If you want to look with me, our passage today, Romans chapter 9, verses 6 through 24. So good to see all of you, especially those of you who are visiting. We appreciate so much you being here. We do something here called expositional preaching, which is we try to preach through books. Just start at the beginning and go all the way through. And so you're lucky, you're here today at Romans chapter 9, which is one of the most difficult, 8, 9, 10, 11, most difficult passages in all scripture to exegete and to try to teach through. I hope that you'll at least hear me out. Wait till I'm done if you're gonna throw anything at me or flog me or anything like that. But I trust that you'll be blessed and at least see what it is that the Lord is teaching us here today. And these are matters that sometimes we don't all agree on. And the great thing is some of these things we cannot agree on it still be brothers and sisters in Christ But these are the things that we teach here at Sovereign Savior So just want to give that disclaimer before we started Romans chapter 9 beginning in verse 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all children of Abraham, because they are his offspring, not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, 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 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 will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will 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 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. You will say then, well, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will? But who are you, old man, to answer back to God? With what is molded, say to the 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? Let's pray. Father, we're so thankful for your word. God, even in the difficult parts, we know that we are to study and to learn and to try our best to discern what doth sayeth the Lord. God, for today, we pray for eyes to see and ears to hear, pray for a clarity of thought, ability to express thought clearly so that we can hear and understand. Most of all, this is not to make anybody look smart. This is not to prove a point. This is to glorify God. This is your word. These are the scriptures about your son, the testimony of your son and his righteousness and his will and desire to save his people. And so I pray that above all, that will be highlighted and manifested and glorified and what we say from here to the end. And may you be honored and may your people be blessed and edified and built up. We ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, this continuation in chapter nine is a look at God's predestinating work of grace and mercy. And as I mentioned last week, Many will say this passage is only talking about nations and not individuals, which I believe is an attempt to dismiss what is clearly taught here. And sometimes, to be fair, people will try to meander through this without really landing hard on what's being taught as an attempt to sort of protect God. In other words, to be sure that those who hear us don't think that God is being unfair, right? Because nobody wants to be responsible for teaching God falsely for sure. And we have a tendency to not, to appear as though we're not presenting a God that nobody likes. However, one of the rules of interpretation says that most often, the clear meaning of a text is its plainest meaning. The literal interpretation, in other words, what does it say? Most often, what it says is what it means. Now I'll remind you that Paul is making the point to his specifically Jewish listeners at this point that God's word has not failed. because Israel is in unbelief, right, as a whole at this point when this is being written. Their leaders had rejected Christ and essentially the people as a whole had rejected Messiah. And so Paul is now preaching that the Gentiles are receiving the blessings promised to Israel. And so people were obviously thinking, and Paul was anticipating the question, well, if the Gentiles are receiving what Israel was promised, did this not mean in some way that God's promises had failed? Right? Because he said he was going to do this for Israel. But yet, they're in disbelief and unbelief, and now the Gentiles are receiving the promises. So he anticipates the question, well then I guess God's word has failed. And he answers the question himself, absolutely not. He, Paul, uses this word often in Romans, the Greek word which means simply, by no means, may it never be so. And he says, because not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all of Abraham's children are just simply because they are blood descendants of Abraham, right? He said that clearly. He literally said those words. Not all Israel is Israel. And not all of Abraham's seed are part of the promise. Because not all who descended from Israel, Jacob and Abraham, belong to Israel. Because it's not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise. And then he explains and illustrates in verses nine through 13 how the promise is not about bloodline, but about God's sovereign choice and will. And that's what I just read to you. So much as he say this, that when it looks as though complications might arise and the promise would need to be split because of twin children in a womb, no problem, God chooses one and not the other. And just reading that, you know, makes us cringe a little if we're not understanding what's being said and we're not used to it. But he's establishing this point. God's not going to be thrown off track, not even when the promise gets to two children in one womb. The promise is going to keep going. No problem for God. And Paul knew what his listeners would be thinking. Well, doesn't this make God unjust? Right? He's already answered the question, has God's promise failed? No. Well, then this must mean God's unjust, because how could he choose one and not the other, and especially two twins, a set of twins? But Paul knew what he meant, and what God's choice of one and not the other meant. He knew what people would think when they heard such a statement. Is God unjust? Absolutely not. Again, he says, may it not be. Then he takes it back to God's interaction with Moses, right? He says, matter of fact, to Moses, he said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And again, that's not complicated. It's plain meaning is what it says. Couldn't get much plainer. God's word is not failed. You just missed the point from the beginning. You thought it was about the