Romans chapter 9, we're looking
at verses 22 through verse 24. Romans 9, verse 20 through to
24, I'll simply title this, The Vessels of Mercy. The Vessels
of Mercy. Paul says, what if God, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy? which he hath aforeprepared unto
glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles." Now, we know that the subject of this
chapter is the sovereign mercy of God, the sovereign election
of God's divine mercy and grace. We know that this chapter concerns
the true Israel of God, that not all those who were sons of
Abraham were children of Israel, but those who were children of
promise. And this was pictured by the
sons of Isaac. Jacob and Esau he says in verse
11 for the children being not yet 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 So then we
see the subject is the election of God's saving grace that God
from the beginning chose a people and gave them to Christ, put
them in union with Christ, loved them, and yet he hated the rest. He says in verse 12, it was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And now in this
passage of scripture, the apostle is going to put on flesh to this
doctrine. He's going to show us this, that
there are two distinct people, Jacob and Esau, vessels of wrath
and vessels of mercy. Now, these vessels of wrath,
the Apostle says that they are fitted, fitted to destruction. Now, we know this, that all things
are shapen and molden of God." Every individual here was shapen
of God in the womb and made by God. Our place, our standing. You could have been born in a
palace, or you could have been born in poverty. You could have been born with
perfect health, or you could have been born in sickness. We
know this, that all of this is by the sovereign hand of the
potter. He designs us. He made us. He said, in the womb, He formed
thee. He is the potter over all our
physical bodies, our physical circumstances. And yet when you
mention things like this, men may agree with this. But this
idea of sovereign salvation is one that is kicked at, is one
that is hated by men. The natural man kicks against
God's right as the potter to do with the clay as he pleases. He tells us this in verse 21.
He asks this question. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honor? Those are vessels of mercy, and
another to dishonor. Those are vessels of wrath. Hath
God not the right? the self-evident question. Of
course, he has the right. He's God. He's God. Therefore, God declares that
some men are vessels of mercy, objects of grace and love, while
others are vessels of wrath, to whom God will exact strict
justice for their sins. Now, these vessels
of wrath I want you to know this, they will not suffer because
God did not choose them. That is not the reason these
vessels of wrath will suffer the justice of God. Men will
suffer the justice of God because of their sin. That's why they
are fitted for this, because of their sin. These vessels are fitted by God
for destruction, but they are filled with their own iniquity. These vessels of wrath, the Apostle
says, are not only fitted for destruction, but they have a
purpose. They have a purpose. He said, what if God willing
to show his wrath and make known his power? endured with much
long-suffering these vessels of wrath." They have one purpose.
Listen, to make the wrath of God known. To show forth God's
holiness and utter hatred and strict justice against sin. These
vessels of wrath show the absolute perfection and holiness of God
in their eternal destruction. And this is the reason God is
long-suffering with them. Have you ever wondered why God
never just destroys man at birth? Is not man already fallen at
birth? Is he not already fit for destruction
based on the sin of his father? Yes, we are. We were conceived
in sin. born from the womb speaking lies. We were already fitted for destruction
by nature. Why is it that God had not taken
out all those that He did not choose? Because He has a purpose
for them. Look at verse 17. He uses Pharaoh
as an illustration in this chapter. 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. Pharaoh, a man, a king, the most
powerful man in the world at that time. God says this, I raised
you up for one purpose, to show my power to my children. Isn't that what he did? He showed
His power to His children. He washed Pharaoh's dead corpse
right up to the feet of His people to show His power. And so all evil men outside of
Christ, listen, let them do what they will. Let them do what they
will. You know what they will do? They
will seek to destroy the church. They will seek to rebel against
God. They will not come to Christ.
They will not bow to Him. They will not believe on Him.
They propagate their false doctrine throughout the world. And listen, these men are doing
exactly what they want to do. But all the while, they're doing
exactly what God purposed to do with them. These are His vessels. He is
making and He is doing whatever He pleases with them, performing
His will. And so then, He hardens their
hearts or He doesn't. Now, what happened to Pharaoh?
