Lord, make me
good, but not entirely. " I don't want to reserve this area in my life, but
stage three is, "Lord, make me good. Lord make me good.

Grow me to be like your son. " The fourth truth that we looked about as we've
gone through the book of Romans is the truth of God's sovereignty, Romans 9 to
11. Romans 9, 16 says, "It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort,
but on God's mercy.

" Pick an area, any area of your life, where God is not yet in ultimate control,
and the truth is, God is in control. God is in charge. Nothing will ever change
that.

I just haven't recognized that yet. You just haven't recognized that truth, that
reality yet, because one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. God is in control.

The truth about sin and salvation, about sanctification and sovereignty, and
then the fifth truth that we've looked at just now in Romans chapter 12 to 16,
the truth about service. Romans 12, 1 says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in
view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and
pleasing to God. " We serve our way to significance.

We minister our way to meaning in life. I'd like to pray together as we end this
look together at the book of Romans, and I want to invite you to do something a
little bit different. I hope you're somewhere where you can do this, maybe in
your car or somewhere alone.

I want to invite you to pray out loud these words back to God. I'll just pause
at the end of each phrase and just quietly, under your breath, or maybe more
loudly if that's what God leads you to do right now. Would you pray this prayer
of commitment to serve him, commitment for your life to count?

Say to Jesus, "Jesus, I want my life to count for something. " Just say that
back, "I want my life to count for something. Would you change me so that you
can change the world through me?

I want to not care so much about being noticed as to care about being used by
you. I want to care not so much about being seen as to care about being
significant in my service to you. Use me in the details of life.

Use who I am. Use my personality. I'm not asking you to make me a different
person.

I am asking you to sanctify the person that you created me to be. I will not be
satisfied with anything less than living a life that changes the world. I will
not be satisfied with anything less than living a life that changes the world.

In Jesus' name, amen. " And I want to thank you. I want to thank you for
listening to this drive-time devotion together to the book of Romans, enjoying
together the life-changing power of God's Word.

Thank you for being a part of this stint.