Romans chapter 9. In this passage in Romans, Paul
pours out his heart. He begins by pouring out his
heart for his brethren, his kinsmen in the flesh, his desire was
so great And I don't fully understand his words here. He knows it's
impossible for him to be accursed from Christ and yet he said if
it were possible that I could wish myself a curse so that Israel,
my kinsman, might be saved. What an example of love he had
for his kinsman. And then He begins to tell us
all of the things that God gave that nation, His kinsmen in the
flesh. He said, Who are Israelites? To whom pertaineth the adoption,
the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service
of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom
concerning the flesh Christ came. What a blessing these people
had! Out of all the nations of the earth, this one small nation,
seemingly insignificant nation, was blessed above all other people. that God would choose the line
of this nation, this people, to bring Christ into the world. But now then comes an objection,
and I'm going to deal with three objections to the sovereign election
of God. Three objections of men to the
sovereign election of God. And Paul here in verse 6, he
exclaims this, he says, Not as though the word of God had taken
none effect. This is the first objection. This is the first objection.
With regard to the word and promises toward Israel. The objection
is this, well, if God gave them the covenant, the promises, If
God swore, which He did swear, to save Israel, the objection
is this. How then did Israel reject the
Messiah? If God promised to save them
by the Messiah, how is it they crucified the Lord of Glory? How is it that they hate the
Gospel? How is it that they desire to
stamp it out? And the question is this, is
the Word of God of none effect? Did God promise to do something
and was not able to do it? I'm going to give you some verses
and I'm just going to read, I'll read a couple of these because
we don't have time to delve into them, but just a couple of verses
about God promising to save Israel. Listen, Isaiah 45 verse 16, They
shall be ashamed, they shall be all confounded, all of them.
They shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. Listen,
But Israel shall be saved. And people say, well, you know,
maybe he's just talking about a temporal salvation. Maybe he's
just talking about being delivered from Babylon. Maybe he's just
talking about being delivered from Egypt. No, because listen
to what it says. Israel shall be saved in the
Lord with an everlasting salvation. Yea, ye shall not be ashamed,
nor confounded, world without end. That sounds pretty long,
doesn't it? Israel shall be saved forever. In Jeremiah chapter 33, God says, Considerest thou not
what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which
the Lord hath chosen, he hath cast them off, Thus they have
despised My people, that they should no more be a nation before
them. Thus saith the Lord, If My covenant be not with the day
and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven
and earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David My
servant. He said, look, when the day and the moon, they stop
listening to Me, He said, that's when I'll cast them off. Has
that happened? Has the ordinances of heaven
stopped? Obeying? No. And God says to
the two families of Israel, I will not cast them off forever. These are the promises of God.
But look, the nation of Israel, where are they? The nation of
Israel rejected the Christ, they despised the gospel. And so then
if the promises of God to save Israel, who are lost, Is the
Word of God of none effect? Was God's promises forfeited? Were His purposes frustrated
by the rejection of Israel to the Christ? The answer is simple.
In verse 6 He says, Not as though the Word of God had taken none
effect. He's saying that, God forbid, that you should even
think that. Why? Because, he tells us, for,
listen, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. You see, that all Israel will
be saved, All God purposed to save, all those God promised
to save, will be saved. The errors of the question concerning
the promises of God is that they suppose Israel is
carnal. They suppose Israel to be carnal.
The nation of Israel. So the question is met, who is
Israel then? True Israel is not the carnal
people of Israel, but rather the spiritual people. Paul says,
They are not all Israel which are born of Israel, neither are
they the children of Abraham. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. And listen, he explains that,
that is. Let me tell you what I mean by that. They which are
the children of the flesh are not the children of God. How many people today just keep
lifting up that nation of Israel just thinking that somehow they're
special? I'll tell you that nation was
special. But God's promises to that nation
were only a type. They were only a picture of something
greater, something bigger than that little nation. It is spiritual
Israel. Spiritual Israel. That is, they
which are children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God. Well, who are the children of God? The children of the promise
are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at that time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also conceived by one, our father
Isaac. In other words, he's given two
illustrations here. The promise, Ishmael was just
as much a son of Abraham as Isaac. But Israel was, Ishmael was cast
off. And Isaac was accepted. Why? because Ishmael was a son of
the flesh, Isaac was a son of promise, and that he was a type
of all the elect of God. And then he's going to give a
better example, a clearer example, not only this, not only Isaac,
but Isaac's children. Listen to what he says about
Isaac's children in verse 11. For the children, not yet being
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said to her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. And so we see these two children.