Did God not harden his heart? You bet He did. God hardened
his heart. What about Judas? Think of that.
He was Judas. The Lord chose Judas. He brought him into the fold.
Judas did exactly what he wanted to do, but all the while he was
doing exactly what God determined. Pilate and the Jews and all these
men... Peter said this in Acts chapter
2. He said that This, you, by the,
he was brought by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God and you by wicked hands are crucified and slain, the Lord
of glory. This was a determinate counsel
of God. These vessels of wrath. Listen, they're fitted for destruction. I don't want to spend any more
time on them. I want to spend time on these vessels of mercy.
These vessels of mercy, these vessels of mercy, who are they?
Who are these vessels of mercy that He said that He might make
known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which
He had aforeprepared unto glory? These vessels of mercy are God's
elect people. Those were prepared aforetime. to know and receive the glory
of God. These vessels of mercy were loved
of God from eternity. They were put in the Son of God
from eternity." That's what it says, isn't it? They were prepared
when? Before time. These vessels of mercy were made
vessels of mercy before time. Before time began. God purposed
their salvation. And what God has purposed, listen,
God will accomplish. On these vessels of mercy, God
promised salvation. God promised that they should
know the riches of His glory. They were prepared for this,
purposed for this. They were elected to be His trophies
of grace, and none of these vessels will fail to know the glory and
the riches of his glory. None of them will. Now, when
you think of the doctrine of election, who then gets all the
glory for this? Who gets the glory? You want
to know if the gospel is being preached or not? Who gets the
glory? If salvation gives any glory
to man whatsoever, it's not the gospel of God. The gospel of
God gives glory only to God. These vessels of mercy, we who
are vessels of mercy, we understand this. This is our gospel. It
is the gospel of God's free grace, and it gives all the glory to
God. This matter of election to us,
to vessels of mercy, is more than a theory. Some men look
at election as nothing more than an academic Well, you know, you
have an Armenian over here, you have a Calvinist over here, and
they just, they're bouncing theories off each other. They all think
they're both going to heaven. They think each other's going
to heaven. Why? Because it's just a theory. To
them it's just a theory, an abstract doctrine, some part of systematic
theology. But this doctrine of election
is one that is embraced by God's people, loved. This truth is
loved and adored by hell-deserving sinners who have come to faith
in Jesus Christ. That's who love this doctrine
of election. This is a blessed account of
God's sovereign mercy in election is one that humbles a man. If this doctrine is understood,
if it is experienced, then it is one that draws a man to the
dust of the earth. It doesn't give any elevation
to his character or his ability or his pride. It doesn't feed
any of that. The doctrine of election is the
most humbling doctrine in all of Scripture. Now Paul, having
shown that salvation is from all eternity and was purposed
of God to all that were chosen in Christ, he now brings this
doctrine into time. He now puts skin on this doctrine. And that's what I hope to do
right now. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is
where it gets real. Knowing that there are vessels
of mercy and there are vessels of wrath, Which are you? Knowing God prepared aforetime
to save vessels of mercy. Knowing Christ came for that
specific purpose, to save the vessels of mercy. And knowing
that there are vessels of wrath whose purpose alone is to display
the eternal justice of God and power of God. Know that there
are men hated of God, which are you? How can one know if you are a
vessel of mercy, a foreprepared, or a vessel of wrath fitted for
destruction? How can you and I know? Some people think it's unknowable.
And you think, well, elections, something like a lottery that
if you just get it, you get it. If you don't, you don't. No,
that's not it. You see, vessels of mercy know they're vessels
of mercy. I like that. How many times did
John say this in his epistle? He said, that you may know. That you may know. That you may
know you are the children of God. That you may know you are
born of God. I want to know. I want to know. So how, then, can we know? Well, Paul gives us the answer.
