the majority of our members will
be aware it was my privilege this past week to minister for
two days in the southland of our country a day in Memphis
and a day in a little place called French Camp Mississippi and in
those two days I had to preach some seven times and one of the
disciplines of those days was seeking to prepare a message
that would set out a framework within which the whole concept
of Christian education on the one hand for the Thursday ministry
and on the other hand the whole work of the ministry could be
set and my mind was exercised concerning this text that we
will attempt to break open this morning the text which is printed
on the bottom of the church letterhead The text, of course, being Romans
11 and verse 36, and the discipline of preaching so many times this
week and preparing for those, I am not prepared to carry on
our studies in Ephesians, and so I felt it would be the part
of wisdom to be safe and stick with that with which one is a
bit more sure as to its precise meaning. I will pick up the thread
of the Apostle's thought at verse 33 in Romans 11, and I shall
read verses 33 to 36. O the depth of the riches, both
of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are
his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known
the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?
or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again. For of him, and through him,
and unto him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen. As we approach the text
this morning, I want us to study it under the general theme of
this question. Do you read and understand the
Bible biblically? I'm not asking do you read the
Bible, nor am I merely asking do you read and understand the
Bible. But my question is, do you read
and understand the Bible biblically? That is, does your reading and
understanding of the content of the Bible fit within the framework
of the Bible itself? I'm assuming that all of you
gathered this morning have no question as to the absolute authority
of the entire contents of the Word of God written. Confessionally,
we are committed as a church to the historic, Protestant,
or we could even say Roman Catholic for that matter, the historic
Christian position that the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments
are authoritative because they are inspired of God. They are
as no other writings are. And by that we mean that its
accounts of history are accurate. When the Scripture gives us the
history of creation, we believe that the history came to pass
as the Word of God says it came to pass. That at a certain point
in time, God spoke and worlds came into being. That's what
we mean when we say we believe in the authority and the trustworthiness
of Scripture. All its accounts of history are
accurate. There was a great fish prepared,
and the fish swallowed a man named Jonah, and then the fish
vomited him up and went merrily on his way a hundred and fifty
pounds lighter than before. We believe that when the scripture
says that the Red Sea parted, that there was actually a sea
that parted. And had you been there after
the sea came together again three days later, you would have seen
the bloated, rotting bodies of the Egyptian soldiers floating
on the sea. That's what we mean when we say
we assume together, I trust, the absolute authority of the
scripture. Its history is accurate. Its
promises are trustworthy. The God who gave them cannot
lie. It's commands are binding upon us. It's doctrines are eternally
valid. Now that's not the area of my
question this morning. Do you believe it's history is
valid? It's promises trustworthy. It's
commands binding. It's doctrines true. Now I'm
assuming all of that, but now my concern is, do you read its
history and do you appropriate its promises and submit to its
commands and interpret and apply its doctrines within the framework
in which they come to us in the Bible? For you know, it's perfectly
possible to hold to the absolute validity of its history, its
promises, its commands, its doctrines, and yet to miss the whole message
of the Bible. Now let me illustrate this. Out in Detroit, and also
in Kenosha, and also in Cadillac, Michigan, our American cars are
produced. And they are produced according
to the original design of the engineering departments who,
conceiving in their idea a product that can be marketed for the
purpose of transporting people from one place to another, they
draw up their plans. And into those plans go all of
the various things that make up an automobile. And from there
they go into the production department and they plan where and how and
at what point and by what means all of these various ingredients
will be put together to produce that end product, a car that
will transport people and things from one place to another. Now,
when the vision of the engineer, the designer, the production
control manager, down to that last man who puts the last polish
on the fender before it goes off the production line, all
of that thing is put together according to design, and when
the design is realized, the end product is now a reality. You have stamped metal, you have
turned metal, you have forged metal. You have upholstery, you
have foam rubber, you have tires, you have all of these various
things put together in a specific relationship one to another and
in relationship to the whole to accomplish a given end. Now
suppose we were to go out to Detroit and we took one of those
finished products that just came off, say, the production line
