If you will, open your Bibles
to Romans chapter 11. This evening, I'm not going to
scratch the surface of what this passage means and what it says. The title of my message is, The
Wisdom and Knowledge of God. It's a deep subject, isn't it? As this year ends, I pray our
Lord would show us His wisdom and knowledge in all things as
we look back. As we look back over this year,
we'll see His wisdom, His knowledge. And I hope He gives us the faith
to trust Him alone as we live now, in our life today, this
evening. And as we look forward, as we
look at this year to come, not lean to our own wisdom, our own
understanding our own knowledge but His. There in verse 33 of
Romans 11, it begins, 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." Now from chapter 9 there
in Romans, Paul's been writing about the electing grace of God
towards his people in Christ. That's what he's been talking
about. God is not a respecter of persons. Being a Jew, being
a Gentile, being a Greek, male or female, rich or poor, educated
or uneducated, it doesn't matter. Only the blood of Christ makes
us nigh unto the Lord, makes us near unto Him. That's what
makes atonement, atonement. Christ is the one that does it.
It's not our works. It's not our goodness. It's not
even our seeking God that reconciles us to Him. but His love towards
us in the person and the work of His Son revealed in our hearts. That's what does it. He said
in Romans 10.20, But Isaiah was very bold and saith, I was found
of them that sought me not, I was made manifest unto them that
asked not after me. And does that mean we were just
bumbling around and we stumbled onto Him? Of course not. He manifested
Himself unto us, His people. He sought out His people. He came to them. Those that He
seeks, those that He searches out, were loved in Christ before
time. It's all in ones he goes after.
So there in verse 2 of chapter 11, God hath not cast away his
people which he foreknew, those that he loved before, the people
that the Father purposed and loved in Christ before the foundation
of the world. They are not cast away, nor can
they ever be cast away. They're eternally in him. Why?
Because he's reconciled us unto himself. He did the reconciling,
and the place He reconciled us to is unto Himself, and that's
through the blood of Christ, through His Son. Speaking of
marriage there in Mark 10, our Master tells us, it says, what
therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. We are
the bride, and Christ is the bridegroom of His church, of
His body. Just as we're looking there in
Hosea, we're espoused to Him in righteousness. We're espoused
to Him in judgment. Betrothed to Him in His loving
kindness and His mercy. He has even betrothed us unto
Himself in faithfulness. Even in faithfulness. That's
why Paul gives that general call there in chapter 10, verse 13.
It says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Whoever is given the faith to
call upon Him, to look to His righteousness alone, they shall
be saved. And Paul gives us an admonition
there in chapter 11, a warning. Just because a believer has been
given faith to trust Christ alone, to call on His name, to be saved
through Him, we are not to be puffed up. We're not to be high-minded
above those that don't believe, that don't yet believe either
or. Two good reasons for that. First
off, our faith is the gift of God. That grace that saved us
is a gift of God. And any good work that we perform,
any time we believe on Christ, any time we do righteousness,
we love our brethren, and we're kind to those and merciful and
long-suffering to those that's outside of Christ that don't
yet know Him. That's the workmanship of God in us. It's His workmanship,
and we have no room to boast. So we shouldn't be puffed up
for that. Secondly, all the spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ were betrothed to us, they were gifted to us while
we were still in unbelief. While we were still in enmity
with God, while we were yet in our sins. That's when Christ
died for us, that's when He come to us. He didn't find us after
we cleaned our act up, He found us in sin, didn't He? In verse
32, for God hath concluded them all in unbelief, he put in there
us all, that he might have mercy upon us all. What he's saying
is they are mine. I foreknew them and they were
in unbelief, but because of my son, because of him, I will be
merciful to each and every child of mine that's made one with
him. Preaching Christ and him crucified is a solution to any
issue we have. If there's a disruption in a
congregation, a local assembly, preach Christ and Him crucified.
