Now, here are the subjects that
the apostles have been dealing with in Romans 9. A subject I
love to read about, to think about, to dwell on. The sovereignty
of God in salvation. We read last week where God said,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, God's love
to Jacob and those like Jacob always leads to salvation. That love always leads to eternal
life and glory. God's hatred of Esau, those like
Esau in the flesh, always leads to damnation, to judgment. Eternal
life must stem from God's electing love. Jacob have I loved. His electing love, his sovereign
choice. It's something that you cannot
earn. Jacob didn't earn it. It was before he was born, before
he'd done any good or evil. It's love from before the foundation
of the world. God's electing love. We read
in verse 16 last week, so then it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Salvation
is according to God's sovereign mercy. Verse 18, where we ended
last week, Paul says, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. That's God's sovereign
choice. Now, verse 19, where we begin
this week, we see the objection of the natural man. According
to man's natural wisdom, this is his objection. That will say
then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted
his will? Scripture teaches that God's
sovereign purpose will always be accomplished. There's no thwarting
it. His purpose shall come to pass. Even the wrath of man is
under God's control. Even man's sinful actions do
not thwart God's purpose. Not only do they not thwart it,
God overrules those things to accomplish His eternal purpose. And the perfect example of that
is Calvary. Men did what their wicked hearts
and minds wanted to do. But in doing what they wanted
to do, they accomplished God's eternal purpose. Look back at
Acts chapter 4. Even man's sinful actions, God
overrules to accomplish his purpose. In Acts 4 verse 26, the kings
of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ. from a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, representatives
of the entire world, were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before it be done." They accomplished
God's eternal purpose in the sacrifice of his Son, to accomplish
the redemption of his people. So the natural man hears that
and says, well, if everything I do, even my sinful actions,
my rebellion, accomplishes God's purpose, then how can God judge
me for my sin? Well, the answer is in verse
20. Now, I'll tell you from the beginning, this answer will never
satisfy the natural man, because nothing in Scripture will satisfy
the natural man. But to the believer, this is
the answer. The believer says, Amen. In verse
20, he says, 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? Now we know
that God is the Creator, and the natural man will say, Well,
God made me this way. God's sovereign. He could have
changed me. He could have made me different.
He could have stopped me. He could have stopped me from
doing the sinful things that I did, but he didn't. So how
can God blame me? And you know what that shows?
Adam's nature ends. When Adam sinned and he fell,
God came to him and said, what have you done? He said, the woman
that you gave me. He said, it's your fault. That's
what this is. God could have stopped me, but
he didn't. So how can he blame me? Adam said, you can't blame
me. The woman you gave me. This is Adam's nature showing
up just crystal clear. And years and years ago, Our
pastor is preaching. He made this statement about
this verse. He said, who do you think you
are? That's what Paul's saying. Who
do you think you are? My mom would say that to me when
I was a boy. Who do you think you are? We're the creature. God's the Creator. Who do you
think you are to answer against Him and argue against Him? Who
do you think you are to contend with God? We don't tolerate that
in our children. Why would we thank God? would
tolerate that from us. Well, if you look over in Isaiah
45, you'll see he won't. He won't tolerate that. Isaiah 45, verse 9. Woe unto
him that striveth with his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioneth it, Why makest thou or thy work he hath no hands? woe unto him that striveth with
his maker." God won't tolerate that kind of behavior and that
kind of attitude arguing against him. Man at his best stage, the
very best, is altogether vanity. How can vanity expect to argue
with God? Our pea brain can't begin to
comprehend what God does or why He does it. God's ways are found
in the wisdom of God, and we'd be very wise to leave it there,
and understand and believe everything he does is right and holy, and
not argue with him. Now, verse 21, Paul goes on with
this answer to why doth he yet find fault, for he hath resisted
his will. He says in verse 21, Hath not the potter power over
the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and
another unto dishonor? Now the word power here, the
potter has power over the clay, is right, the privilege, that's
what that word means. God has the crown rights to do
with his own what he pleases and everything in his creation
is his. He has the right to do with it
what he pleases. God has the right to do what
he will, with whom he will, when he will, because of who he is.
