Our Great God

The Himalayan Mountains are every mountain climbers dream. I wouldn't know, I'm not a mountain climber, but I'm told that every mountain climber loves the thought, the dream, if not the reality of scaling the highest mountains in the world, particularly the top of the world, Mount Everest. But as far as recorded human history is concerned, no one had tried it before 1920. Between 1920 and 1953, there were 11 expeditions to try to conquer Mount Everest. The first 10 failed miserably. Costing the lives of several well-known explorers. Until finally, on May 29, 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary led a British expedition along with his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norge. To the top of Mount Everest, 29,028 feet, the highest spot on planet Earth. The amazing thing is that he never described what he saw or what he felt. He did put in writing how he climbed, why he climbed, but never described what he saw or how he felt as he stood at the top of the world and looked down. Most speculate that he probably was at a loss for words. How could he describe what he felt? How could he describe what he saw? Who could describe such a sight and such a feeling? That's what I get when I read the last few verses of Romans chapter 11. That sense of pause almost inexpressible delight in the greatness of God. By the way, do you remember Romans? We've been in Romans for quite a while, but not for a while. We actually started back late last spring. And up until the 1st of December, we were traversing our way through that grand book of Romans. And then the holidays came. And if first of the year-type things came and weather came. And we haven't been in Romans for two months. If you can find it again. Please open to Romans chapter 11 where we find Paul on a mountain peak overlooking all that he has already described by God's grace and through the moving hand of the Holy Spirit on him. All that he's described about the righteousness of God. Remember that the book of Romans is all about the gospel, a righteousness that comes down from God that is a gift given to us by him. Not a righteousness that we somehow work up and offer to him to get into heaven, but the only righteousness that will save us, a righteousness that comes down from heaven, from God, and is given to us. And Paul has explored the marvelous grandeur of that righteousness. He has talked about our need for righteousness in the first three chapters by describing our sinfulness. We need a righteousness from God because in and of ourselves we're sinners. And then he's described the gift of God's righteousness, God's righteousness given to us freely by his grace. When we trust the Lord Jesus and his death on the cross for us, we are declared righteous in the courtroom of heaven. God justifies us, saves us. And then Paul has described that's in the chapters three through five. And then in chapter six through eight, Paul describes the growth of righteousness in us. Once we come to know Christ, we begin a lifelong process of growing. The key word being sanctification, growing in grace, growing in righteousness to become more like the Lord Jesus. Knowing that all the time, God has us firmly held in his grip. We are eternally secure in him as Paul describes in chapter eight. And then Paul has addressed what the gospel has to do with Israel, that God has not forgotten his chosen people from Old Testament times. That he still has a purpose and a plan for them. Even now there are many Jews being brought into the family of God in this day and age where God is building his church. And as we shall see and as we saw last time we were in Romans, God still has a plan for his people. And so Paul doesn't want us to be ignorant of that. He begins this last part of Romans 11 in verse 25 by saying, I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery brother. Speaking of what he's just talked about, the place of God's blessing where the nation of Israel has temporarily been laid aside from that. And Gentiles have been brought in as God builds his body, his church built of both Jew and Gentile. But God will bring back his natural branches and graft them in again. He doesn't want us to be ignorant of that because as he says in verse 25, so that you may not be conceded. God doesn't want us Gentiles thinking that we're it. We're the crowning part of God's program. God still has a purpose and a plan for his people Israel as a nation. And so he goes on to describe that in the next couple of verses. He says in verse 25, Israel has experienced a hardening in part. Let me stop right there. What he's doing is he's summarizing God's plan for Israel even right now, the hardening of Israel that he's talked about earlier in this chapter. That spiritual blindness, that hardness of heart, that resistance toward the gospel is only in part. As a nation, they have been removed from the place of God's blessing. But individual Jews are still coming into the family of God and being saved. So this hardness, this blindness is only in part and it is only temporary. Notice Paul says when it will end until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. Only God knows that number. Only God knows when his body, his church, as he is building it now will be completed. And then after that happens, verse 26, and so all Israel will be saved. Israel, the word term Israel has been used 10 times already in chapters 9 through 