Romans chapter 9, I want you
to read verses 1 through 3 with me. Paul says, I say the truth
in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed separated from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh, the Israelites. Then chapter 10, look at how
he begins chapter 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now that's
how he began Romans 9, which is One of the clearest and plainest
and boldest declarations of the truth in all of God's Word. It's
a chapter that many people hate, and yet Paul loved them. He said to some, I become your
enemy because I tell you the truth. I'm going to try to tell
you the truth this morning from Romans 9, and I want to do it
in love. I want to speak the truth in
love. Paul told young Titus, he said, these things speak,
exhort, and rebuke with all authority, with boldness, with no apology. And do it, he says, any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God. Thus saith the Lord. But he said to Timothy, Do it
in love. Do it in love. Brother Gabe and
I were talking not long ago about two young preachers that began
preaching. And the thing we noticed about
them, the thing that was so prevalent was they were mean. And they were arrogant. And that's so far from the grace
of God. I told Gabe, those men preached
in such a way that they almost relished people going to hell.
You've heard them. And God removed one of them from
the ministry, and the other one will be shortly followed, and
I'm quite sure of that. And what this is though, you
know, these men spoke the truth. True doctrine. And it's so confusing
to people how a man can preach the truth and yet be a bad man. Is that possible? It sure is. Balaam. Judas Iscariot. 1 Corinthians 13 says this, let
me just remind you what 1 Corinthians 13 said. It said, let me read
it to you. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity or love,
I'm just a sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift
of prophecy and understand all mystery, I know the doctrine. I have knowledge. I have all
faith. I have not charity. I'm nothing. Nothing. Paul began Romans 9
with saying, I could wish I was cut off. for those that hate
me." That's a man with a pastor's heart in him. I remember reading
as a young preacher, and I never forgot this statement. A man
said, it's one thing to love to preach, and many do. Many want to, and take it upon
themselves. But the man said, it's another
thing to love those to whom you preach. Paul said that. He said, one place, he said,
the more I love, the less I love. But he said, I would gladly be
spent for you. The Corinthians. And boy, if
you'll read the Corinthians letter, you'll know how he had a lot
of people against him. What's my point? My point is,
one can know doctrine and not know the Lord. That you can love doctrine and
not love the Lord and not be loved by the Lord. You can preach
the truth and not be true. You can even preach Christ. Balaam
did. Balaam preached Christ. Read
it for yourself. You can even preach Christ and not know Christ. Now that's fearful isn't it?
And that's what that should create. Keep in us a fear. Fear the Lord. Paul said, I fear lest in preaching to others,
I myself become a castaway. Paul, that's what he said. And
I'll tell you this though, you cannot know the Lord and not
believe the truth. You cannot know the Lord and
not preach the truth and not love the truth and not clearly
and plainly and boldly declare it. But when you do, It needs
to be lovingly. It needs to be lovingly. If John said this, he said, you
can't love God and not love your brother. It's not possible. How can you love God whom you
haven't seen and not love your brother whom you do see? It's
not possible. So Paul began this way. And that's
the way we need to present it. I remember as a young believer
taking this sword and cutting heads off with it. That's not our motive, is it?
It kind of was my motive at that time. Simon Peter, didn't he
took out that sword? I'm going to take you all on.
He was aiming at that fellow's head. And the Lord has to undo
the damage we've done with His Word. Simon learned. How did he learn?
a lesson that it's not about condemning people, it's in the
hope that they might be saved. How did he learn? By a painful
lesson of himself, didn't he? And it's of the Lord's mercies
I'm not cut off. Romans 9, look at verse 21. We
begin here. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lot to make one vessel under honor and another
under dishonor? That nothing could be clearer.
There could not be a clearer illustration given, could there,
than a potter and a clay. Potter and the clay. We were
just in a potter's house. And what is clay? It's inanimate
matter. It's wet dirt. It's dust with
a little water mixed in. Clay has no say. It's all up to the potter, isn't
it? There's never been clay ever to cooperate with the potter. There's never been clay that
made itself into a beautiful vessel. Ever. Man is dead. Born dead and trespassed
in sin. Started back in the garden, our
Lord said, the day you eat thereof, dying you shall die. Dead. That's where the gospel starts,
doesn't it? Man's dead. He can't save himself. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's by Him, through Him, of
Him, and for Him. For His Lord. Alright? Paul answers the argument against
this. Verse 19, they say, why does
he yet find fault? Who hath resisted his will? This
is the argument everywhere. If everything is according to
God's sovereign will, how can He find fault with men? If everything
works according to His will, how then can He find fault with
men who can't be saved even if they want to? Well, the answer
to this will not satisfy any unbeliever. The purpose of preaching
is not to placate people or to We're not apologizing for God. We're not trying to explain God
or apologize. Just declare. The first way that
Paul answered this is he said, verse 20, Who are you to reply
against God? In other words, God can and does
exactly what He will. Who are we to question? And God does not give an account
of His matters, of all of His matters. He doesn't have to. But know this. We must know this. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. He is, in all
of His ways, He's right. Whatever He does is right. He
never does anything that's not right. God is good. God is merciful. God is gracious. His tender mercies are over all
His works. Whatever God does is right, and
people get exactly what they deserve from God. He's just. That's what justice
means. Right? When Abraham pleaded for Lot,
his nephew, You know, he wanted him saved. He wanted his wife
saved. He wanted those people he perhaps
knew inside him, wanted them saved. Oh, if you find ten righteous
people in that city, will you save them? God said, I will.
