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I would like us to turn again
tonight to the book of Romans and to continue the study of
Romans chapter 9 verse 19 and following. Let me give just a
very quick review of where we were and so as not to take our
time with review. In these verses the Apostle Paul
has set forth many things, several of which we have already considered. In the first several verses he
has set forth his own his own heart's disposition for the nation
of Israel, his love for them, his anguish for them, his willingness
to give up his spiritual welfare for them. He has, in the second
place, stated something of their present condition. He has stated
much of their present blessings, of how they are the people of
God. They are the ones whose is the
adoption and the glory and the covenants and so forth. And he's
also implied and goes on later to state that they are apostate
and that they have come under the hardening influence of God
and are lost. And that raises the concern,
how can it be that they are so privileged and yet are apostate
and under the hardening influence of God? Has God's word failed? Paul goes on in verse 6 to state
categorically that no, God's word has not failed. He goes
on to explain that God has from the beginning never promised
and never in fact has given salvation to every physical descendant
of Abraham that God has from the beginning and does now operate
according to His purposes as expressed in election. Those
whom He has chosen in the past have, in fact, been saved. Those whom He has chosen in the
future shall, in fact, be saved. His word has not failed. His
promises have not failed. His purposes will always stand
according to election. And in those verses, ending in
verse 13, he makes very clear statements about God sovereignly
choosing whom He will, loving whom He will, and hating whom
He will. In chapter 9, verse 14, Paul
raises the first objection to the doctrine of election, and
the first objection is this. The first objection is, is God
fair? Is there unrighteousness with
God if God chooses to love some and hate others? Paul's response
is to say, absolutely not. God is not unfair, but he makes
it clear the issue is not fairness. If God were only fair, everyone
would be lost. If God were only righteous, everyone
would be lost. The question is a question of
mercy. And he goes on to say, absolutely,
God is sovereign and God is correct to sovereignly show mercy to
whom he will and to harden whom he will. We should be glad that
God is not only righteous. We should be glad that God is
not only fair. Somebody challenges us and say,
well, how can God be fair? We say, thankfully, God is more
than fair. It's God. The issue is that there
is mercy with God, which is far beyond righteousness, not in
contradiction to righteousness, but far more than righteousness. He raises a second objection
to the doctrine of election, verse 19, and that's where we
were this morning. The second objection to the doctrine
of election is if God chooses whom he will and hardens whom
he will, if that's the case, who can withstand God's will?
And therefore, how can God hold anyone accountable? How can God
hold anyone responsible for his conduct if, in fact, it is God
who chooses to save and not to save? Well, in this passage,
Paul responds to that question in three overlapping and yet
distinct ways. Let us read the passage together
and then draw attention to those three responses. Verse 19, Thou
wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who
withstands his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that thou replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? Or hath not
the potter a right over the clay, From the same lump to make one
part a vessel unto honour, And another unto dishonour? What
if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known,
endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted unto
destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his
glory upon vessels of mercy, which he before prepared unto
glory, even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only,
but also from the Gentiles? Paul asserts three overlapping
ideas in his response. How can God hold men accountable? The first response of the Apostle
Paul is that we must bow in silence before God's majesty and accept
his statements without challenge. Who art thou, O man, to reply
against God? Who are you to challenge God? Whatever God says, that must
be received. It is altogether right to inquire
of God. It is altogether right to sincerely
question God's ways. But once God has spoken and once
we have seen what the statements of the Bible are, God cannot
be challenged. He must not be challenged. If
the statements of the Scriptures clearly are that God does choose
to love some and to hate others, if the statements of the Scriptures
clearly are that it is not of him that willeth or of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy, if the Scriptures clearly
say those things, we have satisfied honest inquiry. And now it becomes
a matter of stopping the challenge and simply submitting to what
God has declared. The second line of response by
the Apostle Paul is to say that we must appreciate that God has
the right and authority to do whatever he chooses with his
creation. The first is that we have no
right to challenge Him. The second is, closely related,
we must appreciate. And I said appreciate as opposed
to understand. We must appreciate, we must sense,
we must rightly apprehend that God has the right and authority
to do whatever he desires with his creation. Now look at how
Paul states this in the second part of verse 20 and verse 21. The first part of verse 20, Nay,
but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? And now
notice this closely related idea. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why didst thou make me thus? Or hath not
the potter a right over the clay from the same lump to make one
part a vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? Paul makes his point with a very
common sense type of illustration. And it is wonderful that Paul
can deal with such sublime and profound and mysterious subjects
and bring up the most commonplace kind of illustrations to make
his point. It is a very commonplace, common-sense argument. It is
