I invite you to turn back with
me now to Romans chapter 9. My wife told me I was wearing
the book of Romans out. And I said, well, if you have
to wear one out, that's the one to wear out. It's a wonderful,
wonderful epistle that Paul wrote to the Romans. I read to you the first 24 verses,
and my message is going to span those verses, so when you've
found your place there, just insert a marker, leave your Bible
open, and allow me a minute or two to introduce my subject. The apostles, the men who wrote
the New Testament, the apostles, highest office in the church,
the apostles. The apostles, unlike the average
preacher of modern religion, preached in the light of the
sovereign, eternal, unchangeable, and almighty God. Everything
they wrote was in the light of His character, in the light of
His glory. Because that's the light that
God shined into their heart, the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And everything
they preached, they preached in the light of His sovereign,
eternal, unchangeable, almighty character. He's God. He's God. Their declarations, their arguments,
their interpretations were in keeping with the character of
their God and also in keeping with the condition of the sinner
that this God has declared. They believe God. When God said
man was nothing but a wiggling maggot, they believed God. When
God said there's none righteous, no, not one, they believed God. What's being preached today is
not in the light of anything except in the vain imaginations
of deceived men. There's no light of God in it. The Gentiles, who in Paul's day
represented all who were not Jews, were said to walk in the
vanity of their minds, Ephesians 4, 17. Intellectual men, which the Lord
says are ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. They're learning. They're wise
men. They're intellectuals. They'll talk rings around you.
They're highly educated. They've been to seminary. They've
got four or five years of college behind them. You get engaged
in an argument with one of them, he'll tie you up and leave you
laying there on the ground tied and can't say nothing. They're
intellectuals. They're wise men. And they're
ever learning, but they're never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. 2 Timothy 3, 7. Paul wrote Timothy and he said,
they're proud men knowing nothing. What a contradiction. Proud men
knowing nothing. Just doting on questions, stripes
over words, and evil surmisings. Paul said, they speak lies in
hypocrisy, I Timothy 4.2. What God's preachers preach and
teach is consistent with the Word of God and it's consistent
with the character of God. God's not going to compromise
His character for anybody. God is sovereign. He's almighty. He's eternal. He's unchangeable.
He's all-wise. He's holy. He's just, as well
as being loving and merciful and kind and gracious and long-suffering. All of those things make up the
character of God. So His love, if I'm going to
talk about His love, I'm going to have to talk about His love
as sovereign love because He who loved us is sovereign. You
follow what I'm saying? He's sovereign, holy, and just,
and so is that love. His kindness, His mercy, and
grace is unchangeable. It's eternal because He's unchangeable,
and He's eternal. One of the silliest things I
ever heard in my life is a bunch of great preachers got together,
and they're arguing over eternal justification. That's the craziest
thing I ever heard in my life. Is your God eternal? Huh? Then He did all things in eternity,
didn't He? They were done in His eyes. Isn't
this the God who said, I declare the end from the beginning? He's
eternal. He's eternal. This world's shocked
when you start talking about eternal salvation. Eternal justification,
eternal redemption, but doesn't it say in the book of Hebrews
that He entered in by His own blood and obtained what kind
of redemption? Eternal redemption for us. That's what the Bible says. God's
eternal. God will not and cannot compromise
the glory of His character to do anything. And it's upon this
basis that Paul writes this ninth chapter of Romans. God's going
to demonstrate His sovereignty and declare His sovereignty in
this chapter like He does nowhere else in the book. He's going to declare His sovereignty
in the division of the nation of Israel, what everybody called
His elect. He's going to declare His sovereignty
there. He's going to declare His sovereignty in the calling
of the Gentiles, even us whom He has called, not of the Jews
only, but also of the Gentiles. He's going to declare His sovereignty
in twins born of the same mother. He's going to declare His sovereignty. Now, let me give you five things
this morning about the salvation of sinners that finds its sufficiency
in the sovereign character of God. First of all, salvation
is of the Lord. Write it down. Don't ever forget
it. Salvation is of the Lord. Preachers today like to talk
about chance and circumstance, opportunity and open doors, and
they go on and on and on with the things they're talking about.
