Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter
9. I'm thankful, as the Lord enables
us, we'll have time. We're not under any time crunch.
I probably should have made these verses here about four different
messages, but we can come back. It's alright. Let's look there
in Romans 9 verse 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou wilt
say unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted
his will? 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 honour, and another unto dishonour? If God, willing to
show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much
long-suffering 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 only of the Jews, but also of
the Gentiles." Now Paul just told us In the previous verses
there, that the Lord in perfect holiness, in an act of righteousness,
He loved Jacob. He was just. He judged rightly
in loving Jacob because of Christ. And being holy and acting in
full righteousness and perfection, He hated Esau. In both cases,
He was right. He was just. He was holy. The
sin that we are born into and what we are from conception is
deserving of divine, holy wrath. That is right. That's what we
deserve. And because of that substitutionary work of Christ
on Calvary's cross, when He was made sin for us, that we could
be made His righteousness, Because of Him, because of those, for
those that were put into Him before time was. He was that
Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. Those that are
saved, then those that are called. He saved them and He called them.
Made Himself known unto them. It is holy, it is just, and it
is righteous for God to save His people. It's right. Being
made alive in the flesh, all of mankind deserves wrath. We'll look at that word a little
bit more, but justice. We deserve justice. And being
made alive in the Spirit, all of Christ's sheep are deserving
of eternal life. That's right. With that understanding,
if the Lord gives you wisdom to grasp that Christ is the only
hope for mercy for eternity-bound men and women. Then we say with
Paul in Romans 9.16, So then it is not of him that willeth.
It's not something I chose to do. It's not something I thought.
Nor of him that runneth. I didn't do anything. but of
God that showeth mercy." If you're a vessel of mercy, if you've
received mercy by His hand, you say, He gave it. The Lord showed
it. It's of Him. Salvation's of the
Lord. There are children of Jacob in this world. There have been,
from God creating man in the garden. All throughout time,
those that loved of God, those that have shown mercy, that atonement,
that blood sacrifice of Christ, throughout time, there are children
of Jacob here tonight. Vessels of honor. And throughout
time, from Cain until now, and until our Savior comes, there
will be children of Esau. There will be those vessels of
dishonor. Many times in my life, I look a whole lot more like
a vessel of dishonor than I do a vessel of honor. We can't tell
the difference in them, can we? There is Esau and Jacob. I guarantee you, if we would
know them today, I'd get along a whole lot better with Esau
than I would Jacob. I'd like him a whole lot better. He was
strong, he was patient, a good hunter. He had a lot of redeeming
qualities in our eyes, didn't he? And there's old Jacob, mama's
boy. Deceiver, lying, trickery. I wouldn't hold him in much regard,
is he? He's a vessel of honor. Why then are we here? Why do
we exist? And that's the big question of
a lot of philosophers, isn't it? Why are we here? What's the
purpose? What's the meaning of life? Especially those that say,
well, if the Lord's predetermined everything, God's sovereign in
all things, in salvation and providence, creation and everything,
why even do it? Why not just click your fingers
and it's over? Look here in verse 17. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised thee up that I
might show thee my power and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Brother Mike just read that.
His righteous judgment. The whole earth is going to fear
him. Every man, woman, and child ever born of Adam Their knees
are going to bow and they're going to honor Him for His justice,
for His holiness, His righteousness. We see in that in the destruction
of the wicked, the Lord's power and the glory of His name are
declared throughout all the earth. They'll cry, He's just. He's
holy. And in the salvation of His spiritual
Israel, the power and the name of our Lord is declared throughout
all eternity. We praise His name. Saving of
the elect and the destruction of the wicked are all for the
glory of our God. That His power will be displayed
and that His name will be declared throughout all the earth and
throughout all time. And because of this, Therefore, because of
it, verse 18, Romans 9, 18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. In all power, in
all wisdom, the Almighty God, through sending His Son to be
the justifier of His people, an acceptable blood sacrifice,
for His own glory, He has had mercy on a chosen race. In His wisdom, And in all wisdom
and in all power, He's hardened the hearts of those that He justly
hates. Those whose sin was not made
extinct at Calvary's cross. He's right in doing so. It says,
Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom
He will, He hardeneth. Now you that believe, what did
you say the first time you heard that? What went through your
heart? The first time you said, he'll have mercy on whom he'll
have mercy and he'll hardeneth who he will. What'd your heart
say? You that don't believe, and the
Lord's been gracious enough to give you ears to hear me preach
to you. You've been put under the sound of the gospel. What
do you say to that now? You read those words. What's
your instinct? What's your heart say? Your old
nature. Here's what you say. And here's what you did say when
you first heard it. Look there in verse 19. Thou
wilt say then unto me. And that's declared. Here's what
you're going to say. Why doth he yet find fault for who hath
resisted his will? You say, but. And the truth of
the gospel is declared. Natural man says, but. Or a goat. They but, don't they? That's
what I did. That natural heart first hears
of the all-powerful, all-sovereign God of the universe and of His
sovereign mercy to those vessels He chooses, that it pleases Him
and glorifies His name at His good pleasure and will. Man's
first reaction is fatalism. What does it matter then? If
that's the case, why am I here? What's the purpose of life? If
God made me this way, how could He find fault? He did it. You know what Adam said? Well,
that's a woman you gave me. We blame shit, don't we? We accuse
God. Our nature immediately accuses
God after we're fatalistic for our inability. We accuse Him
for our unbelief. We say if man's will only comes
from his unchanging nature, And the Lord's perfect will comes
from His wholly unchanging nature. And the Lord's will is always
performed in all things. Who's resisted a sovereign God?