unthinkable to question that a potter does not have the right
to do just what he wants to do with the clay from which he makes
his pottery. He is not accountable to the
clay. It's a very common sense kind
of argument. The man who is a potter, he has
a lump of clay before him. He doesn't owe that lump any
explanation for what he's going to do. He doesn't have to be
accountable to them. He doesn't have to consult with
them. He is the one who has a supreme, unchallengeable right to do whatever
he wants with that lump of clay that lies before him. The potter
may take this one big glop of clay, and he has it stored wherever
he stores his clay, and he uncovers it one day. And he goes to that
big old lump and glop of clay, and he takes some of it, and
he's been commissioned to make a lovely vase that is to stand
in some wealthy man's hallway. And so he labors with that, and
labors with that, and fashions and molds this very lovely thing
that is fit for a king's house. And the day's about to end and
he remembers that his wife wants him to make some kind of a basin
to catch the table scraps and the potato peels and take them
out to the hogs in the night. And so he goes back to the same
lump of clay. He takes a little bit more of
it and he very quickly throws this thing together and takes
it home for his wife to carry out the table scraps in. He has
the right to do that. He goes to that same lump. If
he wants to take something from that and make it lovely, that's
his right. If he wants to take something from that and make
it crude and homely, that's his right. He has an absolute right
over that lump of clay, and he doesn't owe the lump any explanation. Well, that's the figure that
Paul uses to describe God. Now, that's not something that
just pops out of the stuff of Paul's own thinking. That was
a very common illustration used especially by Isaiah in the Old
Testament to describe the absolute rights and authority of God over
his people. I'd like you to look at two of
these references in the Old Testament. One is in Jeremiah chapter 18.
Please turn to Jeremiah chapter 18. In this passage, Jeremiah
is concerned to demonstrate the unrestrained, the unrestricted
right which God has over his creatures. Look in Jeremiah chapter
18, verse 1, 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 behold, the potter was making
a work on the wheels. And when the vessel that he made
of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it
again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to
make it." Now, you understand what he saw in the potter's house.
There's the potter. He's got this lump of clay. He's
making something out of it. And as it develops on the wheel,
it's turning, and he's molding it and shaping it. And as it
develops on the wheel, he doesn't like what he sees. And so he
just lumps it up again and starts over. He didn't like what was
molding in his hands. He didn't like the way it was
going. So he had the right to just stop. He took the thing,
pressed it back into a lump again, and reshaped it into something
else. Now the application is in verse 5, Then the word of
the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, Cannot I do
with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay
in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to
break down and to destroy it, if that nation concerning which
I have spoken turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil
that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to plant and to build
it? If they do that which is evil in my sight, and they obey
not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said
I would benefit them." God was demonstrating that he had the
right to do with the nations whatever he wanted to do. And
the Jews wanted to refute that. They acted as if God had a certain
obligation to treat them with mercy because they were his chosen
people and to treat the Gentile nations with wrath because they
were the Gentile nations. And God said, listen, if I send
my prophets to the Gentile nations and they repent, if I want to
reshape them into a vessel that's for honor, I can do so. If I
send my prophets to you and you won't repent, you're my chosen
people. I've shaped you as a lovely vessel.
I can reshape you. It's my power to do that. It's
my right. It's my prerogative. Don't think
about questioning me. I am like the potter who has
an absolute supremacy and an absolute right over the clay. Another passage, and I think
for the sake of time, we'll not turn to there, is Isaiah chapter
64, verses 8 and through 9. A different but similar point
is made. God has absolute right over his people, and they must
rest and be dependent upon his ways. Paul's point is that God
does have the right to love some people and to hate some people. He does have the right to choose
some people and not to choose others. He does have the right
to do anything which he chooses to do with them. If he has chosen
to send them all to perdition, he has the right to do so. He has the right to do whatever
his righteous judgment declares. Now, it's impossible to conceive
of God doing something wicked, so I'm not saying that he has
the right to do something wicked. It's impossible to conceive that.
But he does have the right to do anything which his righteous
judgment determines. God has the right and power and
authority to make some men the recipients of his wrath, and
God has the right and power and authority to make some men the
recipients of his mercy. And God has exercised that right
before our very eyes, that we, in our experience, have seen
ourselves and others, some made vessels of mercy, others made
vessels of wrath. He has that right, and we have
seen him exercise that right even among us. Now, this is a
general principle which must be taken into account in all
of our dealings with God. God has absolute right and power
and authority to do with his creation as he sees fit. God
has the absolute power and right and authority to require of his
creatures whatever he sees fit. This, of course, is a fundamental
point of contention between most men and most women in the world
and God. They do not want to recognize
that God has supreme right over them. The passage that is in
Psalm chapter 2 is very much relevant to our present time.
