Come back to Romans chapter 9.
Let me read the remainder of this chapter now. In verse 17,
he says, For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
world. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy. And whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted the will
of God? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power or right, Over the clay of the same lump, To make
one vessel unto honour, And another unto dishonour? He said, even
the potter claims that right, and he didn't even make the claim
that he's making whatever he's making out of it. He didn't make
the claim. He said, but if the potter claims that right, so
how much more right does God have to do with me and you as
He will? How much more right? Because
He made us out of nothing. He made the claim, and then He
made us. What 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
afore, before the world began, prepared unto glory. Even us,
whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles,
as he saith also in Hosea, I will call them My people which were
not My people, and 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." Who would have believed that Rahab would
have been a child of God? Who would have believed that?
She was a part of that promise soon. Who would have believed
that? Just when you think you've got God figured out, He goes
another direction. Humanly speaking now, humanly
speaking, just when you think you've logically figured this
thing out, it goes another direction. Isaiah also cried concerning
Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, a remnant, a few of the seed, fleshless
seed of Abraham, a few of them shall be saved. 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. And as Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabbath, the Lord of Hosts, had left us a seed,
that is, Israel would have been wiped off the earth. We'd have
been as Sodom and had been made like unto Gomorrah. Why shall
we say then that the Gentiles was followed not after righteousness?
They went their own way in idolatry? But they have attained righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith." That's the righteousness
they've attained, that righteousness which is imputed to them through
faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
had not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they
sought it not by faith. They didn't believe God. That's
what they're saying. They didn't believe God. That's
just a short way of saying it. They did not believe God. But
as it were, by the works of the law, they stumbled at that stumbling
stone, which is Christ. For it is written, Behold, I
lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and whosoever
believes on him shall not be ashamed." I titled this message, God is
Sovereign. God is Sovereign. I believe this
is where a sinner first meets God. It happened with me. This is
where I first really met the truth when I heard Henry preaching
on television, is for the first time in my life, I realized that
God is sovereign. He's not waiting on me to do
something. God's not waiting on anybody. The Scripture says wait on the
Lord, but it doesn't say He waits on us. He's not the one waiting,
we are. But for the first time in my life, I realized that God
could do with me as He will. And I can remember to this day
how earth-shaking that was. How stunned. I mean, I'm not
making these things up. Stunned that God could leave
me alone. And that frightened me. For the
first time in my life, I became frightened that God would leave
me alone. that he'd pass me by, and he would be a just God in
doing so. And I sure thank God for a man
that had the backbone to tell it, and not back down from it,
because most of the crowd, most of the people don't believe it.
This world doesn't believe this. You know, you can stand in pretty
much every pulpit this morning and say, God is sovereign, and
everybody will probably say, Amen. but just start to preach
Him who is sovereign, then you find out who believes and who
does not believe. When you start to preach God
as supreme over all, and that's what that means, that's just
stating His supremacy over all things, all people, everything
that moves. God is sovereign over it. Now
they say if you preach that way, that God is sovereign, He saves
whom He will, and hardens whom He will." Well, I didn't say
that. I did not make that up. I just read that to you. I didn't
make that up. He saves whom He will. He says
He'll have mercy on whom He will. And whom He will, He hardens.
I looked at that verse a lot 28 years ago. And whom He will,
He hardens. He'll just leave them alone like
clay sitting in the sun and watch it harden. All he has to do is
leave you alone. That's all he has to do. And
you'll harden up like a rock. That's all he has to do. And they say, if you preach like
that, it'll kill the spirit of evangelism. It'll kill the spirit
of grace. If you believe that, if you really
believe that, it'll destroy it. Then why preach the gospel? Listen to what Paul says before
he ever gets into this. You notice this? I say the truth
in Christ, I lie not. I'm not lying. He said, what
I have preached to you is the truth. How God justifies sinners,
how we are sanctified in Christ. What I have said to you previously
in these chapters before this, he said, I've told you the truth.
My conscience also bear me witness in the Holy Ghost. Now listen,
I have great happiness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could
wish that myself were accursed for Christ, for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Well, that doesn't sound
like a hard heart, does it? It doesn't sound like someone
who's heard the gospel and believed this and it's hardened him up. I believe this. I believe God
Almighty's sovereign, don't you? I believe God chose a people.
I believe God chose a people before the world began. He set
His love upon them. Christ came and redeemed them.
