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It's a privilege for me to be 
able to introduce Pastor Richard Barcelos. I've known him for 
about 22 years. He was the church planter or 
founding pastor of the Palmdale Bible Church, which then became 
the Palmdale Reformed Baptist Church, which then became, these 
are just name changes, the Free Grace Church in Lancaster, California. He spent a few years after After 
that work as church pastor, he went to MCTS, which is the Midwest 
Center for Theological Studies in Owensboro, Kentucky, where 
he was professor at the seminary there. And then just recently, 
within the last year or two, my timing is not impeccable, 
he's gone back to the Antelope Valley in California. And there 
he is, the church planting pastor. for the Grace Reform Baptist 
Church of the Antelope Valley. So it is a privilege for him 
to come and to preach to us this morning. Pastor Barcelos. You probably thought Pastor Butler 
hugged me and gave me some Hurton quote, or a Spurgeon quote, he 
said, we know your toes are cold. It is great to be here. Before 
I forget, I want to thank the congregation for many things. But just recently, I was informed 
that you will be, once again, as with last year, this year 
as well, helping us financially with our church plant. depend on the outside benevolence 
of the churches to help fund our budget, and your gift is 
very much appreciated. It will help me feed my family 
for an entire month in 2013 while we try to get the church further 
established. Palmdale is in northern Los Angeles 
County, north and east of Los Angeles, almost straight north 
of Pasadena, over the mountains 2,600 foot elevation. We have less than 10 inches of 
rain a year. It's a great place to retire. 
It's a marvelous economy compared to Los Angeles itself. So if anybody's interested in 
moving to Southern California, you can see me afterwards. We 
started with 25 people on the first Lord's Day in November 
2011. And about six or eight months later, we had 50 people. 
Most of the growth was children of couples who came. And we met 
in our living room. So at September 2012, we rented 
a hotel. And we got visitors at least 
once a month in our home for the 10 months that we were there. 
And then since we've been into the hotel, we've gotten The only 
visitors we got were people from out of town that were staying 
at the hotel that just kind of walked in. So it's been kind 
of an interesting transition. We have 17 members. We started 
with 17 members. February 2012 was our constitution. We still have 17 members. I think 
we have about five or six who are probably going to join the 
church here pretty soon. It's an uphill battle. to plant a church like we're 
planting in the area that we're planting it. It's a battle that 
I'm certainly not qualified for, so I'm very dependent upon God 
to bless the simple means of grace. It was a great privilege 
to sit here and hear you sing. In our evenings, we're in our 
living room with about 40 people. In the mornings, we're in a smaller 
900-square-foot room in the hotel, and it just doesn't sound like 
it sounded this morning. And so I appreciate that and 
I'm encouraged by that. And your pastor is a dear friend 
of mine and a great example and model of perseverance, slow obedience 
in the same direction. If you haven't figured it out, 
it's easy to kind of predict what Pastor Butler is going to 
do. It's the same thing all the time. And that's a good He's 
not going to come here and start walking up and down the aisle 
and doing all kinds of shenanigans and not preach the Bible. He's 
going to preach the Word of God. And that's a great gift that 
you have from Christ. And I think the older I get, 
the more I appreciate men like that who just stay behind the 
plow and study, pray, and preach, and love the people, and help 
as much as they can, but keep the main things the main things. 
And that's the way I view this church. You're a good example 
for our small church to follow in. And some of the things Pastor 
Butler does is a good example for me to follow in as well. 
So with that, if you have a Bible, you can turn to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 11, and the focus 
of the sermon It's on verse 36. I want to read verses 33 through 
36 to get a little of the context. And then as I see to explain 
the text, I'll put it in a larger context. Paul says in Romans 
chapter 11 verse 33, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of 
the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments. and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of 
the Lord? Or who has become his counselor? Or who is first given 
to him that it might be paid back to him again? For from him 
and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory 
forever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come to your word. 
We come to an infallible written word from God through men inspired 
by the Holy Spirit. And we pray for the subsequent 
ministry of the Holy Spirit in the proclamation of the word 
taking that which is accurately reflecting that which is contained 
in the Bible, taking it, using it as a sword, and bringing it 
with power, with light, with fire to the souls, to the minds, 
to the hearts of hearers. Preaching is not merely a horizontal 
exercise where one man speaks in the presence of others. But 
true preaching is more than that, and only you can make it that. 
