“Of Him Through Him and to Him are all Things”

Introduction: The Challenge of Biblical Interpretation

0:03 The majority of our members will be aware it was my privilege this past week to minister for two days in the south land of our country, a day in Memphis and a day in a little place called French Camp, Mississippi. And in those two days I had to preach some seven times. And one of the disciplines of those days was seeking to prepare a message that would set out a framework within which the whole concept of Christian education on the one hand for the Thursday ministry and on the other hand the whole work of the ministry could be set.

0:47 And my mind was exercised concerning this text that we will attempt to break open this morning. The text which is printed on the bottom of the church letterhead. The text of course being Romans 11 and verse 36. And the discipline of preaching.

1:04 So many times this week in preparing for those I am not prepared to carry on our studies in Ephesians and so I felt it would be the part of wisdom to be safe and stick with that with which one is a bit more sure as to its precise meaning. I will pick up the thread of the apostles thought at verse 33 in Romans 11. Romans 11 and I shall read verses 33 to 36. Oh the depth of the riches.

1:35 Both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?

1:51 Or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him and through him and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

2:08 As we approach the text this morning I want us to study it under the general theme of this question. Do you read and understand the Bible biblically? I am not asking do you read the Bible nor am I merely asking do you read and understand the Bible but my question is do you read and understand the Bible biblically? That is, does your reading and understanding of the content of the Bible fit within the framework of the Bible itself?

2:50 I am assuming that all of you gathered this morning have no question as to the absolute authority of the entire contents of the word of God written. Confessionally we are committed as a church to the historic Protestant Protestant or we could even say Protestant or we could even say Protestant. I would say Roman Catholic for that matter. The historic Christian position that the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments are authoritative because they are inspired of God.

3:21 They are as no other writings are. And by that we mean that its accounts of history are accurate. When the scripture gives us the history of creation we believe that the history came to pass as the word of God says it came to pass. That at a certain point in time God spoke and worlds came into being.

3:44 That's what we mean when we say we believe in the authority and the trustworthiness of scripture. All its accounts of history are accurate. There was a great fish prepared and the fish swallowed a man named Jonah and then the fish vomited him up and went merrily on his way a hundred and fifty pounds lighter than before. We believe that when the scripture says that the Red Sea parted that there was actually a sea that parted and had you been there after the sea came together again three days later you would have seen the bloated, rotting bodies of the Egyptian soldiers floating on the sea.

4:21 That's what we mean when we say we assume together, I trust, the absolute authority of the scripture. Its history is accurate. Its promises are trustworthy. The God who gave them cannot lie.

4:34 Its commands are binding upon us. Its doctrines are eternal. Eternally valid. Now that's not the area of my question this morning.

4:42 Do you believe its history is valid? Its promises trustworthy. Its commands binding. Its doctrines true.

4:52 Now I'm assuming all of that. But now my concern is do you read its history and do you appropriate its promises and submit to its commands and interpret and apply its doctrines within the framework of the scripture? In the framework in which they come to us in the Bible. For you know it's perfectly possible to hold to the absolute validity of its history, its promises, its commands, its doctrines and yet to miss the whole message of the Bible.

The Car Analogy: Maintaining Elements vs. Destroying Design

5:25 Now let me illustrate this. Out in Detroit and also in Kenosha and also in Cadillac, Michigan our American cars are produced. And they are produced according to the original design of the Bible. The design of the engineering departments who conceiving in their idea a product that can be marketed for the purpose of transporting people from one place to another.

5:52 They draw up their plans and into those plans go all of the various things that make up an automobile. And from there they go into the production department and they plan where and how and at what point and by what means all of these various ingredients will be put together to produce that end product. A car that will transport people and things from one place to another. Now when the vision of the engineer, the designer, the production control manager down to that last man who puts the last polish on the fender before it goes off the production line all of that thing is put together according to design and when the design is realized the end product

6:36 is now a reality. You have stamped metal you have turned metal you have forged metal you have upholstery you have foam rubber you have tires you have all of these various things put together in a specific relationship one to another and in relationship to the whole to accomplish a given end. Now suppose we were to go out to Detroit and we took one of those finished products that just came off say the production line of Ford or Plymouth or anyone else and then we proceeded to maintain every single ingredient of that car. We're not going to throw away one nut one bolt one screw one bit of stamped metal not one square inch of upholstery but we're going to completely rearrange it.

