Josh Buice's sermon emphasizes the transformative power of the Gospel and the vital role of preaching in the growth and spiritual strength of the church. He opens by referencing his home church and the privilege of preaching on Romans 16:25-27, setting the stage for a deep dive into the text. Buice extols Charles Spurgeon as a model preacher whose ministry was marked by a profound commitment to the Gospel, avoiding gimmicks and focusing on substance.
Buice uses Spurgeon's dedication of the Metropolitan Tabernacle to illustrate a lifelong commitment to centering Christ in preaching, influencing not just his congregation but countless others through his writings. Drawing parallels between Paul’s ministry in Romans and Spurgeon's historical impact, Buice outlines the sermon’s main points: preaching Christ strengthens the church spiritually, grows it numerically, and ultimately glorifies God.
The sermon delves into the theology of Romans, highlighting Paul's focus on the Gospel's power to establish the church and bring believers into a life of obedience to Christ. Buice articulates this through a thorough exegesis of Paul's words, emphasizing that authentic Christian preaching must aim to reveal Christ and His work, rather than succumb to the cultural pressures of entertainment or political correctness.
In conclusion, Buice calls for a return to robust, Christ-centered preaching as the foundation for church health and growth, echoing the reformers' commitment to making the Gospel accessible and central in all church activities. He finishes with a prayer for the church’s faithfulness and a plea for non-believers to embrace the Gospel, reinforcing the sermon's overarching theme of the transformative and enduring power of Christ’s message.
Josh Buice's sermon emphasizes the transformative power of the Gospel and the vital role of preaching in the growth and spiritual strength of the church. He opens by referencing his home church and the privilege of preaching on Romans 16:25-27, setting the stage for a deep dive into the text. Buice extols Charles Spurgeon as a model preacher whose ministry was marked by a profound commitment to the Gospel, avoiding gimmicks and focusing on substance.
Buice uses Spurgeon's dedication of the Metropolitan Tabernacle to illustrate a lifelong commitment to centering Christ in preaching, influencing not just his congregation but countless others through his writings. Drawing parallels between Paul’s ministry in Romans and Spurgeon's historical impact, Buice outlines the sermon’s main points: preaching Christ strengthens the church spiritually, grows it numerically, and ultimately glorifies God.
The sermon delves into the theology of Romans, highlighting Paul's focus on the Gospel's power to establish the church and bring believers into a life of obedience to Christ. Buice articulates this through a thorough exegesis of Paul's words, emphasizing that authentic Christian preaching must aim to reveal Christ and His work, rather than succumb to the cultural pressures of entertainment or political correctness.
In conclusion, Buice calls for a return to robust, Christ-centered preaching as the foundation for church health and growth, echoing the reformers' commitment to making the Gospel accessible and central in all church activities. He finishes with a prayer for the church’s faithfulness and a plea for non-believers to embrace the Gospel, reinforcing the sermon's overarching theme of the transformative and enduring power of Christ’s message.
Well, good morning, church family. It is a privilege to be with you on this Lord's Day. I bring you greetings from our local church, Praise-me-Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia on the west side of Atlanta. It is a privilege to be with you on this occasion. I want to thank Pastor Jeff for the privilege to be with you and to the elders of this church. It is an honor to stand before you with the Word of God. If you would take your copy of God's Word and open to Romans, Romans chapter 16 will be our focus on this Lord's Day morning as we come together and as we continue in a posture of worship through the preaching of the Word. Romans chapter 16 verses 25 through 27. And if you would, for the reading of God's Word, please stand with me as we read aloud the Word of God. You follow along with me as I read aloud. This is the Word of the Living God beginning in verse number 25 down to verse 27. Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith. To the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen. And you may be seated if you would pray with me. Father, we do pray now that you would bless not only the reading of your Word, but the preaching and the proclamation of your Word. We ask that you would strengthen this flock. We pray that you would build up brothers and sisters in the truth of the gospel. Now we ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, one of my heroes from church history is Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon is one of those towering figures from church history. And of course, I love to read his books. I love to read his sermons. What captivates me most about Spurgeon is his love and his commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you just look at his sermons and you just read his sermons, you see that in many ways he's not giving himself to gimmicks. He's not giving himself to schemes to try to grow his church. But what you saw in Spurgeon's ministry was a powerful preaching of the gospel and a commitment to the gospel. And God blessed it in a wonderful way. If you look at his ministry and see that as he was preaching, his church