We ain't got no choice in the matter. You're right. God forbid. Our sin nature accuses
God of making us have a hardened heart. We accuse God of wrongdoing
because we think What we believe is the right thing. Anytime we
accuse anybody that something's wrong, we're saying, I'm right.
If we grade a paper for a school-aged child and you mark it wrong,
you're saying you're wrong and I'm right. If you find fault
with God, you're saying he's wrong and what I think's best. And they accuse God of heart
in their hearts, as if we had soft hearts to begin with. I
was good. You made me bad. Not so. That ain't the case. We turn
in there to Exodus chapter 4. Exodus chapter 4. How is it that
the Lord hardens a person's heart? Paul just mentioned Pharaoh there
in our text. So let's look at what Moses recorded
about Pharaoh. Exodus 4. In Exodus 4, verse
21, And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return unto
Egypt, see that thou do all these wonders before Pharaoh, which
I have put in thine hand. But I will harden his heart.
Then he shall not let the people go. Now the Lord told Moses,
He said, You're going to go warn Pharaoh. I've gave you these
signs. You've got your hand, and you've
got the staff, and you're going to do some works in front of
Him. And we're going to send some plagues. And I will harden His
heart. You tell Him. Go say, let my
people go, and He ain't going to do it. I'm going to harden
His heart. Now look over there in chapter 9. Just a few pages. Exodus 9 verse 34. Exodus 9.34, and when Pharaoh
saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased,
he sinned yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was
hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go as
the Lord had spoken by Moses. The Lord told Moses he was going
to harden Pharaoh's heart, but then it says here Pharaoh's heart
was hardened by himself. He hardened his own heart. And
same did his servants. And then we see that it says
there in verse 35, his heart was hardened. Look here in chapter
10, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and he's
hardened the hearts of his servants. That, there's a reason, it's
on purpose, that I might show these my signs before him. We see in chapter 4 the Lord
saying He was going to harden Pharaoh's heart. There at the
end of chapter 9 it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. And here
in chapter 10 verse 1, the Lord says, He hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Now that's easy for us to look at and get confused, isn't it?
Does it contradict itself? This is a perfect example of
the permissive will of God. Our Master hardens the hearts
of wicked men and women by leaving them to their own wisdom. He
leaves us to our own way, to our own will. Once the Lord takes
His hand off of a sinner, that person's nature will do what's
natural. It's instinct will kick in. He
removes his presence and nothing but hardness and darkness and
sin run rampant. Just like concrete. As soon as
you stop working it, as soon as you stop moving concrete,
it hardens up. That's all it's able to do. That's
its nature. And by working it, it's something
it's not able to do. You churn it. Keep throwing some
water in there and churning it and it'll stay wet all day. Pour
it anywhere you want. Stop working it and it hardens.
That's its nature. We don't think that's our nature.
When the Lord removes His hand from a person and allows them
to have their own will, allows them to have their own way, our
natural instinct is to harden, not to soften. The Lord said
in Isaiah 45, He said, I form the light and I create darkness. Does that mean He creates evil?
How do you create darkness? You turn the light off. He removes
His countenance. That's the absence of light.
Darkness. Does God create sin? God forbid. He removes His holiness. Paul
told us there in 1 Corinthians 14, For God is not the author
of confusion, but of peace. We talked about that the other
day, me and one of the brethren. The Lord softens His people. We come
in hard. He softens us. How? Showing us
mercy. How do we know how to love? He
loved us. How do we know how to be tender? He's tender to
his people. A heathen's hard. That's legal, the letter of the
law. Hardness, stone cold justice is all they're concerned about.
