Romans 11, 33. As you know, Paul has been talking
about how God has dealt with the nations. God controls nations. He controls
individuals. He controls things we can't even
see, microscopic things. He holds the stars in place and
all of the worlds. He put them where they are and
he holds them there with the word of his power. And Paul has been talking about
how God moves kings, empires, societies, great nations, small nations,
all nations, all peoples. And he does it for the purpose
of having mercy upon his elect. And as Paul sometimes did when
he thought about what he was writing, it's as though it was overwhelming
to him. And he begins to just praise
God for who he is and for what he's done. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. Paul's talking about things he
realizes are deep. I realize that now and then. And it's overwhelming. Oh, the depth. Job said, I've
spoken of things that I didn't know anything about. And sometimes
we feel that way. We don't know anything as we
ought to know. We can't know anything without
his grace. And he gives us a glimpse of
himself. And with Paul, we have to say, oh, there's a lot in
that one little letter. Do you see that? Oh. Does God in his great sovereignty
and in his almighty purpose of grace toward his people in Christ
ever make you just say, oh? Oh, the wisdom, the depth of
his wisdom. the depth of his knowledge, how
unsearchable are his judgments. We talk about man's free will,
the puny will of man. God is doing things we don't
know anything about, and we're being swept along by the power
and purpose of God. If we can just, as we're being
swept, Every once in a while, just say, oh, look at God. Look at Him. Look at what He's
doing. Just what we can see of it is marvelous. How unsearchable His judgments
and His ways, past finding out. It makes you want to cry for
revelation, for help, for light, and thank Him for what we have. And he's contemplating here God's
marvelous, free, electing grace. He just got through saying he
did all this that he might have mercy, that he might have mercy
on sinners. He purposed and decreed and set
in place all secondary causes that he might have mercy upon
his elect. He has providentially arranged
for their salvation from beginning to end. And Paul is blessed of
the Lord here with a glimpse of the greatness of the God of
all grace. And we every once in a while
are blessed like that. He blesses all of his people
with moments like that. Where we can just see a little
bit. The faith of God's elect never
utterly fails. It seems as though we have no
faith at times, but there are other times when we get a glimpse
of God's glory. And we know when we see his glory,
we know where we'll see it. In the face of his son. Do you see the face of God's son
when you hear Paul talking about how God has dealt with the Gentiles
and all of the nations of the earth and his people, earthly
people, the Jews, and how his elect, his spiritual Israel among
them all has been in his hand from the beginning, that remnant
according to the election of grace. Do you see the face of Jesus
Christ? He gives a glimpse every once
in a while so clear that it just about makes your
heart burst, doesn't it? Can you hear that in Paul's language
here? And it's almost as though Paul
is drowning in the depth, the wonderful depth of the greatness
of God. And he mentions here particularly
four things about God that overwhelmed him. in his thinking, his wisdom,
his knowledge, his judgment, and his ways. Wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. A man can know a lot of things
and have no wisdom whatsoever. We know that. A man can be very
intelligent and be very knowledgeable even in the scriptures, and have
no wisdom. None. Not be able to make one
and one come up to two with regard to God's truth. With regard to
the things of the gospel of God's grace. It takes wisdom from God. And then another man can know relatively little. and
yet be exceeding wise. A simple man in mind and in heart,
but by God's grace blessed with great wisdom. I've known some
men like that. I love to be around them. True wisdom has something to
do with love. Do you know that? What in the
world does wisdom have to do with love? Well, Paul said, if
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove
mountains and have not love, no matter how smart I am, no
matter how much I know, no matter what I believe, if God has not shed abroad his
love in my heart, I'm nothing. nothing. To use knowledge rightly, there
must be love. Paul said in first Corinthians
8, 1, knowledge puffs up. It'll make a man proud. Knowledge
without love, but knowledge with love, but charity, love builds
a man up. You want to be puffed up or built
up in the faith? The difference is knowledge without
love and love that knows some things by God's grace. And our
God is both omniscient, all-knowing, all-wise. Omniscient is all knowledge. Science is knowledge. Omni-science,
all science, all knowledge. And he's perfect in wisdom. Paul
said, oh, the depth of his wisdom. Only a fool would question or
complain against him who knows all things. He does all things
well. He knows everything. He's all
wise and yet we still complain. You know why? Because we think
we're smarter than God. That's why. That's the only reason
you would. The only reason my children would
question something that I do is because they think they're
smarter than I am. It's that simple. And we have the audacity to think
that way about God. What if God raises up Pharaoh
just simply to show his power in him? Is that what he said
he did? What if God willing to show his
wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? Will you complain
against that? Paul's addressing some that would.