11 in every occasion, every case it is referring to ethnic Israel to the nation of Israel as God's chosen people. There's no reason to believe it's any different here. So the nation Israel will be delivered and saved and all Israel will be saved. Speaking of the nation at a particular time in history, and they coach me Old Testament. As it is written, he says, the deliverer will come from Zion, the deliverer is Christ, he will come from Zion, he will come to deliver his people as they have 59 as the reference here. He will turn Godlessness away from Jacob, and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. A reference to Jeremiah 31, the new covenant that God makes with Israel when he will take away their sins. This whole time period and all the events that will happen are described actually in Old Testament prophecy in Zachariah 12 through 14. In those three chapters, 16 times the prophet Zachariah, as he lays out kind of a timetable of the events of God on behalf of the nation of Israel in the future, 16 times he says on that day, on that day, on that day marking particular events. And he lays out very clearly what will happen. That Israel will be under the ravages of the attacks of the Antichrist during the tribulation time. He says in chapter 14 that two-thirds of that nation will be destroyed, leaving one-third called a remnant at the end of the tribulation time. But that's when the deliverer will come from Zion, that's when the Messiah will come, and Zachariah 1210 says, they will look on him, whom they have pierced in that day when he returns. And they will turn to him, they will cry out for him as a father does for a son. They will cry out to him in faith, and Zachariah 131 says, a fountain of cleansing will be opened for the forgiveness of their sins. And at that point, the remnant that is left of the nation of Israel that will become the new nation of Israel in God's kingdom, Christ's kingdom on this earth, that form of his kingdom. That nation will be saved, all Israel will be saved, as Paul says, they will turn to their Messiah, deliverer, savior. But, as you can see from the screen, we haven't gotten out of the introduction yet, that's not the real point of this passage. The real point of this passage is not to give us a prophetic chart, although that's a wonderful study tool. The real purpose of this passage is to focus on the greatness of our God, because God's plan for Israel, as Paul wraps it up at the end of chapter 11, serves to highlight and turn our faces toward our great God. And how great He is, in all of his magnificence, in all of his glory, how great He is, and Paul is going to focus on the greatness of God. In fact, His point in this passage is God's plan for Israel shows His greatness in three ways. His plan for Israel shows His greatness in at least these three ways. First of all, it shows His greatness and His faithfulness. God is great in His faithfulness. Look at verse 27 again. And this is my covenant with them. He's been referring to the Gentiles as you in this passage. Them is the Israelites, the nation of Israel. This is my covenant with them. The covenants belong to Israel. Paul has already made that clear in Romans chapter 9 verse 5. The covenants that God has made with His people in the Old Testament time, the Mosaic covenant, the Palestinian covenant, the Davidic covenant, the promises He made to their fathers, and in the New Covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Isaiah 59. This New Covenant He will make with His people Israel. It was made with Israel. This New Covenant of forgiveness of sin, of writing the law on their hearts, God has made them a promise. He's made a covenant with them, with them, with His people Israel, and it will still be fulfilled. The wonderful thing is that we Gentiles enjoy the blessings of that covenant because that covenant was inaugurated by the death of Christ. Hebrews tells us that. And so we enjoy the blessings of that covenant, but it will come into full play with the nation of Israel in Christ's reign upon this earth. Why? Because I've made a promise to them, God says, when I will take away their sins in that day, Zacharias says, in that day, in the future, that will happen. I will establish that covenant. They will once again be my people. They will be my people because I made a promise to them. So Paul is highlighting the fact that God is faithful and God is faithful in the fact that He will not forget His promises. He is faithful in the sense that He made a promise to Israel. He's not forgotten it. He will not forget it. Notice how He describes this in verse 28, as far as the gospel is concerned. In other words, as far as what God is doing now in spreading the gospel throughout the earth, building His church, as far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account, so that the gospel can go to the Gentiles, the Jews are enemies. Now be careful with that. That does not mean they are enemies of us. This verse has sometimes been used to support anti-Semitism that the Bible declares Jews are our enemies. It's not what He's saying. He's saying for the present time, they are at hostility with God as a nation. They are the enemies of God as a people group, as a nation. Only in part individual Jews are still being saved, but in the context He has temporarily set them aside because of their hardness, because of their unbelief, because of their resistance to the