Look to Him. If you're in a trial, look to
Christ. If you're in a time of great joy, if you're rejoicing,
look to Him. If you're in a fall, an error,
look to Christ. If you've been given great faith,
steadfast and strong in the faith, look to Him. He's the one that
gave it to you. Give thanks to Him. For seeing
our salvation through the grace of God, seeing His abundant mercy
on us, us undeserving sinners, Paul writes here in verse 33.
Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God. Oh, how deep. Oh, how rich is
the wisdom of God. His wisdom. What is His wisdom? I tried to look that word up. thoroughly. He conceived his
purpose to save a people. That word wisdom, there's an
intent, a conceived purpose. And I tried to put that in a
language you and I can understand. Something we use in our day.
And there's no appropriate words we can use. He came up with his
purpose. He invented the idea of his intent,
of his purpose. His wisdom is so creative and
original. That's wrong. Holy Spirit says
through Paul, wisdom. That's the right word. Wisdom. His intent. Oh, how deep. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom, the intent of God. What was God's purpose? He purposed to save a people,
make them just exactly like his son forever and magnify his holiness
while he was doing it. to uphold His name and make innumerable
people just like His Son, holy, without spot or blemish. But,
but, He didn't just make us that way, did He? We are not like
His Son. That's not how we're born into
this earth. We're fallen, we're unclean,
we're vile, we're still in that unbelief. That's where He found
us. That's the way we come into earth. And that must be punished. The sin that we are must be punished. Blood must be shed or there will
be no remission for sin. That sin that we are. There must
be an acceptable sacrifice to make amends. But unfortunately
for us, in our wisdom, what we think, the blood that's run through
these veins that came from my father Adam, that cannot satisfy. That's why hell is eternal. Shedding
my blood takes an eternity to compensate for the sin I committed.
We must be made clean, and we can't do that of ourselves. But
moreover, it's not just wiping the slate clean. We don't only
have to be made clean, we must be made of a pure heart. Just
be given a holy nature that cannot sin. We must be without blemish,
but also we must be holy. Holy, as God is holy to be in
His presence. That's why Paul wrote to us in
Ephesians 1-4, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. The justifying and the sanctifying
of God's elect is accomplished in the Father's wisdom, His intent
in Christ. That's where it's accomplished.
Man couldn't come up with this. That's how wise it is. We couldn't ponder these things.
Earthly kings are not this wise. That was King Darius' problem,
wasn't it? He loved Daniel. But the law said Daniel must
be cast in the den of lions. And all night long, King Darius
walked the floor, and he fasted, and he wrung his hands trying
to solve this problem. If he saved Daniel, he could
no longer be king. He wouldn't be just. He wouldn't
be right, would he? He violated his own law. But
if he remained just king, and was worthy of that position that
he was in, the one that he loved was going to perish. All night
long he stayed up. He remained king. And Daniel
was saved from that lion's den. Why? Because God delivered Daniel. Salvation is only possible with
God. For fallen man, this is wise for us. We don't need a
hand in this. We don't need to lay anything
to it. It needs to be all the Lord. Our master spoke to those
disciples about it being easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. And
he said, when his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed,
saying, who then can be saved? Jesus beheld them and said to
them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Were they rich? Were they wealthy? Did they have a lot of money?
No, they didn't, did they? They had an understanding of
what that richness he spoke of, wouldn't they? The self-righteous ain't going
to enter into heaven. And they said, Lord, who can
be saved? I know my own heart. You've showed me that. And he
said, with me and this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
So many people foolishly quote that scripture of that health
and wellness, feel-good society we live in nowadays. I want a
new car. Well, with God all things are
possible. That's true in a sense. It is all things are possible
if he decides to will it. And his wisdom is in his intent.
