tonight we turn in the bible to romans chapter 9 we're working through romans and tonight we come to verses 19 through 24 and the next week we'll conclude chapter 9 romans 9 tonight in your pew bibles romans 9 and the text will be verses 19 again through 24 you're looking for a page number it's 1202. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience bears 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 over all blessed forever amen 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's 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 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 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 depends not 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 may 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 oh man to answer back to god 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 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 has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called not from the jews only but also from the gentiles may the lord bless tonight the hearing of his word. As I have wrestled over the years with the doctrine of election, I've always thought myself that it needs to be presented positively, positively. Think of some of the ways the Lord has encouraged the church with this message and how this has been used in the history of the church to encourage you and to strengthen you. I mean, we know we've been looking at peter that the lord said he's not he is long-suffering toward us he's long-suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and that message was given to encourage the church that god is going to bring his sheep to repentance because the lord said when the last elect comes in and repents that's it it's over so he's encouraging the church with this to see it positively that the reason we're here is he's still building jesus said that all that the father gives to me i will lose nothing but i'm going to raise them up at the last day what an encouraging verse every single one that the father told me to go get i'm going to get and i'm not going to lose one every single sheep my sheep hear my voice john 10, 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. Blessed be, Ephesians 1, 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 in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He chose us. One more. 2 Thessalonians 2. We're 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. I could continue to pile verse upon verse upon verse, even in Acts, where the Gentiles who heard the word rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord as many as were appointed to salvation. Over and over and over. See how it's framed so positively? See how it's framed to be an encouragement to the church? See how it's framed to tell you he's not going to lose one of his sheep and that we can go forward in that kind of confidence? It's all over the place. But we've heard different views presented to us, haven't we? If you were to kind of contrast the five points of Calvinism with the five points of the remonstrance, I mean, you ever thought about it? Calvinism says we're totally depraved. And what has Arminianism said? No, you're not. You're not that bad. You're bad, but it's environmental that caused it. Unconditional election. God chose you from the foundation of the world. No, no. He chose you if you choose him. Christ died for his sheep and he's not losing one. Definite atonement. No, no, he died for everyone and you make it effectual when you go get it, but if you don't, that blood is canceled out. Irresistible grace. Those whom the Lord calls effectually by his spirit, they come because it's about the changing of the heart. It's about giving a new birth. No, you can stay away. Perseverance of the saints. I will persevere you to the end, says the Lord. Heaven is reserved for you. I'm not losing one of you. No, no, you can lose what you've had. Now, if you put those side to side, what you have is one system that gives God the glory, one set of teachings, and the other that is sheer humanism. It's sheer teachings of men. And so why is all this important tonight? Well, the reason that the Lord has revealed these things to us is because He wants you to know that He's completing the work. That He's not going to make promises to people and go back on them. That's huge. Because that's Romans 9. And that's what we're dealing with. That it's not gospel to say that God's sovereign grace is subservient to man's will. That's not good news to me. That's never been good news to me. It's not good news to say that God's choice is based upon man's choice of Him. That just doesn't make me very excited because I'm not going to choose Him. In other words, all that stuff makes it sound like God is the one that needs acceptance. And don't we need to be accepted by Him? Sure, we receive these things by faith, but ultimately He has to cover us. He has to forgive us. It's not gospel to say, God just makes salvation possible for you. it's not good news. So the problem in all of this and the reason why this is so important to wrestle through for us, positively God is saying to us, I'm not going to lose one of you. I have the power to save you. And in Romans 9, what we essentially have is man standing back from these doctrines. Here's why it gets a little testy in Romans 9. Here's why it gets a little strong in Romans 9. Man stands back from these doctrines and says, I don't like it. And then God doesn't take real well to that. And that's why Romans 9 gets in our face. That's why Romans 9 addresses this directly to us. Because God is announcing, I am so graciously going to pull my people out and save them. And to run around saying, that's not fair that you don't save everyone. Or to run around saying, you're unjust, doesn't make him real happy. So Romans 9 is given to us tonight to raise, in the section we're considering, to raise the objections against the teaching of unconditional election and to say to us a few different things. Consider who you are, consider who God is, and consider the wonderful things he has done for you. That's ultimately what Romans 9 is doing because the dilemma before us in Romans 9 is the nation of israel has rejected the word of the lord and the promises and everyone's questioning well paul if you're taking the gospel to the gentiles and you're an apostle