After attending a church service with a close relative, a friend
of mine said, when the man was finished, I wondered, I asked
myself, I wonder if he ever read the Bible. Huh? Don't you get
that impression sometimes when you listen to these men? I wonder
if he's ever read the Bible. Maybe I ought to buy a Bible
and send it to him. Salvation is of the Lord. He
tells us that all through the Scripture. Salvation is of the
Lord. It's of the Lord in its eternal
decree and design. Who designed this thing? God
did. How do I know anybody is going
to be saved? Because God said He was. When
did He say it? From the beginning. God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Our salvation is not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 2 Timothy
1.9. When they crucified the Lord.
Here's Gentiles who despise the Jews. Here's Jews that despise
the Gentiles. Here's elected officials, politicians
to the core. They just sold their own kids
for a political office. Here they are. They are all together
out here, the Gentiles. And here are these soldiers who
despised anybody under them, but especially those Jews who
were in bondage to them. Despised them. And here they
are. And they are all working together. Working together to
crucify Christ. And you know what the Scripture
said about that? They were gathered together to do what God's hand
and God's counsel determined before to be done. That's what
they were doing. Ask any one of them if that's
why they're there. And they said, no, no way. I'm doing exactly
what I want to do. Yeah, but you're doing what God's
hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. Acts 4, verse
28. Salvation is of the Lord in its
eternal decree and design. Salvation is of the Lord in its
eternal election of its objects. I don't know how many times we're
told that. Twenty-seven in the New Testament. The Lord selects Rebekah to prove
this. Now, first of all, He goes back
here and He talks about Isaac. He said, now, all that are of
Israel are not Israel. Ishmael was of Israel, but he
wasn't the son. It's just the son of promise.
Abraham had a promised son that was to be born, and that was
Isaac. He's the promised son. God took no account of Ishmael except to illustrate what salvation
is. Salvation is of the Lord, and
he takes Rebekah's two unborn children. Rebecca, the wife of
Isaac, is an illustration of this saying to her in her pregnancy.
Here she is. She's pregnant. She has twins.
You had triplets. So you just imagine, before they're
born, God comes and talks to you. Before her two twins were
ever born or ever did anything good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. God's going to establish
his sovereign election of those he intends to save. And he tells
his mother the elder is going to serve the younger as it's
written, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. Why would God say such a thing? You know, They've taken that
now in the new translations, and they said, Esau has he loved
less. That's not what it says, is it? You can't bend it and make it
say that. Why would God say such a thing? Well, he tells us right
here in verse 11. Romans 9, verse 11. that the
purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth." It's of the Lord and the sovereign
election of its objects. He's going to save some. I have
no idea who they are. what family they belong to, what
nation they belong to. All I know is there are going
to be some out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and people under
heaven. And then thirdly, salvation is
of the Lord in the means before determined to bring it to pass.
It's of the Lord. A representative in head must
be chosen, someone other than Adam, because Adam is going to
fall. A sovereign mediator must be
appointed, one who all things be trusted to. A mediator, one
who could make the peace. One who could accomplish reconciliation. A sovereign mediator must be
appointed. A covenant must be agreed on
because our God is a covenant God. A covenant surety must be chosen
because man not going to keep the covenant. Therefore, all the offices, all
the saving offices of Christ were put into place before the
world began. And then fourth, the salvation
of the Lord and its accomplishment. With man, this thing's impossible.
