To Him Be The Glory | Romans 11:33-36
Notes
Transcript
[Scripture Reading]
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Good morning. If you don’t know me, my name is David Wood and I have the honor of serving as the Worship and Student Pastor here at Connection Church Athens. You’ll usually see me up here with a guitar in my hand or behind that drum set, but this morning Liam had something different in mind.
Now before we dive into our scripture for this morning, I want us to remember back to the first 3 chapters of Romans. In Romans 1-3, Paul shows us that God treats Jews and Gentiles (or non-Jews) the same when it comes to sin.
In the latter half of chapter 1, Paul displays the idolatry of the gentiles. He says that God gave them over to their passions because they exchanged the truth for a lie; they worshipped the creature rather than the Creator.
Then in chapters 2 through the first half to 3, Paul says the Jews are no different. The Jews judge others with the Law yet they break it all the time. Then in Romans 3:10, Paul says:
Romans 3:10–12 (NASB95)
… “There is none righteous, not even one;
11 There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
So both Jews and Gentiles have this sin problem. The Gentiles completely reject the truth of God while the Jews use it as a way to judge others without repenting of their own sin. All of which is not glorifying to God. It’s glorifying man. The gentiles hoping for prosperity from man-made gods and the Jews pompously thinking they can somehow earn the righteousness of God.
And the purpose of Paul writing this is to show us that all of humanity is sinful. Without Christ, we all reject God.
And I mean we see these same attitudes that the Jews and Gentiles had today as well. Much of our culture completely rejects the gospel. And I don’t just mean America as a whole, I mean within the Bible Belt as well. There are many people who say they know Jesus yet couldn’t be farther from Him. They live to please themselves Monday through Saturday and put up a face on Sunday to show others they’re sold out for Jesus.
And we also have many people who think of Christianity as this set of rules to follow. Preaching condemnation to sinners behind the pulpit and leaving out the grace of Jesus shown to us on the cross. Looking at the outside world like they’re doomed without taking a look at the mess in their own heart.
Even people who are saved; we often do things that bring glory to ourselves instead of God.
So our goal this morning is to look inward. I want us to ask ourselves who we’re giving glory to in our lives. I must confess that this passage has helped me see the idolatry in my own life the past few weeks. The large block of TV time I’ve allowed myself while my Bible sits on the other side of the room collecting dust. The microwaved prayers I say while I’m rushing to get ready. We’re in this together.
So let’s dive in. Let’s figure this out together.
1. God can’t be understood by man (11:33-34).
1. God can’t be understood by man (11:33-34).
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
Explanation
So in Romans we’ve learned so much about the doctrine of God. We’ve talked about who we are, who God is, what exactly Jesus did for us on the cross, and how this is all woven together in this beautiful story known as the gospel. We’ve also talked about Israel’s role in all this, the role of the gentiles, there’s so much here.
And our passage this morning is what we call a doxology. It’s an expression of praise to God. And this particular doxology is meant to be a close to the first 11 chapters of Romans. Chapter 12 to the end of the book is meant to be an application of all this doctrine we’ve been learning.
So this passage is essentially Paul’s response to all of these wonderful things we’ve been learning about God. Have y’all ever watched a really good movie and afterwards just talked about how great it is with others? That’s how I imagine this passage. Paul has been describing the beautiful ways of God and he just takes a minute for 4 verses and just praises God for how great He is.
And he makes this so evident right out of the gate in verse 33. The way this literally reads in the Greek is, “Oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God.” So we see Paul celebrate three characteristics of God. The depth of His riches, His wisdom, and His knowledge.
Another letter where Paul talks about the riches of Christ is in Ephesians. Ephesians 3:6 says…
6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.
So these riches are the inheritance given to Jesus and now to us if we belong to Christ. And Paul is writing here in Romans that these are riches we can’t fathom.
He then writes about the wisdom and knowledge of God. These words seem so close to one another, but when you apply them you see two very different characteristics of God.
Speaking to God’s knowledge. God knows everything. He can number every star across the universe and can see the smallest bit of information in our DNA. He knows it all. That also means He knows your struggles. He knows your mind so much more than you do. He knows the nature of every human mind.
And so this story that we see throughout the old and new testament; from Genesis the very beginning and Revelation the very end was crafted by a God who knows what is best. And that’s where wisdom comes in.
God’s knowledge is referring to God knowing everything. God’s wisdom is referring to the way that knowledge is used. For example, knowledge is knowing how to use a gun, but wisdom is knowing when to use it and when to put it away.
