Introduction and Orientation
Turn in your Bibles to Romans 11. That's where I'll be landing uh this morning. Trying to tie some things together already. I forgot to mention yesterday, you know, the doctrine of the decree kind of invites us to go back of both providence and creation into the divine mind.
I mean, God invites us to do that by virtue of his word because the doctrine's in his word. And I was telling Pastor Butler on the way here, I said, you know, you learn more about the decree in its execution because even the words that describe the decree to us in the Bible, like chosen in him before the foundation of the world, words are communication devices of creatures. And but you you don't you don't take those back into God and it fully comprehends and explains God. Words can be signed signifying things greater than themselves.
And when we talk about the execution of God's decree in creation and providence, what what he does in time causing time to be and all other creatures and then moving his creatures uh reflects something backwards. But that which it is pointing to is always greater. I think David said something like this. There's a surplus.
It's in God's works. There's a surplus of meaning behind the works in God himself that will never exhaust. But we learn more about the decree in its execution in creation and providence. And I think you'll see this in the text.
I want to look at Romans 11:36 is the meat of the sermon where we read for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. So my title for this lecture sermon is the end of God's decree. And what I mean by that is the the telos the that to which it ultimately points.
What does God's decree ultimately aim toward? So this word telos or teology is the study of the end of things comes from telos which means inter goal intergal end or goal and logos which means word. So it refers to words about or the study of the end or goal of a thing and in our context the end of God's decree. And I'm going to try to say the end of creation helps us with the end of the decree because if creation is the execution of the decree and we know the end of the creation then we know the end or tell us of the decree.
So I'm going to argue the following. The Bible teaches us that God's decree has an end or goal. a that to which it tends and that end or goal is the manifestation and the creaturly recognition of the glory of God. The decree is from God and unto God. creatures go go forth from God and they're brought back to God either to the praise of his glorious justice or to the praise of his glorious mercy by the son of God who becomes one of us for us and for our salvation. The teology of God's decree is not a wholly speculative subject meaning outside the realm of revelation.
It's not speculative in this sense simply because God has told us what the end of his decree is in holy scripture. And the end of the decree is the same as the end of creation. The same as the end of conservation, recreation, and consummation. Creatures are decreed to come from God and go back to God for the manifestation of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace, and to the praise of his glorious justice. 2 London 33.
So we exist for the manifestation of that what and who God is under the praise of his glorious grace and justice which is brought about through what he does in creation, conservation, recreation and consummation especially displayed in the incarnation sufferings and glory of the skull crushing seed of the woman, the son of God incarnate in bringing many sons to glory. Hebrews 2:10. So let's look at ex uh Romans 11:36. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever.
Amen. So this is a foundational verse as most of you probably know in terms of understanding the Bible's teaching on the doctrine of the end of creation. But as I said before, since creation is merely the execution of divine power in the execution of the uh in accordance with the ex uh the the divi divine decree, if we can figure out the end, the telos of creation, we know the end of the decree and vice versa. This is also so because creation and providence um well anyway, let's look at the text.
I want to look at the context first. So, we're going to go up a bit above verse 36 and then we'll look at the content of verse 36. So, first of all, the context is obviously rel uh related to what precedes and what follows. But we're going to look at what precedes because of that little connective word for at the beginning of verse 36.
I think it's functioning like a a because um this verses 33-35 because of this. So let's read verses 33-35. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How uncarchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out?
For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor? Or who is first given to him and it shall be repaid to him? So we have verses 33- 36 actually together form a a sort of anthem of praise a a doxology that's prompted by Paul's subject matter which ended in verse 32 which says for God has committed them Romans 11:32 God has committed them all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all.
So the end of chapter 11 discusses the fact that God has delivered some first had delivered some first century Jews to disobedience, an execution of divine justice, temporal justice, retributive justice, and was now showing mercy to Gentiles, which is an execution of divine grace. Paul then concludes this discussion with a bold assertion of verse 32 and immediately follows with what I'll call a sigh of wonder. Oh the depths. I can almost hear a tape by Martin Lo Jones.
Oh, you know um my sermon today is on the word oh. We need more O in our and he was right. We do need more O. Like I like this is a wow moment for the soul.
