Sometimes we travel to remote destinations only to discover we need to return to the start. And today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl shares a timeless lesson.
Sometimes looking back is the way forward. And that's true of churches too. With exciting growth, churches can lose their first love and drift from foundational truth.
So, how do we recalibrate our lives so we never stray far from the path? Let's discover that as we pick up our study in Romans 16, beginning at verse 25. Chuck titled his message, To God Alone Be the Glory Forever. God is the revealer. of the good news.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. And that sounds so narrow. It is. It is.
He's the revealer of the gospel. One of these words in here I'm always attracted to, and that's the word mystery. The preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past. We are so blessed to have the gospel revealed in our day. But it wasn't always so.
It was for a long time mystery.
Now the word musterion is not the word like our mystery. Our mystery is a convoluted and it's intriguing and it's complicated. That's our mystery. This is a word like secret.
Something that is going on behind the scenes, but you don't know about it, and once the word is out. Everybody knows about it. That's our word secret. Illustration. Let's say you've got an 80-year-old dad and a 78-year-old mother, and your mom's been sick a long time, and she finally passes on.
And your dad gives you a call and he says, I want you to know that your mom is gone. uh plan the service for it oh dad we'll be there so you stop everything and you make your trip and you get there and you help him through the grief and and he's doing great. In fact, there are some ways he's relieved to have the days of sickness past, and he's still in good health, and he's got a good mind, and he's just. He's all, frankly, ready to go on with his life. And you say, listen, we're open to have you come move near.
No, I don't want to move near you. I'm doing great. House paid for. Everything's fine.
So you kind of lose touch after a while. You know how that is. You're busy, and dad's busy, and phone call every now and then. All of a sudden, a couple of years later, your phone rings. Hi, honey.
This is your dad. Yeah, yeah, dad. How are you? Great, I'm getting married. the day after tomorrow.
I just thought I'd tell you. What's happened? The mystery has occurred. Nothing's been known ahead of time, and all of a sudden, everything is now known. Older people do things like that, don't they?
Isn't it interesting? I got a cute story somebody handed to me. Morris, an 82-year-old man, went to the doctor to get a physical. Few days later, the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman on his arm. A couple of days later, the doctor spoke to the man and said, You're really doing great, aren't you?
Morris replied, I'm doing just what you said, doctor. Get a hot mama and be cheerful. Doctor said, I said you got a heart murmur. Be careful. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Heart mama.
So dad calls you up and he says, Yeah, I just got married. You go, wait a minute, all I'm thinking of is my mother.
Well, he's got other plans. He's going on with his life. All the way through time, the gospel has been there, but now it is revealed. And you, 24-7, you'd punch it onto the radio and pick up a station that'll tell you the gospel. You'd go to a bookstore and pick up books that'll tell you the gospel.
You could talk to friends who openly speak of the gospel, but I'll tell you, it's not true in every nation.
Some nations you do it and they'll pick you off. You got a target on your chest. Which brings us to the third point here as we see the hand of our awesome God. He's the proclaimer to all the nations. You didn't miss that, did you?
The eternal God has been made known to all the nations. How magnificent of our God. And may I urge you that this would include every race, every tribe, every color of skin, every culture, every language.
Now, they've all met the Savior. Most have not met the Savior, but He's available to them. Which brings us to this fourth characteristic of our God. He is the initiator of obedience. It leads to obedience.
of faith. God and God alone. Takes the good news of Christ. makes it clear to us We believe it. And it's remarkable how the direction of our lives changes.
We move in a way that is no longer to please ourselves, but it's to please Him. And the obedience comes from the work, the awesome work of God. I just have to take time to go back to chapter 10. Let's do this quickly. Let me show you what I call the chain reaction of the gospel message.
Romans 10, verse 11, down through verse 15. These are like little dominoes sitting on the end, and one bumps up against another that touches another and bumps another until the whole trail runs its course. You can see it for yourself. Verse 11 of Romans 10. For the scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.
That's the starting point. That's the hope. That's the promise. Whoever believes in Christ will not be disappointed. Are some people marked off, not available for that?
No, there's no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all, A-L-L. For all who call on him. And that includes every one of us. Every one of us.
All who call on him.
Now watch closely. For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. No matter what culture, no matter what language, if you call on the Lord, you will be saved. He does as only Paul can do. He goes through the logical step.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in him? whom they have not heard. And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?
