So, my topic is the glory of
God, and what a topic this is. So, there is one passage that
immediately flashes to my mind, and it is the great doxology
at the end of Romans chapter 11. So, I want to invite you
to take your Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 11. And
my eye is on verse 36, though I'm going to begin reading in
verse 33. Whenever people ask me to sign
a book or their Bible, I put my signature on it, and I always
put Romans 11, 36. It's just an anchor for my heart
and for my soul. So I want to begin by reading verses 33 to 36, but our focus
will be upon 36, as Paul has just, in the first eleven chapters,
he has laid the greatest presentation of the salvation that is ours
through the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and
this is now the grand crescendo as Paul has really made his case
in what could be called his magnum opus, his greatest writing. It's
the greatest writing anywhere in the entire Bible on the doctrine
of salvation and the gospel of God, and he has ascended to the
heights of truth And as he approaches the mountain peak, he says beginning
in verse 33, as he looks back over the terrain of the truth
that he has presented, note the depth of the riches, both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments
and unfathomable His ways. For who has known the mind of
the Lord? Or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him
that it might be paid back to Him again? Now, here's our text.
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To God be the glory forever. Amen. In this last verse, we
see that the highest end for which all things exist is the
glory of God. Nothing rises to a higher level
of importance than the glory of God. Either we live for the
glory of God, or we do not live at all. We merely exist. The
glory of God is primary. Everything else in life and in
the universe is peripheral. The glory of God is supreme. And everything else is secondary. God's glory must be the epicenter
of our lives, our highest purpose, our chief end, our ultimate reason
for existence. The glory of God is the sun around
which the orbit of our lives must revolve. This is precisely
what we see as we come to our passage in verse 36. It is a
doxology. It is an anthem of praise. It is a chorus of worship that
ascends upward to God as a result of the truths of the first eleven
chapters of Romans. And after giving the most comprehensive
doctrinal teaching in the entire Bible on the weighty truths of
salvation, And Paul cannot hold it in his heart any longer. He
now bursts forth with worship that is fervent and exuberant. Paul is not a stoic believer. He does not have a stiff upper
lip here. He's not one of the frozen chosen. He is not the bland leading the
bland. but possesses a heart that is
on fire for God. And there is a volcano of passion
that is erupting upwards now in this sacrifice of praise that
is being lifted up to the heights of heaven from whence this message
has come. As we look at verse 36, and I
want you to look at it with me very carefully. It divides nicely
into two halves. Sinclair Ferguson once told me
of Alexander McLaren, the great expositor of the 19th century
who had the golden hammer, and he could just tap a text and
it would immediately break out into perfect parts. So I have
the golden hammer before you. And as I tap this text, there
are two halves. And the first half of the verse
is what I want to call a God-centered theology. From Him, through Him,
to Him are all things. And it is a towering, transcendent
theology. And then the second half of the
verse, it is a God-centered doxology. To Him be the glory forever and
ever. Amen. It is the first half of
the verse that causes the second half of the verse. It is the
truth from Him and through Him and to Him that provokes the
worship. To God be the glory forever and
ever. Amen. And it is only the high
theology of from Him, through Him, to Him are all things. It is only that theology that
ultimately produces this doxology and this devotion and this praise. Low theology produces low worship. But a towering theology pulls
us up to the heights of heaven and our heart is bursting. with love and devotion for our
God, to segment this verse with two different headings that I
really want to use. The first half of the verse is
what we want to call God's intrinsic glory. The second half of the
verse is ascribed glory. And let me explain. Theologians
speak of the glory of God, which is my topic, under two main headings. First, there is the intrinsic
glory of God. And the intrinsic glory of God
is the sum and the substance of all that God is and all that
God does. It is the holy being of God. That is His intrinsic glory.