gospel. So as far as the gospel is concerned, for the present time, the nation of Israel is the enemy of God. They are at hostility with Him because of their rejection of the gospel, but that's not the end of it. Middle of verse 28, but as far as election is concerned, as far as God's choice of them, in the Old Testament God chose the nation of Israel to be His representative people on this earth. Read Deuteronomy 7 sometime. He chose them not because they were greater in number than the other nation. He chose them not because of any inherent goodness they had in themselves. He simply chose them. God's election is always just according to His purpose and will. And so in the Old Testament He chose His people Israel. They are still His elect people. Paul says here as far as the election is concerned, they are loved. They are loved. Present tense. They're still loved on account of the patriarchs. Who are the patriarchs? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the fathers of the nation of Israel. You see what Paul is saying? Because God made promises to them. Because God made a covenant with Abraham. Promises to Abraham about His seed and people being blessed who blessed His people Israel and a land being given to Him. Because God made promises to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and then later to David and the Davidic covenant about a reign and a rule of throne forever. Because God made those promises, He will not forget them. He will yet fulfill them. What Paul is saying is our God is great in His faithfulness because He will not forget His promises. And by the way He will not forget His promises to you either. He will not forget His promises to any of us. A God who makes promises and says although time has passed and it looks as though I've given them up or relegated them to someone else. No, no. My promises were very real and specific in the Old Testament. I will fulfill them yet. And that's what Paul's talking about here. God is faithful to fulfill His promises. But He is faithful not only in the sense that He will not forget His promises. He is faithful in the sense Paul says in verse 29 in that His plan will not change. His plan will not change. Here's the reason why Paul says Paul says God will still fulfill the specific promises He made to Israel in the future. He will still fulfill them. Here's the reason verse 29. 4 or because God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. Now I've often heard that passage used to talk about the call to ministry. And while there may be some principles that apply there that's certainly not the context. Paul's not talking about the call to ministry. He's talking about God's people Israel. What are the gifts that are given to Israel? God gave them gifts. Paul's already talked about them. Again, if we keep Paul in His full of thought and we maintain the context of His thought, go back to chapter 9. And He's talked about the gifts, the wonderful blessings that God gave to Israel. Chapter 9 verse 4. There's the adoption of sons. There's the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. There's the patriarchs from them is traced to human ancestry of Christ. These are the blessings. These are the gifts. God has given the nation of Israel. And His gifts cannot be canceled. They will not be canceled. They're irrevocable. They cannot be denied. They cannot cease. God's gifts and His calling of Israel. The word calling is from the same root word as the word election. So it's talking about God's choice of His people Israel. That is irrevocable. That can never be set aside. That can never be denied or applied to another group. His gifts to His nation is Israel to His people. His calling of them is irrevocable. It has never been laid aside. It is still to be fulfilled fully in the future. And every promise He made to them of a seed, of a throne, of a land, all of those specific promises in the Old Testament are yet to be fulfilled literally in a future day. When the nation will be once again the centerpiece of God's program is Christ rules on this earth and then delivers up that kingdom to the Father for an eternal kingdom. God's faithful. He is faithful to His promises. I know what Paul says. He's faithful to His promises to the Old Testament saints. He is also faithful to us and to our promises. The promises He has made us. In fact, I think one of the greatest things you can do to assure yourself to comfort yourself, to strengthen yourself in God's word is to reflect upon God's faithfulness. Time and time again the writers of Scripture remind us no matter what our need is. We need to rest in the faithfulness of God. Are you being tempted today? Are you facing some temptation to sin that has got you in its clutches? Then look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 on the screen. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. Know your situation is unique. Plenty of others have faced the same thing. No temptation has taken you but such is common to man. Notice the next words. