chapter eleven the romans chapter eleven i want to read the verse of two in the second chapter before we get over to chapter eleven i thought of verse here i might read the verse two and verse four Or despises thou the riches of his goodness. Notice that the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. Chapter nine and twenty-three. Chapter nine and twenty-three. and that ye might make known the riches of his glory." Notice those words, the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath before prepared unto glory. And now chapter eleven. And verse thirty-three. O the debt of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding us. We've noticed in meeting these three passages we have the word riches mentioned, but I'd like to speak for a little while on that one word riches as well, and other words that will be connected with it. This is our fortieth message on the Book of Romans, and we hope we'll be swimming in about another month or so before we reach the Lord. Now there are other things in the Bible we regularly read about his riches and how great his riches are, and there are no riches greater than his riches. We read about the unsearchable riches of Christ. It's very noticeable and very interesting that that word debt that we noticed in our verse eleven, in chapter eleven rather, the only other time that you find that word is in connection with Satan. In verse thirty-one of chapter eleven, all the debt of the riches. And over in Revelation chapter two you find the same word, as far as I know in the original, is the only other time found. And there is the debt of Satan. Now here you have the unpandable debt of God's riches. Here you have, on the other hand, the unfathomable debt of Satan's faithfulness, violence, and his experience in dealing with men, and all this trickle of trickery and subtlety. Isn't it amazing that you have these two contrasts, the death of Satan and the death of God? And that is the battle, the conflict that's been going on down to the center. Oh, the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, the depth of his love, the depth of his mercy, the depth of his grace, the depth of his goodness. But on the other hand, you have Satan's debt. And there's no need a man saying that he can outwish the debt. I've heard people make remarks such as that. They can lift the devil around the stump, they just can't do it. We do not understand, nor do we apprehend or grasp the depth of Satan's wisdom, of Satan's power, and of his shoveling in dealing with the human race. The reason a lot of people are not saying today is just because of the depth of Satan's maneuverability. in dealing with men and women to try and keep them from knowing something of the depth of God's love. Now in my Bible I find four expressions that can be linked together. You have the depth of His love. The Lord Jesus tells us about the depth of His love. There's no greater love. And that's true. Greater love hath no man than this than a man lay down his life for his credit. Then you read also about the death of vision or the riches of vision. No greater vision. He said that to Nathaniel. Thou shalt see greater things than these. No greater love, no greater vision. Then he says greater works than these shall ye do. How could anyone do any greater works than the Lord Jesus Christ did? Well, we'll show a little later on. Greater works than thee shall ye do. Then you have greater riches. You remember in connection with Moses. He has seen the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Eden. So you have no greater love. You have no greater reason. You have no greater worth. You have no greater riches than our associated with our Lord Jesus Christ. No love, no vision, no work, and no riches can surpass what you have in Jesus Christ. Spoken out by the Apostle in Ephesians three and eight as the unsearchable riches of Christ. No greater love. The Lord Jesus said, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Can you think of God's love for Christ? Can you think of any greater love that God has for his son, his only son, in whom is all his delight? And yet God has shared that love, that wonderful, unfathomable love. he has shared it with everyone who is born again. And Christ says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. And here is this great unchanging love. You remember when he first loved you, I do. That is when I entered into the consciousness of it. not when I reverenced him. I reverenced him all my life. Even as a child I reverenced God, I feared God. I knew there was one to whom someday I must give an account. I reverenced God, that's true. But I didn't really love God until at the age of nineteen I accepted Christ as my faith. And therefore the first time I could say I really loved him. Up till then I read from sin and I feared him. But only when I knew my sins were forgiven could I really say I love God for the fruit of the Spirit is love. And if the Spirit of God is not in you, by means of the new birth, you do not love God. Now that's a searching statement, but nevertheless it's true. You reverence God, or likely you wouldn't be here at all. You fear God. But do you really love Him? Because the Bible says we love Him because He first loved us. And in a sentence of Luke, it was the woman who had been forgiven so much that loved Him the most. And here is love based upon forgiveness. Not forgiveness based upon love. No, God doesn't forgive us because we love him. No, that's not it. Man has it that. Oh, if you get shy and love God and do all you can for him, why he'll forgive you. No, no, that's not the risk. You do not really love God. until you are conscious of the fact He has forgiven you all your sins. You have peace with God. You can't ever not. Amen. Do you know something of this love? Love is none greater than the love of God. And this love is without change. God's love never changes toward the Lord Jesus. Christ was with the Father in eternity past, and