Bound Together in a Local Church Family

Introduction

Bridge Illustration

A bridge is all at once point of termination, a point of connection, and a point of introduction Think of the bridges over our grand river. When travelling west the beginning of that bridge marks the end of the east side of town, the center of the bridge acts as the connection point between the east and west side, and the end of the bridge marks the beginning of the west side of town.

Our text today in Romans 11 is a bridge. Paul’s letter to the romans is cleanly divided, as most of Paul’s letters are, between orthodoxy and orthopraxy, between doctrine and duty. In Romans 1-11 Paul begins by teaching the doctrine of the gospel. And in Romans 12-16 Paul turns to teaching the duties of gospel living. This pattern reminds us that doctrine and duty go together in the Christian life. We must both think and act biblically. Following Christ is not head knowledge and heart knowledge alone, nor is it merely practical.

After explaining the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone and before explaining the duty of believers to present their lives as sacrifices to God, Paul pauses in our passage today to write a doxology in praise to God.

And Paul declares this doxology because he is moved by the revelation of the mystery of God’s plan for redemptive History.

And as R. Kent Hughes puts it, “Our study of God and his ways among us should turn our hearts to music.”

Main Point

And the theme of Paul’s hymn here in Romans 11 is this: God is worthy of all glory for His salvation shows His supremacy and His sovereignty over His creation. Stated simply God is worthy of all glory because He is God and and we are not.

Transition

Paul’s doxology here is divided into three stanzas.

And in our first stanza in verse 33 we see that God’s salvation shows that He is Infinitely Supreme

God is Infinitely Supreme - Romans 11:33

Oh the Depths

Paul begins by celebrating the wonder of God’s supremacy with several theologically significant words. But perhaps the most important word is the one he says first: Oh!

This is the cry or groan or sigh of an enraptured heart.

In these past chapters Paul has scaled mountain top after mountain top after mountain top of the glories of God in salvation. And as is the case when you reach the peak of a mountain range and look out at the beautiful vistas before you and your heart and mind are overwhelmed by the majesty of God in Hs creation. So too are Paul’s heart and mind filled with awe and wonder at the righteousness of God revealed in His Gospel.

And what Paul sees when he looks out from the mountain top of Romans 11 is that God is too deep for us to figure out.

Read with me in verse 33

Romans 11:33 ESV

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

The governing statement of this stanza is that God is deep.

God is supreme in that He is too deep for us to fully comprehend.

As one pastor put it, “the truth of God is shallow enough that children can come and get a drink without the fear of drowning, and yet it is so deep that scholars can dive in and never touch the bottom.”

Think of the depths of the sea. The further you go out in the ocean the darker it becomes. And the ocean is so weighty that the pressure at the very bottom of the ocean is so great that human life cannot survive. That is where God hangs out.

God’s Riches are Deep

If you were to have a physical representation of his riches and stack them on top of the other the height of that stack would encompass the entirety of space in the universe.

He is rich for He for He has the power to create something out of nothing

He is rich for He owns all that He has created.

Psalm 24:1 ESV

1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,

His riches make the wealthiest man in all the earth look penniless in comparison. He has the deepest of pockets.

Paul also uses this term riches to refer to God’s kindness, God’s glory, God’s mercy, and God’s grace to those whom He saves. God spends His infinite riches for the benefit of sinners.

Paul says in Romans 2:4

Romans 2:4 ESV

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

And then in Romans 9:22 he says

Romans 9:22–23 ESV

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

And then in Romans 10:12-13 Paul says

Romans 10:12–13 ESV

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

And then in Ephesians 1:7 Paul says,

Ephesians 1:7 ESV

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

And again in Ephesians 2:4 Paul writes,

Ephesians 2:4–7 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

There is no need to live in fear, doubt, and sin for our God is a rich God. He is rich in mercy. He is rich in glory. He is rich in kindness. He is abounding in riches

God’s riches are deep and God’s Wisdom is deep.

Depths of His Wisdom

If you were to fill books with his wisdom all the libraries in all the earth could not contain a decimal of what would be written.

Wisdom is more than mere understanding or knowledge. Knowledge is what you know, wisdom is what you do with what you know. In Scripture wisdom is the pursuit of the right end through the right means. And the question then is how does one become wise?

James 1:5 ESV

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

God gives wisdom generously because God is the unending source of wisdom.

Wisdom in Creation

His infinite wisdom is evident in creation.