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear but when you are tempted he will also provide a way out. I like the old King James expression, a way of escape so that you may or can endure it. He provides an escape a way to flee to him so that we can stay on the road of obedience and not follow the path of temptation. You feel tempted rest in the faithfulness of God to deliver you from that temptation. Are you not sure you are going to make it to heaven? You have trusted Christ as your Savior but you have doubts and you lack assurance and you are not sure you are going to make it. Then rest in the faithfulness of God as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 24 the one who calls you as faithful and he will do it. Really should have put verse 23 up there too. And the God of peace sanctify you wholly through our Lord Jesus Christ. May your whole body and soul and spirit be kept blameless until the day of Jesus Christ. In other words may you be kept blameless may your whole person be delivered safely to him in glory. Say well I have to hang on to that right I have to make sure that happens. No no faithful is the one who calls you. He will do it. He will keep you. He will present you blameless. It is not up to you to save yourself and it is not up to you to get yourself to heaven. He is faithful. He will keep you and present you thoughtless before the throne of God. Are you fearful? Are you afraid of something that is going on in your life today? Then rest in God's faithfulness as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 3 but the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. Whatever Satan is throwing your way by hardship, by difficulty, by trial. If it just keeps coming and it seems to be devastating you with its strength. Whatever is coming your way he is faithful. He is faithful. He will strengthen you. He will protect you. Rest in the faithfulness of God. Are you wavering today? Are you questioning God? Are you questioning why he is allowed? Are you thinking about maybe God really isn't real? Maybe the Bible really isn't true? Are you having doubts? Then listen to the writer to the Hebrews and Hebrews 10 when he says let us hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess why for he who promised is faithful. The one who promises of his work is faithful. My assurance, my hope in him, my confidence in him does not rest upon my shaky condition. It rests upon the one who promised. He is faithful. Are you facing an impossible situation today? Abraham and Sarah faced an impossible situation too. Humanly impossible to have a child at their age but look at their response in Hebrews 11-11 and by faith even Sarah who was past childbearing age was unable to bear children. Why? Because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. Her confidence was not in herself. What God had said was beyond her human ability to accomplish and yet she considered him faithful who had promised what kind of situation are you facing? Is it that impossible? God is faithful. God is faithful to his promises. Are you suffering today? Are you suffering physically, emotionally, spiritually? Are you suffering rejection because of the cause of Christ maybe at work? Co-worker maybe even family members who rejected you because of your stand for Christ? Then listen to what Peter says and for Peter 4. Then those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good. Just stay doing what God wants you to do and trust him to be faithful as his creator to you. Trust your case, trust your life, trust your future to him. He is faithful. Do you live in the remorse of your past? Your past sin has you just swallowed up in defeat and doubt and discouragement? Then trust the faithfulness of God as John says in 1 John 1 and verse 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful. There has never been a case that he has dropped. He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. My friend, whatever you are facing today, whatever you are going through you can trust the one who is faithful. Whatever your situation is he is faithful. He is faithful to his promises, he is faithful to his word, he is faithful to his people. He is faithful. Stop looking to your own strength, look to the one who is faithful. Our God is great. He is great. Paul says in his faithfulness, yes to his promises to Israel and his promises to all of us as well. He is faithful. God is great. Paul is not done. Paul also says God is great in his mercy. Look at what Paul says about his mercy. Verse 30. Just as you were at one time disobedient to God and have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that you may have mercy on them all. You can see the key word, can't you? These three verses mercy appears four times. The focus is on God's mercy. Let me take a moment to attempt to describe the richness of the concept of mercy. I know sometimes in our effort to explain things to people, we give simple little definitions for Bible words. We say, grace is God giving us what we don't deserve and mercy is God withholding what we do deserve. That's okay on a kindergarten level. But it certainly does not express the richness of either the Hebrew or Greek words and old and new testament for the concept of mercy. Mercy is so much richer than that. It's richer than just God withholding what we deserve. Mercy means that God looks upon us in our human condition and our sinfulness and our great need. And his heart is moved, he has compassion, he loves us. And his heart is moved by what he sees in our lives. And so it doesn't stop there. Mercy reaches out in that pity, that compassion, that moving of his heart to do something to remedy our condition that only he can do. One of the best descriptions and illustrations of mercy is one the Lord Jesus himself gave when he talked about the parable