The religious ones that he preached to, he anticipated their objection
to the sovereign grace of God, and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared unto glory. That's the all-knowing, all-wise
God that did that. Will you question Him? Will you
rebel? Will I? His judgments are his sovereign
decrees. He judges, he discerns and judges
and decrees. And the one who is all knowing
and all wise is uniquely qualified to decide and determine all things. Wouldn't you say? Who would question his right
or the rightness of his sovereign rule? He is the king who speaks
and it's done. And aren't you glad that the
all-wise, all-knowing God gets his way? I am. I don't want my way because I
don't know everything. And what I know, I'm not wise
in it. But that's his grace now by nature. We're not that way. We question His wisdom and His
knowledge and we want things our way. Most people pray in
order to change God's mind. Do you pray in order to change
God's mind? Then quit praying. Cease your
foolish rambling and praise the God who does all things well.
If that's why you pray, shut up and bow and say, Thy will be
done. on earth as it is in heaven. The omniscient God. I want your
will to be done. How about you? Thank God his ways are not our
ways. What kind of a God would he be? His ways, he said, are past finding
out. If they were like our ways, we
could find them out. And men want to bring God down
to our level. They want a God they can understand
and they can, you know, dictate to. And if his ways don't match
up with ours, then that's not fair. I'm glad his ways are not
my ways. They're past finding out. Do
you know that if things were our way, by nature, our way,
man's way, then nobody would be saved? Nobody. But God is rich in mercy. For His great love wherewith
He loved even us. How rich in mercy is God. His way is the way of grace,
mercy, and love for His people in Christ. How exceeding are
the riches of His grace. What is the breadth, the length,
the depth, the height of the love of Christ which passeth
knowledge? How far down would He reach in
order to save me? You can't quantify things like
that, can you? You just have to say with Paul,
oh, the depth. Oh, the greatness. Just wonder and rejoice and worship,
worship. This God is, he must be worshiped. And then he said in verse 34,
who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? And remember the context, his
dealings with the Gentiles and the Jews and how the Gentiles
were brought in and grafted in because of the unbelief of the
Jews. Can you look at God's dealings
with the nations, with the peoples of this world and his sovereign
dealings and his purposes of grace toward his elect such as
Paul has been talking about in this chapter and understand and
perhaps second guess what he's done? That's what he's asking. Who has known the mind of the
Lord or who can counsel him? Do you have some input? Do you look at what God has done
and will you dare question it? Would you be God's counselor? That's our tendency, isn't it?
To question God. To challenge what He's done and
what He says. Look at Isaiah chapter 40. This
is the verse of Scripture that Paul's quoting here. There's
a reason why he quotes Isaiah 40 when he's talking about the
way God deals with the nations because in Isaiah 40 where that
where those two questions are found. Who hath known the mind
of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, where he brought
that quote from? Look at the context of it. Verse
9, Isaiah 40, verse 9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Be not
afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his
reward is with him and his work before him. And that what Paul
talking about in our text, the works of God, the mighty purposes
of God being carried out upon the nations. And look at what
verse 11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He asked the
Jews in our in our in the context of our verse this morning. Are
the purposes of God null and void because the Israelites believe
not? No. He hasn't cast off His people
whom He foreknew. His sheep are in the hollow of
His hand. He shall feed them like a shepherd.
