Inscrutable. That's the word I want to talk about with you here today. And if you don't know what it means, it's okay. I had to look it up as well. But the thing I want to get you to think about with me here this morning is that God has never looked anything up. Think about that for a minute. God has never used a dictionary in any language. And he knows them all. God has never searched for anything on the internet. As if he didn't know it! You know, you hear people talk about today, like, Whoo AI is really something we should be worried about. AI, that artificial intelligence, they're going to know everything. Hey, guess what, everybody, God already knows everything. And some people should be worried about that. Okay. And for some of us, we will find great comfort in knowing that whatever is going on in our life, right now, God already knows about it. And so, I want to invite you to open your Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 11, verses 33 to 36, where we will study the inscrutable ways of God. And out of respect for God's Word, I want to invite you to stand for the public reading of Scripture. And I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention because what we're going to learn about God today, you would never know unless God reveals it to you through his Word. So, make sure that you really hear what Paul has to explain to us, to proclaim about God. And follow along, as I read. This is Romans 11:33-36.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead, grab your seat. And if you want to, there's a handout in there where you might want to jot down some notes of wisdom as we study God's wisdom together, right now, because inscrutable means impossible to understand. That's what the word means. And that the wisdom and knowledge of God are so deep, so rich, that we can't even search to the end of God's judgments. And we could not even possibly understand all of God's ways. God's ways are higher than our ways. In fact, from our finite thinking, it is impossible for us to comprehend God's thoughts. And Paul is so overwhelmed by that, so moved by that, that he shouts out, “Oh, the depth” of it all. Can you see it? Can you see who God really is? So, whenever you see a biblical writer using the word “Oh,” that means, you know, it's going to be followed by some exclamation points, because Paul, at this point, he is really getting into it. And he wants you to see how deep the wisdom and knowledge of God are.
Look with me here at Romans 11:33. And some of the Bible scholars, they kind of have a debate here when it says, “the depth of the riches,” like is it saying that the wisdom and knowledge of God is deep? It's for sure, saying it's deep, but is it also saying it's rich? Or are the riches their own thing? Could the riches refer to the riches of his mercy, the riches of his kindness, that Gentiles are being saved and grafted in to be God's people, along with the Jews? Could it be the riches of his kindness that leads us to repentance? Is that what the riches are? Or is it just saying that his wisdom is so rich, his knowledge is so deep, like when you're trying to figure out how God makes decisions, you can't figure it out? It's unsearchable to you. And when you're trying to figure out what are God's ways, how is God working, what is God doing, it's impossible for you to understand the full picture of what God is seeing; you're just getting a little glimpse of what's really going on. And so, he's just explaining, here, God is working on a level that is beyond all of us. Can you see it?
Let's get this down for point number one; and this is really our one point today: “God knows more than you know.” God knows more than you know, okay. We want you to leave here today, knowing what you don't know, and you don't know what God knows. In fact, God knows more than you know, as you sit here right now. And even if you could learn all you could know, God would still know more than what you could know leaving here today, because God's ways are inscrutable. It is impossible for you to understand the wisdom and the knowledge of God.
Now, this word “inscrutable,” is used one other time in the Greek New Testament. Go to Ephesians 3:8. Flip on over to Ephesians with me. It's a few pages over to the right. And it makes sense that this word would also appear in Ephesians 3, because Ephesians 3 is very similar to Romans 9, 10, and 11. Because Paul has been breaking it down. And in the book of Romans, the distinction between Jew and Gentile yet both are becoming the people of God. The Jews have been the chosen people. Now, so many Gentiles are getting saved. It's one people of God, but yet a distinction between Jews and Gentiles. And he's also saying that same thing here in Ephesians, chapter 3, pick it up with me in Ephesians 3:7 here, where Paul's writing and he says, of this gospel. “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Now this is confusing, because we're reading this in English. And this was originally written in Greek. And here, they translate “unsearchable”. But in Romans 11, there's an unsearchable end in “inscrutable,” and it's actually the word in Romans 11 “inscrutable,” but here they translate it “unsearchable,” which is kind of confusing, okay? But it's the same idea, like the riches of Christ are impossible for us to understand. And especially coming from the Jewish perspective at the time that Paul's writing, and like the idea that anybody could become one of the people of God, that doesn't matter what nation you're from, what language you speak, where you come from, on planet earth, that all peoples could be God's people. See, the Jews were not okay with that. They were against that. And so, it's just kind of impossible for them to understand the full picture that God has in reaching out and saving all these Gentiles. And so, look at what it says in Ephesians 3:9. This is to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery, God's mystery now being revealed. This mystery was hidden for ages in God, God who created all things, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Like God had a plan all along. God's plan was all the way since creation. God chose the Jews to be his people. But his plan was always that anyone, everyone could call on his name to be saved. And now in the church, God's plan that was hidden for ages is now being revealed. And guess what? Even the demons, even the spiritual rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, even they didn't see God's plan, as it's fully being revealed. God knows things that even the other spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places can't even see what God's doing. And then he says this, here in Ephesians 3:11, and you should put this down under point number one. “This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The eternal purpose of God was always Jesus; Jesus was always God's plan. Can I get an amen from anybody here this morning? Okay, I just want to be very clear about this because I think some people maybe even in this room right now think that God created the world, and it was good. And then there was the fall into sin, and that was bad. And then God had an idea. I know, I’ll send Jesus my Son, and he'll save them from their sins. So, we think that maybe God had to react because Plan A didn't work. And so now he's got to come up with some other plan. No, even before the foundation of the world before the beginning, before God said, “let there be light,” he always knew it was all about Jesus. That was always God's eternal purpose. And the purpose of God is that God wants as the Father to give all things as an inheritance to his Son. All things that are created will be passed from the Father to the son, and Jesus will get all the glory. Everything created, whether in heaven or earth, are under the earth. They will all bow the knee, they will all confess with their mouths, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. That was always the plan. That's always what God wanted to do. And maybe that wasn't clear when you read Genesis, maybe you didn't know that going through the Hebrew Scriptures, maybe you couldn't see that. That's always where the story was going. But just because you couldn't see it, we have a God whose ways are inscrutable, and he always saw it. He saw the end from the beginning; he has an eternal purpose.