So it's like when you take all this information, our brain, our sh souls should be on the verge of blowing up in wonder and amazement. So
Context of Romans 11:33–36
Romans 11:36 is the conclusion of Paul's doxology prompted by his contemplation upon the unrivaled sovereignty of God in the withholding and dispensing of mercy which displays the incomprehensibility of God's uh counsel. That's the context. sovereignty of God, temporal judgment on some, mercy on on others, owe the depth of the riches, and so on and so forth. So, let's look at verse 36.
Verse 36: Three Prepositional Phrases
Excuse me. Um, the word for, as I said before, connects verse 36 with the previous. And the questions that are asked in verses 34 and 35 seem to me and many others to be rhetorical. Um, the implied answer to each question being negative or no one.
Here are the questions. Who has known the mind for who has known the mind of the Lord? Well, you might say, well, I know the mind of the Lord because he has revealed it to us to me in precept form in the Bible. Well, we could say yes, but that's probably not what Paul's talking about, right?
Or who has become his counselor? You might be sitting here going, "I'd like to give him some advice, like, could you reverse the decree of the dead battery for Jim Butler?" Which he can't and he won't. Which, by the way, heaven smiled upon you through that frowning providence by a family member saying, "I'll take care of it." That was a kiss from God, right? And here's another another question. or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him.
The the implied answer is well no one. Verse 36 answers these questions. How come no one knows the mind of the Lord? How come no one has been his counselor?
Or how come no one has first given to him that it might be repaid to him? The answer is because of him. The answer is because of of him and through him and to him are all things. In other words, no one tells God what to do.
Man is not God's equal and certainly not his superior, not his advisor, nor his counselor. Now, the question is why not? And this is where verse 36 comes in. There are three prepositional phrases here I want to look at.
They're important to understand. Uh Charles Hodgej has a nice little paraphrase here. He says, "By him all things are through his power all things are directed and governed and to him as their last end." Teology all things tend. So let's look at each in order here.
Of Him: God as Efficient Cause
The first one is of him are all things. God is the source. God is the creator of all things. All things come from God.
They're caused by God to be by God. And many other places in scripture attest to this. Creation X nilo out out of nothing. Um things became.
God had no pre-existing materials to work with. Um in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It's we are not to view as Christians creation as um wow I went from non-being to being. I existed in the form of non-being and then I was changed in the form into the form of being.
I didn't exist in that form. I didn't have actual being at all. We go from absolutely nothing but God to God plus all that he brings into being. That's creation X neo creation out of nothing but God.
So without any pre-existing materials to work with the God of the Bible spoke and the universe came into existence. That's an interesting word from first uh chapter in Genesis. God, he spoke. Psalm 33.
He spoke and it was done. And I've asked the question, what language did he use? I was in a discussion on the internet one time, which I try to do less and less, and somebody said he spoke Hebrew. So if we were there and God spoke whatever into existence, we would have heard audible sounds reverberating through the however that does that and then hitting our ear.
I don't think that's what it means. I think it's a signifying the execution of divine power. That's probably all it means. So that which became was not until he said let there be.
And suddenly whatever he said to be became and stands to this day. So everything that is is because of him. He is the efficient cause. That is God brought things into being which had no being simply because he would.
He willed to. There's no absolute necessity in creation. There's no absolute create absolute necessity in the in the in the being of creation or in the moving of creation. Creation is like providence contingent upon God, God willing it to be.
So why do we exist? because he would have us to exist. But we're going to dig deeper into that. We know that he willed creation to be because we're here, right? And the Bible invites us and certainly nature previous to the Bible invites us to go from effects back to cause.
And since creation is the execution of God's decree, we can say creation is because because of God's decree. There's nothing in being unless it was decreed by God to be in being. Everything other than God has its being due to God decreeing it to be and then executing power via creation and providence confirming conferring being life and movement upon it. So, how come no one knows the mind of the Lord?
Or how come no one has been his counselor? Or how come no one has first given to him that it might be repaid to him? And the answer is this. Because God set things in order the way he willed, possessing the right and power to do so.
He is the potter and we are the clay. Paul deals with this in Romans 9 20 and 21. But indeed, oh man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it?
Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? And the answer is, well, yeah. Do you remember Rich Dico preaching from Romans 9?
He got to that these questions and he he basically said it's Paul's way of telling us shut up. God is the first cause of all things. He is the unmoved mover or the unchanged unchangeable changer. And God therefore needs no help from his creatures to tell him what he ought to do.
