name amen if you take your Bibles
and turn with me back to Romans chapter 9 Romans chapter 9 and
by way of introduction I'm going to state the background of my
text and my text is going to be found in verses 19 through verse 24 But the Apostle here begins to
answer three objections. Three objections toward the sovereignty
of God. The first objection has to do
with the faithfulness of God's Word. God who had promised to
save Israel, yet Israel had crucified Christ. And so then the thought,
the objection is, is the Word of God of none effect? And Paul
says clearly, he says in verse 6, Not as though the word of
God had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which
are of Israel. In other words, he is going to
testify to this truth that all those nationally, all those children
of Abraham, these are not the children of God. But the children
of God are the elect of God. This typified by Isaac. Isaac was a son of promise. Ishmael
was a son of carnal reasoning. And you remember God loved and
chose Isaac and rejected Ishmael, both sons of Abraham. Then He
uses the illustration in verse 10 and 11 concerning Jacob and
Esau. You remember Jacob and Esau are
the sons of Isaac, twins in the same womb of the same mother. And yet the scripture was clear,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. He states in chapter
in verse 11 that the children not yet being born neither having
done good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works but of him that calleth. It is said
to her the elder shall serve the younger as it is written
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. So then Israel is who
the elect of God those chosen of God before the foundation
of the world. Now, the objection number two
is found in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Is God unrighteous
to choose one and reject the other? To save one and to reprobate
the other? Is God just? The answer is yes,
God is just in doing so. In fact, he gives a scripture,
he told Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I
will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Therefore,
so then, it is not of him that willeth or him that runneth,
but God that showeth what? Mercy. You see, this is the root
cause of election. Mercy, not merit. Not merit,
mercy. Jacob did not merit the love
of God. It was mercy. What of Esau? Then he goes on to prove this,
that Pharaoh is the same as Esau. He said, The scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. the earth. Therefore he hath
mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. You see then the sovereignty
of God in this, the sovereignty of God to save, to choose unto
salvation and the sovereignty of God to reprobate. I'm using
this word reprobate a lot and I want you to understand what
that means. The word reprobate has two Two processes, two things
in it. To reprobate someone, all God
has to do is leave them alone. It's a negative thing. All He
has to do is nothing. He leaves the person to themselves. But this, my friend, is just
as a deliberate choice as choosing someone. God intentionally passed
over Esau. He hated Esau. Now we're going
to discuss this matter of his hatred in just a moment in the
answer to this next question. But he hated Esau. And he loved Jacob. Why did he
love Jacob? Mercy. Why did he hate Esau? To show
his divine justice. To show his power. And so then,
The objection we are dealing with tonight is this, listen
in verse 19, Thou wilt say unto me, Why didst
yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will? Now this is the objection, the
objection runs like this, If God wills the reprobation of
men, and He is all powerful, and no one resists His will,
then God must be the author of sin. This is the objection. Because God decrees that sin
take place, men automatically would take God and make Him the
author of sin. This is not true. But this is
the accusation. How can a man be blamed seeing
God has ordained his reprobation and even his sin? Consider this,
Judas. Was not Judas' sin of betrayal
ordained of God? Matter of fact, it is in scripture.
The prophecy of Judas' betrayal was ordained of God beforehand. This is why he is called the
son of perdition. though God had determined that
Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen very carefully,
God is not guilty of sin, Judas was. Again, what we are going to do
here is we are going to leave the plane of earthly reasoning
and we are going to just state what God says. We are going to
believe the Word of God. Another example of that is the
cross. You know that example well. Peter said that he was
delivered by what? The determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Acts chapter 2. You are delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God and what?
And you by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord
of glory. Both are identically true. God ordained it and these men
who did it are guilty of it. God ordained these wicked men
and their actions yet they bore the guilt. Now the objection
is how can this be? Now Paul here in this text gives
three answers and I went over one of them with you and some
of the other but I haven't fully gone over them as I want to.
Three answers are given to this objection. Let's look at them
in order. The first answer is in verse
20. Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Here is the first answer. It is an answer against the pride
and presumption of man concerning the deep things of God to find
fault. Men, by nature, desire to find
fault with God. When they come to this matter
of God's sovereign election and sovereign reprobation, it is
here they say, aha, aha. Then they take God, and they
put God under the microscope of their own judgment, and they
say, Aha! See, God must either be the author
of sin, or how can he blame these people seeing he ordained it?