Now, we already learned this once in the book of Romans go to Romans 8:28. Because the end of Romans 8 was the last time we got to one of these kinds of climactic passages where Paul's finishing a section of teaching, and he kind of bursts forth in glory, speaking it. It's called a doxology. When you get to a passage like the one we're looking at, at the end of Romans 11, it's called a doxology. “Doxa” is the Greek word that means “glory,” you know, so doxology is like “ology” is the “study of, the word of,” right. So, it's like a “glory word” or “glory speaking” is what Paul's doing at the end of Romans 11. Well, he did something similar at the end of Romans 8, when he was saying all these incredibly encouraging things. And look at Romans 8:28. It's been many months since we studied this. So, let's go and get it fresh in our mind. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God,” circle this right here, “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to” what, everybody? “His purpose.” And what is God's purpose, the “eternal purpose”? That he's working all things for his Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, look at what it goes on to say in the next verse, Romans 8:29. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
So, when God gives all things to his Son, Jesus, and Jesus gets all glory and honor and praise, it's not going to be just that the Father and Jesus know, the people of God are going to be there, the bride of Christ is going to be there, people of every nation, tribe, and tongue will all be shouting, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.” We'll all be there to worship Jesus. And so, guess what? You get to be a part of God's purpose in Christ. That's what he's saying here. But that's not how we usually think about it. And I'm sorry to break this to you. If you haven't realized this about yourself, we are very self-centered. We think the universe is about us. And I'm sorry to tell you this, but the universe does not revolve around you, if you haven't realized that already. In fact, you need to stop bowing down to your feelings, and you need to stop acting like your experience is the most important thing happening on planet earth. Because the most important thing happening on planet earth is God is working all things for his purpose in Jesus Christ. That is the purpose of planet earth. That is the purpose of all the planets of all the universe. It all revolves around God giving all things to Jesus. And so, we use Romans 8:28 in kind of a self-centered way, like, hey, has something happened in your life that you don't like? Are you going through something that feels bad, or something that feels like an unpleasant experience? Well, don't worry, God will kind of like put a band aid on the booboo; God will fix that bad thing. And he'll take that thing. And he'll work it together for good. But that's not really what Romans 8:28 is saying. Romans 8:28 is saying is that even that thing that you think is the bad thing, that is the thing, that's one of the “all things” that God is already working for good for the purpose of Jesus Christ. And that the way you're seeing that thing. And the way God is seeing that things are different, and you're not seeing it, like God’s seeing it. In fact, you couldn't even see it like God is seeing it, because his ways are inscrutable. And you can't even understand fully what God is doing right now in space and time, because you can't see the big picture like he can. And so that's really what Romans 8:28 is saying. Hey, don't worry, when that evil thing, when that bad thing is happening to you, God still has already foreknown you. God still has already predestined you and God will get you there to that place where you will be like Jesus. And when God gives all the glory to Jesus, you will share in the glory of his Son Jesus forevermore. So don't get caught up on that thing that's happening right now. Keep God's big purpose in your mind. Stop looking at life from your perspective, and start seeing what God is doing. And when you see what God is doing, you'll say, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God.”