7:21 So we proceed to take the fan that's supposed to cool the engine cool really the water that circulates in the water jacket and we weld it on the end of the drive shaft like a propeller and then we proceed to take the wheels off and we weld them to the front bumper and then we proceed to take the wheels off and then we proceed to take an acetylene torch and cut the fenders off and then we invert them and we weld them on top of the car and then we proceed to take the upholstery and we take it out and we begin to glue it over the remaining metal parts of the car. Now we haven't thrown away a thing but by the time we're done what have we done? While maintaining every single

8:04 constituent element of that car we have completely destroyed the original design of the designers and the engineers we have completely destroyed the purpose for which the production manager set up production and in a sense we've nullified the labor of everyone who had a part in putting that thing together we have a car but we don't have a car.

8:30 What has happened? We haven't thrown out a thing. We have simply rearranged it in a way that doesn't fit the design of the original conceiver of the car and therefore we've destroyed the very purpose for which it was put together. Now may I suggest though certainly not in that grotesque a way that it's perfectly possible and tragically actual that this is what is done with the scriptures.

9:02 Almighty God has not given us history promise, command and doctrine thrown together any old way so that we will simply maintain the history. The history, the doctrine, the promises and all the rest. No, no. God has a design in all that he's unfolded in his own holy word.

9:24 There is a blueprint for all of that history. There is a structure for all of that doctrine all of those commands and all of those promises and it is essential for us to understand and read the Bible biblically and I know of no text in all of the word of God. That more accurately more succinctly more definitively sets before us the framework within which the Bible itself comes to us than the text we're going to look at this morning. There may be other texts that do it as well but I know of no text that does it better.

The Context of Romans 11:36: Paul's Sweeping Argument

10:06 How are we to read and understand the Bible? May I suggest we are to read and to understand the Bible within this overarching framework set out in Romans 11.36 For of him and through him and unto him are all things to whom be glory forever. Now as we seek to attack the text and break it open this morning will you consider with me the context in which Paul spoke these words.

10:41 He did not simply get up some morning and say, well you know I've got ten minutes before I have to rush off for the next boat to Tarsus or somewhere else and you know down there in 1973 a preacher is going to be busy at a conference and he's going to need a text that sort of is easy to preach on so I think I'll just shoot one off and sat down and wrote off the words of him through him no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The Apostle Paul did not give us this text as something just shot off the top of his mind in a spare moment. It is a statement that comes at the conclusion of this closely reasoned argument concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul has never been to Rome

11:26 but he hopes to go to Rome. He tells us that in chapter 1 and he wants to go to Rome for two reasons basically. Chapter 1 he tells us I hope to come in order to be mutually strengthened by our associations one with another. I hope to strengthen you to have some fruit amongst you.

11:45 I hope to be strengthened by you. But then he holds off his second reason until the 15th chapter. A little bit of psychology here. He says I not only hope to come that we might be mutually blessed but I hope to be brought on my way by you whensoever I go on to Spain.

12:02 He said I want to spend some time with you hoping that you'll take up my support and pick up the tab for my next missionary journey. So that was his second reason. Now what's the most important thing for a missionary to let a church know about himself if he hopes to be supported by that church?

12:20 Not his clever personality. Not his past successes. But the most important thing is that the church knows what is he going to preach when he goes out on behalf of this church. So what does he do?

12:34 He explains the gospel that he's preached in the Roman Empire where he has been and he says concerning which I have no more place in these parts Christ has been fully preached and as I go on to Spain you want to know what I'm going to preach when you pick up the tab for the next missionary journey? This is the gospel that I preach. And so he announces his theme in chapter 1 in verse 16 and 17 and then he begins to open up his gospel. Now as he does what does he do?

13:01 He brings in that awful inky black backdrop of sin. The wrath of God revealed from heaven. Verse 18 of chapter 1. He brings in that darkness that settles upon the Gentiles in a world that has no knowledge of the written scriptures.

13:19 All they have is the dim glimmering light of nature but their rejection of that light and its witness of God makes them without excuse. Then he goes on to develop the theme of sin as it applies to the Jews who have the scriptures. He shows how the whole movement of nations and men and the factors present in society are related to the problem of sin. Then he opens up the mystery of the gospel of justification.

13:50 How in Jesus Christ God has resolved a way that he might be just and the justifier of guilty sinners. And then he opens up the mystery of sanctification and its inseparability with justification. And then having shown the glories of this salvation he shows us in chapters 9 to 11 that that salvation did not come to us in some kind of supra history. It came to us in the midst of the history of the nations of men.