So the way history has played out through creation, the fall, the old covenant, the gospel, it was crafted by the infinitely wise God of all things. And this is so evident when you read the Bible.
If the Bible were not historically accurate, then it is 100% the greatest story ever told. Think about it. If that’s the case then multiple authors came together and wrote all these books from all these different genres to somehow tell one unifying story in which each book affirms all the others.
Even if you take my faith, my experiences, my heart change out of the equation, you can’t convince me that the Bible is not historically true. Because I’m convinced there’s no way humans could’ve come up with this. It could’ve only been inspired from an infinitely wise God. “Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!”
Paul goes on to write that the judgments of God are unsearchable and His ways unfathomable. This makes me curious as to what it would be like to be Jewish in the time between the Old and New Testament. Imagine living amongst the Jewish people in this period. God has done all of these miraculous things for Israel and you know that Israel is this chosen nation from God. And all these prophets come through and talk of this Messiah that’s coming and to repent of their sin. Then they sat in this limbo state for 400 years. What did they think God’s plan would be with this Messiah?
Well it seems based on the gospels they were expecting this great military leader. This savior that would come and conquer Rome and finally free them from their oppressors. But I doubt there’s a single person that would’ve expected what we see play out in the gospels. No one could’ve have predicted this. All we can do is look back on it and think, “Man that was awesome, I can’t wait to see what’s next.”
Moving on to verse 34, Paul references the Old Testament and writes…
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
This is actually a reference to Isaiah 40. I want to read real quick verses 12 through 14 of Isaiah 40…
Isaiah 40:12–14 (NASB95)
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of [God’s] hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has informed Him?
14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?
And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge
And informed Him of the way of understanding?
This is one of those passages in the Old Testament that conveys this huge reverence for God. God has marked off the heavens, measured the dust of the Earth, weighed the mountains in a balance, who could be His counselor? The answer is no one.
Illustration
I say all of this because I want to show you how awesome God is. The depth of His riches, knowledge, and wisdom means we can’t fathom His ways or somehow add something to His wisdom. God is so great, and because He is this infinitely wise being, sometimes He’s gonna do stuff that we don’t understand.
Do any of y’all have a dog? Raise your hand if you have a dog. My dog’s name is Copper. She’s a little mini Australian Shepherd. There’s one thing that Copper loves most in this world. And it’s not me.
I’ve got it right over here. If you can’t make out what this is, it is what used to be a perfectly functioning tennis ball. Then Copper happened. Even though it is a shell of it’s former self, if I threw this in our house, Copper would run after it like it was her life’s work. Playing ball might as well be her very purpose in life.
About a month ago, I found out that Copper had split one of her teeth. And the vet told me that she was not allowed to play ball until the tooth was removed and her stitches had dissolved. And that was probably the worst 3 weeks of Copper’s life. She would constantly walk up to me with a ball and drop it at my feet wanting me to throw it. And for her well-being, I had to grab it and put it away.
I’m sure during those 3 weeks she was not very happy with me. But if I had let her play with the ball, there’s a chance that split tooth could’ve caused her pain and possibly caused even more damage. She wanted to play with the ball, but I knew better. I knew the damage playing ball could cause.
Application
In the same way, God, infinite in wisdom and knowledge, knows better than we do. So many people have questioned God, honestly I’m sure every person, including myself, has questioned God at some point in their life. “Why do some people go to hell? Why can’t I do the things I wanna do? Why can’t life just be a little easier?”
He knows better. And that means some things we’re just not gonna be able to explain because we’re finite beings and God is an infinite being, but that’s the beauty of faith. Trusting that God is in control and that He is working all things for the good of those who love Him. And that brings us comfort when we don’t understand.
Moving on to verse 35, it says…
Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?
Which brings us to our next point…
2. God can’t be indebted to man (11:35).
2. God can’t be indebted to man (11:35).
Explanation
Verse 35 is actually a reference to the book of Job. For those that have read the book of Job, you know that he had a rough go of it. In the first 2 chapters of the book, Job loses his family, his wealth, he gets boils all over him. It gets so bad that his wife says this in Job 2:9…
Job 2:9 (NASB95)
9 … “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”
He’s had a rough time. Then most of the book is spent with Job and three of his friends debating why this happened to him. His friends hold to this position that God is punishing Job for a wicked act that he has done while Job does a lot of lamenting and feeling sorry himself. He even questions why God would do this to him. So from chapter 3 all the way through 31, Job and his friends have this back and forth.
Then this guy named Elihu shows up and rebukes Job and his friends in chapters 32 through 37 because Job’s friends have this skewed view of God’s justice and Job has been feeling sorry for himself and questioning God.
