Our text again from Romans 11, 33 to 36, "...O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor? For who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? For from him and through him and to him are all things To Him be the glory forever. Whenever I read this part of God's Holy Word, I can't help but remember the time I climbed a mountain out in the state of Colorado. You went up higher and higher and higher up this great mountain, and you wondered if you'd ever reach the top of it, and then finally you came out on this tremendous pinnacle where you could see several states of the United States of America, and you could look down upon all that had gone before, and it was something truly awe-inspiring and wonderful. Well, that's exactly what you have here in Romans chapter 11, verses 33 to 36. You have Paul coming, as it were, to the very pinnacle of God's divine revelation. And he has been like a man climbing a great mountain, and he has gone over these great doctrines of the Christian faith in the first eleven chapters of the Book of Romans. And I wonder if you've ever noticed how the doctrines of the Book of Romans are the very doctrines that we have been looking at here in our survey of the Articles of the Canons of Dortmund. If you go back to Romans chapter 1 and chapter 2 and the first part of chapter 3, you have one of the most massive statements in all the Bible of the doctrine of man's depravity. He begins by showing historically what has happened to the human race, as man didn't like to have God in his knowledge, and he turned away from God, and his imagination became dark, exchange the glory of the incorruptible God and worship the creature and all the rest of it, and then went down into a moral cesspool, as it were, and then he ends that passage by saying that all the world stands guilty before God. And he goes on through these great doctrines that we have been dealing with right here in this series of messages on the Cans of Dort until he comes to chapters 9, 10, and 11 in the Book of Romans, where he deals with this awesome subject of God's absolute sovereignty. And you remember how he talks about Jacob and Esau. He goes on to talk about Pharaoh, and he says, whom the Lord wills to have mercy upon, he has mercy upon them, and whom the Lord wills to harden them, he hardens. And then he goes into this mysterious reality of God's having hardened the vast majority of the very people who considered themselves to be his covenant people in order that we might have the election of grace. And so having worked his way up, as it were, over these great doctrines of God's absolute sovereignty and the doctrines of salvation by God's pure grace, he comes here to the very pinnacle of God's revealed truth, and suddenly he stops and he says, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways." And then he goes on and says, "...for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever." Now, if you'll analyze that, you'll notice that there are two things there that are really amazing in the fact that they are put together. And one of them is what we might call the incomprehensibility of God, and the other At the same time, the clarity of his divine revelation. Now, do you know what I mean by the incomprehensibility of God? Well, I mean by that that there is something always in God's manifestation of himself and of his truth which is beyond our ability to fully understand. We just can't quite reach to the bottom of it. Our limited, finite minds just can't really take it all in. You know, there's a lot of that in the Christian faith. Take the doctrine of the Trinity, for example. Now, that doctrine should be perfectly clear to you. You should be able to state what it is, and you'd say, well, I know what the doctrine of the Trinity is. It's perfectly clear to me. There's one only living and true God. There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one God. And they are the same in substance and equal in power and glory. But when you stop and really think what you are saying, clear as it may be, you have to say, oh, the death. Because who can really fathom, ultimately comprehend fully, the wonder of it all? That there is one divine being, and in that one divine being, three persons equal in power and glory. the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Take the doctrine of the Incarnation, for example. Now, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of God's elect, though He eternally was second person of the Godhead, yet He became man. And as the Shorter Catechism puts it, and so He was and continues to be, right now, God and man in two distinct natures in one person forever. Now, that's a tremendous truth. I understand it, but I don't comprehend it. I know what that doctrine is, and I know it very clearly. He is fully man. He was tempted in all points like we are. He's fully God, equal with the Father, so that Thomas falls down and says, My Lord and my God. But how is it possible that you can have a single person who is both divine and human at the same time? There is something in that that goes beyond our ability to fully comprehend. I remember one of my professors used to tell us, gentlemen, you always have to remember to emphasize these two little words, that and how. And he said, you always have to remember that you can know the that, but you cannot know the how. And then he would say something like this, you know as Christians, if you accept the Bible as the word of God, you know