And what does Paul say? No. No. Here's an answer. No. Who in the world do you think
you are? That's what his answer is. Who do you think you are? Let us then bow before our Maker
and not strive with Him. To strive in this point, listen
to me, is to strive with your Maker. When we cannot understand something
about God that is revealed in Scripture, it is best we bow
to it rather than try to explain it away. This is what men do. They'll try to explain it away.
Paul does no such thing here. Paul makes this point very clear.
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy and whom I will I'll
harden. Why does he find fault? Who in
the world are you? Who do you think you are? That's what his answer is. let
us bow before the word of God hear what God says and then without
question receive it as true and right can there be any greater
display of pride than for the creature to presume to have greater
wisdom than God that's what they're doing how
many times they try to trip up Christ they think oh I got him
now In this matter of sovereignty, they get to this point and they
say, aha, God must be the author of sin. If he reprobates, he
ordains sin, then he must be the author of it. Aha. No. Who
are you? Who are you to take God and put
him under your wisdom? To think his judgment, to think
your judgment is more righteous than God is madness. So why has
God then made men to be condemned? The question still begs, why
has God made men to condemn them? Let God's people be satisfied
with the answer of Scripture, that God has willed both the
salvation of the elect and the destruction of the wicked. God
has willed both. Be satisfied that God determines
to do with mankind whatsoever He pleases. This is what God's
going to do with man. Whatever he wants. Whatever he
wants. Psalm 115, verse 3 says, Wherefore
should the heathen now say, Where is thy God? But our God is in
the heavens, and done what? What has God done? Whatsoever
He hath pleased. What is God doing right now with
men? Whatsoever he please. You remember in Isaiah chapter
46, he says, I'm God and there is none else. Determining the end from the
beginning. From ancient times, the things
that were not yet done, saying this, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. What's the illustration of that?
What's the evidence of that? He says, I'm going to raise up
a ravenous bird from the east, I'm going to call him by name
Cyrus, and he's going to do all my counsel. And he doesn't even
know who I am. You see what he raised Cyrus
up for? Raised Cyrus up to do his bidding, and Cyrus had no
clue what he was doing. Where's Cyrus? Cyrus is a ravenous
bird. Cyrus is in hell. God raised
him up, used him, and then condemned him. And so let us with Paul here
cease to try to use our human reasoning on this part because
this part of God's justice just passed, finding out. That's what
Paul's saying here. He's saying, look, this is past
our pay grade. This is past our understanding.
Listen to me very carefully. God is absolutely sovereign. And man is absolutely responsible. And this is part of God's justice
that's just past finding out. God does whatsoever He pleases
with sinful men. He will raise them up, and they
will always rise against His right and condemn His justice,
but let not the objects of His grace do it. You know, it's becoming for the
lost to kick against God, but it's not becoming for the believer.
And friends, I'm not talking, I know this, some believers do
kick at this. Why? You know this objection, you
can't come to this conclusion that Paul is making some easy,
understandable argument, otherwise there wouldn't be such an objection
as this. And so Paul says this, O the
depths of the riches of the knowledge of God, listen to this, how unsearchable
are his judgments. Let me ask you, is his judgment
unsearchable? Are they not? Have you found
out all his judgments? Do you understand them? Paul
said you're not going to. It's unsearchable. His ways are
past finding out. God's sovereign, the man responsible.
Are you going to kick against that? Who in the world are you
to reply against your maker? That's Paul's answer. Now the
second answer is this. Verse 19, look at this. The first
answer is, Nay, O man, but who art thou that replies against
God? Here's the second answer. Shall the thing form, saying
to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
to honor and another to dishonor? Paul again, by scripture, is
using a scriptural metaphor of the potter and the clay. And
he shows, first of all, the absurdity of this objection, the absurdity. He said, Shall the thing formed
say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? It's an
absurd thing. Do you see any clay pot made
by a potter objecting? It's absurd to do so. And the second part of this is
the sovereign and just power of God over men to make men as
He pleases. God, being the potter, justly
exercises His power over men who are the clay. This not only
testifies of His divine right. God as divine. Now, in their
objection, I want you to note this. They do not object to God's
absolute authority. Matter of fact, they acknowledge
it. They say, well, if His will is always obeyed, that's in the
objection. So they understand that He has
the authority. What's in question is not His
authority, but rather His justice. Is He just in doing this thing? Are His actions just to elect
one reprobate the other to make one a vessel of honor and another
a vessel to dishonor Well friends we know this that
God's it's not only his right but it's in perfect harmony with
his justice everything God does is just Everything God does is
just how do we know this because it's his character It's who He
is. Justice is not just what He does.