As the psalmist declares in Psalm 104:24

Psalm 104:24 ESV

24 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

And as the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed in Jeremiah 10:12-13

Jeremiah 10:12–13 ESV

12 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. 13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

Wisdom of the Cross

But to see God’s infinite wisdom on its greatest stage we must look no further than at the cross.

1 Corinthians 1:22–25 ESV

22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Ponder with me a minute, the wisdom of God in the gospel as taught in Romans.

Wisdom of Justification

God’s wisdom is seen in our justification by faith alone in Christ alone

Faith alone is necessary for both Jew and Gentile are bound up in sin. All men and women are incapable of justifying ourselves and fully dependent upon Him to justify us. Romans 3:23,

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Furthermore, the wisdom of justification by faith is seen in that it is the only way in which God is just in forgiving sin - Romans 3:24-26

Romans 3:24–26 ESV

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

It is only in the wisdom of the gospel of God that we could receive mercy without violating the justice of God. For it is in the gospel that God exercises His just wrath upon the only innocent and perfectly righteous man that lived - in the God-man Christ Jesus.

So at the cross of Christ God’s justice was satisfied and our sinful souls were justified

Who is wise enough but God to think of such a solution to the problem of sin

Wisdom of Sanctification

But God’s wisdom in saving us doesn’t stop there. Think with me of the wisdom of God in sanctifying us in Christ by the power of His Spirit.

If it were not for the wisdom of God in sanctifying us through the power of His Spirit, we would remain unchanged in our sinful nature.

In uniting us with Christ who rose from the dead to newness of life, He has given us a new nature, and made us new creatures thus freeing us from our slavery to sin.

By His infinite wisdom we are forgiven of sin’s punishment and freed from sin’s power

Wisdom of Redemptive History

Lastly, we see that the unending depth of God’s wisdom is most evident in His plan of Redemptive History.

In His wisdom He called Abraham and His descendents and gave the glorious gifts of His covenant relationship.

In His wisdom He designed a covenant given to Moses that bound Israel to experience blessings for their obedience to His law and curses for their disobedience - a disobedience which was inevitable due to their sinful hearts.

In His wisdom He designed the ultimate curse of exile and then the hardening of their hearts towards their Messiah, so that the gospel would then be taken to the gentiles and so that He could mercifully restore Israel to Himself.

In His wisdom, as Paul says in Romans 11:32, God has shut up both Jew and Gentile in their disobedience so that He might show His wisdom to all - both Jew and Gentile.

Who could devise a plan of this scope, who could weave the tapestry of human history this beautifully. Surely we could not.

And to even understand what has been shown to us in these verses required the revelation of a divine mystery from the pen of a divinely inspired author.

Oh how deep is the wisdom of our God! But that is not all. God’s riches are deep. His wisdom is deep. And His knowledge is deep

Depths of His Knowledge

The depths of the knowledge of God is best seen when asking these two questions. What does God know? And when did He know it?

What does God know? Answer: Everything.

As AW Pink writes,

“God is omniscient.

He knows everything;

everything possible,

everything actual;

all events,

all creatures,

of the past, the present, and the future.

All things actual,

All things potention,

He is perfectly acquainted with every detail in the life of every being in heaven, in earth, and in hell.…

Nothing escapes his notice,

nothing can be hidden from him,

nothing is forgotten by him.…

He never errs, never changes, never overlooks anything”

That is what God knows, but when did He know what He knows?

God has known all things from eternity. God has always known what God knows.

He has always known...

All matter and all matters

All mind and every mind

all creaturehood and all creatures

all personalities and all persons

all law and every law

all relations,

all causes

all thoughts

all feelings

all desires

all unuttered secrets

all thrones

all dominies

all things visible and invisible

all things in heaven above

and all things on earth below

There is nothing that God discovers or learns and there is nothing that surprises Him or amazes Him.

Now this thought, that God is all knowing and His knowledge is eternal is a thought that can be fearful and it can be comforting

Application: Be Fearful for God Knows All

Think of this reality dear friend,

Hebrews 4:13 (ESV)

13no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

He sees everything, He knows everything, there is no secret thought you can think, no secret deed you can do that He does not know

Whatever you are hiding from all of us, He knows

Whatever you think you’ve gotten away with, He knows

The bushes could not hide the first sinners, Adam and Eve, from His sight.

No human eye saw Cain murder his brother, but God did.

No one knew that Ananias and Sapphire lied to the church but God revealed their deception to Peter and they were struck dead on the spot

God has said that you may be sure that your sin will find you out.