nation of Israel, but it's always been about God's promise, which he made beginning with Adam, even before Abraham, that a woman's seed would be a conqueror. The conqueror. And that promise is continuing through Israel because God chooses Abraham and his lineage to bring that to pass. And it's always been and will always be God's free sovereign will that brings about redemption of the church and the people of God whom God has chosen. It will always be according to God's mercy. And as Paul points out, it's never been about the will of man. It's never been according to the workings of man. Never. And so Paul says here, so then it depends not on human will or exertion. The King James says, it's not of the will of man nor of he who runs, but on God who has mercy. I want to say something here and see if you track me. You can only think that there is injustice with God when you believe that salvation comes by some other way than God's mercy and sovereign will and decree. You can only think that there would be injustice with God when you believe that salvation is by something other than God's mercy and sovereign will. So let me say this. If you preach the true biblical gospel and the true biblical God, many will believe you are painting a God that is unfair and unjust. Preach a God that is totally dependent on the will and exertion of men, nobody will ever accuse you of painting God as unfair and unjust. Paul knew this was coming because it wasn't the first time. Whenever he preached about this God who is totally sovereign, people said, that ain't fair. But he doesn't end it there. He uses a familiar illustration, another familiar illustration. He's already talked about Jacob and Esau, and now he goes to Pharaoh. The scripture says, for this purpose I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Now, if you study this very much, Find, again, every excuse in the world, every explanation, there are lots of writing about what does this mean, what happened with Pharaoh, right? Pharaoh, God is hardening his heart, Pharaoh's hardening his heart, and this thing goes back and forth, right? If you're familiar with that text, back in the Old Testament. But notice what the Bible says here. God raised up Pharaoh and gave him power, in other words, put him in a position. It doesn't mean he raised him up like we raise up children from birth. It's saying he raised him up, put him in this position that he was in, allowed him to be Pharaoh and even to have the people of God in bondage. Why? He says so that God might show his power in him. Right? It's reminiscent of in the New Testament when a man was born blind and the Pharisees asked Jesus, why was this man born blind, right? Because who sinned, his parents or him? Oh, neither, Jesus said, but that the glory of God might be manifested, right? Now watch this. God can choose one man from all the earth. like he did Abraham, one baby out of two in a womb, one Pharaoh and one Moses, whoever he wants to demonstrate his power and will and mercy. Now it's easy for us to think, God, that's unfair. Because that's the way we think when God doesn't do things the way we think they should be done based on what we think a God should act like. Because sometimes we have an idea of what God should be like that's separate from what the Bible paints or illustrates for us that God is like, if we believe that the Bible is the revelation of God. Now, again, if you know the story of Pharaoh, there was this hardening of the heart at times. God's hardening, Pharaoh's hardening. And so I think it's important to say this, God was involved, in the hardening of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh was involved in the hardening of Pharaoh. There are those in Scripture who God chooses and raises up to show His mercy to and demonstrate His power. Others who He chooses to leave in their sin and raises them up also to demonstrate His power. There are those who God raises up to show righteousness, and there are those he raises up to show wickedness. All of them he uses, and it's his prerogative and sovereign right to do so. He chose Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, but he chose Pharaoh for something, purposes we cannot know past what's revealed. But he says he did so to demonstrate his power. And he didn't have to make Pharaoh be evil and wicked. All he had to do was allow him to do what he would do. See, part of our problem is thinking that all people are basically good, and the Bible does not teach that. We believe that our circumstances and our surroundings make us one way or the other, and I do know those things can impact us. But that's what we want to do with Pharaoh, and that's what we want to do with Judas, right? or with Pilate or with Hitler or whoever it is we think that is something other than them and their wickedness in this doctrine that we call depravity because we've lost that doctrine. Total depravity is probably not accurate because we are not totally as bad as we could be. None of us are. Even the most wicked people we see, Pharaoh was not as bad as he could have been. But also nobody is good but God. And we have forgotten that. But we saw that in Romans 3 clearly. There is none good. None that do good. No, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. And if God's mercy is not demonstrated to us, nobody knows what we could be. I had a friend that used to say that to me, you know, he would say, I'm convinced that even as Christians, there is no sin we would not commit if we were in the right circumstance in the right conditions. And I thought, well that's, at first I thought, that's a weird thing to say. But then, the more I learned about God's mercy, and something somebody told me one time, they called it God's restraining mercy. Not just His mercy that's positive that causes you to do right and to love Him, to love His commandments, but what about the mercy that we don't even know about where He restrains us from the wickedness we could be doing and committing? Man, sometimes, even as we were singing, of course, I knew I was going to talk about this, but there was just things in that song that caused me to stop and say, Lord, thank You for the things that I don't do that I would do if it weren't for You. And I don't even know what they are, but I'm thankful that You're restraining me. that even as bad as my flesh is at times, still, in the thoughts of my mind, that you have restrained me by mercy. And don't just allow me to be what I would be." But here again, Paul's Jewish audience