From the MLJ Archive

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The words to which I would like to call your attention this evening are to be found in Paul's Epistle to the Romans in Chapter 11, reading verses 33 to 36. From verse 33 to verse 36 in the 11th chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

In other words, we come to this great doxology which is found here at the end of this 11th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. It is, beyond any question, one of the most glorious, wonderful, and exalted statements which is to be found anywhere in the entire range of the Scriptures of biblical literature. I could give you many quotations from learned, saintly men of God who studied this epistle and studied the whole Bible in times past and who have vied with one another in giving expression to their feelings and thoughts as they have read and studied this great doxology.

I confine myself to just one, Henry Alford, a well-known Anglican commentator of the last century. He seems to me to put it perhaps better than anybody else. He refers to this as the sublimest apostrophe existing even in the pages of inspiration itself. "The sublimest apostrophe existing even in the pages of inspiration itself." I am in entire agreement with that statement. Amidst all the many sublime passages and glorious climaxes that are to be found especially in the writings of this great apostle, there is, as I say, nothing which rises to a higher level than this particular one.

Well now, the question, there are a number of questions therefore that face us at once as we read this great statement. The first one obviously must be this: What led to it? What made the apostle utter this sublime apostrophe? An apostrophe is a kind of ascription of glory to God. What made him do this? What led to it? Now here, there has been a good deal of discussion amongst the learned commentators as to one of two positions. I am going to suggest to you that both of them are right, that we don't have to be pressed to one or the other.

The first obvious answer to the question as to what led to this is the immediately preceding context. Obviously, that is something that you take for granted unless you've got some very good reason for saying that it isn't so. I have no doubt at all myself that what immediately led the apostle to exclaim as he does here was what he had just been saying about God's great purpose with respect to the Jews as a nation and as a people, which led him in turn to make the statement he makes in verse 32, where he says that God hath concluded them all, that is to say Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Then having said that, there is nothing that he can say except express his amazement and astonishment. He has been tracing, as we've seen, God's ways, especially with regard to the nation of the Jews. He has shown that it is in God's purpose, in God's hidden, secret purpose which had nevertheless been revealed to him as an apostle. It was God's purpose to bring them back. Then as we've been seeing, he looks now at God's method and he sees it's just that, that God holds down everybody, he concludes everybody, shuts in everybody in unbelief.

The object of that being that he may show mercy upon Jew and Gentile and upon all others. As he thinks of this and contemplates this, there's nothing to be done except to burst out in this sublime apostrophe. Very well then, there, I suggest, is the first reason for it. Let us therefore bear in mind as we consider it, that this doxology, this apostrophe, whichever you prefer, does become a test of our exposition of the previous portion. Indeed, of the whole of this 11th chapter, particularly from verse 11 onwards.

As I have been saying as we've been expounding the different verses with regard to the various possibilities that we've considered together, this is a very good test. Does what the apostle has been saying lead inevitably to this? If it doesn't, well then, there is surely a defect in the exposition. There is the first reason then of what led him to this great statement. But then I am in entire agreement also with those who say that what the apostle is doing here is to give expression to his thoughts and feelings as he contemplates everything that he has been saying up to this point in the whole of the epistle.

There is no doubt of course that here we arrive at the end of the great doctrinal section of this Epistle to the Romans. Beginning in verse 12, the apostle turns to application. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies," etc. Now that's application. The word "therefore" proves that, leave alone the word "beseech" in which he shows that he is exhorting them now to apply to their daily life and living what he has been putting before them. In other words, this is the end of the great doctrinal exposition which the apostle has been giving us from the 16th verse of the first chapter.

Now this is undoubtedly the case because you see in verse 32, he really does come back to the point from which he originally set out. That is the proof that he is winding up his great doctrinal exposition. Where did he set out? He set out in the 16th verse of the first chapter. You remember how he puts it? He says he's ready to preach the gospel to them that are at Rome also. Why? Well, here's his answer. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

He tells us at the outset that he's going to expound this great gospel, which is God's way of salvation to every man that believeth, whether he's Jew, whether he's Greek. Now that's the theme. You see in the 32nd verse, he has come back to that. "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all," Jew and Greek, Jew and Gentile. So that there is no question that he is here bringing to a conclusion and a climax and a final proof the thing that he originally set out to do.

