Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans 11. Romans chapter 11. And I want to read verses 33
to 36. Romans 1133. 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. 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. I would like for us to spend
this Bible study this morning just glorying in the Lord. Just
glorying in our Lord. The end of verse 36 right here
says, to whom be glory forever. Amen. To whom be glory forever. Amen. The Apostle Paul wrote
this. He was always saying that. I looked up verses of scripture
where he said that and there are so many. I was going to turn
but there are just so many. He was always saying that. And I know why. I know why he
was always saying that. Look with me at 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. And I'm going to prepare you.
We're going to turn a little bit this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Verse one says, it is not expedient
for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations
of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above
14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether
out of the body, I cannot tell God knoweth such in one caught
up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth."
And we know that he's talking about himself. And you know how
you have a dream and then you wake up and realize it was a
dream and you say, but it was so real. It seemed so real, but
I know it was a dream. This was real to the point where
he said, I honestly could have been there in this body. I don't
know. I mean, he could have literally just taken my body to the third
heaven. I don't know. And he said in
verse four, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable
words. Paul was taught, taught the gospel
directly from God himself. Could you imagine sitting there
listening to God himself teach the gospel, preach the gospel
to you? He saw things, he heard things,
and he was taught things that he said here at the end of verse
4, which it is not lawful, that word means possible, for a man
to utter. Of such an one will I glory. Yet of myself I will not glory,
but in my infirmities." After he saw God as he is, after he
truly saw God as he is, he said, I cannot glory in myself anymore. I just cannot do it. Can't do
it. All the glory must go to him. Job had the same experience.
Turn with me if you would over to Job 38, just before Psalms. Job chapter 38. In the book of Job, he and his
friends are discussing the things of God. And they're arrogantly
talking about things as though they have it all figured out.
They know everything. They're kind of spouting off
at the mouth, you know. So Job 38 verse 1 says, then
the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, who is
this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Who
do you think you are? Who do you think you are? And
that's the question that's going to be asked to every single person
that goes to meet him. Everybody's going to go in their
own wisdom, their own self, you know, ready to go meet God. He's
going to ask them, who do you think you are? Verse three, gird
up now thy loins like a man for I will demand of thee and answer
thou me. Where was thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. Where were you? Who hath laid
the measures thereof, if thou knowest, or who hath stretched
the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations
thereof fastened? Who laid the cornerstone? How
was all this put together? How does it stay there? Tell
me if you know. That's what he's saying. Verse
16. Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou
walked in the search of the depth? Have the gates of death been
opened unto thee? Or hast thou seen the doors of
the shadow of death? Do you know what's coming? Verse
33, he said, knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou
set the dominion thereof in the earth? Canst thou lift up thy
voice to the clouds that the abundance of waters may cover
thee? Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto
thee, here we are? Can you demand lightning to flash? And all of a sudden, the lightning
says, here we are. I have a reference there. It
says, behold us. Boom. Can you demand rain, lightning,
thunder? All throughout chapter 39, the
Lord kept asking Job these same kind of questions, showing him
his ignorance of God, absolute ignorance of God. And chapter
40 verse 1 says, Moreover the Lord answered Job and said, Shall
he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth
God let him answer. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, Behold I am vile. That's all I can say about myself.