that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, but you don't know how. And you know that God is able to raise spiritually dead men by the mighty power of his Holy Spirit in what we call regeneration, but you don't know how. You know that the Bible came to us by divine inspiration, that holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, so that every single word of the Bible, even though it came to us through Paul and Peter and John and all the rest of them, is absolutely infallible and inerrant. You know that this is so, but you don't know how. And so wherever you touch the Christian faith, you have to keep saying, well, I know that this is true, But I don't know how. I can't reach the bottom of it, as it were. I can't fully comprehend it within the limits of my human understand. And if you've really been thinking about these doctrines as I've been expounding them, this must have come to you again and again. Take, for example, the doctrine of man's depravity. Now, I can understand that man is, by nature, totally depraved. I can understand that every thought of the intent of man's heart is only evil continually. But when you start asking me the how, then I have to admit that I'm beyond my depth. How does it come that I am this way? I don't understand the mystery of my being in Adam when he sinned. I can't fathom and explain how I sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression, can you? Nor can I understand how, if I'm dead in trespasses and sins by nature, I can be responsible. And God can say that I am responsible to repent and believe, and He can command me, even though I'm dead in sin, that I must come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I must repent. There's something there that goes way beyond my power and ability to explain. And that's what we're talking about when we talk about the incomprehensibility of God. There's a depth there that you can't measure. There's an aspect of the truth that you can't fathom and explain. You can't work it all out in your human mind. Take this whole business of election and reprobation. Now, I can understand very clearly what the Bible is saying when it says, he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he wills he hardens. I have no difficulty in understanding that God loved Jacob. and hated Esau. But when you start working on the how part of it, how can God say that man is responsible when already his eternal destiny is determined before the world even begins? How can you say that man has real freedom? How can you say that he is the one to blame if he goes to eternal destruction, if God has an eternal decree? Well, I can't work that one out. I'm not able to fully explain that. Because as soon as I touch the truth of God at any point, and it's really the truth of God, really His revelation, I'm up against this element of mystery, you see. The doctrine of Scripture, I just said, I can't explain the how of it. The doctrine of the Trinity, I can't explain the how of it. And the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty is over against man's spiritual condition. I can't understand fully and comprehend to the depth and explain to the satisfaction of man's limited, finite reason. I can't do it. But I'll tell you something else. John Calvin couldn't either. And neither could the great Church Father Augustine. But far more important Neither could the inspired Apostle Paul. That's why, suddenly, after he comes to the end of his discussion of these great truths, he, just as much as you or I, he has to stop and say, Oh, the depth, see? Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable, not for God, of course, because the Bible says God searches all things. The Holy Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God, but for Paul it's unsearchable. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable are his ways. Three times in that one verse Paul is saying, it's beyond my depth. I can't get to the bottom of it. I can't fully comprehend it and work it all out. And yet, you must always remember to distinguish this from the idea of obscurity. Let me try to illustrate what I mean. I was down in the South Island a couple of years ago, that lovely spot called Queenstown. If you've ever been down there, you may have been impressed as I was by the tremendous beauty of that lake and the almost unbelievable purity of the water in it. I was standing there by this old steamer that goes out with people to take them for a ride, and I looked down, and to my amazement, I could see right to the bottom of that lake. I could see right down there, all the little stones and all the rest of it. But if you asked me, how deep is it, I wouldn't have had any idea how deep it was. I couldn't have fathomed it. I couldn't have said, well, it's ten feet deep, or twenty, or a hundred, it might have been more, I don't know. I couldn't measure the depth of it, but I could see clearly what is there, and that's the way it is with Paul here in our text. He is not saying that the truth of God is fuzzy. He's not saying that the truth of God is obscure, like you're looking at a kind of fog. Not at all. That's not what incomprehensibility means. He means you can see it clear as a bell, and that's the very thing that makes you stand in awe and wonder. And you can see that from what he goes on to say in verse 36. For the thing that made him say this, O the deaf, was the fact that he saw so clearly the essence of the Christian gospel. And he sums it up for us in