Let's turn again to that 11th
chapter of the book of Romans. Chapter 11. And I'll read those last three verses there. 34,
35, 36, last four verses of the 11th
chapter. Paul, the author of this letter
to the Romans, he kind of arrives at a place
in his heart, his soul, his mind, of the greatness of Almighty
God, that he says, 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! and no depth can be reached. It's like we said here the other
day in regard to His everlasting mercy and His everlasting love. It's like a hole in the sea with
no bottom. How unsearchable are His judgments!
The depth of the riches of His wisdom and knowledge his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Who hath been his counselor?
Who hath been his advisor? Who did he look to? For who hath
first given 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. This verse, verse 36, For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Now, this verse, I believe, is
set forth by the Apostle Paul as a general principle that all things come of God Almighty. All things come of God Almighty. They are of Him as to their source. They are through Him as to their
means. And they are to Him as to their
end. All things. come from God, all
things. There is not anything that does
not come from God. There was a period now when God
was alone and creatures were not. There was this time of a solitary aloneness, a period
when God was alone by himself, just God, no one
else. In that time when there was no
time, when there was no day but the
Ancient of Days, when matter and created things were unborn in the eternity of the solitary
stillness of God alone. Even space was not. Talk about
space, trying to invade space, trying to conquer space. want
to go to the stars and the other planets, go to the moon. Even space was not. Just God, the great I Am. And then, at that time when there
was no time, God was as perfect and glorious and
powerful and mighty as he is right now, always was and always will be. There was no sun. God alone was
the light. There was no earth, yet his throne
stood firm and fixed and fast. And he sat on that throne alone. There was no heavens at that
time when there was no time, yet his glory, his perfection
shined unlimited. He inhabited eternity by himself,
by himself alone. And in the glorious majesty and
happiness of his self-contained greatness, he was alone by himself. had no need of things that are called human
beings to add to his glory or his greatness, to give him company,
to give him fellowship, to give him something to do. He needed
nothing. Perfectly glorious, and contentment
and happiness then as He is now. So if that is so, which I believe
that it is, so if the Lord was abiding, living, dwelling in
His greatness, if He then should choose to create anything. The first thought and the first
idea must come from Him, for there was no other there to think
or to conceive or to suggest a thing for Him to do. Who shall instruct him? Who shall
be his advisor? Who shall help him to conceive
the unthinkable and the unimaginable? There was none there. In the
solemnity of eternity in time, the vastness
of who he is fills And if he should choose, if he
should will to do anything or create anything, the idea and
the thought must come from him and him alone because there was
no one else there to set forth instructions. and advice. As a matter of fact, God alone, in time when there was no time,
He fixed the pathway of every planet. We are one of the smallest. The planet Earth, He fixed path,
the pathway of the planet. He fixed the place of every star. It can't even be counted. He appointed the bounds of the
sea. And as to the earth, He alone Himself planned and fixed
its foundation. God alone He appointed the amount
and measure, the degree of strength which he would give to every
human being, some much strength, some full of weakness, some puny,
some strong. and settled every creature's
days, months, and years, and his hour of death. Back then,
God did it. You see, the scripture that I
read to you as the basis for our remarks says, for of him
and through him and to him are all things. He planned, purposed,
fixed, and settled all things by himself, alone. Well, he had no, what we refer to as
humans, he had no raw material. ready at His right hand. He must create all things. He must create the universe out
of nothing, out of nothing. He must create the sun, the moon,
the stars, all things that pertain out of nothing. And he needed
no help and he needed no assistance because there was no help and
no assistance. He was there in the fullness
of his majesty, self-contained in his own happiness. So all things are of him and
through him. shines, or if the sun rises every
morning and shines every morning, if the moon shines in its brightness,
then it's through Him, because of Him, and unto Him. Most people, the vast majority,
of the peoples on the face of this earth, they think that God
has wound up this world as if it were a clock. And after he
wound it up tight, then he has gone off leaving
it to work for itself apart from his hand and apart from his power. But that is totally and absolutely
untrue. God is present everywhere. There is no particle of space
in the universe that God is not at. Always present. Men try to forget that. They
try to erase the greatness and power of the Almighty God from