God loved his Son, and God's love for his Son can't be greater, and that through today with those of us who are saved by his grace, God loves us with that unchanging love. Is it wonderful to know that his love never changed, never did? My love may change. The Hibbiter has put it. My joy is oftentimes low. But my love, my love never, never can be like his love. For my love sometimes does change. It cools. But it never, never can be like the love of God who will be. The love of God is unchangeable. You read that in Romans chapter eight. You can separate us from the love of God. Then he mentions a number of things. And Paul says, I am convinced that there's nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God that we're in, Christ be our Lord. You know something of this unchanging love. Well, if you're a Christian, you do. His love is always the same. A hundred percent. Forever he, such is the love of God toward all those who are saved. Then again his love is without end. In John thirteen one, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And in Revelation We read in chapter one and verse seven, having loved is over rather, having loved us, he gave himself for us. That word love there means love at its present and progressive. He loved us and gave himself for us. He doesn't love me any more today than he did the day I come to them. Or the day when he was on that cross, he loved me. I know he loved me then. He still does. His love for me hasn't changed. He hasn't seen, hasn't attained. His love is ever the same. Now human love can fluctuate. Christ loves the church. He gave himself for it. And that love is just the same today, unchanging love. And then again, his love is without measure, without measure. Sometimes you think of certain measurements, small measure, or some measure. But his love is full measure. Fullness. God's love is full measure, always toward his own. No greater love than this, no greater love. You can speak of a love of a friend for a friend, and sometimes if one person does love another friend very greatly, you can think of the love of a bride towards the bridegroom and the bridegroom towards the bride. You can think of the love of a child for its mother, its parent, and the love of a parent for its child. But all these natural affections and devotions and love, they pass into insignificance when in faith of the Lord God, human love has a better measure. It does, and it can change. It's been known time and time again when two people love each other so much. That's all they did was live for one another. But the time has come when hatred has replaced that love because of circumstances, because things that have happened. Not so with the love of God who has Christ and the love of Christ who will be. His love is always the same. I wonder if, you know, something of this unchanging, the old and old love of Christ, the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth of the love of Christ with countless knowledge. In other words, it's something you just can't comprehend. God's love, so fully expressed in the gift of his Son. Some people have laid down their life, and many of our boys have laid down their lives to cover their love for their country, and you take off your hat too. Loyalism led them to lay down their love, their life, or their love for their country. And it's possible, too, for a person to lay down his life for a friend, or maybe around him. We have read solely since this war in Vietnam where one boy threw himself across, one soldier boy threw himself across a mine or a grenade and was thrown to death in order to save the body who were surrounded. That was love. That was love, but it had a neighbor. But not shrew from love of God. God's love is without men. God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, rebels. That's the meaning of that word. You know that you're not born again, you are a rebel. Hard the word, but free. God commended his love toward us, in that while we were rebels. And it also tells us, too, why we were yet enemies. we were reconciled with God by the death of his son. How wonderful, then, is God's love. There is none greater. Greater love hath no man an inch than a man lay down his life for his friend. But God laid down his life in the person of Christ for his own. God has greater wisdom and power. He could create new worlds. He could create new constellations. He could create planets and solar systems. He has wisdom that hasn't been tapped hardly as yet. He has power that he hasn't yet fully exhausted or displayed. But God has displayed his love to the utterness. He has no love in reserve. He poured it all out at the cross. And if you want to see the height, the depth, the length, and breadth of the love of God, you look to tell them. When God poured out his love, there wasn't a drop left for a future occasion. He gave it all, and he gave his son. Such is the love of God. There is no greater loss. Then you have greater things. You remember how the Lord Jesus in John chapter one, he saw Nathaniel under a fig tree. He told them he saw it. And he had such evidence that that fig tree was over the hill. And Nathaniel couldn't understand it. Christ as when thou was under a fig tree, I saw it. And Nathaniel couldn't understand it. You can't say in vision. You can reflect it. But you can't say in vision. And yet Christ saw Nathaniel. Only deity could do that. Over that hill, under that fig tree. He saw Nathaniel. And when Nathaniel saw that, the Christ had seen him. He, to use modern expression, I've seen everything up. No, you haven't. Mathanael, you've just begun with me. Sarah was one of God, though after King of Israel. And there was Nathaniel's conversion. And conversion is only the beginning. Only the beginning. When I got saved, the age of nineteen, oh, how wonderful it was. To know that my sins were all forgiven. but I'm still seeing them. For forty years I've been studying this Bible, and I'm still seeing them. I've seen these things