In fact, we have no rightful claim upon God to require anything from him except that which he has promised he will do. We have rightful claims as believers to say, "Your word says all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. I love you because I have been called. you have changed my heart, but I'm in a difficult situation. God, make this work out for my good.
We can do that because God has promised these kinds of things. But we don't we don't say, you know what, I have non I am in the state of non-being, which is just doesn't make sense. Okay? There's no you're you are not in a state of non-being.
You just aren't. Full stop. Okay? But you don't say, "I am now in a state of non-being. bring me into being.
Through Him: God as Providential Sustainer
The second prepositional phrase is through him are all things. God is the sustainer. God's the providential ruler of all things. Bible testifies all over the place of this.
Here's Isaiah 45:6 and 7. That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness.
I make peace and create calamity. I the Lord do all these things. Ephesians 1:11. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things.
So he brings all things into being and then he moves all things. This is divine providence. Who works all things according to the counsel of his will. So we are um through him are are all things.
We are not offlimits to the supernatural causal and preservative causal power and preservative care of the almighty. And we should be thankful for divine providence because if there was no divine providence, no God tinkering with that which he has made, no God God does not sustain things. God, you know, more of like of a deistic thing, we couldn't have a Bible. The Bible would just be the word of man about ancient religions.
But if God is active, we can have God moving men the way he has determined to to write what he wants them to write. prayer would be off limits. We couldn't say, "God, do something with my life. Sorry, I don't tinker with creation." Providence is a wonderful doctrine, actually. So, we're not off limits.
God is not a passive bystander in the world in which he is made. Through him are all things. This is divine providence. And the extent of divine providence encompasses all creatures and things.
I think that's from the confession. This includes animate and inanimate things, men and animals, trees and mountains, stormy and sunny days, earthquakes and tsunamis, kings and queens, governments, traffic accidents, cancer and colds. Once things have been due to the execution of God's decree through creation, they are kept in being and moved due to the execution of God's decree via providence. So back to our questions, three rhetorical questions.
How come no one knows the mind of the Lord? Or how come no one has been his counselor? Or how come no one has first given to him that it might be repaid to him? The answer is this.
Because God not only made all things in execution of his decree, but he preserves all things in execution of his decree. And he does so the way he will to in eternity and often does things that are that we cannot understand. How can God make peace and create calamity, Isaiah 45:7, and hold us accountable for our sin? How can the exhaustive comprehensive sovereignty of God and man's real personal culpability or responsibility for evil be reconciled in our in our minds?
I think I said this yesterday. They need not be and yet they may both still be right. There are some things we can't put them together. We can do as our hard work and explain things the best we can.
But we get to a point where we say the mechanism, the manner in which God does this as as the first cause and man does this as his creaturely doing as the second cause, the subordinate cause. And the relationship between the two, it ex it exceeds my ability to explain it. And some people say, "Aha, therefore the whole thing's wrong." I would answer, "Shut your mouth." Romans 9:20 and 21. You know what matters is God.
What God thinks about these things, not us.
To Him: God as Final End
Third phrase is to him are all things. Everything that is, we could say everything that is is for him. It's from him. He is the efficient cause.
He brings being into being that had no being. It is through him. He is the providential cause according to the nature of his divinity. He does what God does given the presence of things and the movement of things.
But this one is this one is a that to which this is the teological part of it. To him are all things. Psalm 119:89. Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You establish the earth and it abides. They continue this day according to your ordinances. Now watch this.
For all are your servants. Creatures are God's servants. Creatures are God's servants to teach creatures that God has servants. Namely, creatures.
Creatures in part are to remind us that we're not creator. Proverbs 16:4, our confession refers us to this text. The Lord has made all for him for himself. Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.
Isaiah 43:7. Everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for for my glory, I have formed him. Yes, I have made him. So, back to the rhetorical questions again to put this third prepositional phrase in the context.
How come no one knows the mind of the Lord? Or how come no one is first has been his counselor? Or how come no one has first given to him that it might be repaid back to him? Here's the answer.
Because God has made all things and sustains all things for his own glory and does not need to consult us concerning how to manifest his glory or how to bring creaturely praise to himself in what he does. God doesn't say, "Okay, I made you. Now, what do you think? I got three options.
Let's go to the bargaining table. God's supreme goal in all things therefore is his own glory or we might say his own majesty on display. The manifestive glory of God. He created all things that is God did so that he would have a stage on which to display himself.