There is no escaping His judgement when the time comes for you to stand before Him while He recounts every sinful thought, every sinful word, every sinful deed you ever commited. You will plead with Him to stop but, all things will be laid bare before His judgment throne until the record of your wrongs is read in full and the just punishment of your sin is declared.

May your heart be filled with fear dear friend of this certain reality - that God knows all, and may you turn from your sin, and turn to Him believing that Christ paid the punishment for every sinful word, thought and deed you have committed and will ever commit.

Repent oh friend and believe upon Christ and on that judgement day you will not fear for you will hear the voice of your God declare you to be righteous in His sight through the blood of His.

Which brings me to my second application.

Application: Be Comforted by the Knowledge of God

Be comforted by the knowledge of God for He knows when we do what is right, even when we may be falsely accused and maligned.

Be comforted for He knows when sins and injustice are done to us and will not leave the guilty unpunished.

Be comforted for He knows our tossings and turnings at night, and counts every tear that falls from our cheeks

Be comforted for He knows our weakness, and yet He is patient with us.

Be comforted for He knows our failures, yet He is faithful to His promise to forgive us.

Be comforted for He knows us with a relational, intimate, and complete knowledge.

Be comforted dear beloved for God fully, completely, entirely and intimately knows you.

So then God’s riches are deep, His wisdom is deep and His knowledge is deep. And here at the end of verse 33 we see that He is too deep for us to fully comprehend.

Unsearchable Judgements

Paul says it like this at the end verse 33 Romans 11:33

Romans 11:33 (ESV)

33…How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

God’s judgements are unsearchable.

The word judgements is a reference, not to His decisions as righteous Judge but to His decrees as Divine Ruler.

The decrees of God are His divine determinations which He foreordained from eternity past. These are His purposes which He made out of the freedom of His divine will.

As the psalmist says in Psalm 135:5-6

Psalm 135:5–6 ESV

5 For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

So too did the prophet Isaiah record Isaiah 46:9-11

Isaiah 46:9–11 NASB95

9 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.

All that has happened in the world that God has made, every aspect, every moment, and every movement of every molecule has happened and will happen because of His divine decree.

And Paul writes here that the decrees of God are unsearchable, untraceable, all together inaccessible to the human mind to determine beforehand. We can only discern the providential hand of God after His decrees are accomplished. He alone is the one who perfectly knows His purposes before He providentially performs them.

Unfathomable Ways

And Paul also writes that the ways of God are unfathomable.

Judgement refers to decrees, ways refers to His activity. His ways are His accomplishment of His eternal decrees in the space and time of history.

And when God gets to accomplishing His judgements, His ways are unfathomable.

This word literally refers to footprints that are untraceable.

And this is exactly what is expressed by the Psalmist in Psalm 77:19

Psalm 77:19 ESV

19 Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.

When God moves He leaves no foot print. When God works, He leaves no fingerprint.

His ways are untraceable, His judgements are unfathomable, His knowledge, wisdom and riches are unending as the depths of the earth. All together, Paul is painting the picture that God is transcendent high above what the eye can see and the mind can comprehend. He is eternal, omniscient, sovereign, omnipotent, and transcendent above all the creatures He has made.

Stated simply God is God and we are not!

He is Infinitely supreme over us.

Application - Stand in Awe Before This Awesome God

And dear saints, stand in awe before this Awesome God.

Stand in awe before the Holy Holy Holy Creator of the Universe who has lavished you with the infinite riches of His mercy and kindness in Christ.

Oh wonder that we can call the Unsearchable and Untraceable God our Father, that we could speak to Him and He would listen.

Marvel at the thought that the Almighty God not only knows us but He dwelled among us

That Christ condescended to take on our our flesh and be born a man so that He might know our weakness that he might be tempted as we are, that He might fulfil the Law on our behalf and die the death that we deserved.

Be amazed that the Spirit of this very God dwells within us, empowering us to be holy as He is holy, transforming us into the likeness of our Savior, preserving us from falling, keeping us until the end.

May your heart sing with the scriptures, saying,

Exodus 15:11 ESV

11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

As we sung today oh Great is our God so we should worship greatly!

Dear saint, be humbled by the supremacy and the holiness of your God.

Transition

God is supreme in that His ways are too deep to be comprehendible and God is supreme in that His ways are too high above us to be comparable.

As the prophet Isaiah declares in Isaiah 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8–9 NASB95

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

This is what we see in Paul’s second stanza, in verses 34-35, that God’s salvation reveals that He is Incomparably Supreme.

God is Incomparably Supreme - Romans 11:34-35

Romans 11:34–35 ESV

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

Here, Paul asks three rhetorical questions which he draws from Isaiah 40 and Job 41.