They are both the sons of Abraham and Isaac. And yet God chose
one and not the other. Therefore it is asked, why was
Jacob loved and Esau hated? Why was Ishmael rejected and
Isaac chosen? The simple answer is this, the
sovereign election of God. This is the answer. This is the
answer. He said the children not being
born, neither having done good or evil, that, listen, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, that it might be
declared, that it might be magnified. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Here the Word of God declares
clearly and plainly that the purpose of God according to election
is the root cause of salvation to all spiritual Israel. All spiritual Israel. The promise
is counted to all the seed. So Isaac was a type, a picture
of the seed, of the elect. Even so was Jacob a type and
a picture of the elect. Spiritual Israel. So God, in love, He chose to save some of Adam's
race. He loved them with an immutable
love, He purposed to save them, and then throughout history,
He gave His promises of Christ, that He should come and redeem
His chosen people, that He would save them. So when you read that,
God, when He's talking about saving Israel forever, He's not
talking about a national people. He's talking about a spiritual
people. Therefore, the Word of God is effectual. The Word of
God is not frustrated. The Word of God is powerful and
is doing exactly what God determined before to be done. So now we
see Jesus then, the Son of God, who was made flesh, And He came
into this world and obtained righteousness by His obedience? And as He was rejected by that
fleshly nation, we see there on Golgotha He was crucified.
He was saving His people. That's what He was doing. Just
as God before promised. This is important because everything
God promised Israel is sure you who are his spiritual seed. I
want you to know that everything God said he would do. He did. And listen, everything God said
he's going to do, he will do. This is our confidence. This
is our confidence. The word of God is effectual.
The word of God is powerful. Word of God and the promises
of God shall be fulfilled. Look at Isaiah 53. Look, turn
over there. See this promise here. Isaiah 53, look at verse 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. Our Lord Jesus Christ, this is
speaking of Him. He was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet, though He had the right,
He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb before
the slaughter, as a sheep before a shearer's dumb, so He opened
not His mouth. The Passover Lamb. Our Lord Jesus Christ, behold
Him there. As our offering, our sacrifice, He is the Passover
Lamb. And He was taken from prison
and from judgment. shall declare his generation
for he was cut off out of the land of the living why why was
he taken from judgment why must he not open his mouth for the
transgression of my people was he stricken he made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death and because he had done no violence
neither was any deceit in his mouth yet in spite of his righteousness
in spite of his perfect obedience yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him he hath put him to grief when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see who Who
is he going to see? His seed. Who is he doing this
for? His seed. Why did it please the
Lord to bruise him? For his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It speaks
of his resurrection. He shall prolong his days. He's
cut off. How are you going to prolong somebody's days that's
cut off? Well, he's raised from the dead. And he sits at the
right hand of God right now, doing all things after the counsel
of his own will. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. If you go through this again,
this is wonderful. Why was he stricken? My people.
The transgression of my people is the reason he was stricken.
He shall see his seed. While he's being crucified, he
is going to see his seed. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied and justify who? Many. And he shall
bear their iniquities. Their iniquities. And so upon the cross, the scripture
says that He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. God made His soul an offering
for sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him for the sins of His people. The justice of God by His death
was forever satisfied. And by His one offering He has
justified many. And so then, who are these, my
people? Who are this, the seed? Who is
this, many? We know this, it is spiritual
Israel. It is Israel. Christ only died
for Israel. Not the carnal nation. the spiritual
nation, the spiritual people. And listen, when God saw the
travail of his soul, he was satisfied. He was satisfied with the death
of his son. In Hebrews chapter 9 and verse
12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us for us in verse 27 of Hebrews 9 is appointed
to men once denied after this the judgment so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him
he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation and
so we know this that Jesus Christ was sent for the people of God
and his death was victorious. His death was triumphant. His
death saved Israel. When was Israel saved? Now it
was purposed in eternity. We're going to see it purposed
in eternity. God purposed to save Israel. When was Israel
saved? You that are believers in Christ,
when were you saved? Now there's a time you experienced it. There's
a time God revealed it to you. There's a time that God actually
did it for you. But friends, you were saved a
long time ago. You were saved by the blood of
Jesus Christ. And God was satisfied with His
death for you. He got it. He got it. By his one offering, he bear
the sins of many. Without a doubt, he has paid
the price. He has paid the price of false
religion of men. They all agree. Now, I mean,
I don't care what you do. If you look at a Catholic, ask
a Catholic, a Pentecostal Jehovah's Witness, you know, Ask them all. They're all in agreement with
this one thing. They differ on a whole bunch of other stuff.
