Turn with me, if you would, now
to Romans chapter 9. Romans 9. I have a very serious
message today on the subject of God's sovereignty. The heading at the top of my
page says, Sovereignty of God. That's what Paul is dealing with
right here. The sovereignty of God. I wrote
these notes out over the course of Thursday and Friday this week. And I wrote these out to preach
to you. But as I was studying back over
everything on Saturday, because of a reason that's not important
right now. I ended up preaching this message to myself in a way
that I never have before. I needed this so badly. I went
page by page as though I had no idea what the next page said.
I needed to be reminded of this.
I found so much comfort from this and so much peace. And my
prayer is that the Lord will now let me preach it to you.
I've preached it to myself, and I honestly pray the Lord will
let me preach it to you. I pray this will be instructive.
I pray it will be truthful to our Lord. I pray this will be
a real comfort and a real help. Let's read what will be our text.
Romans 9, verse 18 to 24. It says, therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? shall the thing formed say 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
unto honor and another unto dishonor? 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 had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called
Not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Paul just explained,
he just declared and explained God's sovereignty. And before
we get into this, I want to point out that Paul is declaring this
from a deep burden. A heavy, heavy, sorrowful, pleading
burden for men and women's souls. He is coming from just a gut-wrenching
cry. That's what he said at the beginning
of this chapter. He explained his deep sorrow and his heavy
burden for his kinsmen after the flesh. And then he is continuing,
and we'll get to it in chapter 10. That's how he starts chapter
10. Also, verse 1 says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. So he is declaring
this out of a great, great burden for men's souls because he loves.
He's declaring the truth of God's sovereignty. Sovereignty means
power. authority, control. And he declared that God has
all power, all authority, and all control. All of it. One man defined God's sovereignty
in this way. He said, God's sovereignty is
his absolute, independent right to dispose of the world and all
creatures according to his own pleasure. He can do whatever
he wants to with it. All of this, this ball that we
live on, everything that's here, everything that we see, everyone
that we know, he can do whatever he wants to do with it. He is the only one who has a
free will. Men talk about free will. Only
one man has a free will. There's only one man who does
as he pleases and none can stop him. Jesus Christ the Lord. Psalm 135 verse 6, it says, Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the
seas, and all deep places. Whatever the Lord pleased, that
did He. That did He. He is the one that
did it. Genesis 1.1 says, In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. It pleased Him to do so. Verse 3 right there says, God
said, Let there be light. There was light. That's a sovereign. That is a sovereign. One who
commands and immediately it's done. If it's said, it's done. That's a sovereign. It doesn't
matter what it is. Everything answers to Him and
obeys Him. Everything, that is a sovereign.
Turn with me if you would to Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46 verse 9
says, Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it." He said, everything that is going to be done, I have declared
it. I have declared, at verse 10,
He said, declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, not another man's. My counsel
shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. From the beginning,
He said, I ordered every single thing that will come to pass,
And everything that I have ordered will come to pass." Everything. Now that's a sovereign. That
is a sovereign. The one who orders and controls
everyone and everything that takes place. Now, somebody will say, somebody will
get to thinking about that. And understandably so. Understandably so. I wrote that
in on Saturday. Understandably so. Somebody will say, what about
the violent things? What about the terrible things? What about the murder? All the wicked things. Well, turn with me to Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2, this is the most
heinous thing that I know of that's ever taken place on the
earth. This is the most horrible, heinous thing that I know of.
Acts chapter 2 verse 22, it says, You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you, By miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by Him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know,
this perfect man, this spotless holy man that God approved of. If you skip down to the last
part of verse 23, it says, you have taken and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain. He said, you did it. Murdered.
Murdered. But the beginning of verse 23
says, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. He said, you did it because that's
what God sovereignly purposed and ordered to take place. That's what God allowed you to
do. That's why you did it. He said,
you murdered. And the only reason you did it
is because that's what God sovereignly ordered and purposed and allowed
you to do. Verse 23, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. God ordering that to happen.