But I tell you this, I never quit praying for my children. Have you? Do you not beg God
every night for loved ones? Lord, have mercy on them. It
doesn't kill them. To me, it awakens it. And it
puts it in reality. It gives you a real perspective
on it. I know this, I know this about,
I know that God chose the people, but I also know this, He delights
to show mercy to sinners. And if He shows mercy to this
one, He can show it to this one, and this one, and this one. He
can do that, if He will. We bow to His will. That's what
Paul said. He said, I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. and who are Israelites, to whom
pertain the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and
the giving of the law, and the service of God. Look at all the
privileges that my brethren have had. Look at what they've had,
what they've given. Who are the fathers? And of whom,
as concerning the flesh, Christ came. He came through the Jewish
lineage, who is over all. God bless forever. But not as
though the word of God has taken none effect. He said, My word
shall not return to me void. He said, the Word of God is not,
the problem's not with the Word of God. The problem's with this,
we don't understand scriptures. You don't understand what you've
just read. They read the scriptures all the time. In the synagogues,
they would read them daily. He said this, it's not as though
the Word of God was non-effective. Here it is, Paul says, they are
not all Israel, which are of Israel. Not all of them, no. He's establishing
in the first part of this chapter that not all that were born of
Abraham are the children of God. That's what he's saying. Not all that are born of Abraham
are the children of God. The children of God are the children
of promise. The children of promise. He says
in verse 8, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. Not that fleshly seed, but the
one of promise. He promised us to Christ, those
who were promised to Christ, and he gives Isaac as an example
as a child of promise. Isaac was born against nature.
God had to reverse everything for Isaac to be born. Abraham
and Sarah were well stricken in years. They were way too old
to be having children. But God did what they could not
do. God produced a child. God reversed
things. And then the child of promise
was born, Isaac. And that's a spiritual type and
representation of all those that are born of God. Every one of
you that are born of God, you're children of promise. that God
promised to Christ the seed before the world began. That's what
He did. In verse 8, they which are the
children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.
You look over to Israel right now. Right now, over there in
the land of Palestine, those Israelites, they're not the children
of God. Now, if God does something with
them later on, And they believe. And those who believe are the
children of promise. They are the children. If they
believe God, they are the children of promise. But those right now
that hate God, that hate the gospel that we preach, they're
not the children of God. The children of God believe God. They believe God. And those who
believe God were chosen before the foundation of the world,
before this world began, God settled this matter. God is a
God of order. And I tell you this, He did not
look down through time to see who would believe and then choose
them. A.D. Mews said that would be
God taking credit for something He didn't do. And it would be. God has always demonstrated His
sovereign right over all things even before the world began.
He's demonstrated that. And then he gives another illustration
here in verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, they were not even born, they
were not even in existence. And they had not even done anything
good or evil to impress God one way or the other. This pattern
was settled long before any good or evil was done. That's why
he's saying it. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand not of works, not of human works
and human efforts, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, unto Rebekah,
The elder shall serve the younger. The order is reversed again.
Because it used to be, in that day, the younger always served
the elder. The elder, you know, everything
fell to him and everybody else served him. But here, God reversed
the order. And I was looking at this this
morning, and I thought, that's what happened in creation. The
first Adam came. and failed. The second Adam,
the Lord from heaven, He's the one we serve. He's the one we serve. We don't
serve the first man. We serve the second man. And
God reversed this order. He said the elder is going to
serve the younger as it is written. Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And I am not going to even try
to explain that. We get into trouble when we leave
revelation and get into speculation. I'm going to leave it just where
it is, as it stands. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. You cannot dive into all of this
and just explain it away. Well, that's what you'll do.
You'll explain it away. You can't do it. Now Paul knew there would
be some objections to God's sovereign right over all among the unbelieving
Jews and Gentiles. Because he says in verse 14,
what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. Is God unjust for choosing Jacob
and not Esau? Is there injustice in God for
choosing this one and leaving this one? Even before they were
born? Before any good or evil was done? Is God unjust for loving Jacob
and hating Esau? Listen, God is never unjust in
any of His ways. And that's where we rest. I don't
rest in what I understand, I rest in Him. I like the way Paul answers this.