But they all agree on this. They believe that Jesus Christ
died for all men without exception. Every one of them. Every one
of them. They believe without a doubt,
they believe that God loves all men without exception. There's
one problem with that. Just one. Just one. It's not in the word of God. The word of God does not testify
to that fact. The word of God teaches no such
thing as universal atonement or universal love. Nowhere. The Lord Jesus Christ was cut
off for the transgression of his people. However many they
are. that's who he was cut off for
the transgression of his people he did not justify all he justified
many that's good I like to hear that he justified many his one offering obtained righteousness
for many But Paul concludes that this offering was so perfect
that everyone he died for is perfected. In Hebrews chapter
10, listen, But this man, how different is the offering of
Christ from every other high priest? How different is his
priesthood? He was a priest forever. Those
men were priests only during their lifetime. This man was
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This man was
different. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of
God. Henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool. For by his one offering he hath
perfected forever, who? Them that are sanctified. Those
who are sanctified by God the Father in election. Those who
are sanctified by the blood of Christ in His death. Those that
are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration
and giving us a holy nature. We are sanctified. We are perfected
forever. Those only that are sanctified. No one else. No one else. And
the proof of His success was His resurrection, wasn't it?
The proof of this. was his resurrection, where he
is now seated on the throne of God, for the purpose of saving all
of his elect people. Therefore, we must conclude that
salvation is all of grace, without merits, without the will or works
of man. An election is not difficult
to understand. People will say that I just don't
understand. Yes, you do. God chose a people
before the foundation of the world. You understand that? God loved
them. Only them. God gave them to Christ. In a covenant between God the
Father and the Son, the Son agreed to be their surety, their high
priest, their offering, their representative. God put them in Christ in union
with him so that everything he did they did. All the righteousness he made.
We made. It's ours. That death he offered
that offering my offering. His acceptance is my acceptance. We are seated with Him right
now in glory, in Christ. We're in union with Him. And Christ came to lay down His
life for His sheep. Is anybody misunderstanding that?
He came to lay down His life for His sheep. And we see that all the Father
chose and gave to Christ Every one of them will be called and saved Go to 2nd Thessalonians
2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse Take a Thessalonians 2 and look
at verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. But there is a means by which
this salvation is applied. That salvation was accomplished
by Christ. But there is a means by which
God will apply it to you who are beloved. He said through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And
here's the means by which the Spirit will sanctify you and
you'll believe the truth. Where unto you He called you
by our gospel to the attaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we see this is the word
of God of none effect. God promised to save Israel.
Israel was chosen. What a type. All of the elect
were chosen. God swore to save Israel, and
he did spiritual Israel by Christ, and he calls every one of his
sheep to faith in Christ. You today who believe on Christ.
You are the Israel of God. all the promises of Israel belong
to you all of them well preacher what about the
others here comes the question concerning the others what about
the others what happens to those like Esau they were a hated of
God listen my friends these men are even as the fallen angels Were there any objection to God
not giving salvation to fallen angels? I don't think any man
really objects to that. When you talk about God hating
people before they were born, you start to see men hate that.
Why? They might be hated. That's why
they don't like it. They might be the ones hated.
These men are as fallen angels. They are hated of God. And listen,
they were ordained to this condemnation. Go ahead, let the flesh pop up
a minute. Look at Jude. Jude verse 4. Look at it. Jude verse 4, For there are certain
men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation. Let it sink in. They were ordained to this condemnation. Now what type of men were these?
You might object if they were good men, right? Are they good
men? These that are ordained to condemnation,
are they good men? What does it say about them?
What's the first word? Ungodly. Ungodly men turning
the grace of God into lasciviousness, denying the only Lord God and
our Lord Jesus Christ. These were not good men because
no man is born good. No man. Now the manifestation of God's
eternal love for his people is what? The experimental salvation. That's the evidence, right? That
we are the elect of God. You could not say, know your
election of God. You could not know your redemption
of Christ, except you are called to faith and love. And we recognize
this as believers. This is by the power of God.
You are called by the power of God. We recognize that there
was no difference between us and the ones God hated by nature.