He's kept on saying this thing, and it's very important that we should notice that. There he states it in the 16th verse of the first chapter. But again he says it in the ninth verse of the third chapter. "What then," he says, "are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." That's it. See, verse 32 of chapter 11 is just coming back to that. He set out to demonstrate this, and he does so in the way that we've been seeing in great detail. But he's now stated it all, so he bursts forth in his great doxology.

He says it again in chapter 3 in verses 22 and 23. He wants them to know at the beginning that this is his great theme. "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference." No difference between Jews and Gentiles. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." And again he says it in chapter 3 in verses 29 and 30. "Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith."

Very well, you see that has been the thing he's been setting out to demonstrate. Now he's done so. As he looks at and considers the way in which God has done this great thing, there is nothing to do but to worship and to praise and to give yourself to adoration. Very well then, that's the context. The ways that have led up to that, these are the things that have led up to it: the immediately preceding context, but also the whole of the doctrinal demonstration and argumentation through which he has conducted us.

The next thing therefore that concerns us is this: How do we approach this doxology? Here's a very important question. How do we approach it? Now I think there are two main dangers at this point. One danger is just to regard it as a piece of magnificent writing, as a masterpiece of eloquence, and to say that it's so wonderful and so amazing that you mustn't dream of analyzing it. Now there are people who always take that attitude with regard to any wonderful piece of scripture such as this. They just like reading it or declaiming it or reciting it or going over it in their minds.

They say you mustn't come and analyze this. You mustn't try to dissect this. It's like trying to dissect a rose. When you've done so, you've got nothing left. You've pulled off the petals, you've got nothing left. You've destroyed the rose. There are people then who do approach certain great passages of scripture in that kind of way. They're particularly liable to do this with a book like the Book of Psalms. There are many people who use the Book of Psalms in a purely psychological manner. They say it gives them great comfort just to recite, "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want."

They're not interested to know what exactly that means, but the words so come to them as a kind of incantation, and it soothes their troubled spirits and it helps them to sleep at night and to take a happier view of life. Now there are people who take that view and they would say that about this great doxology: that we mustn't bring our analytical hands to bear upon such a glorious and outstanding statement. I'm calling that a danger. The second danger of course is the danger of doing the very thing against which that first one warns us.

And that is to come to it with some kind of pedestrian outlook and really just to be interested in the words and to give their exact meaning. You end by just having dissected it and as I say you've got nothing left. But surely we are not driven to a choice between those two things. I want to suggest to you and to argue that if we listen to the great apostle, we shall do both those things. That seems to me to be the only right and true thing to do with all such great statements in the whole of the scripture.

We must take the whole, but we must also take the parts. I would argue that you can't really appreciate the whole unless you understand the parts. You don't put these things as opposites. You take them together. What the apostle does himself is this: He takes the trouble to give us details. He analyzes it himself. He doesn't just stand back and say, "From him and through him and to him are all things: who is blessed forever." He doesn't do that. He takes us into details: depth of the riches, wisdom, knowledge of God, judgments, ways, and so on.

Indeed I'm prepared to go as far as this, that we none of us will appreciate the glory and the greatness of this doxology unless we understand these particular statements that the apostle makes. In other words, it is as the result of his analysis, all he's been working out in the 11 chapters, that he finds himself giving expression to this elevated and exalted thought. Now perhaps I can best put my point by putting it like this. There are people who have completely misunderstood this doxology, and they misunderstand it in this way.

They don't see that it arises out of what he's been saying. They rather have got the idea that the apostle turns away from what he's been saying and just begins to worship and to praise. Now let me give you one example from a very popular modern writer, Professor William Barclay of Glasgow. This is how he puts it, and I'm suggesting that this just means that he has entirely misunderstood what the apostle says. He says, "Paul never wrote a more characteristic passage than this. Here, theology turns to poetry." I'm going to show you that it doesn't.

"Here," he says, and this is the fallacy, "here the seeking of the mind turns to the adoration of the heart." Now this all sounds very wonderful, doesn't it? But you see the fallacy. He says that before this, Paul has been seeking with his mind. Stops doing that now, and he just allows his heart to speak. There's a contrast between the heart and the mind. I'm going to try to show you that what kindles the apostle's heart is his mind. It is the very understanding that moves his heart. You mustn't put mind and heart in contrast when you're dealing with scripture.