I like that. You don't have to guess. There's
no guesswork involved in Scripture, is there? Look at the next verse. Look at verse 24. Paul says this, Well, that doesn't narrow it
down. Even us. What does that mean? Us or you
over there? What does that mean? No. Even
us whom He hath what? Called. Now we're getting somewhere. Now we're seeing who these vessels
of mercy are. They're even us whom He hath
called. Called. God's purpose in election
is to save some of Adam's race. And we know this, if there were
no election, there would be no salvation. If one thing was left
to us, Adam proved that, didn't he? One thing Adam was given
to do. And Adam failed, being the best
of us, Adam failed at performing one thing. And it wasn't even
a positive action. It was a negative action. Don't
eat. It wasn't even something he had
to do himself. Exert power. He was told not
to exert power. And yet he failed. If there was
one thing for us to do, it would be ruined. There would be no
one saved. That's why election is always unto salvation. Always. And all that God predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son will, without doubt,
come by faith to His Son. Isn't that what Jesus told us?
Plainly. He had 5,000 people that were
not His people sail across the sea and try to get bread out
of it. And Jesus, preaching to those people, He told them all
this time, knowing that they were not His own, yet He preached
to them, didn't He? He said this, "...all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out." Well, why is that? I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that
sent me." Well, what is this will? And this is the Father's
will. Again, you don't need... just
read. You don't need to have a degree
to understand these answers. He gives you the answers. This
is the will of the Father which has sent me, that of all He has
given me, The vessels of mercy, all the vessels of mercy that
He has given me shall come to me. I should lose nothing, but
raise it up again at the last day." Now, this should just be
a ringing comfort in your ears that none, none of the vessels
of mercy shall miss their salvation. None of them. shall fail to come
to Christ." All of them. He will lose none of them. None
of them. This should comfort us who are
given to the Son that He came to be our representative. I came
down from heaven for a specific purpose, not to do mine own will,
but the will of Him that sent me, which is to what? Save my
people. I came for that specific purpose,
to save my people from their sins. He was sent by the Father
as our federal head to obtain the righteousness of God by His
faithful obedience and to take away our city in prophecy he said this the
zeal of nine house at the media and the reproaches of the map For these vessels of mercy, I
want you to see that God did not overlook His justice to save
them. His love did not overrule His
justice. All those who are the elect vessels
of mercy and the vessels of wrath, listen, we all must satisfy the
justice of God, every one of us. Everyone must satisfy the justice
of God. God's love for the vessel of
mercy never overruled his justice. If God chose some to mercy at
the expense of his justice, then we would say that God would be
unrighteous. But God is not unrighteous, no. God did not choose and then excuse
His justice, but in an agreement with His Son, the Son came and
paid the price, satisfied the justice of God by His one sacrifice. Isn't that what Hebrews says?
For by His one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are
Sanctified. Well, who's that? The vessels
of mercy. The vessels of mercy. He paid
the debt. And so then, because Christ was
successful on the cross in satisfying the justice of God, what must
the justice of God demand for the vessels of mercy? That we
go free. That's what it demands. Do you
realize the justice of God demands that you go free? Demands it. Why? Because the justice of God
is holy and right and good, and seeing that Christ has paid the
debt, justice will not demand anything of the vessels of mercy.
And so then the question again still remains, who are the vessels
of mercy? They are the one chosen, they
are the one redeemed, and they are the one called. Called. He calls them to life and faith. The calling of God is the manifestation
and evidence of one's election. I was not there. Were you there in eternity when
God was alone choosing? When God alone set and prepared
afore the vessels of mercy? No! were you there when christ
died and suffered in the state of the vessels of mercy how then
can you claim all right to be a vessel of mercy is the evidence of election and
redemption now then there is a call that goes out When we
preach the gospel today, I am telling you of Jesus Christ.
I am preaching to you Christ, the only hope for sinners. This
call goes out, it is general. It goes out to everyone. God
said, look unto me and be ye saved. All the vessels
of mercy. Now what he said? No, he said
all the ends of the earth. He's calling all men in a general
call. The Word of God cries out, look
unto Christ. Today I'll tell you, look to
Christ. Believe on Christ. Sinners, I'm speaking to sinners,
look to Christ. I tell you, you should look now,
and all who look live. All who believe live. All who
believe are saved. This general call, we know, is
illustrated many ways in Scripture. I think the best is that parable
of the sower, isn't it? The sower. He goes forth to sow.