to the gentiles essentially what you're doing is you're saying god has failed with national israel and paul is addressing that and he's saying no i haven't no god hasn't god has not failed with the true israel god has not failed with the elect. That's how he's answering this. And then he proved that by looking at Jacob and Esau last time. Remember, Jacob I've loved, but Esau I have hated. And that choice was made before either was born, before they had done any good or evil. And we went through all of that and we wrestled through some of that. And I understand our minds are so puny. Sometimes we think we have to figure all this out. And I said last time, we bow before the Lord and we accept this humbly. And it doesn't mean that I can rationally figure all this out in my mind. That's part of our problem sometimes. Paul knew this would raise objection. And last week he went to the first objection. What's the first objection to the doctrine of election? That's not fair. And God respond god responded to that look i'm i will have mercy on whomever i will have mercy and i will have compassion on whomever i will have compassion and if you don't believe it you've studied this throughout the course of your life if you know the bible just study pharaoh i mean we studied pharaoh and we stood back from that and thought didn't this guy get it how could you continue to harden your heart that way which pharaoh did he hardened his own heart but at some point wouldn't we be smart enough to give up and say okay get out of here Israel and Romans 9 is telling us that God the whole time was hardening Pharaoh's heart as Pharaoh was hardening his own heart there's that mystery but God was hardening Pharaoh's heart to accomplish his will in Pharaoh and that's what he says that his will was accomplished and we'll come back to that it's not dependent on human will salvation he concludes or it's not dependent on our running salvation is a sovereign act of the lord now tonight he begins with the second major objection to the teaching of unconditional election if god said in verse 18 think about verse 18 he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whoever he wills what's your objection how could he ever find fault with anyone then and that's verse 19 you will say to me then why does he still find fault for who can resist his will did you hear the objection how could god ever blame anyone for anything blame them for their sin or judge them for their sin if he's doing the Hardening. See it? Fair objection, isn't it? Is it? If God is raising up people to declare His power in them and hardening them as He pleases, is it just to exercise judgment? Now that's the argument. Who can resist that? Is there anything wrong with that argument tonight? Well, before we consider the issue of God's justice, Paul starts with something else to answer that objection that immediately kind of knocks us back a little bit look at verse 20 will the thing formed no actually verse 20 yeah but you who are you oh man to answer back to god will what is molded say to its molder why have you made me like this here's the first way it's addressed we're standing back as little clay pots questioning this because we don't like it and shaking our arms at God and God says who are you consider what you are years ago I listened to the radio version of the twilight zone and the title of that was called five characters in search of an exit I don't know if anyone's ever seen that I want to talk to you afterward or heard that. Probably not the best thing to watch, but if you listen to it, it has a different effect. I remember years ago listening to that and being scared or just devastated by the program because in it you had a hobo and you had a ballet dancer and you had a bagpiper and you had a clown and then you had a major and the program goes on and they're stuck in this cylinder and they don't have any understanding of why they're there, how they got there. They don't have any knowledge of the past or the present. And so they keep trying to get out of the cylinder and they can see the top up there and they're trying to get out of the cylinder. And by the end of it, it's revealed that it was a Christmas bin at a girl's orphanage and the five characters were nothing more than dolls. I was devastated listening to that. I thought that's the worst story I've ever heard in my life. They didn't know the whole time what they were. They didn't have any idea or knowledge of that. Now, here's what God's saying to us tonight. I made you in my image. You're not dolls. You're not robots. I made you in my image. I graciously made my ways known to you, and I am saving you, dear people. Who's fighting against the doctrine of election? Well, it's those who know the truth, who've heard it. And what does Romans 9 present? People raising their fists at God and saying over the doctrine of election, you're not fair, you're not just, oh God. And how does God answer this? Who are you, oh man? In other words, I want you to consider for a at what you are. Does something that's molded speak to the molder that way? My kids love to make little Play-Doh figures. Can you imagine that little Play-Doh figure lifting up its arm and saying, stop it! Can you imagine an artist making a beautiful painting and the painting shouting back, what are you doing? I think the real effect of this tonight is to have what I felt listening to five characters in search of an exit, feel that with regard to who we are. We're just creatures. We're formed out of dirt. Why is this so hard for us? It's because we don't think of ourselves this way. We run around thinking we're the center of it all and we're our own sovereign determiners of our lives, don't we? And this is why the Scriptures come to us and James comes is don't run around doing that. Don't run around saying such and such today. I'm going to go to such and such a city. I'm going to buy and sell. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. You're a clay pot. You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you should be concerned with what is the purpose of your maker for you. And that's how Paul's addressing it first and foremost. He says, has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another vessel for dishonorable use? Doesn't he have that right? Doesn't God have that right to do that? I'm sure you agree. When a potter sits down and from the clay, he makes vessels to adorn your home. You guys, people go to pottery barn or whatever and they buy things that people make. You buy vessels for honorable use and you buy vessels for dishonorable use. Does God have the right to make that? Now everyone stops and says, i can't get over the fair factor of that and here's where i think at this point we pause and say wait a minute what has god told us about us the whole time in romans the objection is how could god find fault if he's doing the hardening how is that just that troubles me because it seems like without rhyme or reason god is just condemning people that he just decided to create and consign them to hell with no basis has the bible ever taught that answer is no you this is where hyper calvinism happens right here this is where hyper calvinism happens if you don't understand this the hyper calvinist says without any view to sin god just made this lump of humanity and just decided to send half of it to hell or whatever portion of it to hell it suggests that that god is awful in his doings to man that condemns people for absolutely no reason and here's where we stop and we say okay we're in a mystery here but we can never separate what the bible has said to us the whole time going into romans why does god condemn anyone sin what did he say in romans 6 the wages of sin is death not the wages of his reprobation not the wages of his sovereign choice all throughout scripture we read all have sin and fallen short of god's glory when david said you're blameless after he committed his sin you're blameless when you judge what had he done he had committed adultery had murdered a man and david said your your judgment's not unfair if you judge me you're righteous god doesn't condemn innocent people there are no innocent people he judges those who've rebelled against him that's where we stay don't we that's what scripture says that's how peter approached it at pentecost you ever wonder when peter was preaching he said him christ was delivered up by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of god you have taken by lawless hands crucified and put to death therefore repent god determined before to give his son and that his son died on the cross men by their sinful hands did that and god says repent and that's exactly how the scriptures approach this god made this lump of clay good he formed man good and in his own image in true righteousness and holiness and that is a good creation sin was not there but paul has told us in romans the whole time what what did humanity do they threw it all away this is everything we've ever learned that there's none who seek after god romans 3 all have turned aside All have sinned. All have fallen short of God's glory. So guess what God did? Here's the positive view of election. Guess what God did? God got on the potter's wheel. And then you come to Jeremiah, and then you come to Isaiah, and listen to it now, seeing everyone rejected him, everyone turned, he gets on the wheel. And what does he do? Listen to how Israel understood this. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, 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 in the hand of the potter. See, it's a totally sinful vessel. So he made it again into another vessel, as 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? The clay is in the potter's hand, O house of Israel. Listen to Isaiah 64. We are like an unclean thing. All our righteousness are like filthy rags. We fade as a leaf. Our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. And there's none who calls out on your name. None who stirs himself up to take hold of you. So any free will is gone in terms of saving themselves. For you have hidden your face from us and have consumed us because of our iniquities. Listen to this. But now, O Lord, you are our father. We are the clay. You are the potter. All we are the work of your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever. Indeed, please look, we are your people. I love that. Because he's saying, if we got what we deserved, we're done. But you're our Father and you are our potter. Mold us. Form us to be what you want us to be. We're clay pots. Marred in your hand. So here's what God's saying tonight. If he chooses to take all of these marred pots and pull out all of these pots and make these glorious vessels of mercy that he loves, what should you say tonight? praise you, God. You are so good to us. And if he takes Pharaoh who hated him and despised him and hardened his own heart against God, and he says, I'm going to now work with that hard heart and accomplish my will so that my name would be glorified in the earth, what should you say? Praise him. That's how he wants us to look at this. And that's verse 22. This is, I think this is a challenging verse to understand but when you get it it's one of the most beautiful verses in this section think about this 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 prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles. We've been looking in Genesis about God being long-suffering. Why is God long-suffering? Why is God patient? He's bringing in all of his sheep. But God has been extremely long-suffering even to the wicked, hasn't he? You know, when I said the other day I look at the FBI having to stop stop men from child sex trafficking. I think, what do those men deserve, right? What do I deserve as a sinner? And God is long-suffering with the wicked. Why is God long-suffering with the wicked? God bears with patience so long. The apostles would have never imagined we'd be here in 2013. Never. God has been so long-suffering with this sad world. What is the consequence of that? That's what Paul's saying. If you're going to speak about election, just consider this for a moment. Speak against it. Why is God being so long-suffering with this bad world? Because He wants to demonstrate the riches of His glory to you. Think about it. In other words, don't speak too quickly about God's sovereignty. Don't speak too quickly against election because He's doing all of this in order to make grace shown to you to lead you to repentance. that's what he wants us overwhelmed with you want to see how this works you could look at pharaoh and looked at the whole time he was hardening pharaoh what was happening in israel their livestock wasn't being touched their darkness was not hitting them their sons were not touched and he brought all of them out and then he brought a host of egyptians out all the while hardening pharaoh so that all these people would receive his glorious mercy that's one way of seeing it But I want you to think of it this way. Has God not been really long suffering with us tonight? I can testify to me. Some of you, if you look over the course of your lives, have been sleeping. And if he didn't bear with things this sad world, where would you be? Done? He has waited so that every last one of his sheep would reach repentance. Every last one. Then the end comes. Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares? I'll close with this tonight. The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore again, then the weeds appeared also. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. Jesus says, there was this phenomenon in my field, in my kingdom. This obnoxious weed was coming up. But you know what? When I looked out at the weed, I couldn't tell in the early stages if it was still a blade. I couldn't tell if it was a wheat or a tare. When I looked, I couldn't tell. In other words, it's not until the grain begins to grow and fill out that you see the major difference between the two. In the early stages, you can't see it. But at some point, an ear appears, and on the one blade, you know, you could have a bad head, and then you could have a good head on the next one. But at some point, it all becomes clear. What happened? The servants come out before this has happened, and the servants said to the master, didn't you sow good seed in your field? I'm starting to see weeds. He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said, do you want us to go and gather them now and bind them, gather them up? He said, no, lest in gathering the weeds, you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest and then the separation will occur. What is he worried about? Think about it. He's being long-suffering to his weak. And there's still a lot of blades out there that are indistinguishable from the tares that have not yet budded. You know this of yourself. I'll give you, and my father would say this, my father was a basketball coach for years. 20 years he would tell you it was his God. And he was devoted to this ball. And we sat in the church, and I grew up in the church. And he'll tell you, you know, he went to church, It was all out of routine. There was no life. You know, he'll tell you this. All of a sudden, life was given. And he became an elder in the church and he just budded. It was a beautiful thing. Dormant for years and then the bud came. 50 years old. 50. Some of you may be dormant now. I don't know. Can't judge that. But I know this. all of a sudden, God is preaching, having his servants preach his word, and what starts happening? All these buds start coming out on his people. And here's what Romans 9 is saying to you. I'm being long-suffering with this sad world to demonstrate my mercy to you. That's how I want you to look at election. Praise God that he has bore with this sad, wicked world that you would come in. So what does that mean tonight? This is not something to hate. This is not the bad-tasting medicine in the back of the cabinet that we don't want to talk about as Reformed people. This is exciting. God chose us for salvation. If a record book were set tonight before us of all of our deeds, you know, everything we've ever done, every act of rebellion, would you ever say to God, how could you ever find fault with me? What kind of damage have we done in the course of our lives, in our homes? What about how you've treated God yourself, all of the idols that we've bowed down to? What about that? So little devotion, so little care, complained against his word, given such little attention to it. And God just told you tonight, I'm bearing and forbearing that every last one of my sheep would hear. Do you hear tonight? If you hear and you've believed in Jesus and you've come, you are the most blessed people on the face of the earth. Because you can say tonight, God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, and you could insert you in that, me. Even when I was dead in trespasses, he made me alive. because I'd never respond to this grace if he hadn't made me alive, made us alive together with Christ by grace you've been saved, and he raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And so he wants you to know tonight that his election is a message of hope to you don't fight against it he's saying he's going to save his people not going to lose them and those who have come to jesus for refuge and entered into him and entered into the ark you are absolutely sure that that's the fruit of your election you can look back and see god did that and god loved me from the foundation of the world giving me grace as paul said overwhelming statement before time began because had he not done that we would have all become like Sodom we would have all been made like Gomorrah but he's announced in Jesus Christ that we who have believed on that day will meet the smiling shining face of God and glory and we will enter and we will forever be with him Let's thank Him tonight. O Lord, our God, in this deep mystery that our minds are so puny to grasp, we bow before what You have said in Your Word, confessing that we are mere creatures. And who are we to question You? And we confess tonight, as Your Word has told us, that we are sinners and all have fallen short of the glory of God because of our sin. And we praise You tonight that You got on the potter's wheel and from this massive lump that has rebelled against you you have created and worked hard to restore vessels of mercy to the ends of the earth that a whole host and multitude of people would be brought out of the darkness and be saved tonight we praise you and this teaching gives us such hope because if it were left up to us and our children we'd never come but because you announce this we have every hope and delight in the world to preach your gospel because we know that you are accomplishing salvation as we do this by your powerful spirit and so as we go out into another week may we praise you for your sovereign workings in our life and that we may say with jonah salvation belongs to the lord in jesus name we pray amen Thank you.