of Ford or Plymouth or anyone else And then we proceeded to
maintain every single ingredient of that car. We're not going
to throw away one nut, one bolt, one screw, one bit of stamped
metal, not one square inch of upholstery, but we're going to
completely rearrange it. So we proceed to take the fan
that's supposed to cool the engine, cool really the water that circulates
in the water jacket, and we weld it on the end of the driveshaft
like a propeller. and then we proceed to take the
wheels off and we weld them to the front bumper and then we
proceed to take an acetylene torch and cut the fenders off
and then we invert them and we weld them on top of the car and
then we proceed to take the upholstery and we take it out and we begin
to glue it over the remaining metal parts of the car now we
haven't thrown away a thing but by the time we're done, what
have we done? while maintaining every single constituent element
of that car, we have completely destroyed the original design
of the designers and the engineers, we have completely destroyed
the purpose for which the production manager set up production, and
in a sense we've nullified the labor of everyone who had a part
in putting that thing together. We have a car, but we don't have
a car. What has happened? We haven't
thrown out a thing. We have simply rearranged it in a way that doesn't
fit the design of the original conceiver of the car and therefore
we've destroyed the very purpose for which it was put together.
Now may I suggest, though certainly not in that grotesque a way,
that it's perfectly possible and tragically actual that this
is what is done with the scriptures. Almighty God has not given us
history, promise, command, and doctrine thrown together any
old way so that we will simply maintain the history, the doctrine,
the promises, and all the rest. No, no. God has a design in all
that He's unfolded in His own Holy Word. There is a blueprint
for all of that history. There is a structure for all
of that doctrine, all of those commands, and all of those promises. And it is essential for us to
understand and read the Bible biblically. And I know of no
text in all of the Word of God that more accurately, more succinctly,
more definitively sets before us the framework within which
the Bible itself comes to us than the text we're going to
look at this morning. There may be other texts that
do it as well, but I know of no text that does it better.
How are we to read and understand the Bible? May I suggest we are
to read and to understand the Bible within this overarching
framework set out in Romans 11.36. For of Him, and through Him,
and unto Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Now as we seek to attack the
text and break it open this morning, will you consider with me the
context in which Paul spoke these words? He did not simply get
up some morning and say, well, you know, I've got 10 minutes
before I have to rush off for the next boat to Tarsus or somewhere
else. And, you know, down there in
1973, a preacher is going to be busy at a conference and he's
going to need a text that sort of is easy to preach on. So I
think I'll just shoot one off and sat down and wrote off the
words of him through him. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The
Apostle Paul did not give us this text as something just shot
off the top of his mind in a spare moment. It is a statement that
comes at the conclusion of this closely reasoned argument concerning
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul has never been to Rome,
but he hopes to go to Rome. He tells us that in chapter 1.
And he wants to go to Rome for two reasons, basically. Chapter
1, he tells us, I hope to come in order to be mutually strengthened
by our associations one with another. I hope to strengthen
you, to have some fruit amongst you. I hope to be strengthened
by you. But then he holds off his second
reason until the 15th chapter. A little bit of psychology here.
He says, I not only hope to come that we might be mutually blessed,
But I hope to be brought on my way by you whensoever I go on
to Spain." He said, I want to spend some time with you, hoping
that you'll take up my support and pick up the tab for my next
missionary journey. So that was his second reason.
Now, what's the most important thing for a missionary to let
a church know about himself if he hopes to be supported by that
church? Not his clever personality. Not
his past successes, but the most important thing is that the church
knows what is in the reprint when he goes out on behalf of
this church. So what does he do? He explains
the gospel that he's preached in the Roman Empire, where he
has been, and he says, concerning which I have no more place in
these parts, Christ has been fully preached, and as I go on
to Spain, you want to know what I'm going to preach? When you
pick up the tab for the next missionary journey? This is the
gospel that I preach. And so he announces his theme
in chapter 1 in verse 16 and 17, and then he begins to open
up his gospel. Now as he does, what does he
do? He brings in that awful inky black backdrop of sin, the wrath
of God revealed from heaven, verse 18 of chapter 1. He brings
in that darkness that settles upon the Gentile world that has
no knowledge of the written scriptures. All they have is the dim, glimmering
light of nature, but their rejection of that light and its witness
of God makes them without excuse. Then he goes on to develop the
theme of sin as it applies to the Jews who have the scriptures.