But let's go on. He says, "In the end, all must pass out in a mystery that man cannot now understand, but it is a mystery whose heart is love. If a man can say that all things come from God, that all things have their being through God, and that all things end in God, what more is left to say? There is a certain paradox in the human situation. God gave man a mind, and it is man's duty to use that mind, to think to the very limits of human thought. But it is also true that there are times when that mind can only go so far."

"And when that limit is reached, all that is left is to accept and adore. How could I praise if such as I might understand?" Now listen. Paul had battled with a heartbreaking problem with every resource which his great mind possessed. You see the picture. That in the previous portions, Paul has been battling with a problem with his great mind. He does not say that he has solved it, as one might neatly solve a geometrical problem. But he does say that having done his best, he is content to leave it to the love and power of God.

At many times in life, there is nothing left to do but to say, "I have thought and I cannot see the reason and the way. I cannot grasp thy mind, but with my whole heart, I trust thy love. Thy will be done." Now you see the picture. That in the previous section, the apostle has been trying to understand this problem. He's used his great mind to its utmost limit, but he can't solve it. So he says very well, I give up. I know that God is love. I leave it in his hands. In other words, that there is a contrast here between what the apostle has been struggling and trying to do.

He gives up the struggle and he just worships God, like a man who tries to understand the ways of God in ordinary life and can't do so. He just submits and says, "Thy will be done. Though I don't understand, I know thy name is love." In other words, there is a break. You stop thinking, you stop understanding, you allow your heart to speak in language of devotion, and there is a contrast and a break between the two positions. Now what I'm trying to say is that that seems to me to be the exact opposite of what is happening here.

I am putting it to you rather that this doxology, this sublime apostrophe, is the direct and the immediate outcome of everything that Paul has been saying. He's not saying, "Oh well, we've got to give up. we can't go any further. We can't understand and follow with our minds, but let's worship God." It isn't that. Paul says, "Let's worship God because of what we've been saying." In other words, the apostle Paul was not struggling with a problem. This man is the inspired apostle. You see these other people, they don't believe in inspiration. That's their whole trouble.

They think of the apostle Paul as if he were a man like themselves, struggling with problems. He wasn't. He's an inspired apostle. He's told us in verse 25 that he's letting us into the secret of the mystery which has been revealed to him. These are not Paul's thoughts. We are not dealing here with Paul's mind and reason and understanding. Paul is writing as Peter reminded you a few Friday nights back says of him in his second epistle in the third chapter, he is writing scripture. And he has been giving us a revelation of God's great plan and purpose of redemption.

He's been unfolding it, he's been expounding it, and having done so, he's amazed at it himself. And he feels there is only one thing to do, and that is to praise God with the whole of his being. In other words, there is nothing that we must condemn more strongly than to put the heart and the mind up against one another. The apostle is always moved in all his epistles. I beg of you to read them for yourselves and to watch this and to do the same with the other writers also in the New Testament. It is the contemplation of the truth with the mind that always moves the heart.

There is none of this dichotomy. There is none of this leaving the mind and speaking the language of the heart. No, it is the understanding that kindles the heart. Now I remember when we were doing the sixth chapter, I made a great point of this in the 17th verse, where the apostle says, "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." And we took it like this: the doctrine was delivered. Where did it come to? It came to the mind, and it so captivated the mind that the heart was moved, and that in turn moved the will.

That's the invariable order in the scripture: mind, heart, will. And we must always be very careful and very wary of any teaching that bypasses the mind and goes to the heart, or bypasses the mind and goes to the will, or puts these things in antithesis or as if they were different. The glory of the Christian salvation is that it deals with the whole man. The enlightened mind sees the glory of the truth, and it moves the heart to worship and praise and adoration. That, I am suggesting to you, is what we are dealing with in this great doxology.

The great apostle stands back for a moment and looks at this wealth of revelation that he has been writing or dictating. And seeing it all, he himself once more is carried away by its glory and by its immensity, by its splendor and by its wonder. Well now, all this to me is of tremendous importance because it shows at once what view we take of the apostle himself, what view we take of the scripture itself, whether we regard it as divinely inspired or whether we regard it just as the thoughts and meditations of men grappling with problems. These things are important for that reason.