He's God. The chief end of man is to glorify
God, right? Well, that being true, then God
has the right to do with us what best serves His glory because
our chief end is to glorify Him. An example Paul uses is the potter. The potter has the power, the
right to do with that clay whatever he wants to do because he's the
potter. He can take that lump and he can divide it in two.
He can set one aside and put one on that wheel and he can
make a chamber pot out of it. So somebody can have it in their
bedroom so they don't have to traipse out to the outhouse at
night. It'll just be used to store human waste. He'll throw
it away in the morning. He doesn't paint it up. He doesn't
make it pretty. He just makes it a chamber pot because that's
what he needs. He gets done. He sets it aside and he gets
the other one. It used to be part of the same one. God divided
them. The potter divided them. Put
it on the wheel and makes a beautiful vase. Now, if we were there watching
that potter, not one person in this room would think, that's
not fair. You shouldn't have done that
to that poor lump to make it a chamber pot. That's not fair.
That never would have crossed our mind to say that. Because
everybody understands that potter has the right to choose whatever
he wants. To make of that lump whatever
will best serve his needs. You'd never think it's not fair
for that potter to make that Clay into a chamber pot because
that clay is useless. It's worthless. It's just dirt. That's all it is. It has no value
whatsoever. The clay doesn't have the right
to have a say in the matter. It's dirt. The potter's the one
with the wisdom and the skill, isn't he? The same thing is true
of God and us. And our problem is this. We don't
see ourselves as worthless. That's it. We are just useless
clay. That's what God made Adam out
of. Red dust. Clay. And we've stayed the same
thing. We've not improved. We're useless
lumps of clay. And God has the power, the right,
the skill and the wisdom to make of us what He will. What best
serves His purpose. And we are what we are. Every
one of us. Because God, the Almighty Potter, fashioned us this way.
And we don't have the right to question Him. Now we do what
we do well to keep that in mind. We do not have the right to question
Him. Now God is going to make two things known of His character.
He's going to display two sides of His glory. He's going to display
His glory in wrath and His glory in mercy. Look at verse 22. Now
what if God willing to show his wrath, and to make his power
known, endure 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." Now, God's endured wickedness a long time. Before he sends
judgment, God endures wickedness a long time. Think of the world
before the flood, before the flood of That world was evil
for a long time. The thoughts and imaginations
of man's heart was only evil continually a long time before
God sent that flood. Sodom and Gomorrah practiced
evil a long time before fire and brimstone fell on it. Pharaoh
saw nine plagues before the tenth one came. Before that firstborn
was killed, he suffered the water being turned into blood. He suffered
his nation being infested with lice and frogs and locusts. The
people were covered with boils. They sat in darkness for three
days. God suffered with him a long time. Then that firstborn was
killed. And then, after all that, Pharaoh
still chased him out into the wilderness. After all that, God
suffered with that man a long time before he swallowed him
up in the Red Sea. A long time he suffered. And
then his wrath was seen and he was glorified in that wrath.
That's what we looked at last week. Pharaoh was raised up to
that purpose. So God would get glory in his
wrath and destroying him. And these are vessels fitted
for destruction. Nobody can argue that these vessels
do not deserve destruction. Can anybody say Pharaoh didn't
deserve it? Of course not. He's a vessel fitted for destruction.
But Pharaoh fitted himself for destruction. Just like all these
other vessels of wrath, they fit themselves for destruction.
They fit themselves for destruction by turning away from the light
God gave them, by hating grace, by loving sin and hardening their
own hearts. And God suffers with them a long
time until His glory is seen in wrath against their sin. But
thank God there are vessels of mercy. These vessels of mercy
are vessels God prepared He chose them, He separated them out and
made them vessels of mercy. See, it says here these vessels
of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory. God prepared them.