would grow astronomically there in London. And they would eventually leave one specific location and go to theater halls to try to have just a building that was large enough for the church to gather. But it was in March of 1861 that the church would gather in a new location for the dedication of what was known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle. It was this massive building in London for this church to gather. I want to read to you just a brief section of Spurgeon's comments in that first sermon as he took the pulpit in that new building that is the historic Metropolitan Tabernacle. He said the following quote,"I would propose that the subject of the ministry of this house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshippers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist, although I claim to be rather a Calvinist according to Calvin rather than the modern debased fashion. I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist. You have there," and he was pointing to the Baptistry, "substantial evidence that I am not ashamed of that ordinance of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if I am asked to say, 'What is my creed?' I think I must reply, 'It is Jesus Christ.'" And as you see and hear in many ways the commitment of Spurgeon in that very first sermon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, what you find is that he was committed to the Gospel. Everything that he would do in that building, he was dedicating it to Jesus Christ. It was through the power of the Gospel that God would grow this church in London, and his ministry continues to have ripple effects to this very day. Now, if you think about Spurgeon, you have to ask, "Well, who is Spurgeon looking to?" And if you just think about the influence of individuals like John Bunyan, John Bunyan had a profound influence on Spurgeon. Spurgeon said of John Bunyan, the author of "The Pilgrim's Progress," that if you prick him any place that he would bleed Bible. But really, in many ways, if you look to Spurgeon and you read his sermons and you hear his preaching, what you find is that he's looking to the Apostle Paul and to the Apostles to see how their ministry was formed and fashioned, and the foundation of their preaching was Jesus Christ. If you look to the Apostle Paul and to this letter that we have here in the New Testament that we call Romans, it was a letter that Paul wrote to the church in the city of Rome. Ancient Rome at this time had about one million people living there. Caesar lived there. It was the home of the most powerful marching army assembled there. Rome was the center of the military, the political, and the legislative power of the day. This was a strategic city. It was a powerful city, and it was also a wicked city. But in the midst of this city was a church of Jesus. And Paul loved this church, and he longed to be with this people. And he writes this letter to encourage them and to build them up in the faith. And he spends the first 11 chapters of this letter laying a firm foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, faith alone and Christ alone for the remission of sin, that we are justified by faith alone, apart from works, for the glory of King Jesus. And then there's a hinge point that happens at the end of chapter 11, where you see for the next several chapters all the way to the final words which we just read this morning, that Paul moves from the theology, if you will, of that foundation of justification by faith alone, and he moves to the practical nature of how to live out this true gospel that has been preached and has been set forth before the church in the city of Rome. Paul moves from knowing God to obeying God. He moves from what to know about God and His gospel to a section that is devoted on how to live for the glory of God. He moves from why to worship to how to worship, from orthodoxy to orthopraxy. And here we see as we come to the very end, we find ourselves in many ways. There's two endings to Romans. There's the ending of the rich theological foundation in the first 11 chapters. And how does Paul end there? Well, he ends with what's known as a doxology. And then, of course, we come to the very end of the letter in chapter 16, verses 25 to 27, and he lands the airplane in this masterful letter to the church in the city of Rome with another doxology. What is a doxology? Well, the word doxology comes from two Greek words, doxa, which is glory, and then another word, logos, which is word. And so it's a statement of the glory of God. It is a praise statement of God's glory. And we sing doxologies like praise God from whom all blessings flow. And we have doxologies all throughout the Bible. We can go to the Old Testament and you can see that all five books of the Psalms end with a doxology, a praise saying to God. And then, of course, you come to the New Testament and you see a number of doxologies. You see a doxology in Galatians 1.5, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. You have a doxology in Ephesians 3, verses 20 and 21. It says, "To Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all the generations forever and ever. Amen." Philippians 4, verse 20, there's another doxology."To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen." Jude, perhaps, has the most well-known doxology in the New Testament. And it's in verses 24 and 25, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory. With great joy 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." And then we see another doxology in 1 Timothy 1.17, "To the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." And then, of