Pause right here because I know you're thinking, I'm so glad this is written to the preachers.
Well, you're one of them. You're a communicator of the good news that makes you a preacher. You say, well, I've never been sent.
Well, I'm sending you right now. Right now is an automatic sending. You're on your way. You are sent the moment you believe. You are ignited with enough of the Spirit of God to send you to wherever you may go to give the good news of Christ.
And it says, How will they go unless they're sent? And then once that's settled, look at the promise. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. of good things. You get beautiful feet.
For doing this. What does that mean? Your path will be blessed by God. He'll open doors for you. You will have an opportunity to give this good news in places, listen to me, that would never otherwise hear.
Unless you're there. Because you will touch lives the person on your right or left will never touch.
Well, it gives a whole new dimension to sharing the Savior.
Some are on campuses and they make Christ known.
Some are on the actual athletic teams making Christ known.
Some are in retirement villages making Christ known.
Some are in hospitals making Christ known.
Some are in neighborhoods making the Savior known. How beautiful are the feet of all of those who give the good news of Jesus. But listen to me. The change life Huh. Yeah.
We're back again. That's the work of our awesome God. You give the good news till you're blue in the face, and some people will believe it, but for that changed life, you can't make it happen. That's the work of God. Most of us sigh when we think if someone could have seen me 20 years ago.
Oh.
Okay. Maybe you'd have to say what a mess I was making of my life. Others, if you say, I don't have to go back 20 years for that, it was rather recently. But you know, something happened. Let me tell you what happened.
The awesome God of heaven intervened. And he got your attention. He may have worked through people, or he may have worked through circumstances, maybe even tragedies, we would call them, but it alerted you. to the work of God. and you realize I'm living my life in vain or for all the wrong reasons.
So we read, he brings it, he leads it to obedience of faith.
Now, this kind of awesome God who does these wonderful things we've just enumerated Look at him. Look at his uniqueness. to the only Wise. God. Isaiah's record, especially chapters 43, 44, and 45, is full of references to this God, and there is no other.
There is no other. Don't be afraid of that. That's a relief. It isn't a multiple choice when it comes to selecting the God who is worth following. It is our Creator God.
The one who shaped us and made us. Even the psalmist says, There is none other. And he's saying here he is the only Wise God.
Now, there's the next characteristic: He's wise. Our tendency is to think knowledgeable, but there's a difference. There's a difference between wisdom and Knowledge. Wisdom would include God's perception, the ability to devise perfect ends carried out, achieved through perfect means, no guesswork. No hoping for the best.
God sees everything clearly and with determined focus is able to move us toward predetermined goals. And he will have his way. Paul writes elsewhere: Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. You can't figure them out. We try, we wish we could, but we can't because God's ways are often done in secret places.
He created this world in secret places. No one was there to witness it. He devised a plan of salvation in the secrecy of the Godhead. Just the members of the Trinity. The Son, Jesus Christ, was secretly placed in the Virgin's womb and for nine months grew.
to term and came to birth. And Jesus bore the sins of the world even shrouded in darkness. No one was there to assist. No one was needed to assist. He rose from the grave, out of the darkness of the tomb.
No one was there to see it. And God was doing his work. These are magnificent eternal plans and Let me tell you something. A great thing occurs when you don't try to figure it all out. You just put your hand in his and say, okay.
I'm going to trust you in this. I can't figure out why this is happening, but I'm going to trust you. Let me tell you a story you'll never forget. It happened to me. I was about 10 years old, and we were down at the little bay cottage where my granddaddy allowed our family to vacation.
Most every summer. One of the things I enjoyed doing the most that my brother and sister weren't too big on was floundering with my dad. If you've never floundered, You look at me like you're looking at me right now. And so I understand. It sounds a little weird.
It's in the night, so it's dark. And you wade into the water. about up to your knees or up to your thighs, up to your hips. And you're carrying a Coleman lantern. And you're also, with the other hand, carrying a gig.
Which looks like a long broomstick. At the end are two real sharp points that you want to jam in the back of the flounder when you see them. But I'll get to that.
So you're walking along with a lantern in water. Mud or sand as you're walking along, and I'm about ten years old. Everything's fine until we get to the point.
