The Self-Sufficient God
Romans 11:34-35
Last week we began with this statement: Good and sound theology, the study and knowledge of God, begins and ends with DOXOLOGY. We looked at the doxology of Romans 11: 33, which gave us a small glimpse into the Supremacy, the Magnitude and the Sovereignty of Almighty God: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
Today we consider three questions of Romans 11:34-35: 34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" 35 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
Have you ever considered WHY people ask questions? Most of the time questions are asked in order to gather information. In the passage that we just read, Paul asks three questions in verses 34 and 35:
1). Who has ever known the mind of God?
2.) Who has ever been God’s Counselor?
3.) Who has ever lent God anything?
What WOULD YOUR answer be to these three questions? NOBODY! RIGHT? Paul is asking these questions, NOT because he is searching for information, but because he is trying to make a sound theological point! The point that Paul (and God) are making is this: With everything that has been revealed, not only in 11 chapters of Romans, but throughout Old Testament teaching pertaining to God’s Divine and Gracious work of salvation to utterly sinful man (remember Paul uses 58 Old Testament references in Romans), WITH THIS BEING TRUE, WHO ARE YOU in comparison to God?
Question #1: Who has ever known the mind of God?
Paul uses Isaiah 40 in asking his first question: Look at some of Isaiah 40 with me: Verse 12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? 13 WHO HAS UNDERSTOOD THE MIND of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?”
“The mind of the Lord” can also be translated “The wind, the breath, or the spirit of the Lord” (and 26 other ways), in fact, it is translated “Spirit of the Lord” in some translations in Isaiah as well as Romans. (The word in the Hebrew is “ruwach” and is used almost 350 times in 32 of the 39 books of the OT.) Isaiah wrote the words of chapter 40 around 150 years before a remnant of Israel would flee from captivity in Babylon and return by FAITH to the Promised Land. Unknown to them, God would cause the heathen King Cyrus to deliver His people from captivity. Later God would deliver ALL of His People through an even greater salvation that the Christ would provide on the Cross of Calvary.
The Mind, Spirit or Breath of God is first used in Genesis 1:2: “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit (“ruwach”) of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath (“ruwach”) of His mouth all their host.” We know the mind of God in part, but we are absolutely incapable of creating anything because there is no CREATION without the “ruwach” of God. There would not be an earth or universe in which we could exist.
Secondly, there is no LIFE without the “ruwach” of God. Ecclesiastes 12:5: “Men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets. 6 Remember Him--before the silver cord is severed,(when you die) or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit (“ruwach”) returns to God who gave it.”
Even Unsaved Man receives “ruwach”, spirit or life, when they are born, but the whole point of the book of Ecclesiastes is that without God, your spirit and life are just chasing after a “wind” (ruwach) Which you will never catch. In Eccl. 12:1 God tells us: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them". IF YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE WITHOUT following God, you will most likely end your days the same way.”
Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 in 1 Corinthians 2:16: “For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.” Here Paul shows that God has revealed the mystery of the Gospel of God’s Grace to some, by the Holy Spirit of God, who is one and the same with Father and the Son. Without that “SPIRIT”, without the WISDOM OF God BEING REVEALVED TO YOU BY God and HIS SPIRIT through the Lord Jesus, you are eternally lost. There is no salvation without the “ruwach” of God.
1 Corinthians 2:9 quotes a verse from Isaiah 64: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him…then you hear the spiritual understanding that God has revealed to some through the Spirit and the Word, the Lord Jesus and you have to say: OH! I see now. People who have the SPIRIT know God’s will in Christ, but those who don’t are still clueless, still blind and can’t see and still deaf and can’t hear, still spiritually brain-dead when it comes to knowing and doing God’s will.
Isaiah 12:2 says: “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him (the Lord Jesus), The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” Without His MIND, HIS SPIRIT, HIS WISDOM coming to you, you would not be able to utter the prayer of Psalm 51:10-12: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit (“ruwach”) within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit (“Qodesh”-holiness) from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit” (“ruwach”).
Question #2: Who has ever been God’s Counselor?
Return to Isaiah 40:13-14 for Question #2: “WHO HAS UNDERSTOOD THE MIND of the LORD, or instructed HIM as his counselor? 14 Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?” God is not trying to belittle man; it’s just that man IS LITTLE. “Who has ever been God’s Counselor?”
The word in the Greek for “counselor” here is “Sumboulosis”, which means “fellow counseling”. Who is on God’s equal or BETTER that He would need their advice? Do you know anybody who is God’s “Life Coach”? Has God ever searched the Yellow Pages or Google for a counselor or therapist? Does God ever need YOUR advice about ANYTHING?