It is the sum of all His divine perfections. It is the sum of
all of the attributes of God. It is the sum of all of the perfect
works and acts of Almighty God, all of that comprises the intrinsic
glory of God. The intrinsic glory of God is
never increasing, it is never decreasing. God is the God who
was, who is, who shall be forever. We cannot give God intrinsic
glory. God is who God is. From everlasting
to everlasting, you are God, Psalm 90 verse 2. That is the
intrinsic glory of God, and that is what we see here in the first
half of the verse. From Him, through Him, to Him
are all things, and it is the acts of God that come forth from
the being of God that belongs to God and God alone. That's
intrinsic glory. Then there's ascribed glory. This is the glory that we are
to give to God. This is the glory that we are
to ascribe to God. This is the praise and the worship
and the honor that we are to give to God. We are to ascribe
to Him the glory. And ascribed glory is the result
of beholding His intrinsic glory. The more we understand who God
is and what God has done and what God is doing and what God
will do, the more we will ascribe glory to God. So that's what's going on in
this verse. So I want to begin in the first half of the verse
with intrinsic glory. You'll note there are three prepositional
phrases. from Him and through Him and
to Him are," watch this, all things. This is the most comprehensive
sentence ever penned in the history of the world. There is nothing
that lies outside of the parameters of those three prepositional
phrases. In these three prepositional
phrases, here is the entire Bible. Here is a complete systematic
theology. Here is the history of the world. Here is the history of the entire
universe. Here is a comprehensive, complete
Christian worldview. Here is the lens through which
we see everything else that is around us. from Him, and through
Him, and to Him are all things." Nothing exists outside of those
three prepositional phrases. Now let's just think about these
prepositional phrases. From Him refers to eternity past. Through Him refers to within
time. To Him refers to eternity future. And here we see the span from
eternity past throughout all of time into and through the
ages of eternity future. To put it another way, from Him
means that God is the source of all things. Through Him means
that God is the means of the accomplishment of all things,
and to Him means that God is the goal and the completion of
all things. Or to put it another way, From
Him means that God is the architect of His eternal purpose and plan
from before the foundation of the world. He is the architect
of this plan that includes everything that will ever come to pass.
Through Him means that God is the administrator. of His eternal
purpose and plan. He is the executive administrator,
and He will bring to pass every detail of His plan. And to Him
means that God is the consummation of all things. He is the completer
of all things. He is the aim of all things. Or to put it another way, from
Him means from His sovereign will from before time began. And through Him means through
His sovereign activity within time to bring to pass all that
He purposed before time began. And to Him means to His sovereign
glory. And there are other verses in
the New Testament that say much the same. 1 Corinthians 8 and
verse 6 says, there is but one God, the Father, from whom are
all things, and we exist for Him. And one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things. And we exist through Him. That
verse says, from Him, for Him, by Him, through Him. 1 Corinthians
11 and 12 says something of the same. It says, all things originate
from God. In Ephesians 4 verse 6, the Bible
says, there is one God and Father of all who is over all and through
all and in all, y'all. Colossians 1.16, for by Him,
referring to Christ here, all things were created. both in
the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created
through Him and for Him." In Hebrews 2 verse 10 could be added.
So, let's walk through these three prepositional phrases.
It is critically important to your Christian worldview. It
is critically important to your understanding of sound doctrine. It is critically important for
you to be an accurate theologian to understand these three prepositional
phrases. Let's begin with the first. It
says, from Him are all things. This points back to eternity
past. Before anything was created, God designed a master plan for
a time and eternity future. And God is the author of what
theologians refer to as His eternal decree, which includes everything
that will ever come to pass. Literally everything in the universe
that will ever come to pass was scripted by God in His plan for
time and eternity. Before the foundation of the
world, God designed His blueprint for all of creation, for all
of history, for all of salvation, for all of judgment. And it involved
individuals, it involved nations, it involved rulers, it involved
events, it involved circumstances, it involved destinies and outcomes. It was all a part of this master
plan. It is acknowledged in Scripture,
in Acts 2, 23, as the predetermined plan. and foreknowledge of God. In Ephesians 1 verse 4 it says,
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, and
in love He predestined us. In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13
it says, God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. Many other passages speak to
the same, Ephesians 2.10, Titus 1.2, 2 Timothy 1 verse 5. So, from God is this all-comprehensive,
strategic blueprint, master plan that includes everything that
will come to pass. Nothing will ever occur except
it was prescripted in God's plan. Now, let's break down three categories
of this plan. First of all, it involved creation.
in this plan was God's blueprint, like the master architect. And
in this plan, God set in His mind where all of the planets
would be, all of their orbits, all of their rotations, and in
God's strategic planning, there was all of the dimensions of
the earth, that it would be a sphere, that it would hang and in mid-space. It would be tilted on its axis.