Behold and hearken! There went out a sower to sow.
Who is this? Those that preach the gospel.
Those who preach the gospel are as a sower, one that has a bag
of seed, and he takes that seed and he throws the seed at a venture. I know that's not how we plant
our gardens now, is it? We specifically put one seed
in one row and try to make it neat. Back then, they didn't
plant that way. They cast the seed. They throw
the seed at a venture. And you remember that there were
four types of soil on which this seed was to land. But listen,
three of those never brought forth anything. only one type
of soil brought forth fruit, live. You remember one of those
was the wayside. Here, the one that landed on
the hard ground. This gospel as it's preached
today will land on some hard ground. It won't even affect
anything. You throw a piece of seed on a concrete, watch it
bounce. It'll never grow. It'll never
do anything. As soon as these people hear
the word, once they go out, it's gone. They don't even remember
what they heard. But there are some that have
that topsoil of their hearts is tilled up, and that seed plants
in there. And they seem to enjoy it for
a little bit, but because it doesn't have any root, because
it's not rooted in Christ, it's rooted in their emotion, it's
rooted in their feelings, it's rooted in their circumstances,
it doesn't last long. And then you've got that other
thorny ground here, the one that the cares of this world, that
seed plants, it goes into the ground, it grows up, but the
cares of the life and the sins and the pleasures of the flesh
choke the Word, and it doesn't produce anything. But you remember,
there is one ground that receives the seed and grows and lives,
the good ground. A good ground hearer. This is the heart of every vessel
of mercy. The Holy Spirit that directs
the seed into the heart must also prepare the heart to receive
it. He must go before and prepare
the heart. Why? Because the natural man
receiveth not the things that are of God. They're foolishness
to him. This gospel to the natural man
is utter foolishness. Isn't that why they don't have
any interest in it? Because it's foolish. No man can come to me except
which hath sent me, draw him." What do men need to receive this
seed, to hear the Word of God? Listen, you need a new heart. You don't need that old one fixed
up. You need a new heart, a new nature. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. And so the general call goes
out into the world, but for this general call to become effectual,
the work of the spirit it must be a sovereign act of god's free
as a preacher of the gospel i have this assurance this is good this
is comforting for me and we've got gold word goes out it does
exactly what god determined i'm glad for that because if i had
any lack of confidence in god to perform this i wouldn't do
But God says, my word shall go, it goes out of my mouth, will
accomplish the thing whereunto I send it, either to harden it, heart, or
break it. You see, it's not my business
to break your heart. It's not my business to harden
your heart. Simply my business to preach
the word. And God does the hardening and
the breaking. That's good. Therefore, we continue
to call all men to repentance, knowing this, that this is the
means God has chosen to call vessels of mercy, through the
preaching of His gospel. Go to 2 Thessalonians, chapter
2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Look at verse 13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to Salvation. Remember, these vessels of mercy
were prepared aforetime for salvation, chosen you to salvation. Election is always to salvation.
But here's the means. Through sanctification of the
Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit in giving you a new nature
and Belief of the truth. Faith in Christ. This is the
work of the Spirit to the vessels of mercy. If you have been called,
listen, here's your evidence of your calling, you believe. Now, religion tells you the evidence
of your calling is a moral life, joining the church, getting baptized. No. Here's the evidence. Belief
in the truth. Whereunto He called you, how? By our gospel, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He called you by our gospel,
to the obtaining Now listen, all of that was prepared for
you, all of that was done for these vessels of mercy. But how
is it that they obtained this? Through the preaching of the
Word, the Spirit of God set you apart, sanctifies you. There you were, lost in your
sin, and you weren't seeking God, you weren't interested in
the things of God, but God set you apart. There was a whole
group of people hearing the same message you heard, and yet in
that moment, God set you apart. He said, you, over here. I'm
setting you apart. And He gave you faith to believe
on His Son. Oh friends, faith is the evidence
of our election. Faith is the evidence of our
redemption. Faith in Christ. Not faith in
our faith, but faith in His faith. Faith in His person. Faith in
His work. faith in His mercy, His grace. As many as received Him, to them
gave He the right to be called the sons of God, which were born
not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, nor blood,
but of the will of God. This seed of the gospel of Jesus
Christ was no accident. It was purposed. It was designed. And listen, it's always effectual
to those God purposes to save. Always. What does effectual mean?