Having approached it like that in general, let me suggest to you a division of the contents of this great doxology. The first division is this: the apostle notes and celebrates the depth of God's riches and wisdom and knowledge that have led to this glorious salvation. The second: the incomprehensible character of this. The first thing is, he says, what has produced this great thing we've been looking at? The answer is: God's riches and wisdom and knowledge. They've led to this. Secondly, he says, this is incomprehensible in its character, incomprehensible to man.

Thirdly, it is entirely independent of man. And lastly, it is indeed but a manifestation and an exhibition of the glory of God who is to be adored because he is who and what he is. There, I suggest, are the natural divisions of this great doxology. Let's have a look at them. Let's start with the first. It's put in the first part of verse 33. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and and knowledge of God!" Now here there is a slight preliminary difficulty. It's not going to make any difference to the thought really, but the commentators are about equally divided.

How is this to be read? And it really can't be decided, but I'll put the two possibilities before you. The authorized translators took this view. The apostle says, "O the depth of the riches of God's wisdom and the depth of the riches of God's knowledge." That's how they put it in their translation: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom of God and the knowledge of God." But there's a second view, and I incline to this myself, which says that it shouldn't be read like that, but it should be read like this: "O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God."

That the depth covers what he calls the riches of God, the wisdom of God, and the knowledge of God. It isn't the depth of the riches, because that's in a sense almost tautology, but it is the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Why do I prefer that? I prefer it for this reason: this term "riches," as those of you who are familiar with the writings of the apostle Paul will have noticed, are generally associated with the idea of grace and of mercy.

So I'm arguing that riches here stands for that in the way that I'm about to show you. It brings out that vital element which this other view doesn't quite bring out quite as clearly. Of course it's implicit, but I think this second way helps to bring it out more explicitly and more clearly. The great word that arrests us at once is this word "depth." "O the depth." The fathomless character, that's what he means. One of these commentators, I think it was Godet, compares the apostle here to a man standing on a great mountain peak in Switzerland and looking down into some great abyss.

Then looking to some great old mountain peak stretching up on the other side, and there it is, from the almost illimitable depth to an illimitable height. Depth, the only way to think of everything that God does. I say that this is typical and characteristic of the apostle's language. He finds that whenever he does stand back and look at what God has done, that language fails him. And he uses his superlatives, and he piles them one on top of another, and then he still feels he hasn't said it.

He talks about the exceeding riches of God's grace, he talks about the unsearchable riches of God. But then there is a tremendous statement very similar to the one we're looking at here, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians and in the second chapter. The apostle is dealing with the mystery and the marvel of the gospel. And he's contrasting this wisdom of God in salvation with the wisdom of the world. And he puts it like this. He says, "we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." That's it. It's the same idea. O the depth, the deep things of God. These infinities and immensities, as Thomas Carlyle once called them. That's what we're dealing with, my dear friends. And the apostle was never tired of using these great expressions.

Did you notice it there in Ephesians 3 in the reading at the beginning? This is what he's praying for those Ephesians: that they "may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height." You see, he splits it up then. This depth includes everything, it really includes every dimension: breadth and length and depth and height. It's this vast thing, this deep things of God. Now the apostle, looking back across all that he's been saying in this epistle and in particular this last thing about God's purpose with regard to the nation of Israel.

"Oh," he says, "what immensity, what profundity, what a glorious thing this is, this depth of God and all that is true of him!" And my dear friends, I don't know what you feel, but that's what I always feel when we come together like this from Friday to Friday and whenever one is expounding the scriptures. What a privilege it is to be entering into this unchartered ocean, this never-ebbing sea, this eternity of God! We are having that privilege. That's what we're doing here. We are entering into these deep things of God that have been revealed to us, the ultimate mysteries and all the everlasting glories.

Oh, I think that great shame attaches to us as modern Christians. Any Christian who's ashamed of the fact that he's a Christian is just saying that he doesn't know anything about this depth. Look at the men of the world tonight, look at them at their best, look at the sophisticated people who talk with disdain about Christianity and are sorry for people who still believe it, who pride themselves on their learning and their knowledge and their understanding. What do they really know? What are they handling? What are they dealing with?

