To God be the glory!

25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles –  27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ – to him be the glory for ever! Amen.

Romans 16:25-27

Introduction

What happens when a lifequake hits? Not a minor tremor. The kind of upheaval that shakes away every prop. Loss of health. Loss of employment. Loss of a loved one. When the ground beneath you gives way, your good habits won’t brace you. Your good reputation will offer no sure footing. Your good bank balance won’t buy you a single second of peace. Nothing in this world can keep you stable.

Into our fears steps a promise from Romans chapter 16, verses 25–27. God strengthens the unstable, and He gets all the glory as He does it. Paul’s closing words in Romans lay out how God strengthens: through the gospel of His Son, through the ancient wisdom of His plan, and to the eternal glory of His name.

Where does real stability come from? How does God take people like us and make us stand?

God strengthens the unstable through the gospel of His Son

First, He strengthens us through the gospel of His Son. Verse 25 starts, “Now to him.” Not unto us—unto Him. Paul turns away from the threats of false teachers, away from the fractured tensions between Jew and Gentile in the Roman church, and he fixes our eyes on God. And what do we see? A God who is able, mighty, powerful. Unbridled, untiring, undefeated strength. And how does He use this ability? He strengthens us. He makes us firm. He grounds our feet. He settles our souls. The “you” in this text is corporate. Together, God holds His church fast. The final word of Romans is that your stability rests not in your frail grip on Him, but in His sovereign grasp of you.

What does God use to strengthen His weary church? Paul writes, “according to my gospel.” God’s good news: Christ died for our sins and Christ rose from the grave. That is the core message. And this message is proclaimed. The good news is heralded. The King’s announcement is declared. And when it is, our souls are strengthened. The clear, public, authoritative preaching of a crucified and risen Lord, coming through the voice of a preacher, the Word of God delivered in Holy Ghost power—by this God strengthens His church.

This gospel, Paul says, was kept silent for long ages. It was hidden on the pages of the Old Testament. The prophets saw something, but the full picture was veiled. But verse 26 begins with “now.” Now the secret is out. The unveiling has begun. He has been revealed, made known. God’s ancient purpose stands clear. And this is the wonder: the revelation of the mystery is for all nations—Jew and Gentile, one body with one hope. The Roman church was divided by ethnic tension. Paul closes his letter by anchoring their unity in God’s unveiled plan. What was once hidden is now as clear as a bell. God saves all people.

Where in particular is this mystery unveiled? Through the prophetic Scriptures. Those same ancient scrolls that fed the hopes of Israel now feed your soul. Romans does not stop to cite a verse here; Paul assumes the whole—the Law, the Psalms, the Prophets. The story of the Old Testament is not a collection of disconnected tales. It has a single, sustained trajectory. A Redeemer would come, and the nations would be blessed. What the prophets strained to see, we have seen. Everything points to Jesus.

Those prophetic Scriptures were penned by human hands, but they are underwritten by the command of the eternal God, His sovereign decree. Before the mountains were born, before the first sunrise, God decreed His gospel would go forth. The roots of your salvation run deeper than your sin, deeper than the fall of man. They run all the way back to the secret counsel of the triune God before time began. God’s mystery will be made known on God’s schedule. He will not be late, nor early. Everything will come about precisely when He determined. Our strength rests on the command of the eternal God.

And what does God, by sovereign command, intend as the outcome? The advance of the obedience of faith. Christianity is not mere intellectual assent. It is not just a nod to a few facts. Christian faith always results in good works. Faith always bows the knee. Salvation always looks like something. Like a tree is known by its fruit, faith is known by its obedience. God strengthens His church so that the obedience of faith will spread across the earth.

Finally, this advance is to happen among all the Gentiles. That is us. We were far off, strangers to the covenants of promise, not the natural branches, not Israel. And yet, here we are. The eternal God decreed that His gospel would reach us and change us—in Benoni, South Africa, the ends of the earth. The obedience of faith was not reserved for Jews alone, but for all who would believe, the whosoever will. We are not an afterthought. We were always in His plan. Together with all believers, in every place and all through time, we are one body with one hope.