Is it Calvin the theater of his glory or something like that or somebody wrote a book creation is the theater for the manifestation of his glory. The manifestive glory that is the revelation of who God is is through creatures by you know bringing creation into being. And it's in order that creatures might go, the trees might clap their hands in worship to God. That's a figure of speech that the Bible uses.
That creatures might go wow and have wow moments for the rest of eternity. Now notice the concluding the concluding ascription.
The Concluding Doxology: Soli Deo Gloria
To whom be glory forever. So in one sense we could say man Paul's I Paul's really worshiping God here. I think he's the most doxological Paul and Ephesians 1 is this way when he's the most theological. This is a very theological passage and it ends in in doxology.
You know how some people say um you're being too theological or you're being too heavenly minded of to be any earthly vi value which is can I use the word stupid. You have to be heavenly minded in order to be of earthly value. The more heavenly minded you are by the way why because when you're heavenly minded what do you what's your soul's gaze upon? What's the what's the that to which it's contemplating?
Christ at the right hand of the father, his current session, the the application of redemption from him through the spirit and word, you know, all those kinds of things. This is what Paul's doing here. He's being very theological and he's getting into very difficult questions, but when it's all said and done, he has this to whom be glory forever. He basically says solely deo gloria to God alone be the glory.
So he is ascribing to God what is due God. Honor, praise, adoration, and unrivaled worship. And then there's that final word, amen. You know what better way to end it than to say, so be it.
To God be the glory. But
Job Echoed: Creatures Add Nothing to God
I want to look very briefly back at verse 35 because I think something very important is happening here. Let's reconsider this verse 35 one more time where Paul echoes words from the book of Job. Um, I prefer I like when English versions capitalize quotations from the Old Testament. Um, listen to Job 35:7.
If you are righteous, what do you give him? Okay. What's the implied answer to that? Nothing.
What is it that dos all you can't give to God something he ain't God or something like that? Or what does he receive from your hand? And the answer is nothing. Wait a minute.
We're worshiping God. God receive our worship. Do we mean by that God enhance God by virtue of what creatures do operating upon you? You know something like that.
We don't mean that, right? We use the language of scripture and that's right. And the ne the next one, who has who has pre who has preceded me that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is mine.
That's Job 41:11. So what can creatures give to God that he lacks or by which he is enhance enhanced or enriched? You know, do we look at our sanctification and say, "Man, I was pretty holy yesterday." God was really enhanced by me. Like God's divinity had something added to it.
Namely, you know, the worship of a of a creature. I know it's weird, but we don't want to do that. We don't want to say that. So what can creatures give to God that he lacks or by which he's enriched?
The answer is nothing. God is not in need of gaining anything by virtue of decreeing the existence of creatures. God's not better because he decreed to create and he decreed to rule his creation by virtue of providence. God is not in need of gaining anything by virtue of decreeing the existence of creatures or causing the being of creatures and their movements.
In fact, it's impossible for God to gain or lose anything by virtue of the existence or acts of creatures or even himself. God cannot decree that he be better or worse for having decreed creatures and remain God. There can be no change in God given creatures or not. God just is God.
And then there's not God. You know, God and everything not God in relation to God. There is no shadow of turning in God. The decree and its execution doesn't bring some sort of alteration to God.
The decree of God, its execution and the objects of his decree executed add nothing to God. If the decree and or the its execution added something to God, God would change from being deficient of the thing or things added due to his decree. Though God is the sufficient ground for his own existence, in essence, God is not made to be something other than he is in himself by the decree and its execution or the objects of its execution. So what we're going to do now is contemplate.
The Puritans say use what are the uses of our text? Modern preachers often say, "Okay, what's the practical take here? What's the application?" I hate that word. It's kind of like sharing.
I've come to share. I've come to share what's on my heart. What's the answer to that? You don't want to know what's on my heart.
Um, so contemplation, what does that mean? Think a little deeper about what we've just said.
Contemplation: The Telos of Decree and Creation
The teology, the telos of creation is the manifest of glory of God for for his for his uh and then the telos of providence is the manifest of glory of God and the telos of the decree is for the manifestation of his glory. So it's been argued that the end of God's decree and its execution creation and providence is the manifestation of the glory of God. Now I'm going to say for the purpose of creaturerly apprehension for the enhancement of those creatures for the good of those creatures so that they might enjoy something which is pretty huge if you can argue that God made me to enjoy God. What's he going to make you to enjoy above him?