He shows how the whole movement of nations and men and the factors
present in society are related to the problem of sin. Then he
opens up the mystery of the gospel of justification. How in Jesus
Christ God has resolved a way that he might be just and the
justifier of guilty sinners. And then he opens up the mystery
of sanctification and its inseparability with justification. And then,
having shown the glories of this salvation, he shows us in chapters
9 to 11 that that salvation did not come to us in some kind of
supra-history. It came to us in the midst of
the history of the nations of men, when for centuries God was
dealing primarily with one nation, Israel, and the Gentiles were
in darkness. But now how He has set the nation
of Israel aside, that the gospel might overflow and go to all
the Gentiles. And he's saying in those chapters
that world history is to be interpreted in the light of God's gospel
designs and gospel purposes. Now bring all of that together.
That's just been a quick, brief overview of the content of Romans.
the reality of human sin, divine judgment upon sin, the darkness
of the Gentile nations, the rejection of the light of the Scriptures
by the Jews, the coming of the Son of God from heaven, crucified
by men, but in that crucifixion the eternal purpose of God realized,
the great mystery of union with Christ, When He died, we died
with Him. When He rose, we rose with Him.
The whole future perspective of the Christian, Romans chapter
8. The whole perspective of the
world itself when it will be delivered from the bondage of
corruption. Then the mystery of God's election. His dealings
with that little Israel within great Israel. The election of
greats. The rejection of the nation of
Israel. The inclusion now of the Gentiles. look at the sweeping themes he's
been covering, from the microcosm of the individual sinner, and
then he turns it to the macrocosm, the great sweeping history of
nations, and he writes over the whole thing, for of him And through
Him and unto Him are all things. What are the all things He's
been dealing with? The reality of the entrance of
sin into the world, the judgment of God, the mystery of the gospel,
the power of the gospel, the mystery of Israel's unbelief,
the mystery of God's divine election. Jacob have I loved. Esau have
I hated. I've raised up Pharaoh to display
my power. In the midst of all of this,
Paul says, I see this perspective of Him, through Him, and unto
Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. That's the context of Romans
11.36. Now, having looked at the context,
what do the words themselves mean? And may I say, to anyone who
thinks you've got to use big words to get across big ideas,
this text is the best antidote to that mentality. And in the
original, it strikes you, the simplicity of it. Because he
takes three little prepositions. One of them, two letters, ek.
Another one, three letters, diah. And the third one, three letters,
ais. And then he takes the simple
pronoun, him. Now, very simple little words. Some of you who've
been taking Greek Sunday afternoons with Mr. Wade, after three weeks
you could read this text. Three weeks of Greek, you could
read the text. And yet it displays one of the most profound concepts
in all of the Word of God. Here it is. For of Him, and then
you can take the all things and attach it on after each phrase
where it applies to each phrase. For of Him are all things, and
through Him are all things, and unto Him are all things. There's the statement of fact.
And then we'll look at the second place, at the response that that
fact should elicit from our hearts, to Him be the glory forever. Amen. What then do these words
mean? Well, the word for of him is
a simple way of stating that God is the basis, the origin
of all that is. When he says through him, he's
saying that God is the means or the medium by which all things
come to pass. And when he says unto him are
all things, he's saying that God is the goal or the end of
all that is. First of all, then, for of him. are all things. In what sense
are all things to be regarded as of Him? Considering God as
the origin and the basis of all that is, let me suggest three
things in answer to that question. First of all, all things are
of Him in His wisdom planning. Look at the previous verses.