He gathers the lambs with His arm and carries them in His bosom. He's been doing that throughout
all of this. Even in the unbelief of the Jews, His remnant, He's
been carrying them in His arm. His remnant according to the
election of grace and among the Gentiles before they ever believed.
There were exceptions. There were some of his lambs
among them. And then when he shined his light,
generally speaking, upon the Gentiles and they received the
gospel gladly to a great extent, he gathered a whole bunch of
his lambs up in his arms. But all of his lambs are in his
arms, always have been. Shall gently lead those that
are with young? Who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in the scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the spirit
of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him? You see that? And with whom took he counsel,
and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment?
and taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding. Anybody? Behold, the nations
are as a drop of a bucket. Jews, Gentile nations, all of
them are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small
dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the owls
as a very little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor
the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations
before him are as nothing, And they are counted to him less
than nothing in vanity. He'll move them around like pieces
on a checkerboard for the purpose of gathering his lambs up into
his arms. The nations are a drop in the
bucket to him, but his lambs are precious to him. You see
that what he quoted from there and when he's talking about the
Jews and the Gentile and how God has dealt with them in chapter
11. And who would question who has
been his counselor, who could advise God on perhaps a better
way to have done things? He's dealt with the nations the
way he has for the sake of his remnant according to the election
of grace, his lambs that he's been gathering all along. And that's why Paul quotes Isaiah
40 there. And then verse 35, he said, who
hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him
again. Who hath first given to God? God is the great Giver. Capital G, Giver. I can't say that without thinking
about what David said. He opens his hand and satisfies
the desire of every living thing. He says, here, what do you need? Here it is. Everything good,
James said, everything good comes down from the Father of Lights. And He don't change. Isn't that
beautiful? His eternal decree of love and
grace toward His people came down from His sovereign throne
to be declared in this world. Did you hear what He said to
Zion? Shout it! Tell it! Tell of the greatness
of your God. And that's what Paul's doing
in our text. And marveling at it, at him. His only begotten beloved son
came down into this world to save those
whom he purposed to save from eternity. Paul said, I'm the chief of them. When Christ left this world,
he said he would send the Holy Spirit down here to show us the
things of himself, and he has. When the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
on high, it says, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.
Every good and perfect gift comes down. The men who preach the gospel
of Christ to sinners, he gives all good gifts, both temporal
and eternal. And he asked this question, who
has ever first given anything to God? Have you ever thought
about that? Honestly, have you ever done anything for God? People
in religion love to talk about, look what we're doing for God.
Really? When you worship, the fact that
you're here this morning, and I pray by God's grace we're here
to worship, that we're enabled to worship, is that you doing
something for God, or is that God doing something for you? as you are enabled by God to
support his gospel, you and I. Is that us doing something for
God? Think about that. Is that God needing us and us
doing something for him? Or is that God doing something
for me? When you pray, when you pray
to God, who is the benefactor and who is the beneficiary? If you're enabled to render any
service to Him, if you have the wisdom, the will, the strength,
the opportunity, anything, in order to render any service whatsoever
of any kind unto God, who's been blessed? And who's done the blessing? We've never given anything to
God. We've never done anything for Him. He's the giver. He's
the doer. And we're the beneficiaries. I believe it was King David that
asked this question, what shall I render unto God? for all of
His benefits. We serve Him because we love
Him. God don't need us. He receives our service, you
know why? Same reason, because He loves us. And I'm glad that it's the way
it is, aren't you? God doesn't need me for anything.
I don't need a God that needs me. How about you? But thank
God to be included. What a privilege and a blessing
and an honor to be included. That's God doing something for
me. That's God doing everything for me. And may He give us the good sense to thank Him for
it, to praise Him. Let's pray together.