The psalmist contemplates the tumult in the world, and he says
that the nation's rage The peoples meditate a vain thing, the kings
of the earth set themselves together, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and his anointed, saying, let us break their bands
asunder and cast their cords from us. And in the context of
the psalm, the writer is referring to how people consciously are
trying to throw off the constraints of God. They do not want to acknowledge
that God has any rights over them. They would never be willing
to consider themselves as a lump of clay and God being the potter
who has absolute rights over them. The feminists will not
admit that God has right over their bodies or their careers
or their choices. Homosexuals will not admit that
God has right over their conduct or over their bodies. Politicians
will not admit that God has right over their decisions and over
their choices. Public school theoreticians will
not admit that God has any rights. Nobody in the world wants to
admit that God has any rights. Men think they're autonomous.
Men think they really are, to use that language of poetry,
the captain of their ship and the master of their own destinies.
Men think they have power in their own hands. But God, in
the scripture, says that He is the Creator. We are the creatures. He has absolute right over us
in every department of existence. Now, fundamental to being a Christian
And I appreciate that I'm speaking primarily to a Christian audience.
Fundamental to being a Christian is that we have come to a place
by God's power and by God's kindness that we do see that God has absolute
rights over us. That's fundamental to being Christian.
Fundamental to being a Christian is that the heart is bowed. There
is no opposition, no challenge to God. He is the creator. He
is the Lord. He is the master. We are the
servants. We willingly and gladly put ourselves in that posture
that we accept whatever his dealings are with us. Now, theoretically,
that's true. In practice, however, sometimes
we stray from what God has made us to be. But it's important
that we appreciate what Paul is saying in this passage in
reference to this objection concerning election. This principle has
got to be worked out in our lives in every department. We have
to appreciate that God has an absolute right over us in every
area. If God chooses to exercise his
rights over us by giving us poverty, or if God chooses to exercise
His rights over us by giving us wealth, we must not challenge
Him. If God chooses to exercise His
rights over us by giving us great minds, or if God chooses to exercise
His rights over us by giving us low levels of intelligence,
we must not challenge God. We must acknowledge that it's
God's prerogative to give us the kind of mind that He wants
to give us. If God gives us the health and strength of a Clydesdale
horse, or if God gives us the health and strength of a mouse
on its deathbed, we do not have the right to challenge God. He
has the right to dispose health to us as he sees fit. If God
is pleased to give us a marriage partner that is perfectly suited
to us, and almost without effort the marriage blossoms and grows
into a wonderful thing, or if God chooses to give us a marriage
partner that seems to be wholly unsuited to us, and every millimeter
of growth seems to come after the hardest exertions, we do
not have the right to challenge God. God has absolute rights
over us. And the Christian is someone
who says, yes, I am God's servant. He is my master. He has right
to dispose of me as he sees fit. If he exercises his right to
put me in this posture and in this position, financially, intellectually,
gift-wise, matrimonial-wise, if this is how God has exercised
his rights over me, I will serve God in that place. I will not
challenge him. I will not rise up against him.
I will not despise him. I will gladly accept. that he
is the potter, I am the clay, I happily acknowledge my position
before him. Krishna is somebody who not only
in terms of providence, but also in terms of God's rule, gladly
says, God has every right to require of me what he will. And so, when the great God, who
has absolute rights as potter over the clay, when the great
God says to husbands, you may not be bitter against your wives,
No Christian man stands back and says, God, how can you ask
that of me? You don't know my wife. How can you ask that of
me? No. Every Christian man falls back
and says, God's right. He does ask that. He accepts the commandment.
Every Christian man accepts the commandment that he is to love
his wife, that he is to nurture his wife. He doesn't step back
and say, you can't ask this of me. You don't know my situation.
No. He says, you are the king. You
ask this of me. I'll do my best in this situation. Every Christian
person gladly acknowledges that God has the right to require
us to honor our parents. Now, some people have got bad
parents, rotten parents. And somebody might fall back
and say, well, God, you can't ask this. Not a Christian. A
Christian stands back and says, it is humanly impossible. to obey this parent, to honor
this parent, to show respect to this parent. But God has the
right to ask this of me. God has every right to ask this
of me. Who am I to challenge God? I will do it because God
has made this requirement of me. Well, the point that I'm
trying to make is a simple one. The objection is, how can God
hold men accountable? The response is, He has the right
to do what He chooses. And we have to work out that
principle in all the areas of our life as Christians. Now,
there is a third thing which he says in reference to this
objection. How can God hold men accountable?