Think of these people who spend their Sundays reading these learned articles in the supplements to the Sunday papers, they think it's very profound, and borrowing books from libraries. What's it all about? What are they reading about ultimately? But you and I have got these deep things of God here before us, and in this epistle we've been looking at them and glorying in them and rejoicing in them. Think of it as a sea, and you go on swimming until you know you're never going to cross it, but you're in the deeps. You're in the deep things of God.

Very well, what is all this? Let me just give you a summary of what it is. I'm suggesting the apostle used this word "depth" as he again reviewed hurriedly in his mind all he'd been saying. It's this: It is God's way of salvation. It is God's way of restoring to sinful men the righteousness with which man was originally endowed. That's what he's been outlining. That's what he says at the beginning he's not ashamed of. And of course he's not ashamed of it. He's dealing with the deep things of God. You're not ashamed of that!

He says, "I'm ready to come to Rome. If the Emperor's ready to listen, I'm ready to preach to him. But I'm equally ready to tell it to the servants." He stands on Mars Hill in Athens. He's not afraid of anybody. Why? He knows that he's a man who's been given an understanding of the deep things of God, that all that Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle and all the rest have taught is but as nothing by the side of this. "I am not ashamed of it!" Of course he's not. He says that at the beginning, he's saying it again at the end.

Oh, the depth of it all. What is it? Well, it's God's plan, God's great purpose, something that God has planned in eternity, designed to restore to sinful man that original righteousness which he lost as the result of his rebellion and his folly in listening to the devil. What is it? He says at the very beginning, it's a righteousness from God. Now the law talked about a righteousness and a way of righteousness, but he says it isn't that. That really couldn't do it.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: for therein is a righteousness from God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Here's the secret. This is God's way of making men righteous. That's the message. Then you see, I'm just picking out now the mountain peaks. You can compare this epistle if you like to a great mountain range. You get it in the Alps and in other places. There's a solid block of mountains, or there's a range of mountains, but here and there stands out a great peak.

I'm just picking them out. I believe the apostle was doing so in his mind when he uttered this great apostrophe. There's the key thing, a righteousness from God. Well, how does it come? Well, that's what he introduces in the third chapter from verse 21 onwards. And that is a most important section. Don't despise the argumentation of Chapter 1, 18 to the end of Chapter 3, 20. All very important. It puts the Jew and Gentile into the right position, the whole world lies guilty before God.

But then you see, he suddenly turns at the beginning of 21, and he says, "But now, the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ." Here's the thing. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ!" This is God's way of doing it. And this is the most amazing thing in all history. There's nothing comparable to it. God's way of giving righteousness to men through his own son, and especially through his death.

This is the theme. "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." The cross and all it means, the understanding of it, God setting him forth, his own son, crucified, his blood shed as a propitiation.

There it is, that's God's way. And then of course there follows from that that a man is justified by faith and by faith only. It's the great theme in a sense of this epistle. That's what produced the Protestant Reformation. It was through studying this that Luther came across it, was led to it by the guidance and illumination of the Spirit. Justification by faith only! This amazing thing, this staggering thing! By the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Being justified freely by his grace, the great and glorious doctrine of justification by faith only. But it doesn't stop at that. Having worked that out, he comes in chapter 5 and especially in verses 9 and 10 and from there on in that chapter, to what I said at the time was in many ways the center of the whole epistle: our incorporation in Christ. The tremendous review of the whole of history. Man created, but Adam, the man, the representative sinning, bringing death upon himself and upon the whole of his progeny, so death came upon all men.

What's the way of deliverance? There's only one, there must be a new Adam, a new man. There is, it's Christ. As we were in Adam, even so we are in Christ. That glorious contrast worked out there, our incorporation in Adam, in Christ, who is the head of a new humanity. And we belong to a new race of people of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the head. And then you see, he goes on to work out how this new people is being prepared for its inheritance in the glory.

In other words, sanctification by the Spirit of God. He starts with that in the seventh chapter, particularly in verse 6. "We are now delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." And then the triumphant cry of Chapter 8, verse 2: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." That's how sanctification is possible. What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of God might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

That's it, life in the Spirit. This is sanctification. There's another great peak. And then the tremendous principle of adoption. As many as are led in this way by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And then that leads in turn to this tremendous doctrine of our final glorification. He keeps on saying this. You remember how we rejoiced in it at the beginning of chapter 5: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

And how he hurled it at us in that tremendous statement in the middle of the eighth chapter where he says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn amongst many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." He's done it! It's true! Final glorification, even including the redemption of our body.