Now this little bay had a point where when you go around the point You could no longer see the light of the cottage where the family was having fun. playing games. In the middle of the night you could even hear them. And I remember walking along as we'd go around a point looking like this. Like, kind of getting nervous because I couldn't see the light of the cottage, and I'd say, Daddy.
What sound are you are you looking for flounder? He'd say. Yeah, yeah, daddy, but You know, we can't see the cottage. I know some, but we're going to be fine. Look for flounder, okay?
I said, I'm going to, but what if. You know, when you gig a flounder, the fins just and water goes everywhere, and it'll sometimes put your lantern out.
So I said, Daddy. He said, We're going to get a big one here. And he always said that. And we're walking along. And finally he would mention that I would say, Daddy, when it throws his tail up and all that.
It's gonna get cold water on the lantern and it's gonna put the mantle out. Won't have any light. He said, son, I got a flashlight here. I said, Daddy, are the batteries good in the flashlight? I was a little bit of a worrisome child back when I was 10.
I kept looking for the lights at home. He says the batteries are good. I said, could we try them? No, we're not going to try them. We're looking for Flounder.
So we're walking along, and I'd finally say, Daddy, do you know where you are? He said, yeah. I know where I am.
So I'd reach up my little ten-year-old hand. And I'd grab hold of his. And the funny thing, when I put my hand in his, I never once looked back. to see the lights of the cottage. Because he knew where he was.
And it's an amazing thing. We never got lost. Never got lost. That happens to you. when you trust in the living God.
You can't explain how to get back. You can't explain how you're going to. Have that journey along the way. You don't know what's going to happen. O God, our help in ages past.
our hope for years to come. our shelter from the stormy blast. and our eternal home. Before the hills in order stood, our earth received her frame. From everlasting thou art God.
And every year. The same. Oh God. Our hell. in ages past.
It's literally from the vanishing point of the past to the vanishing point of the future, never a beginning, never an ending. That's why I'm thrilled to read here of the eternal God. to whom be glory forever. And he doesn't say at the end, I sure hope this is right. Or I'm counting on this.
Why don't you join in and Hope with me. He says Amen. Which is a Punctuated period at the end, saying, I believe it. I stand on this truth. This is the truth.
for you to count on.
Now I want you to listen very closely to something I have to say. I'll not linger here, but it'll take me a few moments to say it. When God led me to form this church, and I say that only because it is true, and I was amazed that that was his plan. I had no idea where it would go. But I knew this.
I knew Dallas and the Dallas area didn't need just another church. There's a Church on virtually every other corner, some places every corner. What we needed, I felt, was a unique place. That would from start to finish. Allow the Word of God to guide us.
Not the roots of a denomination. As good as some of them may be, didn't want to go there. Not the long-standing tradition of great churches, and there are great churches, but that's their tradition.
So I said to the Lord in so many words, Lord, your word is truth. And I ask that you guide me. as we think through how to do church. Said, Lord, before I ever get underway in this, be our guide. Be my guide.
However, the Lord would have the church governed. May you govern it your way. May it be biblical government, not an American style of government. Everything about us is shaped by the American mentality. May it be biblical.
May our worship not be a worship like every third church or every other church, but may our worship be a worship that really does bring honor to you. In the broad sense of the word, it can have a taste from one side to another, but may it always be for your glory. May it be done with excellence because you deserve excellence. May it be with passion because you deserve our best energies. I have felt in the last couple or three years that we have strayed from those original ideas and truths that I was standing on.
And that's troubled me. And some of you are aware of the sense of trouble and struggle I've gone through. I've chosen not to bring the struggle to the pulpit. That's not appropriate. But I couldn't just ignore it and just let it go on.
And so, through a process of some very painful and difficult days. I've come to realize that the Lord would have us come back to where we started. To look again and to draw from what the scriptures teach to be a New Testament church. to draw the principles from it. and in the words of Lincoln, to have a new birth of freedom.
So that we would sense a new direction and a fresh direction for us from the inside out. It's a good time, like you do in wedding anniversaries. You rethink. your vows, you rethink. How strong you are with those things you promised back then.
We need help in doing this. And I knew I needed minds certainly deeper and more devoted than mine. And I called on two men. whom you know. One is Dr.
Stan Tusaint, the other is Dr. Howard Hendricks. These are men who taught me virtually everything I know. There are not two men on earth I admire more than those two men. They know more about the Bible than most of us will ever get a hold of.