So we come back to that lifequake. The ground buckles. Health fails. A job vanishes. A grave opens. You discover nothing in this world can hold you. But the One who is able can. He is all-powerful, almighty, still untiring, and undefeated. The God who spoke the galaxies into being can strengthen His people. When everything around you quakes, He settles your soul. Your stability rests not on your frail grip on Him, but on His sovereign hold of you.

God strengthens the unstable through the gospel of His Son. Paul’s whole argument presses toward this. Not by therapy, not by resolve, not by circumstance—by the public announcement of a crucified and risen King, delivered in power and received by faith. The gospel strengthens.

God strengthens the unstable through the ancient wisdom of His plan

But where does the idea of such a rescue come from? Whose mind conceived this? God strengthens the unstable through the ancient wisdom of His plan. Verse 27 says, “to the only wise God.” It is an exclusive claim. There is no mind like God’s mind, no counsel like God’s counsel. Paul does not say God is the strongest or the kindest; he says God alone is the wisest. Why that word? Why now?

Think back over the whole letter of Romans. Paul stands breathless before the plan. The fall of man, the justice of God, the cross of Christ, the gift of righteousness, the Spirit indwelling, the grafting in of wild branches, Jew and Gentile as one body—a mystery hidden for ages now shouted to the nations. This is not a random patchwork. Each part fits every other part. Only infinite wisdom could weave this tapestry. The wisdom of God is not a separate attribute He possesses; it is the shape of His very being. And this is the wisdom that strengthens the unstable.

But Paul does not leave us staring into a distant, inaccessible wisdom. He anchors it: the wisdom is mediated to us through Jesus Christ. If we had no Jesus, no beam of divine light would reach us. Jesus is the channel, the conduit. Paul has already told us that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now he writes that all that power and all that wisdom flow to us through a person, a living Mediator.

Picture the sun. No eye can stare into its naked fire, but we feel its warmth and know it shines. So it is with the wisdom of God. The brilliance of the divine mind would blind any creature, so God gave us Jesus. In Christ, the wisdom takes on flesh. It becomes visible, audible, touchable. When we hear the gospel, when we see the cross, we taste the grace of the risen Lord. We receive something of the wisdom of God mediated to us. No philosophy can climb that height. No religion can tunnel that depth. But Jesus Christ can bring God near.

God’s plan to strengthen the unstable is no gamble. It is the outworking of His all-wise decree. The Mediator who brings that plan is not a mere messenger; He is the Son. He is wisdom itself. So when the ground quakes and you feel your foot slip and wonder if God has forgotten, look to Christ. He is the proof that the wisdom of God has reached down to you.

God strengthens the unstable to the eternal glory of His name

Why unveil such wisdom? Why strengthen unstable sinners? The answer lies at the end for which all things exist: the eternal glory of His name. The second half of verse 27 says, “to him be the glory.” To Him be the weight. It is not a passing compliment, not a fleeting song. It is the dense, heavy presence of the one true God. Glory speaks to the weightiness of God’s presence. And Paul says this glory is to be ascribed to Him forever and ever. No pause, no half-life, no fading. The glory of God does not rise and set like the sun. It abides, unbroken, unending. Age upon age, His weight remains. And then the little word “Amen”—so let it be. We sign our names to this with our very breath. We agree: God is weighty, God is glorious.

Notice what Paul does. Ancient letters closed with a formal thanksgiving toward a human benefactor. Honor went to a wealthy supporter, to a man. Paul takes that convention and flips it. He pours every drop of glory not onto a Roman citizen, not onto a governor or Caesar, but onto the only wise God through Jesus Christ. This is a seismic shift. The church’s ultimate Benefactor is not man; it is the eternal God. Honor is ripped from human hands and laid at the feet of the one true King.

Picture a Roman triumph. The general rides through the streets, the crowds roar his name, the spoils of war glitter. For a day, he is the benefactor of the empire. Glory seems to rest on his shoulders like a heavy cloak. But the next day? Dust. Silence. Forgotten. His cloak was borrowed. The weight was not his own. Not so with our God. To Him alone belongs the glory. The true weight, the unborrowed radiance. Not for a day—forever and ever.

In the end, this able and wise God is to be glorified. That is where the whole letter lands. God strengthens the unstable through the gospel of His Son, through the ancient wisdom of His plan, and all of it—every revelation, every command, every grafted-in branch, every settled soul—resolves into the weight of His name. He does it for His glory. The stability of your soul is for your good, but your good is not the final destination. God’s glory is.