And that's what we ask for, that the Lord Jesus Christ would give 
of His Spirit to bring the Word of God with 
power to our souls. Please do this, and we ask in 
Jesus' name. Amen. Romans 11.36 for from him, 
and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory forever. 
Amen. Some of you have heard the Latin 
phrase, soli deo gloria. It means to God alone be all 
the glory, the fame, worship, and praise. And I think that's, 
in essence, what Paul is saying here. God is glorified in everything. Everything he made, he preserves. Everything he made and preserves, 
he brings it toward a goal, toward an end. And I want to try to 
show you that in our exposition of the text. In one sense, this 
text answers the question of why. It's an age-old question. 
Why? Now, not why in the sense of 
your six-year-old child. Why? Why? Why? But why all that 
is? Why are we here? Why is there 
an Earth? Why the sun? Why the moon? Why our Milky Way galaxy? Why 
all the billions of galaxies and the billions and billions 
of stars in all the galaxies? Why the universe? Maybe even 
more specific, why do you exist? Why do I exist? Why mankind? Why history? Is history heading 
someplace? Is it going somewhere? You know, 
the successive events of man's experience on the earth. We record 
that, we write it, we call it history books. It's occurring 
right now. Unless Christ comes again, it's 
gonna occur in the future. Events will succeed one after 
another. Somebody will look at them, interpret 
them, write them, and somebody in the future is going to read 
about it. Is history, is it heading someplace? And who is driving 
this massive, what we might call a massive ship that we call a 
universe, which floats along at a pace we can't alter? And 
we're forced to submit to. You know, as history unfolds, 
we're just like players in the drama. And we hear of events, 
and we go, wow, we didn't tinker with God's creation or providence 
to make those events occur. They happened, and we witnessed 
them, or we hear about them. And we're just kind of, in one 
sense, we're passively floating along as this thing keeps moving. Why does it exist? A reason for writing this is 
to say that not just this creation, everything that is exists for 
a particular goal, aim, and purpose, and that is the glory of God. Now, some people say the universe 
has always existed in the way that we know it. Matter, things 
that we can touch and feel, matter is eternal. If it did come into 
existence, a variety of things kind of consulted together, worked 
together to cause this explosion, out of which came the universe 
and all the rhyme and reason that's connected to the universe. 
But explosions, what do explosions produce? Pastor Butler often 
walks into my study and said, looks like a bomb just went off 
in here because it's chaotic to him, not to me. To me, it's 
very orderly. That stack of trash has these 
various things in it, and that pile of books means this. But 
explosions produce what? Chaos. Some people think an explosion 
produced not chaos, but the cosmos, an orderly system that we live 
in, billions and billions of years ago. What is its purpose? Nobody really knows. Man just 
kind of exists on the stage of existence. And this process that 
started a long time ago for purpose, who knows, it could exit man 
stage left off of the stage of existence at any point. So we 
really don't have a purpose. That's pretty depressing. If 
that's it, then move to Washington and smoke dope and do whatever 
you want, because tomorrow we die, like Paul says. This is 
not the biblical or Christian teaching. There's purpose, there's 
rhyme, there's reason. There's telos, there's goal to 
that which has been made. That is the glory of the maker 
himself. And I want to show you this from 
this text. So first of all, let's look at 
Romans 11, 36 in its context, the context of the verse. Verse 
36, note with me, is connected with verses 33 through 35. If 
you see that little word, Four in verse 36, there's that connecting 
particle. 36 is connected to verses 33, 
34, and 35 by the little word four. And verses 33 through 36, 
that section forms a doxology. A doxology is words of praise 
to God, okay? It's an anthem of praise, and 
it's promoted by the subject matter that ends in verse 32. 
Notice verse 32. For God has shut up all in disobedience so 
that he may show mercy to all. The end of chapter 11 in Romans 
discusses the fact that God had delivered some ethnic Jews to 
disobedience and the hardening of their hearts, and was now 
at the same time in Paul's day, on the one hand, judicially hardening 
the hearts of some and toward others, Gentiles, lavishing grace 
and mercy in the gospel upon those. So that's the context. He concludes his discussion of 
God's unrivaled sovereignty in the withholding of mercy, justly, 
and the dispensing of mercy, kindly. He concludes this discussion 
with this bold assertion in verse 32, God has shut up all in disobedience 
so that he may show mercy to all. And then he immediately 
follows after that concluding statement with what I'll call 
this sigh of wonder. Notice, oh, the depth of the 
riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. There's this 
sigh of wonder. It's a sigh of astonishment. It's a sigh of amazement. It's 
a sigh of praise. And the wider context of chapter 
11 is dealing as I said before, with God's sovereign display 
of mercy to non-Jews in the midst of widespread Jewish unbelief 
in Jesus as God's one and only mediator, the Messiah, the savior 
of sinners. Going wider than just chapter 
11, Romans 9 through 11, as many of you know, contains what we 
might call some of the hard sayings of the Apostle Paul. He's dealing 
with the unbelief of God's ancient people in the first century. 