Well, in the first place, he says we must bow in silence before
God's majesty and accept his statements without challenge.
In the second place, he says we must appreciate that God has
the right and authority to do whatever he wants with his creatures.
And in the third place, he asserts we must understand there is nothing
unrighteous or inappropriate in God committing some persons
to wrath and some persons to mercy. There is nothing unrighteous
and there is nothing inappropriate in God committing some persons
to wrath and some persons to mercy. People hear that and there's
just something native that pops up. That can't be. It's so terrible.
The passage says there is nothing inappropriate in God doing that. Now, look, please, at the text
in Romans chapter 9 and verse 22. Notice the first part of
verse 22. What if God? What if God, willing
to show his wrath and so forth? That phrase, which in this version
is translated, what if God, literally would be translated, but if God,
the idea seems to be, what can be said if God is willing to
show his wrath and make his power known and so forth? What can
be said? Who could question what God does
in this thing? Who could question the rightness
of what God does? What could be wrong? What fault
could be found if God does thus and thus? God has done nothing
unrighteous or inappropriate in giving some to wrath and others
to mercy. What if God does this, is the
point. What can be wrong with this?
What challenge can justly be made if God does this? That's
how Paul introduces this. What can be said against God
if he chooses to do this? Now, I'd like us to look at exactly
what Paul says God does. I do believe that God is accused
unjustly of things which he's never claimed to do. And so it's
important that we look at what Paul says God does. And then
you'll understand why he says, what if God does it? Who's going
to challenge God if you understand what God does? Paul speaks in
the first place of what God does in reference to the vessels of
wrath. And in the second place, he speaks
of what God does in reference to the vessels of mercy. And
let's look at what he says God does. What if God does this?
First, in reference to the vessels of wrath, look again at verse
22. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power
known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto
destruction? Now, before we look at what God
actually does with these vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction,
I'd like you to look at how he describes them. Who is he talking
about? What is this idea which is bound
up in this phrase, vessels of wrath, quote, fitted for destruction? Now, follow with me a little
bit. I don't want to lose anyone, but I would like to just for
a moment say a few things that have to do with grammatical considerations,
because it's a very important phrase to understand. In the
original language, that word that is translated fitted in
this version is a perfect passive participle. It means that these
people are in a state of being ready for destruction. The participle
may well be taken as an adjective, as a verbal adjective, and would
be translated in this way. They are fit or ready for destruction. Now, it doesn't matter so much.
Many of you might not have been interested in the technical statements
that were made, but appreciate the conclusion of that. that
what this is referring to is people who are in a state of
being ready for destruction. They are people who are in a
state that is appropriate for destruction. The emphasis is
not upon who made them fit for destruction. The emphasis is
upon the fact that they are in this state. The emphasis is that
God views these people as suited, fitted for destruction when he
chooses to pour his wrath upon them. They are in a state which
deserves destruction. Destruction is appropriate for
their condition. They are in a state that fits
them for the wrath of God. Now, the point is they are not
in a state of innocence. They are not in a state of innocence.
They are in a state of rebellion, in a state of guilt, in a state
of condemnation. They are in a state where their
sins are full and they are fit. They are ready. It is appropriate
for them to have punishment. Now, who made them fit for punishment? Who put them in this state, which
is appropriate for destruction? That's a serious question. Who
made them fit? Who made them be in this position
or this state which is appropriate for destruction? Well, you know
what God's enemies say? Or those, at least, the enemies
of the scriptures and of truth. God's enemies want to say that
from this passage, God took these people as innocent creatures
and caused them to be sinful. Some want to say God made them
sinful. God made them to be disobedient. God made them rebellious. And
then he poured out his wrath upon them. They say the whole
passage is saying that God created them to be objects of wrath. that God took them, innocent
people, without any thought to their condition, and made them
to be sinful so that he could be justified in pouring out his
wrath upon them. But the passage does not say
that. The passage says that God had the right to do with them
as he would. The passage says he had the right
to do with them whatever his righteous judgment determined.
But in this passage, God is dealing with them as those who are fit
for destruction. He's not dealing with them as
innocent creatures. He's not dealing with them as
creatures who are to be pitied and who are being forced by a
strong-armed God into a position where they have to sin because
that's what he's making them do. That's not what the passage
says. The passage says he does have absolute right over these
creatures. But He has absolute right over
these creatures as sinful creatures. He has absolute right over these
creatures as creatures who are fit for destruction. Don't let
anyone take you to this passage and mix up the analogy. Don't
let anyone take you to this passage and say, God just took everybody.