You know, if we if we go to Romans 1, I think David talked about this last night, and we enjoy the creature in a wrong way, we're idoltors. I think John Owens said this, use creatures because you have to you have to eat food and stuff like that. But get your life from Christ. Something like that.
So what is it meant? What is what is meant is that the glory of God the manifestation of the glory of God is the telos the end of the decree. What is meant is not that God received some receives something that enriches him in virtue of the decree or its execution. You know the lonely view of God before creation.
All right, three persons. That's not enough. I I need more than that. That kind of thing.
It's not the case that the decree and its execution alters or changes God in any sense whatsoever. God's decree and its execution does not complete God or make God other in any sense. God was incomplete without creatures. God becomes more complete.
He becomes enhanced. He becomes slightly altered or changed for the better with creatures. How many want to say my existence and my movement has made God a better God than he was before? You know, we're going to say, hopefully, you're going to say no.
If you say yes, you need to escort them out. God willed to create to make himself known to creatures to manifest his glory. God is in the business of displaying God to not God. creatures, I have this in my notes, gain by God's decree and its execution. Why did I put that in quotes?
Because we don't gain anything by the decree. We don't exist. We're a divine idea. We gain existence.
We don't go from and to but we do go from non-being to being. We gain existence and we gain the capacity to either reflect something of God like plants, inanimate things, or know him, angels and men because we're rational creatures. And it's amazing. God has endowed some of his creatures with the ability to engage with other creatures in their minds and have them impress ideas upon them and if they are old enough to have a memory go back and remember what that thing's actually called in their own language and use a verbal sign that signifies that thing in a community of others who use the same language like I can speak English to you now and convey ideas from my minds to your minds that you connect with previous information that retrieves in in that thing we call the memory.
The power of powers the faculties of the soul are amazing things. God has made us in such a way we can look at a creature and trace back the effect that which we see the creature the tree to a cause to him the first cause for the purpose of oh William Ames puts it this way all created things naturally tend towards God from whom they came.
Objection One: Does God Need Creation?
Some have claimed that if God decreed with the goal being the manifest manifestation of his own glory, then he needs creation from that end. You've heard that. I already mentioned this kind of a theology of need. God God needed you to really be God.
You're important. You make God that which God was not before you came to be. You enhance God. So Bavink replies to this.
God never seeks out a creature as if that creature were able to give him something he lacks or could take from him something he possesses. He does not seek the creature as an end in itself, but through the creature he seeks himself. He is and always remains his own end. His striving is always also in and through his creatures.
Total self-enjoyment, perfect bliss. The world accordingly did not arise from a need in God, from his poverty and lack of bliss. For what he seeks in a creature is not that creature but himself. So God lacks nothing.
End of quote. God lacks nothing. He gives what we have in order that we might enjoy that he is, what he is, and who he is. That's why he created this just this this overflowing infinite eternal goodness spilling over outside of God in say into what we call creation and providence so that creatures can say oh wow you know David used the word apprehend last night good word um not comprehend comprehend would get our hands around everything there is to know about God.
That's never going to happen in the eternal state. We won't go, "All right, I got my um prolagama down. I got my theology proper down. I got my exe I got the decrees down.
I got the execution of the decrees. I got I got the fall down. I got the I got the covenant down, covenant of works down. I got the redemptive historical um timeline of scripture down.
I got all I got Christologology down. And I got the doctrine of the church, you know, I got all the the places of systematic theology down. Now I'm going to go elsewhere. Uh the finite cannot comprehend the infinite ever.
We're going to have wow moments all the time. You remember Rick Anderson preaching that sermon about the eternal state. He said it's like taking your children to Disneyland for the first time. You ever been to Disneyland?
You can see the lights from Disneyland at their back in their backyard. You can hear the explosions. You take your kids there for the first time and they've seen it on TV. They've seen the movies.
Our friends have told them about it, but they never actually seen the real thing. And as they as you go around every corner for a new ride, whatever it is, you know, they want to run there and get in the front of the line, all that stuff. And then they go around the next corner and he says that's what glory is going to be like. It's going to be a perpetual.
It's going to knock the wind out of our esqueological bodies ch lungs. So God lacks nothing. He gives what we have in order that we might enjoy that he is what he is and who he is.
Objection Two: Is God Self-Serving?
Others object this way that this makes God selfserving and devalues creatures as means to an end. This makes God selfserving. Hey, check me out. And devalues creatures as means to an end.