After I've seen God, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will
not answer. Yea, twice, but I will proceed
no further. I think I ought to hush. I think that's what I ought to
do, is just hush. And from that point on, the Lord
didn't let up on Job. He just continued with him. Verse
six. Then answered the Lord unto Job
out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a
man, I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou
also disannul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me that thou
mayest be righteous? He said, Hast thou an arm like
God, or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself
now with majesty and excellency, and array thyself with glory
and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath
and behold everyone that is proud and abasing. The Lord's saying,
let me see you do this. If you think you understand God
and contend with me, he said, look out, cast your rage out. Look out at everybody who is
proud and abasing. Let me see you abasing. Verse
12, look on everyone that is proud and bring him low and tread
down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together
and bind their faces in secret. Then will I also confess unto
thee that thine own right hand can save thee. You show me that
and I'll say to you, your own right hand can save you. You
can do it. And chapter 41, he didn't let
up, he just kept on with him. Now look at chapter 42. Verse
1 says, then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou
canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden
from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not everything I've been saying I've said in ignorance. I didn't even know what I was
talking about. He said things too wonderful for me, which I
knew not. Here I beseech thee and I will
speak. I will demand of thee and declare
thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Everybody has heard
of Jesus Christ. There is nobody that hasn't heard
of Jesus Christ. Nobody. But at some point, God in mercy
reveals himself and they all say, every time God reveals himself
to a sinner, he says, I heard about you. but now I've seen
you. I have seen you. Verse six, he
said, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. What he's saying is all the glory
goes to you. Every bit of it. All the glory
goes to you. Not unto me, oh Lord. Not unto
me. I abhor myself. After seeing
you, I hate myself. The same thing that God did for
Job, that's the same thing he did for Paul. Saul of Tarsus
and we know his story on the road to Damascus. He was a religious,
self-righteous, proud, arrogant fool and God in mercy knocked
him down. Knocked him down and that's what
every sinner should expect to happen when God comes to save
that sinner. Now, this is what Paul had to
say after he saw God. We just saw what Job had to say.
This is what Paul had to say after he saw God for who he is.
Go back to Romans 11. He said the same thing every
sinner will say after he sees God for who he is. Verse 33,
Romans 11, 33 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. Don't turn, but back in Job 11,
verse 7 says, Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find
out the Almighty unto perfection? The answer is no. No. It goes on to say, it is high
as heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst
thou know? There is no possible way a man
or a woman can find out God by searching Him. Well, I'm just
going to go search God and I'm going to find God out. It is
not possible. It is not possible. The only
thing we can know is what He reveals to us. That's the only
thing we can know. Verse 33 says, O the depth of
the riches. Not just O the riches. 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.
Hold your place right there and look with me at one verse in
Deuteronomy 29. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 29. Deuteronomy 29 verse 29 says,
the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever,
that we may do all the words of this law. The secret things
belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed,
those things which are revealed, they belong to us and to our
children forever. Well, what has he revealed to
us? Back in Romans 11, verse 33 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! 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 again
unto him. We've seen that the answer's
no one. No one was his counselor. No one can know his mind. No
one can know him, who he is, what he's done, outside of him
revealing it. All right, what does he reveal?
Verse 36. For of him, and through him and to him are
all things." That's what he has revealed. That's what he has
revealed. Of him, that means from him,
by him. He is the author, he is the maker,
he is the creator of all things. All things, everything that has
to do with us, everything that has to do with everything, every
ounce of it is of Him. He owns and He controls all things. He owns and He controls all things. Okay, we all know He owns, right? What I wish my heart would enter
into is that He controls all things. All things are of Him,
not just the good things. All things. Turn with me to Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Verse 16 says, For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, everything in heaven
was created by Him, everything in earth was created by Him,
visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, All things were created by him
and for him and he is before all things and by him all things
consist. Well surely not all things. Surely not all things. Let me
ask you this. What about the bad things? What
about the bad things? Go with me to Isaiah 45. We don't
have much longer, so I want to encourage you in the middle of
all this turning, but you've got to see this. Isaiah 45, verse
5 says, Isaiah 45, 5. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and
there is none else. Now watch this next verse. I
form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. All these things. I told you
before about that time that that woman came in raising money for
the victims of Katrina. And I'm so in support of that.
I'm so in support of that. If we can help people, let's
help people. But her statement after we'd done our transaction,
she was walking out, her statement was, thank you for supporting.