No difference whatsoever. Yet God manifests His love by
saving us, by calling us. What is the mark then of those
that are hated? Here it is. Get ready. Unbelief. Unbelief. Whosoever believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. There's the mark. There's the
mark of those hated of God. And see, in order for God to
manifest His love for us, you see, God must do something for
us. Isn't that right? You that believe. You that believe. You recognize it. God had to
do something for me. Had God not chosen me, I never
would have chosen Him. Right? You know that. You know that in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. I know this, that no man can
come unto Christ except the Father which has sent him. Draw him.
We know that because that's our experience of grace. We understand
that. And so for God to save those
he loves, he has to do it all. He had to do it all. God to manifest his electing
love. But to manifest his hatred, what
does God have to do? Nothing. All he has to do is
leave you alone. That's it. If God hates a man,
listen, this is what he'll do. He'll leave him alone. He'll give him exactly what he
wants. Is there any injustice with that? I was telling somebody just to
go this this man, I know he's very wealthy man and got sick
overseas and. Very sick. You know, he he put
on Facebook, don't you dare pray for me. OK. All right. Sure thing. What did
God do? Just just leave him alone. Why?
Because the natural man is at enmity against God. He's naturally
inclined to hate God. He's naturally inclined not to
believe on Christ. And there's nothing he can do
to make give himself faith. And in truth, he really doesn't
want it. So God to manifest his hatred,
all he has to do is leave him alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he's
talking to those Pharisees, you got to admire the way Christ
talked to the lost. He was never discouraged. We're
discouraged when people don't believe. I'm discouraged. You
leave here today without believing on. I'm discouraged. Christ is
never discouraged when he talks to these people. And they said,
look, if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. told them he'd untold
he said I've already told you listen but you believe not because
you are not of my sheep why will men not believe they're not his
and what does he do does he he didn't do anything to him He doesn't have to. It is true
that God uses them. We'll see this. God uses them. But he doesn't have to do anything. And so then I ask you this morning,
do you believe on the Son of God? Do you confess your sin and the
depravity of your nature and need of life and faith? Have you heard him call you? If he ever calls you. In power. There is no doubt you will come.
That's my experience, friend, that's the experience of everyone
in the scripture that God saved. When he calls. He does it in
power. And they believe. What though
I cannot break my chain or air throw off my load, things impossible
to man are possible with God. Bound down with twice ten thousand
ties, just let me hear thy call. My soul and confidence shall
rise, shall rise and break through all. And so then, God promised to
save Israel. God chose his people and he saved
him the word of God is effectual the promises of God are yay and
a man in Christ and so I'm gonna deal with this
second objection and the third one I'll just briefly the second
objection go back to your text The first objection is the Word
of God without effect. Here's the second one. Look now
at verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Here's the second objection.
Is God unjust to love one and hate the other before they had
done any work? Is God unjust to choose one and
reject the other? Is this not the main argument
of religion today against the sovereign election of God? This
is it. God's unfair. God's unfair. Let me read you something that
Thomas Jefferson wrote. I think he sums up exactly the
heart of every works religion Free will works religion in this
generation. Thomas Jefferson wrote this.
I can never join John Calvin in addressing his God. He is
indeed an atheist, which I can never be, or rather his religion
is demonism. If ever a man worshipped a false
god, he did. The being described in his five
points is not the God whom you and I acknowledge, but a demon.
malignant spirit it would be more pardonable to believe in
no God at all than to blaspheme him with the attributes of Calvin talking about this God of sovereign
election what they call him a demon monster a monster but Paul's
answer is as strongest as you can get God forbid, God forbid
you should say anything to this effect, that God is unjust. In fact, how can you, being a
creature of God, being unjust and unholy in all your thoughts
and deeds, ever accuse God of unrighteousness? And yet they
do. They do. Listen to what God said
to Moses. Moses say it to Moses I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion the reason men object to the
sovereign election of God is simply this they believe that
they have something to offer they believe that they have some
power within themselves either to make the work of Christ effectual
in some means it could be a Huge religious ceremonies. People
do this all the time. A huge religious ceremony. They
have these gowns and smoke and beautiful paintings and all the
music. They have big festival religion.