God never needs my prayers or advice to gain direction or insight in anything. The mind of God holds nothing but wisdom, nothing but perfection, and never any folly or failure, nothing ever imperfect. We can’t give God ANY instructions. We can’t tell an infinite God that He may have missed something, or didn’t consider everything properly or entirely. In my prayers, God should always gain honor and praise, not advice… ALWAYS remembering who God IS and that YOU are in the presence of God. Prayer changes people, prayer changes us, but you are not going to counsel God.
Isaiah 40:15 continues: “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. 17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. 18 To whom, then, will you compare God?”
We live in a culture where we often talk about children who run their homes instead of their parents, and we refer to it as a case of “the tail wagging the dog.” What word does “dog” spell if you spell it backwards? Right: God! We aren’t even the tail, and we have no business trying to “WAG God.”
Job 36:22: "God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?” The word for “teacher” means to “shoot arrows” or to “send signals out with your hands”, in other words to try and direct somebody else, pointing out something with your hand, trying to direct someone else. The Superlative Counsel of God, HIMSELF, is Self-Sufficient and Sovereign. We NEED God’s Superlative Counsel, He doesn’t need ours. We have to follow HIS hand signals, His instructions, not the other way around. “The Spirit searches all things” and illuminates things for us, gives us what we need for understanding. The Word of God examines and scrutinizes ME; it tells me where I am not conformed to Gods Word and counsel, not how I should counsel God!
Question #3: Who has ever lent God anything?
Move on to Question #3: Who has ever lent God anything? Romans 11:35: "Who has ever given to God, (Gr. Prodidomi-“given first”) that God should repay him? (Gr, Antapodidomi-“to pay back”)" There is nothing that God NEEDS from you. There is nothing that you can ever give to God where God is somehow indebted to you. God owes no one anything!!!! God is the ONLY ONE in the universe who is self-sufficient and Self-dependent. It is man who man is totally insufficient and God-dependent.
God never took out a loan from anyone. God never borrowed ANYTHING to accomplish anything. One of the greatest books in the Bible that consistently points out who God is and who you and I are, is the book of Job. In Job 40 listen to God’s reply to Job: 1 The LORD said to Job: 2 "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!" 3 Then Job answered the LORD: 4 "I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. 5 I spoke once, but I have no answer-- twice, but I will say no more." 6 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm: 7 "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.”
Then in In Job 41:8-11, we hear God’s additional challenge to Job: “If you lay a hand on Him, (God) you will remember the struggle and never do it again! 9 Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering. 10 No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand against me? 11 Who has a claim against ME that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.”
Sometimes people think that God is somehow repaying a debt owed to them by allowing them entrance into His Kingdom. There is a strong feeling of entitlement among unrepentant sinners, and sometimes even among the redeemed, that God owes them a debt. No one has a claim against God that He must pay. In the good sense, the word used for “to pay back” means “to repay or recompense”; in a bad sense it means “penalty or vengeance”.
Vengeance belongs to God, and so does Grace. We are justified by grace in Christ apart from human works, we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit apart from human works, and we are chosen apart from human works, WE LIVE, not by our works, but BY GRACE.
So the Answer to each question is NOBODY…Nobody knows or ever will know the mind of God in His totality. There is no true wisdom except God. There is no counselor BUT God. God owes NOBODY anything, and WE OWE HIM EVERYTHING, so we should not Hardly Follow HIM: but we should follow HIM whole-heartedly! That’s why Paul ends this section of Romans with verse 36: “For from him (God) and through him (God) and to him (God) are all things. To him (God) be the glory forever! Amen.”
OUTLINE:
Question #1: Who has ever known the mind of God? (Isaiah 40:13, 1 Cor. 2:16)
A. There is no creation without the “ruwach” of God. (Gen. 1:2, Ps. 33:6)
B. There is no life without the “ruwach” of God. (Eccl. 12:5)
C. There is no salvation without the “ruwach” of God. (1 Cor. 2:16, 2:9, Isa. 12:2, Ps. 51:10-12)
Question #2: Who has ever been God’s Counselor? ( Isaiah 40:13-14)
A. God never needs my prayers or advice to gain direction or insight. (Isa. 40:15-18)
B. God should always gain honor and praise in my prayers (and life).
C. The Superlative Counsel of God, HIMSELF, is Self-Sufficient and Sovereign. (Job 36:22)
Question #3: Who has ever lent God anything? (Rom. 11:35, Job 40:1-7, 41:8-11)
A. God is self-sufficient and Self-dependent.
B. No one has a claim against God that He must repay.
C. Vengeance belongs to God, and so does Grace.
Answer: The answer to each question is NOBODY…
1. Because there is no true wisdom except God.
2. There is no counselor BUT God.
3. He owes NOBODY anything, so: We should not Hardly Follow HIM: but we should follow HIM whole-heartedly!
You can throw garbage into a fire forever and it will NEVER be refined. The faith that God has given us is like fine gold. He puts our faith to the fire, not to punish, but to purify us so that we will be the finest gold.