course, in 1 Peter 5.11, there's another doxology, "To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen." So you get the point. You see these praise sayings that are found for us in the pages of God's Word that direct us in a vertical fashion away from ourselves, away from our work, to the throne of the Most High Sovereign God who rules and reigns even at this very hour. This is a glorious doxology as we look here in this very passage, and I want us to see three things in these verses. The first thing that I want us to see is as Paul comes to the very end of this letter to this church in this strategic city that he loved, he pins this doxology to remind them of how he started the letter. Because in many ways, Romans is bookended with this grand statement of the Gospel of Jesus. And then he drives home the importance of the preaching of the Gospel that would strengthen the church and grow the church all for the glory of God. Three things I want us to see. The first thing I want us to see is that preaching Christ grows the church spiritually, followed by preaching the Gospel will grow the church numerically. And then finally, when the Gospel is preached and the church is strengthened and the church is growing numerically, this all brings glory to God. And so, look if you will in your copy of God's Word in Romans 16.25, and notice the language here at the beginning of this doxology."Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.""Now to Him, the only wise God," he says at the end of this doxology."Now to Him, our trying God who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." The results of faithful preaching is that the church, the saints are strengthened. Notice the word there."Who is able to strengthen you?" This is a word that means to establish. It means to establish, to make strong. And that's what faithful preaching does in the life of a church. Weak preaching will result in a weak church. Strong, bold, faithful preaching will result in a strong church. A pulpit that is afraid to rightly divide the Word of God. It is afraid to handle every single jot and tittle in Holy Scripture. It is a church that would be a compromising church. But a church that has faithful preaching, preaching that exhausts the glory and the majesty and the splendor of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will result in a strong church."Now to Him who is able to strengthen you, church and Rome, according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." And what is the message of this faithful preaching? Well, this message is the euangelion, the Gospel, the good news, the glad tidings that Jesus saves sinners. This is what faithful preaching does. It sets forth the Gospel before people. You see, that's what the pulpit is reserved for. It's that we would see Christ. It's that Christ would be set forth before people. It's that the church would grow because Christ is set in front of each and every person every week through His Word. You see, church, we must always remember this truth, that you never, ever, ever, ever out to grow the Gospel. Some churches make the tragic error and mistake that you learn the Gospel down the hallway in the back of the church when you're a little poddler. And then when you eventually grow and grow and then you become an adult and you come into the main auditorium for the Lord's Day, well, we need some other things. We need some cultural things. Speak to the front page of the New York Times, preacher. Talk to us about something other. We don't really need the Gospel. We've already done that. We've already believed the Gospel. We've already turned to Christ. We don't really need the Gospel. You never outgrow your need for the Gospel. You never outknow the Gospel. I don't care how many degrees you have at the end of your name. You will never outknow the Gospel. We need the Gospel every moment of every day. In fact, all the way throughout Romans, if you just survey this letter, you will find that the Gospel is mentioned some 55 times in this one letter. And that's astounding. And the reason it's astounding is because the word "Gospel" really only appears 91 times in all of the New Testament and it's found 55 times in this one letter. This letter is saturated with the Gospel. And you see that there are 11 different times where Paul has the definite article before Gospel in this letter. In Romans 1, verse 1, the Gospel. Romans 1, 9, the Gospel. Romans 1, 15, the Gospel. Romans 1, 16, the Gospel. Romans 2, 16, the Gospel. Romans 10, 16, the Gospel. Romans 11, 28, the Gospel. Romans 15, 16, the Gospel. Romans 15, 19, the Gospel. Romans 15, 20, the Gospel. It's not a Gospel. It is the Gospel. The Gospel of God, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the final statement in this doxology, you would think that He would once again in this doxology say,"The Gospel." But He says, "My Gospel. My Gospel." Why would He talk like that? Well, it's not because He's trying to be disrespectful about the Gospel. It's because He had so internalized the Gospel. He had laid down His life in total submission before the throne of Christ. It was His Gospel. And that's why He could write in such a glorious way to this church in the city of Rome, setting forth the Gospel, encouraging message of Jesus before these people. We must do the same thing in our own ministry. If you're teaching a class, if you're preaching in this pulpit, if you're discipling women, whatever your role may be in the life of this church, make it the central focus of your speech, of your discipleship, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what He says, not only of His