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Good morning. Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, we praise you for your wonderful word. Open our ears and our hearts to hear your voice this morning, by your Spirit, we pray. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Doxology is our subject this morning. A doxology is a hymn of praise, and that’s what we have here in Romans 11.33-36. There are doxologies dotted all around the writings of the apostle Paul. It’s typical of him that as he approaches the end of an explanation of God’s plans and purposes in Christ, it’s as if he can’t contain himself any longer, and he bursts out into praise.

Some occasions generate spontaneous outbursts of heartfelt praise. You could think of a moment after Newcastle score at St James’ Park. Rare, I know, but when it happens, there’s a very loud spontaneous outburst of praise. Or, in Amazing Grace, the film about William Wilberforce and his decades long campaign to end the slave trade, there’s a moving scene at the end. It’s in the House of Commons and the bill to end the slave trade has just, finally, been passed. Charles Fox stands and pays a handsome tribute to the great Wilberforce who’s sitting there quietly. Then the whole house erupts with applause in appreciation of all that Wilberforce had done.

That’s what Paul is doing in Romans 11.33-36. It’s a doxology – a hymn of praise to the glorious God. It’s a fitting end to chapters 9 to 11. They lay out the staggering scope of God’s plan of salvation and stretch our minds beyond snapping point. But more than that, these verses are a fitting climax to the whole of the letter so far – all of the first eleven chapters.

Up to this point Paul has been unfolding the gospel. He’s shown us how deep is the pit of the world’s sin and need, from which we cannot escape. He’s shown us the astonishing, amazing grace of God in giving us his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for us. And he’s shown us the hope that we have, because (Romans 5.5):

…God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…

He’s about to move on, in Romans 12-16, to the application of that grace to our lives and how we’re to live out our calling. The whole of Romans is like Isaiah 6 writ large in the New Testament. But at this point at the end of Romans 11, the apostle can’t help himself – nor would he want to. The praise bursts out.

Let me sum up the message of these verses under three headings. So:

1. THE WISDOM OF GOD IS DEEPER THAN WE COULD EVER FATHOM

Romans 11.33-35 talk about the wisdom and the work of God, and give us reasons for our praise. Then Romans 11.36 is Paul’s shout of praise.
Look at Romans 11.33:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!

The riches of God are what God has. We think of wisdom as all in the mind, but that’s not so in the Bible. Wisdom is lived. It’s not only knowing what to do. It’s doing it as well. Knowing what to do and then not doing it is pretty much the definition of folly. A wise person is a person who lives well. So the wisdom of God is what God does. And the knowledge of God is (of course) what God knows.

So we’re thinking about what God has, does and knows. And when Paul speaks of the depth of these things, he means that they’re too much for us to take in. Our brains aren’t big enough. Think of lowering an anchor off the side of a ship. We can let out more and more chain, until we have no more – but it’ll never reach the sea bed. There’s always more. Paul is saying that all that God has and does and knows is so great and so extensive that it’s way beyond us to get a hold of it all. And he hammers that home in the second half of the verse, first in relation to God’s wisdom and secondly in relation to God’s works:

…How unsearchable are his judgements [what he thinks] and how inscrutable his ways [what he does]!

In Romans 11.34 Paul quotes from Isaiah 40.13:

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?

God is God. We can’t get inside God’s mind. What he thinks is beyond our tiny minds to figure out. Now, there’s a problem with that. Realising that we have no access ourselves to the mind of God is good as far as acknowledging God’s greatness is concerned. He’s in a different league, a different realm to us. We shouldn’t be surprised if something he does or says we find hard to understand. That’s what you’d expect of God. That’s good. It’s vital we realise that he’s beyond our understanding. The trouble is, that’s not good when it comes to us knowing God – relating to him, loving him. If he’s so far beyond our reach, how can we know him at all? That, of course, is what many people think about God. He (or it) is an infinitely distant, unknowable being. All we can know is that we can’t know.

So how can we know God? We don’t have an answer to that. But God does. God poured out his Holy Spirit on his people, and promised his Spirit to all who turn to him in repentance and put their faith in Jesus. And it’s the Holy Spirit who enables us to know God. Without the Holy Spirit, we couldn’t know God. Let me explain why, by taking you on a detour into another passage in another letter of Paul’s. Bear with me on this, because it’s crucially important. Keep a finger in Romans 11, and turn on to 1 Corinthians 2.6-16. Here in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul quotes exactly the same verse from Isaiah 40 as he does in our passage in Romans 11. It’s there at 1 Corinthians 2.16:

For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?