And these three questions relate in reverse order to God’s unlimited riches, wisdom, and knowledge.

Isaiah 40

Paul first quotes from Isaiah chapter 40. In the context of this prophecy, God is promising a new exodus to His people Israel and the text that Paul quotes He asserts His power to accomplish this deliverence by demonstrating supremacy over the idols Israel worships and the nations they trust in.

Listen as I read Isaiah 40:12-14

Isaiah 40:12–14 ESV

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Isaiah’s point was this, The knowledge of the Creator God can not be reduced to to a more manageable and more comprehendible created thing. Don’t bring God down to the level of man and his idols.

Who has Known?

And this is exactly the point Paul is make. God can not be brought down to the level of mere mortals so that we could fully know Him or seek to counsel Him.

What mortal could come to the One who knows all things, who’s knowledge is infinite and unending, Who’s ancient judgements are unsearchable, and sit him down teach him about justice and show him the pathway to understanding.

For who has fully known the mind of God?

The answer is no one.

The only thing you knew when you came into this world was nothing.

Through your parents parenting, your teachers teaching, your eyes watching, your ears hearing, your hands and feet doing, your mind studying, you learned. You had to learn everything you have ever known.

Such is not the case with God. Again as Tozer wrote, “God has never learned from anyone, God cannot learn. Could God at any time or in any manner receive into his mind knowledge that he did not possess and had not possessed from eternity, he would be imperfect and less than himself. To think of a God who must sit at the feet of a teacher, even though that teacher be an archangel or a seraph, is to think of someone other than the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth.”

Who Can Counsel?

Moreover, if the God of infinite wisdom measured the mountains, ordered the oceans, and set the boundaries of the sky What mere man should dare to counsel God on how He should run the world?

The Example of Job

This brings to mind the story of Job.

The man Job suffered more than any human being outside of Jesus Christ. God allowed Satan to test the righteous man Job by taking away his children, his wealth, and his health.

Then Job’s wife told him to curse God and die. His friends comforted him by trying to convince him that he must have done something to deserve such calamity.

And during the discussion with his friends, one of Job’s major complaints was that since he was not suffering because of some sin, God was unjustly punishing him. This led Job to question and presume the ways of God. Job 31:35

Job 31:35 (ESV)

35 Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)

And then in Job 38 God does just that - He answers Job out of the whirlwind. But instead of answering Job’s accusations, instead of sitting under his deposition, God had his own list of questions.

Job wanted to know where was God when his life fell apart. God wanted to know from Job, Job 38:4-7

Job 38:4–7 ESV

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

This goes on for 129 verses and at the end Job is completely humbled. He replies back to God, Job 42 and says I retract and I repent in dust and ashes - I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know.

God does not need our advice for His knowledge and His wisdom is far above that of ours. And God does not need our assistance either.

And this is Paul’s point in vs 35, read it with me again.

Romans 11:35 ESV

35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

Who can repay

This quote is from that very divine interrogation we just touched on in Job 41. There God declares Job 41:11

Job 41:11 ESV

11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

God doesn’t need you to help him finance his projects. Who has paid a debt a to God that it need to be repaid.

In the first citation there was warning not imagine ourselves wise enough to counsel God, or knowledgeable enough to teach Him. Here we have the waring against imagining that our works or our wealth will gain us any privilege or power over the God who owns all things.

God is indebted to no one for His riches are infinite.

We are not owed His blessing.

We can not earn His mercy.

We can not negotiate His grace.

He is not some vending machine or mathematical equation. He is the God of deep and infinite riches.

His mercy is shown to us according to His riches. His grace is unmerited for if not, it would cease to be a gift.

God does not need our advice and He does not need our assistance. Why? He is God and we are not.

Transition

Paul has shown us that He is Infinitely and Incomparably Supreme, and here in our final stanza, in verse 36, we see that God is Independently Sovereign.

God is Independently Sovereign

Secular Humanism

In our day secular humanism is no longer argued as a philosophy but merely accepted as a default truth. This philosophy argues that we are capable of establishing ethics and morality apart from God. Which is where we get the term “my truth”.

But this philosophy is as ancient as the tower of Babel or the very lie of the serpent in the ears of Eve.

It is the philosophy that ultimately teaches that we are masters of our own fate, captains of our own soul, and the very center of our own universe.

But Paul’s words in verse 36 stand in direct opposition to this idea. Secular humanism will always fall short in explaining the reality of the human experience because it doesn’t accept the fundamental reality of human beings - it is not about you.