would have drawn these conclusions, right? That God choosing the descendants of Abraham is just a small part of a bigger objective. And even the wickedness of men is used to accomplish God's purposes. He has mercy on whomever He wills and hardens whomever He wills. Even those who are called Israel, in other words, they would have started thinking, well, this would mean God played a part in the hardening of Israel. In this position we're in, that this unbelief that Israel is in, if God played a part in Pharaoh's hardening, could He play a part in Israel's hardening? And so if you put that in a modern context, you know what people would say today? So you're just saying we're a bunch of robots. Israel's just robots. Everybody's a robot. Or they would say what Paul anticipated. Can God do these things and be fair? Are you saying that some people are created for evil? And you would think here that Paul would go into a deeper explanation of this, because I kind of want, right, if I'm reading this, I'm like, okay, good, because he's asking some of the questions I'm thinking. And here's Paul's answer. Don't you hate this in real life, you ask a question, somebody answers you with a question? But Paul turns around and asks this question. Well, then who are you, old man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to the molder, why have you made me like this? It's as if God says at this point to us, remember, man is made for God and not God for man. Oftentimes we think God is just there for us. And sometimes we teach people that. But we forget that we are here for him. He created us in all things, right? Later on in chapter 11, Paul will say this, in fact, for from him and to him and through him are all things to him be glory forever. This is his world. And God has the right to do as he pleases. Moses said this in Deuteronomy 10, the heavens indeed, the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. If you know about Nebuchadnezzar, when God took him over and changed his mind, and he went as an insane person for a while. But after he came back to himself, he went from an unbeliever to a believer in the God of Israel, this God of creation. And these are the words of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, 34 and 35. He says, At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised Him and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation. all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing. And he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. And none can say to him, what have you done? It's like Paul is pulling from that, right? Who are you, old man, to question God? Kind of like with Job and Elihu, right? What have you ever done that added to God? Who are you to think you can question what God has done, rather than just believe what He's done and move on? And I remind you, the point here is for the Jewish listeners to understand that the kingdom is not reached by bloodline or heritage. The kingdom of God is neither Greek nor Jew, nor female or male, or rich or poor. But the promise, remember, Galatians 3, is through Christ. How do you know if you're part of the true seed of Abraham? If you're in Christ, you are. That's what Paul said simply in several places. Because it's not of him who wills or runs, or human exertion, it depends on God who has mercy. And it is God's world, and it is God's heaven, and he can and has determined with divine justice, love, and grace how it is all to work. And the way I see it is we can either view God as in control of all things, including our salvation, the wickedness of men, or view God as sitting idly by as men choose for themselves either good or evil. And as I study these things and look into Scripture from front to back, I have to conclude for myself that it's the first one that is true, that God has determined with divine justice, love, and grace how it all works. And He's in control of all things, including our salvation and including the wickedness of men. Now, don't mishear me. I did not say God made men wicked, but He is in control of their wickedness. and He even uses wickedness and evil to accomplish His purpose. That's the beauty of Scripture. That's the beauty of Pharaoh, right? It's the beauty in Acts chapter 4, when the church is gathered praying, and that's what they pray, right? Pilate and the chiefs of Israel are all gathered together to do what they wanted to against Jesus. But they say and conclude, but all they did was what your hand had predetermined should be done. I think the Bible says as much here in regard to Pharaoh and even goes on in more detail. And Paul, again, I think he's pulling from the Old Testament. He always does. He pulls from Jeremiah. That's why we read Jeremiah chapter 18. And so Paul says, God, as the potter in this illustration, out of one lump of clay can make one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use. That's amazing, especially thinking about Jacob and Esau. Literally, that's true. From one lump, he can pull one for this use and one for another, right? That's what happens, right, with twins. There's one fertilized egg and it splits into two. He's making a point here that everybody can understand. From one, he can make this and another for that. So he goes on, verse 22 through 23, He gets back to his point, right? Y'all are missing the point, he says. You think it's all about your nation and your bloodline. It's never been about that. It's been about God's Son. It always has been. The seed, the true seed of Abraham is Christ, and we are in Christ. So what I think Paul might be saying here in these last few verses, what if God has endured The stuff that we look around and say, this is awful, this is terrible. And even now we look around, this is awful, this is terrible, these things we see going on. But God is enduring with much patience. I think about 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slow concerning His promise or slack as some regard slowness or slackness, but He's being patient toward you because He does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. So God has been patiently enduring vessels of wrath from pagans to Israelites who had been prepared for destruction. Not all were prepared, either pagans or Israelites, for destruction. Some were prepared for mercy. The same way Esau and Pharaoh was prepared. They were left in their sin, allowed to do what they wanted. By the way, do you understand If you believe that God is not sovereign in salvation and you do not believe in