And he says he has sorrow in his own heart, grief in his own 
heart toward his own blood, his own ethnic people. And he deals 
with this widespread rejection of Christ, but not in a way that's 
real popular in our day. He basically says, look, when 
it's all said and done, everything that is is all about God, not 
us. He is the potter and we're the clay. God can have mercy 
on whom he wants to. God can withhold mercy. God can 
dispense it. He's simply being God. He's not 
to be argued with, so shut your mouth. He is to be praised for 
being who he is. That's basically what he does 
in Romans 9 through 11. Now, he doesn't do it like some 
cold-hearted philosopher. He's got a tear in his heart. 
He's got a tear in his eye as he's doing this. He says there's 
grief in his soul, not necessarily a physical tear. But he could 
have had a physical tear, I don't know. But I'm not trying to impose 
a law on him. You have to have a physical tear 
to really mean something. You don't have to. Sometimes 
it helps if it's natural to you. But here we know this. He did 
have grief in his heart. He was concerned in his soul 
about his fellow countrymen. But when it's all said and done, 
he basically argues for God's unrivaled sovereignty in this. Listen what he says in Romans 
9, 15, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have 
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So 
then, it doesn't depend on the man who wills or the man who 
runs that is gaining mercy, but on God who has mercy. God is 
the sovereign giver, the sovereign dispenser, he designed it And 
he dispenses mercy, for the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very 
purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name 
might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So as far as 
we know, God raises up this great leader, Pharaoh, to demonstrate 
his power, then he puts him aside. And as far as we know, he died 
in unbelief, and he's going to suffer eternal damnation. So then he has mercy on whom 
he desires. and hardens whom he desires. 
You will say to me, then, why does he still find fault? For 
who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, 
O man, who answers back to God?" In other words, button your lip. You're not just talking or arguing 
theology with another sinner here. I'm dealing with God, who 
is sovereign, dispensing mercy. The thing molded will not say 
to the molder, Why do you make me like this? Will it? Does not 
the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same 
lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 
What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and 
to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of 
wrath prepared for destruction, and he did so to make known the 
riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand 
for glory? Even us, whom he has also called 
not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. You see, God can have mercy on 
whomever he pleases and whenever he pleases, and he cannot be 
impugned with evil because of it. He owes mercy to no one. And when he shows it, which Paul 
says he was showing it then, and of course he still shows 
it When he shows that he's simply being himself, executing his 
divine and therefore sovereign prerogative, and he should be 
loved for it, not despised, and certainly not argued with. So Romans 11.36 is the conclusion 
of Paul's doxology promoted by the unrivaled sovereignty of 
God in the withholding and dispensing of mercy, which displays the 
incomprehensibility of God's counsel, verses 33 through 35. So that's the context. Let's 
look at the contents of the verse. The contents of the verse under 
four points. Notice, first of all, the connecting 
particle in verse 36, four. As I said before, this word connects 
verse 36 with verses 34 through 33 through 35, but primarily verses 
34 and 35. And notice those verses, quotation 
of the Old Testament, but they're questions. Who has known the 
mind of the Lord or who became his counselor? Who was first 
given to him that it might be paid back to him? So we have here rhetorical questions, 
and the implied answer is obviously Negative, right? No one, no one 
has exhaustively known the mind of the Lord. We only know God 
insofar as he has revealed himself and insofar as he has illumined 
our minds to understand that revelation. But nobody knows 
God like God knows God. Only God knows God incomprehensibly 
or comprehensively. But he also says, who is first 
given to him that it might be paid back to him again? Both 
questions imply the answer, no. Hence, verse 36 answers these 
questions. I'm going to put the questions 
in a different kind of a format here. How come no one knows the 
mind of the Lord? How come no one has been his 
counselor? How come no one is first given to him that it might 
be paid back to him because of him or from Him, and through Him, 
and to Him, or are all things. In other words, no one tells 
God what to do, man is not God's equal, and certainly man is not 
God's superior, not His advisor, and not His counselor. Why not? 
