Well, if you're visiting tonight, we are working through the book of Romans, and we come to last time we started chapter 9, and we are looking at this great truth of God's sovereign election, and tonight we come to verses, we looked through verses 1 through 5 last time, we'll only be looking through 6 through 18, so I'm going to read verses 1 through 18 tonight of Romans chapter 9 found on page 1123, found on page 1123. Let's give our attention to the Lord's word. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers my kinsmen according to the flesh they are israelites and to them belong the adoption the glory the covenants the giving of the law the worship and the promises to them belong the patriarchs and from their race according to the flesh is the christ who is god overall blessed forever amen now our text tonight but it's not as though the word of god has failed for they are not all descended from israel those who are descended from israel belong to israel and not all are children of abraham because they are his offspring but through isaac shall your offspring be named this means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of god but the children of the promise are counted as offspring for this is what the promise said about this time next year i will return and sarah shall have a son and not only so but also when rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather isaac though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that god's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls she was told the older will serve the younger as it is written Jacob I have loved but Esau I hated what shall we say then is there unright is there injustice on God's part by no means for he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion so then it does not depend on human will or exertion but on god who has mercy for the scripture says to pharaoh for this very purpose i have raised you up that i might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth so then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills and there will end the reading of god's word the text really tonight is focused down we went through some of the seed language there last time, but we're really focusing on sort of 12 through 18, which is the heart of this tonight. Well, tonight we take up the great doctrine of God's unconditional election, as we called it when I was first dating Darcy. One of our first dates was at sequoia national park and we got in a heated discussion about jacob i have loved but esau i have hated that is not the romantic thing to do to win a woman by the way um she still prevailed because she was elected to marry me that's how that happened but um i'm sure tonight as we heard that reading that this is this is heavy heavier stuff of the scripture isn't it we don't begin here with somebody do we um this is the heavier doctrines of the faith the deeper doctrines of the faith when we think of the heidelberg there's three things you must know to live and die in the joy of discomfort it is that you're a sin you're a sinner and you need to know the greatness of that sin and misery you know who jesus is and how you live thankfully um understanding election is something that progresses in the christian life as you grow in the faith and it's not something we should ever fight against it's um it's really intended to be a comforting doctrine of course in my time as a christian school teacher it was always a fight in the classroom um with the students on this issue they always wanted to debate this issue and so we would have great roundtable discussions on the doctrine of election and so it was it was always an interesting time with the students but this is indeed what i think Paul or Peter said when he talked about Paul and in Peter when he said at the end listen Paul has written some things that are very difficult to understand that unstable people twist to their own destruction they twist this up because they don't like it so we don't want to do that with this this great truth we want to understand what's being said to us there's no doubt that this is a a truth of god's sovereign election that is kind of a mystery to us because of experience isn't it i it may even be troubling to us when we read it on paper um in my experience this is sort of one of the great doctrines even sometimes we as reformed people secretly can say you know i just don't know if i really believe that i don't know if i really believe that i've come across people who really struggle with it and probably because we've come to the teaching with the wrong questions that's most likely the issue we've come to the teaching with the wrong presuppositions the wrong questions and those questions begin with things like how is it possible for a loving god to choose certain people for everlasting punishment that question is loaded and it's a wrong question out of the gates it's a wrong question it has all kinds of problems in the question hopefully by the end of the sermon we can we can answer some of those objections but that's not what we've seen in the gospels is it just take this morning's sermon what we've seen from jesus is arms outstretched come to me come to me and you will have life um he showed his compassions for the multitudes and and and what did he say and all those who come to me i will by no means cast out. This doesn't throw out some kind of free offer of the gospel. This doesn't come out, call out, challenge Jesus throwing out his arms to the multitudes. It wasn't just to the elect. He threw out his arms to the multitudes. He did this indiscriminately. Come. Come. If you will hear his voice today, come. In fact, the end of this section in Romans 9 through 11 has all day long i stretched out my hands so see it's mystery to us that's the dilemma for us it's hard for us to understand god's absolute sovereignty in the salvation of somebody and man's responsibility in this they're like two lines that go straight up into heaven and are resolved before him but our our little puny minds can't fully understand that and grasp that and you want to say that's okay We don't want to become rationalists with it. But it doesn't take away from the truth or minimize the truth that God sovereignly elects his people to salvation. And at the end of the day, it is indeed a sovereign choice of God. It is his choice. And that's intended, when I say