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 has 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 to the Christian community in Rome in advance of Paul’s intended visit to the Church there.  He is outlining how God is sovereignly designing and controlling salvation history for man.  God permitted Gentiles to go their own way and revealed Himself to the Jews.  Then the Jews rejected the Messiah and crucified the sinless Son of God.    God then preserved a remnant of the Jews for Himself – for example, Paul himself was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” and the Apostle to the Gentiles – and God showed His mercy to the Gentiles.  Paul tells us in Romans that Israel will return to God through jealousy of the Gentiles. So, what Paul is showing us is the only way of salvation is NOT through human works, but through God’s purpose – His grace and mercy.

This leads to today’s verses where Paul breaks out in praise of the breadth and depth of the riches of God’s mercy and judgment.  In verses 34 and 35 Paul is quoting the books of Isaiah and Job from the Old Testament which are saying the same thing – that God is all in all and man is nothing.  We cannot comprehend God’s mind – not even close – and we should humble ourselves and worship Him.  We should not be the center of our lives as God alone brings comfort to our souls.  Man cannot ever comprehend the greatness of God – we owe God everything and God owes us nothing.

The universe belongs to God and there is nothing we can do or give that places God in our debt.  This is the Biblical doctrine of grace – that it is not earned but is a gift initiated by God.  Grace is the heart of our relationship with God.  God’s greatness is beyond our comprehension.  Paul is overwhelmed here and so should we be.  All things exist and work together because of God’s purpose and for His glory.  Our lives begin in God, continue by His bounty and return to Him.  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 ben 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 letter to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome to prepare them for his eventual visit to that city.   Paul, a Jew and a rabbi, is God’s chosen vessel to spread the gospel to the Gentiles and Paul’s letter to the Romans is not an occasional letter – written to correct or attend to a particular problem/situation – but this letter is a summary of Paul’s theology.

In Romans, chapters 9 through 11, Paul has written of Israel’s sovereign election in the past, her rejection in the present and her future reconciliation/salvation.  In this context, the verses today remind us that God has a plan – a sovereign plan.  In the early church there were relatively few Jewish believers  that Christ is Messiah.   But Gentiles – with their pagan background – were believers.  The problem Paul is addressing is the future of the Jews in the light of God’s promises to them.  Paul is telling us that the Jewish rejection of Christ is temporary and that God is using this temporary rejection to spread Christianity among the Gentiles.  Further, Paul is telling his readers that jealousy will move the Jews to accept  the gospel and Christ and that this will be a blessing  to the whole world.

God has a purpose for history and it cannot fail.  Romans chapter 11 is prophecy – Paul is not guessing, he is telling us of God’s redemptive plan.  Israel is still beloved by God because God chose her – Israel will experience final adoption.  God’s plan to salvation and  the history of Israel point to the fact that there is nothing man can do to change his condition.  All comes from God; His mercy and His blessings

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 the 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 eternally blessed God.  Amen.

The letter to the Romans was written by the Apostle Paul.  Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, according to birth and culture – he was brought up to study at the feet of the foremost Rabbi – teacher – of his time.  Paul was a persecutor of the early Christians until his sudden conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus.  The Apostle was God’s chosen vessel for the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles but his Jewish affinity never left him and he suffered greatly at the failure of Israel who had rejected Jesus.  Paul is expressing his deep love for Israel here as foundation for his explanation later in Chapter 9 of Romans for the failure of Israel.  He yearns that his people will come to know God in love for Christ.

We have just studied the last verses of Chapter 8, Romans, where Paul rejoices in telling us that nothing can separate the true believer from the love of God in Christ.  Now the mood and message changes abruptly and Paul writes of his grief and heartfelt concern for the salvation of the Jews.  In the context of Chapter 8, Romans,  we realize that Paul would not be able to trade his eternal salvation for that of the unbelieving Jew .  God’s will and plan is sovereign and will not be changed.

Our verses today are telling us that faithfull Christians should so rejoice in God’s great gift of eternal salvation that they are compelled to reach out to others so that they may know the same joy – and peace – it is incumbent on the faithful to spread the good news of the gospel and should be “burdened” like Paul, for the lost souls.

Remember that all Scripture is God breathed – God’s word to us.  And this message is concerning Israel and her future hope – that God is causing all things to work together for Israel’s good.  Paul here has begun to set out the failure of Israel in the light of divine election.  God’s choice has nothing to do with man’s works but is in spite of them.    “The fate of the lost as well as that of the saved is first and foremost a decision made by our sovereign God.”

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

(37) Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  (38) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Romans to prepare the Christians in Rome for his hoped for visit to that city.  Today’s verses are wondrous words of encouragement telling his audience of the eternal., unchangeable, unfathomable love of God for us in Christ Jesus – this love that transforms our lives.  In verse 31, chapter 8 Paul writes “if God is for us, who can be against us?”

The Apostle Paul writes to the Roman Christians  to reassure them that God’s love in Christ is not an illusion.  God’s love for us is not undermined by adversity.  God’s love for us is secure no matter how difficult the trial.  Paul writes that God chose us before the world began and His election is not ended because of our failures.  God’s love is not conditioned on our worthiness – it is not earned.    God’s love for us – even as fallen creatures – is why He sent Christ to die for us.  He saved us while we were sinners and we are still sinners after He saved us.  We will be disciplined but God’s love for us will not diminish.  This is the practical value of the doctrine of election.

Paul cites extreme contrasts to prove his point that, as children of God in Christ, nothing can separate us from His love.  No spiritual powers, not present circumstances or things to come, not anything that could possibly happen to us, could separate us from God’s love –  nothing in heaven or in hell,  height or depth – not any thing we can conceive of.  God works all things for the good of His chosen people and nothing can separate them from His love.

God’s supreme love for us was demonstrated in Christ Jesus who died on the cross for us.  It is important to remember the cross when talking of God’s love.  The cross is the provision of God for our salvation and it must be personal, this, the greatest proof of God’s love.  Today’s verses are a triumphant climax to Paul’s statement that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.  We are told of the indissoluble union of God’s children with God in Christ – and that there is no power capable of separating us from that love.  God’s love, not our love, is the central truth of Paul’s gospel.