Okay, we're looking today in
our Bible study in the book of Romans chapter 9, and we want
to begin at verse 12 and verse 13. I know we looked at this
last week, but it bears repeating, doesn't it? It was said to her,
that is, the mother of the twin boys, said to her by God Almighty
to Rebekah, the elder shall serve the younger, and then because
the Lord had said, He wrote it down as it is written, Jacob,
Jacob, Jacob have I loved. How long has God loved Jacob?
Loved him with an everlasting love. But Esau have I hated. How long has the Lord hated Esau? As long as he is the Lord. Now,
Jacob, was not one whit better than Esau. Both were born in
sin, both were shapen in iniquity, but God made a sovereign choice
that he would have mercy on one and leave Esau to himself. And all that is according to
the righteous will, the sovereign will and purpose of God. Now what shall we say to these
things? You remember back in chapter 8, when the Lord has
plainly declared that He predestinated, and then He called, and those
whom He called, He justified, and whom He justified, then He
also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
Well, if God be for us, who can be against us? And that's what
is said there in verse 14, what shall we say then? What shall
we say then to these things? Now when the sombering grace
of God is plainly declared, the sinful flesh of all mankind is
always in objection to that blessed truth without exception. All
mankind, all flesh, sinful flesh is always in objection to that
blessed truth because man in his sinful Carnal nature is always
in rebellion against the God of truth and the God of all grace. Men always act in hostility toward
the God of truth, being left to themselves. Now, when the
Lord teaches us who He is and who we are, we say amen, so be
it. But men left to themselves are
always in opposition to the plain teaching of the sovereign grace
of God and the sovereign will of the Lord in the matter of
salvation, providence, and even in creation. I'll give you three
reasons why. Because men are totally depraved
and totally corrupt in their thinking and in their nature.
They have no spiritual life and they have no spiritual understanding. The carnal mind is ignorant and
the carnal mind is blind. They have no understanding. The
natural man has no understanding. And because we have no understanding,
we're ignorant of God, ignorant of his truth, ignorant of his
way. And because of ignorance, we have blindness of heart. Now,
is that too strong? It's so. Secondly, the reason
men reject the God of Scripture, not only because men are totally
sinful and totally depraved, have no spiritual understanding,
but secondly, because the carnal mind is enmity against God and
chooses not to receive the things of God. Now, they'll receive
everything else but the truth of God, the truth of God. We
read in 1 Corinthians 2, the carnal mind receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. Things of the Spirit of God are
foolishness to the natural man. And the third reason is because
the natural man loves darkness and hates God who is the light. The light exposes who we are. Our Lord said this, John 3, this
is condemnation that light is coming to the world and men hate
the light and they love darkness. Of course, we've studied in Romans
8, 7, the carnal mind is enmity. It doesn't say it is at enmity,
it says it is enmity against God. What does that word enmity
mean? Deep-rooted, deep-seated hatred
against God. Now, when you confront the religious
man with the truth of God's Word, that God is the absolute God,
sovereign in all things, everywhere, if he's not taught of God, And
he's not giving grace in his heart and humility in his heart.
His first response is this, that's not fair. That's not right. Well, that's not what I heard.
That's not what mama believed. That's not what my daddy said.
What does God say? That's the only issue. What does
God say? What does a believer say? Let
God be true and every man a liar. Look at verse 14, what shall
we say then? It's the Lord, let him do what seemeth good in his
sight. You remember what Eli said when
Samuel came to him? He said, God's gonna kill your
two boys, they're rebels. Remember what he said? It's the
Lord, let him do what seemeth right. And then we read in Genesis
18, 25, shall not the judge of all the earth do that which is
right? Whatever God does, it's right. It is right. He never acts contrary
to his righteous nature. Believers take the Word of God,
receive it as such. They do not dispute with the
Word of God. We do not stand in opposition
to the Word of God. To dispute the Word of God is
to be in dispute against God who gave the Word. We do not
stand in opposition to it, but believers Rather, bow to the
absolute authority of thus saith the Lord. Does it matter what
daddy said? Does it matter what my neighbor
thinks? What does God say? All scripture is given of God
and it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in the way of salvation. Over here, don't turn,
let me just read it to you. But over here in Acts chapter
24, when the Apostle Paul was accused of being a heretic, he
said in Acts 24, 14, But this I confess unto thee, that the
way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers,
believing all things that are written in the law and the prophet,
believing all things. We don't take a pen knife and
say, well, I'm going to pick this scripture and this scripture
and that scripture because that agrees with me. And then I'm going to throw out
this one and this one and this one. No, we take all the whole,
what the old timers called the canon of scripture, the whole
body of scripture, all the word of God. You see, we receive this
word as it is in truth, the word of God, which works mightily
in us who do believe it. Sinful men down through history
have tried and failed to make these words, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated, to make these words say something less or something
else. in an attempt, in a vain attempt,
to deny the God of Holy Scripture and His absolute right to do
with His own what He will. Now you can pretty well tell
in your heart, in your mind, if you're a believer or not,
if you have true faith or not. or if you have true repentance
or not. True faith acknowledges, the faith of God's elect acknowledges
that God is right and His Word is right, just like repentance.