14:20 When for centuries God was dealing primarily with one nation, Israel. And the Gentiles were in darkness. But now how he has set the nation of Israel aside that the gospel might overflow and go to all the Gentiles. And he's saying in those chapters that world history is to be interpreted in the light of God's gospel designs and gospel purposes.

14:45 Now bring all of that together. That's just been a quick brief overview of the content of Romans. The reality of human sin. Divine judgment upon sin.

14:56 The darkness of the Gentile nations. The rejection of the light of the scriptures by the Jews. The coming of the Son of God from heaven crucified by men. But in that crucifixion the eternal purpose of God realized.

15:10 The great mystery of union with Christ. When he died we died with him. When he rose we rose with him. The whole future perspective of the Christian Romans chapter 8.

15:22 The whole perspective of the world itself when it will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. And then the mystery of God's election. His dealings with that little Israel within great Israel. The election of grace.

15:36 The rejection of the nation of Israel. The inclusion now of the Gentiles. Look at the sweeping themes he's been covering. From the microcosm of the individual sinner.

15:48 And then he turns it to the macrocosm. The great sweeping history of nations. And he writes over the whole thing. For of him and through him and unto him are all things.

16:06 What are the all things he's been dealing with? The reality of the entrance of sin into the world. The judgment of God. The mystery of the gospel.

16:16 The power of the gospel. The mystery of Israel's unbelief. The mystery of God's divine election. Jacob have I loved.

16:24 Esau have I hated. I've raised up Pharaoh to display my power. In the midst of all of this Paul says I see this perspective of him through him and unto him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Meaning of 'Of Him, Through Him, and Unto Him'

16:45 That's the context of Romans 11.36. Now having looked at the context what do the words themselves mean?

16:57 And may I say to anyone who thinks you've got to use big words to get across big ideas this text is the best antidote to that mentality. And in the original it strikes you the simplicity of it. Because he takes three little prepositions. One of them two letters ECH another one three letters DIA and the third one three letters ICE and then he takes the simple pronoun HIM.

17:27 Now very simple little words. Some of you who've been taking Greek Sunday afternoons with Mr. Wade after three weeks you could read this text. Three weeks of Greek you could read the text.

17:38 And yet it displays one of the most profound concepts in all of the word of God. Here it is. Four of HIM and then you can take the all things and attach it on after three weeks. It applies to each phrase for it applies to each phrase.

17:52 Four of HIM are all things and through HIM are all things and unto HIM are all things. There's the statement of fact. And then we'll look at the second place at the response that that fact should elicit from our hearts to HIM be the glory forever. Amen.

18:12 What then do these words mean? Well the word for OF HIM is a simple way of stating that God is the basis the origin of all that is. When he says through HIM he's saying that God is the means or the medium by which all things come to pass. And when he says unto HIM are all things he's saying that God is the goal or the end of all that is.

God as Origin: Wisdom and Sovereignty

18:41 First of all then for OF HIM are all things. In what sense are all things to be regarded as OF HIM? Considering God as the origin and the basis of all that is. Let me suggest three things in answer to that question.

19:02 First of all all things are OF HIM in his wisdom planning.

19:09 Look at the previous verses. Having come through the scope of this teaching of the gospel and all of these ingredients that we've mentioned briefly Paul stands back and sees it all as a manifestation of the infinite wisdom of God. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out.

19:40 See what he's saying? He's saying as I see this great and glorious God in no way accountable for man's sin in no way responsible for Israel's unbelief in no way chargeable with being the author of sin he says knowing that and yet seeing in the midst of it how he overrules the blindness and the hardness of the nation of Israel to bring salvation to the Gentiles and in turn when salvation comes to the Gentiles it provokes the Jews to jealousy that they might seek the very salvation they rejected. He stands back and puts his hand in his head and says oh the depth of God's wisdom that such a plan should be conceived

20:24 oh the depth of the riches not only riches but they're deep and he says when I start to pile down through to find the bottom I get lost I can't trace it out I can't trace it out how unsearchable are his judgments for of him in his infinite wisdom planning but not only of him in his wisdom planning but of him in his sovereignty purposing may I say it reverently would do no God God no good to have the infinite mind of wisdom to plan if he did not have the sovereign right to purpose and to execute and so he admires his God as the origin of all things in the wisdom