of Samaritan, the story of the good Samaritan. You're familiar with the story possibly in Luke 10. A man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. He is waylaid by robbers, his beaten and stripped of his possessions and left suffering on the side of the road. A priest comes by, sees him, but goes on, doesn't want to get involved. A Levite comes by, someone who serves in the temple, he sees him, sees his plight, but moves on. And then a Samaritan comes by and Jesus purposely chose this in the story because Jews hated Samaritans. And it says a Samaritan came by. And the Bible says he also looked over and saw him. But the Bible says he was moved with pity toward him. His heart was moved by what he saw. He didn't just stop there. He didn't just, you know, oh, that's terrible. That's awful. If it's a sorry for him on my way. So the Bible says that he went over to him and bound up his wounds, cleaned him up, put him on his own donkey, took him to an inn, stayed the night to make sure he was well cared for. And when he left the next morning, said to the innkeeper, I'm paying for his room and board. You keep him watch over until he gets well enough to travel again, whatever bill he runs up, I'll pay. And Jesus said to the lawyer who had asked him the question about who's my neighbor. Jesus said, who was a neighbor to that man lying on the side of the road? And the lawyer answered the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said, you've spoken well. You see, mercy is more than feeling sorry for someone. Mercy is more than just withholding what people deserve. Mercy is an active, compassionate longing to help someone who cannot help themselves. And that's what God did for us in salvation. God saves us by his mercy. He gives us mercy because he's looked down and he's seen our hopeless condition in sin. And he loves us. His heart is moved, genuinely moved by that. And so he wants to reach out and he did. He did something about it. He sent his own son, Jesus, to die on the cross, to take all of our sin on his own record and pay for it. What agony the son and the father went through, what compassion, what mercy to save us. And Paul describes that mercy, how it plays out. Verse 30, mercy has been shown to Gentiles. He says, just as you, once again referring to Gentiles, just as you, who were at one time disobedient to God, he's already talked about that in chapter 11, have now received mercy as a result of their, the Jews, Jews disobedience. It goes back to the olig tree thing if you've forgotten that and get the CD from December 5th. But the idea of the place of God's blessing, Israel has been taken out temporarily. Gentiles are being grafted in because of their disobedience, you Gentiles have received mercy. But oh, there's also mercy for the Jews in verse 31. So they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. God is also still showing mercy to individual Jews as they come to no Christ and in the context will flow his mercy toward them in the future when they come to know him as their Messiah and Savior. So God's mercy is given also to the Jew and then notice the summary in verse 32, God's mercy to all. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. In the context here, all is referring to both Jew and Gentile. God's mercy has come to the Gentile? Yes, it's come to the Jew. Yes, it's come to all. To all, both Jew and Gentile doesn't mean everybody's going to be saved. It does mean all, both Jew and Gentile, are the recipients of God's mercy. It's an interesting expression that I can't pass up in verse 32 that really shed some light on this whole topic of God's mercy and salvation. For God has bound all men over to disobedience. The word bound over was a word that was used in the first century of being imprisoned and the keys thrown away. There's no hope for you to get out. Or it was often used also of an animal caught in a trap beyond its capacity to escape. It is trapped. Interestingly enough, the text says that God has bound us over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Now, what Paul is saying, and please don't misunderstand, God is not the active cause of us being in the trap. We are in the trap because of our sin. Because Adam's disobedience brought sin into the human race and we're all born with a sinful nature. And because we have all sinned, we're in the trap. But God has so planned it that we will never get out of that trap. We will be bound in imprisoned in trap in disobedience until we receive his mercy. You see what God is saying? There's no way out of the trap. There's no way out of the prison except for my mercy. No one is born a Christian. Born in a Christian nation, born in a Christian family, does not make you a Christian. It does not make you one of God's children. No one kind of grows into being a Christian. You know, you're brought to churches of baby and you were in the nursery and you came up through Sunday school and Bible fellowships and you kind of grew into this thing of being a Christian. I certainly understand that some people cannot place an actual time and date on when they trusted Christ. But the only way you can ever be saved is to trust Christ as your Savior, not just kind of grow up in church. You are bound, imprisoned, entrapped until you receive God's mercy, until you realize that Jesus died for your sins on the cross. And God in His great compassion and love did something to free you