Nobody is considered bad. God just took all these innocent
people. And He took some innocent people and said, I'll make you
wicked so I can punish you. And took some other innocent
people and says, I'll make you wonderful so I can give you mercy.
That is not at all what this passage is saying. This passage
is saying God has absolute right over His creatures. Just like
a potter has absolute right over the clay. This lump of clay is
viewed as a lump that is fit for destruction. This lump of
clay is viewed as a lump of clay that is ruined. And God takes
this ruined lump of clay, and from that lump, he makes some
vessels for wrath, and he makes others vessels for mercy. Who prepared them? Who made them
fit for punishment? Who made it appropriate? Who
brought them in the state where it would be appropriate for them
to be punished, to be hardened, to be dealt with in the language
of this passage? Well, who did that? Well, if
the two choices are themselves and God, you can't answer incorrectly,
because they both did it. Paul has already explained that
in very large detail in Romans chapter 1. And I would like you
to look back at Romans chapter 1. Who made them? fit for destruction. Well, they made themselves fit
for destruction. Paul describes this process in
Romans chapter 1 in reference to the Gentiles in verse 19. Because that which is known of
God is manifest in them, for God manifested it unto them,
for the invisible things of him since the creation of the world
are clearly seen. being perceived through the things
that are made, even as everlasting power and divinity, that they
may be without excuse. Because that knowing God, they
glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain
in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed
the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image
of corruptible man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping
things." What happened? God was kind to these people.
God revealed himself to them through the creation and through
their conscience. He revealed enough to them that they knew
something of his mighty power and of his majestic Godhead and
of his goodness. They would not be thankful. They would not worship Him as
God. They would make idols. They would
make idols that looked like reptiles and idols that looked like bulls
and idols that looked like human beings. And they would worship
their concept of God, but they would not be thankful and they
would not worship Him as God. Now, who did that? They did that.
God gave them mercy. God gave them common grace. God
gave them the light of nature and conscience. They refused
that. They made themselves turn from
the creator to serve the creature. But that's not the whole story.
You know the rest of the passage. Having done that, the text says
God gave them over. God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. God gave them over to what they
wanted. God withdrew common grace. God withdrew restraints. God
hardened them. God gave them over to what they
wanted. So that by the time you get to
the end of this chapter, everything that is perverse is being ascribed
to the fact that God had abandoned them to let them do what they
wanted to do. Who made them like that? They
made themselves like that, and God consigned them to it, and
they became fitted for destruction. The passage does not allow us
to think that God just took a bunch of innocent people and said,
OK, I'll take you innocent people and I'll make you ugly so that
I can put my wrath upon you. I'll take you other innocent
people and I'll show you grace so that you can be prepared for
glory. He took people that were fit for destruction. And he dealt
with them as people fit for destruction by their own choice and by his
consignment. All right. That's a description,
then, of these people. He did not make them sin. He
did not make them evil. He did not force them to be evil
so he could have some gleeful, ghoulish pleasure in disgorging
his wrath upon them. They were that way, and he consigned
them to it. Now, notice what the text says
that God does. Three things that God does in
reference to these people that are fit for destruction. Number
one, it says that God is purposed. God is determined. God is willing.
God has set his mind to show his wrath. In verse 22, God is
determined. He has willed. He has purposed
to show his wrath on them. Paul has already said that in
Romans chapter 1 and verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hinder the truth in unrighteousness. God is committed to that. God
is committed to showing his wrath upon those who are deserving
of wrath. You remember Can you remember
when we, so long ago, were studying this passage in Romans chapter
1 and verse 18, what God's wrath is? God's wrath is not the unprincipled
passions that men are familiar with. God's wrath is not the
wild rage that presses itself upon our passions in the moment.
God's wrath is his principled, controlled, appropriate rage
against sin. God's wrath is his necessary
response. It is the necessary response
of his holiness and righteousness as is aroused by sin. You read
the first eight verses of Nahum chapter one and you get a very
pointed and penetrating description of what the wrath of God is.
The wrath of God is judicial. The wrath of God is a principled
punishment for wrongdoing. And this passage says that God
has determined that these people who are fit for destruction will
be the vessels of wrath. They will be like a large vase
that he pours and pours and pours his wrath upon them until there
is no more wrath to pour out. That's the first thing the text
says that God is determined to do. with these people that are
fit for destruction. The second thing that the text
says is that God is determined to make known his power in their
punishment. God is determined with these
people who are fit for destruction, not merely to show forth his
wrath, but also to show forth his power. And if you let your
mind dwell on this idea, it is awing and sobering beyond comprehension. that God is determined to show
his power in the display of wrath upon the vessels of wrath. God will display his power in
gathering together all the people of the universe in the day of
judgment. That isn't going to just happen
because the winds happen to be blowing in the right direction.
