Well, I invite you to turn tonight to Romans chapter 9. We are certainly in the thick of this, and tonight we are focusing on verses 19 through 24 of Romans chapter 9. I'll pick up at verse 6 to set the context. Let's give our attention tonight, page 1123, to Romans chapter 9, beginning at verse 6.
But it's not as though the word of God has failed. For not all 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." 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 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."
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, "I will have compassion on whom I will have mercy, on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion." on whom I have compassion. So then it is not 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.
Now our text. You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded say to its molder, "Have you, why, why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he's prepared even beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
And there will end tonight the reading of God's word.
Well, as we looked at last time, we are certainly in the deeper doctrines of the Christian faith here. And the things that I'm convinced that Peter said of Paul, he has written some things that are hard to understand, that unstable people twist to their own destruction. This is, tonight, one of those doctrines that is really hard for us to accept until we look at what's really being said to us here. I've always thought that we should look at the doctrine and teaching of election, predestination and election, positively. that is, how the scriptures have presented this to us. Think of some of the ways the Lord has encouraged us over the years in the scriptures that we've looked at with this great truth. Why do so many people react negatively against it? It's really one great reason: it's because of our little conception of how bad the predicament we are in because of sin. And I want you to think about that. We're going to hold that thought as we work through this tonight. But because of that, because we have a little conception, in other words, if I could say this way: because we still think we're too big and we haven't realized how big God is, we don't realize how small we are. Because of that, this doctrine seems like a threat to us. It seems like a threatening doctrine, a doctrine without hope, something that leaves it just to the decision of the Lord and that's it, into the matter. And it's some sort of, as many people say, fatalistic in its viewpoint. But is that how it's been presented in the scripture?
If you go throughout scripture and look at all the different ways that election is spoken of and how he speaks of this, he is meant to encourage us that the Lord is not losing any of his sheep. That is one of the foremost points that the scripture makes in addressing this. And even something like 2 Peter 3: that God is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. There's these emphasis in scripture that is meant to encourage the church that God is is the reason we're still here is that he's patient, and that he's long suffering toward us, not willing that any of his sheep should perish. That's why the project's still going on. That's a positive look! That's why Matthew 24 says: when the last of the elect is taught, right there come in. Then the end shall come. Jesus taught this everywhere. When in something like John 6: "All that the Father gives to me will come to me. Think about that. Will come to me. And the one who comes to me I will in no means cast out." We have to come to Christ, but anyone who comes are those given to him by the Father. That's the beautiful teaching of that.
"Every single one of my sheep will come. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. I lay down my life, John 10, for my sheep." Next verse was to the Pharisees: "You are not of my sheep."
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." That's what Jesus said.
"You did not choose me, John 15, but I chose you to bear fruit."
Again, 2 Thessalonians 2: "We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth."
So all over, it's positive. It's a positive presentation that he wants you to know that he chose you for salvation. As we looked at last time, the right question is not whether I'm elect. The question is: Do I believe? And if you believe the gospel, if you've come to Christ and turned to him, then you know you are one of the elect. For no one will come unless that son or daughter has been given to Christ by the Father.
Now, it is not good news. It is not gospel to say that God merely made this possible for you. That's the whole premise of the other argument. That's not good news. God didn't just merely make it possible. He didn't have an atonement that wasn't effectual. He didn't sort of deposit the blood in a bank and then it only becomes effectual if you draw it out. No, no! He atoned for sin. He said it's finished. He purchased his sheep. He forgave them. He chose them.
What Romans 9 is positively saying to us then is that God is not going to lose any of his sheep. And what the problem here in the text is, is we have a whole bunch of people standing back from this, if you can get the spirit of Romans 9 and saying, folding their arms and saying, "I don't like it. I don't like it." That's what this is. And you know what? "Your whole doctrine makes God unjust. It's unfair." And this is where the scriptures get strong, right? When you have this attitude behind it. This is where he's going to push back strongly. God doesn't take well to people who act like that against such a great truth. And that's what we have tonight.
Romans 9, the text is given to raise all these objections to predestination, sovereign predestination, God's sovereign will in salvation. And it really has the sort of central thing to say to this: Okay, let's consider this. And here's how we're going to work through this: Consider who you are, consider who God is, and consider what God has done for you, and praise him. That's the conclusion of the matter. It should lead you to praise.