Having come through the scope of this teaching of the gospel
and all of these ingredients that we've mentioned briefly,
Paul stands back and sees it all as a manifestation of the
infinite wisdom of God. Oh, the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past tracing out. See what he's saying? He's saying, as I see this great
and glorious God, in no way accountable for man's sin, in no way responsible
for Israel's unbelief, in no way chargeable with being the
author of sin, he says, knowing that, and yet seeing in the midst
of it how he overrules the blindness and the hardness of the nation
of Israel to bring salvation to the Gentiles, and in turn,
when salvation comes to the Gentiles, it provokes the Jews to jealousy
that they might seek the very salvation they rejected. He stands
back and puts his hand on his head and says, of God's wisdom,
that such a plan should be conceived. Oh, the depth of the riches,
not only riches, but they're deep. And he says, when I start
to pile down through to find the bottom, I get lost. I can't
trace it out. I can't trace it out. How unsearchable
are his judgments. For of him, in his infinite wisdom
planning, not only of him in his wisdom planning, but of him
in his sovereignty purposing, May I say it reverently, it would
do God no good to have the infinite mind of wisdom to plan if he
did not have the sovereign right to purpose and to execute. And so he admires his God as
the origin of all things in the wisdom that plans and in the
sovereignty that purposes. Hence, when he treats the subject
of Pharaoh, listen to the strength of his language in chapter 9
and verse 17. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might
show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad
in all the earth. So then he hath mercy on whom
he will, and whom he will he harden. Here is the sovereign
purpose of God, determined to display his power, and therefore
raising up a Pharaoh according to that sovereign purpose. Of
him are all things. Everything that comes to pass
He sees as being rooted in that infinite wisdom which planned
and that sovereign purpose which decreed and nothing escapes that
wisdom or that purpose. Of Him are all things. Oh, but you say I have... Swallow
your problems. Yes, but I... Yes, I'm fully
aware. And so was Paul. And so he says
to you and to me in chapter 9, Well, if this be so, who hath
resisted his will? Why does he find fault if everything
is of him? Why then, even my rebellion and
my unbelief is somehow attributed to his own sovereign purpose
and his own infinite wisdom? How could he ever call me into
judgment? Paul doesn't rationalize with that objective. What does
he say to him? Look at verse 19 of chapter 9. Thou wilt say
then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who hath withstood
his will? Does he rationalize? Does he
argue? Does he debate? He says, No, shut up. Put your
hand upon your mouth. Put your face to the earth. You
are a man. He is God. But nay, O man, who
art thou that repliest against God? I have self-consciously embraced
what is traditionally called reformed thinking, which is simply
an attempt to describe a consistent confession that of him are all
things. I've self-consciously embraced
that biblical teaching for some eight years, and I've never spent
three minutes debating it with a soul. I refused. It's unbiblical. When the objector
brings up his objections with this spirit, there's only one
answer, to say very gently, in the spirit of gentleness, but
very firmly with biblical authority. Nay, O man, who art thou? God is God in your man, and never
forget it. Of him are all things. But now, what about the little
phrase, through him? In what sense are all things through
him? Well, let me suggest a couple
of lines of thought. First of all, they are through
him in terms of his power executing. It is His power that executes
what His wisdom and His sovereignty purposed. You see, the deist
is the man who would have very little trouble with the general
statement that God initiates and God brings into being. But
the idea that all things are through Him, by a present powerful
execution of His own working, no, no, this is offensive to
Him. Paul says no. The God whom I worship, the God
whom I see revealed in Scripture, the God who has given us Scripture,
has given it within a framework in which we see not only all
things are of Him, but all things are through Him, His power executing
what He has decreed. You go back to the statement
in chapter 9, for this purpose did I raise thee up. When Pharaoh
was raised to power, there was a present working of God. to
bring him to that place of power and authority, but not only by