their minds. They call God's presence and
power by strange names. They call God's power El Nino. All the men of biology and science, all the intellect of the world
that's on the television to explain the wonders of God, never attribute
anything to God. They have strange names. El Nino
caused this. They talk about the power of
gravity. Gravity is nothing more, nothing
less than God's own power. That's what gravity is. They talk about the force of
nature. Keep talking about nature. I heard them the other day talking
about this strange thing that happened in California this past
week, that it snowed in California. They said the forces of nature
are at work. The forces of nature is none
other than God's great power of almighty power. That's unlimited
and belongs to Him and Him alone. It's the outflowing of God Himself. It's the great Father of life
with whom there is no variableness, with whom there is no change. It's all of Him. We unite. live here on this planet Earth,
which is God's workshop, and every wheel is turned by the
hand of God himself. Nothing works, nothing exists
but by his present power and his present might. We need to
walk softly This is God's Word. He's running this show. All things are of Him and through
Him and to Him. Let's talk just a little bit
here this morning about this business called grace. It's grace. By grace are you
saved. that and out of yourselves. By
grace are you saved through faith. Let's talk about this grace a
little bit in light of what I've read to you and what I've said. For of him and through him and
to him are all things. The work of grace. Paul said,
according to this verse, and certainly I have other proof
texts that I could bring to your attention, but I don't feel there's
any need of it. Paul said that the work of grace,
he said, here everything is of God and through God and to God. The great and glorious salvation
of God to sinners, was not shaped by human fingers. I want you
to know that. This that we rest in and enjoy,
that was wrought by God, conceived by God alone himself, no part
of it was shaped or formed or suggested by human hands and
human fingers. None but God could have imagined
a way of salvation as the gospel presents it, divine substitution. Who could have come up with a
plan like that? Substitution, the sacrifice of
God, this God in whom alone dwelleth life and power and might, this
God who is the light more brilliant than the sun, this God come up
with the idea of salvation by grace through substitution, the
sacrifice of God himself on man's behalf. Isn't that a great and
wonderful, glorious thing, unimaginable? who made all things and sustains
all things and needed not any of us to add to his happiness, has a quality and
passion in himself which he calls love. And he said, I'll redeem some
of them by the grace of God, through the sacrifice of myself. We think when he said, He that
spared not his own son, spared not his own son. When we talk
about the Lord Jesus Christ immediately, we say, Who is this man? And
we learn by Scriptures and taught by the Spirit of God that this
man, Christ Jesus, is none other than God's own Son. He is none other than God Himself. And he came and became a man,
and as a man he accomplished redemption. this great truth of Jesus Christ. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins by the grace
of God through faith. The sacrifice of God on man's
behalf, it's of him alone. He planned it. His own mind suggested
it. It is of him. He himself has ordained the very
minute and the very hour that the great promise keeper should
come. He ordained the time. the hour,
the minute, the year, the month, the place, when the Lord Jesus
Christ should appear upon this earth, the great promise keeper. There is a movement on foot among
the Armenian Christians, so-called. That's how they want to get all
men together and they've got a certain formula to set before
them that they'll live better lives and they'll be faithful
to their wives and faithful to their children. They say they're
promise keepers. There's only one promise keeper and that's him who got ordained ordained the time, the hour,
and the place when he should appear, that great promise-keeper,
the Lord Jesus Christ. All other promise-keepers are
unwise and fools. He is the promise-keeper. The time and the place when he should
be born, And even the woman who was his substance by whom he should betray, Judas
Iscariot, for death he should die, and that he should be dead for
three days, and that he would exercise power over himself and
arise from the grave on the third day. He ordained the manner in
which he would ascend from this earth back into the heavens. And he also ordained those who
would receive this man, Christ Jesus. as their Redeemer. He hath ordained
to whom the gospel should be preached. He settled in his own
mind in that period, in that time when there was no
time. He fixed it. He settled it in his own mind. of every one of his chosen, and
he hath fixed and ordained in himself not only the time and
the place where they would be born, where
they would live, and where they would be, when faith would come. Salvation is by grace through
faith. Faith must come and God hath
ordained it that way. And He ordained the place and
the time that faith would come to those that He chose unto Himself
before time ever was. It's God's great redemption.