A child that's been given a new spirit, they're tender, they're
merciful, they're loving. Soften up a little bit, don't
you? But you don't know those things unless the Lord reveals
Himself to you. Now those truths, that truth
about how the Lord hardens somebody, that's not rejected to those
that have their sin revealed to them. When the Lord convicts
us of what we are, we say, that's right. That's just. It's not
complicated. We learn real quickly what a
worm we are. Children of God are taught what unrighteous wickedness
we are in our nature. I know that's me. And we're taught
of the holiness and the perfection that is in our Lord alone. Those
that continue to accuse God of injustice, they only do so because
they think of themselves that they're still just. They think
they're still right. They think there's some holiness
in them. They don't see themselves as dead, unable, lifeless clay. Just muddy dirt. And they put
the blame on the Lord and not on themselves. They don't take
sides against themselves on the Lord's behalf. Look here at verse
19 again, Romans chapter 9, verse 19. 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 repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? All of mankind
is the creation of God for his pleasure and for his glory. Who
are we? We are creatures with an end.
We're finite beings. We're unwise, and we only think
evil continually. We drink iniquity like water.
Who are we to question Almighty God? We read Sunday about Elihu
saying that about kings and princes. He was putting that in layman's
terms, something we can get a hold of. If the president was still,
we say a whole lot about the president unless you're standing
next to him in all that secret service and he might say something different.
We know better than to do that. And I ain't in that position.
I don't know what, I don't know what he knows. And we understand
that in a worldly sense. Who are we to question God? The
one that made us. We were made by him out of the
dust. We are nothing but dust. We are
descendants of Adam. That's his, that's what his name
means. Red earth. I always think of Georgia clay.
You're just, you're dirt, dust. It's what we's made out of. Look
here in verse 21, Romans 9, 21. Hath not the potter power over
the clay, over the atom, over the dirt, of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? All the
human race is just individual lumps of clay that the Lord made. We don't think so, but we are.
or nothing. The Almighty God is the potter. He made the dust of the earth,
and then he made man from the dust. And the potter has power
over the clay. The Greek word there, power,
means privilege, competency, freedom, mastery, and authority. For God to make one lump of clay,
just a man or a woman, a vessel of honor, or to make another
one a vessel of dishonor, it is His power, it is His freedom,
and it is His authority to do so. That's His privilege, His
discernment. Our brother Cyril Reynolds there
in New Jersey is a potter. I think he's gave it up now,
but for years he's got a lot of people got sets of dishes
from Cyril. But he makes art as well and
his wife paints. And Cyril can go to that same
lump of clay that he bought at the store, he purchased, and
he'll take some of that clay out and he'll make a beautiful
piece of artwork to give to his wife. Oh, she's just so pleased
with it. It's beautiful. And it's beautiful. He gets honor from his wife from
doing so. And he can take that same lump,
pinch off another piece, and make an ashtray. All the wisdom comes from the
potter. That clay didn't choose to be
one or the other. All the honor in one vessel being of honor
to him and one that's been of dishonor. All that glory for
making it that way goes to the potter. And all the power, clay
can't make itself. Everything it takes, all the
power is in the potter. Now how much power does it take
to raise a man from the dead? How much power does it take to
give a sinner a new spirit? Take something that's just clay
and make it holy. Give it life. Breathe life into it. How much
power does it take to keep that new spirit, that new soul sustained
for eternity? Aren't you thankful he's the
God of all power? That he's the potter? What if
that power was required of me? Can't do it. Talk about humbling
somebody. Here's what's required. Can you
do that? I can't. Look here at verse 22. The word what there is italicized. If God, willing to show His wrath
and to make His power known. He is willing to show His wrath.