Repentance and faith also acknowledge the truth and bow to the truth
of God. Now, in these preceding verses,
verse 15 down to verse 18, The Apostle Paul brings forth two
more examples of God's sovereign mercy, not only in Jacob and
Esau, not only in Isaac and Ishmael, not only in Jacob and Esau, but
he gives us two more examples. He gives us this example given
to Moses and then the example of Pharaoh, the example of sovereign,
sovereign mercy. Let's read verse 15, for he said
to Moses, God said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
What is not? Well, salvation is not according
to the will of man. nor the work of man, but of God
that showeth mercy." Now, I want you to find, hold your place
here, and let's turn and read this, Exodus 33. Exodus chapter 33, when the Lord was teaching Moses and declaring
unto Moses the sovereignty of God and sovereignty of God in
salvation, Exodus 33. Now therefore, verse 13, I pray
thee if I found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way that
I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight and consider
that this nation is thy people. And he said, now this is a conversation
that the Lord lets us in on between Moses, the servant of God, the
man of God, and almighty God. And he said, My presence shall
go with thee, I'll give thee rest. And he said unto him, If
thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Moses
begged for the presence of God and for his grace. For wherein
shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in
thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest
with us? So shall we be separated, and
I, thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also
that thou hast spoken. For thou hast found grace in
my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech
thee, this is the Lord asking, this is Moses rather, asking
the Lord, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Now remember, everything
that Moses had already seen, all those plagues in Egypt, the
parting of the Red Sea, the destruction of Pharaoh's army, and yet he
says, Lord, show me your glory. Show me your glory. What's the
Lord going to say? And he said, I'll make all my
goodness his long-suffering, his kindness. All my goodness
pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I
will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Lord, show me your
glory. His glory is His sovereign mercy. He will have grace and mercy
upon whom He will. The Lord our God's greatest glory
is to show mercy and His grace to whom He will. His greatest
glory is my greatest need. I need mercy. I need His grace. That's why the Word of God instructs
us to come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace. Notice it says that we may obtain
mercy. It doesn't say that we might
earn mercy. Mercy is not merited. Mercy is given. Let us come boldly
under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need. Now, look carefully at
verse 16, so then, so then, this is so, so then, this is true,
it is not of him that willeth. Mercy that we desperately need
is not according to our will, But according to God's will,
he will have mercy on whom he will. So then it's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God. Of God. Salvation is of the Lord,
but of God that showeth mercy. Now, get this part. Mercy is
sovereign, right? But he said, I will have mercy. God must show mercy. Why must he show mercy? That
is part of his character. God is holy and just, but he's
also long-suffering and he is merciful. We'll see that in just
a minute. So we can conclude, as Paul does here, that salvation
is not according to the will of man, There is no such thing
as salvation by man's free will. No such thing. Man does have
a will, but it is not free. Man's will
is in bondage to his sinful nature. And the real issue here, when
people want to argue about free will, the real issue here is
not man's will, it's his nature. His nature is sinful and guilty
and wicked. Man does have a will, but it
is in bondage to his corrupt nature. Therefore, his will is
subject to his nature. He's not going to act outside
of his nature. His nature is one of unbelief
and rebellion. If you believe the gospel, it's
because God has made you a new creature in Christ Jesus. Now, I put a little note here
for myself to remind you. I found an article in the bulletin
that was sent to me by our missionary, Daniel Parks, and it's in the
bulletin on the inside page. Don't read it now, but you can
look at it later. And it tells us a little bit
about the fallacy of this idea of salvation by man's will. So we know next time someone
says that, we can quote this scripture, so then it's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that worketh. Our works, our
will have nothing to do with our salvation. Salvation is not
according to the will of man. Salvation is certainly not according
to the work of man. By the deeds of the law, how
many sinners have been justified by the deeds of the law? Absolutely
none. Absolutely none. You can quit
this vice and that vice and the other vices. My dear family friends out west
where I grew up, they thought they were justified by their
works. That is, not drinking coffee,
not drinking tea, not drinking alcohol, not using tobacco. They thought those things, if
they just abstained from those things and did good moral work,
that those things would recommend them unto God. All those things
are nothing but filthy rags in God's sight. It's not what you
put in here. That's not the problem. What
comes out of the heart, that's the issue. Man has a corrupt,
fallen nature. We studied that in chapter 3,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. And that's the issue. So when
we can conclude that salvation is by the will of God, right?
By the will of God. Of His own will begat He us with
the word of truth. The apostle put it this way.
Don't turn, let me just read it to you. In John chapter 1,
He said, those who believe on his name do so because they're
born of God, not according to the fleshly bloodline, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. We believe the
gospel and receive him only according to the will of God, the way of
God, and the eternal purpose of God. So we can conclude that
salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is by the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. By the will of Christ, by the
work of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember in our study
from Luke chapter 2, The Lord said, I must be about
my Father's business. And then you remember from our
study in John chapter 4, where the Lord said, My meat is to
do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work. And then you remember His prayer
in John chapter 17. He said, Father, I finished the
work. I've glorified Thee on earth.