God forbid. He doesn't say any more, does
he? He doesn't try to explain. Well, now, let me tell you. Listen,
if you'll just listen to me, I'll explain it to you. No, you
won't. You can't. You can't. But he's saying here, God forbid
that any of his creatures should call him into judgment. The Scripture says, he gives
no account of any of his matters. Now, we can call each other into
account, but not God. God is not to be charged with
folly by foolish creatures. When God dealt with Job in that
first chapter, and he took all that Job had. He took his children,
his ten children. God took his children, every
one of them. God took all his possessions. He took everything
but that wife who said, why don't you just curse God and die? There's
your wife. Why don't you just curse God
out and die? That's what she said to him.
And it says in verse 22 that in all of this Job did not charge
God with folly. Did Job understand what just
happened? No. No. He didn't understand a thing
of what just happened. God took his ten children. Here's
a man who's followed after God. Here's a man who believed God.
Here's a man who's a child of God and lost everything he had. God took everything he had. He
allowed Satan to touch him. Did he understand it? No. Did
he charge God with folly? No. He said, I know that whatsoever
He does is right, even though I don't understand it. All that God does is consistent
with His nature. Abraham said this in Genesis
18, when they were going down to destroy Sodom. And he said in verse 10, in that
city, will you deliver it? In verse 20 or then 10, he just
kept whittling it down. He said, will you deliver it?
He said, yes, I will. Job said, Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? He knew that. He knew that when he went down,
when they went down to destroy Sodom, he knew the judge of the
earth would do right if there was one righteous person in that
city. He delivered. He delivered a
lot, but he didn't deliver the city. There's only one righteous
person there, and he delivered him, but not that city. But listen,
Paul does not even try to defend God's sovereign mercy. When you
start trying to defend the gospel, you get in trouble. Instead of
preaching the gospel, and you start trying to defend the gospel,
you end up trying to take the edge off the gospel, and you're
just like water, you just start watering it down. Paul does not
try to defend God's sovereign right to do as he will with whom
he will. You know what he does? He just
quotes Scripture. I can't explain why God does
what he does. I know this. He's sovereign and
he'll do right. And we're glad that it's so.
But Paul just quotes Scripture. He said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. The only thing Paul had to draw
from was Scripture. He said, well, I can tell you
this. This is what God said. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I'll have
compassion. You know, over in Matthew 11, when the Lord spoke
of Chorazin, He said, Woe unto thee, Chorazin, if the mighty
works had been done in you, and been done in Sodom and Gomorrah,
they would have remained to this day. Well, why didn't He do it?
You ever think of that? I thought that years ago. When
I first started understanding the sovereignty of God, that
really jumped out at me. Well, why didn't He do it? Why
did he not go down there and do those mighty works in Sodom
and Gomorrah and spare them? He said they would have repented.
You know what our Lord said? Even so, Father, this is good
in thy Son. You hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Why? Even the
Lord Jesus Christ did not explain it. He didn't try to explain
it to human reasoning. You can. He just said, even so, Father,
it seems good in thy sight. It's His royal prerogative to
do with His own as He will. Do you not do the same? It's
like somebody coming to your house, even children, even, this
is my toy. At what age do they do that?
Fifteen, sixteen? No, that's my cart, sixteen. But children at 3 or 4 years
of age or 2 or 3 years of age, that's my toy. They even claim
that right and we deny God that right. Isn't that crazy? No, that's just lost. That's
depraved, human, lost nature. We deny God the same thing we
want. Really. But it's His royal prerogative
to do with His own as He will. And to find fault with that truth
is our fault. It's our fault. That's a fault
in us. I know this, if God is to have
a people like His Son, He must choose them. He must cause them. And He must elect them. Because
every one of them died in Adam. And every one of them hates God
as much as anyone else in this world. Everyone whom God saved at one
time hated God as much as anyone in hell hated God. It says in Romans 5, 12, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for then all have sinned. It doesn't put a measure on it,
does it? It just says they've all sinned. All of them. None love God by nature. We were
not born in this world in love with God. Oh, I've loved God
forever. Well, that's too long. I heard
Henry say it one time. You loved Him just too long then
because we come into this world in love with self and whatever
helps that, whatever supports that and enables us to enjoy
self. Our Lord said this, you love
darkness rather than light. You like to work in the dark.
You like to operate in the dark where nobody can see. Scripture
says that darkness is light before Him. But we're so dead and depraved
by nature, we don't realize that. We think He doesn't see us. The
light's out. All men count the things of God's
foolishness. If God does not give a man a
new heart, a new nature, you will call this foolishness,
absolute foolishness. So Paul draws this conclusion.