The dilemma in Romans chapter 9 is, remember, that they were charging through Paul's teaching that if the gospel's gone to the Gentiles, which is how that ended, and we're going to look at that next time, the gospel's gone to the Gentiles, then God must have failed with Israel because he made all these promises to Israel. God must have gone back and withdrawn on his promises to Israel. And Paul answered that by saying, "You have this all wrong. Nobody ever said that all of Israel is Israel. They are not all Israel who are of Israel." There have always been make-believers and there's true believers. But he already said in Romans chapter 8: "Whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Those whom he predestined, he called, and those whom he called, he justified. And those whom he justified, he glorified." There it is again. So then in those whom he has elected to salvation, not one good word, Paul is saying here, of the true Israel of God, Jew and Gentile, which is how this ends in verse 24, has failed. He saved every last one of his people.
Now Paul knew this would raise all kinds of objections. Last week, we considered the first one with Jacob and Esau: "What shall we say then? Is their unrighteousness with God?" In other words, "How does that make God just? How does that make him righteous and fair?" And the answer was: "Look, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion." And he said there: it's never been dependent salvation on human will. I mean, this whole idea that it's free will, he just directly counters: "It is not dependent on human will, what salvation, or upon human efforts." Verse 17, it's emphasizing it's a purely sovereign work of God in your life.
But tonight he begins with another major objection to this. And that's what it found in verse 19: "You will say to me then, which is our text, Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" Well, that's quite an objection. You hear the objection. How could, if what you're saying is true, and this is how you know you've understood the doctrine correctly because you come up with the same objection, right? That's inspired here. How could God ever exercise judgment for someone upon someone for their sins if he's the one doing the hardening? That's what he just said about Pharaoh. So you see the logic in that. And that's fair, isn't it? How could he ever blame anyone if it's all according to his will?
Look, if God is just raising up people to declare his power in them and hardening as he pleases, is it really just for you to go around saying for him to exercise judgment on people? He's the one in control of the heart. He's the one hardening the heart. What basis then does he have to judge? You see the argument, right? It's pretty easy to follow. Who can resist that? Amazing how many hyper-Calvinists are out there, right?
Now, that sounds somewhat legitimate. Think about the argument. What's wrong with it? Well, before we look at the issue how does Paul answer this it's interesting what he does in verse 20.
"But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God?"
Okay, let's let's put things in perspective here for a moment. Who's God and who isn't? That's what he's doing. "Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?"
So the first way Paul addresses this is to say: "Let's put things in perspective for a moment. We are little clay vessels. We are little clay figures that he made. And what we essentially have is the clay figure pointing up its finger and fist to God and saying, what are you doing? Over this doctrine of election, how could it be fair? And how does God, answer this. Who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Consider what you are. Will what is molded speak to its molder this way?
You can imagine, boys and girls, when you were and you're little, and I always remember being little and playing with Plato, and we'd make figures. Could you imagine it formed and raising up its little fist and saying, "What are you doing?" That's the effect of this. That's the effect of this. "What are you doing? You're formed out of dirt. I'm formed out of dirt. I didn't make myself." Why is that hard for us right now? I understand the difficulty of this. I do. Because we don't think of ourselves this way. Our conceptions are way too big of ourselves and too little of God. We run around thinking we're the center of the universe and that we have our own little sovereign determiners of our lives and that we're way more important than what we are. You should be interested in the purpose of the one, says Paul, who formed you and why he put you here. We're going to look at that.
But notice what Paul says: "Has not the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? I'm sure you could understand this. I'm sure you could understand this. When a craftsman sits down to make something, he has all kinds of different vessels he makes. He makes some for certain purposes and he makes others for certain other purposes. And who criticizes him? Doesn't God have that right?"