God is going to exert his power. And God will bring the people
from the dead and from the seas and from the graves and from
all parts of the living universe at the time. And God will, in
his power, bring them together. And God will exert his power
To execute a fair, just judgment, power will be displayed. Great
power will be displayed in making all the secrets of men's hearts
made known. Great power will be displayed
in the ability of God to know every detail and to give a just
judgment and to make no errors. And great power, awful power,
will be displayed and taking people who would resist God with
every fiber of their being and casting them into hell. You do
not get the picture in the scriptures of people walking like lambs
into hell. People will not want to enter
into the abyss. There will be a horrible display
of power in gathering together all of the obstinate and all
of the fearful and all of the shrieking and forcing them into
the places of everlasting punishment. There will be an awful display
of power in eon after eon after eon of God exercising wrath upon
those people. And there will be a terrible
exercise of power in God sustaining them in the midst of his wrath
forever and forever and forever. It is a horrible thing to think
that God's power will energize the punishment of the damned
forever. His power will sustain them and
his power will crush them forever and forever and forever. What
has God chosen to do with these who are fit for destruction?
Well, number one, He's determined to show His wrath to them. Number
two, He's determined to show His power upon them. And perhaps
that should not be limited only to eternal punishment, as I have
been saying. In verse 17, it says that God
was determined to show His power in reference to Pharaoh. that
God brought his wrath and his power to bear upon Pharaoh. Perhaps some of the things that
we see of the upheaval in what used to be the communist world
and those men being brought down and some of them being killed
and some of them being brought to justice, perhaps that is some
expression of God exercising his power to bring judgment and
wrath upon those who are fit for destruction, just like he
did with Pharaoh in this life. But the point is, what does Paul
say that God's going to do to these people? Number one, display
His wrath. Number two, display His power.
And the third thing, it says, in reference to these people
that are fit for destruction, that God has endured them, does
endure them, with much longsuffering. God does endure them with much
longsuffering. You are familiar with the passage
in Romans chapter 2, verse 4 and following, where Paul asks that
question in Romans chapter 2, verse 4. Or despises thou the
riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? God deals
with these people that are fit for destruction. God deals with
these people that he has given over to their passions. God deals
with them mercifully. He keeps showing them kindness
and goodness. He keeps doing things designed to lead them
to repentance. He endures them, He endures them, and He endures
them. That's what God does with those who are fit for destruction. He is determined to pour His
wrath upon them. He is determined to display His
power in them, and He bears with them. He endures them with much
long-suffering. Now, the question that Paul raises
is, what if God chooses to do this? What if God does this? What moral fault can be found
in God if he does this? What will you say against these
things? These people are fit for destruction. These people are the just objects
of divine wrath. These people are the objects
for the display of God's power. God has been patient with them.
He has every right over them. He is treating them in accord
with His moral precepts, and He is treating them in accord
with what they desire. What can you say if God chooses
to do this? In the court of moral arguments, where biblical righteousness
is the standard. What can you say if God chooses
to do this? What moral basis for objection
could be found? if God chooses to do this. That's
the intent of that expression. We must appreciate God does nothing
inappropriate in the way he treats these vessels which are prepared
for wrath. Now Paul goes on to say things
about these vessels of mercy in verse 23. Romans chapter 9
and verse 23. Now, read again with me. Verse
23 is an incomplete sentence, and you have to supply something
at the beginning of verse 23. Start in verse 22. What if God,
willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured
with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction? And, and there's where you have
to supply something because the sentence is incomplete. And it
seems to me, along with the commentators that I believe that we would
all most respect, that Paul is saying in verse 23 something
in parallel to what he said in verse 22. He has said some things
about the vessels of wrath. Now he's going to say in parallel
some things about the vessels of mercy. And so it would be
supplied this way, and, and this is supplied, what if God is willing,
just like it said at the beginning of verse 22, and what if God
is willing that he might make known the riches of his glory
upon the vessels of mercy which he before prepared unto glory. Now again, let us very quickly
look at how he describes these vessels of mercy, and then let
us look at what he says he'll do to them. The description. These are people whom God prepared
for glory. The above passage about the vessels
of wrath being fit for destruction, that passage does not emphasize
who made them fit. That passage simply emphasizes
their state. They were fit for destruction.
They should have been destroyed. This passage, though, emphasizes
the agent. This passage emphasizes who makes
these ones vessels of mercy. They were made ready for glory,
the passage says. They were made ready for the
glory of salvation, the glory of God. They were once not fit
for glory. They were like all the rest in
the lump. They were fit for destruction.