He's got ways that are higher than my ways. I don't even know fully what he's doing. But wow, look at how he's working according to his purpose. And don't you worry that thing you're going through right now, that hard thing, that painful thing, that thing that feels evil to you right now, that thing will not be able to separate you from the love God has for you in Jesus Christ, and you will be there pain-free, you will be there shining in the light of his glory, you will be there worshiping him forevermore. Don't you worry, my friend, you're going to make it. And wait till you see how God's working it all together for good, and for the glory of Jesus. Don't get caught up on your scene that you can see right now. If you could only see the whole board, if you could only see how all the pieces are moving. If you could see the big picture of God here today, Oh, the depth of it! The wisdom and the knowledge of our God, all things are from him from before the foundation of the world. Even now, all things are working through him. And in the end, all things will be to him for the glory of his Son, Jesus forever. Amen. That's what we're trying to see.
So, go back to Romans chapter 11. And you can see he's going to try to take us into thoughts that are higher than our thoughts. So, we're going to have to really consider who God is and get our eyeballs off of ourselves. And try to really see the Lord here today. And he's going to ask us some questions here. In Romans 11:34, he's going to say, “Who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?” Has anyone ever counseled God? Has God ever needed to know anything? Like you don't have any advice or personal opinion to give to God that he needs to hear? That's a quote from Isaiah 40:13. And then he has another question for us to try to think through. “Who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid?” Is God in debt to anybody here today? Does God owe any of us anything here today? Does God need us to give him something like you think God needs some counsel from you or God needs something from you? Let's think that through. So, he's trying to ask these questions that get our eyes off of ourselves and onto God. And he's trying to show us that God has already got a plan that is much bigger. God knows more than you know. Have you ever been in a conversation with somebody where you could tell like they knew more than you do? Like they could see further ahead than you could see. Have you ever had a moment like that? I had a moment like that with this guy named Pastor Mike Fabarez. He's the pastor at Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo. He's the guy who sent a team of us up here to plant this church in 2014. And I used to be the Youth Pastor down there in South Orange County, with Pastor Mike. And one day he called me into his office, or I should say, he summoned me into his office. And I went in there and there was Pastor Mike. And he looked at me, and he had a look in his eyes, a glimmer, like he knew something. And I was over here, I did not know what he knew. And he said, I want you to make a list of all the young people that have gotten baptized since you've been here at our church. And I want you to bring that list to me. And it was one of those moments where I was like, yes, Sensei, like I knew, I knew he was my Mr. Miyagi. In this moment. I knew that in that moment, I became a paddling learner. And I was working with a master Jedi. And I was like, Whoa, where is this going? I don't know the end of this story. And I went back, and I made this list of all these young people that had professed faith in Jesus. I mean, it was actually quite a lengthy list of some of these young people. I was like, wow, the have been a lot of people who have gotten baptized during these years at the church, and a lot of them are faithfully living out repentance and their belief in Jesus Christ. And I'm looking at this list, and I'm checking it twice. And I'm trying to figure out where is Pastor Mike taking me here, right? And then I dare to go back to him and I bring the list and I'm like, hey, here it is. Would you like to look at the list? And he doesn't even look at it. And he just looks right in the face. And he says to me, how would you like to do the College Ministry here at the church? And the reason he said that was because he knew when I looked at all the names of all these people who are high school students, where were they all now? In college, they'd all graduated. All these people I loved and cared about. So, he's asking me in that moment to do not just the High School, but to also do the College Ministry. He's basically giving me my own double-double project in that moment. And I'm just like, oh, wow, yes, and I say, Okay. And if I look back on that moment now, where I could tell that Pastor Mike had an idea into the future that I didn't know. You know what I realized now, is that God, from God's perspective, looking down on me and Pastor Mike, we had no idea. We had no idea that one day it wouldn't be a big deal that there would be the High School and the College Ministry. One day, there would be two churches, one in Aliso Viejo, and one here in Huntington Beach. In fact, if you looked at that list of people that I put together, that list of young people that God was saving down in South County, some of them are in the High School Ministry room right now. And in the Junior High room right now teaching our kids here at this church. And, in fact, I could take you today, like we could go back to Aliso Viejo right now. They're having a big opening of a whole new part of their campus today. And I could take you to Aliso Viejo, and we could walk down the halls and I could introduce you, hey, this kid got saved when he was in high school. Now he's leading worship at the church. Look at this kid over here. Yeah, he's not a kid anymore. He got married. Now he has kids. Look what God's doing in his life. And we could go down to Aliso Viejo, and we could see, look what God was doing back then, in that little High School and College Ministry. Do you guys know there's a Compass Bible Church in Tustin? Do you know, if we drove over there right now, I would see some of those high school students there faithfully serving the Lord, week after week living for Jesus. Do you guys know there's a Compass Bible Church in Idaho? Have you ever heard about it? It would be a long drive, but if we went over to Idaho, I could show you a young man who got saved from going to a Christian club when he was in high school. And he went to high school in San Clemente. And he married a lady who went to a Christian club in Laguna Hills, and they both got saved by going to Christian clubs. Then they got married. Now they’ve got kids, and they serve the Lord at Compass Bible Church, Treasure Valley in Idaho. And then you know what we could get on a plane, and we could go to Texas if you wanted to. You don't have to. But we could go there. And there are two more Compass Bible Churches where I could say, here are names on that list of paper way back in the day. And here they are now at two other churches that have been planted in Texas, because God is working on a massive level, so much beyond our comprehension. And that's just what he's doing in little Compass Bible Church, not what he's doing in all the nations of the earth. And so, you’ve got to see that what you're seeing right now is not the whole story. And so put yourself in the right perspective.