He can't redeem himself. He can't justify himself before
God. By the deeds of the law, there
shall no place be justified in his sight. Man cannot redeem
himself, and he's just not sufficient for the job. He can't produce
a righteousness. So when the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law. That's why
He came. He accomplished it. It's of the
Lord, and it's accomplishment. When our Lord hung on the cross,
the last thing He said, it's finished. Huh? It's finished. The surety of
God's everlasting covenant came into the flesh, took on Him the
seed of Abraham, and accomplished the redemption of all God's covenant
people. All that the holy justice and
righteousness of God required of His elect was fully accomplished. And He made us. He made us accepted
in the Beloved. And then listen to this, salvation's
of the Lord in its application. Who's going to believe our report?
I'm just saying. Don't look like anybody is. Who's
going to believe our report? God's got a people. And he sends
his spirit, and they work in them, and they believe. They
believe what this world vehemently despises and rejects. Salvations of the Lord in its
application, faith, and regeneration are of the Lord. Of His own will
begat He us with the word of truth. God hath from the beginning
chosen us to salvation through sanctification of spirit and
belief of the truth. And then Paul said here in our
text in Romans 9, 8, they which are the children of the flesh,
these are not the children of God, but the children of the
promise are counted for the sick. And this is the word of the promise
that this time I'll come and Sarah's going to have a son.
Isn't that the way it is? In God's own time, in God's own
place, by God's own means, He comes and a son is born. He's
born. I preach every week. I don't
often see one born. But when I do, I know it's of
God. He comes according to His promise, and a son is born. That's how it is. That's how
His people are known. God's Israel are born according
to His promise, His presence, and His power. And then salvation
is of the Lord in its application, and it's of the Lord in its preservation. I know we persevere, but we persevere
because we're preserved, not just served. Listen, I like how
Peter puts it. He says it best. He said, we're
kept by the power of God through faith. Through faith. Unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. I have faith. I believe. And
I keep on believing. But I believe because my faith
is being kept by the power of God. And then finally, salvations
of the Lord in its final or ultimate completion and in our full glorification. In that great day, we'll put
on immortality and death and be swallowed up in victory. And
we'll say, oh, death, where is thy sting? And, oh, grave, where
is thy victory? Salvations of the Lord. So let
that be established. It belongs to Him. He's the author
of it. He's the executor of it. It's
His to give or withhold. And He in whose hands it is is
sovereign. And our sovereign has declared
that He will have mercy. Who did that? The sovereign did.
The sovereign did. How then will our sovereign God
dispense His mercy? How will He do it? He says He
will. That's good news, isn't it? It
is to fallen sinners. It is to someone who has nothing
to offer and give in exchange for his soul. That's good news.
God's going to save somebody. Said He was. And I believe they're
going to be saved because He's sovereign. Now you're beginning to see something
about what that sovereign on sovereign grace has to do with
things. It takes a sovereign to save
your soul. Nothing less than a sovereign
can save your soul. The strong man has to come in
and that other strong man, armed, who keeps his goods at peace,
he's got to be taken down. You know what it takes to do
that? Sovereignty. Sovereignty. Will our sovereign God dispense
His mercy? Listen to this, Romans 9.15.
God established this way back yonder in the book of Exodus. He said to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, and it's not of him that runneth, But it's of our
sovereign God who shall with mercy. How is it going to be
dispensed? Sovereignly. Sovereignly. He dispenses His mercy. Let me
read you something over here in the book of Ephesians. Verse 5. This is after he's already
declared to us his sovereign election. Now listen to this.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, now watch it, according to the good pleasure
of his will. How will God dispense his mercy?
According to the good pleasure of his will. There is a cure
for all our diseases. There is a remedy for all that
ails us. But it's in the hands of a sovereign.
And the good news is that our sovereign is willing to give
it, willing to dispense it. And the good news is that his
absolute total sovereignty is engaged for the salvation of
his elect. Oh, I thought he was a tyrant. You were making men out to be
robots. Well, whatever it's making men
out to be, you better get ready to face God because He's sovereign.
