Alright, brethren, let's go to
Romans chapter 11. After Paul spoke of God's mysterious
purpose and how He saves His elect from among the Jew and
among the Gentile, he spoke on that at length in Romans 11,
actually from Romans 9 through 11. And after speaking on this
mystery How wonderful it is how God calls his elect people. He
breaks out into this praise right here in verse 33 and he says,
Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. You know there's places in the
depths of the oceans that man has not been Places so deep in
the ocean, we haven't been to them. Do we think we could ever
plumb the depths of God's wisdom and God's judgment, His knowledge
and His ways? I thought as I was writing some
notes down, this would be a good outline to preach just from that
verse right there. And if somebody preached this,
they had to remember they're just scratching the surface.
They're not even getting close to the depths. But first of all,
God in His wisdom conceived His purpose. He conceived His purpose. No man had wisdom to know how
to honor God's holy law by slaying His people and at the same time
justify His people so that He could have mercy on us. How on
earth could you kill them to honor justice and save them and
give them life at the same time? That was Darius' dilemma, remember?
With Daniel, he didn't know. They came and said, here, he
broke the law that you put into effect. You got to throw him
in a lion's den. Darius loved him. He didn't want
to do that, but he could figure out how to honor his law and
have mercy on Daniel. But God and his wisdom did. And
then God in His knowledge planned every detail concerning how He'd
bring it to pass. It's one thing to have the wisdom
to purpose something. It's another thing to have the
knowledge to plan out every last detail of how you're going to
bring it to pass. And then thirdly, God in His judgment prepared
the way. God in judgment didn't choose
for any sinner to take part in this. He chose His Son. That
was judgment. That was wise judgment to leave
it all in the hands of His Son and leave nothing in our hands.
And then, fourthly, God's ways. His ways, His grace, and His
righteousness achieve the results. On the cross, you see grace and
righteousness. You see grace and mercy and truth
meeting together in harmony on the cross in Christ crucified. There was the answer. of how
God could bring His people to be slain and uphold His law and
at the same time have mercy on us and give us life. Christ,
our substitute, laid down His life for us. That would be a
good four-point outline right there. And you'll just scratch
the surface because there's depths, depths of riches in that. But
let's, the next few verses I want to look at first of all the challenge
to man. He says in verse 34, For who
hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?
Or who hath first given to him and it should be recompensed
unto him again? Here's a challenge to you and me. Can you answer
that? Anybody can step up and say, yeah, I've done that. Here's
the assertion, verse 36. For of him and through him and
to him are all things. We can assert that. That's so.
And then here's the ascription. Verse 36, to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. We ascribe all glory to
Him. Let's look at this now. And here's
the point of it. It's really simple. God's the
first cause of all things. He's the one who carries out
all things. And the purpose is to the praise
of His glory in everything. First of all, let's look at this
challenge. Now, we first have a challenge to every man's intellect. Think you're smart? I think I'm
smart. Here's a challenge to our intellect
right here. Verse 34, who hath known the mind of the Lord or
who hath been his counselor? Anybody here has known the mind
of the Lord? Anybody here able to counsel
the Lord in the council room of eternity and to tell him what
he ought to do, what he ought not to do? It's vain presumption
for a little fallen sinner to think that he's capable of criticizing
how God does things. Most speak as if they would have
purposed things far better than what God did, and they would
have given us a better world than what God's given. They act
like the only thing God did right was that he made them so much
smarter than God, but that ain't so. It's vanity. for sinners to imagine you and
I could be God's counselor in anything or that he ought to
consult with us about anything he does. Go to Isaiah 40 verse
2, I mean verse 12. We need to learn something about
God. This is that chapter where he
keeps saying over and over, have you not heard? Have you not heard? Listen to this. Isaiah 40 verse
12. Who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand? and meted out heaven with a span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath
directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath
taught him? That's what Paul's preaching right there. With whom
took he counsel, and who instructed him, and who taught him in the
path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to
him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations, you and
me and everybody in this world, are a drop of a bucket and are
counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh
up the isles. All the Gentile world is a very
little thing. Lebanon is not sufficient to
burn, to please God, nor the beast thereof sufficient for
a burnt offering. All nations before him, and he's
talking about you and me as the people who make up those are
as nothing and counted to him less than nothing and vanity. That's who God is. We haven't
been able to counsel him and not even enter into the thought
that we could do better than God's done. Here's a challenge
then back in our text, here's a challenge to all human merit.