Go with me to Isaiah 40, where it's going to try to help us behold our God. That's the theme of this chapter. Let's go back to the question that Paul asks here in Isaiah 40:13, is what he quoted. But if you can turn to Isaiah with me. And this is a great turning point in the book of Isaiah, where the people are kind of called to have a vision of God and what he's going to do for them in the future. Can you see that God reigns, we've got good news, and it says this in Isaiah 40:9, “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’” Can you see God? Can you see that he's in charge? He's on the throne. He's reigning. Let's read about him here. Isaiah 40:12, what are you supposed to see? Behold, the Lord God comes with mind. Can you see his power? “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” Can you get a picture of how vast and great our God is. I mean, when you look at the ocean, does it look massive? Can you imagine a ten-hour flight from here all the way to Tokyo on the other side of the Pacific, it would take us ten hours to go over the Pacific, and God's just scooping it up in the hollow of his hand? Can you picture how great God must be? And then it asks our question here in Isaiah 40:13, “Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, what man shows him counsel?” Whom did God consult? Who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice? Who taught God knowledge? Who showed him the way of understanding to answer all those questions is, nobody did. And we thought it was a big deal to build this auditorium. We had to consult all kinds of people, architects, general contractors, all kinds of different brothers around here. And in their wisdom and insight, God created the universe, and he needed no counsel. He needed no help. No wisdom from anyone, because he's got, “Oh, the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
And so, let's get this down for our first dash under point number one: “He doesn't need you to tell him anything.” He doesn't need you to tell him anything, he already knows. He already knows. And these days, people are very free to express their personal opinions. These days, people will give you advice even when you don't ask for it, they'll tell you exactly what they think you should do. And when you track down a lot of people's advice these days, they're telling you to do it just because that's what they did. And they think you should do what they did. Well, God has never needed anybody. Here's advice. And God has never needed anybody. Here's counsel. And if you look at Isaiah 40, look at verse 27. Because this is the question that it's trying to answer with this awesome view of God, “Behold our God.” Well, here's what it's saying in verse 27, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’”? See, Israel at this time that Isaiah is prophesying is feeling like God's not taking care of them. God's not considering them. They're feeling hidden. They're feeling disregarded. At this time, if you read through Isaiah, if you get the tone of it, the enemies of Israel are stronger than Israel is. And fear is coming through the people. And they're kind of like, where is God? How come God's not coming to make us strong, or deliver us? It feels like we're hidden, it feels like we're disregarded. I wonder if there are people here right now that you feel like your life is being hidden and disregarded? Well, let me just tell you, if you were to go into the secret place, and you were to go and pray to God about your life, you would not be able to tell God anything about your life that he doesn't already know. Like, God is great, and God is awesome. And Gods working on massive levels that are inscrutable to us, and impossible for us to understand. But God knows more about you than you do. God fashioned you in your mother's womb. God made you to be exactly who you are to live. However many days he's already numbered for you, even right now that hairs on your head are numbered by our God. Yes, I would encourage you to go and pray in the secret place. But when you go and pray there, don't act like God doesn't know what's going on with you. Because in the depths of his wisdom and knowledge, you are exactly where God plans you to be. God knows exactly how what you're going through right now fits in with his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, our Lord. God sees your life from a better perspective than you even see it. And so, if you're feeling hidden, if you're feeling disregarded, look at these questions that it encourages you to ask here in Isaiah 40. Go up to verse 21. Where it says, “Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like” what everybody? Grasshoppers. Like, hey, put it in perspective. This is where you are. This is where he is. He is high and lifted up in heaven above, and the earth is just his footstool. Now, that doesn't mean he doesn't care. That doesn't mean he doesn't know. That doesn't mean he's not involved in the intricate details of you and your daily life, but his perspective is so much greater. It's unsearchable from your perspective, it's unfathomable. Well, you can't possibly conceive what God can know and see, compared to where you are right now. And then it starts to talk about how God stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He spreads out the heavens, like a tent to dwell in. Look at what it says in verse 25, “to whom then will you compare me that I should be like him, says the Holy One.” You cannot compare anything to God, you cannot compare your wisdom to God's wisdom. So don’t compare me to anything. Look at verse 26. “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.”