Why is it that no one has known the mind of the Lord? Why is 
it that no one is God's counselor, And why is it that no one has 
first given to God that it might be paid back to the one that 
first gave to him? The answer comes in three little 
prepositional phrases in verse 36. And we're going to look at 
that secondly. We looked at the connecting particle 
four. It introduces us to the answer or the reasons for the 
answer no to those questions. The three prepositional phrases 
are found in verse 36. An older commentator, Charles 
Hodge, gives this expanded Translation, for by him all things are. Through his power, all things 
are directed and governed. And to him, as their last end, 
all things tend. So here we have the judicial 
hardening upon unbelievers, unbelieving Jews in the first century. dealing 
with that issue. At the same time, we have mercy 
lavished upon those who are outside the ancient covenant people of 
God, Gentiles. And Paul's dealing with that 
issue. The sovereignty of God on both hands. Withholding mercy, 
judicially hardening, dispensing mercy, giving it. Okay? How can 
that be? Why is God doing all this? Paul 
basically says, God is God. Look, we don't counsel God. We 
don't tell him what he can and can't do. Nobody was there and 
first did something and God says, oh, you did that, now I owe you, 
I better give back to you. We're not his advisor. There's 
not a bench that we go to. God's on one end, we're on the 
other, we sit there, we roll dice together, we do paper, scissors, 
rock game or whatever, and if we win, he goes, okay, nice advice, 
I'll do it. It's not that way. anything in 
God's creation, okay? And I think this is what Paul's 
getting at, and these three prepositional phrases kind of accentuate this 
for us. Again, Hodge says, by Him all 
things are. Through His power, all things 
are directed and governed. And to Him, as their last end, 
all things tend. So the first one, I have, by 
the way, the New American Standard Version. It translates from Him, 
or all things. It could be translated of Him, 
or all things. Either way is fine. It means 
the same thing. Namely, God is the source. God is the originator. God is the creator of all things 
that have come into existence. There are some things that exist 
that have not come into existence. That is God, Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. Everything outside of God, everything 
other than God, it came into existence. Genesis 1.1, in the 
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 33, 6 through 
9, the various things said there. One thing is this. He spoke, 
and it was done. What is the it in the context 
there? It is the creation of all things. God has creative 
power. God exerted creative power. And that which became and was 
not became by virtue of the power of God's spoken word, everything 
that is is created by God. Without any pre-existing materials 
to work with, without consulting architects and planning commissions 
and scientists and geologists, without consulting you or me 
or anyone else, the God of the Bible spoke and the universe 
came into existence. That which became was not until 
he said, let there be. And when he said to let there 
be, there was. Everything that is, is of him, or from him, or because 
of him. So how come no one knows the 
mind of the Lord? How come no one has been his counselor? How 
come no one first gave to him that it might be repaid to him? 
Here's Paul's answer. God set things in order the way 
he wanted to because he possesses the right to. He's the potter. We're the clay. He's first. He's 
primary. He's the designer of all things. 
And he needs no help, especially from comparatively puny, fickle, 
and sinful creatures as man. Who has known the mind of the 
Lord? No one. Who has become his counselor? No one. Who is 
first given to him that it might be paid back to him? No one. 
Why? God is the creator. This is his theater to display 
his glory. The second prepositional phrase 
in my translation reads, through him are all things. And I think 
Charles Hodge is right. The first phrase, of him or from 
him, refers to creation. The second phrase refers to providence. God is the providential, not 
only sustainer, but providential director and ruler of all that 
which has been made, and all that which has been made was 
made by him. Daniel 4.35, for instance, says, 
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. That 
includes us. He does according to his will 
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. 