I said to Dr. Tusaint and Dr. Hendricks, could you help us? Could you meet along with the remaining elders we have, and would you meet with us and the senior staff? And would you speak openly with us in any area that we need to look at in a new way?
Help us look at it. and help us come back to where we were as we were getting underway. and so many things and all the fast growth. Began to move all different directions. Let's come back.
It's just the basics. I want to tell you, I praise God. Both of them said. Yeah. So these men.
Along with our elders and along with our staff, I'm confident. We will have some of the most incredible days in front of us.
So rather than looking back with a sigh, I want us to look ahead with delight, and I want you to pray. And now our Father, we are standing on the verge of our greatest years. We've just begun. There will be years unfolding by your grace, and should your son tarry, his return. And there will be others who will stand on our shoulders, and they on others, and others on theirs.
And you will guide us in the way we should go. May you be glorified through it and in it. Guard us from any error along the way. Give us an unguarded openness and honesty. as we together as leaders think through and shape The years of the future.
May this church be like none other. May it be like none other.
So that we can say from start to finish, This is the work of God. and we worship in the midst of it. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty. dominion and power. Forever and ever and ever.
and ever. O God, our help in ages past, our hope. for years to come. In the name of Jesus. everyone said.
Amen. To God alone be the glory forever. That's the title that Chuck Swindahl selected for today's message. and it's a wonderful choice because God alone deserves our worship and praise. Today's edition of Insight for Living marks the conclusion of a study that started in August and ends today.
44 sermons moving verse by verse through Paul's letter. Chuck titled this series Romans, the Christian's Constitution. Our creative team at Insight for Living has assembled several resources for you, and each one is designed to help you discover the wisdom in Paul's letter. First, Chuck has written a full-length commentary on Romans. It's in the Swindahl's Living Insights series.
and second, in two spiral-bound volumes, we're pleased to offer our interactive Bible study workbooks for Romans. These are part of our Searching the Scriptures Bible studies. You can purchase these resources at insight.org/slash offer. If you missed any of Chuck's sermons thus far, remember that Insight for Living has made it easy to catch up. you can purchase the complete set of audio messages for Romans.
or download the Insight mobile app and access Chuck's messages for free. And now, here's Chuck. I've always loved the words of Isaiah, who said, The grass withers and the flowers fade. But the word of our God stands forever. You see, God's Word is timeless, and the only thing that has changed over time.
is the manner in which we share it. Technology has exploded beyond anything I could have imagined when I first started teaching. We're living in times when these tools reach every point on the globe. Yes, we're still on the radio, and thank God for that faithful platform. But today, Insight for Living is reaching people through cell phones, our mobile app.
YouTube, Spotify.
Social media, podcasts, and and so many other digital channels. The message hasn't changed one bit, but the opportunities to deliver it have multiplied exponentially. And I'll tell you, even at this season of my life, When age has caught up with me, I'm more excited about these opportunities than ever before. Our board of directors and our devoted staff members are completely focused on reaching the next generation with sound Bible teaching. offering hope Practical application.
and of course the welcome sounds of laughter. In these troubled days, our friends and neighbors desperately need to hear this message right now. because God knows our plight. And look, while we might be churning over the state of our nation and the world, God is not in the heavens wringing his hands. He's not pacing the floor wondering what to do next.
He has written our lives into eternity. And we have every reason to live with confidence and joy, no matter what's happening around us. That's the message we want to keep delivering through every platform available to us. But we need your partnership. to make it happen.
As we race toward the end of this year, Will you join with us to reach more people in more places than ever before? Together, let's keep offering our world the hope of Jesus while there's still time. Your generous gift today will help us do exactly that. Thank you for responding today. On behalf of Chuck Swindahl and the entire team at Insight for Living, we are grateful for you.
This ministry exists because of you. And now we're looking forward to hearing from you. To send a letter today, address your envelope to InsightForLiving. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas 75034.
If you prefer to call us at Inside for Living, the number is 800-772-8888. or you can give online at insight.org slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Spandal presents the first in a refreshing sequence of Christmas messages, beginning tomorrow on Insight for Living. Yeah.
The preceding message, To God Alone Be the Glory Forever, was copyrighted in 2008, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