Gospel, but also the preaching of Jesus Christ, which is linked together. The word here "preaching of Jesus" is the word "keruso." It means an official proclamation, an official announcement. It's like an official ambassador being sent from a dignitary to go stand before the town square to call everyone to a symbol and then to make a definitive statement on behalf of the King. That's what this word means. The preaching of Jesus Christ. When we think about the preaching, we need to be mindful of the fact that preaching is different than talking. Preaching is different than suggesting. Preaching is different than having Q&As. Preaching is different than a dialogue. Preaching in and of itself is unique and different than teaching. And the church must have at its center point the preaching and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. William Hendrickson in his commentary says the following,"Genuine preaching means that the sermon is lively, not dry, timely, not stale. It is the earnest proclamation of the great news initiated by God." Sadly, this morning, all across evangelicalism, we find that the pulpit is the launch pad for life principles, moral stories, endless how-to practical surveys, sappy emotional stories, and a bunch of political garbage. And in many ways, many pulpits across America this morning have muzzled the Gospel of Jesus. They're feeding the people junk food. And as a result, the church, the health of the church will wane. And of course, you see that there's a direct connection to the strengthening of the church through the Gospel that is preached. Today, we have comics who are entertaining, psychologists who are dialoguing. We have social justicians that are polluting, lost people are perishing, and sheep are starving. And so the pulpit that would give itself to the red-hot, clear, efficient, and faithful proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will draw sheep in because they desire to be fed by the Gospel of Jesus. Years ago, J.I. Packer, he tells this story of sitting under the preaching of Martin Lloyd-Jones. He was a student there in the 1940s in England. And every Sunday evening, he would go and he would sit under the preaching of Martin Lloyd-Jones. And in his book, he tells the story of what that was like the first time that he went in. And he sat under the doctor's preaching. He said that it came to him like the force of an electric shock. If you read on, Packer describes himself, he says, "He had never sat under such preaching. It moved him inwardly because it wasn't full of all sorts of garbage. It wasn't gimmicks and trickery. It wasn't schemes and pragmatism. It was the faithful Gospel of Jesus." Brothers and sisters, I say that's exactly what this church must stand for. I'm grateful that that's what this church stands for. I know of the testimony of this church beyond the campus, beyond the walls of this building, and it should never change. If you study church history, you will find that during the era of the Reformation, the Bible had been locked away in a dark dungeon by the Roman Catholic Church. People would assemble out there and the priest would lecture and speak in Latin. The people didn't even speak Latin. They had no idea what he was talking about. It was a dead, dark dungeon. And it was a horrific time, and God would raise up men that we call the reformers. And in many ways, you say, "Summarize the Reformation." There it is. It was that God raised up men who would bring the Bible to the people and the people to the Bible. They would give themselves to this task. God would raise up men like Martin Luther and John Knox and John Calvin and William Tyndale. And these men burned with zeal to make sure that the people had the Word, the Gospel in their language. They would give their very lives for it. R.C. Sproul said that the Reformation was not merely a great awakening. It was the greatest awakening to the true Gospel since the apostolic age. You think about the preaching of these men. These men were not lecturers. They were not lazy. They were not having just simple little dialogue sessions and have a little table over here with a little coffee cup because that makes us feel very relational, where we can kind of just lean back and maybe have a massage during the guidance up there, doing whatever he does for the next few minutes. I'll just zone out. No, that's not the way that the reformers preached. The reformers were red hot with their preaching. Between 1510 and 1546, Luther preached about 3,000 sermons. Sometimes multiple times per day, he was preaching the Gospel. And you go, of course, to Calvin's preaching. He started his series through Acts in 1549 and completed it in 1554. He preached 46 sermons through 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Through 1 and 2 Corinthians, 186 sermons. He preached 86 sermons through the pastoral epistles. He preached through Galatians in 43 sermons. Calvin preached 159 sermons through Job. Just imagine. His series through Deuteronomy was 200 sermons long. Isaiah, his series was 353 sermons. And his series through Genesis was 123 sermons in length. These men were preachers because they understood that as they preached the Gospel, Christ was set before people, that they would grow. The church would be strengthened and established. Second of all, if you look here at this doxology, you will see that preaching Christ grows the church numerically. Grows the church numerically. Notice the text here. It says at the end of verse 25,"according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages." But has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of the