Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. We just looked
at this chapter up to verse 32 for our Bible study. And in this chapter and in the
previous chapters, Paul has been talking about God's dealings
with the Jews, and God's dealings with the Gentiles, what He said
He would do, and clearly what He has done, and why He did it,
and how He did it, And when he did it, and Paul said, when you
get down to it, after you've entered into the things that
God has done, when the Lord gives you that
ability by His Spirit to just let you for one moment dial in,
don't you thank God for those moments? when He just lets us
dial in and enter in and get a hold, just a small taste of
what God has done for us. Your brain goes all the way back
to eternity past, and then it goes back to 2000 years ago,
and it goes to here we are right now, and it goes to an eternity
ahead of us. And Paul said, after you've entered
into the things that God has done, the greatness of them,
the perfection of them, the fullness of them, this is all you can
say about it. Verse 33. He said, 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 counselor?
Or 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. Paul said, when you get
right down to it, This is all you can say about it. We look
at everything he said, everything he's done, everything he's written.
And he said, when you get right down to it, this is all you can
say about it. God is God. That's all you can say about
it. God Almighty is the sovereign God Almighty. And don't we love saying that
about it, saying that about Him. Don't we love the fact that that's
the bottom line. He does what He wants, with whom
He wants, when He wants. Paul's talking about the Jews,
he's talking about the Gentiles, he's talking about this. God
is God. I pray God might open men and
women's eyes to see that God is God. The name God means God. The one who does what he wants, with
whom he wants, when he wants, and he's right in it. He's absolutely
right in it. He is perfect about it in all
his ways. Now, each line in these verses,
each line deserves an eternity of pondering. These verses right
here, if you really just think about each line, you could ponder
them for eternity. And the Lord willing, we will
get to ponder them for all eternity. Not one word of His will ever
fail. Not one word. But let's see if
the Lord will allow us to just touch on and just have a glimpse
of what the Apostle Paul is saying here about our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is our Almighty God. Verse 33, he said, Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How could we possibly
grasp the fullness of that? Here, this is God's apostle,
the man that was carried up into the third heaven. And after hearing what he heard
and seeing what he saw, He said, oh, the depth of the
riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, the depth of
the wisdom. Do you ever get torn up about things
like I get torn up about things? Do things ever have you all just
torn all to pieces? If we could ever enter in to
the depth of the riches of the wisdom. Everything concerning us. One
man made the statement, if we knew what he knew, we wouldn't
change anything. Not one thing. Oh, the depth
of the wisdom. Oh, the depth of the knowledge. the knowledge of all things,
all things. Oh, the depth of His willingness
to impart it to us, to speak it to us, to open it to us, the
riches of His willingness to apply it to us, to apply that
wisdom, apply that knowledge. This is what first Corinthians
one says. It says, he is made unto us wisdom. We know that he is made wisdom. We know that he is wisdom, but
to think that he would make it to us, he's made unto us wisdom. Turn with me over to Ephesians
chapter three. Ephesians 3 verse 16, Paul said, I pray that He would
grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man. Paul said, I pray
that He will give you of the riches of His glory and strengthen
you by His Spirit and His might in your inner man. And oh, I
pray that for us. Verse 17 says that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith. I pray that for us. I pray that
for us. I don't want us to just pass
by that verse. Do we realize how great that prayer is? I pray Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love,
the love of God, where is that? In the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 18, may be able to comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth and length and depth and height. And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. Paul said, I pray that for you.
What is the fullness of God? Christ is the fullness of God. Our brother just read that for
us. Colossians 1.19 says, It pleased the Father that in Him,
in Christ, should all fullness dwell. All the riches of God
are in Him. Ephesians 1 talks about the riches
of His grace. Boy, we love Ephesians 1, don't
we? The riches of His grace. That's Christ. He's the grace. He's the gift. He's the gift
of God. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. How much did God love the world?
He gave His only begotten Son. Christ is the riches of God's
grace. Ephesians 2 talks about the riches of His mercy. That's Christ. He is the mercy
of God. Here is the only way that God
can show mercy to a sinner. If we ever entered into what
every person here deserves because of our sin against God, it would,
oh the horror of it. And God's mercy to not punish
a sinner for what he's earned and deserves against God. This
is the only way God can show mercy to a sinner. God has to
lay that sinner's sin on Christ, His beloved Son. And then Christ
has to absolutely pour out all of His wrath and all of His punishment
and all of His hatred on that sin right there in the person
of His own Son. If we could ever comprehend the
breadth and the length and the depth and the height and the
fullness of the riches of Christ. If we could ever comprehend that,
this verse right here would absolutely slay us. This would slay us. Turn with me over to 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9, it says,
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich... Oh, may God let us enter into
this. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, Yet for your sakes,
he became poor. He became poor. That you, through
his poverty, might be rich. That means he gave his grace
to you, all of it. He gave His mercy to you. He gave all of it. God even gave
His wisdom and He gave His knowledge when He gave Christ. Though He
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor. Oh, the depth
of the riches. The depth, the height, the length,
the breadth of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for His people.