that have been going through the Book of Romans I've never seen before. And I've done a lot of reading and a lot of study. What says Christ, thou shalt see greater things than this? Then he said to Nathaniel, when Nathaniel thought, well, I've seen everything. God, the Son of God, or what the genius is. You know, here you have expanding vision, a widening vision. And there's plenty that the Christian has yet to see. And the Daniel of this time, because it was at the beginning of Christ's early ministry, he hadn't seen Christ's perfect, sinless life. He hadn't seen Christ perform all those miracles that he subsequently performed. performed. He hadn't seen Christ laid down his life. He hadn't seen Christ in resurrection glory. He hadn't seen the church. No, Nathaniel hadn't seen the Spirit of God coming down and starting the church on the day of Pentecost. He hadn't seen that. And there were plenty of things he hadn't seen. And hasn't he? He hasn't seen Christ coming in power and great glory. He hasn't seen Christ coming on his life charger in the Battle of Armageddon, that all the nations gathered in the vale in the ghetto will melt before them. He hasn't seen that yet. Neither are you and it's you or I. But I hope that's the greater thing than you are you. We haven't seen the marriage set with the land. We haven't seen the new heavens and the new earth. We haven't seen the king in all his views. Conversion is only the beginning, and the Christian's life is a light of expanding vision. And it will be that way throughout eternity. It will take eternity for God to show us the secrets of his vast universe. Why, here are our astronauts going out as far as the moon. We make a lot of it, and it's a wonderful achievement. But when you can think of God's vast universe, for them to go to the moon is like me making my one step above three feet in going around the world. That's just about like the astronaut going to the moon. Just a tiny little step as far as God's that means. I have not seen... nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him. And so we find greater things to be seen. Now we see through a glass darkly the thin face of it. How wonderful that will be. Now we see only yet again a little slimmer. What we see today is but the glimmer of a candle in contrast to the glory of the noon day's sun. Thou shalt see Gregory, than thee. Now when a person gets paid, he sees a little in the Bible. He sees his sins are forgiven, he has everlasting life, and that he'll never perish. But as you go on, why you see Gregory here? And that's been the thrill of my entire life in forty years, Peter, is just seeing new things, new things, new things. And if I were to live to be a thousand, it would be the same thing, seeing new things. New glories in the person of Christ, new for life in the spiritual world, and to be back throughout eternity, we'll need every heaven's capacity. thought he's like unto the body of Christ, but see all that God has in his vast universe. Thou shalt be greater than me, than he. Greater of me, there's none greater of a love of God. Greater of isn't? Why, you see, nothing yet, if you're a Christian, compared to what you're going through. And then you read about greater worship. Greater works, he says in John, fifteen, twelve. Greater works than thee shall ye do. How could any one do greater works than what the Lord Jesus Christ did? That I, or any of it, follow, turn waters away, and should we calm the sea, should we walk upon the sea, should we raise the dead, should we keep five thousand with five loaves of two figures? No. Not in absent, shall we do greater things than we do? Oh, I think of some of the things that men have done. Think of Henry Ford. Think of Edison and others as great scientists. The great things they do. And yet let me tell you this. You can do something greater than a Ford or an Edison. Or any other great scientist, if you're a Christian. You can point a sword at sight. That's what you could do. And if Henry Forbes, I understand, is an incident, I don't know about heaven. For any of these other great inventions, they may outstrip up, including great things in the field of intent. But if you could point another sword at Jesus Christ, he's done a greater work than the great of scientists that ever lived. Thou shalt do greater things than thee. What did the Lord mean when he said that we were the same? It simply meant this. In Christ they only a few followed him. And when a crowd did gather, he put the test for them, except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, ye have no life in you. You're just following me for the loaves of the fishes. But you haven't yet become part of me. you haven't yet been born again, from that moment they went back and walked no more with him. Christ didn't have very many converts or followers, and it's in this sense that he meant, thou shalt do greater things than me. When you start to think of certain men, they've done far more in reaching the gospel, reaching people with the gospel in Jesus Christ. Christ lived three and a half years, and he lived in a very small spot there in Palestine. But think of men who have preached to the world. Think of men who reached thousands and hundreds of thousands for Christ, saved on greater good than Christ did. And Christ implied that. Jesus, thou shalt do greater things, simply meaning that when the Spirit has come. connect us into you. Through the power of the Holy Spirit will do greater things than I have done. Because Christ can find his life and ministry to the area where he was going to die. And it is like, are you and me? But there are men, you take men like the Apostle Paul, for instance, we don't be the feet of Christ establishing a local church. the nearest he did when he met in the upper room with his disciples and instituted the Lord's Supper. But the Apostle Paul took three missionary journeys, starting churches all over Asia, Asia Minor. Paul did greater things than even