The greatest scientists, the greatest thinkers trying to comprehend what God has done in the heavens that he has made, in the universe that he has made, how we can't even see all the way to the end of it. Like can you go outside? Can you try to see the stars? Can you see the greatness of God in creating those stars? Yet not one of them is missing. God knows every single one of those stars by name. Can you see both the greatness of God and how he knows you? Don't think you're hidden. Don't think you're disregarded. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. And you're just zeroed in on your own perspective. And if you're making yourself the center of the universe, then you're not going to see it clearly. You’ve got to behold your God. You’ve got to see it from his perspective. Look what he says after Isaiah 40: 28. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” Like you will not be able to figure out what God knows and what God is doing because his purpose is inscrutable. It's impossible for you to understand, you need to know what you don't know. And you don't know anything to tell God about what he is doing. Because his wisdom and knowledge are beyond us.
Go over to Job 41, where it kind of makes the same point with another awesome picture here. In Job 41, maybe you're familiar with the story of Job, right? If you're going through a trial right now, if you're going through a hard time, if you're suffering, Job is a great example to you. And in one calamity, Job lost all that he had, including his precious children. And Job didn't know that this was something going on between Satan and God, where Satan's trying to get Job to curse God because God is blessing Job. And so, Satan wants to take away all that he has. And then he wants to attack his body. And Satan's trying to turn one of God's guys, one of God's righteous ones. He's trying to turn one of God's people against God. Job doesn't know what's going on. Job just knows that he had the worst day he could have ever imagined when all of his stuff was taken away, and his precious children died and his wife who was left alive, encouraged Job to just “curse God and die.” This is so bad, you might as well just curse God, and give up and what Job say, “The Lord has given the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” And so, then Job's friends show up. And they're silent for a while, which is super helpful. But then they start talking, which is not so good. Because if you know, Job's friends, they have this idea which was a common idea in the mindset of the Jewish people, that if something bad happens to you, it's because you did something bad, bad things. Well, you must have done bad things, that must be what's going on, Job. You can see this all the way in John chapter 9, when a man's born blind and what is the assumption of the Jews? Well, who sinned? Was it his parents who sinned? Was it he who sinned? And what does Jesus say? It's not about his parents sinning or him sinning, it's about the glory of God, you guys can't see what's really going on. But see Job's friends. They assume that Job has done something bad. And so now Job gets defensive. And now Job starts speaking and job starts getting frustrated, and out of his grief and out of his sorrow Job starts to say many things. And if you read Job all the way through to the end, who starts speaking at the end of the book? God does. And God comes to have the final word, and look what God says in Job 41:11. Job 41:11 is the quote that we have in Romans 11. Then, God says, “Who has first given to me that I should repay him?” Like, Hey, do I owe you anything? Am I in debt to you? You think you're offering something to me? Look what God says, this is a powerful statement. Whatever is under the whole heaven is what everybody, you think it's your house. You think it's your money, you think it's your kids, whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. That's what God says. That's what God says to Job. Now God says this, I don't know if you've ever paid attention to job 41. But it's all an analogy, or a picture, or a comparison of the leviathan. Go back to Job 41:1. Because see, God is so great, you can't compare God to anything. You can't compare God to the way that you think. And this must be how God thinks, because I'm reacting here in space and time. Well, God's not reacting in space and time. God already knows it all from before the foundation of the world. He already knows the end from the beginning. So, you can't compare anything to God. So, what God does that I find to be fascinating is he says, let me compare you to something you can compare yourself to. Let me talk about Leviathan. And when I read about Leviathan, I get really interested because I grew up on Shark Week. Does anybody else know what I'm talking about? This whole idea of an underwater sea creature is what keeps me on dry ground, right? This idea of a leviathan, like the fact that there's a beast out there swimming in the depths of the sea, that would like to devour me, I don't want to go mess with that creature. And so, God, because he can't even use himself as a comparison, because he's so great. He's like, well, how about we just consider something that I made? Like the Leviathan and look what God says about it here in Job 41? “Can you draw out leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?” Like are you going to go fishing for leviathan off the end of the HB pier later on today? Do you want to get in a boat and just go out there and mess with the leviathan? Can you put a rope in his nose? Or pierce his jaw with a hook? Is leviathan going to beg you for mercy after you catch him? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Are you going to bring leviathan home as your pet? Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hands on him? Remember the battle, you will not do it again. You won't try to catch leviathan twice. “Behold, the hope of a man is false. He is laid low, even at the sight of him. No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. ‘Who then is he who can stand before me, you would get freaked out of your living mind about some fish I created in the sea, and you think you're going to come and stand to me? God says, that’s just some little thing that I made. And you can even mess with it. You think you're going to stand before me?