But what he’s doing here is explaining how as believers we can and do know the mind of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 2.11:

For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? ...

Answer: we can’t even know what goes on in one another’s minds – let alone the mind of God. So 1 Corinthians 2.11 goes on:

…So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

And the end of 1 Corinthians 2.10:

…For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

We can’t fathom God’s depths. But God can. The Holy Spirit can. So here’s the wonderful, wonderful thing about the gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2.12-14):

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them…

And at the end of 1 Corinthians 2.16:

But we have the mind of Christ.

So Paul is saying, as it were: “There’s no way we can know what’s going on in God’s mind. He’s far too great and glorious for that. The only way we can know is if he tells us, and even then we won’t understand without the help of his Holy Spirit, who can understand. And that’s exactly what God has done. He’s revealed himself to us by telling his apostles what’s on his mind, and by giving all of us disciples his Holy Spirit so that we can understand what he’s told them.”

That’s the wonder of God’s gift to us of his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has told us what’s on God’s mind. The permanent record of that is in this Book. And the Holy Spirit in us enables us to understand what he’s told us. So we can know about God, and we can know God personally. That means, of course, that the moment we start speculating about what God thinks when he hasn’t told us, we’re simply guessing – and that’s either pointless or dangerous. He’s told us all we need to know for life and Godliness. We can’t know it all. God’s far too great and glorious for that. Back then to Romans 11. And that was all point 1: The wisdom of God is deeper than we could ever fathom.

2. THE WORK OF GOD IS GREATER THAN WE COULD EVER REPAY

In the context of Romans 1-11, the riches of God in Romans 11.33 refers to everything available to us through all he’s done. Certainly his ways must also refer to what he’s done and is doing. And then the Old Testament quotation in Romans 11.35 picks up the theme. This one’s from Job 41.11:

Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

In Romans 1-11 Paul’s been unfolding all that God has done and is doing and will do for the world and us through Christ. Once we’ve begun to understand all that, then the idea that it’s possible that God could owe us anything becomes ludicrous. The truth is we owe him such a vast debt that it’s completely and utterly and eternally unpayable. The generous mercy of God through the death and resurrection of Christ and the gift of his Spirit is overwhelmingly greater than we could ever repay. We cannot and should not even begin to try. We should receive it all as a gift and live the rest of our lives full of astonished and grateful praise. As Paul says back in Romans 8.32:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

During the pandemic the British government has spent about £400 billion on Covid related measures. So we know a thing or two about debts too huge to repay. Praise God he doesn’t want us to repay our debt to him. We can’t. He just wants us to enjoy him, and love him. That is amazing grace. First: the wisdom of God is deeper than we could ever fathom. Secondly: the work of God is greater than we could ever repay. So that leaves us our response, summed up in the final point.

3. GIVE GLORY TO THIS GLORIOUS GOD

That’s how Paul ends these marvellous chapters. Romans 11.36:

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.

That reminds me of what Paul says about Jesus in Colossians 1. By him all things were created. In him all things hold together. And through him God was reconciling all things to himself. God is our source, our sustainer, and our saviour. He made all things. All things have their being in him. And all things will be brought under his rule and will fulfil their purpose of glorifying him for ever. We would not exist without him. We would not survive without him. We would have no purpose without him. So to him be glory for ever and ever. And here are three ways that we can glorify this glorious God.

i. Always be humble

Both in mind and in spirit. Acknowledge that we can’t know God’s mind, and know that we don’t deserve and can’t earn God’s acceptance.

ii. Always be receptive

Both in mind and in spirit. Be receptive to God’s word. Be committed to the evangelical principle that the Bible is God’s word written. It’s all we need for salvation and for our knowledge of God, whose mind we can’t know without it. And be receptive to God’s grace and his gifts. Be receptive to his Holy Spirit. Receive all that God gives, on God’s terms.

iii. Always be grateful.

Romans 2.4:

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience…?

Colossians 2.6-7:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Always be grateful. It’s this response to God’s unfathomable wisdom and grace that Paul moves on to in Romans 12-16. So 12.1 says this:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Whatever we say with our tongues – let it be all to God’s glory. Whatever we do with our bodies – let it be all to God’s glory. Always be humble. Always be receptive. Always be grateful. Let’s pray:

Who has known you mind, Lord, or who has been your counsellor? Or who has given a gift to you that he might be repaid? For from you and through you and to you are all things. To you, Lord, be glory for ever and ever! Amen.