21:09 that plans and in the sovereignty that purposes hence when he treats the subject of Pharaoh listen to the strength of his language in chapter 9 in verse 17 for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh for this very purpose did I raise thee up that I might show in thee my power and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth so then he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he harden here is the sovereign purpose of God determined to display his power and therefore raising up a Pharaoh according to that sovereign purpose of him

21:53 are all things everything that comes to pass he sees as being rooted in that infinite wisdom which planned and that sovereign purpose which decreed and nothing escapes that wisdom or that purpose of him are all things ah but you say I have swallow your problems yes but I I have yes I am fully aware and so was Paul and so he says to you and to me in chapter 9 well if this be so who hath resisted his will why does he find fault if everything is of him why then even my rebellion and my unbelief

22:37 is somehow attributed to his own sovereign purpose and his own infinite wisdom how could he ever call me into judgment Paul doesn't rationalize with that objector what does he say to him look at verse 19 of chapter 9 thou wilt say then unto me why doth he still find fault with me why doth he still find fault for who hath withstood his will does he rationalize does he argue does he debate he says no shut up put your hand upon your mouth put your face to the earth you're a man he's God but nay oh man who art thou that replyest against God I have self-consciously embraced what is traditionally called reformed thinking

23:22 which is simply an attempt to describe a concept a consistent confession that of him are all things I've self-consciously embraced that biblical teaching for some eight years and I've never spent three minutes debating it with a soul I refused it's unbiblical when the objector brings up his objections with this spirit there's only one answer to say very gently in a spirit of gentleness but very firmly with biblical authority nay oh man who art thou God is with thee God is God in your man and never forget it of him are all things but now what about the little phrase through him

God as Means: Power and Providence

24:06 in what sense are all things through him well let me suggest a couple of lines of thought first of all they are through him in terms of his power executing it is his power that executes what his wisdom and his sovereignty purposed you see the deist is the man who would have very little trouble with the general statement that God initiates and God brings into being but the idea that all things are through him by a present powerful execution of his own working no no this is offensive to him Paul says no

24:49 the God whom I worship the God whom I see revealed in scripture the God who has given us scripture has given it within a framework in which we see not only all things are of him but all things are through him his power executing what he has decreed you go back to the statement in chapter 9 for this purpose did I raise thee up when Pharaoh was raised to power there was a present working of God to bring him to that place of power and authority but not only by his power executing but by his providence directing and upholding the scripture tells us concerning our Lord Jesus

25:33 Colossians 1.17 that all things consist literally all things adhere in him they hold together Hebrews 1 same thought upholding all things by the word of his power all things are through him his power executing and his providence directing all that he has purposed all that he has purposed when you turn back through the chapters that precede the statement in Romans 11 there are some very mysterious things there is that clear statement in chapter 9 Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated all that happens in the life history of those men

26:17 is but an unfolding of the fabric of God's decrees and he said what was true of the individuals is true of nations Israel sought a way of righteousness but they sought it not by faith and therefore they are rejected because they are rejected because they are rejected because they are rejected because of unbelief and what is he saying he is saying they are utterly and absolutely responsible for their unbelief and yet he says their fall has resulted in the promises of God to the Gentiles being fulfilled well if God made the promises didn't it have to come to pass and if it did have to come to pass are they responsible all of these questions and my friend I suggest we are approaching it the wrong way if we come seeking to pry it apart with carnal logic and reasoning and if we come we are to stand back

God as Goal: Praise, Worship, and Service

27:02 as Paul and say in the midst of all of this reality of sin unbelief and grace and judgment and mercy all things are through him this great God by his power executing and his providence directing all men and things to the accomplishment of his own purpose and all things are not only of him and through him but notice he says and all things are unto him now in what sense are they unto him and let me suggest three lines of thought briefly first of all all things are unto him in his in praise for his infinite wisdom

27:47 Paul is an example of what it means all things are unto him for having beheld this sweeping panorama of God's dealings with men in the real situation of sin and guilt in the larger context of the history of men and of nations he says oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God his reflex response was to render unto God praise for the infinite wisdom displayed in such a mighty scope of God's dealings in praise for his infinite wisdom but then it must

28:30 also be attended in praise for the infinite wisdom all things unto him in worship for the glorious revelation of his person he moves on from his wisdom to speak of his judgments that are past tracing out then he speaks of the depths of the mind of God that cannot be traced out you see he reasons from the ways of God to the God who's initiated those ways and his heart runs out not only in the ways of God not only in praise for his infinite wisdom but in worship for his glorious person and then thirdly all things are unto him in devoted service what is the sequel