Justice is who He is. He is just. It's His just character
of God's actions that are under attack here. So when He says
the potter molds the clay into whatever form He pleases, is
that unjust? Would you be offended? It's the
potter. It's His clay. It's His wheel,
it's His hands, it's His mind. Is He just in forming whatever
He wants? That's the point Paul's making.
Just as the potter is just to form the clay in anything he
wants to do, even so God is just in doing with men whatever He
pleases. He is the potter. It is His clay. And it is His
right and power to do with men as He pleases. Notice God does
not do any injustice to man. God does not do any injustice
to man in this, in the exercise of His absolute power. God makes
a vessel of honor and a vessel to dishonor. He does them no
injustice. Listen, why? Because He makes
them out of the same lump. Now, this lump, we know this,
is the fallen race of Adam. This is the lump of humanity.
All of the elect and all of the reprobate are made up out of
the same fallen race. Now, if there was a pure race
of men, and God were to take of that lump and make a vessel
of dishonor, then surely He would not be just. But you see that
He's made the vessels out of a fallen race of man. So then we see this. There was
no difference in the elect and the reprobate by nature. No difference. Same lump. Same lump. Go to Romans chapter 3. Read
the lump with me. Romans chapter 3. This is inclusive. Verse 10, As it is written, well
let's go and read verse 9. What then? Are we better than
they? Are the Jews better than the
Gentiles? They had a lot of privileges. Are they better? no, in no wise. For we have before proven, both
Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. So this lump in which God makes
vessels of wrath and vessels of honor. Vessels of mercy. They are taken from the same
lump. Therefore, if God makes a vessel
of dishonor or a vessel of honor, he does no injustice to either
one of them. They both are deserving of God's
justice. God might in justice have left
the whole lump. He did the fallen angels, didn't
He? He left them with no Savior. Was He just? Yes. God might have left us all, but God desiring to display His
grace, He justly chose some that He would save. and to display his holy justice
and hatred of sin he determined to reprobate others. What does this truth do? This
truth, my friends, has one purpose, that all men are to be abased
before God. All men are to be abased. This
is a very humbling doctrine. that we all, by nature, are deserving
of nothing but the wrath of God. If you want what you deserve,
that's it. We all deserve that, by nature. This is an humbling, pride-abasing
doctrine, in this that God's chief end in everything He does
is for His own glory. Whether God saves a man by mercy
or reprobates him in justice, listen to me, it's all for the
glory of God. Proverbs 16, 4, The Lord hath
made all things for himself. Is that clear? What were you made for? You were
made for His glory. Yea, even the wicked in the day
of evil. You got that? Who made the wicked
in the day of evil? And what are they there for?
God's glory. God's glory. So we boldly assert that God
will do justly with all His creatures, and the assurance of this is
His own nature, because He can't do anything unjust. So then we
read that as the sovereign potter takes of the same lump of fallen
man and makes one vessel to honor and another to dishonor, this
is done according to his holy character and by his active power
over all men. Now at this point, some will
make a protest and try to make this more palatable. They'll
try to take what the scriptures have plainly said, And they will
try to make it more acceptable. I'll try to make it more acceptable.
And they'll say something like this. They'll say, well, God
desired to make vessels of of honor and then vessels of less
honor. Now, what it says. Says vessels
of dishonor. Vessels of mercy. And vessels
of what? wrath if you say vessels less
honorable are they any more does it make them any more free from
wrath because they're less not dishonorable but just less honorable
it changed vocabulary just to make people feel better about
it that's not my that's not my purpose here to make you feel
better about it I'm here to just tell you about what God says,
about who God is. And so they do this with Jacob
and Esau, don't they? They say, well, God loved Jacob,
but He hated Esau less, or loved him less, that's what it is.