If he purposes that, it'll happen. But Almighty God in human form
was asking a question, asked by His disciples, who can be
saved? Justification and sanctification. The removing of blemishes and
the making holy of a person. To be in the presence of God
for eternity. To be able to enter into His presence. It is impossible
with men. Save yourself, it ain't possible
with men. Make yourself more holy, it ain't possible with
men. but in the wisdom of God and His intent, it's possible. Turn back a little bit there
to Romans 3. In the wisdom of God, His elect sons and daughters
were made holy and without spot by being put in cross before
the world came into existence. A factual, perfect, righteous
substitution is not possible with man. We can't do that. But
with God, all things are possible. Look here in Romans 3 verse 23.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth." Who set Him forth? God hath set forth to be a propitiation,
a bloody sacrifice, that atoning death through faith in His blood
to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness. that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. The wisdom of God put
those he meant to save in Christ, our sacrifice, the worthy lamb,
the acceptable payment, he put us in him and he declared his
righteousness in doing so, his holiness in doing so. After Adam's
fall, he didn't make Adam go pick a lamb to be slain, did
he? Adam, you're naked. Go find me the cleanest animal
you can find and I'll butcher it for you and make you some
garments. It said unto Adam and his wife also did the Lord God
make coats of skin and clothe them. He made the coats of skin
and he put it on them. They didn't interest themselves.
Abraham and Isaac were walking up that mountain to sacrifice
to God. And Isaac talked to his father
and he said, Daddy, we got the fire, we got the wood. Where's the
lamb? We have the destruction That's
all we possess. We got fire. We got stuff to
burn. That's all that's in our hands. Where's the lamb? Where's that
acceptable sacrifice, that propitiation? Where's the thing that God's
gonna accept? We don't have that. Abraham said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. That day, for Isaac,
God provided a lamb. And forever, God provided a lamb. John the Baptist, that forerunner
of Christ, that last of the Old Testament prophets, he declared
this plainly to us. He saw Jesus coming and he said,
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
That one that's been talked about this whole Old Testament, right
there he comes. He's walking right up. That's
him. Turn over to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Peter told this as well. The
wisdom of salvation is of God, not man, not sweet old grandpa,
not the traditions that we had, not people we like real well
that we trust that told us some things, but it's in the blood
of Christ. The one purpose to save His people from their sins
before time. That's where it's at. That's
who we put our faith in. We don't put it in religion,
in denomination, in traditions, but in a person. What wisdom? Everything we got here is going
to perish, isn't it? All these forms and functions and the routines
that we go through. I got a good routine until it
rains. It changes, don't it? But our
traditions, you go to sleep and forget it. Salvation is in a
purse. Look here at 1 Peter 1.18. For
as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things of silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifested in these last times for you." This salvation
was signed, sealed, delivered before the sun ever rose on this
ball we live on. But it's manifest to you now.
It's revealed unto you now. "...who by Him do believe in
God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory, that
your faith and hope might not be in experience, not in a feeling,
that your faith and hope might be in God, the one that saved
you. Oh, the depths and the riches
of the wisdom of God in saving His elect in Christ, remaining
holy, remaining just, and justifying those that Christ died in the
room of stead for. What intent, what wisdom. Look
back in our text here in Romans 11. Verse 33, Oh, the depth of the
riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, the knowledge
of God. This concerns the planning of
this providence, this intent that he laid out, his perfect
perfection wisdom, the execution of his wisdom and his intent.
how he carries it out, what he purposed. That's not planned. That's in his planning. I plan,
he purposes, he performs. God declared what he would do
before it happened so all of our idols don't get credit for
it. So man, our biggest idol. People say, I wish I could get
rid of my idols. Well, I'm living in the biggest
one I got. Looking at myself every day. So I don't get the
credit, so our idols don't get the credit. In Isaiah 41, the
Lord speaks and says, you bring forth all your idols, and you
have them tell me and you what's gonna happen so we can watch
it unfold. Have those idols tell us what's gonna come to pass.
Good things or bad, they can pick. Don't have to be good,
don't have to be bad. You tell them to do it, and we're
gonna sit back and we're gonna be amazed and behold it together.