these words. And if you want to know what the Synod of Dort was all about, And if you want to remember the heart and core of everything that's in the canons of Dort, here is what it is. From him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Now that's really what it's all about. And you know, you can see this, by way of analogy, by way of illustration, also in what we might call God's original creation. Do you ever stop and think about that? Now, you can easily apply that text to God's original creation, because it is perfectly true that all things came from Him. The Bible says, without Him, there was nothing that is made that was made. The shorter Catechism says, God's work of creation is his making all things of nothing in the space of six days, and all very good. All things. There are only two categories, you see, of reality, and one is the divine being, and he has existed eternally, and everything else, all creatures and all things, were created by God. Only two things there are, the uncreated and the created. And so it is really true that all things come from God. God made the whole universe, He made man, He created the angels, He created all things. There's not anything that exists outside of God Himself that He didn't make. So it's all from Him. And then we go on in the Shorter Catechism, we talk about God's works of providence. Any of you children remember what God's works of providence are? Well, they are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. And so that means that at every moment of time, everything in the universe that has existence is being sustained through him. That's even true of the devil. The devil wouldn't exist for one moment if God did not ordain and decree and sustain him in existence, because there is no such thing as a self-existent creature. No, there isn't any such thing. But you and I, not the holy angels, the only self-existent being is Almighty God Himself. And so it is through Him, the Bible says, He upholds all things by the word of His power. That's right, God upholds all things. Even the devil, that's why the Bible says God has even created the wicked man for the day of judgment. Don't you ever doubt it. Satan exists today because God sustained Satan in existence for his wise and good purposes. So you see, we can see these things very clearly. But again, the mystery. How deep is that truth? Well, I don't know how deep that truth is. I've never been able to see to the bottom of that one. But I know it's so. And so we can say, with regard to the first creation, it all came from God, it is all sustained through His mighty power, His providential working, and it is all sustained for His purpose, because the Bible says that God has a plan for this universe, and that He is working all things according to the counsel of His will to that great destiny which He has for it. And then, of course, you come to the new creation. And if you can say with regard to the first creation of him and through him and to him are all things, you can say it a hundred times more when it comes to the new creation which we have in Jesus Christ. You name me one thing with respect to the Christian faith. The provision for our eternal salvation which didn't come from God. Where did the Bible come from? It came from God. Where did the prophets that we read about in the Bible come from? They came from God. Where did Jesus Christ, the Savior who died on Calvary's cross, where did He come from? Well, He came from God. And so everything that pertains to man's eternal salvation, it came from God, didn't it? The only thing that didn't come from God was your sin. And that's the very thing that you need to be saved from. For all the provision that God has made for the salvation of man, it all came from Him. Who has first given to Him? that it might be paid back to him again. The moment you stop and think of it, you have to say, well, I realize this, it's all God's provision. And then you see, it's not only the fact that God has provided these things, but it is through his work that they benefit us. Through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that my sin is taken away. Through the work and the operation of the Holy Spirit that I am made to be a believer, and I'm brought from death unto life, and I'm brought into union with Christ and kept in union with Christ. For he who has begun a good thing in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. And all of this is for the Lord's own honor and glory. So you see, Paul is not saying when He says, oh, the depth. He's not saying, I can't see it clearly. No, it's the very opposite. He's saying, I see it so clearly that I'm just amazed and astounded. And that's true, you know. It's the more clearly you understand the doctrines of the Christian faith, the more you have them sharply in focus, that you are constrained to utter the words of wonder. It's not obscurity. that makes you say that. That's why too many people today don't say it. They're not really impressed with the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, because they really don't understand what it's all about. They don't grasp sound doctrine. It's when you do that you really begin to see the wonder, and you are amazed. And then you say, how unsearchable are his judgments, and how unfathomable are his ways. Well, that's a good test, you see, of whether or not I've been preaching the gospel to you. Over the past eleven weeks, have you ever stopped and said, oh, the death. See, if I've