They say, He loved him less. I know where they get this from,
they'll go back to, I believe it's in Luke, and they'll talk
about hating your mother and father, you know, same word,
and they'll use that, they say, but that one in Luke is intended
not to hate them literally. If any man hate not his father
and mother, you know, but the Lord's not telling you to hate
them literally. He's telling you, look, if they tell you to
disobey Christ, you are to not obey them as though you had hated
them. You don't obey somebody you hate.
And so that's what he's telling them. But this is a literal sense. He literally hated Esau. Not figurative, he literally
hated him. You know how you know that? Because
he damned him. Well, he loved him less. Is he
still in hell? Did that help him? loved you
less does that help you out of that damnation that help your
situation no and so we scriptures are very plain
here that God hated Esau and loved Jacob If you could turn
that around and say, well, he loved Esau less and could you
say he hated Jacob less? Could you flip the other side
of that around? No, you couldn't. No, God literally loved Jacob.
And he literally hated Esau. And the same is true of vessels
in mercy and vessels of wrath. God literally makes vessels of
mercy. And he literally makes vessels of wrath. And so these vessels of dishonor,
as well as the vessels of honor, are taken from the same lump.
So who makes the difference then in these vessels? Who makes the
difference? God does. Isn't this what Paul
said? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? You vessels of mercy. You vessels
of mercy. Are you any different by nature
than the vessels of wrath? No. The difference is God made
you a vessel of mercy. God purposed that you be a vessel
of mercy. I tell you, this is true of those
reprobate. God determined to pass them over. God did them no injustice. He
left them to their own nature. And so then the third answer
to this is contained in verse 22. Look at this. What if God,
willing to show His wrath and make His power known, endured
with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
and that He might make known the riches of His glory to the
vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory? Here God manifest His anger Against
sin and his power to take vengeance over the sinner as well as to
display his patience for them These vessels of wrath He said
what if God willing to show his wrath and Yet with long-suffering
he endures them He shows his patience while on the other hand He displays
mercy toward the elect, making them vessels of honor, to know
the riches of His glory and salvation. Can we speak against this? Can
we speak against God's right to do this? Can anyone object
to this? Can anyone speak against God's
sovereign grace to choose, Christ's sovereign mercy to redeem, the
Spirit's sovereign mercy to call. Behold, the great object of God
in all creation and providence then is to show His mercy to
His elect and His wrath in the vessels of wrath. Now, the reprobate vessels of
destruction or dishonor By these God intends to manifest His wrath. Look at the very beginning of
that. What if God willing to show His
wrath? Why did sin enter into this world?
Have you thought of this? God ordained it. We know it didn't
come by surprise. Why did God allow it? Pay attention. God was willing to show His wrath. Without sin, God could not show
or display His justice. He could not show His anger towards
sin except it enter in to the world. And so it did enter into
the world so that God might show His hatred of it and make His
power known by overruling it and using these vessels of wrath
for His own purpose. Isn't that what it said in Psalm
76? Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder
of wrath that he shall restrain. Sin by nature is dishonoring
to God, but behold the power of God to overrule it. This is
a glory of God, that God takes that which dishonors him and
overrules it to honor him. Judas is the example of that
again. Judas dishonored God in betraying
the Son. But yet in doing so, by the Son's
crucifixion, what? God was honored. And yet, in the destruction of
Judas, God was also honored. His wrath was shown. So notice that God determines.
