If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to Romans 9. Romans 9. And you can follow
me in your pastor's commentary as well. Romans 9. As we continue in our fourth
message in the ninth chapter of Romans, I want to remind you
of what I shared with you a bit last week, that if you are going
to successfully exit the ninth chapter of Romans, With an understanding
of the aim of the author, both God and the apostle, you're going
to have to listen carefully to the apostle's argument, which
is God's argument as well. One of the things I'm teaching
our men in biblical interpretation is that when you come to the
word of God, you have to know how to cut your thoughts off
when it comes to reading God's word. so that you don't read
into the Bible your thoughts while reading. That's like having
two channels on at the same time, your channel and God's channel.
Now, it's bad enough to have your channel on, but then to
try to have your channel on and God's channel on will guarantee
that you miss God's point. And one of the areas in which
men stumble and churches stumble And the souls of men stumble
into hell is the area of God's sovereignty, God's absolute dominion
and rule over everything, which is a very difficult concept for
mere creatures like you and I to grasp, to understand, and to
live with. The Apostle Paul is in the ninth
chapter arguing for God's right to choose to save whom he wills. And he wouldn't be arguing if
he didn't know his target group and their innate capacity to
argue with God. And his target group are the
Jews, his own brethren, who've had 2,000 years of experience
with God, himself being at the echelon of the leadership at
one time, Paul knows how to argue with God. And he knows that his
auditors are arguing with God even now around this issue of
God having sovereignly chosen a people for himself and bringing
them within the sphere of his blessing for all eternity. and
leaving the rest of humanity to suffer the consequences of
their own action. So there are two doctrinal truths
that are in Romans 9 that have to be grappled with by every
professing Christian because you profess to know God. And because you profess to know
God, you have to speak for God. That's what it means to be a
witness. I stand as a witness for God, that God is true and
every man is a liar. That's what it means to be a
Christian. And when that testimony is set forth, you are going to
reap the ire and hatred and hostility of the whole world. As did God's
son, as did his apostles, and as did the prophets of old. If
you are going to safely escape Romans 9 without stumbling into
the error that we talked about last week, which is humanism,
self-righteousness, and the ability in your own strength to do good.
Remember we talked about the assumption that the whole world
holds that man is basically what? Good. Nowhere in the Bible Does
it affirm that supposition? It makes no room for human goodness
after the fall. The other assumption that men
hold is that they are free. And nowhere in the Bible does
it affirm your autonomy or freedom. But conversely, it charges you
and me with being slaves of sin through and through, that we
don't know anything about freedom. And that which we tout as our
freedom is simply our sin. I'm going to demonstrate that
a little bit more today, although I want to make my advancement
in my study. And finally, what this whole world holds to, of
which the biblical Christian must refute, is that we have
the ability to do good or evil in and of ourselves and nothing
could be further from the truth. The Apostle Paul then has started
explaining to his Jewish brethren in Romans 9 starting at verse
5 that God did not fail. The Word of God did not fall
flat on its face simply because the vast majority of the Jewish
people perished in the wilderness The rest went apostate in the
land of Israel so that they were scattered into Assyria and Babylon
and the vast majority of them rejected the very Messiah that
came to them when he came unto his own and his own received
him not. The Apostle Paul lets his Jewish
brethren know that the Israel that they were looking at, which
most people look at today, the physical seed of Abraham, never
has been the Israel of God. And so Paul made a distinction
in verses five through about verse 11, where he says, not
all Israel is Israel. And that distinction led to his
argument around the doctrine of election. Do you guys remember
that? Where he plainly argued that
only the children of the promise are counted for the seed. And
then he said, within the framework of Abraham who received the promise
from God that of his seed should all the nations of the earth
be blessed, God chose Isaac over Ishmael. Isn't that what God
said? So what Paul is doing right now is demonstrating that the
major failure within the body politic of Israel is because
they fail to understand that there are some in Israel who
are true believers, based on certain criteria we'll deal with
in a moment, and the rest, though they are the physical seed of
Abraham, are not the children of God. Now that distinction
must be understood by you. Because if we carry it over to
application today, everyone who says they are a Christian is
not a Christian. But only the seed received the
promise. And we made the distinction between
the technon and the sperma, didn't we? The physical, biological
children of Abraham versus the spiritual children of Abraham,
of which the Bible is replete, are made up of men and women
