Okay, turn in your Bibles to
Romans 11. Anyone who knows Angus and talks
to him through the week will realise that you get about half
his sermons through the week when you're talking to him. You
certainly get an idea of what God's been working on in his
heart over that week. And the last few weeks Angus
has challenged me as to just what we do, how we process, the
character of God and how ignorant we are to that. You see, we're
spiritually dead by nature, so we can't comprehend naturally
the character of our God, can we? And if we can't comprehend
it, we can't appreciate it, and if we can't appreciate it, we
certainly won't respect it. We actually need God to come
to us in a miraculous, saving way. and reveal himself to us. So while we're going to read
Romans 11, 36, I want to take it back to verse 33, because
it deals with this. So I'm going to read Romans 11
from 33 to 36, just to start. O the depth of the riches, both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his
judgments and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind
of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?
Or who has first given it to him, and it shall be recompensed
unto him again? For of him and through Him and
to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. So as we head on into considering
Romans 11.36, my hope is that we'll see more of the character
of our God in our Saviour at the cross. I hope that we'll
see more of him in this capacity as the governing power over all
life, in all times, in every circumstance. I also hope that we'll see the
promises of God to his people as more secure and more dependable
than we ever thought before. Now I'm not sure if you noticed,
but most of the first message was just explaining Romans 11.36.
It declares the same thing. Angus told me in the Greek, just
this week actually, Angus told me in the Greek that the structure
of that is to be paused and considered each element of it, similar to
Selah in the Psalms. So we're to think I guess of
these things as separate issues that are put together to make
a whole. So it reads, for of him and through
him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever,
amen. But you think about it, all things, everything, everything
that's ever been, anything that ever will be, is of him, which
means it has its origin in him. and through him, which means
it has its substance in him, and to him, which means he is
the ultimate purpose of all those things. In this second message, I just
want to briefly encourage you in regard to how we process and
apply the sovereignty of God to the scriptures we read, especially
in regard to our faith, and our security in his promises. This
really is the same argument that Paul's bringing in Romans 11,
in the book of Romans, sorry. In Romans 1 to 3, he confines
all unto sin. In Romans 4, he shows that faith
is the only way of salvation. In Romans 5, he shows that it's
the substitution of Christ that is our salvation. In 6-8 he shows
that the grace we have in Christ is free and it's absolute and
it can never change. But then in chapter 9 and all
the way up to this verse we have Paul doing the same thing as
I was doing, declaring the sovereignty of God in the most important,
the most crucial issue we could ever have to deal with, the salvation
of our mortal souls. Our verse in Romans 11.36 is
a summary to this section, but it's also a wonderful, clear
and powerful declaration of the gospel. Just think about it for
a moment. All religion has one primary
issue. How do we get to heaven? And
it goes back to the Garden of Eden, doesn't it? That's what
we accused God of withholding from us. That's what we set out to achieve
by our newfound knowledge of good and evil, wasn't it? That's
the central issue in all these illustrations from our God, the
saving of our eternal souls. As I said in the first message,
we lost all spiritual discernment in the fall, but thankfully our
salvation doesn't ever depend on us at all. I don't want to
teach you anything new, and those that know the Lord in a saving
relationship already know all these things, but what I want
to do is encourage you in regard to how you receive that information,
that knowledge of God, how we process the overbearing realities
of the sovereign nature of God, because this is often where we
slip back into unbelief and we lose sight of how certain His
promises really are. We often again in unbelief, or
as Peter calls it, willful ignorance, forget that God's ways are above
our ways, and before we know it, we make our God like the
creature We think of him in the same way we think of men. Our
God does not need to dodge and weave through this world, dealing
with every problem or attack as they come, like we do. It's more who he is that governs
all things. We naturally think that the attributes
of our God are applied or not applied. are in the same way that men
apply their attributes or characteristics to a situation. It's not so with
our God. All the attributes or characteristics
of our God are infinitely constant, they're infinitely and they're
infinitely present. You have to think about that.