I will. Just ten. The city of how many? Hundreds of thousands. If I just
find ten, I'll save that city. There weren't ten. Doesn't the
scripture say it? None righteous. No, not one.
Doesn't say that. But God is rich in mercy. He makes some righteous. Lots.
That's another story. Look at verse 22. It 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 had
prepared. for, or before, prepared unto
glory. It's even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Now, notice it says, with much
longsuffering he endured these vessels of wrath. People get
hung up and fitted for destruction. We'll deal with that in just
a moment. Now, go back to Romans 1. Let's go back to how this
started. Alright? Let's go back to how this started. that nobody
can blame God for their destruction. Nobody. No one. If anyone perishes, it's their
fault. If anyone is saved, God does
it, and He gets all the glory. That's just it. And those who
have been saved, they know. That's absolutely so. Not only
from Scripture, but from experience. And I'll get ahead of myself
by telling you, it says the same lump. He does this work with the same
lump. When God looked down from heaven
on the children of men, He lumped them all together, didn't He?
There's none righteous. None good. There's none that
seeks after God. I didn't. I was in that lump,
weren't you? In that mass of humanity. Somebody
say it. But God. I tell you, those that have been
plucked as a brand from the burning, those who have been in that same
lump and mass and pulled by God's mercy and grace and sovereign
love and electing grace out of that, they sure love electing
grace. They love God's mercy. Romans
1, it began this way by saying in verse 18, the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth. This is the truth you have in
your hand. And nearly everyone has a copy of it. It's becoming
more and more diluted. But they have it, but they hold
it, suppress it, in unrighteousness. Twist it, pervert it, Peter said,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. God
hath showed it unto them, the invisible things of God from
the creation of the world, clearly seen. Why, even the animals see
it clearly, don't they? The birds wake up. Think how
hard birds have it. You think what a tough life birds
have, animals. But they sing to their Creator
every morning. Read on. His eternal power and
Godhead, they're without excuse, you see, without excuse. Read
on. But when they knew God, these things clearly revealed, they
glorified Him not as God. They just don't acknowledge God. Why not? They hate God. Read on. Neither were thankful. What does God require of man
but just to be thankful? Worship. That's what worship
is, you know. Acknowledge him as our God. Read them. They became vain in their imagination.
Their foolish heart was darkened. Oh, professing themselves to
be wise, but the fool had said no, God. They changed the glory
of God. So, verse 24, God gave them up. Does that mean God gave up on
them? No. It just means God left them alone. Is this God's fault? Did He make them do these things? No. They willingly rebelled against God, like Adam
and Eve. And God gave them up. And so,
verse 25, they changed the truth of God into a lie. and worshiped
and served man. Mother nature. Mother nature. More than the Creator. And it
goes on to say, so God gave them up. And down in verse 29 it says,
they became filled with all of these things. Verse 30, haters
of God. And verse 32, knowing the judgment
of God that they which commit such things are what? Worthy. They've made themselves fit for
nothing but destruction. So how did God fit them, make
them do it? Did He make them sin? Oh, don't
let us not dare charge God with sin. That all He has to do is
leave us alone. That's all He ought to do. Fitted
for destruction. Does that mean people hate this? They think some are elected to
hell and others are elected to hell. Brethren, if God hadn't
elected some people, we'd all go to hell. He doesn't have to elect people
to hell. That's where they're headed anyway. That's where I was headed. I
was telling somebody about my story. Well, a man who was in
Vietnam, a rebel, He was talking about being buried under rubble,
and I said, well, I wasn't in Vietnam, but I was thrown off
a building 60 feet, landed flat on my back, and if I'd have died
right there, I'd have split hell wide open. I'd have gotten exactly
what I deserved. And the Lord, in mercy and grace,
lifted me up from that, and I bragged about it to people. I actually bragged about it to
people. Salvation is about mercy. Sovereign
mercy. He said, I will be merciful.
Thank God He's merciful to whom I will. Because nobody deserves
it. Nobody deserves it. The chief
of sinners loves. Those who have been forgiven
much, love much. What do they love? God's sovereign
mercy. Well, look at our text. He said now
in verse 23, that he might make known... Well, you say, preacher,
what about Jude 4? What about those that were ordained
to condemnation? Well, known unto God are all
His works from the beginning of the world. Right? The foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are His. Alright? He chose the people
before the foundation of the world. Right? Yes, He did. All He had to do for people to
be ordained to this condemnation is not Judaism. Right? And that's what's going
to happen to them. But can we blame God? You see,
people that don't know the truth think, this is confusing. This
is a contradiction. This is not right. This is not
fair. And they say things like this, that everybody deserves
a chance to be saved. Hold on now. That's where you
miss it. That man doesn't deserve me.