It would be rotated. It would be a certain distance
from the earth to the sun and to the other planets. God pre-designed
what would be the heights of the mountains and the depth of
the ocean and the flowing of the rivers and the borderline
of the coastlines. All of that was designed by God. The infinite genius of Almighty
God. And then that also included the
angelic world and how He would create myriads and myriads of
angelic beings, and the animal world, the variety, the diversity
of the animal world. It was all in the genius of God,
and it was recorded in His eternal decree how everything would be
And that included the human race and human beings that would be
made in His image, the intellect, the emotions, the will, the human
body. All of that was in the plan of
God. And not just creation, but history. Everything that would ever come
to pass, both good and bad. both large and small, was scripted
into God's plan. It would involve nations, the
rising of empires, the falling of empires, the raising of rulers,
the removal of rulers. It would concern individuals,
when in history they would be born, what their gender would
be, what their IQ would be. with their hair, with their facial
complexion, all of that in the master plan of God, who your
parents would be, who would live next door to you, who your teachers
would be, who you would ultimately marry, who your children would
be, all of that prescripted by God the day of your birth, the
day of your death, and every day in between. It was all a
part of God's eternal decree. It's all from Him. And then it also includes salvation,
that before the foundation of the world, God chose His elect
out from the entire human race, based not upon anything that
was seen in them to be of any merit or good, but solely because
God chose to set mercy upon some, and God determined not only when
they would be born in history, but who it would be who would
bring the gospel to them, and where they would be when they
would hear and receive the gospel, and all the steps that would
lead up to that, at that specific, exact moment, God had already
predetermined what that would be. And all of this in the sovereign
plan of God. Nothing would ever occur. but
that it had been prescripted by God. The fall of Lucifer,
the fall of Adam, the depravity of the human race,
it's all part of the plan. And though God is not the author
of sin, He is the author of His plan and purpose that does include
sin. And in the infinite genius of
Almighty God, God knew and understood that there would be greater glory
given to Him if there would be sin, if there would be Satan,
that He would redeem from the pit and rescue from the grave
of sin those whom He chose, and He would crown them with His
grace and His forgiveness and dress them in the robes of righteousness
and set them in heavenly places. God knew from before time began
that this would bring Him greater glory. And included in this,
in the infinite genius of God, was the plan of salvation. It
was the gospel of God. That before man ever fell, before
man ever sinned, before the human race ever went astray, God already
had the solution. That Jesus was the Lamb of God
who was slain from before the foundation of the world. All of this is from Him. He's the source. He's the architect
of all that comes to pass. Then second, through Him. Do
you see that? For from Him, eternity passed,
and through Him, indicating within time, What this means is that
God will bring to pass all things that He planned in eternity future. He is the executive administrator
of His own purpose and plan. There will be no deviation from
His eternal purpose. There will be no plan B. There
will be no plan C. There will be no contingency
plan. There will be no alternate strategy. There will be no backup
course of action. There will be no aborted scheme.
Everything that is from God will be through God. it will come
to pass. And all of this is included in
the same three categories of creation. As God planned it in
His mind, so it came to pass. And history, as God masterminded
the flow of history, God has brought it to pass and is bringing
it to pass. And salvation, none of His elect
will will fail to be brought to faith in Christ. Not a one will be left behind.
There's no such thing as good luck or bad luck. Those are pagan concepts based
in religious superstition. There's no such thing as a random
occurrence or blind fate or an accident. or good karma, or bad
karma, or the alignment of the stars having anything to do with
anything that takes place here. And we know that God causes all
things to work together for good. to those who love God, to those
who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew,
He predestined." That's eternity past. And those whom He predestined,
He called. And those whom He called, He
justified. That's within time. And those whom He justified,
He glorified. That's in eternity future. in Romans 8, 28 through 29 fits
perfectly in these three prepositional phrases. Let me direct you to
some verses. I need to get you involved with
your Bible here. I want you to turn to Isaiah
chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46, and I want
to begin reading in in verse 8. Isaiah 46, beginning
in verse 8, and I'm going to take us to several passages,
and I just want this to be in your mind. He says, and be assured." Why would he
say that? Because we tend to forget this. We tend to take
our eye off the ball and look at the circumstances and what
appears to be chaos all around us, and we lose sight of this
eternal purpose and plan of God. So he says, remember this and
be assured. Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long
ago. Verse 9, for I am God, and there
is no other. I am God and there is no one
like me." So we ask the question, what distinguishes God as God? Next verse, verse 10. declaring
the end from the beginning. So what that means is God stands
at the very beginning of everything and He declares the end of everything
before anything comes to pass. From standing at the beginning,
God goes all the way to the end and declares the end and what
is implied in every subsequent step in between, God stands before
the beginning and declares it all. And he says, and from ancient
times, meaning long ago, things which have not been done. God has already predetermined
the future. Notice what he says in verse
10, saying, my purpose will be established. And I will accomplish
all My good pleasure, not some of My good pleasure, not most
of My good pleasure. I will accomplish all of My good
pleasure because it is written and recorded in My eternal decree. God will work His plan to the
nth degree. The end of verse 11, truly I
have spoken. Truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it. Surely, I will do it." That is
God. God sets the course for everything. This is His intrinsic glory. This is who God is. This is what
God does. Let's turn back to Isaiah 14,
just very quickly. Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 24.
