<H3>Chapter # 11  Paragraph # 6  Study # 4<BR />July 14, 2019<BR />Humble, Texas<BR /><a href="https://www.biblical-thinking.org/DOC-Ro3/audio.php?name=Rom190714.mp3">(Download Audio)</a></H3>

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Thesis:&nbsp;&nbsp;  It is basic biblical "T"heology that God is God alone so that the decisions He makes and the paths He takes to bring them to pass are so far beyond man's capacities as a creature that all men can do is marvel and rejoice.

Introduction:&nbsp;&nbsp;  In coming to the conclusion of a major aspect of Paul's desire for his readers, we have seen that he expressed an outburst of amazement.  This outburst was rooted in his grasp of The Greater Plan of God which had been hidden from the foundations of the world.  When he saw that a very major part of this Plan was God's determination to "show mercy to all", and that a part of this determination included God's ultimate confrontation of man's self-exalting pride by allowing all men to miserably fail, his thought was:  Who, but God, could have dreamed up such a beneficial "Goal" and such an effective "Method"?
This evening we are going to look at Paul's most basic premise:  God, alone, is God and man is so far below His wisdom and knowledge that the best he can do is embrace his utter weakness and God's "beyond-comprehension strength".  There is great joy and peace for those who allow a genuine grasp of their weakness to settle upon them and a genuine grasp of God's beneficent power to comfort them.  There is a time for men to come to Paul's attitude, expressed in <b>2&nbsp;Corinthians 12:9</b>:  Most gladly ... will I ... glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me".  The "most gladly" is critical as is seen by the fact that when we wallow in anger and despair over our "weaknesses", there is no power of Life and its inherent Joy resting upon us.

<ul><li>I. God Is God Alone. 
	<ul><li>A. First question. 
		<ul><li>1. Part one:  Who has known the mind of the Lord? 
			<ul><li>a. The issue of the "mind". 
				<ul><li>1) There is a clear distinction in the Scriptures between the "mind" and the "heart" so that the "heart" governs all issues of "goals" and "mind" governs all issues of thought about "methods". 
				<li>2) The primary focus of the Scriptures in regard to "mind" is that knowledge is a "mental" issue having to do with the details of why people do what they do as far as the actual thinking process is concerned, whereas the "heart" is all about "goals/motives" with dominating capacity. 
				<li>3) A creature can be "transformed" by the "mind" issues as long as the "heart" issues have already been addressed. 
					<ul><li>a) God's covenant promise includes the creation of a new "heart" <u><b><i>first</u></b></i>. 
					<li>b) God's revelation-content, then, comes in behind a transformed "heart" for the purpose of developing a transformed person by giving his/her "mind" new information with which to work in respect to making the decisions about how to go about the pursuit of the new values of the new heart. 
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				<li>4) God, on the other hand, has always had a "settled" glory of perfect motives and a "settled" glory of perfect understanding of infinite knowledge. 
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			<li>b. This is not a question about whether men have known certain specific elements of the mind of the Lord. 
				<ul><li>1) One of the good promises of God to us is the promise that His Spirit is actively involved in bringing us to an understanding of "the deep things of God" (<b>1&nbsp;Corinthians 2:10</b>). 
				<li>2) Thus, men can, and do, know somewhat of the "mind of the Lord". 
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			<li>c. This is a question about whether any man can, by active pursuit and searching, actually comprehend God's decisions and the ways that He takes to pursue them. 
				<ul><li>1) This is a question of man's "capacities" to grasp all of the details of the wisdom of God and understand the reasons for the paths that He takes. 
				<li>2) This is a declaration of a vast, fixed, difference between the omniscience of God and the highest level of man's knowledge. 
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			<li>d. The assumption of the question is that the answer is "No one". 
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		<li>2. Part two:  Who has come to be qualified to be His counsellor? 
			<ul><li>a. The verb is an aorist of the verb that means "to gain knowledge through interaction so that one has 'become' qualified to give input before determined decisions are made". 
			<li>b. The issue of "counsellor" is all about "firm determinations" that will not waver. 
			<li>c. There is no "creature" who has the capacities required to "possess" omniscience and "grasp" the significance of each bit of data so that he/she can tell God how things should be done (as a "counsellor") before He "determines" what will be done. 
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	<li>B. Second question:  Who has ever "leveraged" a situation so that God has become "obligated" to respond the way the person wants?
		<ul><li>1. At issue is, first, a "prior" giving to God. 
		<li>2. And then, second, a "kind" of giving that requires a specific response. 
		<li>3. This is not about the "obligation" of God to "fulfill a promise made" because someone believed Him. 
		<li>4. This is about being the ultimate initiator with an agenda in mind and a "giving" that obligates. 
		<li>5. The answer is, again, assumed to be: No one. 
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<li>II. Paul's Point:  The Enormous Depth of the Wealth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God Has Produced "Judgments" (Decisions) and "Paths" (Specific Pursuits) That Man Will Never Plumb. 
	<ul><li>A. Thus, it behooves us to cease striving regarding Agendas and Methods and let God be God. 
	<li>B. And, once we have yielded up those issues to Him, it behooves us to exult and rejoice in the realities of this all being subject to God's Larger Plan to bring "all" to mercy, a group of which we have been made a part. 
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