Go with me back to Romans 11. Verse 33 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. Turn with me,
if you would, to Job chapter 11. Just before Psalms, Job chapter
11. Job 11 verse 7, it says, Canst
thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? Man in his ignorance says, I'm
going to go search out God. I've decided that I'm going to
go seek God, and I'm going to go find God, and I'm going to
know God. This is what God says. No, you're
not. No, you're not. Verse 8, He said,
It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than hell,
what canst thou know? He said, All of my ways are higher
than the heavens, lower than the hell. What could you know? What could you do? Verse 9, He
said, The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader
than the sea. If he cut off and shut up or
gather together, then who can hinder him? For he knoweth vain
men. When he's talking about vain
men, who's he talking about? He knoweth vain men, he seeth
wickedness also. Will he not then consider it? Don't turn, but David said in
Psalm 139, he said, I haven't searched you. You've searched
me. You have searched me. I haven't
known you. You've known me. He said, when I consider you,
this is what David said, such knowledge is too wonderful for
me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. Moses said in Deuteronomy 29,
he said, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. But he said,
those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children
forever. The secret things belong to God.
But those things that are revealed belong to us and to our children. Let me show you something amazing.
So amazing. Look back at our text. Romans
11. Verse 33, it 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. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord? Now this is amazing. Who hath known
the mind of the Lord? Do you know who has known? By
His grace, by His revelation, we have. We have. Moses said the secret
things belong to Him, but the revealed things, the things that
He has revealed to us, He has revealed His mind to us. His will, His heart, His desire,
His purpose. You can turn with me if you want
to over to 1 Corinthians 2. Verse 16. It says, For who hath known the
mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the
mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. Where?
Right here in His Word. In Ephesians 1, this is what
verse 8 says. I know we're turning quite a
bit. I can read some of this to you. But Ephesians 1, verse 8,
it says, wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him,
in whom also we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ." That's his mind. That's his will that he purposed
in himself. Turn with me to this one. Go
to Philippians 2. Philippians 2 verse 5 says, Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. This was
what was in the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ to do. And therefore
this is what He did. Verse 6, Who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He knew
He was God Almighty. Verse 7 says, But he made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Oh, the depth, the depth of the riches, the
riches of the depth. Now, because that was the mind
of God the Son, this is the mind of God the Father. Verse 9 says,
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. How amazing is it to think that
we have the mind of God? The mind of the Father was to
give an undeserving people to the Son for Him to lose none
of them, but raise them up at the last day. And the mind of
the Son was to take them from the Father. The Father said,
if you ask of me, I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance.
He said, Father, I'd love to have them. And He took them from the Father
and He did that very thing. He said, Father, this is my mind. I want them to be where I am. I want them to be with me. Oh,
the depth of the riches of this thought. We have the mind of
the fullness of God in the person and in the Word of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Back in our text, Romans 11.
I'll be quick. Verse 33, it 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, for who hath
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counselor?
Who hath been His counselor? Nobody. Nobody. In prayer. In prayer, man thinks he needs
to counsel God. We do it all the time. We go
to the Lord in prayer saying, Lord, let me tell you how what
would be the best way to handle this. We would be wise to stop doing
that and say that will be done. Thy will be done. It's not my
will, Lord, it's yours. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, it says
the government is on your shoulders. It says you're the counselor,
you're the mighty God, you're the everlasting father, you're
the prince of peace. Thy will be done. Verse 34 says,
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 again
unto him. Who has first given to God, given
to Christ, and Christ owes him something in return. False religion,
and the world is full of it. False religion is built on man's
works. The way a person can know if
he or she is in false religion is by asking this question. Is
my salvation dependent on what I must do for God? Is my salvation dependent on
what I can give to God? If it is, if my hope of salvation
starts with me, doing something for him, then I'm in a false
religion. If I must first give unto him,
I'm in a false religion. Verse 35 says, who hath first
given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? Nobody. There's nothing that
a man can give to God without God giving to that man or woman
first. What do we have that we haven't
received? God is in need of nothing, the
scripture says, which that's glorious news because we don't
have anything to give. We have nothing to give. You say, well,
we have our sin. We have our sin. Yeah, but we
couldn't give that to Him. He had to willingly take it from
us. We couldn't even give Him that. So every transaction, especially
that transaction, it started with Him. And what this means
is man cannot do anything for God, and man cannot give anything
to God, therefore God doesn't owe man anything. That's what
it means. That's what makes this whole thing by grace. The reason
salvation is by grace is because man couldn't earn it, and God
didn't owe it. That's what makes the whole thing
by grace. Man could not earn it, and God didn't know it, but
God gave it away anyway. Gave it to man anyway. Man didn't
start the work. He didn't finish the work. He
has no claim on it. Verse 36 says, Four, of Him,
and through Him, and to Him are all things, all things pertaining
to life, Forgiveness, redemption, all of it was of Him. It was
out of His willingness. It was out of His sacrifice.
Out of His generosity. All of it was of Him. Let me
just read some scriptures to you. James 1.18 says, Of His
own will begat He us with the word of truth that we should
be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Of His own will.
John 1.16 says, Of His fullness have all we received, and grace
for grace. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, Of God
are you in Christ Jesus. Verse 36 says, Of Him, of Him,
and through Him. John 3.17 says, God sent not
His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him, through His sacrifice, through His blood, through His
life, through His death, might be saved. Of Him, through Him,
to Him. Don't go now, but sometime read
Psalm 136. That psalm over and over again,
it says, Oh, give thanks to him. It keeps saying to him who alone
do with great wonders to him that by wisdom made the heavens
to him, to him, to him. You know what the theme of heaven
is to him, to him. The scripture says to
him, give all the prophets witness. and to Him give all of His people
glory, honor, praise, thanks. This is gonna forever be the
cry of heaven and my prayer is that this will be our cry right
here on earth. Verse 36 says, for of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. All right, let's all stand
together.