really made clear what this is all about, even one of these great doctrines, like the doctrine of irresistible grace, if I ever really made that clear to you so you could see it like the light of the sun, you must have said within your heart, oh, the death. or the unfathomableness or the unsearchableness of this tremendous thing that God has done. Have you felt that? If you haven't, well, then I've certainly failed to communicate to you the truths of this glorious gospel. But now, supposing that I have communicated it to you By the grace of God, you have said in your own heart, without even thinking of the fact that you were quoting a text out of Romans 11. Supposing you did, when you were listening to an exposition of the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty, you were suddenly constrained to say, Oh, the wonder of it! Oh, the depth of the riches of it! Well, then what? Well, then you're going to understand why Paul the Apostle concluded what he had to say here. with the last few words of our text. To Him be the glory forever. Now, you know, again, the Shorter Catechism says that man's chief end is to glorify God. That's not all it says, but it says that to start with. Now, what that means is that every one of you here is going to glorify God, because that's what you were made for. Do you know that? you're going to glorify God, one way or the other. Now there's two ways you can glorify God. The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth his handiwork. The heavens do not declare the glory of God because they desire to do so, because they are inanimate objects. They do not have intelligence. And the firmament, the trees out there and the grass and so on and the hills and the mountains, they glorify God without doing so willingly and voluntarily because they are inanimate objects. So you see, you don't have to be willing to glorify God to glorify God. Did you know that Satan is going to glorify God? He sure is. And did you know that all men who are lost forever and in hell forever, they're going to glorify God? Because, you see, glorify means to manifest the attributes of God. That's how you glorify God. If God's greatness and His majesty is revealed in you, then you're glorifying God. That's how the heavens do it, you see, because you look at the heavens and God's majesty is displayed there, it's revealed there. And if you're in hell, I can guarantee you, forever you will glorify God because there will be revealed in you the marvelous attribute of God's holiness and justice. But what a tragedy if you have to spend eternity glorifying God as an object of His wrath and damnation. How much more wonderful to have the experience that Paul did. He came to see the truth, and then to be amazed at it, and then to rejoice in it. And he wanted God to be glorified. And he said, to him be the glory forever. And you know, that's the heart and soul of a true response to God's divine revelation. And the wonderful part of that is that you not only glorify God then, but you also enjoy Him forever. You really enjoy glorifying God. It delights you to do it. And you say, well, that's just exactly what I want to do throughout all eternity. I want to praise God. Only then, you see, when you do it willingly, you're not worth that object who is negatively under his wrath and damnation in hell, but you are pleased. pour out your heart in adoration and praise to the living God. And why do you say to Him be the glory forever? Well, because it's from Him, and it's through Him, and it's to Him. There's not one iota in it of any praise for me. There's not one iota in it of any work of me. Well, that's what the Synod at Dort was all about. It was all about what you read right there in Romans 11.36. And if you really understand that one text alone, then you understand what that great Reformation Synod was all about. And you know, that's the great thing about these doctrines. You can't be neutral about them. You really can't. You're either going to hate them, and you're going to take a stand over against them, or you're finally going to see it like I saw the depth of that lake down there in the South Island, and you're going to just be amazed and constrained to adoration and wonder because of the greatness of God. I know because I once hated these doctrines myself, and then one day I saw in them the glory and the greatness of God, and everything changed. And from that day to this, I have rejoiced in those doctrines because I rejoice in the God who is revealed in them, and I want to glorify Him. I hope you do, too, and that God will give you the grace to do it the way Paul did at this summit here in the Book of Romans. May God grant it. Amen. We thank you now, Lord, for giving us the privilege and opportunity of thinking through these great doctrines of our faith. We need, O Lord, your Spirit's blessing that the impression of them may be deepened in our hearts, that we may be constrained to that adoration and praise that Paul himself came to experience and to express here by divine inspiration. We pray then, Lord, that you will lead us more and more to magnify your great name and to so glorify you that we may also enjoy you and your glory forever. This we ask for Jesus' sake. Amen. ...faith, but no depth in it. Well, you see, in contrast to all that is the faith that is talked about in our If you are born again, and God is reserving an inheritance for you, and he's preserving you for that inheritance, then he's going to do it through faith.