from that trap and that prison of your sin. He did it when He gave Christ His Son to be your Savior. And when you recognize that and you receive God's mercy, His gift of Christ is your Savior. That is the point at which you become a Christian. That is the point at which you become a child of God. That is the point at which you gain the inheritance of heaven. You are entrapped, unable to get out until God's mercy comes to you. That is such an important truth and scripture that just as much as our salvation is dependent on God's grace, the Bible also talks about it being dependent on God's mercy. Just to reinforce it, look at these verses, Titus chapter 3, verse 5, He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. So you can't get yourself out of the trap. You can't get yourself out of prison. Only God's mercy, His compassion toward you and what He does to relieve you of your sin. To help you get out of that, to take you out of that prison. That is the only way you can be saved. Ephesians chapter 2, Paul says it this way, but because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. God's love, God's grace, yes, but also God's mercy in reaching out to you with the provision of His Son. First Peter chapter 1, verse 3, Peter says it this way, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in His great mercy. He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So you are bound up imprisoned in trap in sin until you receive God's mercy. And His mercy was demonstrated by His gift of His Son on the cross. That is where God's mercy was given to us. God is great. God is great in His faithfulness. God is great in His mercy. The Paul still not done. Nor am I. God is great in His wisdom and knowledge. Oh, these verses, verses 33 through 36. When I read these verses, I recognize that along with Paul I'm standing on Mount Everest. But unlike Sir Edmund Hillary, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul is able to put in words what he sees. As he stands on that mountain peak, as he looks back over all of chapter 1 through 11, as he looks back on the marvelous revelation God has given him of the gospel, of the righteousness of God, and its fullness, its richness, all the great doctrinal themes. He's unfolded for us in these first 11 chapters. As he stands now on that peak and looks back on it all, all he can do is burst forth in a hymn of praise to God for his wisdom and His greatness, the greatness of His knowledge and His wisdom. Notice how he says that God's wisdom and knowledge is beyond description, verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how insurczable this judgment is paths beyond tracing out. What words, what beautiful expression of the greatness of God's wisdom. It is beyond description. God's knowledge, God's wisdom is beyond description. Four words that Paul uses in his attempt to describe what he sees from the mountain peak. The riches of God's wisdom and knowledge. Riches, riches, but not just riches, the depth of the riches. We should have thought early enough to get this clip for you. I didn't think of it until I was preaching in the first service and it came to mind. Remember, the movie National Treasure and Nicholas Cage, as he first goes into that treasure room that he spent the whole movie finding clues for and trying to figure out where it is. And he finally goes into his flashlight, his torch just shows riches, riches. And then he lights the powder which illumines the whole room. And now he sees not only riches, but the depth of the riches. I mean, what he saw just with his torch was enough, but now to see all of that depth unbelievable. And that's what Paul's experiencing here. It's what he's expressing all the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. The third word he uses is unsearchable. How unsearchable are his judgments. The word judgments here does not mean God judging us as in a final judgment. It's the word for decisions. When we make a judgment about something, we make a decision. That's the idea of the term here. How unsearchable are God's decisions. In other words, you cannot search out everything about God's decisions. Don't even try to. They are unsearchable. If you come away from Romans, just a little frustrated that you don't understand everything Paul has said, you're a good company. Paul himself, the writer of them, the one who was revealed these things by God said, I can't figure them all out. His knowledge is far beyond his decisions. What he decides to do, his purpose and plan. I can't figure it all out. It's unsearchable. And then that last word he uses to describe it, his paths beyond tracing out. Untraceable. In other words, God's paths, the paths that he takes in his outworking of his plan and human history, the path along which your life goes. You can't trace it out. You can't figure out ahead of time exactly what's going to happen next year or five years from now. You do not know where your path will take you. And thank God we don't. His paths are unsearchable. I love the way that the writer of the Psalm says, his word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path. And he's talking about the little foot lamp that an old testament person would often use that would actually be put on the sandal, a little lamp that would just show or a lamp that would be held that would a light that would help be held just to show the next step or two that's as far as it would illumine. Your