{"id":412,"date":"2013-05-05T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=412"},"modified":"2013-05-05T07:56:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-05T12:56:25","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-the-resources-of-god-for-reaching-our-loved-ones-with-salvation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/2013\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-the-resources-of-god-for-reaching-our-loved-ones-with-salvation\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about the resources of God for reaching our loved ones with salvation?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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! “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?\u201d (Romans 11:33–35—NKJV)<\/cite> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Without a doubt you and I have never met anyone as infinitely wise as our God. We generally stand in awe of people who are brilliant. They are able to talk with great familiarity about multiple subjects and with great self-assurance about things of which we can barely conceive. Do not be deceived; such gifted people are only different from us in their brain power, not necessarily their accuracy or their grasp of truth. God is the \u201coriginal\u201d wisdom, the final authority, and the source of truth. Paul\u2019s hymn of praise in our passage brings to an end God\u2019s revelation of His wise plan concerning the salvation of His people. <\/p>\n

Our God has an infinite resource of wisdom and knowledge from which to draw to bring about His purposes. His inexhaustible, immeasurable, accessible, and ever-present wisdom is explored in the two quotes Paul gives in verses 34 and 35. Verse 34 quotes Isaiah 40:13. Isaiah 40:14 adds, \u201cWith whom did He take counsel and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?\u201d Later in chapter 40 Isaiah states in verse 28, \u201cHave you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.\u201d Isaiah 46:5 and 9–10 states, \u201cTo whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal and compare Me, that we should be alike?…Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, \u2018My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

The second quote of Paul found in verse 35 is God\u2019s statement to Job found in Job 41:11: \u201cWho has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.\u201d No one has given God anything, therefore God is in debt to no one! It is impossible that God should be indebted to any mortal. Instead, our indebtedness to Him is emphasized! God owes us nothing, yet, from the resources of His infinite wisdom, the salvation of any individual man has been ordered and paid for extravagantly with His grace. He is a faithful Creator and He is able! <\/p>\n

A similar salvation context paired with the wisdom of God is found in Isaiah 55:6–9, \u201cSeek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Greek word Paul uses to describe the abundance of resource available to God is bathos<\/i>. It means \u201cdeep,\u201d as in ocean depths. You will remember that within a few decades of the beginning of the twentieth century, in the early days of deep sea exploration, inventors created \u201cbathyspheres\u201d designed to withstand incredible pressures while being suspended deep down beneath miles of sea water. These tiny units had thick walls and small windows and were manned by intrepid men seeking to gain an insight into the strange world which exists at such depths. The wonders of an alien world and alien species were slowly unlocked with each short visiting observation. Even with the passage of almost a century of exploration, with ever more sophisticated tools, scientists still estimate that the great majority of the world\u2019s species are still undiscovered. In just the same way, though men have been privileged to know God all these centuries, we have barely skimmed the surface of His infinite wisdom and resource! <\/p>\n

The depths of the infinite wisdom of God cannot be plumbed by any man. 1 Corinthians 2:10 assures us that the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of God and teaches us wisdom. Wisdom that is from above allows the saint to rest his full confidence in God, especially in the matter of the salvation of all with whom we are concerned. If the Lord could invade your life and plant salvation within you, then He most certainly is able to reach your loved ones. Pray in faith, walk in the light, intercede for men, and faithfully testify. Trust and obey! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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! “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?\u201d (Romans 11:33–35—NKJV) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}