from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue who were chosen in
Christ, called by His grace, saved by His Spirit through the
gospel, bearing the incorruptible seed of Christ. And they are
believers in God, just as Abraham Was and is that distinction was
critical and what Paul did was press the distinction more Because
he knew his brother's argument that ah, but you see Ishmael
was really not one of the children He was a half breed because Israel's
mama was an Egyptian. He says well, let's move on now
to Jacob and Esau If you want to argue that Jacob and Esau
had the same mama and daddy That's verse 11 And God chose Jacob
over Esau before they were even born. So that we could demolish
the notion that election is based on human works or human merit
or God looking down the corridor of time and saying, I chose him
or her or them because of something intrinsic in them. before the
children did good or evil that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works but of grace and of him
who called he chose Jacob over Esau the argument that Paul is
laying down is this if you watch how God acted in the Old Testament
how he acted not how you expect him to act how he acted Then
you will learn who God is. What I'm going to contend today,
as I built on last week's message, is that everything that God does
is right. And when the Christian acquiesces
and yields and accepts and comes to this safety place of going,
did God say that? Then it's a wrap. Did God do
that? Then there's no conversation.
God's always right in whatever he says. whatever he does now
watch this if you don't get anything else out of this message you
young people This will be the safety of your soul when you
come to discover what God says and what God does as Being without
question the right thing you are safe Because the vast majority
of humanity whether they do it audibly or in their heart argues
with God and they argue with his waves and What Paul is doing
is defending God's right to choose. What Paul is doing is defending
God's right to save a people for himself. And he's arguing
the characteristics of that salvation being based on grace, not words,
right? But now what Paul has to answer is the anticipated
question that's also raised. So then what about the rest of
the people whom God did not choose? Which becomes now another argument
on the part of insolent man, who dares to question God's character
and conduct and actions as if we qualify to do that. This is
where we are. I want to make sure that as we
begin to develop the text that you examine yourself as to whether
or not you are one of those Christians or sinners who really loves to
argue with God and not simply sit and be taught by God as he
is in the truth of the scripture. To hear from God, you've got
to shut your mind's mouth. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all flesh keep silence before
him. And the most immediate temple
that I'm talking about is the temple of your body, where all
of the yakking goes on in your mind all the time. So much so
you can't even hear your God even when you read your Bible
because too many channels are going at one time Cut all the
rest of the channels off and let God talk to you and you will
hear God Now you might not like what he says But like I told
you last week as long as you agree with him you halfway home
By the time you get to glory You will love everything about
God The Apostle Paul then anticipates another argument that emerges
up out of the argument of election, which I think most of our people
here at Grace are absolutely happy about God electing us.
Is that true? Can I get a witness? We are absolutely
happy that God elected us, that God chose us, that God smiled
on us, that God looked on us in Christ before the world began.
We are just elated at the fact that God would provide a way
of escape for us since we didn't deserve it. What Paul then is pressing, pressing,
pressing, which is going to move us into his next argument, is
this. If you begin to contemplate salvation as something deserved
or something earned, then you have failed to understand who
you are and what God did in the matters of redemption. If you're
saved, you are a vessel of mercy, not a vessel of merit, Not a
reward for your good works. You are a vessel of mercy. And
vessels of mercy have no grounds for boasting in anything that
they did. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? So if you remove the doctrine of mercy from the equation
of God's act, you force God to have to pay you for what you
did. And that would steal glory from
God And what we're going to learn today is everything God says
and everything God does is always at all times for his own glory. The man or the woman that's going
to get this is the man or the woman that's going to be saved
when God acts and you don't understand what he's doing. The man or the
woman, the child, the teenager, I love the fact that we have
young people in here. Because I know that young people are
smarter than their parents give them credit for. They can hear,
but they don't let you know how much they hear, because they
want to play you. But I'm so glad they're under
this teaching, because we're not watering the word down. They're
going to get it, even though they don't like it. Will you
hear me now? Watch this now. This is very,
very important. This is very important. God has to teach us
his ways. We don't know God's ways naturally. We're not born knowing the ways
of God. God has to teach us his ways.