That means that they must infinitely impact all things. God gives us a great example
with the sun. It's given to rain over the earth,
isn't it? Sorry. And it naturally impacts
everything in its presence. It's the same with our God. He
reigns over all things, naturally, by the very perfection of His
glory, impacting all things, whether physical or spiritual,
for His purposes. I want us to think of our God
in this way, as a force that has determined all things from
the beginning. In Hebrews 4 we're told he sat
down, he finished the work, and he sat down and he rested. And the world has carried on
by the power of his nature ever since. God's attributes are more eternal
principles rather than reflex actions. Nothing catches him
off guard. They're principles which actually
govern all creation, because our God is omnipresent. Now that
just means that he's everywhere, in every age, but this is the
kicker, all at the same time. We just can't get our heads around
it. If you want some help with it, read Psalm 139. David, wherever
he goes, his comment is, behold, thou art there. This is more how or who our God
is. And this is why he said to turn
kings hearts, to answer prayer before it's prayed, to hold the
world in his hand, to know the end from beginning, to set limits
on sin, et cetera, et cetera. All these attributes in perfect
unison, directly determining all things and constantly producing
God's perfect purposes everywhere, every time. If you read Ezekiel
1, he paints this picture of the throne of God like this great
machine that moves its way through the earth. It's a very good example
of this You see, it's not our God exercising love so much as
He is love. It's not that He exercises justice,
but that He is justice, like that consuming fire in Hebrews
12. And it's the same with all His
attributes or characteristics. Wisdom, faithfulness, mercy,
righteousness, every other element of the character of God God doesn't
fluctuate in any way like men do. Our God is all these attributes
infinitely and absolutely impacting all things exposed for his purposes. And as He's everywhere and every
time, all at the same time, all things must be ordered and set
by who our God is, not what the circumstances appear to be. Again,
nothing catches our God off guard. In eternity, the Triune God chose
a people in His Son. He must remain perfectly faithful
because His perfection is all our salvation. His perfect love,
His perfect righteousness, His perfect justice, His perfect
wisdom, His perfect holiness, His perfect mercy, all converging,
all seen in their most glorious form at the cross. Christ and Him crucified is the
one governing principle over all creation. It's the one central
purpose in all of the world, all of time, all of eternity. Christ being crucified is the
sum and substance of all things, and creation Well, it's just
a canvas that reveals God in His greatest glory and at the
same time declares the purpose and the principle of all things. As much as people would have
you look at creation and keep your eyes on this world and be
distracted by this world, creation, it's more like a banner upon
which God declares the standard, the eternal standard of the great
king of kings. It's more like a scroll, a scroll
where he writes the eternal justification of the union between his people
and himself. And whether we're reading Genesis
or Revelation or any scripture in between, all scripture declares
this one great centrepiece, Christ and Him crucified. And if we
look at all things as having their origin in God for the sake
of His purpose, His purpose being to reveal His greatest glory
in His Son at the cross, then we can necessarily look at the
cross as the product of all these perfect attributes converging. Not only do we see God in His
greatest glory, in the redemption of His people, we also see Him
in the justification before all realms of His choice of the people
to Himself, even though they're sinners. The reality of who our God is
has determined all things, all eternity. His ways are more than
just necessary solutions. They're governing principles.
We often think that God declares an eternal thing and then from
that point the thing stands forever. But that's not how eternal things
work, is it? And while in time God declares
eternal or everlasting realities, we need to remember that those
realities being eternal, as God's declared them to be, must have
always existed. They're eternal principles set
by the very character of God and they're the basis of all
things. And every one of these eternal
principles finds themselves most firmly declared and most clearly
revealed in and at the cross of our Saviour. Even though in
the world's eyes this was his weakest and most vulnerable state. All our salvation is wrapped
up in who our God is. It's all these perfect attributes,
culminating in the work of His Son at the cross. Our God's character
is what has determined all things in every age. But what I find
most amazing about it is that according to God, the Holy Spirit,
believers actually share that same character, even while we're
here in this sinful flesh. John 17 tells us that we're one
with our God as our Saviour is one with His Father. Colossians
1, it's Christ in us, the hope of glory. And 1 John 4 says,
as He is, so are we, and He means right now in this world. We are
one with our Saviour, and in Him we're one with our Father
in Heaven. And it's in this unbreakable
union that we have every spiritual gift. But more than that, we
have Him forever. And if He's for us, who can be
against us? Adam had absolutely no idea of
the nature of God's love for him. And he certainly had no
idea of how comprehensive that love really is, until he fell. Adam and all God's regenerated
children now see their God in the greatest of His glory. That
glory where all His perfect attributes combine and reveal His Son, our
Saviour. This is our only hope and stay
in the world, and this is the true anchor of our souls, Christ
and Him crucified. This world, and especially in
the lives of believers, will always have difficulties while
it stands. It's promised to us from a God
who can't lie. But with our eyes and hearts
set in heavenly places, The only thing we need for both life and
eternity are those precious promises of our God, and every one of
them, every single one of them, is yes and amen in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is what the everlasting
covenant's all about. This is what that rainbow around
the throne of God represents. All things impacted by God's
faithfulness to his people. This is where all King David's
eternal hopes rested in 2 Samuel 23. It's in the absolute sovereignty
of our God in all things because of who He is. That great I Am
ruling and reigning by the reality of who He is in His Son. Now just quickly before we finish,
we can't ignore the end of that verse, to whom be glory forever. It's the eternal dedication to
our King, isn't it? And the Amen, well the Amen is
the song of all the born again children of God. It's the song
of the true church in full agreement with the Father in heaven. So may Our God, open the eyes
of our understanding and reveal more of His glory in His Son
at the cross for us. May you use that grace and knowledge
to strengthen us in our faith, even in the greatest of our trials.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that
all salvation has been sorted in eternity and that it's a matter
of just revealing that. We just praise you for the security
that we have in that, Heavenly Father. We pray as we come again
to communion that you just remind us again of the personal way
you've touched us and you've come to us. and you've opened
the eyes of our understanding and you've shown us our Saviour
and you've caused us to love Him because He first loved us.
Please keep growing that love, Heavenly Father. But I pray that
today we would see it and be reminded of it in this, your
table, Heavenly Father. And that you would just bless
us as we go from here today with the most amazing security in
our great King. Thank you for all your grace,
Heavenly Father. Thank you for the power of your Spirit as He
applies His things to our hearts. Thank you for your union with
your Heavenly Father and your Son. We praise you in Christ's
precious name. Amen.