Let's get this down for a second dash here: “He doesn't need you to give him anything. He doesn't need you to give him anything. God's doing just fine. God is self-sufficient. God is all powerful. God, he's not like, Oh, thanks for doing this for me, or thanks, I really needed your help with that. God is working right now all things according to his purpose. All things are from God. All things are working through God. And all things are working to the moment of glory when he will give all things as an inheritance to his Son Jesus, and praise God that you and I get to be his people. And we get to be there and share in the glory of Jesus forevermore. But God, he knows exactly what he's doing. And he doesn't need your help. Like you could come and tell him, hey, God, when this bad thing happened to me, that was a big mistake that you made. Hey, God, I really didn't like how this thing happened over here. It wasn't supposed to be that way. Who are you to stand before God and talk to him about what he's doing? Like he needs something from you. You can't even stand in front of creatures that he has made and you think that you can stand before me? And Job gets it. And here's what you've got to realize. Just because you're a friend of God does not mean you're equal with God or you can compare yourself to God because he's still God and you are one of his creations. And so, Job is God's guy and God does have Job's back. And God is like, you can't even get to this guy, Satan, like God does love his guy Job. But don't get it twisted. Just because God loves you doesn't mean you're on God's level. That's what he says to Job here. And look out job response, and look at how job gets the point of our sermon. Job gets Romans 11 here in Job 42. Then Job answered the Lord and said, “I know that you can do all things. I know that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel Without knowledge? I'll answer your question. I have uttered what I did not understand. I have said things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” Job is humbled. And Job says, Yeah, you're doing things, you have a purpose. And I thought I knew. And I thought I was on the level of knowing what you're doing. And I was saying things that were beyond. I was saying ways that are inscrutable, impossible for me to understand, you have a purpose, you're doing all things. Who am I to speak to you? And then Job says, in Job 42:5, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you, and therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job has his eyes open to see how self-centered his thinking has been. And now he can behold our God. You have to get your eyeballs off of yourself and what you're going through right now in this moment of space and time. And you have to see that God is working all things according to the eternal purpose he has in Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God will work it all out for your good and his glory. And on the day, when you get to the end of the story, when you get to finally see the whole plan revealed, on that day where there's no death, and no pain, and he's wiping the tears from your eyes, you will shout all the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. You were doing all things for your purpose. And I was saying things that I didn't even know about. Now I can really see you. That's what Job says. And if you know how the story ends, God blessed Job with all of the things, with more children. And God, He loves job he's there for job. But the point of the story is when you're going through trials, don't act to God, like he's doing something wrong. Because you can't see what he's doing because his ways are inscrutable. They're impossible for you to see the whole picture of what God is doing.
And go back to Romans chapter 11, and just look at the all-inclusive nature of what he says here in verse 36. This is all things that all things that he brought up in Romans 8:28, he's now hitting it again here at the end of Romans 11. And it's like, we have to review he sang from him from before the foundation of the world, from before creation. Here's what God already foreknew. And then through him everything working out in space and time and then to him the eternal glory that is yet to be revealed, when Jesus will come riding on the clouds and every eye is going to see him and every knee will bow to him and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord from the eternity past, throughout space and time to the eternal future. All things are from him, and through him and to him. Can you see what God is doing here?
Let's get this down for our third dash here after verse 36: “He's got all things.” Now, what would inspire Paul to burst forth all the depths like this? Well, he's coming to the end of a clear section of teaching in Romans 9, 10, and 11. So let's just recall to mind what have you and I, those of us who've been able, who've been privileged to go through this passage of Scripture, what have we learned? Well, in Romans 9:11 we learned that God has a purpose of election, where God is choosing a people for himself. And when did God choose people for himself? Before there was anything God already knew everyone who would be there with Jesus in the end? That's what Romans 9 has revealed to us that God has already chosen his team. God has already elected his people. God made the choice to save, and that's hard to imagine, like, how did God know all of that? How could he do that? But then in Romans 10, it also says that, hey, these people that don't know, we’ve got to pray for them to be saved? And how are they going to believe in Jesus if they don't hear about him? And how are they going to hear unless someone is preaching? So, who here is going to care for all these people that need to hear it? And who here is going to go share the good news with them? Who here is going to have beautiful feet to go and tell anybody or all people everywhere? Because everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be what? So, how does that work? How does God already have his team chosen? And yet we could go and we could tell a bunch of people, and somebody, even at the end of this service today, could say, I realize what I don't know. And I want to put my faith in Jesus. And I want to believe in Jesus. And I'm going to call on the name of the Lord. How does that all work when God's got it all figured out, already knows it, already predestined? And yet here he is responding to people who call on the name of Jesus. How does that work? And then why did God choose the Jews? If you ever asked that question? How odd of God to choose the Jews? Why did he choose those people? They weren't better than other people. They weren't more numerous than the other nations. Why did God make that promise to Abraham? And then what have the Jews done? They disobeyed him in the wilderness. They disobeyed him in the exile. And then he sent his Son to them, and what did they do? They killed his one and only Son and through their disobedience. Now all the nations of the world get to come and believe in Jesus. How does that work? But yet, even as all the Gentiles get grafted in, and even as the Church of Jesus Christ spreads to the ends of the earth for 2000 years, God still has a plan for his people, the Jews, that he's going to reveal in the end, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.” Like, that's all incomprehensible to me. That's not the script the way I would have written. That's not the story, the way I would have seen it. Wow, can you see what job could see? Can you see what Paul would see that God is doing all things, and he's doing them on his own purpose. And I want to make sure that I'm living my life, like God's got all things. one of my least favorite phrases, when I hear somebody say it is, I got this. You ever hear somebody say, I got this? I feel like they're the character that's about to die in the movie. Have you ever felt like that before? Like, bro, please don't leave here today and say, I got this. Apart from Jesus Christ, how many things do you got, everybody? I got, I don't got this, it's probably a better way to say.