And then he has to teach us his ways as a parent teaches their
children the ways of the family, of which the children buck against
until they're conformed to the image of the family. What that
means is you and I have to learn the ways of God to know God to
know his glory and to know his name. This is the struggle that
Paul knows is the problem with his Jewish brethren. This was
a struggle that Moses had. Do you guys recall? I've quoted
it several times now. Moses could understand God destroying
all of Egypt, destroying Pharaoh and delivering God's people out
of Egypt into the wilderness. What Moses couldn't get with
was God destroying his own people too. That's where he parked his
car and said, God, I ain't going no further until you show me
your ways. That's a great, great place to
pause when you don't understand what God is up to. See, when
you don't understand what God is up to, you got to ask him
to show you his ways. Because his ways correspond to
his nature. and how he thinks and that's
how he acts. And if you pay attention to God's
ways, you'll learn who God is and you'll have a relationship
with him. And when you accept that God is this way and ain't
no one changing it, you're safe for glory. I'm gonna use an illustration
just to tie this knot and move forward. It's the same way in
all relationships. You can make a person out to
be what you want them to be. But if what you perceive them
to be, or as it were, circumscribe them to be, or paint them to
be, or desire them to be, is not who they are, you don't know
them. Are you with me so far? When
God calls you near to Him, He calls you near that you might
know Him. Not that you and I would take
a lump of clay and begin to mold God into our own image, which
is what we do. We will start shaping God and
saying, well, now my God wouldn't do that. Well, that's an idol. You hear people, my God would
never. Well, that's an idol. If you
don't know God in the truth, you are shaping a God of your
own vain imagination. And this was Israel's problem
in Psalm 95 verse 10. God told Israel, you don't know
my ways. They have been with God for hundreds
of years now and fail to understand God's ways. How do you dwell
with someone for hundreds of years and still not know them?
That was a little insight that Christ gave to the disciples
when the question was raised, show us the Father. And Jesus
was a bit frustrated with them when he says, have you not been
with me so long and you still have not seen the Father? He
that seeth me hath seen the Father. The boys hadn't yet comprehended
the ways of Christ. What that means is you and I
can be within the sphere of the Christian religion and still
miss God. by not paying attention to the
ways of God. And here are the ways of God.
I want you to grasp this as we work it through. The righteous
character of God is on display in this world, both in the saving
of men and in the damning of men. The righteous character
of God is on display in this universe right now, both in the
what? Saving of men and in the what?
Damning of men. We are woefully wrong, mistaken,
and in great error to believe that God's punishing men in hell
is a defect in his character or a deficit of his attributes.