Here's what Bob says. As the perfect good, God cannot rest in God can rest in nothing other than himself and cannot be satisfied in anything less than himself. He has no alternative but to seek his own honor. In as much as he is the supreme and only good perfection itself, it is the high it is the highest kind of justice that in all creatures he seeks his own honor.
So God decrees solely deogloria. God's decree, excuse me, God's decree solely deo gloria enhances creatures. It doesn't devalue them. There's a 20th century Anglican E EJ E something Mascow.
He says this that the self-sufficient God dains to be glorified by his entirely dependent creatures whose service can add nothing to him is the supreme privilege and honor that God has conferred upon them. God then by virtue of his decree determines what will be. Creation gives actual being to that which God decreed to have being. God orients us to himself.
But since some rational creatures, for example, mankind and Adam rejected this orientation, God acts in execution of his decree to restore and elevate them by the work of the mediator. He's going to bring many sons to glory. We are deformed. He's going to reform us.
Recreation. He's going to recreate it. And then he's going to take us into this new heavens and new earth. An environment, a state of existence that's better than the first state of existence uh of Adam before he sinned.
And certainly better, glory is going to be better than our current state of existence. If you haven't figured it out, here's 2 London 3:3. by the decree of God for the manifestation of his glory. Some men and angels are predestined or for ordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ to the praise of his glorious grace. So what was not attained due to the fall into sin, esqueological bliss, utterly felicitous communion with God is attained for us by Christ and will be confirmed upon us by Christ.
Creation from Abundance, Not Need
So in the absolute divine freedom to or not to create, God has decreed to create, not out of need, but out of abundance of goodness and love, out of surplus, we might say. Here's a a quote by John Webster. I'm almost finished, but this John Webster quote, it'll preach. I might even use it tomorrow as well, depending on what sermon I preach.
Webster on God's Creative Love
Listen to what he says. God requires nothing other than himself. Yet his unoriginate love also originates. Why this should be so, we are incapable of telling.
For though with much consternation, we can begin to grasp that it is fitting that God should so act, created intelligence remains stunned by the fact that God has indeed done so. What stuns us? What our intelligence can't get behind or reduce any further is the outward movement of God's love. God's love under its special aspect of absolute creativity.
God's creative love is not the recognition, alteration or enobblement of an antecedent object beside itself but the bringing of an object into being. Exihilo generosity by which life is given by divine love. The infinite distance which cannot be crossed. He's quoting Aquinas.
The distance between being and nothing has been crossed. The love of God. You see what he just did? He said it.
We don't go from one form of existence to our created form of existence. We go from absolute nothingness, we don't exist, to existing. The love of God, therefore, has its term primarily in itself, but secondarily in the existence of what is other than God, determined by that love for fellowship with him. Creation is again not necessary for God.
God's creative love is not a love which is needy and in want and so loves in such a way that it is subjected to the things it loves. God loves not out of compulsion of his needs but out of the abundance of his generosity. That's Augustine. So if the decree or creation were absolutely necessary to the divine essence, it would be the divine essence.
For that which is necessary to the divine essence is necessary for the divine to be. So both creation uh decree and creation and providence and grace and consummation are utterly free works of God. neither of which have to be, but they are. It's amazing that we're here. And we're here not as ins and of ourselves, but we're here to learn that we're not God and to have the knowledge that God gives us in his both books, nature and scripture, to cause our souls to be in amazement that we are, that we're deformed.
And God has a reformation project centering around the incarnation and the sufferings and the glory of God to bring us back to God all cleaned up in Christ. I am finished. I'll pray.
Closing Prayer
We thank you Lord for this opportunity to consider your word this morning in light of the context of the decree. We pray that you would use whatever was said that accurately reflects the divine intention of scripture. Use that. Burn it into our heads and hearts.
And anything that was not in line with the divine intention of what you have revealed, blow it out of our memories. We ask that you would give us that sense of oh the acknowledgement of the depth of your wisdom and knowledge and ways far far transcends our ability to comprehend. We apprehend some things the things you've revealed us to us but even those things we can struggle with at times. There will be a day when there will be no struggling with our own remaining corruption, no distractions in our minds that cause darts of unbelief to invade our souls.
We long for that day. We're not in it, but you have promised it for us. So, we know it's going to happen. And until then, grant us the ability to learn, to grow, and to live better for your glory.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.