Turn, if you would, to the 9th
chapter of Romans. You can open it right up to that,
right there. And just sit that book right
there on your lap, open to the book of Romans. I told our brother Norm Wells
this morning, I don't really have any notes
today. It's not shameful for a man to
come to the pulpit and tell you openly that sometimes the Lord
just doesn't give you what you think you need to have for notes. I was taken to this book of Romans,
chapter 9. I know the Lord led me to that,
and I pray that the Lord will give me a message for you from
this, and I pray the Lord will speak to your hearts from His
Word. May it please Him to give us
a message this morning from this 9th chapter of Romans. We must be taught of God. So
it's my prayer that our Lord would teach you and I a truth,
something that we can grab a hold of in this world of chaos that
we live in. Have any of you watched the news
lately? You don't need to raise your
hands. If you're like me, you're probably
sitting there going, oh. I can't watch it. When I say
watch the news, I don't mean that. I mean, if you just even
glance to see what's going on in the world around us. Brother
Cody, are you called up? Are you being called up? No.
Thank God. Bill and I were talking about
that this morning. Somebody asked about you. That's why I needed
to ask you if you have been. I thank my Lord you haven't,
and I pray you don't. Our brother Chuck Huffman, Gene's
son-in-law, has been told to be ready to move out Tuesday
morning for somewhere near Ukraine. He's not a fighting soldier,
but he is one who maintains the Black Hawk helicopters, the computers
on the helicopters. So they're calling him into action
in his unit. Man, we live in some trying times,
folks. Some very, very trying times. Not just in the world
around us in possible wars and so on like that, but we live
in trying times in our own country, don't we? Is it just me, or do
we see the master of deceit, the master of lies, seem to be
flourishing in our country? I was thinking about this the
other day. Do you know that the master of
deceit is so good at deceit that he deceives himself? He actually
thinks that he could take one of God's elect away from him.
That's what it means when it goes about roaring as a lion
in scripture. You've heard that phrase? The
devil goes about as a roaring lion. The roaring lion is not
about to attack his prey. Lions, when they attack their
prey, are very quiet and stealth. Roaring lions just out there
roaring, letting everybody know he's around. To a child of God,
that's all he's doing is roaring. He can't take us away from God
Almighty, for God Almighty is God Almighty, even over the devils. What we're about to read here
in Romans chapter 9, I have heard this. I've not experienced it,
so I'm actually going to share this with you from what another
man has told me, one who has attended some of the so-called
Christian universities. That in the Christian universities,
they would prefer that you do not study Romans chapter 9. You see, many of the world's
religions absolutely hate this portion of God's Word. They love
to call upon the Word that fits their perspective, as like John
3.16, that fits their perspective. They'll take that phrase, God
so loved the world, and they'll take that to mean that God loved
everybody in the world. Because that fits their perspective.
They think to themselves, God must love all of mankind. He
must love all of his creation. Do you know that the entire creation,
all the stars, have been cursed along with the flesh? Everything's
going to burn up. All that we can see with these
physical eyes will burn up. That's what the scriptures tell
us. The very earth that we walk on has been cursed by God Almighty
because of sin when sin was brought into the world by one man, Adam,
our father. They think that God must love
all of mankind, that he must love all of his creation. And
therefore, all men must be loved of God. You see, it's our nature to try
to explain things according to what we understand. Isn't it
fun to have a conversation with somebody, oh, yeah, I know exactly
what you mean. I understand that completely. Let me tell you my
opinion about that. That's how we get these big arguments
going on. And what we have for this government
is everybody has an opinion. Everybody has an understanding.
And everybody wants to voice it. I don't understand this or that. And it bothers
me that these people want to do this or that. But they don't
understand how I feel about things either. And it probably bothers
them that I have certain thoughts and certain understandings. It is our nature to explain things
to our own understanding. That's why we can say this. And
I'll bet some of you probably feel the same way. It's my way
or the highway. You don't like it my way, then
go on down the road and do your way somewhere else. I know. I know. I felt in my own heart these
very things. Let me share with you two scriptures. The word of truth. This love letter that our Lord,
who loved us so much, giving himself for us, left for you
and I to read, is truth. Oh, John, truth is whatever a
person wants to think. No, this is truth. This is not. If I'm reading this,
then I'm reading truth. It says in this truth, this book
of truth, in Proverbs 3, verse 5, it says this, Trust in the
Lord with all thine heart. And then it says this. And this
is tough. This is not easy to do. What
I'm about to read next, this is very difficult to do. At least
for this guy. Lean not unto thine own understanding. Man, that's hard. How do I lean
not on the things that I think I understand? How can I trust in the Lord with
all my heart? You know that song we sing, great
is thy faithfulness? You know whose faithfulness that's
singing about, right? That's singing about His faithfulness. God the Father first trusted
in His Son, because He's the one you can trust in. How can I trust in the Lord with
all thine heart? I can't with that natural heart
that I used to walk in, but I do with the heart that the Lord
has given me now. In Isaiah 55 verse 8 we read
these words, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. You get the picture
that we're painting here? Folks, we don't even want to
trust in our own feelings. My feelings can be deceiving
to me. Whether there be feelings of
joy or whatever they be, can be deceiving. But I can trust
in the one solid thing, the one truth, and that is my Lord and
Savior. I can trust in what He says.