But the good news is all His sovereignty is engaged in the
salvation of your soul. That's why people, they say,
well, once in grace, always in grace. And they try to make a
big sham of it. And I don't even know what they're
talking about. But I can tell you this. There's only one kind
of grace. That's sovereign grace. And if you're in the grace of
God, you're there forever. You're there forever. He's willing to give it. He's
willing to dispense it. But you can't take it from Him. You can't take it from Him. You
can't demand it. You can't obligate Him in any
way to give it to you. You cannot will it from Him or
simply decide to have it. How then does God Almighty dispense
His mercy? Well, He gives His grace and
shows His mercy to undeserving, hell-deserving sinners. That's
how it's dispensed. Those who come and cast themselves
prostrate on the ground before Him and cry, Lord, if You will,
You can make me clean. Every time a sinner says that
to God, he says the same thing. I will be Thou clean. Be Thou clean every time. Listen to this. This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all exceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners of whom I am Jesus. That's what Paul
said. That's why He came. That's why
the sovereign took upon Himself human flesh and came into this
world to save sinners. How does the sovereign God dispense
His mercy? Through the Savior of sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're talking about the
will of a sovereign in dispensing His mercy. That's what we're
talking about, isn't it? Listen to this, John chapter 6. The
will of a sovereign to dispense His mercy. John 6 verse 40. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life. The sovereign God will dispense
mercy on whom He will, and He'll have mercy. He will have mercy. This is His will, that everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life.
God's mercy is not dispensed to men who receive not the love
of the truth that they might be saved. No, that's reprobation
is what that is. God's mercy is not dispensed
on those who believe not, for they shall not see light, but
the wrath of God abideth on them. His mercy is dispensed on all
them that believe. All that God has chosen in Christ
shall come to Christ by faith, and surrendering themselves to
Him, confess that holy faith in baptism. That's what the Scripture
teaches. You're not going to find the
mercy of our Sovereign on a mountainside, out on a lake, on the river,
or in the woods. You're going to find it dispensed
in Christ in the hearing of faith. That's how you're going to find
it, if you find it. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. How shall you hear without a
preacher? You're not going to find him out in the woods. You're
going to find him right here or somewhere where there's Gospels
being preached. All right. A question is raised. This is the third point. It's
raised by the infidels. Believers don't ask this kind
of question. Paul said, but you, are going to ask me this question.
Romans 9, 19, thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find
fault for who hath resisted his will? It's not a question from
the saint, but from the infidel. Believers don't talk that way.
They talk like this, oh, the death. Here's how a believer
talks about death. Oh, the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His
judgments and His ways past finding out. That's how I believe. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. That's how believers talk. Who
hath known the mind of the Lord? Who hath been His counselor?
But of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom
be glory forever. And so Paul answers this question
this way, Romans 9, verse 20. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? A wiggling
maggot. That's how man's represented
in the book of Job. A wiggling maggot bringing a
railing accusation toward the sovereign creator of the universe.
Can you imagine such a thing? And then thirdly, the issue at hand, Romans 9.21. Here's the issue. Have not the
potter power over the clay? Of the same lump to make one
vessel under honor and another under dishonor? That's the issue
between man and God. Is God God? That's the issue. Before you tell me who your Savior
is, tell me who your Lord is. Tell me that. Is God God? Does He have the right to sit
on the throne and create all things and run all things and
determine the end of all things? Is God God? Hath not the potter
power over the clay? He's the potter. He claims the
right. Does He have it? Can He exercise
it? Isaiah 46, 9, he said, Remember
the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else.
I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I'll do all my pleasure. Is God God? As the eternal potter,
does he have the right to make of the same lump one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? He's God. All right, fourthly, what if? What if? What if rather than
bringing railing accusations toward God? What if God the Holy
Spirit said, come, let us reason together? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and made His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? What if God? Not this wishy-washy peanut of
a God men talk about. I'm talking about the eternal,
omnipotent, unchangeable God, all-wise. Almighty. What if He
created man through a single man? And He put that man in a
garden to keep it. And He put this man on a conditional
footing of his obedience and his free will. Isn't that what
men rejoice in and glory in today, their free will? There he is,
Adam. Only gave him one law? He didn't
have 637 statutes like the Jews did, just had one. Don't eat
of the tree. You know why God told him that? To establish that he was God.