Now, everyone sort of stops and says, "I'll never be able to get over the fair factor of that." And here's where we have to consider what the Bible has already said to us. The objection is: How could God find fault if he's hardening people? How is that just? It troubles us that God without as we see it, without rhyme or reason, just condemns. Now, that's the problem, that he just decided one day to make a bunch of human beings and consign them to hell on that basis. In doing so, has the Bible ever taught that? That's where people can head right off into hyper-Calvinism. The hyper-Calvinist says: without any view to sin, God made this mass lump of humanity and just decided to consign a bunch of people to hell. That's hyper-Calvinism. It suggests something awful: that God created only to condemn people who were totally passive in the matter.
Here's where we can't separate what Paul said for the first eight chapters. What did he say to us tonight? Why does God condemn anyone? Sin. Sin! The wages of what is sin? Death. God didn't say the wages of his choice is death. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." It was never the wages of reprobation that brought death.
When David said, "You are blameless when you judge and righteous when you condemn," why? Because David would have said, "I justly went out and did what I did. And I deserve the judgment. I didn't do it right. But what I'm saying is, I went out and I justly deserve the judgment for what I did." If Pastor Gordon went out and decided to steal a car tonight, God didn't make him do that. David committed the act of adultery. And he says, "If you decided to judge me, that's not arbitrary judgment. That was based on my rebellion."
What did Romans 1 already tell us? "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." God doesn't condemn innocent people. This is the point. It's a sinful lump of clay, is what he's looking at. This is the whole point. He judges those who've rebelled against him.
So back to the argument: How can God judge these people if he's hardening at his will, and who can resist that? At the beginning, God originally made a good lump of clay. It was good. God created man good and in his own image and true righteousness and holiness. Sin was not even in the picture. But Paul has told us throughout Romans when he looks at the lump of clay of humanity, the whole thing is turned away. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
So where do we get this? Well, it's from Jeremiah 18. He gets on the potter's wheel and he starts working. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred. There it is. It was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again into another vessel, and it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter, says the Lord? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so you are in my hand, O house of Israel.
And again, Isaiah: "We are all like an unclean thing, and all of our righteousness are like filthy rags. We fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away, and there is no one who calls on your name who stirs himself up to take hold of you." Did you hear that? "There is no one who stirs himself up to take hold of you." That's directly taken, Romans 9 time, from Isaiah. "There is nobody who calls on your name who stirs himself up to take hold of you, for you've hidden your face from us and have consumed us because of what? Our iniquities."
"But now, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are potter. And all we are the work of your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, Now, nor remember our iniquity forever. Indeed, please look, we are your people. We are totally foul. And our righteousness is as a menstruation garment," he's saying. "Since you are sovereign, here was the prayer: Get on the wheel and make us vessels of mercy. Get on the wheel and make us vessels of mercy."
Well, that's exactly what is being said here. He chose to take people off that path and to form them into vessels of mercy for his love from a marred lump of clay that has all rebelled against him. So praise him is the message. If he takes Pharaoh who hated God and willingly hardened his own heart and God accomplishes through his purpose, through Pharaoh, then in his name all the earth he should be proclaimed. Praise him. And if he takes us and makes us glorious vessels of mercy of his love, what should that do? It should praise. He's God. It should lead us to praise.
And what's the thought in verse 22? "What if God, desiring to show his wrath?" This is a fascinating verse. "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for his glory?"
That is really a beautiful verse, if you understand it. God has been extremely long-suffering to the wicked in this world. Wicked people, think of all the wickedness in the world. If I could go through the wickedness of what's going on in the world, he has bore patience with this whole wicked world. To what end? Because he's demonstrating the riches of his glory and love to you. That's what he just said. In other words, don't speak too quickly against this. You really want to fold your arms at this and act like you hate this? He is manifesting and showing his glory and his love to you in this life. That's what he wants us overwhelmed with. That's where it should leave us. He demonstrated the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy.
Now, haven't you been seeing that in Matthew everywhere? The Pharisees? No. Look what they were doing to him. Who did he show mercy to? Who were the vessels of mercy prepared for glory? A Canaanite woman. The people coming to him asking for forgiveness of sins. The people who needed help. And he's exhibiting that.