And then having said all this, he drives home at the end of chapter 8, the certainty of all this to the elect, the absolute certainty of it to all the elect, leading to that great hymn of praise at the end of chapter 8. "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The absolute certainty of this to all the elect. And then in chapters 9, 10, and 11, yes, all the elect, whether they are Gentiles, whether they are Jews. It is certain to all, the fullness of the Gentiles, all Israel. And there the work will be complete. These three chapters as I've been showing recently, 9, 10, and 11, are just to bring out this great point of certainty. As he ended chapter 8 with it, then he imagined an objection, "But what about the Jews?" And we've seen the answer to that.

The blindness is only partial, the blindness is only temporary. It isn't total, it isn't permanent. And there is this great secret purpose of God, these people who are now enemies for the gospel's sake are beloved for the fathers' sake, and they're going to be grafted in again. All the elect, whether Jews or Gentiles, are going to be safely gathered in, and God's purpose shall be complete and entire. Well now, that is what the apostle has been contemplating.

He's gone over it all again. You see this statement he made in verse 32 has made him do that. He's back at where he began. I do trust that we have all got very clearly in our minds by now this architectonic idea that runs through this, this principle. It's like constructing a great building, or go back to my analogy of a great symphony. He lets you know what he's going to do, then when he's finally done it, he says, "There it is. This is the thing I said I was going to do, I've done it."

There's nothing left but the final doxology. And the statement at the beginning and at the end is this: this is God's way of salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first, also to the Greek. He hath concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. Well now, having thus looked at it all once more, this great range, this depth of God. He now tells us what has made all this possible. What has produced all this?

And here you see, he uses three terms. There are three things which have made all this possible. What are they? The first is God's riches. God's riches, which I suggested just now, stands for God's grace and for God's mercy. That's the source of everything. How has all this that he's been describing ever come to pass? How will it yet come to pass? The source of it all is God's grace and God's mercy. But for that, there'd be nothing. This great epistle would never have been written, nothing would ever have been happening.

Grace is undeserved favor. Grace means God's kindness to people who deserve nothing but punishment, retribution, and everlasting woe and misery. So what has led to it all is the grace of God. He keeps on saying this. Listen to him saying it in Chapter 2, verse 4: "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" And then as we've seen it recently in Chapter 10, where he puts it in a very striking manner in verses 12 and 13.

"There is no difference," he says once more between the Jew and the Greek. They're equally sinful. "For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That is solely because he is so rich in his grace and in his mercy. As you've noticed, this is one of the apostle's great themes. He can never really put the gospel before us without saying this. Listen to him in Ephesians 1:7: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."

Ephesians 2:4 to 7: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." There it is! And as I've already reminded you, you get it in the third chapter.

"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." This love, mercy, compassion, you can't measure its breadth, length, depth, height. It's beyond! God only knows the love of God. It's as great and as deep as that. The riches of his grace. But this isn't confined to Paul. The apostle Peter says the same thing. Listen to Peter at the beginning of his first epistle in the first chapter and verse 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy..."

Grace abounding, super-abounding. Yes, Paul has told us at the end of chapter 5, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The riches of God's grace, that's the source of it all. Were it not for that, there'd be nothing to say. Man would just have festered himself in sin and iniquity and vileness to nothing. But the second thing is wisdom. I can't stay with these, my friends. Our time is limited, we're coming to the end of our session. And I want just to put these suggestions before you.

Wisdom, what does wisdom mean? Well, wisdom means the ability to deal with a situation. A man may have great knowledge, but if he lacks wisdom, his knowledge is going to be of no use to him. I remember a man once who did very well in his medical examinations. He used to learn his textbooks by heart. But when you put a patient in front of him, he couldn't do anything. He couldn't apply his knowledge. In other words, he lacked wisdom. That's what's meant by wisdom.