Christ did in the power of the Spirit in starting all those churches. We know it's Christ doing it as through it, doing these things through men. But Christ himself said, Thou shall do greater things than what I've done. But you'll do it by the power of the Holy Spirit teacher on the day of Pentecost, Paul, King, Thou will say. You don't raise it that many that he saved through the Lord Jesus Christ. After three and a half years, you don't read that. And the most we know, we saw him after he rose from the dead with five hundred. And there have been many men who've seen far more than that led to the Lord Jesus Christ. Men like Spurgeon, men like Whitfield, men like Billy Crane has preached to far vast audiences. Their audience has been worldwide. The audience of Jesus Christ was those right there within sound of his voice. There were no public address systems in those days, no radio, no TV. But Christ is a day coming when you'll be able in the power of my spirit to do greater things than I do. And that means, thou shalt do greater things than peace. And so you have greater love. And greater love will lead to greater vision. And that greater vision will lead to greater worth. But now we come to these visions. I want to speak about the time of great and riches. How great are the riches of Christ? Think of the riches, and you can only measure possibly riches by saying such things as gold and silver, gems and jewels and property and earthly possession. That's what a man speaks of, and his wealth. He's rich. That's the way men speak of their wealth, all their riches. But what about spiritual living? This is what God is saying. You make the riches. You read about the riches of his goodness. We read that over in the second chapter. The riches of his good. And he is good. Oh, the goodness of God, this leads us to repentance. In Romans two and four. How great is his goodness you read in Psalm thirty-one ninety. There is the goodness of God, the riches of his goodness. It is seen even in natural things. God has given us richly all things to enjoy. I see God in his goodness in many ways, in giving me food and clothing, friends and a home, loved ones, shelter, rain and sunshine. I see God in forgiveness in many ways, in giving me food and clothing, friends, in a home, loved ones, shelter, rain, and sunshine, and also birds and flowers to look at and listen to. Health, a good mind, body, eyesight, hearing, and a nature of peace. These are all evidences of God's good But God says, I have given you these things, that they might lead you to repentance. The goodness of God leads us to repentance. All the riches of God's goodness. God's goodness. When you think of God's goodness, you think of what Moses said, show me thy glory. God says, I will make all my goodness. past before you. And what was it that God revealed to me? When Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. God said, I'll call all my goodness to pass before you. And this is what you read in Exodus thirty-four and six and seven. The Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth. keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgressment, sin, there is God's goodness. Do you know the riches of his goodness? And can you say goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life? Oh, the riches of God's goodness. The moment I got saved, I became a partaker of is goodness. Not only physically, had I experienced his goodness, but spiritually, the goodness of his grace and his mercy. And that brings us to another text you find over in Ephesians one, seven, the riches of his grace. The riches of his grace. in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. In other words, a rich man means he has strength, and God has plenty of grace. Oh, the riches of his grace. And then you read about the riches of his glory. In Romans nine and twenty-three we read that, the riches of his glory. And that simply means the glory of his power, his majesty, and the glories of heaven. What wonderful glory. The riches of his glory. You read about the riches of his mercy also in your life. These are spiritual things. These are things God wants man to enjoy, because they'll outlast and outshine all these other things, material things. that comes from his good and gracious hands, that he's given us all things to enjoy. We're told we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Oh, the riches of his voice. I think that we are going to share those riches. Joint heirs with Jesus Christ. All God's riches, all God's wealth is in Christ. And we're going to be a joint heir. One time a young fellow... ran away from home and brought this honor and this grace upon his father and the family. We haven't seen his father for years and he really went to the death. One night he thought I'm going to find out. He heard his father wasn't feeling so well. I'm going to wait for our families out. I'm going to break in and I'm going to find my father's will and see if I have been left there. He gave it into the house and he did find his father's will and sure enough he saw right there in the list of those who were going to partake in the Father's will, his name, he was going to get each one of them. It softened his heart so much he came home and confessed his sinful ways to his father and was reconciled to his father. The faith that his son would make him a joy there, ones who were so unworthy and undeserved should be made a joy there with the other children. with God nothing but pleasure to the heart of the Father. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Christ in you the hope of glory. And Christ said, I have given them thy glory, the riches of his glory. Who can speak of the riches of his glory? We speak about he called into his kingdom and groan. And Paul says, our life afflictions which are but for a moment, worketh for us the far more eternal and exceeding weight of the Lord. Who the riches of this Lord? In conclusion, I want to speak a little about Moses. You know, Moses, in Hebrews chapter eleven and twenty-six, it says this, When Moses was come to years, he refused become a son of their own daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction than the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for the season, as feeling the reproach of Christ greater is it than the pleasures it is. Greater love, greater work, greater work shall, than thee shall we do, greater wisdom we've got back in Roman's level, the riches of his wisdom and of his understanding. The Oda thinks that someday we're going to be a partaker of riches while exceeding and excelling all these other riches. And Moses, he has seen the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures in his life. I'll tell you the treasures in Egypt were great. Well, that day Egypt was a great civilization as it was like the United States is today. And the treasures in Egypt were wonderful. They were marvelous. It was a marvelous civilization. Until, well, the splendor of its course was magnificent. And Moses turned it all down. He esteemed the reproach of Christ, the cast in his lock with that people who were so weak at that time and persecuted, the cast in his lock with them, choosing rather to suffer affliction of the people of God rather to enjoy the pleasure of the kingdom to receive. And he esteemed that reproach. greater misses than all the pieces had to offer. That word choosing means accounting or balancing things, putting them side by side. What sure is what? This week, I'm sure you read it in your paper. I was thinking on this text about this young lady. Pretty top fashion model, which usual routine will work for the Lord. You say that in the Persian paper. It says this young lady, a few days ago she sat down to talk about why she tossed aside her career and about her conversion to Jesus Christ. She also told of her plans to provide a setting to win college students and young professional persons to Christ through an elegant embassy row house. She has leased in Washington and named Trinity House. I wasn't the success. the world might have supposed it got inside I felt, as they can say," said the slim, twenty-four-year-old, brown-haired young woman. Her income was one thousand dollars a week, but she says one night she flipped open her mother's Bible and her eyes fell on the verge. For what shall it profit a man and he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? It told me immediately what I had been missing, so long Windsor Cup, that's her name, Windsor Cup to tie to her previous life when she found Christ. There's a modern day choice. She put what this world has to offer alongside of Jesus' strength. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own? And that's exactly what Moses did. And here is Moses. And he's weighing this thing up, the treasures of Egypt, pleasures of sin, the friction and the truth, but oh, the greater riches. The recompense of the reward was seen right to his invisible. His choice was made when the children of Israel, as far as their fortunes were concerned, they were at their lowest edge of the nation. Yes, in Egypt he had friends, he had wealth, he had reputation, he had success, he had the pleasure of sin, he had power. But his choice was decided. What did he get? Carried through a few sheets of the back side of the desert until God used them to take the children of Israel, see the women of the farmer's land. And he was at the peak of all his intelligence on the cure of man. When he was come to years, he made this decision. forty years old. He was no kid. He was no old, senile or god. Moses was at his best. He was telling to be the next ruler and teacher. As he waded all up, the youth that entangled are cast in my lot with the people of God. He had our greater riches when all was said. I preach for the name of Conyers. I preach for many years. And then one day he made the discovery. Remember, this is a preacher. He made the discovery one day he did not have in his life a stable experience with Jesus Christ. He had just gone off of college to learn to be a minister. He had the honesty to get up the next Sunday and tell his congregation he had been a blind leader of the blind, that he had just found Christ in the past week. And he says, My brethren and sisters, I'm going to make a fresh start. Now I've borne against this, and my theme is going to be the un-churchable. The unsearchable riches of Christ. Can you put a price tag on the unsearchable riches of Christ? No, you can't. You can't fix any value on the unsearchable, on palatable riches of Christ. And also as to abundance, you can't explore the abundance of the unsearchable riches of Christ. the supply of these riches, the uncircable riches of Christ, the supplies in his gospel, and it's all free, all free. And so I ask you this morning, you know something about these riches. These riches that we've been speaking about and referring to, and that was in our sense, oh the debt of the riches, both of the riches, and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are in itself. Here you have the unsearchable riches of God's judgment. His wisdom is now linked up with the unsearchable riches of Christ. As far as I know, that's the only two occasions the word unsearchable is found in the New Testament. These unsearchable riches of Christ are the unsearchable gentleman was quiet. The riches of Christ. Would you like to have this rest this morning? A young man heard we discussed how his old wealthy uncle was going to die but left the parcel for him. But after the uncle did die, he went to pick up the parcel, and then he opened up his father for the other. And with disgust, he threw it in an old trunk. Many years passed. The young fellow was in trouble. Financing stuff. Furthermore, even in spirit with that, he was burdened about his sin. And he thought about the Bible. He was very long still at length. And he went, pulled it out of the old trunk, which they can't open the door.