Isaiah 14 and verse 24. The Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, Surely, just as I have intended, so it has happened,
and just as I have planned, so it will stand." Look at verse
26 and 27. This is the plan designed against
the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out
against all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has planned,
and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out
hand, who can turn it back?" Those are two rhetorical questions,
the answer of which is clearly implied, no one. can thwart or
frustrate the sovereign will of God from before the foundation
of the world. I turn back to the Psalms, to
Psalm 33. Psalm 33 and verses 10 and 11,
and these are two verses that we must hear and take into account
as we're considering this. Psalm 33 and verse 10, the Lord
nullifies the counsel of the nations. Whatever all of the
nations together collectively as though they were joined together,
all of their forces and all of their intellect and all of their
military might and economic power and counsel among themselves,
the Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations. He frustrates
the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands
forever. The plans of His heart from generation
to generation. that this is our God, that this
is who God is. Turn back to the book of Proverbs,
or head to the book of Proverbs in Proverbs 16. And very quickly,
just to gather a few more verses here, Proverbs 16, verse 9, the
mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. The
book of Proverbs commends our making plans, but ultimately
it is God who overrides our plans so that His plan will come to
pass. Down to the most minute detail,
look at verse 33 at the end of Proverbs 16, the lot is cast
into the lap, but it's every decision, it's from the Lord.
somewhat like rolling the dice to determine what a decision
would be, and that was a practice in Old Testament times to cast
lots, but God is so micromanaging the planet, and God is so involved
in every detail of human life and circumstances, that the every
turning up of the lot, the invisible hand of God has turned it. that way. It's all according
to the plan. It's all according to the script,
and this is the intrinsic glory of God. Look at chapter 19 of
Proverbs in verse 21. Proverbs 19 and verse 21, we
read, many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the
Lord will stand. It is ultimately our destiny
that is in the hand of God, and the way human circumstances unfold
and come to pass, it's all according to script. In Proverbs 20 and
verse 24, We see how inscrutable this is for us. These lines intersect
far above our head and our understanding, yet we must accept it by faith
and know that it is true. In Proverbs 20, verse 24, man's
steps are ordained by the Lord. How then can man understand his
way? It's beyond our human comprehension. what all is being laid out here,
how all of this comes to pass, yet nevertheless it is true. Look at chapter 21, verse 1.
This is a remarkable verse. Proverbs 21, verse 1, the king's
heart And this is an argument from
the greater to the lesser. If God will so govern the king's
heart, how much more will He govern landowners and servants
and blacksmiths and housemaids? In an argument from the greater
to the lesser, the king's heart is like channels of water in
the hand of the Lord. He, referring to the Lord, turns
it wherever He wishes. Not only does He have the whole
world in His hand, He has the King's heart in His hand, and
He turns the King's heart however He so desires. And the background
on this verse is, in ancient times, there would be a river
that would be flowing, and there would be farmers off the banks
of the river, and they would channel water out of the river
to flood their fields, and they would set up a system of a maze-like
complex in which they would have lanes that the water would flow
and they would put down boards that would stop the flow of the
water and turn it in another way and then they would lift
up a board and allow water to go through and then put down
a board and re-channel it in another direction such that the
water from the river would go exactly where the farmer would
want the water to go. And God, through Solomon here,
says, that's exactly how I'm directing human history. There
is a flow of time that involves peoples and nations and hearts,
and God is directing even the king's heart in the direction
he so desires. Matthew 10, 29 says that there's
not even a bird that falls from the air apart from the Lord,
that the very hairs of our head are numbered. As R.C. Sproul has said, there are no
maverick molecules in the universe. He's micromanaging the planet. He's micromanaging the universe. And then he says it's to Him.