Now, most evangelical Christians, in our part of the world would 
say, of course, God does what everyone's among the inhabitants 
of heaven. But the Bible goes even farther, 
and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain 
his hand or say to him, what have you done? 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 things. For 
from him, creation, and through the exertion of his providential 
power, all that has been created is preserved and directed and 
sovereignly ruled over by God." Ephesians 1.11, in him also we 
have obtained an inheritance. being predestined according to 
the purpose of him who, here's providence, works all things 
according to the counsel of his will. So providence, the superintending 
sovereign authority and power of God exerted upon all that 
has been created, sustaining it and directing it, providence 
is in accordance with an eternal blueprint in the mind of God. We do not live, then, in a closed 
system of reality. We are not off limits. God isn't 
the old illustration, the cosmic clockmaker. He made a clock, 
he wound it up, and he set it on a shelf, and then he turned 
around and did something else. And when the clock runs out, 
then he comes back and deals with it. That's not the God of 
the Bible. The God of the Bible sustains 
and directs everything without exception that he made. God then isn't a passive bystander. One man says that providence 
is the continuing act of divine power subsequent to the act of 
creation by means of which God preserves all things in being. God supports their actions. God governs them according to 
his established order, and God directs them toward their ordained 
ends. The extent of divine providence 
encompasses all creatures and all things This includes animate 
and inanimate things, men and animals, trees and mountains, 
storms, earthquakes, kings, governments, traffic accidents, cancer, and 
colds. That was, and colds, everything. So how come no one knows the 
mind of the Lord? How come no one has been How 
come no one has first given to him that it might be paid back 
to him? Because God not only made all things, God preserves 
all things, and he does so the way he wants to, and he often 
does things that we cannot understand. How can God make peace and create 
calamity, the Isaiah text that I read, and yet hold us accountable 
for our sin? How can the exhaustive, omni-comprehensive 
sovereignty of God, and man's real, live, bona fide responsibility 
for evil be reconciled in our minds. Now, do you realize you 
can have two apparently contradictory things that we can't reconcile, 
okay? And that's okay. You know why? Because God's mind is what really 
matters. Not yours and not mine. simply 
because we may not know how two difficult things may be true 
one at the same time, does not mean that God doesn't know how 
they are true at one and the same time. The third prepositional phrase 
is, to him are all things. In other words, all things are 
tending toward him. He made everything. He sustains, 
preserves, directs everything all toward Him. His value, His worth, His glory, 
His honor. Everything that is, is for him. I'd say that's pretty important 
to understand. How come no one knows the mind of the Lord? How 
come no one has been his counselor? How come no one has first given 
to him that it might be repaid to him? Because he made all things 
and sustains all things for his glory and does not need to consult 
us in how to bring glory to himself and what he does. He is omniscient. He knows everything. He's there 
for all lives. What are we going to do? Say, 
God, come here. Come here. Listen, we've hired this firm. 
They're going to help you out. These guys are professionals. 
They went to Stanford and the University of whatever is over 
here. They're professionals. They're specialists. They helped 
Dubai become what Dubai is. They were able to use their minds. They put them together. And they 
have computer programs that helped utilize all the resources that 
were in this certain area. They put human resources together, 
natural resources together. And they produced this wonderful 
whatever it is. God, they're going to help you 
out with all the resources that you have to really do a good 
job in presenting yourself well. That's what we do. You could 
get the greatest group of consultants together and multiply them billions 
and billions of times in intelligence and ability and experience and 
put all that stuff together in one person, and it would not 
get even close to the majesty, the knowledge, the wisdom, and 
the power of the God. who spoke all things into existence, 
the God who sustains everything that He made, the God who drives this massive ship 
we call the universe toward showing Himself off. God's supreme goal in all things 
is His own glory. God's supreme goal in all things 
is His own honor. his own praise, his own fame. Now, I heard recently a friend 
of mine said he was at a church and they had a Sunday school 
and it happened to be one of the elder's teenage daughters 
was in the Sunday school class and the Sunday school teacher 
was saying this kind of stuff and she put her hand up and said, 
and it was a great question, okay, that's selfish. Selfish of God to do that, isn't 
it? I don't think she meant it in a wicked way. It was just like a natural question. Isn't it self-centered of God 
to be all about God? Now, one of my big problems is 
I'm quite often all about me. If you haven't figured it out 
yet, you've got the same problem, okay? The solution to our problem, 
is not, I gotta be me. I gotta be me, whoever that was, 
Frank Sinatra, or somebody saying that a long time ago. The solution 
to our problem is not to be self-absorbed. The more you get into yourself, 
and if you're honest, the more you realize that you're a messed 
up jalopy of a being. You got problems. We got problems, 
okay? Now, if we didn't have problems, 
that might be different, but still then, let's say I was sinless, 
okay? And I could say, I don't have 
problems, I'm sinless. But there was a time still when 
I was not. So there was a being other than 
me in my sinless condition. There was a being other than 
me outside of me, that predated me, that called me into being 
in the first place, which automatically makes that being slightly better 
than me. Now, slightly was a rhetorical 
understatement. Everything that is outside of 
God came into being. Everything other than that which 
came into being has never come into being, always existed. Namely, God, Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit. So if God, who is infinite in 
all of his perfections, you can't even conceive of a being better 
than him. Because all that we know about 
him and all the goodness and glory of God, we don't know everything 
there is to know about him. It's better than we know, right? 