He made them fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. See, men may fit themselves for destruction. God fits those
vessels of mercy for glory. And they aren't vessels of mercy
because they deserve it. Now, mercy is something we cannot
deserve. If we deserve it, it's not mercy.
These are objects of mercy because of sovereign divine election,
because God chose them, separated them out. He chose to make known
unto them the riches of his glory. Now, we looked at this last week.
You know what the riches of God's glory is. The riches of his glory
is sovereign mercy. That's what he showed Moses.
Moses asked the Lord, show me your glory. God said, okay, I
will. I'll make all my goodness pass
before you. I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. God's glory
is sovereign mercy, and that's what he makes known to vessels
of mercy. He makes known unto them the
riches of his character. He makes known unto them the
riches of his love, the riches of his mercy, the riches of his
wisdom, his faithfulness, the riches of his justice. He imputes
the righteousness of His Son to them. That's riches. God the
Spirit dwells in them. That's riches. And the only difference
between the object of wrath and the object of mercy is God's
sovereign election. That's the only difference. Until
God separated them, they were the same one. And men just do
not meddle in these matters now. The hidden things belong to God.
The revealed things belong to men. And we need to spend more
time giving thanks that in God's word, he's revealed grace. Thank God they're objects of
grace. They're our vessels of mercy. Well, who are the vessels
of mercy? Why didn't I tell you? They're
the ones that God calls. Look at verse 24. Even us, whom
he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.
Now, God's sovereign election includes not just the Jews. Remember,
Paul here had been talking about the Jews and the Gentiles. God's
election doesn't just apply to the Jews, but to the Gentiles
also. They're called by the will of
God, by the purpose of God, according to the power of God, by the word
of God, they're called. And when God calls, they answer. They're called effectually. They
answer because when God calls, He gives an ear that hears. He
gives a heart that believes. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. But now nothing is more offensive
and more shocking to these Jews than God showing mercy to Gentiles. To Gentile dogs. If they just
look down their noses on us, they're not even second class
citizens. They're dogs. And Paul says God's going to
show mercy to them. But that shouldn't surprise anybody
because the Old Testament has plenty of prophecies God's going
to call the Gentiles. He's going to show mercy to the
Gentiles too. It's promised throughout the
Old Testament and Paul gives us two examples of it. The first
one is found here in verse 25 in Hosea. As he saith also in
Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people. I'll
call her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to
pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are
not my people, there shall they be called the children of the
living God." Now in Old Testament times, when Hosea wrote this,
the Gentiles never loved God, and they were never loved by
God. They weren't shown the mercy of God. That was shown in Israel.
The Gentiles were left to be idolaters and adulterers. They
didn't have the worship of God. They weren't seeking God. They
were strangers from the covenants of promise. They didn't have
any hope. They were without God in this world. But God didn't
intend to leave it that way forever. And God gave us pictures in the
Old Testament that he was going to call the Gentiles. These people
who are not my people, they're going to be called the children
of the living God. They're going to be my people.
I'm going to make them my people. And if you look back at Hosea
chapter 1, right after the book of Daniel, Hosea, We see this
picture of Hosea and Gomer, the prophet,
God's prophet, God's preacher, and the prostitute. And this
is a picture of God's love for all of His elect, Jew and Gentile,
but this is a picture of Him calling the Gentile. In Hosea
chapter 1, verse 2, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea.
And the Lord said to Hosea, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms,
and children of whoredoms. For the land hath committed great
whoredom, departing from the Lord. So he went and took Gomer,
the daughter of Deblayim, which conceived and bare him a son.
God's prophet went and took him a wife who was a harlot." Now
look over in chapter 3, verse 1, and we'll see why he did it.
Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet and love a woman beloved
of her friend. Yet an adulteress, and you love
her, here's the key, according to the love of the Lord toward
the children of Israel. He loved those people who looked
to other gods and loved flagons of wine. So I bought her to me
for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a
half-omer of barley. And I said unto her, Thou shalt
abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot.