Did Adam and Eve deserve to be saved? Did the angels, who kept
not their first estate, did they deserve a chance? No. God was
merciful to them. God was gracious to them. God
was kind to them. God gave them all these things.
There's your chance. There's your chance. God's wrath against sin is just
and it's for His glory. But ordained to this condemnation,
well, He just has to leave us alone. But those that go to glory,
they must be ordained. Here's a good illustration. You
remember when our Lord told the disciples to cast the net on
the right side of the ship? You remember that? They were
fishing all night, I guess, on the left side. Always on the
left side. And there were no fish there.
None. The Lord told those fish, don't
go near the left side of that boat. And they caught nothing.
And what that is, is an illustration that you can't catch fish. You
can't catch men. You can't do anything. It's totally,
completely up to me to apprehend sinners. According to my word. All right,
they cast their net on the right side, and how many did they catch?
An exact number. How many? 153. Now, I guarantee
you that not one of those fish wanted to be in that net. Fish
don't want to be caught. Believe me, do I know that. Asked me about the big one that
got away, Ron, the other day. They don't want to be caught.
They don't want to be in that net. Exactly 153. They were numbered. Now why is that? He's telling
us clearly that the Lord knoweth them that are His. He chose them,
and He sends the gospel net in time to apprehend them. They
don't want to be in that net, but after He apprehends them,
they're sure glad they're in that net. And He'd bring them
all in the boat. Oh, glad. Fish don't want to
be in the boat. Well, these do. And they lay down their lives,
and they were all brought to shore. Vessels of mercy. Look at verse
23. What about the vessels of mercy? God make known the riches
of His glory. This is His gloriousness. Sovereign
mercy. Vessels of mercy prepared unto
glory. Prepared to glory. Worms become
butterflies. The riches of His glory. All the elect, all of God's people
know, it was not that I did choose
thee, for Lord, that could not be. For if thou hadst not chosen
me, I would never, never, never have chosen thee. Thank God. Same love, vessels of mercy,
prepared before unto glory. Brethren, it doth not yet appear
what we shall be. But when we see Him, we'll be
like Him. I'll show you a mystery. We're
not all sleep. We all will be changed. In a
moment, Mr. Queensland and I are going to
be like Christ. Be with Christ. Same love. Sovereign mercy. Verse 24. Even
us. Paul said, even me. We sing that
song, don't we? Even me. Even me. Let some drops now fall on thee.
Even me. Can you say that, Lord? We tend to think that, oh, this
person is a much better person than me, and this person, and
I can see how he saved this person. This is what all the chief of
sinners think. I can see how the Lord, but me? Yeah, even us. Paul said, I was
the chief because he was injurious, a blasphemer, a persecutor. That's why he could love people
that hated him. Because he hated people. He wanted
them dead. And Stephen was stoned. And he
never got over that. He never got over that. And so,
when they stoned him, like Stephen, he prayed, don't lay this to
their charge. Because he didn't lay it to mine. He didn't lay it to mine. You know salvation is an experience?
Let me go on record and say that. It's not a one-time experience
you look to, like a time, an event, or something you went
through, but the whole of salvation is something you experience. If not, all you've got is God. Doctrine, heart experience, up,
down, high, low, happy, sad, grief, sorrow, love, joy, like life. Life's an experience.
This saving experience is just that. That's why I like Philpott.
We're talking about Philpott. I like him. All the Scriptures
of the life and times and the stories of God's people that
He saved fit our experience, don't they? Abel, who had strife
with his brother over the truth, and Adam and Eve with a son,
a rebellious son who hated the truth, and on and on it goes. Read on. Now, he said, even us,
and verse 25, He said, I will call them my people, which were
not my people. And her beloved, I'm going to
call her beloved, which was not beloved. Gomer is my beloved, Hosea says. She's not lovely. There's nothing
lovely about her. That child in the field, there's
nothing lovely about him. But he said, I'm going to make
her lovely. And I'm going to make her love me. I've made her
mine. She doesn't love me, but boy,
she's going to. She's going to love me because
I first loved her. Isn't that right? Is that your
experience? Experience. Read on. It says, verse 26, it
came to pass in that place, you're not my people. They said, those
are not my people. There they should be called the
children of the living God. Those are my people. Remember
where it says, God's not ashamed to call them brethren. Would
you like to hear the story of Joseph again? What about his
brethren? Were they good men? Did they
deserve a chance? Oh, no. But oh, they were so
thankful for their merciful and gracious brother named Joseph.
He knew them. He knew them. That goes much
deeper than knowing about them. He knew them. He loved them.
And he had mercy on them. Read on. It says, Now the
Lord, no, verse 27, Isaiah cried, Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. Should I finish this or finish
it Wednesday? I'm out of time. Think of stuff like that. OK.
I want to rush through this. OK. We'll look at that Wednesday
night. Short work. OK. All right.