That's why it happened. Look at Acts chapter 3 verse
18, it says, But those things which God before
had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should
suffer." All of the prophets declared Christ is going to suffer. He hath so fulfilled. He did it. God laid the iniquity on Him.
It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. Chapter 4, verse 26, it says,
"...the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against His Christ, for of a
truth against thy holy child Jesus..." They're praying to
God the Father, speaking to God the Father. Verse 27, "...for
of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel, were gathered together..." for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. It was all according
to your purpose. That's what they're saying. All
according to what you allowed. Turn with me, if you would, to
Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 verse 5 says, I am
the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee though thou hast
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the West that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and
there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Now don't turn, but you may notice
if you have a center margin in your Bible that create evil says
Amos 3 verse 6. Let me read that to you. It's
hard to find Amos 3 verse 6. It says. Shall a trumpet be blown in the
city and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city
and the Lord hath not done it? Proverbs 16 verse 4 says, The
Lord hath made all things for Himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil. Now the flesh is going to hear
this and it is going to say, Do you mean to tell me that God
is sovereignly in control of all these things? You're telling me that He knows
all of this is happening? You're saying that it was God's
purpose for them to brutally slay His Son. God was the one who determined
for them to beat Him. What all are they going to do
to Him? Oh, horrible things. Suffering things. Torture Him. Spit on Him. Mock Him. Crucify
Him. You're saying God did that? This
is what the flesh will say. Being flesh, I understand it. Being flesh, I understand it.
This is what the flesh will say. Understandably so. The flesh
will say, I don't believe that. I don't believe what you're telling
me. I don't believe it. That's not
the God I know. That is not the God I know. To
that, the response needs to be, I know. Dear brother, I know. I know that's not the God that
we naturally know. I know that. That's why we're
declaring Him. That's why we are preaching Him.
Men and women need to know who they are dealing with. Desperately. Desperately. We need to know
who we are dealing with. The Sovereign. The Sovereign. Turn with me if you would to
Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32 verse 39 says, See now that I, even I am He,
and there is no God with me, I kill and I make a life. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven
and say, I live forever. If I wet my glittering sword
and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine
enemies and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine
arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh. And
that with the blood of the slain and of the captives from the
beginning of revenge is upon the enemy." He said, I do all
these things. I do all these things. I'm the
one who kills. If a man does not die, it's because
God did not allow him to. And if a man dies, it's because
God allowed him to. I'm the one who makes alive.
I'm the one who wounds. I'm the one who heals. Sinful,
rebellious man needs to know this. Men and women are dealing
with and they are going to stand before the Sovereign God. The Sovereign God. And they need to know that. And
here's the reason why. They need to bow before Him. No matter what, we need to bow
before Him. Whatever it is that He does,
we need to bow before Him. This is the declaration that
will make a sinner bow before the Lord his God. Whatever it
is, we need to bow before Him. He is the Sovereign. He is the
Sovereign. He does according to His will
and His pleasure. That goes against my will and
my pleasure. I know dear brother, I know that. But He's the Sovereign. He's
the Sovereign. Sometimes that's a light bulb
moment even when we know it. He's the Sovereign. And He's
going to do whatever He's pleased to do. And it's going to be good
and it's going to be right. And it's going to be best. I
don't understand it. I know. I know. I don't either. Somebody says, I don't understand
it. I can say, I understand. But He's the Sovereign. When
it comes back to it, when you get to the bottom line, He's
the Sovereign. He's the Sovereign. And we need
to bow before Him. There is going to come a day,
mercy, we're going to talk about mercy. Mercy is bowing right
now. Let's bow right now. Let's all
in our heart say, okay. Mercy is being allowed to bow
right now. There is going to come a day
when every knee is going to bow in judgment and in destruction.
Every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess
in horror and in shock that He is Lord. Oh, He is Lord. Lord means sovereign. On that
day, every tongue that falls under His judgment is going to
confess, I was wrong. I was wrong to say to God, who
do you think you are? Oh, I was so wrong. I'm dealing with the Almighty
Judge of Heaven and Earth. No matter what, He's the Sovereign. I should have kissed the Son.