And thou shalt not be for another man, so I also be for thee."
And that's how God saves sinners. God in sovereign mercy, in this
case, passed by all those Jewish women, didn't he? Sent his prophet
to a harlot. And every single time God saves
a sinner, he saves a harlot. A wretch, a vile wretch. Someone who sells their body
to someone else. That's who God saves. And if
you're not a harlot, if you're not a sinner, then God's grace
isn't for you. His grace, His calling is sent
to harlots. But if you are a harlot, without
help, without hope, without Christ in this world, if you're a harlot,
if you're as wretched as that harlot, If you're as wretched
as that thief on the cross who can tell everybody I'm hanging
here getting what I deserve, then God's grace is for you.
Grace that gives life. And the results of God's grace
is this. He'll make that wretch, He'll
make that harlot beloved. Beloved of God Almighty. Now,
salvation is of the Lord. He says here, I will call them
my people. They didn't decide to leave some
Gentile nation and come to Israel and switch denominations. I will call them my people. They're
not my people. I'm changing their nature and
making them my people. I will call her beloved. It's
not that she's so lovely. Everybody wants her. Nobody wants
her. But I'm going to call her beloved. I'm going to make her
beloved. I will make them children of
the living God." Not children of the dead idols that they used
to worship. They're not going to trust any longer in those
dead works that they used to think gave them righteousness.
I'm going to make them children of the living God. I'm going
to do that. Now that's what Hosea prophesied.
Here in verse 27 he shows us Isaiah prophesied the same thing.
In verse 27 of Romans 9. Isaiah also cried concerning
Israel. Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Now
the descendants of Abraham, the natural descendants of Abraham,
there are as many as the sand. There are millions of them. And
that's just exactly what God promised Abraham. He said, your
seed will be as the sand, as the stars. And they are. But
very, very few of them. Just a remnant has God saved.
Christ came to them. He came unto His own. His own
received Him not. And they rejected Him. They rejected
the Messiah. They rejected God's Son. And
God blinded their eyes and sent the gospel to the Gentiles. And
to this day, God has been long-suffering with that nation. He's been long-suffering
with their rebellion. He's been long-suffering with
their rejection of Christ. But when judgment comes, it will
come quickly. Longsuffering will end quickly,
suddenly, and God will make a short work of judgment. Noah built
the ark for over 100 years, a century. It took 40 days for God to destroy
the entire earth. His longsuffering ended quickly
in a short work that he made of judgment. Pharaoh was warned
for nine plagues. Nine times Moses came to him
and said, God said, let my people go. And in one night, mighty
Egypt was brought to her knees. He made a short work of it. God
is long-suffering with the sin of this world. And one day, He's
going to come. And He'll make a short work of
judgment. He'll make a short work in judgment. And that sounds like a scary
thought. It is a scary thought. outside of Christ. But there's
hope. There's grace to be found in
God. And there's hope because the
Lord Jesus Christ finished the work. As He hung there, He said,
it is finished. The work's finished. And He cut
it short in righteousness in just three short hours. He accomplished
the eternal redemption of His people. He paid the eternal price
of redemption in just three hours. So there's hope. to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 29. And as Isaiah
said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth that left us a seed,
we have been a sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah. Now
this word Sabaoth is hosts. It's armies. It's a host of armies. Now there may be just a remnant
saved at any given time, but you put them together and it's
a host. It's a host that can't be counted.
But if it wasn't for God's electing grace, every one of us would
have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, how was Sodom and Gomorrah?