You think that God's going to be pleased with something you
and I do? Well, here's a challenge to all human merit right here.
He says in verse 35, or who hath first given to him, and it shall
be recompensed unto him again. He says, who's first given God
something that was not already God's own? Who is it that God owes for first
giving anything to God? God says, you find me one, I'll
recompense it to him. I'll give him back everything
he's given me. Nobody, not me, you, or anybody's
ever given God anything and certainly not done it first before he gave
to us. Job 35.7, listen to this. If thou be righteous, you know,
men won't credit for the deeds they see as being righteous.
This is what the God said in the Scripture, if you be righteous,
what givest thou him? What have you given to God? It's what you should have done,
be righteous. You haven't given God anything. Or what receiveth he of thine
hand? Now listen to this, thy wickedness
may hurt a man as you are, but it don't hurt God. It don't hurt
God. You might hurt other men, but
it's not going to move God one bit. Thy righteousness may profit
the Son of Man. Doing what's right will profit
your fellow man. There's no profit to God. God is. He is righteous. You're not going
to add to that. So if we're righteous, it's not
adding anything to God at all. And what are we going to give
God that is not already God's? He said in Psalm 50 verse 10,
every beast in the forest is mine. The cattle upon a thousand
hills, I know all the fowls of the mountains that are the wild
beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. For the world's mine and the
fullness thereof. No, he's not first given. We
have not first given anything to God. God's the first cause
who gives everything to us. That's why Paul said, who maketh
thee to differ from another? We didn't. We didn't make ourselves
to differ from another. What do we have that we didn't
receive from God? If we have anything, He gave
it to us first by grace, free grace, just because He would,
just because He would. All right, secondly now, let's
look here in Romans 11. Here's the assertion, and we
can assert this. This is fact right here. And
this is why these other things are true. The cause of Him and
through Him and to Him are all things. God is the source of
all things. He said it right there, of Him,
of Him are all things. That doesn't leave anything out.
Everything is of Him. He's the source. It all originates
with God. In eternity before He made the
world, God purposed the end from the beginning. Exactly. Everything in between. He purposed
every bit of it. And He tells us everything He's
going to do before He does it. He said in Isaiah 42, 9, Behold,
the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare.
Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. So that we know
the things He's told us. He hasn't told us everything,
but the things He's told us, we see them come to pass, and
we know God worked it because He told us about those things
before He ever brought them to pass. Why does He do that? to
challenge all the idols of man. Men have their idols. He said
in Isaiah 41, if you want to go to Isaiah, I'm going to read
several scriptures from Isaiah. Isaiah 41, verse 22. He's challenging every idol and
every man's imagination. And he says here in verse 22,
he says, let them bring forth Let your idol bring forth, and
show us what shall happen. Let them show the former things
what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end
of them. Or declare us things for to come. Show the things
that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you're gods.
Yeah, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold
it together. Behold, you are of nothing, and
your work is nothing. An abomination is he that chews
with you. That's what God says of every
idol God in this world. There's only one religion. Only
one. It's the religion of grace. of
the true and living God in heaven. That's the only religion in this
world. Everything else is an idol. It doesn't matter what
they call it. They may call their idol Jesus, but it's another
Jesus, not the one who's successful, not the one who's God, not the
one who cannot fail. It's an idol. And God said there's
nothing, and the person that chooses that idol is an abomination. God tells us to end from the
beginning so we can't attribute it to our idols. We'll go to
Isaiah 48. Everything's of Him. Look here,
verse 4. He said, Because I knew that
thou art obstinate, and thy neck's an iron sinew, and thy brow brass,
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee. Before it
came to pass, I showed it thee, lest thou should say, Mine idol
hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath
commanded See, he's going to shut his people up to confess
that nothing originated with our idols, nothing originated
with us, it all originated with God. He declares to end from
the beginning so that we know there's no idol God even like
Him. He said in Isaiah 46, 9, remember
the things, the former things of old. I'm God and there's nothing
else. I'm God, there's none like me.
Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things
are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand, I will do all my
pleasure. He said, there's no God like me that can do that.
And if you think about it, think about what men say about their
God. He said, remember when he said over there, I believe it
was in Exodus, and he said, our enemies, they say their God's
not like our God. They admit it. You ever preach
the truth about God to somebody and they say, well, my God's
not like that. You're dang right he ain't like
that. The one you're worshiping sure ain't like that. The one
you worship can't do nothing unless you let him. This is the
God who does what he will, and nobody can stay his hand. Everything's
of him. Everything's of him. Before time
began, God purposed who he would save. He would save his elect.
He purposed how he would save them. He'd save them in the blood
and righteousness of his Son. He purposed he'd save them through
the preaching of the word, through the Holy Spirit giving them life
within. and he bring all the glory and
honor to himself. He purposed everything from the beginning
and then he brings it all to pass. And the reason he brings
it to pass, here's the second thing in this assertion, not
only is everything of him, everything's through him. That means he brings
everything that he purposed that is of him, in time he brings
it all to pass. It's all through him, every bit
of it. What about spiritual life? Christ
said we must be born again. We must be given the Holy Spirit.
Life's God's gift to us. Or do we give ourselves life?
No, it's through Him. He says, as many as received
Him, to them gave He the privilege to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God, born of God. He purposed that from eternity,
and so it was through him that he brought it to pass. Scripture
says we have to have faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Do we conjure up faith, or is it through him? And he gives it. Ephesians 2,
he said, by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. What about righteousness? You're
going to come into God's presence and be accepted by God? We have
to be righteous. Is that through us? That's what the world says.
That's what the idol God says. Not the true and living God.
Paul said, I want to be found in Him, not have in my own righteousness. I want to have that righteousness
which is by the faith of God. That's the righteousness I want,
by the faith of Christ. What about good works? You know,
this is where, if people have been with us up to this point,
this is where they're a part. Now, you've got to give me some
credit for my works. Well, how is it you did any good
works? Where his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God before, way back there, the source of
God, which God before hath ordained, so that we shall walk in them.
He shall bring every work to be done that He purposed to be
done from eternity. It's through Him that we do good
works. We can't even boast in that. Well, what about the good
and the bad that comes to pass in providence? This is where
men start thinking that they could do a better job. They look
at all the evil that came to pass in the world. Listen to
Isaiah 45, 7. God said, I form the light and
create darkness. It's all through Him. I make
peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. There's nothing coming to pass
that's out of God's control. It's all through Him. The king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord. He turns it whithersoever He
will. It's His to do with as He will. He turns it like a river. Behold,
the Lord makes the earth empty, and he maketh it waste, he turneth
it upside down, he scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."
I know there's sin involved when you look on the news and you
see these mass exodus of people from one country migrating to
another country and, you know, just a massive amount of people. He makes ways, he turns the world
upside down, he scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof. He moves
people wherever he'll move them. What about the crucifixion of
our Lord? Was that out of his control? Scripture says men were
doing just what he determined before to be done. Everything's
through him. Well, here's the next part of
the assertion, the last part of this assertion. He's the end
of all things. He's the source of all things.
All things come through Him, and He's the end of all things.
He says, to Him are all things. All things in providence and
all things in salvation are to Him. Look over Colossians 1. He designed it this way. Colossians
1, 16. He says, It says, For by Him were all
things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. It's for Him. He's the end purpose
for which everything is made, for which everything comes to
pass. He's before all things, and by Him all things consist.