that, to be a positive message. This is one of the things that, if I look in the history of some of our Reformed traditions, tradition it almost seems that when this doctrine is preached it's almost preached angrily and it becomes a very hard kind of person who browbeat with this doctrine across the scriptures the great intention of it is to reveal it so that you would have one great truth sealed to your hearts and minds he's he's going to complete the work that he started he's not going to let you go because he chose you from the beginning who wants to fight against that unless somebody has some misunderstanding of their own human nature but the question you know how do i know whether a person is elect or not is not the question we begin with the question is do they believe and then we work from faith that's how we know somebody is elect well let's move into this tonight of what paul is doing here in romans chapter 9 tonight we look at the doctrine of election it's all over the pages of scripture Israel would have thought it unthinkable to say that there's no doctrine of election they were proof of that they were proof of that as a nation they were God's chosen nation they knew about election and it's one of those doctrines that leads us to bow before God even though our minds are small God is saying to us this is a this is a doctrine of hope for us and that's what Paul is is answering here tonight he is essentially he's simply saying to us and to the objections to the doctrine for anyone who would object to it you're challenging god being god you're challenging god being god and that's how paul is now going to address this for god to be god the supreme sovereign creator of all peoples, if we are going to accept his report about the human condition that we are all dead in trespasses and sin, election becomes and leads us ultimately to praise. So I want to make sure these are all sort of preliminary comments that we understand this. And if we don't get to praise, we've missed what it's all about. Election is saying to us tonight that anyone who is saved, anyone who is delivered in this life that is by the sovereign hand of god a sovereign will of god that he has decided that he will save his people whom he will set his love upon when he will do it how he will do it when he will deliver paul he would say later um after he was delivered i was given this grace set apart from birth but it was at a particular moment in time that god sovereignly delivered him and said who are you to kick against the goads you can't stop this and that there is nothing that we do to change that choice there's nothing intrinsic to us that made god decide to say oh wow you know that pastor gordon he's just a little more stand up than these people he gets things a little better therefore i elect him well that i know that's a lie god set his love upon his people whom he foreknew which he already said in chapter 8 predestined to be conformed to the image of his son you are predestined to be conformed to the image of his son he will do that that's really good news for us and paul is explaining this tonight romans 9 is the definitive chapter on predestination and election and paul is explaining this because in verses 1 through 5 there's a dilemma that he knew he had to address that burdened him and it burdened a lot of people a problem that had to be addressed and that's where he started with this whole thing that's what launches us into this it's the problem of national israel and that certain people were calling into question if god has taken this and think about this morning if god has taken the gospel to the gentiles if christ has taken this good news to the gentiles what does that mean about all those promises to israel and paul's explaining this that he said he's raising because of these series of objections that is calling him to question god's faithfulness to the promises of of israel they were given remember what he said the glory the adoption the covenants the giving of the law the service of god and the promises that they were given what we talked about this morning all these external external blessings but they rejected it as a whole not all of israel did but as a whole the nation rejected it and the issue that came up in romans 9 was for paul as well it's god people were saying is god being unfaithful to his word is god being unfaithful to his promise and in verse 6 we had that addressed remember he said there um in verse 6 it's not as though the word of god has failed for not all who are descended from israel belong to israel basic principle there that's really important it's not that the word of god hasn't taken effect it's not that god failed on his promises paul says a true israelite is who well hopefully we've been learning this from matthew and in romans a true israelites inward so he said in chapter two a jew a true jew has always been an inward washed heart thing remember the lord said he would circumcise the hearts of his people to love him and to be born again so that inward reality that would be given by the holy spirit and so paul says god didn't fail because he never said that every single israelite would be saved what he said was that all the true israel will be saved and that's um as many have noticed it's a great error in the church today when you don't make that kind of distinction the idea that just because people go to church and just because they show up to church and they regularly attend and they must be christians it's a fatal fatally wrong assumption to make it accounts for a lot of the problems in the church that we don't challenge that that people can be make believers presumption so paul moves to the great point tonight the great illustration of this point to show and prove God's sovereign election look what he says in verse 10 as we move through the chapter somewhat and not only this and not only so but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather Isaac though they were not yet born and had done neither done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. She was told the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. Paul wants us to think about this carefully from the story of Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Rebekah. Born of the same father, born of the same mother, They were twins. They were twins. There was nothing different about them. There was nothing more deserving