faith. It has always been the plan of God that God would grow His church numerically through the preaching of the Gospel. And as Paul writes to the church in Rome, he writes to the church to remind them of that very fact that it's through the preaching of Christ that this mystery that was kept secret for long ages would now be disclosed and through the prophetic writings, now going back and looking at all the writings of the prophets, would then come to light in their very eyes through the ministry of the apostles and all of this is for the glory of God. This is a wonderful truth. You see, sometimes I think, church, that we read the Bible, we're taught to do this, and it's a horrible thing, is that there's one plan of God on the left side of the Bible and then there's some sort of division there at the end of Malachi, right about the beginning of Matthew, and then there's another plan of God over here on the right side of the Bible. Don't ever read your Bible that way. God doesn't have one plan over here to save His people and then another plan over here to save His people. He has one singular plan from eternity past and until Christ comes for His bride to save His people. So the same God is the same God on the left side of the Bible, the same God on the right side of the Bible, the same exact Gospel on the left side of the Bible, the same exact Gospel on the right side of the Bible. It has always been God's plan that through the Gospel His people would be saved. And we see this. You can go back and study the covenants. You can study the Abrahamic covenant. You can see the promise of a multitude of individuals from all nations. You can read the Psalms like Psalm 67. Just think about this. To the person that would think, "Well, God really only had the plan of the Jews." And then because the Jews rejected Jesus, then He called an audible at the line of scrimmage and then said, "Okay, now the Gentiles." That's not the way it works. In Psalm 67 it says,"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, Selah, that Your way may be known on earth. Your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God. Let all peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah." It was through the preaching of Jesus Christ that this mystery would be unveiled. And then of course you see at the end of His preaching ministry, He gives this glorious great commission to go to all nations and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You see, the preaching of Jesus Christ grows the Church, grows the Holy Catholic Church, the Universal Church, across all geographic boundaries around planet earth through His gospel. This is God's plan and it has always been God's plan. And how does He do this? Well, we see that it is through the gospel priests that the power of the gospel is unleashed and it results in obedience. Notice the doxology. According to the command of the eternal God to bring about, to result in the obedience of faith. The obedience of faith. How did you come to obey Christ? How did you come to obey God? Was it through gimmicks and schemes? Was it through trickery? Was it through pragmatism that you came to obey God? No. I'll tell you how you came to obey God. It was through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, the gospel is powerful. I could stand up this morning and I could tell you story after story. I could just stand up and just say, "We're just going to have story time for the next few minutes." And I could just link story after story after story. I could give you my opinion on various and sundry things. But you would leave here today discouraged, not helped. And if you're lost in this room, you certainly couldn't be saved by my opinion and by my stories. Or if I wanted to talk to you today about the Atlanta Braves, and I'm a Braves fan, I could do that. If I wanted to talk to you today, and I'm sorry to report to you, I'm a Georgia Bulldog fan. Hey, listen, we've got some Georgia fans in the room. That's a great thing. And listen, we could have those conversations all day long. But if you're here today and you're outside of Christ, and you're standing on the very precipice of life and eternity, my opinion about the Georgia Bulldogs will not save you. But sadly, this morning, across evangelicalism, pastors are standing up, and they're not giving people Christ. They're not giving them gospel. They're not giving them good news. They're giving them sappy story, opinion, sports analogies, all this life principle mumbo jumbo. And then they're sending them out back into the parking lot, to their cars, and they're just as lost as they were when they arrived, and the sheep, the genuine sheep that are there, starving to death. What we must understand is that this doxology, Paul comes full circle, and he reminds this church how he started. Flip, if you will, back to the very opening of this letter. He talks about the obedience of the faith here in the doxology through the preaching of the gospel. But if you go to Romans chapter 1, and you look at verses 1 to 6, notice how Paul starts off the letter. There's a bookend here. Romans chapter 1, verses 1 to 6, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart, notice this,"For the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness, by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship," notice this, "to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who were called to belong to Jesus Christ." Do you see this? This is a mirror to the doxology that he concludes the letter with. It is through the preaching of the gospel that sinners are saved, that men, women, boys and girls would bow to