That didn't happen. And the Lord said, Behold, you
are of nothing, speaking to their idols and the ones that believed
in the idols. And it goes on in Isaiah 42 and says, Behold,
the former things are come to pass, and the new things do I
declare before they spring forth, I tell you of them. He said,
Everything I've told you before has happened to a T, exactly
the way I told you it's happened, and everything I say will happen
is going to happen. I saw the knowledge of God as
an inside tip. You don't have some inside or
a crystal ball, he looks down, he has knowledge that way. But
he knows his own will. That's his knowledge. The Lord
declared in the Old Testament that Messiah that was going to
come, of the person and work of Christ our Savior. Paul told
us in 1 Corinthians 15, For I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received, how that cross died for our sins according to
the Scriptures. God said, I'm going to tell you
what's going to happen. I told you what was going to happen,
it happened. I'm going to tell you before it springs forth.
He's coming. The Lamb that I've set apart,
that I've anointed, is coming for His people. In Genesis 3,
the Lord informs Satan of that. of the coming Christ. He defined
His purpose and His wisdom and His knowledge to Satan. He said,
"...and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy
seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel." Throughout all the Old Testament,
the coming of Christ, the work of Christ, and the glory of Christ
are declared. The knowledge of God, how He's
going to make it happen, how He's going to make it come to
pass, it's declared. Isaiah has told us so much about our Master's
coming. He said, well, he's going to be the house of David, the
root of Jesse. He's going to be born of a virgin.
He's going to be uncomely. All those things came to pass.
Micah told us he's going to be born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah. Not the other one. Gave us the
exact place. Daniel gave us some time frames
on that, wouldn't he? Who's going to be ruling. Time
frame of his ministry. What was going to happen afterwards.
Those Psalms of David. The suffering of Christ. He would
endure there in Psalm 22 on the cross. Casting allots. When he
goes to suffer, they're going to roll some dice and see who
gets his jacket. No bone would be broken in him.
And they went to break his legs because they didn't want to disturbed
their precious Sabbath, because they were holy people, they thought.
That's why he's already dead, don't break his legs. Come to
pass, didn't it? And the other prophets, we have
a picture of salvation of Christ and his people. Tells us how
he works in his people, what those people are going to be
like. In Ruth, we saw the qualifications of our kinsmen redeemer. He had
to be related. He had to be kin. He had to be
able to redeem. And he had to be willing to redeem. Christ willingly laid down His
life for us. That spoke of Him. Hosea, we're
going through now, is the condition of those redeemed, those that
He died for. That marriage and redemption
of a corrupt bride by Hosea, by the Savior. Jonah, we had
the sign of Jonah. No sign is going to be given
you but the sign of Jonah. That sums up all the work of Christ
our able and willing Redeemer for that fallen bride when He
was cast into the fish's belly for those mariners. And immediately
those waves of wrath, those waves of destruction, God's justice
ceased because it all fell on Him. Everything the Lord declared
came to pass. Nothing was out of place. His
knowledge, his performing of his will was exactly as he said
it would be. Every jot and tittle was fulfilled.
And as it is today with you and I, nothing's changed. Every hair
on our head is exactly where it should be and it don't fall
off without the permission of God. Every atom moves in this universe
exactly as He purposes it in His wisdom and at the instruction
of the Lord. For His holiness sake and for
the sake of His people, He saved and crossed for His glory. The
heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord. Things we can't
even see. You can get a microscope and
look at atoms. I mean, that's a whole lot of moles if you study
chemistry, isn't it? There's a whole bunch of them
in there. He controls every one of them, even the hearts of the
kings. His wisdom and knowledge. That's immense to think about,
isn't it? We can't comprehend these things. There in our text,
Romans 11, verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Exclamation point. How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding out? Paul's repeating himself here.
He's driving the point home. It says the unsearchable judgments.
That word judgments there is decision. The Father's wisdom
in deciding to place His chosen people in Christ's hand and not
to be left to our own sinful hand. That is unsearchable. That is unmeasurable wisdom. The word ways there is unsearchable
ways. That's the means God used to
achieve His purposed result. The means of His knowledge of
accomplishing His will. What's that? Grace. How's He
going to do it? He's going to be gracious. By
the grace of God, His way. Mercy is bestowed on His children
and His holiness is sustained. He saves His people for His namesake. At the cross of Calvary, you
see what David told us in Psalm 85, that mercy and truth are
met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. That's where this took place.