from one to the other. As a matter of fact, they had a big brawl in the womb. You remember who won that brawl. Esau came out first. Jacob held to the ankle of Esau. What that means is according to the standard, he should have had the blessing. esau should have been the child of promise but what happened god did a great act of reversal didn't he he chose jacob he chose jacob and paul wants to to make this case that god is god in this choice he sovereignly decided this before they were born the children before they were ever born before they had done anything good or evil so that his purpose of election might stand. So this was done before one act, not one act, good or bad, was put into action. God made the sovereign choice of Jacob. Before even their good or evil actions are in view. So there's no way here, And you have to say, because this has been a teaching that has gained lots of prominence, that this was based on anything foreseen. The idea of foreknowledge. It seems to me it goes without saying. You and I know the common view of our day. I will look down and I look down the sort of corridor of time and I will see who's going to choose me. And then based on that choice, I will choose them. That's sort of the Arminian view of our day. But that goes against Paul's whole point here. There was nothing in view when God did this. It was a sinful lump of clay, of course. Paul will make that point that he's looking at. But there was nothing good to see. Now, we fought God on this. There was nothing good to see. In fact, it was quite the reverse. God is omniscient. He knew exactly everything they would ever do. take that in for a moment the idea that god elects on foreseen faith assumes a faith that we create on our own but if you will admit that god gives the faith to begin with in its election right it's not that everyone can somehow turn on faith at some point foreseen faith that idea would be have to mean that therefore god god somehow looked down and saw that people would actually turn on faith and believe in him faith throughout scripture is told to be a gift if it's a gift then it's election and what a thought with regard to a thug like jacob his name meant deceiver takes advantage of his brother he steals the birthright he deceives dying blind dad he rips off his brother's hope hauls off with the blessing flees the land, wrestles with God, deceives Laban, what if one of our sons did that to us? You know? Paul says, here's the truth of it. All of it's contrary to human reasoning. Romans 9 states here, God, before Jacob did any of that, God had decided so that in all that scheming think about this what god had decided would be planned that he would be the child of promise now you can react negatively against that or you can stand in awe over that if you know anything about yourself the latter is the choice right jacob i have loved but he saw i have hated jacob received god's love unto salvation for whom god foreknew these he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son esau notice there jacob i have loved esau i've hated that comes from malachi i have loved you says the lord but you say in what way have you loved us what did god prove his love to israel was not esau jacob's brother but esau i hated and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness in all their failings he says you really doubt my love your whole existence as israel proves that the head of israel through abraham isaac and jacob proved my electing love again we're looking at true israel god says do you want to know whether i love you look at the heads of the nations Look what happened to Esau. So I'm going to explain this to ways to mean love less. The context means to disregard. The word means to disregard, contempt. It's rejection. Now you stand back and say, okay, that does not seem fair. That does not seem fair. Anyone who's hearing me thinks that. Well, was Esau refused something that he wanted? There's the mystery. Hebrews 12. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the present, blessing he was rejected for he had no chance to repent though he sought it with tears there was not genuine repentance he grieved over what he lost he didn't want it he rejected it so it's not like somebody ever in this life says i just beg god to save me and i want it so badly and god says no no no no no no no no the wages of sin is death and those who turn away from christ chose to do that and this is important for us to understand i think that's why our canons say that the doctrine of election is justly terrible for those who've forgotten god their savior jesus christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh. It wants to challenge us, the people who've done that, think carefully about what you're doing and come home. Come home. Come back to the Lord. But it's important to remind us tonight, why is Paul doing this? Why is Paul explaining this? It's because you might draw the conclusion that God is failing. So he wants to cast this in a positive light for us. Here's what you need to ponder. How is God presenting this to us? Positively. Every last one of his Israel he will save. And that grace is so wonderful to us that we should bow in praise. That's where the end of Romans 11, oh, the unspeakable riches, how unfathomable are his ways and how wonderful. It's past finding out. He didn't fail. He saved every last one of his sheep. Now, if you know anything about sin and how bad you are that that this is a doctrine of hope and paul knew that the single great objection to the teaching is just what i said this just doesn't seem fair that's why he raises a series of objections to it here he raises that very objection what shall we say then notice this is there injustice on god's part why would he have to say that he's supposed to be a just god how does election prove that he's just you hear the objection that's not fair and you know you're understanding something correctly when that's the conclusion you draw for it's inspired right here by no means by no means he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion and he proves this with Pharaoh for the scripture says to Pharaoh for this purpose I've raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth i was taken from exodus 9 now if i had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence then you would have been cut off from the earth but indeed for this purpose