The third part of the prepositional phrase, from Him, through Him,
to Him, that points into eternity future, and that indicates that
all that God planned in eternity past will come to pass within
time, and it will extend into eternity future that He will
bring all of His plans to completion. He will never start anything
and then walk off and abandon the project. He will bring everything
to history's grand crescendo. Everything that God planned and
predestined will come back to Him fulfilled. This is mind-boggling. This is such an expansive view of
the sovereign will and the intimate involvement of Almighty God to
understand that nothing just happens. That there's a purpose
for everything. like a thread in an oriental
tapestry. Every thread plays its role and
its part for what God is bringing to pass. And He even makes the
wrath of men to praise Him. And even what you meant for evil,
God means for good. And God can draw a straight line
with a crooked stick. And God can use evil rulers to
bring about His sovereign will for the good of His people and
for the glory of His name. This is the intrinsic glory of
God. And ultimately, there is but
one will in the universe that is ultimate, and that is the
will of God. Now, this leads us to the second
half of the verse, which is ascribed glory. And come back to Romans
11 and verse 36. I'm not hearing enough pages
turn. Don't make me beg. Romans 11,
36. Now, here's the second half of
the verse. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. This is the only
right response there can be to the truth of what we just walked
through, that from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. Such high doctrine can only lead
to high praise and worship of God. Theology is never an end
in itself. The goal of sound doctrine is
not merely for us to be smart and to have our heads full of
truth. The purpose of sound doctrine
is to transform our lives and to lead us into the worship of
Almighty God. And that is how Paul responds
here. This is the only possible response
that there could be in Paul. It is the only possible response
that there could be in my heart. And in your heart this day is
for us to rise up as a body of believers and to lift our voices
to the heights of heaven, and because from Him and through
Him and to Him are all things. Therefore, I have to say, to
God be the glory forever. Amen. So let's just ask a few diagnostic
questions at the end of verse 11. Number one, who is to be
glorified? So it says, to Him be the glory. We know who the Him is. It is
the Lord in verse 34. It is God in verse 33. That's the antecedent. It's God
in verse 30. It is God in verse 29. It is
God in verse 28. It is God in verse 23. It is
God in verse 22. It is God in verse 21. It's just
God, God, God, God, God to Him. be the glory. It's not a shared
glory. God will not share His glory
with another. If from Him and through Him and
to Him were most things, then we could share in that glory
with Him. We could sing a duet with God. But if from Him, through Him,
and to Him are all things, then all glory must go to God. This does not say, to God and
us be the glory. No, it's to God and God alone.
Isaiah 42, verse 8, just listen to it, I am the Lord, that is
my name. I will not give my glory to another. God is jealous for His own glory. And we who understand and believe
in the sovereignty of God to the nth degree, to the ultimate
level, have more reason to give glory to God than others with
a faulty theology that is man-centered. We who believe in the whole counsel
of God and the whole purpose of God have far more reason to
give glory to God. How could our hearts ever be
lukewarm or apathetic knowing these truths? So who is to be glorified? It
is God alone. We are to ascribe to God glory. For how long should we give?
Him glory. Notice our text. To Him be the
glory, the honor, the praise, the worship, the adoration, the
devotion, the thanksgiving. To Him be the glory. Notice it
says forever, literally into the ages, into all eternity future. Eternity will not be long enough
to give God the proper praise that belongs to Him. It will
take forever and will still never come to the end of the glory
that we should be ascribing to God and to God alone. So how should we respond? Well,
note the last word. Amen. Presbyterians, amen. Amen. It means it is true. It means
yes. It means yes, it is so. It means
yes, yes, a thousand times yes, with an exclamation point. There
should be this affirmation within our heart and soul to rise up
and ascribe honor and glory and blessing to this God who has
so orchestrated all of the details of time and history and providence
and who is directing all things to its appointed end and that
nothing is deviating and nothing is causing God to have to change
His plans or to augment the course of what He purposed from before
the foundation of the world, that this immutable God, this
eternal God is guiding history to its appointed end, and the
final destiny of every person and everything will find its
completion and consummation with this God. This is big God theology. This is a breathtaking view of
God. And so I will give Martin Lloyd-Jones
the last word as he talked through the book of Romans on Friday
evenings at Westminster Chapel when he came to this text, verse
36, when he came to the end of the message of This text, Lloyd-Jones
said, what does this amen mean? It means that you confess that
you are nothing, that you confess that you are a vile, hell-deserving
sinner, that you acknowledge that you are what you are solely
by the grace of God. The man who says his amen, Lloyd-Jones
writes and says, is the man who says, I am nothing. God is all. I owe all things to the grace
and the glory and the mercy of God. I give glory to Him. I say, I am nothing. I say, it
is all of God. This is the ascribed glory. that we must give to God as we
see that He is working out His eternal purpose and plan based
upon His intrinsic glory that belongs to Him alone, that He
is God and there is no other, and that God is directing all
things to its appointed end. Let us give glory to this God. Let us pray. Father, we hardly know how to
respond. This truth that we have considered
is so far beyond us. The height, the depth, the breadth,
the length far surpasses us, and it is good for us to look
up and to see that you're upon your throne, that there is nothing
random, there is nothing accidental, that you are directing all things
to its appointed end, that You are causing all things to work
together for Your glory and for our good. Lord, we can only respond
with our feeble voice and say, to God be the glory forever and
ever. Amen.