It's His. God alone is exalted in this
redemption. It is Jesus Christ himself who
sweats drops of blood in Gethsemane's garden. It is Jesus Christ alone
who bleeds and suffers on Calvary's tree. He treads the winepress
of God's wrath alone. His own arm has wrought salvation. Not one soul of all the souls
that have their origin in God, not one of them, or never shall
be one of them, has ever been redeemed by human suffering. They're redeemed. It's by the
suffering of God himself in Christ Jesus, the man. Redemption, that is the work
of God alone. Let us not give rise to this business in our age that
man's finger has some part in the salvation of God, we must
confess this morning, I confess, and I believe you'll confess
with me, that this so great salvation is all of Him, and that we have
not a note of praise to spare. Be it Billy Graham, be it these other famous so-called
evangelists or preachers, I cannot take honor for one conduct. And you're a fool if you praise
any man apart from God. For it is God who determined
to give His Son, Jesus, for the salvation of His chosen. Will you rob Jesus Christ of
His crown? steal a jewel from his crown,
take away from him what's his and his wife? If so, you must love darkness
rather than light. Why am I saved? Why are you saved? Is it because of any inherent
goodness in you, in me, or a particular superiority in us that no one
else has? Oh, listen, how can a new heart
come out of an old one? How can a clean thing come out
of an unclean thing? Can't do it, can they? Can the Ethiopian change
his color? Can the leopard change his spots? If so, ye that are accustomed
to do evil can do good. How shall the Spirit come out
of flesh? That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit must be born again. Is there any faith, hope, or
spiritual life in us? If so, it must come from God
for all things. He must have thought it. It was
his idea. He must have planned it. And
if he thought it and planned it and you have it, it was because
he alone brought it home sweetly to your heart and to your soul. It came to you. and it came to
me through God and God alone, and it came to you and it came
to me through faith. Now, where did faith get its
birth? Where did faith take its birth? Was it not the work and the operation
of the Spirit of God Faith is the result, the effect of the
operation, the work of the Spirit of God who worketh mightily in
His own name. Dear, dear people here this morning,
my dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, there never was
a man brought to God except through God and never will there ever
be one. And that's so. You see, you can't
take the honor of a single convert. We must look to him alone and
give him all the glory. There are certain doctrines that they call Calvinism, which
ought never have been called by that name. That which is called Calvinism
is simply Christian doctrine, and that ought to be the name
of it. Oh, listen, what about the doctrine
of God's sovereign election? Why does a man say, is it the
result of his own will or is it the result of God's will? If a man is saved, was it because
he chose God, or did God choose him? Listen, that statement,
man choosing God, is not true, and I can give you one reason
why it's not true, which will destroy every other reason that
can be brought up to defend it. And it's this, man choosing God cannot be true because the end
result is it glorifies man. And the Bible says, for of him
and through him and to him are all things, to whom? be glory forever and forever. God's answer is, you have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you. God hath predestinated a
people before or from before the foundation of the world.
Predetermined, predestinated. Ah, God calls people, doesn't
he? By what power is a man called? Some say it's by the power of
his own will, or at least that God gives every man grace and
it depends upon man what he'll do with that grace. Well, that's
not so. It's not so. We say this because
it's in the Bible. We say that man is not saved
against his will, but that he's made willing in the day of God's
power. That's what we say. The calling that is effectual, which says rest to the soul, which speaks rest to
the burdened soul, that effectual call which saves the soul, is
a call which owes nothing at all to a man. That call comes
from God. If you would strike conversation,
strike conversation with some man this very day and he would ask you, as to your
hope of eternal life. And in the process of you telling
him what your hope is, you told him that you were called of God. He would immediately put a question
mark around that. May believe everything else you
said, but when you said that you was called directly and personally
by God through God's Holy Spirit with an effectual call. You who
were unwilling was made willing when the call came and the call
couldn't be resisted. Now they'd question that because
they don't understand it. They can't conceive of the great
and glorious God personally calling anybody as an individual especially
if that anybody has nothing about him conducive to the happiness
of God. Couldn't have called you because
I feel like I'm better than you and he didn't call me. So you
see this morning, this is what I'm trying to leave you with.
For of Him, God, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. I'll talk a little bit this evening
about that last statement, to whom be glory. Amen. So we'll