pharaoh i've raised you up that i may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth and as yet you exalt yourself against my people and that you will not let them go and the lord said to moses go unto pharaoh for i have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants that i might show these mighty signs before him but the lord hardens pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the children of israel go now if you study exodus what you're going to see is you'll have numerous verses where the lord hardens pharaoh's heart and then you'll have other verses that say pharaoh hardened his own heart same thing pharaoh did exact pharaoh what god did was exactly what pharaoh was doing but god is saying he has complete control over the human heart so that his name would be proclaimed in all the earth and that's just what happened all the nations celebrated and were in well they didn't really celebrate first they were terrified when they heard because they had all heard about the glory powerful god of israel and paul says therefore he has mercy on whom he wills and whom he wills he hardens it's the simple truth tonight beloved God is God and we are not that's really the heart of this he is the potter we are the clay he formed us there was a twilight zone years ago I don't really like the example but I'm going to use it to make the point there were all these figures there was a soldier there was a ballerina all these figures trying to figure out there was a big wall in front of them they couldn't get out and so they're dialoguing how do we get out of this wall how do we get out of this wall how do we get out of this pit and in the end they realized what they were they were figurines in a box now I don't like that example because we're more than that we're made in god's image but the point still stands we're just the clay we're just the clay god is god we are not he formed us we didn't form ourselves and he gives mercy to whom he will send it so then it depends notice verse 16 a conclusion it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy quite willingly it does not depend on human effort the whole idea of a free will I don't know how it would be squared with what's said here it does not depend on free will is what he's saying I love what our canons say we can have a sure and certain spiritual joy and holy pleasure by the fruit of our election which are what true faith filial fear godly sorrow for sin and a hungering and thirsting for righteousness now remember why he want he's even bringing this up every other place the doctrine of election is mentioned in scripture it's said to simply say i want you to know i've got you and i'm not letting you go but here paul is being attacked because god is being attacked for saying he has failed with regard to israel so he's answering it with a deep mystery for us no no no god chose his israel and he will not let them go the true israelites will all be saved and that's important for us to remember if god there's a verse here if god had not left us a remnant nobody would be saved what do we really deserve right what do we really deserve now let's come back to this question to close am i elect here's the pastoral dimension i want to make sure we get spurgeon dealt with people asking this question people struggle with this question i've known people who struggle with this question and they say they say well i'm just not sure i'm elect i know people who struggle with that here well spurgeon said if god had painted a yellow sign on the back of his elect. Then I would run around lifting up shirts and figure out which one they are and I'd preach only to them. He didn't do that. So I preached to everyone. What do you think I'm going to say if somebody says, am I elect? I'm going to say, that's the worst question you could ever ask. My question is going to be, do you believe? do you believe come to christ do you believe the gospel and if you say yes you know what i'm going to say you're elect that wouldn't happen apart from election now if you don't say i believe then i'm going to say take seriously what this doctrine teaches and come today come today there's a story told of a man who was in deep theological conversation with this christian doctor and he soon found himself really sick the discussion centered with his doctor on the doctrine of predestination the doctrine throughout his life had been so repulsive to him he decided i just give up i there's nothing i can do decided to live a wicked life he just thought well if it's true i'm elected then it's not even going to matter what i do i will be saved if i'm going to be saved and i'll be lost if i'm going to be lost so on the night he was critically ill he called his doctor and he asked for his help the doctor takes his temperature this is not good doctor arrived he says well yeah your time makes no difference whether i give you the medicine doesn't really matter does it it's gonna if it's gonna help it's gonna help it's not doesn't really matter so it won't help if it's your time if you're foreordained to die why are you calling me sick man lies there doc you gotta give me the medicine i'm not gonna make it and immediately the light went on he understood what the doctor had done your medicine is christ believe in him today while he may be found turn to him those who have looked to christ can be assured tonight you're elect You can know without any measure of doubt that his promises are yes and amen and he's fulfilling them and he's not going to lose you. That's really good news. That's really good news. The question is simple. God has not failed. Do you believe? Can you say yes? Then you are one of his chosen rejoice that means his word will not fail for you amen let's pray gracious lord thank you for helping us to understand this though our minds it's so puny and small we thank you oh lord for revealing this to us for we see your strength your wisdom your power and Your preserving mercies and Your sovereign decree for what the Lord decides shall be accomplished. Amen. That is wonderful, O Lord. Thank You for revealing this to us, a deeper mystery of the Christian faith that we might be in awe and that we might trust that You have given us a rich provision in Christ to atone for our sins and believing in Him. May we know that we are indeed Your chosen Israel of God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.