I can trust in what He did. Because He's God and He does
nothing wrong. Everything He does is perfect.
Including allowing me to step in things sometimes. to step
into my own sin. My God does everything well. In verse 1 of Romans chapter
9, the Apostle Paul declares what he is about to say, and
it comes from his heart. Look at verse 1 of chapter 9.
This is Paul writing, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not, for
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." Paul
is saying to us in verse 1 that what I am about to convey comes
from my heart. What he is about to say next
in verses 2 and so on comes from his heart. It's like the Lord
came to Peter and he says, does thou love me? Peter says, well,
yeah. You know I love you. He asked
him three times and finally Peter's like, Lord, why are you asking
me again? You know I love you because you
know my heart. You know all things. He knows
our hearts better than we do. And he knows that love that is
in our hearts because it's him who put it there. We love him
because he first loved us. And because of His love for us,
He came to us, each and every one of us, when we walked in
that darkness, and gave us the light of His Son in a brand new
heart. He didn't make the heart that
was there something better. He cut it out and gave us a new
heart. It's called the new birth. He
gave us life where there was once death. I say the truth in Christ, I
lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have a great heaviness, a great heaviness and a continual
sorrow in my heart. Paul is telling us that his great
heaviness is for his brother. I mentioned a moment ago, we
all have children or family or friends that still walk in the
darkness that we once walked in. Well, it was in a Bible study. I'm sorry, it was in our Bible
study. We were talking about the grace that we have towards
others. It's easier to be gracious to
those who walked in the shoes that we once walked in. And because
now we see that we were once blind, we can look at those who
were just like us, those that we were just like at one time,
and see their blindness and have grace upon them. Be gracious
to them because maybe, maybe the Lord will call them out of
the darkness just as he did you and I. Paul had this great heaviness
for his people, for his family, for his kin. He says in verse
3, for I could wish that myself were a curse. This heaviness
was so much that Paul had the desire to give himself. To give himself for those that
he loved. A curse from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh. And then He declares them
for who they are, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, of the giving of the law, and
the service of God, and the promise, who are the fathers, and of whom,
as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all. God bless
it forever. Amen. but not as though the word
of God hath taken none effect." In other words, he just declared those of his kin who did not
know the Lord, they had all the oracles and all of that. But
look over at chapter 10. Look over at the first four verses
of chapter 10. This is what he's talking about.
He's talking about his loved ones, his people, Chapter 10,
verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. This is
those brethren that he was just talking about. Those ones who
aren't the true Israel. They're Israel of the flesh,
but that's it. For I bear them record, he speaks
of them, that they have a zeal of God. Oh, how many of us have
brothers and sisters or family who have a zeal for a God? They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, Now listen to what it reads next. And going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ, verse 4,
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. This is who Paul is writing about
here and talking about in chapter 9. Those who have a zeal for
God, but not according to knowledge. And then he goes on in verse
6, back in our text of chapter 9, Not as though the word of
God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children. But notice what he
says next. Now I began this message by telling
you that this is a scripture that all the religious world
hates. And the reason why is because
this chapter is very clear on election. Chosen. Those who were chosen of God
before the world began. Before a star ever twinkled in
the sky, as it talks about in Ephesians chapter 1. Before the
foundation of the world. Folks, I brought this out in
Friday night study. We have always been loved of
God. Or maybe it was this morning,
because I get them confused now at my old age. You folks, when
you get to be as old as I am, you'll understand. God's people have always been
loved of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is known,
as it mentions in Revelation, the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world because God had determined to save a people before
anybody was even created. We're going to see that in just
a moment here. Let's read on. Not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are
