Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 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?” 36 For from him and through him and to him
are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Today we complete our six-year journey through Romans 1-11.
We’ve seen the terribly sinful condition of our
hearts—and the hearts of all humanity—in Romans 1-3:19;
and the great work of Christ on the cross to provide a
righteousness and a sacrifice so that we could be justified by
faith alone apart from works of the law in Romans 3:20-5:21; and
the mighty sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to conquer sin and
make us secure in the love of Christ in Romans 6-8; and then the
great defense of the God’s sovereign grace and
promise-keeping faithfulness in Romans 9-11, climaxing now with the
stunning words in Romans 11:32, “God has consigned all to
disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”

Response of Praise for Romans 1-11

And in response to all this revelation of the ways and judgments
of God, Paul breaks into explicit wonder and praise in Romans
11:33-36:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 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?’ 36 For from him and through him and to him
are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

This is where God wants us to be when we have heard Romans 1-11.
Amazed at mercy, and worshipping God through Jesus Christ. This is
the response that will make us able to live out the practical moral
demands of Romans 12-15.

Morality in the Christian life is not simply the willpower to do
right things, because God has the authority to command them.
Christian morality is the overflow of worshipping the sovereign,
merciful God. Christian life is the fruit of a mind and heart
transformed by seeing and savoring the all-sufficiency and
sovereignty and mercy of God revealed in Jesus Christ. That will
become plain as soon as we turn to chapter 12.

Lingering Over the Praises of Romans 11:33-36

But for now we linger one more time over the praises of
Paul’s heart here at the end of chapter 11.

Verse 33a

We saw last time that the riches and wisdom and the knowledge of
God are unfathomably deep (v. 33a). No matter how far down into
God’s wealth or into God’s wisdom or into God’s
knowledge you go, you never get beneath God. There is no
explanation for anything beneath God. There is nothing beneath God.
And there is nothing above God. And there is nothing decisive over
against God between his depths and his heights.

Verse 36 - Verse
35

And that is why Paul says in verse 36, “For from him and
through him and to him are all things.” And this truth leads
to the truth of verse 35, “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?” Answer: Nobody. In other words, you
can’t give to God anything that is not already his. If you
could, he would owe you. But you can’t. So he doesn’t
owe you anything. And never will. All things are from him and
through him. He is absolutely free.

Verse 35 - Verse
34

This also leads Paul to say in verse 34, “Who has known
the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” Answer
again: Nobody. In other words, not only can’t you give God a
gift that he doesn’t already own; you can’t give him
advice he doesn’t already know. For from him and through him
are all things.

Verse 34 - Verse
33b

Which leads Paul to say in verse 33b: “How unsearchable
are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” In other
words, since God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge are very
deep, so that we can’t give him anything he doesn’t
have, or tell him anything he doesn’t know, it is no wonder
that we are often confounded, bewildered, perplexed, and amazed by
the ways and the judgments of God.

Verses 33-35 - Verse
36

The final design and effect of it all is at the end of verse 36:
All things are not only from him and through, but also “to
him.” Therefore, “To him be glory forever.” Our
lives are to be lived willingly to the glory of God. Or we will
serve his glory unwillingly in our damnation. We are created and
called to make the beauty and greatness of God known in the world.
Our reason for being is to make much of God, and bring all the
nations to confess that Jesus is Lord “to the glory of God
the Father” (Philippians 2:11).

An Outline of This Message: Five Steps

So that is the outline of the message today:

Based on what we saw last time, that God’s riches and
wisdom and knowledge are unfathomably deep; therefore:

1. all things are from him and through him;
therefore

2. no one can give a gift to God so as to make him a debtor;
and

3. no one can give any counsel to God about how he should do
things; which is why

4. his ways and judgments are unsearchable and inscrutable to
our finite minds; so that, finally,

5. we should give all glory to God, and be content with an
utterly dependent Christ-exalting happiness in God.

Let’s take these five steps one at a time.

1. All Things Are From, Through, and To God

First, because God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge are
unfathomably deep, verse 36 is true: “From him and through
him . . . are all things.” I take this to mean that the
ultimate origin or the ultimate cause or the ultimately decisive
reason for everything is God. Everything is dependent for its
existence on God—at its beginning and all the way along
(from him and through him).

Ephesians 1:11 puts it like this: “[God] works all things
according to the counsel of his will.” Romans 9:16 puts it
like this: “So then it depends not on human will or
exertion,but on God, who has mercy.” Proverbs 16:33 puts it
like this, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every
decision is from the Lord.”All things are from him
and through him” means that there is no explanation for what
is or what happens that is deeper or more
decisive than God. This is what we mean when we say that God is
absolutely sovereign.

The devil is not co-eternal with God, and he is not ultimately
independent of God. His existence and all that comes from
it—so much of the evil in the world—depends on
God’s willing him to exist and allowing him moment by moment
to do what he does. God sees it coming and he permits it to happen.
And since he does nothing aimlessly or capriciously, there is
always a purpose for what he causes to happen directly and
what he permits to happen indirectly. So in that sense we
can say that even the evil and the calamity of the world (e.g.
Romans 11:7-10) are included in verse 36, “All things are
from him and through him.”