And in Job 35:7, Elihu says this…
7 If you are good, is this some great gift to him?
What could you possibly give him?
Elihu basically tells Job that no good he does is a gift to God that deserves something in return. And God Himself shows up later in the book of Job and says the same thing. In Job 41:11, God says…
11 Who has given me anything that I need to pay back?
Everything under heaven is mine.
No one can do a good thing and expect a repayment from God. Everything is His.
You see God has blessed each of us beyond what we could possibly give in return. Even if you take the cross out of the equation, God created you, He provided everything good you have, He created nature for us to enjoy, the sun for heat, the Earth itself, then you add what He did for us on the cross, there’s no possible way we can repay Him.
Illustration
Let’s think for a moment like our good deeds and our bad deeds are like a bank account. Every time we do something bad we lose money and every time we do something good we gain money. The sheer nature of humanity means that everyone on this Earth would be in severe debt. And there would be no way to turn it around, we’d all continually for the rest of our lives be plummeting further and further into debt.
But what God did for us is incredible.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
He didn’t just pay the debt of our sin. Oh no. He said, “My bank account is your bank account.” And when He died on that cross, He took our debt with Him. A God infinite in righteousness said, “I’m not just getting you out of debt, we’re opening up a joint checking account and my money is your money.”
Y’all remember verse 33? “Oh, the depth of the riches of God.” God is so rich in His righteousness and He now has given that to us.
Application
So when we walk through trials. When we face a difficult stage in life. It’s not unfair. Actually it is unfair. It’s unfair that the God of the universe had to send His Son to become a human to die so you and I could have eternal life.
But God loves you and wants a relationship with you. And He did it for you anyway. All we can do is be thankful. We couldn’t possibly repay Him. All we can do is live our life joyfully proclaiming the Word of God.
I love the song Gratitude by Brandon Lake. In the chorus it says…
“I know it’s not much,
but I have nothing else fit for a King
Except for a heart singing hallelujah”
Which brings us to our third point.
3. All things are for God’s glory, not man’s (11:36).
3. All things are for God’s glory, not man’s (11:36).
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Explanation
What a verse. Can we go to the Romans title slide real quick? As you can see this verse is very important to the book of Romans. Because the purpose of what Paul has been showing us in this book is that no matter what happens God deserves glory.
I wanna take a few minutes and just show y’all this theme throughout the book of Romans. Y’all ready? Alright chapter 1… Y’all thought we were just covering 4 verses this morning. Nah, we’re running the whole book back again.
Chapter 1, we see that the gentiles (or non-Jews) have rejected God and set up idols in place of God. So God gave them over to their desire to replace the truth for a lie.
And it’s the same deal in chapters 2 and 3 with the Jews. The Jews decided to follow a religious law system and not actually seek God. They want to try to earn their merit before God instead of actually seeking after Him. But God is glorified through His judgment of sinners. So no matter if it’s the gentiles openly rejecting the Law or the Jews using it to puff themselves up, God is still brought glory through His judgment of sinners Because it displays His righteousness.
But Paul has another reason for showing us that Jews and gentiles alike are all sinners. He’ll reveal this in more detail in chapter 9.
In chapter 4, Paul writes that Abraham had faith in God that He would keep His promise.
20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,
And we also have been given the opportunity to become descendants of Abraham by putting our faith in Jesus and being saved. All of which gives glory to God as it says in Romans 4:20.
Chapter 5. We have hope in Jesus because even though Adam brought sin into the world through his own sin, Jesus’ grace abounded all the more providing salvation to all who would accept Him. Bringing glory to God.
In chapters 6 and 7 Paul explains that believers have died to their flesh and now live for God. And baptism is this beautiful picture of this. As we go down into the water we demonstrate that we have died to our sin, are purified by the blood of Jesus, and rise back up as instruments of righteousness for the glory of God. This doesn’t necessarily mean the law was bad, but it could not bring righteousness. It could only show us how we fall short of God’s glory. Yet through Jesus we are saved from our sin and can bring glory to God.
In chapter 8 we see that the Spirit of Life (or the Holy Spirit) is how this is possible. The Spirit helps us in the weakness of our flesh. We are still sinful human beings, but God sealed us into His family through the giving of His Spirit. Through the Spirit moving in us we can take the gospel to others and live lives that bring glory to God.
But remember Israel and God’s promise with them? What’s gonna happen with them? Is God done with them? That’s what chapters 9 through 11 are about.
Chapter 9 shows us that God will harden whom He desires and have mercy on whom He desires. Now you might be thinking, “Well that’s not fair. Why will He save some and not others?” Well let’s read verses 20-23.