They think, well, that that's going to make us acceptable with
God. Well, other religions think, well, you just need to be baptized,
just that one thing. Christ's work is good, but that's
going to seal it right there. If you just make this decision
in your own mind, that seals the work of Christ. You see,
they believe they have something to add. That's the problem. But they fail to see that no
man can or ever will come to Christ unless God give them that
grace, give them that power. They don't see that. If God had left salvation to
the merits of man, listen to this, no one would be saved. We must understand that our best
work is so mixed with sin that it would mar the whole sacrifice
of Christ. That's why Paul said in Galatians,
if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Why? You have added your circumcision
to his offering. You have marred the sacrifice. Later on in verse 29, he said,
Look, if God left us to herself, we'd all be like Sodom and Gomorrah. So God declares his salvation
is not by the will of man, but by God's sovereign will. It comes not by man's merit,
but by God's mercy. Do you need do you desire merit
or mercy? You see, mercy is totally devoid
of merit. You can't have both. It's either
or. Do you need justice or compassion? To the self-righteous, the freewill
workmonger, they despise the mercy of God and shake their
fist in his face and demand he accept their will and works. But the elect of God, what do
we need? I need free mercy because there's no other kind. I need free compassion of God
because there's no other kind. God calls to life and gives us faith. This is the
work of mercy. You that believe, tell me, why
is it you believe and others don't? Tell me your case. How is it
that you have millions will die in their sins? How? God said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. What's the conclusion? You that
think God unright, what's the conclusion of this salvation?
Look at that. So then, here's the conclusion. It is not of him that willeth.
Oh boy. How could anyone believe in decisional
regeneration? It is not of him that willeth. Listen. nor him that run. How
could anyone desire to be saved by their works? It's not of him
that run. But God that show it. Mercy. And he gives that illustration
of Pharaoh, he said, Look, Pharaoh, I raised him up for one purpose,
show my power, and that's it. Pharaoh was doomed from his birth.
God raised him up simply for that one thing. Did God do it? God show His power? Who did He show His power to,
really? Israel, didn't He? Raised up Pharaoh to put him
down, to show His power. Therefore, verse 18, He hath
mercy on whom He will have mercy. And listen, whom He will, He
hardeneth. Who hardened Pharaoh's heart?
Did he do anything against Pharaoh? No, he allowed Pharaoh to do
exactly what he wanted to do. But it was God who did it. And the last objection is this,
look at this. Thou wilt say unto me, Why doth
he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Well, if God's
chosen a people and Christ saved them, and the Spirit's only gonna
call them, how could he ever blame those that he didn't choose? How could he ever find fault
with them? It's his fault. Isn't this what Adam did? The woman you gave me. It's just
natural for a man to blame God. So how can God find fault with
them since he hated them from birth, ordained them to condemnation? How could he do that? You know
what the answer is? Who in the world are you to put
God under your microscope of justice? Don't worry, God put you under
his microscope of justice. Hath not the potter power over
the clay to make of the same lump? That's important. You vessels of mercy, were we
not made of the same lump of fallen Adam's race? Did we not
deserve everything the others in hell deserve? Yes. What's
the difference? The potter of four prepared us
unto glory. That's it. a four before. Already purposed you to glory. What if God willing to show his
wrath and make power known endured with much long suffering, the
vessel of wrath fitted for destruction, who fitted them for destruction,
really? Their own sin is their own sin,
if man's got something of his own, it's a sin. They're fitted
for destruction. And so what if God is long suffering?
Why is why are these people not killed at birth? Long suffering. And God has a purpose for him.
He's going to use it to show his power. To his elect. Who's elect? So then is the word of God of
none effect. No. Israel saved. All those God chose,
Christ redeemed. All those Christ redeemed, He'll
call and He'll keep them and they shall be saved. Was God
unrighteous to hate Esau? God forbid! God said, I'll have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Need mercy? You know, election
never kept anyone out of heaven. Matter of fact, the only reason
we're going to heaven is because of election. No. What keeps men out of heaven
is simply this. They will not believe on the
son of God. And it is my heart's desire,
if you do not, that God himself would give you that faith, because
that's what it's going to take. That's what it's going to take.
God giving you. You know what? I've never seen
anyone beg for mercy, didn't receive it. Have you? Not one person in this book have
ever begged God for mercy. Matter of fact, they begged God
for mercy, God ordained it. And he gave it to them. You elect, listen, it is your
father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Good pleasure. For Christ's sake, he'll give
you the kingdom. This is good news for Israel. I pray God will bless this and
comfort you with it, strengthen you with it. I'm so thankful
God is God and man is not. Because God is good. God is gracious. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Our gracious father in heaven
dismisses with your blessing. Thank you for this church. I
thank you for the people you have called. Father, I pray that you would
give us grace. Continually trust and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and. And father, you'd be gracious to instill love and
unity among the brethren here. We'll all be unified in our love
for Christ. and our desire that He would
use us for His glory. Forgive us our sins. Bless our fellowship today, and
we ask this in Jesus' name.