Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!  (34) For who has known the mind of the Lord?  Or who has become His counselor?  (35) Or who had first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?  (36) For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.  Amen 

The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul. In chapter 11 of Romans, Paul writes of God’s plan of salvation, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. The Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah and the gospel was spread to the Gentiles;  this did not mean that God was finished with the Jews for at the time of the fullness of the Gentiles the Jews shall bend their knee to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Paul is writing that there is nothing in any man why he should be saved over others, other than the mercy of God. All are guilty and all shall be judged  – it is not in man’s power to earn salvation; God grants mercy to whom He pleases.

In our verses today we have an explosive and spontaneous burst of praise of God – an exclamation of wonder at such great mystery.  The sovereignty and the ways of the Lord are beyond our comprehension.  Man cannot comprehend God’s wisdom and purpose  – God’s perfect justice and judgment and righteousness.  Paul exhorts his audience to focus on this truth with humility, obedience, gratitude and adoration.  Paul quotes Isaiah (vs 34) and Job (vs 35) as rhetorical questions; the proper answers are no one can even comprehend the greatness of God, nor refuse God, nor counsel God.  God is in charge of all history and His ways are unknowable.  This doxology (spontaneous outburst of praise) leads us to worship God as our only reasonable response.

The ways of the Lord are not the ways of man but this does not mean we can’t know God at all –  we cannot know His greatness but only what has been revealed to us in His written word and in His physical creation and from the indwelling Spirit from the moment of faith.  Paul is referring here to what God has hidden and  remains incomprehensible to man.

“For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.  Amen.”

For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, (14) if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.  (15) For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?  (29) For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  (30) For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, (31) even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.  (32) For God has committed them all to disobedience that He might have mercy on all.  

The apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Romans. In chapter 11 of Romans which we study today, we read of the dilemma Paul addresses:  Israel has rejected Christ Jesus as the Messiah and is now in conflict with God, while at the same time Israel is the one to whom God made irrevocable promises of blessing. However, God has a plan and purpose and is in charge. This plan will be executed by men who are free to make choices for which they are responsible – on the one hand God’s plan is foreordained but in the other hand men make real choices.

Paul praises God for His unsearcheable judgments and His unfathomable ways.  Paul tells his readers – the Gentiles – that the Jews, by their rejection of the gospel, caused him, Paul, to preach the gospel to the Gentiles And that this will provoke jealousy to the Jews and cause them to eventually to come to faith. Israel’s failure was not to be fatal and God’s plan of redemption is for all believers – all things will work together for good.

God showed mercy to the Gentiles (all non-Jews are Gentiles) and spread His word through the apostles and disciples to all nations until the fullness of the Gentiles at which time God’s redemptive plan calls for mercy on Israel with their conversion to Christ. All are guilty and all deserve judgment – mercy and grace are similar and both are free unmerited gifts of God. Both Jews and Gentiles are cut off from God at points of history and both will experience God’s mercy at one point in history. We are to rely on God’s faithfulness no matter what our circumstances are and are to live our lives in this awareness.  The message of our verses today is if we reject Christ we become the enemy of God.

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, (2) that I have great sorrow and continual grief In my heart.  (3) For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to my flesh, (4) who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, (5) of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternal blessed God.  Amen.  (6) But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect.  For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, (7) nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”  (8) That is, those who are the children of the flesh, they are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. (9) For this is the word of the promise:  “At this time I will come and Sarah will have a son.”. (10) And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (11) (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), (12) it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”  (13) As it is written, “Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.”. (14) What shall we say then?  Is there unrighteousness with God?  Certainly not!  (15) For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

The apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Romans.  In the verses we study today Paul is writing about God’s purpose – and God’s choice. God has a plan and He will not be thwarted.  Paul has described himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews; as a Jewish Pharisee who has been educated at the feet of the primary Jewish scholar and teacher of the ancient world. Paul was a vehement and violent adherent for the Jewish faith and vigorously persecuted Jewish converts to Christ  before his dramatic conversion at Damascus. The Jews were his kinsmen and once Paul embraced Christianity it caused him great anguish and sorrow that the Jews refused to accept Jesus as God’s anointed one and the promised Messiah. The Jews rejected Jesus and they rejected Paul as a sworn enemy of the Jewish nation.

In our verses Paul distances himself from any suspected enmity toward Jews.  He declares by oath that he speaks the truth, claiming to speak before God and calls on the Holy Spirit as witness – he could not be risking more as guarantee that all he is writing is truth.  Paul’s great sorrow is that the Jews separated themselves from Christ which means they were excluded from any hope of salvation.  The Jews had been favored above all men by God but now they are of no worth without Christ.  Paul makes the statement that he would be willing to be eternally damned if it would result in the salvation of his countrymen but he knew that this was not God’s plan and it would not happen.  Paul was speaking purely hypothetically as he had just finished writing in chapter 8, Romans, that nothing can separate the saved from God.

The salvation of the faithful in Christ is secure and does not depend on us in any way but rather depends on God’s purpose.  All deserve judgment – all have sinned and God will save those He chooses to save – it is the mercy and election of God and God does not give everyone what they deserve.  Man cannot originate faith as then it becomes a work that merits salvation.  God’s free grace through Christ is as undeserved as is God’s mercy.

In Exodus it is recorded that God told Moses that He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion.  It has nothing to do with man or his works.  Salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end.  Amen.

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  (17) For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory:  “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  (18) And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the  holy mountain. (19) And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 

In this second pastoral letter, written at the end of his life, Peter is writing to believers to set forth the truth and certainty of the gospel  – to the life of Jesus he can share his testimony as an eyewitness. His personal experience is an affirmation of Jesus Christ as Messiah and is more than sufficient evidence that our faith in Christ has a true foundation. Peter also referenced the words of the prophets to confirm the gospel – that God had truly completed what He had promised in Christ. Peter writes that the false teachers used cleverly devised tales but not so the apostles – they were proclaiming what they saw and heard.

In our verses today Peter uses the Transfiguration of Christ as the prime example of the majesty and glory of Christ – in the transfiguration the veil was lifted.  Peter uses this moment rather than the ascension or the resurrection because it was the only time he SAW Jesus in His majesty and glory and actually heard the voice of God.  In Jewish law there were two witnesses needed for the legally accepted witness and at the transfiguration Jesus had called Peter, James and John as witnesses.  Further, Peter knew his life was at an end and this was the dying declaration of the writer.  The transfiguration was a brief display of God’s future kingdom.  It was an historical event and testifies that our faith in Christ has a real foundation.

Peter had seen the miracles of Jesus and had seen evidence of Christ’s resurrection – he gives us certainty of the truth of the gospel.  We also have the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit which exceeds the evidence of the senses.  Remember that the gospel at the beginning of the church was not a vague rumor but was authentically witnessed by those who preached what they had seen and  heard.  We do not have a naked faith but have clear knowledge of the truth of the gospel .