29:15 to this text the very familiar words of Romans 12 in verse 1 I beseech you therefore since all things are of him through him and unto him I beseech you by the mercies of God present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God which is your spiritual service in what sense are all things unto him they are to be unto him when in the heart of the believer this recognition breaks upon him he says with such a God as my God with such a God as my Redeemer in Jesus Christ what can I do but abandon myself to him the reaction to this perspective must never be

30:00 oh if all things are of him through him and unto him I beseech you not much we can do about it I guess we'll just relax and hope we'll be carried along by the tide of inexorable decree no no here comes the whole element of the creature the redeemed child of God consciously intelligently deliberately giving up all that he is and all of his faculties in order to serve such a gracious and a mighty God all things are of him through him and unto him the best summary I know of this statement is found in this wonderful little book by J.I. Packer The Plan of God

The God-Centered Perspective: A Copernican Revolution

30:45 and may I say again for some of you who think well you read that five years ago now you've graduated beyond that I say without any embarrassment the books that helped me the most ten years ago are the ones that for the most part helped me the most today so I keep re-reading and that's one of them best little statement on this biblical perspective that I know of in its for its size Mr. Packer in commenting on the very approach that I've taken this morning says what do we find when we try to read the Bible as a single unified whole with our minds alert to observe what it is really about the first thing we find is that this book is not primarily about man at all its subject is God

31:29 he if the phrase may be allowed is the chief actor in the drama the hero of the story the Bible proves on inspection to be a factual survey of God's work in this world past present and future with explanatory comment from prophets psalmists wise men and apostles its main theme is not human salvation but the work of God vindicating his purposes and glorifying himself in a sinful and disordered world by establishing his kingdom and existence by exalting his son by creating a people to worship and serve him and by ultimately dismantling and reassembling this order of things

32:14 so rooting out sin from his world entirely it is into this larger perspective that the Bible fits God's work in saving man and then he goes on to elaborate on this the moment you assume that the beginning middle and end of what the Bible has to say is what man needs and what man gets you've taken the fenders and cut them with an acetylene torch you've taken the wheels and you've put them on the front of the car and you've taken the upholstery and you've plastered it you've completely missed the whole message of the word of God when God helps us

32:58 to come to this perspective of the Bible upon itself of him through him unto him are all things what should be our response to this? look at the words to him and then you'll notice in your Bibles the B is in italics there is no verb in the original a verb must be supplied and I wonder why Paul didn't put one there well since he's not here to ask him we can only conjecture could it be that the very absence of the verb makes the word all the more pointed and powerful to him the glory forever and ever to him the glory belongs to him the glory all the glory ought to come to him the glory

33:42 we ought to give all of those ideas can be included by the absence of the verb to him the glory that's where it belongs therefore since it belongs to him give it to him and not only give it to him grudgingly but give it to him delightfully I've seen some who have felt the pressure of the words of scripture they believe in its precepts and when they see a passage like this they say well I can't debate that of him through him unto him certainly seems to mean what you've told us it means so very grudgingly sort of out of the side of the mouth with a tight jaw well to him be glory he's that kind of a god if I had a no no Paul's jaw is in tight when he says this it's opened wide

34:27 having contemplated such a god he says to him be glory forever to him be the loving response the worship of all of his creatures so that he may be so that he may be so that he may be so that he may be seeing that this god in the midst of all the themes touched upon in those previous chapters is the god of whom through whom and unto whom are all things now let me say by way of application and it does look like I'll carry on tonight into some specific areas I want to show how this particular perspective will affect our thinking concerning something so basic as the salvation of an individual sinner then we want to see its relationship

35:12 to the worship and service of the church then we want to touch in the area of the educational framework within which we put our children I want to draw out some very practical lines of application but the one general application I shall make in closing this morning is this when this perspective the perspective of Romans 11.36 becomes real to us it can be for us spiritually a Copernican revolution now you kids learned about the Copernican revolution yet? school? no?