So if that being focused his attention on anything else, then 
whatever he focused his primary attention on could become more 
worthy than him. In other words, if God isn't 
God-centered, then he's not God. He has to be this way. So how come no one knows the 
mind of the Lord? How come no one has become his 
counselor? How come no one has first given to him that it might 
be paid back to him? Because this massive thing that 
we live in, called the universe, was brought into being by him, 
has been and will be sustained by him, and is being brought 
by him to an ultimate goal. He doesn't consult in us. Of 
course he invites us. Notice thirdly in our text we 
have a concluding ascription. We had the connecting particle, 
the. We had the three prepositional 
phrases. Now we have a concluding ascription to whom be glory forever. In one sense, Paul can't contain 
himself and says, soli deo gloria. He's ascribing to God what is 
due him, honor, supreme value, praise, and adoration. Unrivaled 
worship should be given to this one and this one alone. And then 
fourthly, we have in our text a final word, amen. What better 
way to end than to say, so be it. That's what he concludes 
with. So that's the text, that's its 
context, that's its contents. And there are a lot of ways you 
can go with, so what? How do you just bring this home 
and kind of give it some little practical feet? Well, there are 
several ways. And one is to think a few things 
through. And so I have a few things I'd 
like to think through with you. One thing that we get from this 
is that, if you haven't seen it yet, the universe is all about 
God, not man. For from him and through him 
and to him are all things to him be the glory forever. The 
vastness and the mystery of the universe does not point to the 
supreme importance of man. Now, man, I think, is the apex 
of creation, the Mount Everest of creation, male and female 
in the image of God. He created them. Very unique. No other creatures created his 
image. But that doesn't make us the target, the bullseye, 
the center of attention. As a matter of fact, living as 
if I am the center is not the solution to our problems. It's further diving into our 
problems. Our plight starts with us. A plight is, we got a problem, 
okay? If you came to church this morning, 
I just want to be told I'm good, I'm all right, I'm going in the 
right direction, I'm okay, you're okay, you came to the wrong church, 
we're all messed up, okay? We're sinners, we got problems. We read texts like this, there 
are some people here that heard me read that text, I really didn't 
have to preach it. They were already going, yes, 
that's right, I exist not for me, not for other men or women, 
I exist ultimately for the glory of God, the creation and providence 
and that toward which everything is heading is all sole deo gloria, 
it's all for the glory of God. Some people loved to hear that. 
The first time I started hearing stuff like this, I didn't love 
it, because you know what it meant? You mean the world's not 
all about me? You mean existence isn't here 
to make me happy? If you live that way, You're 
going to be frustrated your whole life. Temporal happiness is all 
you're going to have. That's the best you'll have. 
And it's going to fatten you up for the day of wrath. It might get you things. It might 
get you boyfriends, girlfriends. It might get you a wife. It might 
get you a husband. It might get you a car. It might get you nice 
vacations or whatever you might get. But it won't get you through 
that horrible day. Our plight is ourselves and living 
this way. The solution, by the way, the 
solution isn't to say, okay, I'll knuckle under everything 
that is for him. I'm okay now. No, the solution 
is what Paul was agonizing about. He's agonizing about the fact 
that, that that God had sent forth His Son, born of a woman, 
born under the law, in order that He might redeem those who 
are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons 
and be justified and adopted and ultimately glorified. He 
was agonizing over the fact that that had occurred in space and 
time in history on the earth. The Old Testament said it would 
happen. There's going to come one. He's going to crush the 
head of the serpent. He's going to demolish the devil. 
