Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 \u201cFor who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?\u201d 35 \u201cOr who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?\u201d 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Today we complete our six-year journey through Romans 1-11. We\u2019ve seen the terribly sinful condition of our hearts\u2014and the hearts of all humanity\u2014in Romans 1-3:19; and the great work of Christ on the cross to provide a righteousness and a sacrifice so that we could be justified by faith alone apart from works of the law in Romans 3:20-5:21; and the mighty sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to conquer sin and make us secure in the love of Christ in Romans 6-8; and then the great defense of the God\u2019s sovereign grace and promise-keeping faithfulness in Romans 9-11, climaxing now with the stunning words in Romans 11:32, \u201cGod has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.\u201d

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 \u2018For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?\u2019 35 \u2018Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?\u2019 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.\u201d

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

We saw last time that the riches and wisdom and the knowledge of God are unfathomably deep (v. 33a). No matter how far down
into God\u2019s wealth or into God\u2019s wisdom or into God\u2019s knowledge you go, you never get beneath God. There is no explanation for
anything beneath God. There is nothing beneath God. And there is nothing above God. And there is nothing decisive over against
God between his depths and his heights.

And that is why Paul says in verse 36, \u201cFor from him and through him and to him are all things.\u201d And this truth leads to the truth
of verse 35, \u201cOr who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?\u201d Answer: Nobody. In other words, you can\u2019t give to God
anything that is not already his. If you could, he would owe you. But you can\u2019t. So he doesn\u2019t owe you anything. And never will. All
things are from him and through him. He is absolutely free.

This also leads Paul to say in verse 34, \u201cWho has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?\u201d Answer again:
Nobody. In other words, not only can\u2019t you give God a gift that he doesn\u2019t already own; you can\u2019t give him advice he doesn\u2019t already
know. For from him and through him are all things.

Which leads Paul to say in verse 33b: \u201cHow unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!\u201d In other words, since God\u2019s riches and wisdom and knowledge are very deep, so that we can\u2019t give him anything he doesn\u2019t have, or tell him anything he doesn\u2019t know, it is no wonder that we are often confounded, bewildered, perplexed, and amazed by the ways and the judgments of God.

The final design and effect of it all is at the end of verse 36: All things are not only from him and through, but also \u201cto him.\u201d
Therefore, \u201cTo him be glory forever.\u201d Our lives are to be lived willingly to the glory of God. Or we will serve his glory unwillingly
in our damnation. We are created and called to make the beauty and greatness of God known in the world. Our reason for being is to
make much of God, and bring all the nations to confess that Jesus is Lord \u201cto the glory of God the Father\u201d (Philippians 4:11).

1. all things are from him and through him;the re fo re
2. no one can give a gift to God so as to make him a debtor;and
3. no one can give any counsel to God about how he should do things; which is why

First, because God\u2019s riches and wisdom and knowledge are unfathomably deep, verse 36 is true: \u201cFrom him and through him . . .
are all things.\u201d I take this to mean that the ultimate origin or the ultimate cause or the ultimately decisive reason for everything is
God. Everything is dependent for its existence on God\u2014at its beginning and all the way along (from him andthrough him).

then it depends not on human will or exertion,but on God, who has mercy.\u201d Proverbs 16:33 puts it like this, \u201cThe lot is cast into the
lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.\u201dAll things are from him and through him\u201d means that there is no explanation for whatis
or whathappens that is deeper or more decisive than God. This is what we mean when we say that God is absolutely sovereign.
The devil is not co-eternal with God, and he is not ultimately independent of God. His existence and all that comes from it\u2014so
much of the evil in the world\u2014depends on God\u2019s willing him to exist and allowing him moment by moment to do what he does. God
sees it coming and he permits it to happen. And since he does nothing aimlessly or capriciously, there is always a purpose for what he
causes to happendirectly and what he permits to happenindirectly. So in that sense we can say that even the evil and the calamity of

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is
in the world\u2014the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions\u2014is not from the Father but is from the
world.

I take this to mean that sin does not come from God\u2019s nature. That is, it\u2019s not an extension or aspect of God\u2019s nature or character.
God is holy, and there is no unholiness in him. God is light, and in him is no darkness. The darkness and unholiness of sin do not
arise as part of God\u2019s nature or character. They don\u2019t come from him in that sense. Sin can be from God and through God in the
sense of ultimate and decisive cause, but not in the sense that sin comes from his nature or character. God wills that sin be, without
himself sinning. It is not a sin when God, with infinite wisdom and holiness, ordains that sin exist. Sin is \u201cfrom him\u201d as the one who
ordained it, but \u201cnot from him\u201d as an expression of his nature.

Here\u2019s an imperfect illustration of the difference. You can get a black eye in two ways. You can be hit in your eye with a white snowball, and your eye will turn black. Or you can be injected above your eye with a hypodermic needle full of black dye, and your eye will turn black. In the second case the darkness comes from the nature of the dye. In the first case the darkness does not come from any darkness in the snowball.

All I want you to see from that illustration is that there are two different ways to think about something being \u201cfrom God.\u201d All things are from God in the sense that he ordains all that comes to pass. But all sinful acts are not from God as an expression of his nature.

The practical upshot of this is that we are utterly dependent on God for all thingsand that we are utterly responsible and guilty
for the evil in our hearts. The effect this should have is deep humility. 1 Corinthians 4:7, \u201cWhat do you have that you did not receive?
If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?\u201d The fact that all things are from God and through God,
excludes boasting.

Second, this implies verse 35: \u201cOr who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?\u201d Answer: No one. Since all is from God and through God, he owns all things and we can never give him anything that is not already his. Which means that we can never put him in our debt. There is absolutely no negotiating with God. We have no bargaining position. We are utterly owned and we are squatters on his territory. Every breath we take is a gift. Every virtue we perform is grace. \u201cGod is not served by human hands as though he needed anything, for he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything\u201d (Acts 17:25).

Third, Paul gives one specific example of how we can\u2019t give God anything to obligate him or enrich him. Verse 34: \u201cFor who
has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?\u201d Answer: Nobody has known his mind in such a way as to be his
counselor. We know something of his mind because of revelation. Paul has given us 11 chapters of the mind of God. We are meant to
understand it. But no one knows the mind of God in a way that can become his counselor.

So the specific thing you cannot give to God here is counsel. And this is the one thing that sinners presume most often to give
God: counsel. They don\u2019t offer love or delight or faith or hope. They offer counsel. They tell God outright or by implication: \u201cI don\u2019t
like the way you run the world; I think you should do it like this.\u201d The world is filled with God-advisers. The one thing Paul
explicitly says we cannot give, and dare not give, is what proud sinners most often give: they tell God how he should run the world,
and warn him that if he doesn\u2019t run it their way they won\u2019t believe in him. As if a diabetic child should say to his pediatrician: Don\u2019t
give me any more shots. And if you stick me with that insulin needle again, I\u2019m never coming back. As if that were a threat toGod!

Fourth, since all is from God and through God so that we can\u2019t give him what is not already his and can\u2019t be his counselor,
therefore (according to verse 33b), no wonder we are often confounded and perplexed by the ways and the judgments of God. \u201cHow
unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!\u201d This does not mean that God is totally unintelligible. The mysteries