word gives us that kind of direction, but your paths, your ways, all of your plans, your purposes. I can't trace all those out. They're far beyond me. So if you go away from Romans thinking, man, this stuff about election, I can't figure that out. Don't worry about that. You know, just believe what God says about it. Don't try to water it down to fit into your puny human mind or mine. Just believe what God says about it, but if you can't figure it all out, that's okay. Again, if you could figure out everything God did and all these paths and all of his ways, you'd be the fourth member of the Trinity. And there would no longer be a Trinity. You know, you'd blow the whole scheme. So you don't, you can't understand, oh, I can't either. His greatness, the greatness of his wisdom and knowledge. It is beyond description. It is also beyond man's wisdom. Paul says in verse 34. 34 and 35, he asks three rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is where the answer is clearly understood by the question itself. And that's what that's what he's doing here. Who has known the mind of the Lord answers obvious. Nobody knows God's mind except what he has revealed of it in his word. Oh, it so beautifully fits with what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 2. All that God has prepared for us. He says in 1 Corinthians 2 9, what God has prepared for his people. We cannot know that through the normal avenues of human acquiring of knowledge. No eye has seen no ear has heard nor has entered into the heart of man. You see, our eyes and our ears, the normal means of gaining knowledge plus our own human intuition. We cannot begin to conceive of everything that God has planned for us, but Paul goes on to say, but he has revealed them to us by his spirit. We talked about this before at Johnson Chapel. That's talking about the apostles as he goes on to talk about receiving the mind of the spirit and writing it down in words given by the Holy Spirit. The apostles recording scripture all that we know the mind of God and that's why Paul ends that chapter by saying we have the mind of Christ. All that we know the mind of God is found in his word. So you can't trace out his his pads. You can't know the mind of God except for what he's chosen to reveal in his word. His knowledge, his wisdom is beyond man's wisdom. And then Paul asks this question or who has been his counselor? What an obvious question and answer that is. Has God asked for your advice on anything? No. I can answer that for you. He hasn't asked for my neither. He has ever asked the advice of anyone. God does not need our advice. Remember what he said to Job when Job had tried to lecture God about why he was going through all the suffering. If you read the book of Job, you find out yes, he was patient, but it wore out. And he had a lot of angry things to say about God. You remember what God did with Job at the end of the book? He said, where were you when I created the earth? I didn't need your advice. Look at all the things I've done. I didn't need to come to you for advice. It was putting things back into proper perspective. You see God doesn't need a counselor. God doesn't need our wisdom. He's far beyond our wisdom. Third question verse 35, who has ever given to God that God should repay him? Are we so arrogant and audacious to think that we could ever contribute anything to God that he would be in our debt? Oh my. What arrogance? And that's why anybody who thinks they can work their way to heaven is arrogant, self-righteous. Could we ever put God in our debt that he owes us something? Of course not. God's wisdom, God's knowledge is beyond our wisdom, but Paul ends this glorious hymn by saying in verse 36, it is also beyond mere time. For from him and through him and through him are all things. To him be the glory forever, Amen. So easy just to read over those words and miss the impact. For from him are all things. God is the originator, the creator of all things. They all came from him. God spoke and the universe popped into existence. God spoke, Genesis 1, things came into being. He's from him are all things. Through him are all things. He is the sustainer of all things. Colossians 1, 17, he created all things and by him all things consist or are held together. He's the sustainer of all. And to him he's the ultimate goal of all things. All of human history, all of the glory of this universe is moving toward what? Unlimited expansion? No. It is moving toward him, toward him. And one day it will all be to his glory. And so Paul says only he alone deserves all the glory forever. And he closes this hymn by saying, Amen, so be it. Let it rest right there. I love this hymn. You know what it says to me? It says that God is great in his wisdom and knowledge. He has a perspective far beyond anything that we can imagine. He sees it all. And that means no matter where you are, no matter what you're facing, no matter what you're going through. You can rely upon him. You can depend upon him. You can run to him as a strong refuge. He is our great God. He is great in his faithfulness. He will always be faithful to you. He is great in his mercy. He loves you. He has compassion on you. And he reaches out to help you in your time of need. He is great in his wisdom and knowledge. It is far beyond yours. You can trust him. You can know that he does all things right. What a great God we have. What you bow with me in prayer.