Now look at these three dashes, we just gave you here on your handout. He doesn't need you to tell him anything. He doesn't need you to give him anything. He's got all things. Now let's think this through. Do I need God to counsel me? Do I need God to give to me? How many things have I got? Not one thing. You see how twisted it can get in our minds? Do you see how proud it is that that regularly people in this room think that you have a better plan than God? We need to respond to this with humility. And we need to respond to this by beholding our God and seeing that he has wisdom and knowledge that is inscrutable. It is impossible for you to understand how God is working all things to the glory of his Son Jesus. And so, wow, I'm the one who should be listening to his counsel. I'm the one who should be asking him for help. I'm the one who should be saying to him, I don't got this, but I believe that you do. And if God has infinite wisdom, and I don't know what he's doing, I can't even possibly perceive all that he's doing, then I shouldn't be acting like God is the one who needs to get it from my perspective. But I should be asking him for wisdom to see it from his perspective.
Go with me to Daniel chapter 2, and let me show you how you can tap into the infinite wisdom of God. Okay. God's wisdom is beyond us, but it is available to us. And in Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar has taken Daniel and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They've been exiled to Babylon. They've basically been taken hostage from Jerusalem to Babylon and they're trying to brainwash them in the Babylonian ways and gods and culture and language. And King Nebuchadnezzar if you know about him, that guy's a character, right? And so, King Nebuchadnezzar, he has a dream. And his spirit is troubled about his dream. Sleep leaves him because of his dream. And so, King Nebuchadnezzar calls his wise men, his counselors. And he says, I need you guys to interpret my dream. And so, the guys come and they say, Oh, King, live forever. You tell us your dream, we’ll give you the interpretation. But this is King Nebuchadnezzar, that's not how the story goes with King Neb. So, he says, no, you're going to tell me the dream and the interpretation. And they're like, how are we going to do that King? Well, if you don't do it, I'm going to rip you to pieces limb from limb, that's King Nebuchadnezzar for you. Tell me my dream and the interpretation. I'm going to take all my wise men, and I'm going to rip them to shreds. And that now includes Daniel and his three friends. So, what does Daniel do in chapter two? He goes to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And he says, hey, guys, let's go talk to the God of heaven, who reveals mysteries. And let's ask him for wisdom so that we can answer King Nebuchadnezzar. And in a vision of the night, God gives Daniel the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, and the interpretation. And Daniel then, in response to God, answering his prayer for wisdom, Daniel says this. This is Daniel chapter 2, verse 20. “Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might, he changes times and seasons, he removes kings and sets up kings, he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding God reveals deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my father's, I give thanks, and praise for you have given me wisdom and my and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us. The Kings matter? Has anybody here ever asked God for wisdom, and he gave it to you in answer to your prayer? Does anybody else want to praise the Lord and give him thanks? Right? When I look back at my prayers I've been praying now for years. One of the main things I need over and over again, is wisdom, wisdom from God's Word, wisdom what to say to this person, wisdom what the next step of obedience is, what does God want me to do? What is his path for my life? What is his perfect will for me? God, will you give me wisdom? I'm telling you that God has wisdom beyond what you could even possibly understand. He has inscrutable ways, and you have access to that wisdom. You may not be able to know how all the things are working, that he has them all working from him and through him and to him, but he will give you wisdom. If you ask of him. He can even reveal to you deep and hidden things. He can give you the wisdom that lines up with his purpose. And what a resource. You were spending our time searching the internet. We're spending our time thinking AI is going to tell us the answers. How often are you going to God in the secret place and ask him to reveal his secrets? How often are you asking God for wisdom if we're here to study God? And we're here to shout “Oh, the depth of his wisdom and knowledge.” How inscrutable are his ways. Are you then asking him for some of that wisdom?
Let's get that down for the “So” at the bottom of our handout. So, let's leave here with a clear application today, we should “ask God for wisdom.” We should have a humility that we don't know. We should know what we don't know. And we should ask him to reveal to us what he's doing according to his perfect plan and purpose, so that we can line our thoughts up with his thoughts, because his ways are higher than our ways. I don't need God to work it out from my perspective, I need God to give me his perspective. I need his wisdom. And God promises that when his people come and ask him for wisdom, he will give it to you.