So what is life all about? Listen to Paul’s answer

Sovereignty Over all Things

Romans 11:36 ESV

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

What this closing verse affirms is that God is in control of all things. This is an affirmation of God’s divine sovereignty. As sovereign, God is the supreme authority of heaven and earth. He has supreme authority over all things for He is the author of all things - all things are from Him and through Him and so He may do with His universe whatever is pleasing to His will - all things are to Him. All things then are dependent upon Him and He then is exclusively and independently sovereign over all.

As the late RC Sproul wrote, “If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then God is simply not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, then God is not God.”

What does it mean then for God to be God in one sentence? “For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things”

What is the unfolding of the history of the universe in one sentence? “For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things”

What is the way of salvation in one sentence? “For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things”

What is the story of your life in one sentence? “For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things”

God is the first cause of all things, the effective cause of all things, and the final cause of all things.

God is the source of all things, He is the substance of all things, and He is the significance of all things.

God originates all things, God perpetuates all things, and all things terminate in God.

God is the creator of all things, He is the sustainer of all things, and He is the end for which all things exist.

As an example of this, think of the storm that Jesus calmed after He was rudely awoken from His nap. He created that wind and those waves. He commanded that wind and those waves. And that wind and those waves existed in a storm that day so that His glory might be magnified to His disciples. All things are from Him.

To Him Be the Glory Forever

He is in control of all things and as Paul concludes, He deserves glory for all time, “to Him be the glory forever.”

If all things are from Him, He deserves all the glory.

If all things are through Him, you ought to give Him the glory.

If all things are to Him, He is worthy of all the glory forever and ever.

God’s glory is the ultimate end of God’s story.

The creation exists to display the glory of God.

We exist to make God look glorious.

All history has been decreed and designed by God to be a canvas that displays His glory.

God has magnified His mercy to Jews and Gentiles so that all men and women may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. That all mankind would join in the heavenly chorus above in saying to the sovereign God of the universe,

Rev 4:11 “11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.””

This is why God created the universe.

This is why He ordained all of History.

This is why He sent His Son.

This why you and eye live and have breath.

And the wonderful reality is that when we exist perfectly in the purpose for which we were created, when we will one day in His eternal kingdom glorify God with all of our being, all of the time, we will experience glory. Not only do we get to proclaim His goodness for all eternity, we get to taste and see that He is good for all eternity.

And this is why Paul concludes His hymn with an amen! He is longing for the ultimate and complete accomplishment of God’s Sovere

Conclusion

So then, God is worthy of all glory for His grand plan of salvation through the gospel of His Son to magnify His mercy to both the Jew and the Gentile shows His supremacy and His sovereignty over us. God is worthy of all glory for He is supreme and He is sovereign over us.

Application: Glorify Him

Therefore there is no room for boasting. There is no room for pride. There is no occasion for offering God advise or aid. The only right response of His creatures is to glorify Him.

Has He made you dear friend? Glorify Him.

Did He sustain your life this day, causing you to wake this morning, guiding you safely here, causing you to breath this very moment? Glorify Him.

Has He saved you from your sin dear brother? Has He caused you to be born again, dear sister? Did He give you the gift of faith? Has He clothed you in the righteousness of His Son? Has He sanctified you by the power of His Spirit? Will He preserve you until the end? Glorify Him.

And like I said at the beginning, our passage today is a bridge for Paul will spend the next chapters detailing how exactly we glorify God not just with the praise of our heart but with our lives which we are Romans 12:1, to present as living sacrifices as our spiritual service of worship.

Spurgeon wrote, and I will close with this, that, to glorify God, “should be the single desire of the Christian.

The Christian may desire to see his family well brought up, but only that “To God be the glory forever.”

He may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote this—“To God be the glory forever.”

He may desire to attain more gifts and more graces, but it should only be that “To God be the glory forever.”

Never be silent when there are opportunities, and you shall never be silent for want of opportunities to glorify Him.

At night fall asleep still praising your God; as you close your eyes let your last thought be, “How sweet to rest upon the Savior’s bosom!”

In afflictions praise him; out of the fires let your song go up; on the sick-bed extol him; dying, let him have your sweetest notes.

Let your shouts of victory in the combat with the last great enemy be all for him; and then when you have burst the bondage of mortality, and come into the freedom of immortal spirits, then, in a nobler, sweeter song, you shall sing unto his praise. Be this, then, your constant thought—“To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Let’s pray

Benediction

Forever shall His praise be sung. And He is so worthy of our all praise and glory for He is supreme and He is sovereign over us.

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.