God's ways and glory and name encompass both his mercy and
his justice. This is what Moses had to learn
in Exodus chapter 34, verses 5 through 7, when God says, I
will reveal my name to you. I will show my glory to you,
and you will understand my ways. And when God revealed his name
to Moses, I am the Lord, the Lord God. I am merciful, I am
gracious, I am long-suffering, I am plenteous in goodness and
in truth, but I will send your tail to hell as well. That's
my translation. Read the rest of it. You know
what it's called? Mercy and justice are rooted
in the character of God. this world will see both the
glory of God in his mercy and the glory of God in his what
justice so the next word I'm going to put into your head is
reprobation reprobation reprobation means that God gives men and
women over to the lust of their own heart and And then God, as
it were, accommodates their lust by hardening their hearts and
giving them over to their passions to the point that they destroy
themselves in hell. That's why now, in Paul's argument,
the topic of Pharaoh has come up. Why are we talking about
Pharaoh in Romans 9? Because now Paul must help you
and I understand that when men and women are raised up and they
are visibly and demonstrably seen to be open, hostile enemies
against God, that God's plan is not frustrated, that God's
purposes are not thwarted, that somehow a link, a chink in God's
armor has been discovered? Pharaoh was raised up for this
very purpose. that God's glory in His justice
and His wrath might be manifested. So you got to start to embrace
and capacitate these two realities about God as we work through
the text. God is going to be glorified
in sending men and women to hell. He's going to be glorified in
the judgment, in sending men and women to hell. and he's going
to prove that they deserve to go there. There will be both
the mercy of God demonstrated for all eternity and the justice
of God demonstrated for all eternity, both attributes intrinsic to
his nature, where the human race will understand that God is true
and every man a liar. Are you guys hearing me? This
is Paul's trajectory. This is his tenor, of course.
And we've got to learn something then about it. Point number one
in our outline. Let me quickly run through some
things so that you can see this. We are in Romans chapter nine.
And I want to remind you, according to point number one, election
is according to what? It's according to grace. And
no one would be saved apart from that. Election is according to
grace and no one would be saved apart from grace You understand
what that means child of God that if God didn't have an apparatus
within his thinking and purpose called grace and mercy None of
us would be saved As soon as you lay that down as a foundation
you can start helping other people understand that as well We can
only be we can only be saved by grace. It is an aspect of
God's mercy. I Points number one then carries
two sub points. I want to quickly rush through
them by nature Jacob and Esau are both what I love that word
rotten to the core Since all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God I Since there's not a just man upon the earth
that doeth good and sin is not Since God has looked and he hasn't
found one among a thousand who actually does the right thing
We all to a man have gone our own way. We all have turned as
it were to our own ways We are hell-bound sinners by nature.
How did you discover the grace and goodness and salvation of
the Lord? It was God's mercy It was God's mercy, that's all.
Because certainly you didn't merit God smiling on you and
doing something for you. Am I pressing that home? You
and I are just like Jacob and Esau, which didn't we learn this
in Malachi chapter 1? God tried to help Jacob understand
he doesn't got any right to argue with God. Church folk argue with
God. That's why we have so many apostate
churches. Because they argue with God and then play hopscotch,
like I said, over sound doctrine. And in so, they distort the message
of God and people don't know the true and the living God.
Remember what God said in Malachi chapter 1 verse 1? Pull it up.
Malachi chapter 1 verse 1. I want you to see what God says.
He's talking to Jacob about Esau, the burden of the word of the
Lord to Israel. To Israel. To Israel by Malachi verse 2.
Watch this now. We're going to work our way.
I have loved you. Boy, you better stop right there when God says
that. Now, what he's saying is, don't argue with me, child. And
what you and I have to remember is God has loved us in the past
tense. This idea that you and I have
to constantly affirm a present emotional empirical experience
of God's love is to diminish the once for all demonstration
of his love for you on Calvary Street. You and I are demanding
God's love be more valuable in our human experience than what
it was in the person of Christ when he bore the wrath of God
for your sins and justified you freely by his grace and secured
your soul for heaven. How much more love can God show
to you? How much more love can he show
to you? I'll say this as a syllogism. If God loved you in the past,
if God loved you in Christ, he loves you forever. His love is
never gonna fail you if it was for you before you had a being.
There's nothing you can do if God chose you in Christ to cause
him to abandon you since he saved you while you was an absolute
fool, rotten in your sin. Am I making, is that good news
or what? Is that good news or what? But watch this now, because
I'm gonna teach you guys today. Wherein have you loved us? See
the mess we get into? You better mark that. I'm trying
to show you how Christians act when your bills don't get paid,
when your husband act crazy, when your wife act crazy, when
you lose your job or lose your health. Now you're questioning
the love of God, aren't you? When have you loved us? Now watch
what he says. Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Now they knew that God had poured
his wrath out on the Esamites. And what God is reminding Israel
as he must remind you and me, and he's talking about the true
Israel of God. If you want to know whether or
not I love you, look at what I do to people that deserve judgment. That's how you know God loves
you. He goes on to say in verse three, come on now, let's keep
rolling. And I hated Esau. and laid into his mountains waste
and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. And
I told you last week, as we'll see in point number two, there
is a characteristic and a category called hate in God's nature.