That's what I should have done. I should have bowed down and
kissed the feet of the Son of God, no matter what. He's the
Sovereign. The fear of the Lord. is the
beginning of wisdom. And that fear comes through seeing,
believing, and bowing to His sovereignty. Now it's important
that we know this beautiful, holy, sovereign God, the one
we just so gloriously heard about, He is holy. He is pure. He is sinless. He is good. He is right. He is just. Never one time has He ever ordered
wrong. Not one time. Wrongdoing. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 33 says,
God is not the author of confusion. God is not the author of sin.
God did not create sin. He sovereignly allowed sin. Big difference. He sovereignly allowed it. Here's
the truth. He cannot have anything to do
with sin. God cannot have anything to do
with sin. It will mar His holiness and His justice. That's why Christ
came. It's the whole reason Christ
came. To put away something that God cannot have anything to do
with. How does He create evil then
if He has nothing to do with sin? That's what we read just
a moment ago in Isaiah 45. He said, I create evil. How does
He do that if He can't have anything to do with sin? Let's answer that by seeing this
first. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 John chapter 1, just before Revelation. 1 John chapter 1. 1 John 1 verse 5, it says, This
then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare
unto you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
It's not just that He has light in Him. God is light. How does He create darkness if
He is light and in Him is no darkness at all? That's also
what Isaiah 45 said. How does He create darkness if
in Him is light, if He is light and in Him is no darkness at
all? Here's how He does it. He removes His presence. He removes His presence. When
He removes His presence, darkness is created. The Scripture says
God is good. It says there is none good but
one and that's God. How can He create evil when He
is good? Here's how. He removes His presence. He leaves man alone. He does not come and restrain
man. He sovereignly allows sinful
man to do what is naturally in his heart to do. Our Lord told
His disciples concerning the Pharisees, He said, they are
blind leaders of the blind, leave them alone and they'll all fall
into the ditch. Just leave them alone. Now understanding all of that,
go with me back to Romans 9. Verse 18 says, Therefore hath
He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardeneth. When God is good, and when God
is love, and when God is gracious and kind and all of those things,
how does God harden a man or a woman? By removing His presence. What verse 18 is saying is, to
some, God sovereignly draws near to them. All God has to do is
draw near to a sinner. To break that sinner. To save
that sinner. To create a new heart in that
sinner. To some, God sovereignly draws near to them, and to some,
He leaves them alone. Man's natural response to that
And understandably so. Being sinful flesh, right here.
Having sin in me. I understand why man says this.
But man's natural response to that is, that's not fair. That's
the natural response of man. That's not fair. He can't be
kind to one and show mercy to one and not another. He can't
do that. How dare he do that? The only response that we can
have to that, the only response that needs to be given to that
is, why not? Don't we see that He is the Sovereign? He's the Sovereign God, who has
every right to do what He wants, with whom He wants. And no matter
what He does, He's still good in it. And He's still right in
it, and He's still loving in it, and He's still merciful in
it. Say a man goes to the pound, you go down to the pound, and
they have all these dogs in the pound. If left alone, all those dogs
in the pound will face euthanasia. All you've got to do is leave
them alone. If you just leave them there, and just leave them
alone, that'll be their end, euthanasia. But a man comes and
he looks at all the dogs and this is what he sees. They're
all dogs. Thank God he's the friend of
dogs. But he chooses one. Why did he choose that one? It's
what he wanted to do. That's the one he wanted to choose. He chooses the one he wants.
He pays the price. He delivers the dog from bondage
and from destruction. He takes that dog home. He provides
a place for it. He feeds that dog. He loves that
dog. He says, I have chosen for us
to dwell together in my house. I will be your master and you
will be my dog. If a man does that, can we honestly
say that that man was unfair and ungracious and unkind and
unloving? No. Can we honestly say that
that man does not have the right to take one of them if he doesn't
take all of them? No. Just like Paul, does your heart
break for the rest of them? Yeah, my heart breaks for men. We cry, God be merciful, God
be merciful. But this is how it is with God.