his power executing, but by his providence directing and upholding. Scripture tells us concerning
our Lord Jesus, Colossians 117, that all things consist, literally
all things adhere in Him. They hold together. Hebrews 1,
same thought, upholding all things by the word of His power. All things are through Him. His
power executing and His providence directing all that He has purposed. When you turn back through the
chapters that precede the statement in Romans 11, there are some
very mysterious things. There is that clear statement
in chapter 9, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. All that happens
in the life history of those men is but an unfolding of the
fabric of God's decrees. And he said what was true of
the individuals is true of nations. Israel sought a way of righteousness
but they sought it not by faith and therefore they are rejected
because of unbelief. And what is he saying? He's saying
they're utterly and absolutely responsible for their unbelief,
and yet, he says, their fall has resulted in the promises
of God to the Gentiles being fulfilled. Well, if God made
the promises, didn't it have to come to pass? And if it did
have to come to pass, are they responsible? All of these questions! And my friend, I suggest we're
approaching it the wrong way if we come seeking to pry it
apart with carnal logic and reasoning. We're to stand back, as Paul,
and say, in the midst of all of this reality of sin, unbelief,
and grace, and judgment, and mercy, all things are through
Him, this great God, by His power executing and His providence
directing all men and things to the accomplishment of His
own purpose. that all things are not only
of him and through him, but notice he says, and all things are unto
him. Now in what sense are they unto
him? And let me suggest three lines
of thought briefly. First of all, all things are
unto him in praise for his infinite wisdom. Paul is an example of
what it means, all things are unto him. For having beheld this
sweeping panorama of God's dealings with men, in the real situation
of sin and guilt, in the larger context of the history of men
and of nations, he says, oh, the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. His reflex response was
to render unto God praise for the infinite wisdom displayed
in such a mighty scope of God's dealings. In praise for His infinite
wisdom, but then it must also be attended, all things unto
Him in worship for the glorious revelation of His person. He
moves on from his wisdom to speak of his judgments that are past
tracing out. Then he speaks of the depths
of the mind of God that cannot be traced out. You see, he reasons
from the ways of God to the God who has initiated those ways.
And his heart runs out, not only in praise for his infinite wisdom,
but in worship for his glorious person. And then thirdly, all
things are unto Him in devoted service. What is the sequel to
this text? The very familiar words of Romans
12 in verse 1. I beseech you therefore, since
all things are of Him, through Him and unto Him, I beseech you
by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice,
wholly acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. In
what sense are all things unto Him? They are to be unto Him.
When in the heart of the believer this recognition breaks upon
him, he says, with such a God as my God, with such a God as
my Redeemer in Jesus Christ, what can I do but abandon myself
to Him? The reaction to this perspective
must never be, oh, if all things are of Him, through Him, and
unto Him. Not much we can do about it. I guess we'll just
relax and hope we'll be carried along by the tide of inexorable
decree. No, no. Here comes the whole
element of the creature, the redeemed child of God, consciously,
intelligently, deliberately giving up all that he is and all of
his faculties in order to serve such a gracious and a mighty
God. All things are of him. through
him and unto him. The best summary I know of this
statement is found in this wonderful little book by J. I. Packer,
The Plan of God. And may I say again, for some
of you who think, well, you read that five years ago, now you've
graduated beyond that. I say without any embarrassment,
the books that helped me the most ten years ago are the ones
that, for the most part, help me the most today. So I keep
rereading. And that's one of them. Best
little statement on this biblical perspective that I know of for
its size. Mr. Packer, in commenting on
the very approach that I've taken this morning, says, What do we
find when we try to read the Bible as a single unified whole,
with our minds alert to observe what it is really about? The
first thing we find is that this book is not primarily about man
at all. Its subject is God. He, if the