That's why He told him that. Don't you eat of that tree. What if God created man through
a single man and put this man in a garden on a conditional
footing of his obedience and his free will to walk with God
or suffer everlasting damnation? What if God did that? Gave to
this man every advantage, made him upright in heart and mind,
put him in a perfect environment, walked with him in the evenings,
But that man, because of a bride lost in sin, willingly gave up
his blessed estate and made himself the enemy of God. Do you know
the Scripture said in this that Adam is a type of Christ? It
sure does. I Timothy 2.14 tells us that
Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression. He wasn't deceived. He did this
thing with his eyes wide open. Adam did what he did with his
eyes wide open, and when he sinned, death was brought in upon him,
his wife, and all their offspring. Paul spends the most of chapter
5 establishing that one fact in the book of Romans. I'll just
read you one single verse, Romans 5.18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Sin entered and death passed.
Then Adam all died. And that's just so. That's just
how it is. But here's the good news. God
did not obliterate Adam when he sinned. He didn't destroy
him and Eve. He came to him in the cool of
the day. And he reasoned with him. And
he took a lamb and he slayed that lamb. And He offered him
on a hot bed of coals and sacrificed him in their stead. Instead of
killing them, He killed the lamb. And then He took the fur off
of that lamb, the wool off of that lamb, and He made clothes
for them and clothed their nakedness, showing to them that this Redeemer
would come, that He had appointed, and He would redeem man and clothe
him in His righteousness. And that set the standard from
worship from that day all the way to now. This is the good news. God didn't
obliterate Adam and his bride because of their sin, but He
came to them and reconciled them. And God, here it is, God endured
all of his offspring, all of Adam's offspring. There's Cain. He despised God. He wouldn't
offer that lamb on the altar. He offered a bunch of vegetables,
swelled up with pride, had his fingers in his suspenders. He
was so proud of that, God walked by and spit on it. Just like
he does our pretense of righteousness and our good sacrifices, God
spits on them. God endured all his offspring. allowing them to propagate and
bear their sinful children to a number that no man could number.
He endured their ignorance. He endured their satanic idolatry. He endured their bloodshed and
persecution of the saints. He endured their venomous accusations
and their mockings and their slander. He endured them. He
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction. He endured them. for thousands
of years, and He yet endures them. And He endures them because
He's purposed to save a people for the glory of His name. Why would God put up with these
wicked vessels of dishonor? He tells us in Romans 9.23 that
He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of
mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory. Nothing is going
to stand in the way of that. The sovereign has arranged things
in such a way out of that fallen race to redeem a people for the
glory of His name. And nothing is going to stop
Him. Nothing is going to stop Him. God has a people He chose
in Christ before the world was. And Christ is their Savior. God
is their Father. And the Holy Spirit is their
Comforter. And God endures the rest. He endures them. He uses them. Just like He did
Pharaoh. Just like He did Judas. He uses
them. Just like He did those Romans
and those soldiers and those Gentiles at the crucifixion of
Christ. He endures them and uses them
for His own purpose. Paul said in Romans 11, verse
7, The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
God endured the rest. born blind, loving darkness rather
than light, judicially blinded, receiving not the love of the
truth that they might be saved. I'm going to tell you something
about this sovereign election of God's people. So if you've got a pencil, you
get it out. Get ready to write some things down. I'm going to
tell you something that you're not going to hear anywhere but
right here. has nothing to do with damnation. You write that down, you memorize.