35:45 I don't know what you get these days my son was having the laws of thermodynamics and I never knew such things existed until I was about 35 and read a book by Henry Morris but he was getting it in the 6th or 7th grade but anyway what happened was this Copernicus was the man that challenged the idea that our world was central to our order of things our solar system up till Copernicus everybody had the idea almost everybody that our earth was central and everything went around us sun, moon, everything else we were in the middle and these things paid attention to us see? everything goes around us it was an earth centered view Copernicus came along he says no no no the sun is the center and earth and all the other planets and the rest

36:30 they move around the sun earth's not the center sun is the center well you know what happened? he was labeled as a heretic because the church had taken the position officially that the earth was the center and so Copernicus got in trouble not only with his fellow astronomers and scientists but he got in trouble with the church and the rest but time showed that Copernicus was right but this was so radical a concept it didn't mean simply that one of the planets was in another relationship but it meant you had a whole new starting point for everything and I say this text coming home to the heart with power so that we begin to read the bible in the light of that text we begin to interpret God's dealings with us in the light

37:15 of that text we begin to interpret the work of evangelism in the light of that text we begin to understand our role in life in the light of that text it will be a spiritual Copernican revolution every single department of life will be wrenched loose from the man centered perspective in which my first reaction is what do I get? what's happening to me? how do I feel? and the church under which some of you labor is that you've got an earth centered solar system you're at the middle it never occurs to you that God

38:00 has a perfect right to deal with you in such a way that you don't understand to bring you to the place where you say as David did in Psalm 56 when having been anointed to be king of Israel he's now chased around like a little cur gong through the hills and wildernesses of Judea as though God is had forgotten him what does he say? be thou exalted O God above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth who's saying that? a man upon a throne in a dedication prayer? no a man who's been promised a throne who's holed up in a cave running for his life and he says only one thing matters not David

38:44 but that God be glorified he had the perspective this is the perspective this is no mere theoretical perspective and the reason some of you are so crippled in your spiritual life is because you've still got an earth centered universe the moment what happens to everything is viewed in terms of your own subjective feeling your own subjective comfort and reaction and you've never broken loose from that begun to realize that of him and through him and unto him are all things oh the difference it makes when you begin to try to interpret God's words and react to and in the midst of God's apparent frowning providences when you start looking at it from this perspective

Application: Reading the Bible for God's Glory

39:28 did God have a right to use Job to prove something to the devil? sure he did why? because Job is God's creature and God's child and if he wants to use Job to prove something that's God's business you see how this will stretch and expand the whole perspective we don't have time to go into the areas we'll do that tonight but let me close with that note and press the question upon your conscience when you read the Bible how do you read it?

40:03 do you read it like the poor junkie who parades around the streets of New York with one thing in his mind everything in the whole system of New York exists for one thing for that next needle he can pump in his arm and get his sense of euphoria and go off into that no man never never land of his next life high and all is well then he doesn't care what goes on people can be lying in their own blood being murdered around them but he's alright because he's had his next fix is that the way you read the Bible? all the time looking for your next fix to give you some little consolation

40:48 in your present circumstance and you feel better and as long as you feel good insensitive to others insensitive to the great overriding concerns that the church is in the church of Christ ought to be concerned about in this particular day in this particular circumstance oh what a miserable existence to have the Bible nothing but the means by which you get your next high not backing off saying Lord what are you telling me about yourself what am I to see of you what am I to understand of your dealings what am I to know and what is to be the response of my heart to what you are doing of him through him unto him our Lord all things you begin to read your Bible in that way the Bible becomes

41:33 a different book and your response to it and reaction to it becomes a different response and a different reaction and then you begin to read passages and praise God for what happens with no tongue in cheek if the one thing God's committed to do is to save sinners how in the world can you praise God when you've read through the account of his destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah can you fall upon your face and praise God for the pure holiness of his judgment when you read those chapters in Genesis that he consumed those cities in a moment of time can you praise him as much as when you read the book of Jonah and you see that he turned away judgment from a city for a whole generation

42:15 you see we've got a day we live in an age when the average Christian can't praise God for both why? because he has a different framework within which he's reading the Bible than the framework the Bible itself imposes upon us of him of God through him and unto him are all things to whom be glory you mean God is to be glorified and worshipped for his righteous judgment sure how can you read the Psalms if that's not true who knoweth the power of thine anger and thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee he worships God worships God for his righteous anger as well as for his infinite

42:58 and almighty love may God help us to take a text like this seriously begin to lay our lives up alongside of it our understanding of the word of God our attempts to interpret God's dealings with us and then as I indicated God willing tonight we'll trace out some of the lines of practical implication and application as to how this perspective can revolutionize our thinking for some of you this has been no new word but I hope it's come with freshness and I hope it will confirm you in your perspective of reading the word of God within the framework that God himself has given it to us of him

43:42 through him unto him are all things to whom be glory forever and forever