phrase may be allowed, is the chief actor in the drama, the
hero of the story. The Bible proves on inspection
to be a factual survey of God's work in this world, past, present,
and future, with explanatory comment from prophets, psalmists,
wise men, and apostles. Its main theme is not human salvation,
but the work of God vindicating His purposes and glorifying Himself
in a sinful and disordered world by establishing His kingdom and
exalting His Son, by creating a people to worship and serve
Him, and by ultimately dismantling and reassembling this order of
things, so rooting out sin from His world entirely. It is into
this larger perspective that the Bible fits God's work in
saving man. And then he goes on to elaborate
on this. The moment you assume that the
beginning, middle, and end of what the Bible has to say is
what man needs and what man gets, you've taken the fenders and
cut them with an acetylene torch, you've taken the wheels and you've
put them on the front of the car, and you've taken the upholstery
and you've plastered it, you've completely missed the whole message
of the Word of God. Well, when God helps us to come
to this perspective of the Bible upon itself, of him, through
him, unto him are all things, what should be our response to
this? Look at the words, to him, and
then you'll notice in your Bibles, the B is in italics. There is
no verb in the original. A verb must be supplied. And
I wonder why Paul didn't put one there. Well, since he's not
here to ask him, we can only conjecture. Could it be that
the very absence of the verb makes the word all the more pointed
and powerful? To Him, the glory forever and
ever. To Him, the glory belongs. To
Him, the glory ought to come. To Him, the glory we ought to
give. All of those ideas can be included
by the absence of the verb. To Him, the glory. That's where
it belongs. Therefore, since it belongs to
Him, give it to Him. And not only give it to Him grudgingly,
but give it to Him delightfully. I've seen some who have felt
the pressure of the words of Scripture. They believe in its
precepts, and when they see a passage like this, they say, well, I
can't debate that. Of him, through him, unto him, certainly seems
to mean what you've told us it means. So very grudgingly, sort
of out of the side of the mouth with a tight jaw, well, to him
be glory. He's that kind of a God. If I
had a... No, no. Paul's jaw is in tight when he
says this. It's opened wide. Having contemplated
such a God, he says, to Him be glory forever. To Him be the
loving response, the worship of all of His creatures, seeing
that this God, in the midst of all the themes touched upon in
those previous chapters, is the God of whom, through whom, and
unto whom are all things. Now let me say by way of application
and It does look like I'll carry on tonight into some specific
areas. I want to show how this particular perspective will affect
our thinking concerning something so basic as the salvation of
an individual sinner. Then we want to see its relationship
to the worship and service of the Church. Then we want to touch
in the area of the educational framework within which we put
our children. I want to draw out some very
practical lines of application, but the one general application
I shall make in closing this morning is this. When this perspective,
the perspective of Romans 11.36, becomes real to us, it can be
for us spiritually a Copernican revolution. Have you kids learned
about the Copernican revolution yet at school? No? I don't know
what you get these days. My son was having the laws of
thermodynamics and I never knew such things existed until I was
about 35 and read a book by Henry Morris, but he was getting it
in the 6th or 7th grade. But anyway, what happened was
this. Copernicus was the man to challenge the idea that our
world was central to our order of things, our solar system.
Up till Copernicus, everybody had the idea, almost everybody,
that our earth was central and everything went around us. Sun,
moon, everything else. We were in the middle and these
things paid attention to us, see? Everything goes around us.
It was an earth-centered view. Copernicus came along and he
says, no, no, no. The Sun is the center, and Earth
and all the other planets and the rest, they move around the
Sun. Earth's not the center, Sun is
the center. Well, you know what happened?
He was labeled as a heretic, because the Church had taken the position,
officially, that the Earth was the center, and so Copernicus
got in trouble, not only with his fellow astronomers and scientists,
but he got in trouble with the Church and the rest, but time
showed that Copernicus was right. But this was so radical a concept.