So then, in verse 16, it's not of him that willeth this matter
of salvation. This matter of receiving mercy,
this matter of being chosen of God before the world began, it's
not of him that willeth nor him that runneth. It's not because
of my will, my human will, so-called free will. It's not because of
that. It's not because of him that
runneth. It's not because of all the efforts that I put into
this. but of God that shows mercy. If I stand in glory, saved, and
I believe in Christ, I hope to stand there. Many of you do. But it's purely on the mercy
of God. He didn't owe it to me. He gave
it to me. He showed it to me. But He didn't
owe it to me. He could literally just leave
you alone. He could pass you by. He could pass you by. Just like
when the Lord came up to that pool of Bethesda. How many impotent
folks were sitting there waiting to jump into that pool with the
stirring of the water? How many? Well, who knows how
many? But the Lord went up and spoke
to one man. and left the rest alone. Boy,
what an opportunity he missed. What an opportunity he missed
here to heal a bunch of people. To save a bunch of sinners. He
never missed an opportunity. He saved this one because he
loved him before the world began. I can't explain that, but I'm
sure glad he did. I'm sure glad he did. He'll have mercy on whom he'll
have mercy. Salvation has never been by the
will of man, but by the will and purpose of God Almighty.
And it's never been by works. It says in John chapter 1 verse
13, which were born, not of blood, knocks out the descendants of
Abraham, his fleshly descendants, nor the will of the flesh, knocks
out free will, nor the will of man, Not because my parents wanted
me to be saved, but of God. But of God. You know what Paul's
doing through this whole thing? Here's what he's doing. He's
giving God all the glory for his salvation. That's what he's
doing. That's the simple way of putting
it. No man has ever attained salvation by his works of righteousness
or his own free will. Jonah said, Salvation's of the
Lord. Who could better say that than
Jonah? Swallowed up in a fish's belly in the depths of the sea.
How in the world is he going to live through this one? How
is he going to come out of this? He said, Salvation's of the Lord.
If I come out of the, he said from the belly of, you know,
go back and read that. Did he say from the belly of
the fish, from the belly of the whale cried I? It's been a while since I've
read it, but I believe he said from the belly of hell. Did he not say
that? From the belly of hell. From
the belly of the grave, I've cried unto God. And that fish
threw up, spit him out on the bank. Salvation. And I'll tell you
what, it didn't take him long to get to Nineveh either, did
it? I don't know. It was a three-day journey. And
it says there he made it in a day. Salvation, I'm telling you, it's
of the Lord. It says in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
30, of Him, of God, Are you in Christ Jesus? God put you in
Christ before the world began. God put you in Christ. God preserved
you in Christ. He's kept you in Christ before
the world began. And you're kept now by the power
of God through faith in Christ. Now Paul uses another example
here of God's sovereign right to do as He will with His own.
We saw a little bit of it this morning. For the Scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up.
This is why I raised you up. Pharaoh, this is why you were
born. And this can be said of every person that has ever walked
on this earth. This is why you were born. I
can't tell you why. And some of it seems so insignificant,
doesn't it? We'll never notice most people. Very few people know me. But
this is why you were born. Pharaoh, this is why you were
born, for this same purpose. Have I raised you up? All those
years he grew up, God raised him up. that I might show my
power, not to thee." He wouldn't appreciate it. He did show his
power. How many plagues were there?
How many plagues did Pharaoh see? God said, I'm going to show
my power in thee. I'm going to demonstrate to this
world, and I'm telling you, everybody that lived in that day for generations
knew what happened. Go through the Old Testament
and see how many times the Red Sea is spoken of. The parting of
the Red Sea. He said, I'm going to demonstrate
my power. I'm going to show this world who God is. I'm going to
use you. I'm going to use you. It says,
Pharaoh hardened his heart. And it says, God hardened his
heart. God left him alone. God just left him alone. And
he hardened his heart. And my name is going to be declared
throughout all the earth. You're not going to stamp it
out, Pharaoh. You know, where it looks like
God's name is going to be stamped out, it turns to the opposite,
doesn't it? There's a reverse again. He reverses
the order again, and it's declared throughout all the earth. Is
there a greater example of the stamping out of God's name than
at Calvary? And yet, the greatest declaration
ever preached is Calvary. He'll do what you won't think.