This is the sovereign. Just like Mephibosheth said to
David, who was his deliverer and his king. It says in 2 Samuel
9, he bowed himself. and said, what is thy servant
that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? He said, what great mercy and
what great kindness it was that you'd even look my way. While the sinful world responds
to God's sovereignty by saying in Romans 9, verse 19, Thou wilt
say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? While the natural flesh says,
Why is he judging me? If we're all sinners, we all
come from the same lump. If it's all in his hands anyway,
he's sovereign, right? Why is he pinning it all on me? What right does he have to choose
another and not me? While the sinful flesh responds
to God's sovereignty by saying, why doth he yet find fault for
who hath resisted his will? The Spirit. When God's Spirit
comes, inside a sinner, the spirit responds to God's sovereignty
by saying, verse 20, nay, but oh man, who art thou that replies
against God? Shall the thing formed say 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
unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath? Why is He putting up with all
that? Why is He allowing that? It's to make His power known. It's to show His wrath. And He endures with this long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that He might make
known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which
He had aforeprepared unto glory." If God leaves a sinner alone,
that sinner will say to God, What right do you have to deny
me salvation and eternal life? But if God ever in mercy comes
to a sinner, and if He pours His grace on that sinner, and
if He sheds the pavement of His blood all over that sinner, and
sends His Holy Spirit inside the heart of that sinner, If
the Spirit ever makes known the riches of His glory to a sinner,
that He will have mercy. Like the announcement goes out
in the pound. One is coming to buy a dog. He will have mercy. What glory it is that He will
have mercy. He is a merciful God. That's
what's in His heart. He is a pitiful God. Have you
ever felt pity on something? Oh, come here. He's a pitiful
God. He's a gracious God. And if God
ever in love and kindness brings that to a sinner, that sinner
will say to God, he will say to the Holy God, I'm at your
mercy. I'm at your mercy. Thank God
for any mercy at all. You have the right to do with
me whatever you want to do with me. I deserve your hardening. I deserve your destruction. But
because you're willing to show it, because I hear that you're
willing to show it, I'm begging you for it. I'm begging you for
mercy. If you will, you have the right
and you have the ability to make me clean. If you will, you can
redeem me to honor. I just beg to be one of your
vessels of mercy. Every soul who responds to God's
sovereignty in that way is going to hear this from Him. We're
going to close with this. Go with me to Luke 23. Here are these two opposing responses
to God's sovereignty. Luke 23. Verse 33 it says, ìAnd when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and
the malefactors one on the right hand and the other on the left.î
Verse 39 says, And one of the malefactors which were hanged
railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Why doth he yet find fault? For
who hath resisted his will? If you're the Christ, if you
are sovereignly in control like you say you are, bring me down
from this judgment. Verse 40, But the other, answering,
rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God? seeing thou art
in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive
the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing
amiss. He said, Nay, but, O man, who
art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say
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
unto honor and another unto dishonor? Don't you realize this is God
we're dealing with? And we're totally at His mercy.
Don't you realize we're completely at the mercy of this man? And at that moment, verse 42,
he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. Could I please be one of your vessels of mercy? Even
me, even me, would you please let your blessing fall on me?
Verse 43, and Jesus said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about
the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth
until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and
the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus
had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost." You know what that was? Sovereign mercy. Sovereign mercy. God rightly
redeeming His own from bondage and destruction. God making known
the riches of His glory on His vessels of mercy. Sovereign mercy. He gives it to whoever He is
pleased to give it to. And this is what He said. He
said, if you ask me for it, I will be pleased to give it to you. If we ask, it means He caused
us to ask. It means He's already given it
to us. But He said, ask and you will
receive. Lord, because of Your sovereign
ability, because You will, and because You're able to, and because
You're good and loving and kind, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God be merciful to me, the sinner. He said, you come to me like
that and I will in no wise cast you out. I will in no wise. I will in no wise harden you. Leave you alone. I'll in no wise
leave you alone. Oh, the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy. Amazing grace.