It didn't mean simply that one of the planets was in another
relationship, but it meant you had a whole new starting point
for everything! And I say this text coming home
to the heart with power, so that we begin to read the Bible in
the light of that text, we begin to interpret God's dealings with
us in the light of that text, we begin to interpret the work
of evangelism in the light of that text, we begin to understand
our role in life in the light of that text, it will be a spiritual
Copernican revolution. Every single department of life
will be wrenched loose from the man-centered perspective in which
my first reaction is, what do I get? What's happening to me? How do I feel? And the curse
under which some of you labor is that you've got an earth-centered
solar system. You're at the middle. It never occurs to you that God
has a perfect right to deal with you in such a way that you don't
understand, to bring you to the place where you say, as David
did in Psalm 56, when having been anointed to be king of Israel,
he's now chased around like a little cur dog through the hills and
wildernesses of Judea as though God had forgotten him. What does
he say? Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the
earth." Who's saying that? A man upon a throne in a dedication
prayer? No, a man who's been promised
a throne who's holed up in a cave, running for his life. And he
says, only one thing matters. Not David, but that God be glorified. He had the perspective. This
is no mere theoretical perspective. The reason some of you are so
crippled in your spiritual life is because you've still got an
earth-centered universe. The moment what happens to everything
is viewed in terms of your own subjective feeling, your own
subjective comfort and reaction, and you've never broken loose
from that. begun to realize that of Him
and through Him and unto Him are all things. Oh, the difference
it makes when you begin to try to interpret and react to and
in the midst of God's apparent frowning providences when you
start looking at it from this perspective. Did God have a right
to use Job to prove something to the devil? Sure He did. Why?
because Job is God's creature and God's child. And if he wants
to use Job to prove something, that's God's business. You see how this will stretch
and expand the whole perspective? We don't have time to go into
the areas. We'll do that tonight. But let me close with that note
and press the question upon your conscience. When you read the
Bible, how do you read it? Do you read it Like the poor
junkie who parades around the streets of New York with one
thing in his mind. Everything in the whole system
of New York exists for one thing. For that next needle he can pump
in his arm and get his sense of euphoria and go off into that
no man never never land of his next high and all is well. Then he doesn't care what goes
on. People can be lying in their own blood, being murdered around
themselves, but he's alright. Because he's had his next fix.
Is that the way you read the Bible? to give you some little consolation
in your present circumstance and you feel better. And as long
as you feel good, insensitive to others, insensitive to the
great overriding concerns that the Church of Christ ought to
be concerned about in this particular day, in this particular circumstance.
Oh, what a miserable existence to have the Bible, nothing but
the means by which you get your next high. Not backing off, saying,
Lord, what are you telling me about yourself? What am I to
see of you? What am I to understand of your
dealings? What am I to know? And what is
to be the response of my heart to what you are doing of Him,
through Him, unto Him of all things? You begin to read your
Bible in that way. The Bible becomes a different
book, and your response to it and reaction to it becomes a
different response and a different reaction. Then you begin to read
passages and praise God for what happens with no tongue-in-cheek. If the one thing God's committed
to do is to save sinners, how in the world can you praise God
when you've read through the account of His destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah? Can you fall upon your face and
praise God for the pure holiness of His judgment when you read
those chapters in Genesis that He consumed those cities in a
moment of time Can you praise him as much as when you read
the book of Jonah and you see that he turned away judgment
from a city for a whole generation? You see, we've got a day, we
live in an age when the average Christian can't praise God for
both. Why? Because he has a different framework
within which he's reading the Bible than the framework the
Bible itself imposes upon us. Of him, through Him and unto
Him are all things to whom be glory. You mean God is to be
glorified and worshiped for His righteous judgment? Sure. How
can you read the Psalms if that's not true? Who knoweth the power
of thine anger and thy wrath according to the fear that is
due unto thee? He worships God, worships God
for His righteous anger as well as for His infinite and almighty
love. May God help us to take a text
like this seriously, begin to lay our lives up alongside of
it, our understanding of the word of God, our attempts to
interpret God's dealings with us, and then, as I indicated,
God willing, tonight we'll trace out some of the lines of practical
implication and application as to how this perspective can revolutionize
our thinking. For some of you, this has been
no new word. But I hope it's come with freshness
and I hope it will confirm you in your perspective of reading
the Word of God within the framework that God Himself has given it
to us. Of Him, through Him, unto Him
are all things to whom be glory forever and forever.