I finished the work You gave Me to do. And then at the cross
He said, John 19 verse 30 said, it is finished. He didn't say, well, I did my
part and they must do their part. Now that's what's being said
today, is it not? God done all He can do. He's waiting on you
to do your part. That's a lie. That makes salvation
really only effectual depending on what you do with it. Thank
God it's not that way. Thank God that salvation is all
of grace. Paul said it's God who saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
work, but according to His own purpose and grace given us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. Salvation is of
the Lord from election to glorification. Sinful man contributes. How much do we contribute? Nothing. The only thing we contribute,
if we want to say so, is we contribute a negative, sin. Sin has to be
put away by the blood sacrifice of Christ. And then the second
example he gives us here in verse 17 and 18, for the scripture
saith, this is the only issue. Don't tell me what you think.
What does the word of God say? The scripture says, and this
is the same as saying God says, thus saith the Lord. And he said
this about Pharaoh. You remember Joseph and the brethren
went down to Egypt and were in bondage for 400 years. And the Lord sent the deliverer. His name was Moses. And God through
Moses brought Israel out and killed Pharaoh. Even for this
same purpose, remember everything God does, He does on purpose.
God raised up Pharaoh on purpose and God disposed of him by His
purpose. Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee. Now what kind of power does God
have? What if Pharaoh said, Well, Moses
went down there and said, let my people go. And Pharaoh said,
that ain't going to happen. There ain't no way. That's not
going to happen. And Moses said, you let my people
go or suffer the consequences. Well, we know what happened.
Plague after plague after plague after plague. The death of the
firstborn. And Pharaoh said, OK, get out
of here. He was convinced by the power
of God that God is God. And then when Moses and those
million people took out out of Egypt and were up against the
Red Sea, mountain on one side, mountains on both sides, the
sea in front of them, and Pharaoh, he had a change of heart, change
of mind, He wanted vengeance and he took out after them to
destroy Moses and those children of Israel. You remember what
happened? The Lord said to Moses, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. And the seas parted
and Israel went across on dry ground. And when they were on
the other side, Pharaoh went down into the Red Sea thinking
he could do what they did. And what happened? The Lord killed
him, killed his whole army. Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee. God demonstrated to Pharaoh and
to all Egypt and to us by the recorded word of God that God
is God, that He has all power over all events. You read about
those 10 different plagues, all those different plagues, God
is demonstrating His power over all creation, over all creatures,
over all events, that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. We're still talking about the
name of the Lord, aren't we? His name, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah
Sidcanu, Jehovah Shammah, all those seven, eight, nine different
names of the Lord our God. We read in Exodus 9 where this
is recorded, And in very deed for this cause have I raised
thee up, for to show in thee my power, that my name may be
declared throughout all the earth. The Lord raised up Pharaoh for
a holy and single purpose, to use him and to discard him according
to the sovereign will of God. Pharaoh did not die an untimely
death. The man who follows me on the
radio program was talking about the sicknesses that had been
going on in his community and about those who had died an untimely
death. And I thought to myself, what
an ignorant statement that is. Man's days are determined of
the Lord. Pharaoh didn't die an untimely
death. He died the appointed death by
the appointment and power of Almighty God. God killed him. Remember the scripture in the
Deuteronomy where the Lord describes himself? He said, I wound, I
heal, I kill, I make alive. I am the Lord. Beside me there
is no other. No accidents with God. no accidents
with God, to show the Lord's power, His absolute control over
all creation, and to declare the name of the Lord, Jehovah,
the eternal, unchanging, almighty God." And then he repeats it
again in case we missed it. The same thing he says again,
verse 18, At He that is God Almighty, He
will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. Now we have a name
for that. We call that sovereign mercy.
Sovereign mercy. And whom He will, He hardens. God will harden whom He will. Now by nature man's sinful heart
is already hard. What can break that hardened,
sinful heart? Nothing but the power of Almighty
God. And whom He will, He hardens. How does He harden a person? How did He harden Pharaoh? He
left him to his own wicked thoughts, his own sinful, depraved will,
his own wicked imagination. God left him alone in darkness. Why? He withdrew any light. All he had was ignorance, blindness,
and darkness. God will harden whom He will. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto his people. Mercy is a divine attribute of
God, but mercy, like the character of God, is sovereign. God must
deal in justice. With all men, but when he acts
in mercy, he only acts in mercy in a way that honors his own
justice. That is, the Lord doesn't show
mercy apart from his justice being honored. He can't do that. because it would violate his
own character. God can't act contrary to his
own nature. That's why there's such a beautiful,
beautiful truth in the gospel, how God can be just, and the
justifier, how God can be the just God, punish my sin in Christ,
satisfy His own law and justice, and show mercy unto sinners,
not at the expense of His holy justice. That's the gospel. You remember in Romans 3 verse
26, that's how God can be just and the justifier. He will show
mercy, but not at the expense of His justice. Justice has to
be dealt with. Sin has to be dealt with. And
that's why the Lord Jesus Christ had to be crucified to satisfy
God's holy justice that God might show mercy to whom He will.