Now, God's wisdom, you see, the grace of God, the mercy and the compassion and the love of God created a desire within him to do something. But the question is: how's it to be done? And the answer is God's depth of wisdom, as well as the depth of the riches of his grace. And it is only the wisdom of God that is adequate to devise a plan and a scheme that can save man and restore him to this righteousness, and not only devise it but carry it out. This is one of the most amazing things of all.

Paul keeps on saying this: the world by wisdom knew not God. We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto us which are saved, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. This is where you see God's wisdom in devising this plan of salvation. The first man fell. It's no use making another perfect man. He'll be no better than the first. The law's been given a trial. It can't do it. It's weak through the flesh.

How can man be saved? God's wisdom sees the way. I'll send my son, he'll be born as a man, he'll take human nature unto him. The incarnation and all that followed, including the death, burial, resurrection. God's wisdom in a mystery. Now it's not surprising the apostle celebrates this and glories in it and worships God on its account. It isn't the wisdom of the world nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. It's God's wisdom, hidden wisdom, God's wisdom in a mystery.

And God has so contrived it that it's sufficient to save us all because it doesn't depend upon us. It depends upon Christ and his saving work and his power. Therefore there is hope to anybody, to everybody. And the result is, as Paul told those Ephesians in chapter 3, 10, did you notice it? "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be known by or through the church the manifold wisdom of God." Did you know this?

That the bright angelic angels, the good angels, the perfect angels... did you know that it is through the church, through what God has done in Christ, through people like you and me, that even they are going to be instructed in the manifold wisdom of God? They're in his presence, they've always been there, and they're obedient and they worship. But it's as they see what's happened in the church, this great theme of Romans, that they begin to understand the wisdom of God, the manifold wisdom of God.

Very well, what has produced this great thing is the desire of God according to the riches of his grace, leading to the wisdom which devises the plan of salvation. And lastly for tonight, the knowledge. O the depth of the riches of his grace, O the depth of the wisdom of God, O the depth of the knowledge of God. What's this mean? Well, this is most wonderful. God is omniscient, God knows everything. There is nothing that he doesn't know. Thank God for this. Why?

Well, you see, it means that God has been able to produce a plan of salvation which caters for every eventuality and every possibility. There is nothing but that God has foreseen it. There is nothing that is unknown to God. There is a very powerful adversary against God and against God's people. He's the devil. Brilliant, subtle, powerful, knowledgeable. And he's doing everything he can to frustrate God's plan and purpose and to bring it to nothing.

My friends, my security tonight is this: that God knows everything. The depth of God's knowledge. There is nothing that he doesn't know. He is omniscient. Everything is before him, always, at all times. Nothing is outside his knowledge. There is no trick the devil can play but that God already knows all about it. There is nothing that he can conjure up. There is no invention that he can produce. There is nothing that can ever be done by the devil or hell or anything else that can in any way take God by surprise.

When God planned, he knew it all, and he's prepared for it all, and he's catered for it all. And the result is, because of God's perfect knowledge, the depth of God's knowledge, his plan is complete in every single respect. Nothing can ever go wrong with it, and nothing can ever prevent its perfect execution in every one of us who is the called of God. That is again I say why the apostle broke out as he did at the end of chapter 8. He there puts up the possibilities, the challenges: "Who can bring anything to the charge of God's elect?"

You remember, he brings every possibility. He answers them all, and he ends by saying, "I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." He knows the end from the beginning. There is nothing he doesn't know. Everything has been catered for. Very well.

It was something like that, I venture in humility to put it to you, it was something like that that the apostle felt as he contemplated this great and glorious plan in general. There's only one thing to say as you look at the range and the peaks: "O the depth of the riches, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God!" ever to have produced such a glorious, such a perfect plan. God willing, we'll go on next Friday night to consider what he feels as he looks at some of the particular applications and outworkings of the plan.

O Lord our God, we do indeed turn to thee with thy servant the great apostle, and we can but repeat his words: O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. Lord, we humbly thank thee and praise thy name that thou hast revealed something of these things to us by thy Spirit, the Spirit that searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. O God, receive our unworthy praise and adoration. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, abide and continue with us, now this night, throughout the remainder of this our short uncertain earthly life and pilgrimage, and until we shall be in that glory everlasting, perfect and entire, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, in glorified redeemed bodies, singing the praises of him that sits upon the throne and of the Lamb. Amen.