He's going to procure righteousness. He's going to suffer, and he's 
going to enter into glory. It's Christ. It's Jesus of Nazareth. OK, he came. And Paul says, but 
some of my countrymen didn't believe and don't believe. But 
at the same time, God is giving mercy to Gentiles, people who 
want a part of my old the Old Covenant nation of God and weren't 
recipients of the oracles of God and the scriptures of the 
Old Testament. They're now believing. How do 
I answer that? God's sovereign. This is God's 
world. God's sovereign in the making 
of it. God's sovereign in the preserving of it. God is sovereign 
in creation, providence, grace. And God is sovereign in taking 
it to where he wants to. That's his answer. So the answer 
to your plight of being messed up and sinful and violating God's 
law and messing up your life in the past and having all these 
closet sins that you hope nobody ever finds out. The answer is 
to be found, connected to Christ. That's the solution to our problem. It's not just generic Christian 
theism. Oh, I believe the Bible's the 
word of God and everything exists for the glory of God in me. Therefore, 
I'm okay. No, you've got to have Christ, 
the righteousness, of God for sinners. So one thing we learn 
from this is that the universe is all about God and not man. And I think it's that theology 
of the universe that Paul had in the backdrop of his mind that 
he was able to interpret what was happening there in a way 
that gave glory to God. Another thing I think we need 
to get from this text is that deep theological questions that 
display our finiteness and creaturely limitations should move our souls 
to wonder and amazement." You know, Paul's agonizing, OK? He's 
got grief in his heart. My countrymen don't believe he's 
the Messiah. And at the same time, God is 
bringing the enemies, the Jews, the dogs, he's bringing them 
into the covenant community. And here's his response. Verse 33. Oh. Now, he's not saying, oh, wow, 
huh. This is a sigh, a sigh of amazement. Like, oh, the depth. You could hear Martin Lloyd-Jones 
maybe say this. Oh, the depth of the riches, 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. In other words, Paul's 
mind, Paul's soul is astonished that God is doing what he's doing 
and the response, the proper response is astonishing adoration. Not bitterness, not anger, but 
praise for the sovereign withholding and the sovereign dispensing 
of mercy. So deep theological questions 
that display our finiteness and creaturely limitations should 
move our souls to wonder and amazement. I remember reading 
this many years ago. Whatever God ordains is right 
simply because he ordains it. And he ought to be praised for 
it as well. And that's what Paul's doing 
here. Third practical implication here 
in consideration. The fact that God is merciful 
to anyone is astonishing. I think Paul's astonished by 
that. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may 
show mercy to all. All the unbelieving Jews, all 
the believing Gentiles is what he means there. We should never 
forget this. It is astonishing that God is 
merciful to anyone. There is not a righteous man 
on the earth who continually does good and who never sins. All have sinned and fall short 
of the glory of God constantly every day. Everyone has the innate 
knowledge that the God of the Bible is and that he's powerful, 
that there are ethical absolutes in the world and that judgment's 
coming, but they suppress that truth unrighteously. And what 
does God do? He gives us seasons. He gives 
us food. He gives us joy and laughter 
constantly over and over. Yeah, but there's a lot of problems 
in the world, okay? All right, there is. Who was 
it, C.S. Lewis, the problem of pain? And 
then John Gerstner writes in his little pamphlet, The Problem 
of Pleasure. Pain in the world isn't a problem. 
I can answer that. Sin. The bigger problem is, why is 
anyone happy? Why is there pleasure on the 
earth? Why doesn't God... Man, if I 
was... You're lucky I'm not God. You know, when we get an enemy, 
what happens? Facebook, Twitter, texts, letters, notes, shut the 
door, we drive, we don't go by their house, you know, whatever 
you do, okay? Call in the bomb squad. God has 
enemies, and he brings the sun to them, and he causes their 
gardens to grow. God has enemies every second, 
billions of them, all at the same time, doing this, suppressing, as he's causing rain to come 
down so that their crops grow. He shows mercy, not just general 
kind of mercy like that to the undeserving. I'm talking even 
more so. God takes his enemies and he 
makes them into his friends. God renovates the jalopy of our 
human nature by sending the Spirit to rejuvenate us, to give us 
life from above, life from heaven, life that Christ earned for his 
chosen ones. The Spirit brings it to our souls, 
convicts us of our sins, ushers us into union with Christ through 
faith, confers upon us justification, adoption, puts us on the process 
of sanctification, and Jesus is going to bring those who are 
His enemies to glory someday. God just doesn't cause the sun 
to shine on His enemies. God turns His enemies into His 
friends. We go from sons of Satan to sons 
of the Son, and therefore sons of the Father. Never forget, 
we go from rags to riches, you know the rags to riches stories, 
that's what believers are. Rags, filthy rags are sin and 
guilt to the riches of eternal glory and praise and the new 
heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness, all based 
on the obedience of Jesus Christ. So, I say that the fact that 
God is merciful to anyone is astonishing. A fourth consideration is this, 
that this doctrine of the glory of God in all things is a great 
comfort for believers in Christ. At least it should be. I hope, 
if you're a believer in Christ, you've gained some comfort in 
what has been said. But listen to Hymn 21. You probably 
know it. God moves in a mysterious way. 