Connect to the gospel

“Now to him who is able to strengthen you.” Not our resolve, not our circumstances—Him. We must fix our eyes on God alone. How does God strengthen His weary people? According to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ. The good news heralded: Christ crucified, Christ risen. Not therapy—public announcement. The King died, and that dead King walked out of the grave. By this message, souls are made firm. Your stability comes not from within, but from without. When a preacher opens his mouth, when Scripture is read in the assembly, when the Spirit plants the Word in your heart, God strengthens through the gospel of His Son.

The secret is out. Kept silent for long ages, the prophets saw shadows; we have seen the substance. The mystery unveiled, hidden in ancient scrolls, is now shouted to the nations—not whispered, shouted. What was concealed in types and patterns now stands clear in Jesus Christ. The whole story bends toward Him. Every law, psalm, and prophecy points to one Redeemer, one cross, one empty tomb. And this mystery is for all nations, not Jews only but Gentiles too. For us—wild branches cut from a tree with no heritage, lying dead on the ground. The Gardener lifted us, grafted us in. Now covenant sap flows through our veins. We drink from roots we never planted, bear fruit we could never produce. God did this by His eternal, wise decree.

Only infinite wisdom could weave this tapestry. Only the wise God could orchestrate such a rescue and make that wisdom known through Jesus Christ. Look to the cross: wisdom. Look to the empty tomb: wisdom. The Mediator has come, and through Him divine light warms our souls.

To what end? To Him be the glory forever and ever. Nations brought to obedient faith, wild branches grafted in, unstable souls made firm—all resolves into the weight of His name. Not our glory, His. Unbroken, unending, age upon age.

God strengthens His people by the gospel for His own glory. That is the engine of everything Paul has written. The gospel strengthens; it leads the nations to obedient faith, reveals eternal wisdom, and results in eternal praise. The God who strengthens the unstable gets all the glory.

Now, how can we apply this text?

Application for believers

The God who strengthens the unstable gets all the glory—not your resolve, not your grit, Him strengthening you. Stop leaning on things that wobble. Savings, reputation, morning routine, bank balance—they are good gifts, but they will not hold you when the ground gives way. This week, name a false comfort, a crutch you reach for when everything goes south. Write it down. Then turn your eyes upward. Pray for the advance of obedient faith in your life, concretely and specifically. If you want stability, stop searching within. Lean hard on the strengthening power of the gospel. Not your grip on God—God’s grip on you. That is your security. Watch what He does when you pray for His name to be glorified. He will answer. He will strengthen you, and you will stand firm.

Application for unbelievers

You are unstable. You feel it when you lie awake replaying your failures, when you perform for approval, when you hope your good deeds outweigh your bad. Standing on that ground is like standing on sinking sand. Your reputation will crumble. Your mind cannot answer death. Your good deeds are like a broken cup. Abandon that fatal instability. Not next week, not when you have your life together—bow the knee now. Not to religion, not to philosophy, but to the only wise God who strengthens sinners just like you. Not the self-sufficient, but sinners. And He does it for His eternal praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord. You do not need to clean yourself up first; you need to stop pretending that you ever could. Cry out for salvation. He strengthens the unstable. That is the only hope you have, and it is hope enough.

Conclusion

Lifequakes will hit. The ground will buckle. Health will fail. The grave will open. You will discover what has always been true: nothing in this world can hold you. But He is able. The God who strengthens the unstable gets all the glory. He strengthens through the gospel of His Son—Christ crucified, Christ risen, heralded to the nations. Not therapy, not resolve, but a King proclaimed. He strengthens through the ancient wisdom of His plan—the mystery hidden for ages now revealed, that wild branches might be grafted in. And He strengthens to the eternal glory of His name—not borrowed weight, not fading triumph, but unending radiance, age upon age. So, name your crutch. Abandon your false comfort. Stop leaning on things that wobble. And if you have never bowed the knee, abandon the sinking sand and cry out to the only wise God. He strengthens sinners. Your stability rests not on your frail grip on Him, but on His sovereign grip on you. To Him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.