Christ. It is through the announcement and the trumpet blast of the gospel that sinners are called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ, out of the tomb of death spiritually and brought to life by the power of the gospel. And that's Paul's method throughout this letter. At the end of chapter 5, he speaks about our salvation in Jesus Christ. At the end of chapter 6, he speaks about our salvation that is in Jesus Christ. At the end of chapter 7, he speaks about our salvation that is in and through Jesus Christ. And then he comes to the end of chapter 8, that golden chain of salvation. Of course, we see him linking these grand truths together, but he starts off with chapter 8 saying,"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." It's the gospel that causes people to come out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. You see, dear friend, Buddha can't save anyone. Mary Baker Eddy can't save anyone. Jim Jones can't save anyone. Charles Taze Russell can't save anyone. Caesar can't save anyone. By the way, they were worshipping Caesar back in this day. But it's through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God who took upon himself human flesh, was crucified in an ignominious fashion on the Roman cross, died in the very place of his people, was put in a borrowed tomb, and triumphantly on the third day was resurrected from the dead, proving the fact that he is indeed the Son of the living God, that he saves sinners. No other religious figure in the history of the world can claim the very same thing that Jesus has done. He has been raised from the dead. That's why we read early in this service from Philippians chapter 2,"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." It is through the preaching of the Good News that sinners are able to rejoice that all of their sins, not in part but the whole, have been nailed to the cross, and they bear them no more."Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul." You see, it is Christ, the strong One, the captain of our salvation, who has gone before us. He is the wrath-bearing, just- as satisfying, guilt-removing. He is the all-sufficient Savior. He is the triumphant One. And then we come to the final words of this doxology in verse 27. We preach Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead. We preach the gospel because it strengthens and establishes the church. It grows the church. And finally, preaching Christ glorifies God."To the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen." He is not a God that you can treat like a puppet on a string. He is not a God that you can box up right about New Year's Day and then unbox right about Thanksgiving every single year. He is not a God who can be controlled. He is not a God that you can overpower. He is the sovereign God of all creation. And He holds your breath, your very next breath, in His hand. And He is the only wise God. The gospel being unveiled puts on display the greatness and the wisdom of God. I mean, if you had been commissioned to write a story of good news, you wouldn't have been able to write a story like the gospel. You take all of the greatest authors in the history of humanity. You assemble them all in one room. You take all of their intellect and all of their capabilities and all of their gifts and all of their command of languages. And you commission them to write one story that declares the greatest message that they could possibly ever conceive of. And that story would be like a little wax candle held to the surface of the glowing sun in the noon sky. It would never compare. The Scottish preacher James Stewart said the purpose of preaching is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. And that, I believe, is what Paul is saying here as he closes this letter to the church in Rome. To the only wise God, be glory forevermore. Why forevermore? Well, because Jesus came in human flesh and He lived a sinless life and He was crucified on a Roman cross and He was dead and He was buried, but on the third day there was a bodily resurrection from the dead and there was a triumphant ascension to the throne of heaven. Even now Christ is there interceding on our behalf. This is the glory of the Gospel, dear friend, is that one of these days that very Christ is coming for His church and either He's coming to us or we're going to Him with our final breath, but either way it works out like this. We're going to be with Him and He is our God and we're going to be in His presence. Read the end of the book and read Revelation 21 and you will see that. Here's the point. The reason that there's glory forevermore and not just a temporal season is because Christ has been raised from the dead. This was the plan of God from the very beginning. Our triune God planned it. The prophets proclaimed it. The Messiah predicted it. The angel announced it. The women witnessed it. The soldiers feared it. The Sanhedrin denied it. The eyewitnesses confirmed it. It was the Son of the Living God that proved it, demonstrated it. How? Through His resurrection from the dead. And that's why this morning we can say Mary Baker Eddy, dead. Charles Taze Russell, dead. We can say Joseph Smith, dead. Muhammad, dead. Socrates, dead. Pharaoh, dead. Cicero, dead. Caesar, dead. God, dead. Plato, dead. Christ is risen from the dead and He is ruling and reigning from Heaven's throne even as I preach this sermon to you. This is the glory of the Gospel. This is why the Church must have the Gospel front and center. Nothing else. Nothing can compare to this message, the Gospel. The prophet greater than Moses, the priest greater than Melchizedek, the