They had sinned. They had rebelled. They had been
given over. They were not fit for glory,
but God made them fit for glory. They once hated God or perhaps
were only indifferent to God. They were blind. They were morally
polluted. They were fit only for destruction.
But God took them. He took that lump that was fitted
for destruction. He took that lump and made them
fit for glory. Look, please. in Colossians chapter
1 where Paul makes a very parallel statement in more full terms. beginning to read in verse 9,
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray and make requests for you, that you may be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit
in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened
with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto
all patience and longsuffering with joy." Appreciate verse 12,
giving thanks unto the Father who made us meet The Word is
who made us qualified, who made us qualified to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out
of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom
of the Son of His love, in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness
of our sins. Who has made us meet? Who has made us qualified? The whole point of the passage
is that God has done things that make it appropriate for us to
be in God's kingdom. God has done things that make
us qualified, that make us pass the standards. What has he done? He has delivered us from the
power of darkness. We are no longer enslaved to
sin. He has translated us into the
kingdom of his son. He has given us redemption. He
has given us forgiveness. He is able to fill us with all
knowledge and spiritual wisdom and make us walk worthily of
the calling, bringing forth fruit. God has done all of that. And
in so doing, he has made us suitable. He has made us fit. He has made
us appropriate for the kingdom of God's dear son. It is right
for us always to refer to ourselves as sinners redeemed by grace,
because no matter what degrees of maturity we attain, we will
always be sinners redeemed by grace. But it is not right to
say that disparagingly, because where God does a work of grace,
he changes the person. They are not what they were.
It is no longer appropriate to send them to destruction because
they have been made meat for the kingdom of God. They have
been prepared, according to the language in Romans nine, for
glory. They have been wonderfully and
radically changed. We are sinners saved, changed,
not only forgiven by grace. When you come back to the passage
in Romans chapter nine, what does God say that God does with
these who are designated vessels of mercy? God makes them fit. He prepares them for glory. He converts them. He changes
their nature. He gives them longings for righteousness. He makes them do righteousness. He makes them prepared. for glory. And then it says in the second
place that in the future he will display the riches of his glory
upon them. He prepared them for glory and
he will, it says, display the riches of his glory upon them. And that is such a large, all-embracing
phrase. It's hard to say what it means.
In Ephesians 2, Paul speaks about the praise of the glory of God's
grace. Well, that's a very large phrase
too. He has prepared us for glory and he's going to display his
glory upon us. He's going to display the glory
of his grace to us. He's going to bring us into glory.
He's going to enable us to partake of the glory of God. According
to Romans chapter five and verse two, we will be in the fullest
sense, partakers of the glory of God. Now come back. It would
be easy to go off on that subject of what that is, to partake of
the glory of God, but come back to Paul's point. What if God
is willing to do this? Who's to challenge God if he's
willing to do this? According to what moral standard,
I'm sorry, according to God's moral standards, how could God
be accused of any wrongdoing in doing this? If he takes men
and women and children who are only fit for destruction, And
he prepares them for glory by converting them, forgiving them,
washing them, sanctifying them, making them holy people. If he
does that and then commits himself to displaying more glory upon
them in the ages to come, if he determines to do that, what
moral precept has he violated? How is it inappropriate for God
to do that? How is it inappropriate for God
to be merciful? How is it inappropriate for God to show his wrath and
his power to those who deserve destruction? How is that inappropriate? It's horrible, but how is it
inappropriate? How is it inappropriate if God
chooses to take similar people and prepare them for glory and
show them grace? How can God be accused of something
wrong? People that deserved wrath and
wanted ungodliness, he gives it to them. And people that are
in the same position, he chooses to take some and give them grace.
How can that be wrong? What if God does this, Paul says?
Can you sense something of the challenge in that? What if God
does that? Who on the basis of any biblical
morality can accuse God of fault if he does this? God is not at fault in the exercise
of his rights over the creation, in taking some men and preparing
them for wrath, and taking others and preparing them for mercy. The second objection to the doctrine
of election is if God does all this, if God hardens whom he
will and shows mercy to whom he will, how can he hold men
accountable? Paul's response, number one,
you're not allowed to ask that kind of a challenge to God. The
first response is we must bow before the majesty of God and
accept his statements without challenge. The second response
is we must appreciate that God has absolute right over all of
his creation. And the third response is, we
must understand there is nothing unrighteous and there is nothing
inappropriate. There's nothing that contradicts
the so-called rights of human beings, of sinful human beings.