Election has nothing to do with damnation. Election has to do
with salvation. Election is only found in the
mercy and grace of God. It's a gracious election. It's
a loving election. There is no cursed election. Our election is a blessing. Paul prays. He thanked the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He gives thanks to Him. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as He has
chosen us in. That's a blessing, ain't it?
Not a curse. Elections only found in the mercy
and grace of God. Secondly, you write this down,
election is not the cause of damnation. Sin is the cause of
damnation. Sin, not election, sin. By one man, sin entered the world
and death by sin. Our sins have separated us from
God, not our election. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men. Election presupposes the fall, and out of that fallen
number makes provision for chosen sinners. Before conversion, Paul tells
us in Ephesians 2, 3 that we were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. No difference. So picture, if
you will, the whole lineage of Adam standing before God, wicked,
evil, ungodly, children of wrath, sinners all, all have sinned,
come short of the glory of God. And here they stand, as far as
you can see in any direction, left, right, front, back, you
look, and here they all stand, wicked, fallen sinners. And God
sends to them His holy angel, His minister. They says, Brian,
come out of there. You come out of there. Jesse,
you come with me. Winston, step out of there. And you say, what's going on?
And that angel looks at you and he said, another been chosen
to die in your stead. Oh, my soul. Huh? Did that election harm anybody?
Huh? Then why do men despise it? Why do men hate it so? Because
they don't understand it. They don't understand it. They
understood it. They wouldn't despise it. Election
harms no one. Has it done anything, any injustice
to anybody? There's that prison full of prisoners
at the crucifixion of Christ. And those Roman soldiers go down
there, and they tell that one, you're free to go. Another's
been chosen to die in your stead. That do any injustice to the
rest of the preachers? All that did was magnify the
grace of God. That's all that did. It magnifies
the grace of God. The attitude of professing believers
toward election. You write this down. The attitude
of professing believers. Those who say I believe. The
attitude of professing believers toward election is the acid test
in their belief in the grace of God. I believe that's so. And then let me say this. Election's
not a stumbling block that prevents anybody from coming to Christ. Does God have an elect people?
Yes, sir. Is that all that he's going to
say? That's all he's going to say. Well, don't that prevent sinners
from coming to Christ who want to come? No. Nobody else is going
to be given a want to. You're not being told that in
these other churches, and I know it. If I had something to describe
regeneration, it would be that. God gives you a want to. He changes
your want to. That's what he does. And he does
it by revealing who he is and what he's done for you in Christ.
He changes you want to. Election is not a stumbling block
that prevents anybody from coming to Christ. It is, in fact, the
reason for his coming. John chapter 6 and verse 37,
he said, All that the Father hath given me will come to me. What's that mean? It means they're
all going to believe. It means they're all going to
understand. It means they're all going to
come to Christ, every last one of them. Now let me hurry and give you
my fifth and final point. How does a fallen sinner determine
which vessel they are and to which end they're being made
in the hands of the potter? How does this vessel Understand
that. Romans 9.24. Even us whom He hath called. That's how you understand it. You understand it by your calling.
By your calling. Paul said, because we were from
the beginning chosen to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief in the truth, therefore He called you by our
gospel. He calls you. The sovereign potter is pleased
through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. He
calls them by His Spirit. He calls us by His gospel. He calls us by His grace. And
He calls us personally. He tells us in John chapter 10
in His parable about the shepherd and the sheep, He said, He calleth
His own sheep by name and leadeth them out. Huh? How do I know which vessel I
am? Well, if I'm a vessel of mercy, I know it because He called
me. He called me. Gave me an understanding. Gave me a heart and a will to
seek Him. Enabled me to believe on Him. If you're here today and you're
listening to this message, you're a vessel. You are a vessel. I don't know which vessel you
are. I don't know to which end you've
been made. Some of you have made professions. It causes me to
think that you might be a vessel of mercy. I hope that you are. I hope that I am. But I know
by the word of God that some here are not. May God enable you by His grace
to determine which.