But let’s not say more than we should here. There is
another sense in which we must not say that all things are from
God. For example, think of 1 John 2:15-16,

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all
that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires
of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father
but is from the world.

Here John says that “the desires of the flesh” and
“the desires of the eyes” and the “pride in
possessions” is “not from God.” So in
one sense “all things” are “from God.” But
in another sense these evil things are not from God.

I take this to mean that sin does not come from God’s
nature. That is, it’s not an extension or aspect of
God’s nature or character. God is holy, and there is no
unholiness in him. God is light, and in him is no darkness. The
darkness and unholiness of sin do not arise as part of God’s
nature or character. They don’t come from him in that sense.
Sin can be from God and through God in the sense of ultimate and
decisive cause, but not in the sense that sin
comes from his nature
or character. God wills that sin be, without himself sinning. It is
not a sin when God, with infinite wisdom and holiness, ordains that
sin exist. Sin is “from him” as the one who ordained
it, but “not from him” as an expression of his
nature.

Here’s an imperfect illustration of the difference. You
can get a black eye in two ways. You can be hit in your eye with a
white snowball, and your eye will turn black. Or you can be
injected above your eye with a hypodermic needle full of black dye,
and your eye will turn black. In the second case the darkness comes
from the nature of the dye. In the first case the darkness does not
come from any darkness in the snowball.

All I want you to see from that illustration is that there are
two different ways to think about something being “from
God.” All things are from God in the sense that he ordains
all that comes to pass. But all sinful acts are not from God as an
expression of his nature.

The practical upshot of this is that we are utterly dependent on
God for all things and that we are utterly responsible and
guilty for the evil in our hearts. The effect this should have is
deep humility. 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you
did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if
you did not receive it?” The fact that all things are from
God and through God, excludes boasting.

2. No One Can Give a Gift to God so as to Make Him a
Debtor

Second, this implies verse 35: “Or who has given a gift to
him that he might be repaid?” Answer: No one. Since all is
from God and through God, he owns all things and we can never give
him anything that is not already his. Which means that we can never
put him in our debt. There is absolutely no negotiating with God.
We have no bargaining position. We are utterly owned and we are
squatters on his territory. Every breath we take is a gift. Every
virtue we perform is grace. “God is not served by human hands
as though he needed anything, for he himself gives to all men life
and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

3. No One Can Give Any Counsel to God About How He Should Do
Things

Third, Paul gives one specific example of how we can’t
give God anything to obligate him or enrich him. Verse 34:
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his
counselor?” Answer: Nobody has known his mind in such a way
as to be his counselor. We know something of his mind because of
revelation. Paul has given us 11 chapters of the mind of God. We
are meant to understand it. But no one knows the mind of God in a
way that can become his counselor.

So the specific thing you cannot give to God here is counsel.
And this is the one thing that sinners presume most often to give
God: counsel. They don’t offer love or delight or faith or
hope. They offer counsel. They tell God outright or by implication:
“I don’t like the way you run the world; I think you
should do it like this.” The world is filled with
God-advisers. The one thing Paul explicitly says we cannot give,
and dare not give, is what proud sinners most often give: they tell
God how he should run the world, and warn him that if he
doesn’t run it their way they won’t believe in him. As
if a diabetic child should say to his pediatrician: Don’t
give me any more shots. And if you stick me with that insulin
needle again, I’m never coming back. As if that were a threat
to God!

Don’t advise. Don’t threaten God. Trust him. All
else is suicide.

4. His Ways and Judgments Are Unsearchable and Inscrutable to
Our Finite Minds

Fourth, since all is from God and through God so that we
can’t give him what is not already his and can’t be his
counselor, therefore (according to verse 33b), no wonder we are
often confounded and perplexed by the ways and the judgments of
God. “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable
his ways!” This does not mean that God is totally
unintelligible. The mysteries of God are being revealed in
Scripture. And the Holy Spirit is given to us to illuminate our
understanding (1 Corinthians 2:14-15). But “now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1
Corinthians 13:12).

5. To God Be the Glory Forever

Which leads us finally (fifth) to the conclusion of the whole
matter—the paragraph and the 11 chapters. Not only are all
things from God and through God, but, as verse
36b says, “To him are all things. To him be glory
forever.”

Do you love the thought that you exist to make God look
glorious? Do you love the thought that all creation exists to
display the glory of God? Do you love the truth that all of history
is designed by God to one day be a completed canvas that displays
in the best way possible the greatness and beauty of God? Do you
love the fact that Jesus Christ came into the world to vindicate
the righteousness of God and repair the injury that we had done to
the reputation of the glory of God? Do you love the truth you
personally exist to make God look like what he really
is—glorious? I ask again: Do you love the fact that your
salvation is meant to put the glory of God’s grace on
display? Do you love seeing and showing the glory of God?

This is why God created the universe. This is why he ordained
history. This is why he sent his Son. This is why you exist.
Forever to see and savor and show the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God. The question at the end of Romans 1-11 is. Do you
embrace this calling as your treasure and your joy?