Where I said, you are no longer my people. In that place, you're
called my people. Solomon said that in Proverbs
16, by mercy and truth. Iniquity is purged. By the mercy of God towards His
elect and cross the truth bearing our sin and our shame in His
body on that tree, our sin is done away with. Our iniquity
is purged. We're made holy. He was made
sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God. Mercy and truth met together. These things are past finding
out. Paul says there. That's past
figuring out. You ain't gonna logically deduct
this. You ain't gonna figure it out. It must be revealed. The mystery
of the gospel of grace of the Lord Jesus Christ must be revealed
to us. Turn over 1 Corinthians 13. A
few pages there. 1 Corinthians 13. That revelation of the depths
and the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, it only
comes in part to us in this earth. We only receive it in part. Look
here in verse 9, 1 Corinthians 13, 9. For we know in part, and
we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come,
Christ has come, then that which is in part shall be done away
with. When I was a child, I spake as
a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when
I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through
a glass, darkly. But then, when he comes, face
to face, now I know in part, but then shall I know even as
I am known." This is Paul, a great apostle, used so mildly
of the Lord. He says, I just know Him part.
I'm going to prophesy Him part. But then, when He shall come,
I see Him face to face. I'll know Him even as He knows
me. We'll see fully. These riches are revealed in
us. Colossians 1.27 says, To whom
God would make known what is the riches of His glory, of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. What are all these riches? Christ. The Lord has purposed this in
His wisdom and His knowledge, putting us in Him and Him in
us. Like Hosea said, you're going to be a bride to me, but I'm
going to be your husband. Call him husband from now on,
won't we? I think we've got time to read Ephesians chapter 3.
Ephesians 3. Verse 16, there's Paul's prayer,
that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to
be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, 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 ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. Oh, the depths of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." We see these things
in part now. That'll overwhelm a person if
the Lord just gives you a faith of a mustard seed, wouldn't it? With that in mind, look here
at our text. Verse 34, Romans 11, 34. We see these things. We see our unworthiness, His
great wisdom, His great intent and purpose and knowledge and
His will to make these things come to pass. We see what we
are in all that. He says in verse 34, For who
hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor?
When we get a glimpse of His wisdom and His knowledge, who's
going to advise Him? I would hope nobody would be
foolish enough to say, I'm going to give God some advice. I hope
he wouldn't say it out loud. Do you know I say it every day
when I think, I wish that wouldn't happen. I wish it would have
been a whole lot better if this would have happened, if I had
a full tank of gas, whatever it is. That's me counseling God. Or who hath first given to him
that it shall be recompensed unto him again? Who's given the
Lord to him? I gave my life to Jesus. That ain't yours to give. Does he owe you back? Does he recompense you? No. Who's counseled him? Who's given
him anything? He said, the cattle on a thousand
hills of mine, beasts of the fields. He said, if I was hungry,
I would tell you. Can't give him anything. It says, for of
him, And through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be
glory forever. Amen. Of Him, the source of all
wisdom, of all decision, of all will, takes place in Him. Through
Him, that's the knowledge, the ways of our gracious God. His
intent, His purpose, and His ability to make it come to pass.
And to Him, His namesake, for His majesty and all wisdom and
knowledge and judgment and ways are all things. In the providence of God, what
do we have to question? Every atom that's ever been in
any place on this earth has been purposed to bring me exactly
where I was the first time I heard the gospel. Who am I to question Him? I should
be the calmest person that ever walked the face of this earth,
shouldn't I? It's raining. Okay, good. Be like Eli. It's the Lord. Let
Him do as He sees fit. Let Him do as He wants. Seeing
His wisdom, seeing the Lord's knowledge and His judgment, His
ways, and our complete unworthiness, our complete inability, who gets
the glory? for the saving of a people, to
whom be glory forever. Amen.