king greater than David, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Savior of the world. He is the brightness of God's glory. He is the expressed image of the Father. He is the light of the world. He is the hope of the nations. And that's why after all of this Gospel, Paul comes to the close of this glorious letter. And what else could ever be said other than this? Amen. Amen. It's a Bible word. Amen. The Gospel is preached to you. Amen. Christ is glorious. Amen. Christ is ruling and reigning this morning. Amen. Christ is the only one who can save sinners. Amen. Come to Christ for any and all who cast themselves upon His mercy and call out to this strong one. They shall be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Paul didn't have anything else in his vocabulary that he could say other than,"It is true. It is true. I believe it. And if no one else will amen it, I will amen my own preaching." Amen. Amen. And amen. Spurgeon preached 600 times before he was 20 years of age. He was a preaching phenomenon. His sermon sold approximately 25,000 copies per week and were translated into 20 languages. He had assistants that would sit on the front row and they would just transcribe his preaching. And then it would come onto his desk on Monday and he would edit those sermons and then they would be sent for publication in the newspapers. And they would be sent far and wide. His sermons fill 63 volumes that are really in many ways and are equal to the 27 volume 9th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Now if you're under a certain age in this room this morning and you don't know what an encyclopedia is, well that's a good lunchtime conversation for you. But to this day it is the largest set of books continuous in a series by any author in the history of the world. He read six books every week in order to prepare his mind to preach Christ. He read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress more than 100 times. He founded a pastors college. He trained approximately 900 men for ministry. He founded an orphanage. He produced more than 140 books. He edited a magazine. He responded by hand, no email in that day, no social media at the touch of a smartphone. By hand some 500 letters every week. He often preached some 10 sermons per week as guests in various different locations. He labored to spare the Baptist's name from the liberals of his day and the downgrade controversy, which in many ways would cost him his life. He was hated by many liberals, but he was a fierce lion who roared from the pulpit with the Gospel. On his 50th birthday they listed 66 institutions that he had personally founded. He worked 18 hours a day to make sure that he would faithfully stand in the pulpit with the Gospel of King Jesus. And in many ways all that he accomplished in this wonderful resume and dead in the grave at 57. He's to be remembered for this one thing, that he was a Gospel preacher. When he came to his final sermon, June 7, 1891, he didn't know that it would be his final sermon. He would get sick, fall ill and he would die. But in his final sermon, from 1 Samuel 30, verses 21-26, he would come to the end of his sermon from the Old Testament and he would point people to Jesus Christ. I want to read to you just some of the words of this faithful preacher as he closes out his final sermon."What I have to say lastly is this, how greatly I desire that you who are not yet enlisted in my Lord's band would come to him because you see what a kind and gracious Lord he is. Young men, if you could see our captain, you would down on your knees and beg him to let you enter the ranks of those who follow him. It is heaven to serve Jesus. I am a recruiting sergeant and I would feign, find a few recruits at this moment. Every man must serve somebody. We have no choice as to that fact. Those who have no master are slaves to themselves, depend on it. You will either serve Satan or Christ, either self or the Savior. Oh, that you would enter on at once. God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus Christ even this day." And that was the final sermon of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. So whatever you do in the life of this church, as God would be pleased to continue to increase your hand and strengthen you for gospel ministry, make sure that you don't feed people gimmicks and schemes and junk food. Enter on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Point them to Christ who saves. It is the law that condemns. It is Christ who must be lifted up. Come to him with empty hands. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. And for whosoever shall call upon the name of this glorious Christ. That individual shall be saved. May God bless you. May God help you. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Let us pray together. Father, we do love you. We thank you again for this glorious doxology, this praise saying,"Help us, O God, this Lord's day. Help our hearts to swell with gladness, because the gospel is such a sweet message to our ears. O God, we pray that you would strengthen your people here at Grace Bible in Conway. I pray for the elders who lead and the people who serve. And I pray for all of the saints worshipping this morning that you would strengthen them according to your gospel. O God, and for those who might be in this room today, who have yet to turn to Christ, may you be pleased to call them to yourself today. Save them by your glorious gospel. Allow them to leave here today, not condemned under the burden of sin, but free in Jesus Christ, saved, saved, saved." And we ask all of this in Christ's name. Amen. Bob.