of Israel, neither because they are of the seed of Abraham are
they all children, but in Isaac, but in one. Isaac shall I see
be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, they are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. Those that are promised. Did you know that we were promised
in a covenant of God before the world began? God the Father gave
God the Son a people. on the basis that God the Son,
and this is the agreement, that He would come to this world,
be made flesh, walk righteously, fulfill the law perfectly for
them, because they could not of themselves, and then lay down
His life, shed His blood, make the payment clear, the atonement
was made in our Savior for each and every one of those people. You and I! Those who have seen the truth
of God by the revelation of Jesus Christ. You cannot come to the Son. You
cannot come to the Father unless the Lord Jesus Christ reveals
Himself to you. The Word of God is enmity. You
know what that word means? Enmity? It is the harshest thing
you can think of. It's completely the opposite. It cannot be together. Natural
man and the Word of God cannot be together. We must be brought
together, and that's what grace has done. And we all know what
grace means. It means we haven't done anything
to deserve it. The picture of Israel, they were the smallest
people on the face of the world at that time. Our Lord chose
them not because of anything that they'd done, not because
they were greater than anybody else, for they were not. God's elect, God's chosen people. Verse 9, for this is the word
of promise. At this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. Abraham and Sarah had been married
for a long time. The Lord had promised that Sarah
would deliver a child. And purposefully, our Lord did
not give her a child until she was quite old. So old that she
had passed the time of being childbearing. It was naturally
impossible for her to have a child, yet the Lord delivered his promise. Verse 10, and not only this,
but when Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, also had conceived by
one even by our father Isaac. And this is election in clear,
unmistakable language. You cannot misinterpret what
we are about to read. You cannot take what we are about
to read and make it fit your own ideals. It says in verse
11, for the children, speaking of the two children that were
in Rebekah's womb, being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, before they even had a chance to do anything,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, unto Rebekah,
that the elder shall serve the younger. Folks, that was just
not something that could be done in those days. It just wasn't
something that could be done. Yet it was with the Lord. Esau
would serve Jacob. As it was said unto her, the
elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now, you know, I do want to turn
back to Micah. You notice it says, as it is written here.
I want you to read where it's written. So turn back to Malachi,
if you would. Hold your place there in Romans.
What did I say, Micah? I get those two mixed up quite
often. Malachi, last book of the Old
Testament. This is where it was written.
This is where it's referring to. Now, if you go and you look
up that word, hated, it says, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, if you go look up that word
in the King James Dictionary, you'll find in there at the end
of the definition, you'll see where it says, inserted, loved
less. That means that somebody came
by after the interpretation had been made, after the dictionary
had been written, and they typed in there, here's another one
we want to add into it. Somebody didn't like the fact
that God hated somebody, that God hated anybody. We want a
God who loves everybody so that everybody has a chance. This
is my hope for my children, is that my children could make a
decision and follow Jesus. If you go back to the Old Testament
and you look it up in the Old Testament, you'll find out that
hate, look at verse 3. Well, let's just read verses
2 and 3. I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
brother, saith the Lord, yet I love Jacob? And I hated Esau,
and laid his mountains and his heritage to waste for the dragons
of the wilderness." Now, you look that up in the dictionary,
and you'll find that that word hated, that's a revilement. It's such a strong word that
they can't even look upon it. Folks, the only reason God loves
you and I See, it was pretty simple. He
hated Esau because Esau is a representation of sin. Did you know Jacob was
a usurper? He was not a nice guy. He was a liar, but yet his brother
Esau was a picture of sin, and God
cannot look upon sin. The only reason God can look
upon you and I, the only reason God can love you and I, is because
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and what He has done for us.
Because of Him laying down His life for us, shedding His blood
for us, paying the redemptive price, we're washed in His blood. We're washed as clean, white
as snow, in the blood of Christ. Back in our text, chapter 9.