We say it a lot. Effectual. It means it gets the
job done. That's what it means. The effectual
call of God involves both two things, will and power. Isn't that right? If I desire,
if I'm going to do something, and I want to do it, but I don't
have the power to do it, what good is it? It's also just as worthless if
I have the power to do something and don't want to do it. But
see, God's effectual will to save His people is, He has both
the will to do it and the power to do it. Therefore when this
general call comes effectually to the heart of a vessel of mercy
It is accompanied by the will of God and the power of God.
I'm gonna give you an illustration of this Lazarus Lazarus is an
illustration of God's calling effectual calling of his vessels
of mercy When Jesus Christ stood at that
tomb and said Lazarus come forth Was there any possibility Lazarus would refuse? Was there any possibility that
he lacked power to draw Lazarus out of the tomb? No! He is the
God-man. He had both will and power to
draw that dead man to life. Friends, this is exactly what
he did for us who are vessels of mercy. We were dead in sins
Unwilling and unable to come to him he therefore in love of
for time prepared for us glory salvation in time he accomplished
that salvation, and in the appointed time he applied that salvation
by his effectual, irresistible power. Paul says your eyes in Ephesians
1 he says the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may
know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches
of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints and What is the
exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe? according
to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ
when he raised him from the dead and set him on his own right
hand in heaven and places the same power It took to raise Christ
from the dead and sit him on the throne is exactly the same
amount of power it took to call these vessels of mercy to life.
You vessels of mercy. You who have been called. And
when you were called, were you unwilling? He's smiling. Silly question,
isn't it? a man made aware of his starvation
and given me a man made aware of his first and given water
will bring a man made aware of the scene price salvation no
question died shall be This is the effectual call of
death, from death to life. It is the effectual call that
gives sight to the blind. It is the effectual call from
darkness to light. The Scripture says, For God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts and given us the light of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. This effectual call is deliverance
from bondage. Believer, don't you know you're
free? Free. There's no more chains. Nothing
holding you from believing in your God. Nothing holding you
from loving your Savior. Why? You're a vessel of mercy. And
notice what Paul says, lastly, he says this, even us. Religion says, why not me? Especially me! No, Paul says
even us. Even us. You don't realize, we
realize, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you're a vessel
of mercy, you understand this, you were taken from the same
lump of clay. Now what he says, in the back
of your text, he says that. He says in verse 21, Hath not
the potter powered the clay of the same lump? What made you
different from the vessels fitted for destruction? Well, there's
nothing in the clay that made me different. Isn't that amazing? God took the same lump and of
the same lump made vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. Both vessels were taken from
the same lump of fallen humanity. So then our calling, dear believer,
was never found any merit in you and me. We were not called
because of who we were, because of what we could do for God.
Let us therefore not look within ourselves for any reason of our
calling or election. Isn't that your most desponding
moment when you look inside and find no cause in yourself? The problem with that is you
looked inside. Don't look inside. The reason for our calling is
simply the sovereign, free, effectual love of God. Mercy. The only kind of mercy
I know is free mercy. If it's somehow merited, it's
not mercy, is it? It's not mercy. And so then I'll keep preaching
this gospel, because I know by this gospel God calls vessels
of mercy. Vessels of mercy. So then are
you a sinner? That's good, because God only
saves sinners. Are you empty of any merit? Good. Because Christ has provided
all the merit for the vessels of mercy. If you have no hope, then repent
and believe the gospel and all who believe are vessels of mercy. A fore
prepared. for glory. You know you were
prepared for this? God prepared you before you were
prepared. You were prepared, made vessels
of mercy by sovereign grace and mercy. I pray that God bless
this, give you comfort to know what you are, to know what you
are. I'm a vessel of mercy. I pray God bless you and give
you same understanding. Let's stand, be dismissed, and
pray.