the order of salvation that we've talked about, that there was divine foreknowledge, predestination, election, calling, justification, sanctification, which leads to glorification, if you don't believe that and believe that God is active in all of that when saving his people, then you're suggesting that God has done his part and now humans have to do their part. And the Bible is clear that when humans are left to do their part, their part is destruction. It's the only thing they can do. Again, we don't want to be left without mercy. Not of works of righteousness on our part, but by his mercy, he saved us. And notice that God's patience in enduring vessels of wrath and showing his wrath is to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, both Jew and Gentile. So he makes the point, there were Jews and Gentiles who were not prepared for glory, but there were Jew and Gentiles who were. You know, sometimes we get so hung up on this part of God preparing some for destruction that we lose sight of the glory prepared for we, his people. Right? We're so focused on that. Well, I just don't like that part about, I mean, I can understand God being in control of some things, but not all things. But what about the people that don't believe? Are you saying they're not chosen? I'm not saying that. That's not even my concern. My concern is that we preach the gospel and people hear the gospel and they get saved. And that's to everybody. We preach the gospel to everybody. And we trust that God will save those who he has prepared as vessels for mercy. And I'm not going to spend time about the other. I can't wonder about that because he doesn't reveal to me how he goes about doing that or why he does that. The Jews in Paul's day had decided that people had to be Jews in order to be saved because God only saved Jews, they thought. Right? That was the whole point of the writing to Galatians, the Jerusalem Council, it was because the Jews were finally, even the ones that were accepting the Messiah, they still thought, but we got to make everybody Jewish if they're going to come to Christ, right? We still got to circumcise them. They got to follow this, follow that. And of course, the New Testament was written to debunk that in almost every area. No, this is the beauty of the church. This has always been God's plan, not to make people Jewish, but to make people like Christ, His people. Sometimes we've decided that if we tell people about God the way he has revealed himself, people won't be saved because they won't like that God. We're not much different than the Jews who think you gotta be Jewish to be saved. We think we can't tell people about this God or they're not gonna like him. Both views miss the point. Again, man is made for God, not God for man. We are the sheep of his pasture. We are but lumps of clay and he's the potter. You don't have to be a certain nationality or a bloodline to be saved, and you don't have to make up things about God in order for people to be saved. God is using all things and people to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy. 1 Thessalonians 5 and 9 says, For God has not destined us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Church, here's what I want you to hear. We are vessels of mercy. We preach the gospel to everyone because out there somewhere are countless vessels of mercy. Stop apologizing for God and start resting in his sovereign grace. Live out the truths commanded in scripture because he who has called you is merciful and gracious and kind and loving. And we don't have to live out his commands in order to please him, but because he is pleased already to call you his through Jesus Christ. He is pleased beyond measure in His Son, and you are in His Son. We will all, as His children, those of us who believe in Christ, we will all be welcomed into heaven one day to the words, well done, good and faithful servant. Not because we have done well, but because Christ has done well. That's what the crowd said about Jesus in Mark 7, 37. He's done all things well. even the marking out of some for destruction and others for mercy. And I can't explain that, but that's what it says. And we're just going to believe it and trust God. And I want you to hear this. You say, well, how do I know if I'm one? And I've had people ask me this before. How do I know if I'm one marked out for mercy instead of wrath? Do you hear the gospel that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself? Do you hear that Jesus died for whosoever would believe in him, that they would not perish? Do you believe that he is God's son? Jesus even said that in the very same way to Martha and Mary. Though a man die, if he believes in me, yet shall he live. Do you believe that? Do you believe that the only way to get to God is through Jesus Christ? If you believe that, that's a supernatural thing. The Bible would say now, then repent and be baptized. Repent and do works worthy of those who call themselves Christ's. Believe in God. That's the call of the gospel. Believe, repent. If you can repent of your sin and be upset that your sin is against God and He's angry about your sin, but He loves you, Do not believe that makes you a vessel of mercy. Repent and be baptized and know that God will redeem you because that's what he's promised to do. It's the beautiful message of the gospel. Father, we're so thankful for your word. And even these difficult passages that we have to work through and try to get our minds to understand. And the truth is, we've been learning also that you are an incomprehensible God. So there are some of these things that we just can't wrap our brains around because we're not God. But what we can wrap our brains around is the fact that even though you are God, and you're so far above us, and you're so holy and perfect and righteous, yet you have condescended through your son Jesus, you became a man like one of us that you might suffer death and the cross. So that we who are but flesh and blood, men, women, children of all races and colors and sizes and everything else in this world, we can be saved out of sin, redeemed for mercy. and be a vessel which is useful, glorious in your sight. We rejoice at that today. And as we take the supper together, I pray that it will be a wonderful time of reflection and just celebration that we are in Christ and He is in us. And we celebrate not only his body that was broken and wounded and bruised for us, but the blood that was shed for the remission of our sin. In Jesus we pray. Amen.