Verse 13 again, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Then verse 14, what shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Folks, what you don't understand,
there's a lot of this book that I don't understand. I'm probably
the least of anyone who understands any part of it. But I would never call my Lord
unrighteous. And the only reason I would never
do it is because of Him. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. And then Paul quotes
scripture, he says, for he sayeth to Moses, In Exodus 33, 19, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Is there unrighteousness with
God because He hated Esau, who is a representation of sin, and
He loved Jacob, who is a representation of God's people, those who have
been cleansed by the blood of God? By grace they are saved? No. Our Lord says, I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. Aren't you thankful
that He has compassion on anybody? He didn't have to. When we sing that song, Praise
Him, Praise Him, we're praising our Lord because He's had compassion
on some. And we are that son. I don't deserve it. I haven't
earned it. But my Lord and Savior freely
gave it to me. Just as He gives that compassion
to each and every one of His people. Just as He gives it to
you. Verse 16, "...so that it is not
of him that willeth." See, we've already looked at the declaration
of election that the world hates up there, but now you're going
even deeper than that. You're going past that point
of election and you're saying, now wait a minute, I have no
part in this? I don't have a choice? If I was
left up to my own choice, I'd still be out there running around
in the darkness that I once walked in. And everyone who's been enlightened
by God would say the same exact thing. We see now what we were
once before, blind as bats. Even worse. At least bats have
some kind of a radar or something to keep them from running into
something. I'd be running into everything as I was before. And
if you're a child of God who has experienced the grace of
God in your heart, you know exactly what I'm saying. You too can
sit there and say, I know what I used to be. And I know the
grace of God because it's by His grace that I am what I am
now. Verse 16 again, So then it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. Oh, for the mercy of God to this
poor sinner! Oh, for the mercy of God to each
and every poor sinner for whom he laid his life down for! Verse 17, For the Scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, Remember him? Remember Pharaoh? The guy they
buried in those big old huge rock pyramids in the east, along
with all the other pharaohs. Most powerful man on Earth at
that time. So powerful that he thought himself
to be a god. Everybody did exactly what he
said, and most of them did what they thought he was thinking. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, now listen to what the Lord has to say about that man,
Pharaoh. Each and every one of us, folks,
have seen ourselves as this, the king of our world, the ruler
of our world. I did it my way. For the scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up. God raised that man up to be
the most powerful man on earth at that time, just as he raises
up the presidents of this country. Amen. Just as he raises up that sheriff
who drives around in his car making sure people are staying
out of trouble. Just as he raises up my boss.
They used to tell me to clock in and clock out, and go home
and do this, and just, and each of you who were working. You
know what I mean? Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, the Lord says, that I might show my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Verse 18, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have
mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou shalt 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? Who are you to question God? Only those who believe that they
have power over any God. will question the true and living
God. That's what free willism is. It's declaring that your
will is above God's. Either God is sovereign or he's
not God at all. Every religion in the world is
completely vain if God does not rule over every minor little
thing. We call ourselves sovereign grace
Baptists to distinguish ourselves differently from all the other
Baptist religions in the world. Sovereign grace means that it's
by His sovereign, His will, not my will, His will. And His will
rules over everything. And it's by His grace that I
even see that. And all of his children see the
same thing when he's called them out of that darkness we once
walked in. Name an old man, verse 20, who art thou that replies
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it? Shall we, who are nothing but
a worm, say to the one who rules over everything, creates, just
thinks about it and it's there? The one who has planned everything
out already, everything happens according to his purpose, Shall
we say to him that formed us, why hast thou made us thus? Well, if that's what you're saying,
Paul answers in a very clear and poignant way. Look at this
verse 21. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? It can't get any simpler than
that, folks. We understand what clay is, right?
We understand how to make things out of clay. The clay doesn't
tell me how to make it. I choose how I want to make the
clay. Well, that's exactly what it's saying here. God makes things
the way he thinks they should be made. Plain and simple. He's
sovereign over everything. Who are we to question him? I
have learned not to question that because God has shown me
that he didn't have to choose me. I have come to know, as you have,
even each of you have, that if God had not chosen us, we would
have chosen to keep going the way we were. If we're left to
our own will. And this is the grace of God
working in our lives. This is Him coming to us when
we were running in darkness. Running away from Him. And saying,
no, you're mine. I will have you. Your name is
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. In the palms of His hands,
we are inscribed. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? Folks, if it weren't for the
grace of God, we would be going along in dishonor just as we
were at one time. Yet we have always been God's
sheep. Everything was created that we
would come to hear the gospel preached at some point in our
lives. And we praise Him and thank Him
for His blessings. Verse 22, What if God, willing
to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured long
suffering with the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction?
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 the Jews only, but also the Gentiles. I think we're going to call it
a closed attack. No, I want to go over to verse
32 and 33. No, we'll start at verse 30.
Jump down to verse 30. What shall we say then? that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained the righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
have not attained the law of righteousness? Wherefore, how
is that? How can that be? Because they
sought it not by faith. These very ones that Paul talks
about next in chapter 10, verses 1 through 4, the very ones who
had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, the very ones that
you and I walked as, the very ones that you and I, at one time,
walked right alongside of, having a zeal of either a God of our
own imagination or a God of ourselves, but had no knowledge of who the
Lord Jesus Christ. They sought it not by faith,
but as it were the works of the law, for they stumbled at the
stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of an offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The grace of God is
spread all throughout His word, When Adam and Eve sinned in the
garden, God showed His grace by turning away what they had
done in their own hands, thinking they had clothed themselves with
a leaf. And He clothed them with a picture
of His righteousness. His grace. The blood of His Son. The very
blood that He washes you and I with. making as wide as snow. Amen.