He'll go the opposite direction. Everything about Pharaoh was
divinely appointed, as is everything. And God said, even the wrath
of man will praise Him and the rest He'll restrain. It will
serve His purpose. He says in verse 18, Therefore
hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will,
He'll harden. Whom He will, He'll leave alone. Mercy is sovereign
or it's not mercy at all. And God has the right to leave
alone as well as to save. He has that right. And then Paul
deals with another objection here. If most of Israel perishes,
he said, then the word of God has failed. Not as though he
said the word of God has taken none effect. They're going to
say, well, God's word has failed. And then in verse 14, if God
is unjust to choose some of the paths by others, What shall we
say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God because of this? And then, if God shows mercy
to some and none can resist His will, then why does He yet find
fault with sinners? He says there in verse 19, Thou
wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? Who hath resisted
God's will? If the wrath of men is under
the control of God and serves His purpose, Then why blame the
sinner? That's human logic. Really, I can understand that
kind of logic. I can understand that kind of logic. Why blame
the sinner? Here's what Paul answers. Old man, who are you? Who in the world are you? Old man, old wretched man, old
fallen man, old depraved man, old stupid man, Who are you to dispute with God? We never go on the defensive.
See, Paul didn't go on the defensive here. He didn't get defensive
about it. He just got right back in their face and said, Who are
you to dispute with God? We never try to explain it to
the satisfaction of rebels. Never. He's saying here, just
who do you think you are to call God into judgment and to question
God's wisdom and God's right? We can't even think on that level.
How are we going to judge on that level? People operate on the level of
thinking. And our level of thinking is down here. I mean way down
here. God is up here. And he says,
who are you to call God Almighty into judgment? You can't even
think on the level he's thinking at. This kind of reply is nothing
but rebellion against God's right to do as He will and for God
to receive the glory that's due under His name. This shows the
true character of man in his reply against God. This shows
a person's true character. We have forfeited. All rights
to mercy and grace we have forfeited in Adam. Adam forfeited all of
them. Any communion, any fellowship
with God, it was all forfeited. If we're going to have mercy
and grace, it's going to be sovereign. And God has the right to show
it to whom He will. God has the same right over us
as the potter has over the clay to make one vessel of honor and
another to dishonor. He said, hath not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? This word here means right. This
word power. Hath not the potter right over
the clay he's working with? He has the right to do with his
own as he will. And what he does. And here's
my comfort. Here's why I rest. What He does
is always consistent with righteousness. It's always consistent with His
nature. God is love. It's consistent
with the love of God. Can I explain it? I cannot explain
it. But I can believe it. I can believe
Him. I can believe it. Now God's going
to make known, I'm going to wind this up, God's going to make
two things known on this earth, His wrath and His mercy. And He's given us examples of
this throughout the Scriptures. He's going to make known His
wrath against sin and the riches of His mercy to sinners. And
He's going to do it at the same time. Noah. God puts him in the ark. And
then His wrath comes upon this world. God drowns this whole
world, but at the same time he's Noah's sake in that ark, floating
upon that water while that ark takes that wrath. Lot. God delivers Lot out of Sodom,
but delivers Sodom into judgment. But I think the greatest example
is Calvary. God spareth not his own son. but deliver him up for us all,
that he may what? Freely give us all things. Can I explain that? No. I'm going to stop here. I've
got too much material. I cannot explain it. I believe
it. I have given This same message,
not this same message, but I preached to a church years ago. I won't call it a church, a place. Years ago, and after about the
third or fourth time, they heard what I was saying. Did they believe
it? They didn't want it. It's not
so much they didn't believe it, they didn't want it. This is
not the God they wanted. This is not the gospel they wanted. But we're not going to change
the gospel because men don't like it. This gospel of God's sovereign mercy gives
God all the glory. It gives Him all the glory. And
someday we'll have the mind of Christ and we can understand
a whole lot more than what we understand now. And I don't know what we'll do,
but we're going to say, I see. Do you ever say that? I see now. I see. I understand. The world never understands.
Human logic cannot understand divine wisdom. But when God gives
life, when He gives us spiritual birth, then He gives you some
understanding I think he gives you more understanding of this,
who he is. And then you trust who he is,
and believe him, and rest in him. And someday the understanding
will come.