Romans 9:20–23 (NASB95)
20 … who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
Everyone, including the Israelites, were sinners. Remember in the beginning of Romans where Paul showed us that all people, Jews and gentiles alike, are sinners? Well God showed patience with Israel and the gentiles and showed mercy to them by sending Jesus to provide a way of salvation to them. This is to make known the riches of His glory. Which means that God is glorified through His mercy to sinners.
Paul further explains this in chapter 10. Romans 10:12-13 says…
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And in Romans 11 up until our passage this morning Paul shows us that this doesn’t mean God is done with the Jews entirely. He is using this temporary hardening of their hearts to bring salvation to the gentiles. And through this revival amongst the gentiles, the Jews will see what God is doing through the Savior they rejected, become jealous, and put their faith in Jesus themself. Oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God.
That is Romans up to this point. And it displays to us how wise God is. How deserving of glory He is. All culminating to this doxology. And you can pretty much sum all of Romans up in verse 36. From Him. Through Him. And to Him are all things.
We are all created from Jesus. ALL things were created from Him. From our DNA to the giant stars across the universe. From the tiny ant to the blue whale.
Colossians 1:16 (NASB95)
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities…
Everything was created from Him.
Yet we also live through Him. Continuing in that same passage in Colossians 1, verse 17 says…
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Not only was everything created from Him, but everything also is held together by Him. Think of the millions, maybe even billions of ways this Earth could have ended over the course of history. Even all the ways it could end right now. The Earth isn’t still standing because of random chance. Jesus is holding it all together.
Think back to what we just saw in the book of Romans. All of history that has happened THROUGH Jesus was to demonstrate how glorious He is. We as vessels meant for destruction have been shown incredible mercy by God. Through the Law our sin was made known. We were shown exactly how short of God’s glory we come. Yet God, so rich in mercy, provided the way of salvation through Christ Jesus. Demonstrating His beautiful grace.
All of this is to bring glory to Jesus. When you look out at all He has created, ponder how beautifully He has orchestrated history, you can’t help but think of how glorious Jesus is. He truly is deserving of all the glory.
Application
I’m gonna call the band back up to the stage.
Whatever stage of life you’re in. Whether you’re in rebellion to God in your sin, whether you’re enjoying the blessings God has given you, or you’re facing a difficult trial that is leaving you hopeless, there’s only one way any of us can respond in our lives. And it’s right here at the end of our passage. To Him be the glory forever.
To the one enjoying the blessings God has given you. Remember the One that gave you those blessings. Rejoice in the fact that God didn’t just save you from your sin, but He also provides you blessings today. And use this time of blessing to bring glory to Him.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;
To the one facing a difficult trial. Don’t lose hope. Just as God is not abandoning Israel, His chosen nation, He will not abandon you.
Romans 5:3–5 (NASB95)
3 … we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The hope that Christ provides will not disappoint. He is walking with you through this time.
And finally, to the one living in sin, don’t you see how glorious God is? Don’t you see how magnificient His glory is? Why wouldn’t you want to draw closer to Him? The sin in your life is only going to bring you temporary gratification. But following after God… it leads to eternal peace and joy. He doesn’t deserve being replaced by idols. He doesn’t deserve anyone living in rebellion to Him. He deserves your whole heart. He deserves you living a life in devotion to Him. Bringing glory to Him.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
My purpose this morning and Liam and Jamie’s purpose in every sermon we preach is not to give you your weekly dose of Jesus. The purpose is to show you how great God is so that you can seek after Him every day.
I think of a balloon. When we blow up a balloon with our mouths, the balloon will always fall to the ground. The only way to keep it from hitting the ground is to continue hitting it up. But if we fill the balloon up with helium, it rises on its own.
Someone else can’t be your entire relationship with Jesus. This sermon, every Sunday sermon can’t be your entire relationship with Jesus. If that was the case it would be me, Liam, or whoever is up here preaching just continually smacking you to keep you up. And I’m sure you don’t want that. To be honest with you I was always bad at that game anyway so if you trusted me with that, you’d be hitting the ground pretty quick.
No, instead I want you to be full of the Word of God. I want you to be full of biblical community in Connect Group. I want you to be full of prayer. And I want you to continually keep rising on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and when you come back Sunday I wanna hear about how you shared the gospel with your coworker and they got saved. I wanna hear about how you finally got over that sinful habit that terrorized you for years. I want you to be full of helium, not the air that I can give you.
That is what we are called to. That is what brings glory to God.
[Let’s pray]