So what does this mean tonight? Election should be a mystery to us, most certainly. As I said last time, who can fully understand God's sovereignty and human responsibility? Our little minds can't wrap around that. That's okay. But let me ask this question. If there were a record tonight of your life and every secret sin that you would never want you or of your spouse to know or your children and everything you've ever done because we're good at putting on the show, and all of that was recorded and brought out into the open, and every idle word spoken, every little gossip, everything that you've done in rebellion and we're set before every one of us tonight, and God, Would you? dare to ask God, how do you still find fault? Would
You And the answer is, no, you wouldn't. You can go further. If all your secret sins, as we sang from Psalm 19, were brought out, or how you've treated your neighbors and what you've done, how you've been angry with people without a cause and have done all this damage with your tongue and hurt people and harmed people when you should have loved Christ and put him first, would you say to him, "How dare you find fault?" Or what about how we've treated God himself under the sun? How little devotion to him. How cold we are. And how we complain about his providences. And how we worship all these idols in our life and give him so little devotion and so little care and worship. Maybe you've even complained against his word and his ways. Would you really come up to him and say, "How could you find fault?"
See, how awful it would be to say, "I don't like the teaching of election." God has saying to you: "I've loved you from the foundation of the world. You hear what's being said to you? I've loved you from the foundation of the world. You say, how do I know? Because you believe the gospel, and you've come to him. And that's your exhibit A of his love."
It's a doctrine simply meant for us to bow and praise him. It's that wonderful. And if you still are struggling with thinking about the fairness thing, Well, there was a lady who came up to her pastor after the sermon when he preached on election, and she was so furious. She said, "With your teaching, there's no hope for my son because he's rejected the faith." And the pastor rightly said, "Ma'am, I know your son. Praise God, there is election. You see, that's a different way of understanding it. What it means is that the only hope for him is, as he turns back to the Lord, in God's power and his electing grace, that he can indeed be delivered, because he'll never be delivered in himself. You see?"
Now, I want to close with this: End of Job. Job learned this. Let me just read a little bit of this and we'll close.
"Dress for action like a man, Job. I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Were you there? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined the measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb? When I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors and said, Thus far you shall come, this is the oceans, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed. Have you commanded the morning since your days began? And cause the dawn to know its place? Have you entered the springs of the sea or walked on the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare if you know it. Tell me, tell me. What do you know?"
That's what he's saying. "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of hail, which I've reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? Can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say, here we are. Who has put wisdom in the inner parts and given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom or who can tilt the water skins of the heavens when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together? it Is by your understanding is it by your understanding that the hawk up there soars and spreads its wing toward the south?"
Are you getting the point here? I could keep going.
"Then Job said, Behold, here's the issue. I'm of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I've spoken once and I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no further. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Dress for action like a man. I will question you and you make it known to me. Will you ever put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
You see what that did? We are the clay. He is the potter. Our conceptions of ourself are way too big. And our conceptions of God are way too small. And the marvel of it is tonight: he wants you to know, "I elected you. I love you. I'm not going to let you go." That doesn't because of election, it doesn't mean a hopeless message for the gospel. What did we say last time with Spurgeon? "If I knew the elect, I'd go lifting up, and if God put stripes on, yellow stripes on the back of the elect, I'd go lifting up shirts and preach only to them. But he doesn't tell me who they are, so I preach to everyone." And the arms are held out to everyone as this chapter will end.
"All day long, I stretched out my hands. Come, come! Believe. Repent and believe the gospel."
And the Lord wants you to know: "All those who come, not only will I never cast out, but I'm going to take you deeper now so that you appreciate this. I chose you. I chose you."
Praise God. Praise God. This is a great doctrine of comfort for us, and that's what it's intended to be.
Let's pray.
Oh, Lord, thank you for revealing to us the deeper things that our little minds can't it around, but it should lead us to praise, for you are God and we are not. And may, O Lord, as vessels, we respond with praise, since you have formed us to be vessels of praise, to acknowledge the God of heaven and earth who made us and saved us. Without this, there is no hope. Without your sovereign power and deliverance, there is no salvation. Thank you, O Lord, for demonstrating that to us. We are living proof of that.
Now may the gospel go to the ends of the earth and save. And may we be reminded again and again that when we are in heaven, it'll be a number no man can count, full in heaven of all the tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations of the earth. A glorious company, a full company of your people, of whom not one was lost. We praise you for that.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Thank you.