He's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminence, for it pleased the Father that in Him should
all fullness dwell. And so he says in Proverbs 16,
4, he said, The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea,
even the wicked, for the day of evil. He said, This people
I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. Everybody's
going to praise him. Everybody's going to praise Him.
That's the purpose for which He created man. We're all going
to one day bow the knee and confess that all salvation is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is God's salvation. He is
God's wisdom. He is God's righteousness. He
is God's holiness. He is God's redemption. He is
the life. He's everything. We're going
to confess that all our salvation is Christ and all our life. And all we are is by Him, by
His blood, His righteousness. But there's going to be some
that are going to bow the knee who are wicked and unbelieving,
and they're going to glorify Him just as much as the one that
bowed the knee and confessed Him to be Lord. They're going
to glorify His justice when He casts them out into outer darkness
and gives them exactly what is just to be given. They're going
to glorify His justice. And the whole heavenly host,
Scripture says, cry out and rejoice that it's so. There was one purpose. Well,
first of all, there was this chief purpose for which Christ
went to the cross. Before the salvation of His people,
the first reason Christ went to the cross was for God. It
was for Him. It was to declare Him just and
justifier. It was for Him to declare His righteousness, to
show He does right, upholds His law, and shows mercy to whom
He will. It was to declare Him first and foremost, and that's
what He did. Now, knowing all these things,
brethren, knowing that You and I never could counsel God. He's
from the beginning. He did everything. He came up
with the whole, everything that's come to pass. He determined the
end from the beginning. And everything's been carried
out through Him. He's worked everything. If it
comes to pass in Providence, we should not murmur. We should
not complain because God brought it to pass. And He's doing what
His will is to do. It may be painful to us. bring
us sorrow, or it may bring us happiness and joy. Whatever it
is, God's bringing it to pass just according to His purpose.
And it's all to this end, it's for Him. The people I created
for myself, the people I redeemed, the people I called to faith
in Christ, I created them for myself, God said. And I created
the wicked for the day of evil. Everything's created for Him.
That's a God that's in full control. That's a God right there that
there's not even one click on that clock right there that he's
not in control of. Everything. You mean a leaf falling off a
tree? He said not even a hair off your head. Not even a sparrow,
a little worthless sparrow falls to the ground without him. Everything. Now, knowing these things, knowing
Christ is all the salvation of His people, that He's fulfilled
the law, that He's the one who is creating the new heaven and
the new earth, which is all the work of His hand and is all created
in righteousness and true holiness, knowing this, what do we say? What's the inscription? We ascribe
the glory to God. End of verse 36, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. Who else is worthy of any
glory? Nobody else is going to get glory.
No, nobody else is going to get the glory that belongs to God.
He said, I am the Lord, that's my name, and my glory will I
not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. He
said, everybody that's called by my name, I created him for
my glory, for my glory. I formed him, I made him, and
I'm gonna be glorified for doing it. And he will be. At the name
of Jesus, every tongue's gonna bow, every knee's gonna bow of
things in heaven and earth, under the earth, every tongue's gonna
confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Now let me give you some advice, and I hope you'll hear me. If you're sitting here and you
don't know the Lord, I would give everything I have to pay
attention to what's being preached and to seek Him while He may
be found, while it's the day of grace. Because you're going
to meet Him. You're going to meet Him. And
you have a need. You have a dire need. And He's
the only one that can meet that need. I'd seek Him right now,
right now. And for you that believe on Him,
you and me that trust Him, things are hard in life, aren't they?
This life's tough. Sin has done a number on us. And your body is dying by the
minute. and relationships are over in
an instant, and everything in this world
is fading, fading, fading, fading away. But if you have God, if
you have the Lord Jesus Christ, then you have eternal life. And as the scripture says, you're
not going to pass away, all this is going to pass away from you.
You're going to still remain. All this is going to pass away.
I want that for everybody I preach to. And I pray today, God give
you grace to, if you know him, I pray give you grace to rest
in this fact and trust him and give him all the glory. And if
you don't yet know him, I pray he make you know him. Make you
cast your care on Christ. Amen.