How were they? Well, they were guilty. They
were vile. They were judged and destroyed
without mercy. Not one was spared. Not one resident
of Gomorrah was saved. Not one! You see, election isn't
a doctrine. isn't a truth that keeps people
out of glory. Election is not something that
keeps people away from Christ. No one ever, you mark my words,
as Brother Henry used to say, you write her down. Not one person
will ever come to Christ looking for mercy. And God looks through
the pages and says, I'm sorry, your name's not written here
among the elect. No mercy for you. Not one. No one will ever
come to Christ looking for mercy and be rebuked. Election, my
friends, is our only hope of salvation. If it wasn't for election,
we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed without hope. Now,
verse 31, Paul concludes, what shall we say then? That the Gentiles,
as followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of
righteousness. Now we're back to where we started in this chapter.
Israel is under divine judicial blindness to this day. And the
gospel has been sent to the Gentiles. The Gentiles, who through their
history have been idolaters, sacrificed their children, made
them wretched, vile. They never sought after righteousness.
They have attained to righteousness. Some of them have. Just like
Israel of old, not all of them, but some of them, because God's
had mercy. The righteousness of Christ has
been imputed to them. That's how they've been made
righteous, because they've received righteousness through faith.
That's what this righteousness of faith is. It's the imputed
righteousness of Christ which we receive by faith. But those
Jews who sought after righteousness their entire lives, being righteous
was very important to them. They've not attained to righteousness.
Well, why? They were seeking the righteousness
of the law. There's a whole big difference
between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness
of faith. The righteousness of the law
is earned by their obedience. The righteousness of faith is
received because of Christ's obedience. And in trying to earn
their righteousness according to the law, they failed. So verse
32 pauses, why? Why have they not attained to
the law of righteousness? because they sought it not by faith,
but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at
that stumbling stone." See, the Jews haven't attained righteousness
because they didn't seek it where it could be found. They looked
for it in themselves instead of looking for it in Christ and
receiving it by faith. They sought righteousness by
their own works, which always brings failure. We can't keep
any part of the law, much less the whole law. And righteousness
is received by faith. Now, it's not through works.
Not through any part of any work. It's not through joining the
right church or converting to the right doctrine or denomination
or agreeing to the right list of, you know, ABC. Yeah, I agree
with this. I agree with this. I agree with
this. You're safe. It's not it. It's through faith. Through faith. Believe and rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Scripture says without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Now God sent his sons to Israel
and they missed him. They stumbled over him. They
stumbled at his birth in the manger. Who's going to worship
a baby born in a manger? Couldn't even afford a hotel
room. They stumbled over his parents. They said, we know his
parents. There's no bodies. They stumbled over the city where
he was raised. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? They stumbled over his appearance. There's no beauty
about him that we should desire him. He wasn't wearing a kingly
robes. He stumbled over his occupation. He's a carpenter. They're looking
for a king, not a carpenter. I'm doing some carpentry work
at home. I'm telling you, a carpenter can buy a fine belt. They stumbled over a carpenter.
They missed it. They stumbled over his followers.
I shouldn't have said that. They stumbled over his... Never
say something that's not in your notes. They stumbled over his
followers, just unlearned fishermen. They didn't wash their hands
before they ate. They stumbled over his miracles.
They got caught up with the miracles instead of the one with the power.
They stumbled over his death, the death of shame. They stumbled
over him. And the Lord said they would.
Verse 33, as it's written, Behold, I lay inside a stumbling stone
and a rock of a fence. And whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed." Those Jews missed Christ. They stumbled
at Him. They were offended by Him. They
said, I'll not have this man reign over me. But whosoever
believes on Him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever believes on
Him will never leave the courtroom of God's justice with their coat
pulled up over their face, hiding their face in shame because they're
guilty. They're going to leave innocent. Let everybody see my
face on TV. I'm innocent. Clear. We won't
be found guilty because Christ became guilty for you. That's
why you won't be found guilty. You won't be ashamed because
Christ bore the shame of your sin at Calvary. You won't face
justice because Christ took your punishment for you. He took the
weapon that you deserve. God help us to run to Him, to
believe Him, to have faith in Him. Alright, Lord bless you.