This is his providential ways. His wonders to perform, he plants 
his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in 
unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright 
design and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh 
courage take. The clouds ye so much dread are 
big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble 
sense. You know how you try to read 
into providences, God is chastising me, he's punishing me for something. 
You know, I broke my leg or whatever it is. Maybe it's just this simple. You broke your leg. And it's 
not necessarily connected to an angry father against a wayward 
son. Here's what the hymn writer says, 
but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence, 
he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, 
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, 
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err 
and scan his work in vain. God, not his people, God is his 
own interpreter, and he will make it plain." I think this 
doctrine of the glory of God in all things created, preserved, 
and brought to their ultimate end is a great comfort for believers 
in Christ. And it's a great comfort for 
believers in Christ alone. So if it's a great comfort for 
believers in Christ alone, then it's not a great comfort 
for unbelievers. And if it's not a great comfort, 
what's the opposite of comfort? It actually ought to scare you 
if you're not in Christ. It ought to terrify you. Because, you know, no man knows 
what a day brings forth. We can't boast about tomorrow. 
We don't know what's going to happen. You could die today. But for believers in Christ, 
great comfort. This text answers the question that I asked at 
the beginning, why? You know, why all of this? It's for the glory of God. It's 
so that God would display his beauty and his majesty all throughout 
his creation. The chief and supreme way that 
humans are involved with this glory of God is understanding 
ourselves as guilty sinners, and then casting ourselves upon 
the promises of God in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
receiving, taking Christ as our own. Because God has so designed 
the world that, matter of fact, God has so designed the entirety 
of that which is made, the universe. to give Him glory through what 
He does in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the way that we, as sinners, 
creatures of God, get back to God is through Christ. 
And God gets glory by bringing His sons to glory through the 
Lord Jesus Christ. You know that heaven still is 
dispensing mercy. Paul said that in Romans. Heaven 
dispenses mercy. And the mercy dispenser in heaven 
isn't one of those things that, you know, like soap dispenser, 
you hit it, you hit it. And if you hit it too many times, what 
happens? Well, for some people, they hit it more times, even 
though it's empty. You know, it's like the street crossing 
thing. If you hit it once, it doesn't work. It's going to work 
if you hit it 40 times, right? No, you got to wait. Well, the 
soap thing gets empty. Heaven's mercy dispenser is not 
like a soap dispenser. It doesn't ever get empty. There's 
a bucket in heaven called mercy, called forgiveness, called righteousness, 
called adoption, called justification, called glory. It has no bottom 
to it. Exhaustless resources in heaven, 
procured by Christ, deposited to sinners on the earth, brought 
special delivery to our souls by the Holy Spirit, in conjunction 
with the proclamation of the word. Jesus Christ is heaven's 
mercy dispenser. And like the hymn says, his hands 
are full of pity. He really pities us. But you 
know how we can pity somebody? We see a picture, an image on 
the screen, a television screen, and go, oh. Wow, look at those 
poor people. If I could only... His hands are full of pity. I 
love this part of it. Joined with power to save. Okay? Jesus is just not some 
passive, little effeminate thing, okay? This is the Lord of Glory, 
who has pity towards sinners, power to actually save them. And you know what? not just save 
you from a messed up life, but to ultimately usher you into 
the safe presence of God. You know everybody gets into 
the presence of God? Not everybody gets into the safe presence of 
God. Jesus ushers his people into the safe presence of God. 
Okay, there's believers here, I assume primarily. What about 
for you? What do we do with this text? 
For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To 
him be the glory forever. Amen. You know what we do with 
it? We read the verse following it. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the 
mercies of God, has God been merciful to you? To present your 
bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your 
spiritual service of worship. Don't be conformed to this world. 
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may 
know, prove what the will of God is, that which is good and 
acceptable and perfect. If you've received mercy, if 
God has lavished mercy upon you in and through his beloved son, 
if you're saved, if you're a believer in Christ, what do you do? Well, 
you add to the finished work of Christ. No, you realize that 
mercy has been heaped upon you, and you express your thankfulness. We're guilty. God's gracious. We show our gratitude. Let's 
pray. Father, we thank you for your 
word. We pray that the Holy Spirit would take that which has been 
expounded and is a true reflection, an accurate reflection of the 
Bible. We pray that the Holy Spirit would take those things 
and bring them to our minds and souls with power. and effect 
change in us. For your glory, for our good, 
and the good of others, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.