Go with me to James chapter 1, a book of wisdom written here by the brother of Jesus, the elder of the church in Jerusalem. And in fact, let's just think about this for a second. When God went to King Solomon, and he said, “ask for you whatever you want.” What did Solomon ask God for? Wisdom. And what did God think about that? He was so pleased that he asked him for wisdom he gave him all kinds of other things. So, God has all wisdom, God wants you to know that you don't know. And then God wants you to come to him for that wisdom that he will freely give to you. We need to stop trying to figure it out for ourselves. We need to stop learning by trial and error. We need to stop considering my feelings. And my experiences are sacred. Your feelings and your experiences are just a small part of a much bigger story. Does anybody want to say amen to that in Southern California these days? Like the universe is not about you. But you can go to the one who set the stars in the heavens and knows them all by name. And he sits above the circle of the earth and you're just a grasshopper, but he will care. He will hear. He will answer you. And he will reveal to you what he is doing, and bring your life in line with his perfect will. Don't think that you know better than God. Ask him to teach you. Ask him to show you. Ask him to give you wisdom. Now look how James begins right here. James begins, already assuming that we're going to have trials, already assuming it's going to be hard. We're going to suffer. It's going to feel like why is it happening? Like this verse to “count it all joy, my brothers.” When you meet trials of various kinds, how can I possibly consider bad hard things that happened to me, joy? Because I know, for you, know the testing of your faith? Oh, because God's got it all. And this is about me trusting God, the point of my life today is not about how do I feel about my current set of experiences. The point of my life today is, will I trust God, even when I can't see through my current set of experiences. That's the point. It's a test of faith. And that test of faith produces steadfastness. And steadfastness has its full effect, “that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” And if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach. Does it say maybe you'll get some wisdom? Are you going to go ask God for wisdom? And he's going to say, no, no, that's not what it says. It says, if you ask God for wisdom, He will give it to you. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? That is a promise you can take to the bank. That is the promise you can take to the secret place. That is a promise you can take to God later today. God, I don't know what to do. You're already doing it. And I need you to give me your wisdom. And you promised me Father, that if I asked you for wisdom, you would give it to me? Can you now perhaps feel what an insult it must be to our God when we come to him doubting him, like maybe he doesn't know, or maybe he won't give it to me. He has depths of the riches of wisdom and knowledge. His ways are impossible for us to understand. How dare we come and doubt him when he's got all of the wisdom that we need? And so, there's a strong warning here. But let him ask in faith, trust God's wisdom, trust that God will give it to you because he cares about you. Let him ask in faith, with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind, for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. Don't doubt the Lord. Ask him for wisdom. And when you trust that he knows he will show you the way.
So, on the back of your hand out there, this is the conversation we want to have at our church this week. We want to humble ourselves. We want to see God's wisdom. We want to worship him for his wisdom. We want to behold our God, we want to give him thanks for all the wisdom he has given us in the past. But here's what I want everybody at our church to do. What do you need to ask God for? What wisdom do you need right now in your life? What's the next step for you? How does your life need to match up with the purpose that he has, in all things for the glory of his Son, Jesus? What are you right now going to ask God for wisdom about? And I want to encourage you to really consider that to have a prayer that you're going to pray to God in response to learning about his wisdom. What are you going to ask him for? And then to share that with the brothers and sisters that you fellowship with so they can pray for you, too. If we know the God of all wisdom and knowledge, let us go and ask him and he will give to us freely without reproach. Let me pray for us right now.
Father in heaven. I pray for our church, that you will humble us. And now we would be able to see that you are working all things according to your purpose. And we are very limited in what we can see from our limited perspective right now. So, Father, please forgive us for thinking that we know better what should be happening in our life than you do. Or like we could give you a suggestion of how things should work out for us. Or like when we did this for you, we were giving you something. Father, please help us not to see in a self-centered way, but help us to humble ourselves, to lift up our eyes, and to behold our God. And God, I just pray that you would open everybody's eyes that we could say along with Paul here today, “Oh, it is so deep this wisdom and knowledge that you have, how inscrutable are your ways.” Father, you know things that are impossible for me to understand. As a father, let us come before you in humility. Let us worship you for the God that is working. All things are from you, and through you and to you. And then let us come in that humility and ask you for wisdom that we could line our will up with your will, and that we could take steps that fit with your plan for our lives. Father, we just have to confess our pride that we think we can figure it out when you are the one who has known the end from the beginning. And so, I pray that today we could be humbled, and that we could see you sitting above the circle of the earth, holding the waters in the hollows of your hand. Who has ever said anything to you that you did not know? Who has ever given anything to you that was not already yours? When you are the God who's got all things. Let us behold you as our God. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.