There is nothing inappropriate or unrighteous in God choosing
some for wrath and some for mercy. It's very difficult for me to
know how to close and how to make application of the immense
concepts that are set forth in this passage. And in a sense,
much of what follows throughout the rest of these chapters is
an ongoing use of these passages. And so more things will come
up from time to time. But I would like to just read
you the closing remarks that Charles Hodge makes in reference
to this passage. And I admit to you that I read
them to you because I I inwardly fall short of knowing how to
apply such large things. He makes four applications. He
says the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in the choice of the objects
of his mercy should produce four things. Number one, it should
produce the most profound humility in those who are called according
to his purpose. They are constrained to say,
not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be all the glory. We need to appreciate there was
only one lump. God didn't have two bins of clay.
In the one bin were real nice people. In the other bin were
real bums. He took the real bums and sent
them to destruction. He took the real nice people
and gave them to Jesus. That's not true. There's only
one lump. A lump of miserable people. A
lump of people that didn't love God, didn't want God, wouldn't
have chosen God. God took some handfuls out of
that lump and prepared them for glory. And if, in the mercy and
goodness of God, you're in that lump, if you sit here with faith
tonight, if you sit here loving Jesus tonight, the only proper
response is to be profoundly grateful and humbled before God
that He decided, He chose, sovereignly, without constraint, unconditionally,
to make you an object of mercy. The second response that God's
sovereign choice and election should produce is the liveliest
gratitude that we, though so unworthy, should from eternity
have been selected as the objects in which God displays the riches
of his glory. The first was it should produce
the deepest humility. The second is it should produce
the liveliest gratitude. It ought not to be a somber,
dull thing that, oh, we're so grateful to God. There ought
to be some lively excitement in this. We could have been left
where we were. We were fit for destruction.
You know, some of you are still left in that position. Some of
you look at me with dull eyes. Some of you don't seem to care
about your souls. Some of you seem to be happy
with your petty sins, which keep you from Christ. Those in this
room who are converted should look at that. And we should,
with lively gratitude, bless God that we are not dead in our
trespasses and sins, like some who sit right beside us in this
room. Now, it should make us very sad
for them, but we were there once and it should fill us with the
liveliest gratitude. The third thing he says that
the doctrine of sovereign election should produce is confidence
and peace under all circumstances, because the purpose of God does
not change. whom he has predestinated, them
he also calls, them he also justifies, and them he also glorifies. The doctrine of God's absolute
sovereignty in choosing whom he will should produce peace
and confidence in our souls. If our salvation hung upon our
faith or our stability or whatever, we would be tortured with the
fears that that stability will erode, that faith will turn to
doubt. But everything hangs upon God, and the God who chose us
has promised to justify and finally to sanctify and glorify us. No matter how we stumble, no
matter how we become discouraged, no matter how many times we fail
and displease God and limp back to Him, no matter what, peace
and security should pervade our souls because the God who chose
us will finally save us. And the fourth product of the
contemplation of God's sovereignty in election is this. It should
produce diligence in the discharge of all duty to make our calling
and election sure. That is, to make it evident to
ourselves and to others that we are the called and chosen
of God. We should ever remember that
our election is to holiness. We should ever remember that
our election is to holiness and, consequently, to live in sin
is to invalidate every claim to be considered the elect of
God. Hodge is simply refuting the
common notion that if you believe in election, it will lead to
moral complacency. Some people say that. If you
believe in election and you think that you're one of the elect,
that will take away all incentive. If you think that you're one
of the elect, you'll just sit down and let on your moral posterior
and do nothing. Just believing that I'm elect,
I'll get to heaven. Hodge's point is correct. If
we believe in the doctrine of God's sovereignty in election,
and we understand that people are chosen unto holiness, not
unto security, not unto complacency, but unto holiness. And if we
also understand that the scriptures say we must give all diligence
to make our calling and election sure. Then if we are among the
elect, it will spur us to every diligence to do all things that
lead to holiness, that we would demonstrate to ourselves and
to others that indeed we are the elect of God. It should do
that. You see, we should be proving
to God's praise. We should be proving again and
again and again by a holy life. We should be proving to ourselves
and to others and to the world that we are the people of God.
This doctrine should lead to humility, to lively gratitude,
it should lead to confidence and peace, and it should lead
to a diligent attempt to pursue holiness that we would be assured
in our calling and in our election. May it please God that all of
these things that may seem so academic, that these things would
become vital to our Christian experience.
Objections to Election, Part 2
Series Romans
| Sermon ID | 816232047322817 |
| Duration | 1:00:19 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Romans 9:19-24 |
| Language | English |
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