The Mighty Ability of God

This is a response from a sermon I heard recently from Voddie Baucham.  In that sermon, titled “Christ is Worthy”, Dr. Baucham makes mention to these three verses, pointing out that in each of them, what is highlighted, is the “ability” of God.

The three verses, or should I say doxologies, are Romans 16: 25-27, Ephesians 3:20-21, and Jude 24-25.

 I want to look at these verses to briefly glimpse into “the mighty ability of God”!

 First, let us look at Romans 16.

Obviously, as we look at the book of Romans, much has already been penned by the Apostle in this epistle. He has covered major theological themes such as justification, election and sanctification.  Yet, at the very end of his letter, he writes:
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 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 faith, -----to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.  ESV

Wow!  I love how doxologies begin, don’t you.  Now to Him……. We have to get it right at the beginning.  There is an epidemic in our churches today where praise begins with man and not God.   Thus our doctrine is out of wack which leads to poor living.  So, the Apostle brings us back, after teaching us great theological truths, and puts it in a nutshell.  We are to praise Him!  Why, well as this verse points out, because it is He who is ABLE (the only one) to strengthen us to bring about the obedience of faith.  What an amazing, loving, compassionate God!  He will (without a doubt) bring about the necessary growth in us.  He has saved us, redeemed us, purchased us by His blood, He has adopted us, called us His own, given us the rights to the throne and now as we read, He will sanctify us.  He will use whatever means to bring about the obedience of the faith!  Now to Him………… be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ!  Amen!

I am going to try and keep this as short as possible, I promise.  The next Scripture I want to look at is Ephesians 3:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we 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 generations, forever and ever. Amen  ESV

This one resonates with me.  I am so weak, so shallow, so feeble.  I often limit God in my thinking.  You can pick any circumstance and often, my thoughts and views of God are limited.  It is painful to think about and humiliating, especially as He shows His might in the midst of my weaknesses.  I have many examples of this in my life, but I will share one. 

Last year, I was laid off from my employer of 4 ½ years.  It was expected and yet as the time came, it was difficult to deal with.  God was gracious to us to have me set aside money in preparation, but we weren’t expecting to be expecting at the time of my lay-off.  So, there I was, laid off, no job prospects and my wife pregnant with blessing number 6.  So, I did what any red blooded, born again, self reliant man would do.  I stressed!  Not so much on the outside, but I watched the money a little too closely, kept filling out applications, but it got to the point that it didn’t look good.  No job openings.  I was getting scared and I remember praying “just for a job”.  Well, for my family, not any job would do.  For me to work 1 job to provide for my family, it would have to pay very well.  I immediately threw that out the window.  Nevertheless, when my savings was all but gone, God graciously reminded me that He is in control and He is ABLE to do far more that I could EVER think of, He gave me a job, in the same field, doing the same type of work, making MORE money.   AMAZING!  Yes, to Him, the One who can do far more abundantly than we could ask or think, to Him be the praise and the glory forever and ever Amen!

 Next, I want to look at Jude 24-25.  This is perhaps my favorite doxology. 

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.  ESV

There are several reasons why I love this doxology.  First, because of what it follows.  You see, Jude is warning about the rise and prevalence of false prophets.  They are plaguing the church, they are misleading the weak, and if it were possible, they would deceive the elect.  Because of the rise of these false prophets, Jude exhorts us to persevere.  To read the letter, it may be hard to get emotionally connected.  Place all of this in our context, our day and age.  There are “many” false prophets who are plaguing the church.  They are distorting the truth and the crowds are lining up, packing out the pews.  It is very discouraging to see faithful men of God preach and struggle with the attendance of their flock and yet these wolves have them beating down the doors.  We must persevere.  We must continue to fight the good fight!  And just as they day is long, we are weary and burdened, this doxology from Jude is like water to a man who has been striving in the desert. 

Second, look at the wording, it say that He is ABLE to “keep” us from stumbling.  The word for keep paints this picture of a surety.  Christ stands as a surety, He lets nothing in without His permission and He lets nothing out without His permission.  That my friend is some really great news.  Because there are days when I “feel” like giving up, there are days the flesh is soo weak that I could just jump ship, and guess what, HE KEEPS ME!  Yes, He keeps me.  Don’t you want to doxologize right now?!  Next, we read that He presents us blameless.  How did He do that?  Was it not by His vicarious death on the cross.   The Great Exchange.  All of my sin for all of His righteousness.  He bore what I couldn’t.  He lived the life that I never could, He paid the price.  I have a new garment.  I am now clothed in Christ.  I am presented blameless before the Father.  Look at what else it says, it says that He did so with great joy.  Wow!  It was the joy that was set before Him to go and ransom all of the elect.  Hallelujah!!!! 

There is so much in these verses, I could never unpack them all.  I pray that as you have read this, you are reminded of the Mighty Ability of God. 

….. Now to Him…who is able…. be glory forever and ever!  Amen!

Revelation 5:1-14