He will make His power known. Endured with much longsuffering,
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. God, for His glory,
His holiness, and His namesake, He's determined to make two things
known. First, He's going to make known
His wrath against sin and His holy countenance. It can't be
in His presence. It must be punished. He will. He is willing. And second, His
mercy to His people through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wrath
against sin is not an evil thing. The Lord's wrath is right and
it's good. He is keeping His Word, of which He cannot lie. The punishment of sin is death. He will in no wise clear the
guilty. The soul that sinneth, it must
surely die. There is no pleasure for him
when he destroys the guilty. He's only being just. In our
nation, if there was a $100 fine for parking in a handicapped
spot, and I went down there and I parked in a handicapped spot,
and they got pictures of me, they wrote me a ticket, and I
went before a judge, and they said, here's the proof. You've
broken the law. You're guilty. You owe $100. There's no pleasure there. He's
just executing the law. And it's right. That's just. Even in those things, we plead
for mercy then. If we'll plead for mercy in a
court of man's law, why don't we plead to God's holy high command? Why don't we plead for mercy
to Him? But here's the good news. Our
God is a God of mercy. He remains just. His holiness
has not been moored, and He shows mercy to those vessels of honor
that He's made. How can that be? Only through
Christ's person and His work as our substitute, that Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. Only in Him. Only
in Him becoming me and dying. Because the wages of sin is death. It must be dealt with. Blood
must be shed. Only through Him. Dying for His
people, for those vessels that were made to be honorable. as
we were made righteous because He was made sin for us. That's
the only way that's possible. And God is now just and a justifier. He's both. Still holy. And He's
long-suffering and executing His wrath on sin. For what reason? Look here at verse 23. 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." So
many people throughout time, especially in our day, have asked
this question. Why would God allow things to
happen this way? Or that way? How could God let
all this horrible stuff happen in our presence, in our nation? But we as clay vessels should
not be asking questions concerning the Lord's providence. Why have
you made me this? Why are you setting me on this
shelf? We should be declaring the Lord is long suffering on
vessels fitted for destruction. Right now in our country, we
have a pestilence, we have crime, natural disasters. People have
cancer and our hometown, they're riding, they're locked down right
now. People publicly cursing each other and publicly cursing
God. There's false teachers walking
around. Idolaters are rampant all around us. Sin and the result
of sin encompass us about. It's all around us. Why has the
Lord allowed this to go on? That He might make known the
riches of His glory on His vessels of mercy. Christ will reveal
Himself through the Holy Spirit to those that are His. We look throughout the Old Testament
there at the flood. Well, things are bad around us
right now, aren't they? The Lord destroyed the whole earth and
saved eight people and crossed our ark to give us a picture.
Why would He do that? Why would He let those bad things
happen and kill all those people? He had to use that as an illustration
to teach his people who Christ was for his vessels of honor. Israel was there in the desert.
Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who entered into that promised
land. It was wretched twin cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. Sounds a
lot like our day. They were spared until Lot was
brought out. People say, how could the Lord
let all this evil happen around us? He's saving His people. Am I going to question Him? Why are you doing it that way?
No, you say, Amen. Bow to Him. Honor Him. All the
things we view as horrible around us, each and everything is being
worked in all wisdom and all power, calling Christ's sheep
out, calling them to Himself. that they may know the riches
of His glory in the salvation of His people and in the honoring
of His heavenly Father." Through all that, what we think is terrible,
we'll look at it and say, God is just. Christ fully honored
the Father on my behalf, and He did it all for His people. Who are these sheep? Who are
these vessels of honor? Turn over to 2 Timothy, chapter
1. 2 Timothy. Those that are aforeprepared
to glory, those put into Christ before the foundation of the
world, those children of Jacob that have never done any good
or evil, but were presented by Christ our Lord at the throne
of judgment. Look here in 2 Timothy 1, or
chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1, verse 8. 2 Timothy 1.8, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
We were aforeprepared. Notice there it says we were
saved and then we were called. And the purpose and the gracious
act is to the glory of Christ. It is made known unto us on our
calling. Christ makes himself manifest.
He reveals himself to those that he died for. And we are made
to see that our death, that wrath of the Father's holy justice
has been abolished. He swallowed it up at Calvary.
And we are vessels that life and immortality has been placed
in by our potter's hand. A cup doesn't do anything but
hold what I put in it. We acknowledge that. We look
to Him for all things. All this is revealed in the light
of the gospel of Christ. He sheds light on our dark hearts,
convicting us of sin and showing us His holy character in action,
showing us His righteousness. Who are these vessels again?
That sounds like something far off, doesn't it? Paul says there
in Romans 9 24, even us, even us whom he hath called,
not only of the Jews, but also the Gentiles. That's us. Even
me? Even me? I'm going to download it this
week. We'll get the music. Have Thine
own way, Lord, have Thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am
the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy
will. While I am waiting, yielded and
still. Wounded and weary, help me, I
pray. Power, all power, surely is Thine. Touch me and heal me, Savior
divine. Hold o'er my being absolute sway. Fill with thy spirit, so all
shall see Christ only always living in me." We read that about the potter
and the clay. You say, why? Why would you do that? That's not fair. Lord, have in
your complete power, take a hold of your vessels of honor and
fill them with Christ. Conform him to his image and
keep him always. Have absolute sway in your purpose,
will, and glory. And we honor him, don't we? I
hope that was a blessing to you.