God did not want this to happen. And I said, ma'am, God made this
happen. That hurricane moved by the finger
of God where he will. We just read where
he himself said, he told Job, he said, let me see you if you
want to contend with me. Let me see you spew out your
wrath on the prideful and abase them. All right, well, you know
what? New Orleans and all that area
down there is no worse than Kingsport, Tennessee. No worse. He can do that anywhere he wants
to do that. All things are of him. He said, I create all, I
do all these things. That'll bring something called
the fear of the Lord. That'll bring a respect and a
reverence for the God with whom we have to do. Don't turn, I'm
gonna try to save us a couple of minutes, but Job 1 says, let
me just turn to it quickly so I don't misquote it. Job 1 says, verse 6, now there was a day
when the sons of God came to present themselves before the
Lord and Satan came also among them. Why did he come? Why did He come? The reason is
because He is the creation of God. God made Him. And He had to present Himself
before God. Every single thing is of Him. Every single thing is under His
control. Every single thing. Now I'm going
to be quick. Go with me back to our text,
Romans 11. Romans 11 verse 36 says, for
of him and through him, every person naturally has to ask the
question, why would God create a being like Lucifer? Why would
he do that? Why would he do that? The answer
is his ways are past finding out. Who are we to reply against
God or say, why did you do that? We cannot understand His doings,
but this is what He has revealed to us. We can't by searching
find out, but this is what He has revealed to us. Everything
that He does is for the purpose of good. good, every bit of it. He allowed man to fall into sin
so he could redeem man and show his glory. He allowed man to
be captive to the enemy that he created, this great adversary
that he created, so he could deliver man, open the prison
doors, set men free. He allowed man to die so He could
give man life. That's the reason. He is life. All life comes from Him. Outside
of Him, there is no life. No life. Outside of Him, everybody
is born dead in trespasses and sins. That's what it says. So
if anything happens, it must be through Him. It must be. All right, I'm going to skip
on down here. Everything is of him. Everything is through him. And verse 36, Romans 11, verse
36. For of him and through him and
to him. To him are all things. What does
it mean right there when it says to him are all things? Of him means he's the author.
That's what it means. Of him. Through him means he's
the finisher. To him means, verse 36 goes on
to say, to whom be glory forever, amen. To whom be glory forever.
Every child of God, I'm telling you, every child of God is going
to spend eternity thanking him and praising him for every single
thing that he did throughout the course of their life. Every
single thing. I love the story of that fellow
and I forget his name. Yuval, I've told it so many times
now, but he lost everything. God put him in a wheelchair.
He had an accident, ended up in a wheelchair. He lost his
wife. His wife left him. He lost his
house. He ended up in an apartment.
He had no furniture. He had no nothing. He just had
nothing. He was an empty, bitter man. And he had a TV, and he
turned the TV on, and there was Henry's television program, and
the screen came on, and Henry said, you and I have one thing
in common. He said, we may be completely
different in every other way, different walks of life, but
you and I both have one thing in common. He said, I'm a sinner,
and you're a sinner. And he got so mad, he turned
that TV off. He said, don't you call me a sinner. Who do you
think you are? And he sat there for a minute,
and he said, Maybe I am a sinner." And he turned that TV back on
and God saved him. God brought him and sat him down
unto the truth and later he said, I thank God for putting me in
a wheelchair. It was the means he chose to
use to open my eyes and save me. To whom be glory forever. I mean, I'm telling you, every
single thing that happens, every single thing that happens, We
will all look back on all the things in our life that at that
moment in time we thought, this is bad. We're going to turn around
and go, that was good. That was so good. It was so,
so good. All things work together for
good. He is owed the glory. He's owed it. He is worthy of
the glory. And we want to give Him all the
glory, don't we? We don't want to share it with
Him. Not unto us, O Lord. Take it
from us and pile it on Christ. That's where we wanted to go.
That's where we wanted to go. I didn't save myself. I didn't
get saved. I didn't do anything. He just,
boy, He just moved on me. He had mercy on me. He showed
kindness to me. He showed forgiveness to me.
He poured love on me. He drew me near to Himself, and
here I am. Thank God. It's all to the praise
of the glory of His grace. Alright, you're dismissed.