To show his wrath by these vessels, and even so consider his long
suffering of them to endure these vessels of wrath. And notice
this. These are vessels of wrath. What
does this mean? It means that they are full of
wrath. scriptures plainly declare in
Romans chapter 8 verse 7 the carnal mind is enmity against
God you see these vessels of wrath are full of hatred toward
God they're full of animosity toward God And what's the result
of this enmity? The Scripture says, The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. These vessels of wrath. These
vessels of wrath are full of hatred. When the Gospel comes
to these vessels, when the Gospel is displayed to them, when the
Gospel is preached to them, there's no room for it. They're full
of hatred and their love for sin. They have no room. for faith in Christ. They have
no ability for it. And so what does God have to
do? He has to just leave them to themselves. And notice these
vessels of wrath are fitted for destruction. If a man goes to
hell, he's fitted for destruction by his own sin. He's fitted for
destruction by his own sin. I want to spend a few seconds,
a few minutes on this last one, because this is the one that's
going to comfort you here. Verse 23, not only is God purpose
vessels of wrath, but vessels of mercy. Look at this verse
23, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy. Which he had a four prepared
under glory. I want you to understand, had
God not purpose to make vessels of mercy, There would have been
none. Had God not chosen some, all
of us would have been fitted for destruction. But you that believe on Christ,
listen to me, you are vessels of mercy. And the reason your vessels of
mercy is not based on anything you have or ever can do to earn
it. It's by mere grace that you are
vessels of mercy. And listen, you were aforeprepared
unto glory. See, they were fitted by their
own sins for destruction, but you were prepared for glory by
God. You were prepared in that God
aforechose you to salvation. Christ, by His coming, obtained
redemption. He became a refuge, He became
reconciliation for you. He reconciled you to God by His
offering, by His blood, by His obedience. You are a vessel prepared for
glory. And think about those two things,
God's choice of you and Christ's redemption of you happened before
you came into the world. This stuff was already done for
you. And when you came into this world,
was there any chance you were not going to receive it? No,
you were a vessel of mercy. And at the appointed time, God
came to you. God showed you your need of Christ. and filled you with his spirit,
gave you a new nature, a new heart by which you now believe
on Jesus Christ. You were a vessel of mercy chosen,
redeemed, and now called by the Spirit of God. I'll read this
for you. Consider your blessing of election,
he said, that blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who had blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he had chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Listen, that we should be holy.
That's his purpose, that you should be holy, vessel of mercy,
without blame before him. Here's his motive, in love. in
love, having predestinated you under the adoption of children. Why is he going to do that by
Jesus Christ unto himself? According to the good pleasure
of his will, to the praise of the glory and his grace, you
see how you were for prepared. And then he said this in verse
seven, in whom you you have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins. According to what? the riches
of His grace. And then it says, He hath abounded
unto you in all wisdom and prudence. What does that mean? Everything
in your life had led you to that point to where you would believe
on Him. Remember that term, pervenient
grace? Grace that goes before grace?
Grace before the experience of grace? Isn't this your testimony? You that are vessels of mercy?
God kept you until the appointed time he should reveal himself. That's what he says in our text.
He said that he might make known the riches of his glory. Has
he made known the riches of his glory to you? Where are all the riches of his
glory found? He revealed Christ to you, didn't
he? Vessels of mercy, he revealed Christ to you. And Paul says this, even us. You know, he didn't say especially
me, did he? He said, even us. The most undeserving of the bunch,
even us, whom he hath called. not the Jews only, but also of
the Gentiles. So then what is the answer to
these objections? Is God unjust in His electing
grace? No, He's not. Is God unjust to
reprobate men? What I meant by that, remember,
is just to leave them by themselves. Does God unjust leave a man by
himself? Is God unjust to take that man he's left by himself
and manipulate his whole life? Is God unjust to do that? Nope.
Not at all. Is God unjust to condemn him?
Nope. Not at all. Because God determined to make
His wrath known. And He will. But I'm thankful
that He's also determined to make His mercy known, aren't
you? I'm thankful for that. Because I'll tell you, those
vessels of wrath, I'm no better by nature than they are. Had
God not chose me, Christ not redeemed me, the Spirit not called
me, I'd have been just like them. I'm so thankful He's called us
vessels of mercy. I pray God will give us grace
to I hope that the Lord reveals some things to you, and I know
it's a lot, but just God be gracious to cause us to humble ourselves
before God, because God is not somebody you just put in a box
and check. Not just a list of things you
know about God. God is much broader than that
is much deeper. The things we know, do we know
them all? You know, to the fullness of
it? No, I don't. I tell you this,
one day we will. But until then, God give us grace
to humble ourselves and bow before God's sovereignty. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer. Father, please dismiss us with
your blessing, pour out your spirit to us and pray you'd open
your word to our hearts. Forgive us our sins and lead
us, I pray in Jesus' name.