Did you guys hear that last week? God must hate. Pure love must
have, as its juxtaposition, a hatred of everything that does not correspond
to love. God must hate. And for those
of you who still don't know your Bibles as you ought to, who say
God loves everybody. You got a whole litany of verses
in our points that will run you from the Old Testament to the
New Testament that would demolish that all-encompassing statement
that God loves everybody. If God loves everybody, there
wouldn't be one person in hell. Are you guys hearing me? There
would not be one person in hell if God loves everybody or and
you are thinking people If you want to say God loves everybody
And you want to look at those souls that are in hell and say
God loves you Will you answer this question? What kind of love
is that? That would let you go to hell
Are you guys hearing me? If there wasn't but one person
in the world that God says he hated That would mean that God
does not love everyone Y'all got a little sense don't you?
If we didn't identify other people that God hated There would be
one person he did did not like and his name was what? That demolishes
the notion that God loves everybody Does God have to love us See
what I'm getting at See what I'm getting at? You don't get
to sell God's characteristics to get people to like you. Your
job is to know God and then to defend God for who God is. Here's
the problem. Here's the problem. Here's the
problem as I develop it. Here's the problem. And our culture
man thinks he's basically good. So this message does not go over
well with a person that thinks he's all right. You got two thieves
on the cross. Two thieves. Both guilty. And there's a man hanging in
the middle who's revealed himself to both of them. One of them
just continues in his obstinate, impenitent, rebellious, hostile
ways. Why? Because he thinks he's all
right. The other one says, Lord, remember me when you go into
your kingdom, because I didn't already told that fool over there,
you didn't do nothing wrong. We all deserve to go to hell.
You're the only right man in the world. We call that the gospel.
We call that the gospel. Did Jesus have to save either
one of those guys? Was He just in letting both of
them perish in hell? Where was Jesus' love settled? On the man who acknowledged Him
as Savior. Are you guys following me? On
the man that acknowledged Him as Savior. So then, as we work
through our points, listen to this in point number B. First of all, we see that by
nature, Jacob and Esau are both rotten, and we are therefore
also rotten, but all of the seed, all of the seed will be saved
in the same way. In Paul's argument in Romans
chapter nine, he's headed towards Romans 11, where he will close
out his argument for God actually fulfilling what he said in Romans
8, 28, all things work together for what? To them that love God,
to them that are the called according to his purpose, right? That's
an adumbration of the faithfulness and infallibility of God. All
things are going to work out. Do y'all believe that? All things
are going to work out. This is where Paul is going with
his argument to show you that as bad as things look, it's going
to work out exactly the way that God has purposed it. And here's
what he says in argument in Romans chapter 11 verse 1, 2, and 5
in order to affirm this. I say then, have God cast away
his people, God forbid, for I am also an Israelite of the seed
of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. You notice now how he uses himself
as an argument that God is saving some of the Jewish people? Verse
2, God has not cast away his people, which he what? That's
the doctrine of election. The people that He is casting
away, who are the large numbers of Abraham's physical seed, God
did not know. The ones that God knows are the
ones who will never perish. Are you guys reading your Bibles?
Has God cast away His people whom He what? For new. We already
acquiesce to the fact that multitudes of the Jews have been cast away,
right? but not those whom he foreknew. Israel then becomes
a model illustration of the whole world. In the whole world where
masses of people will perish, right? Many are called, few are
what? In the judgment, many people will perish. Is that true? But
those whom God foreknows will not perish. See, the only reason
you're saved is because God foreknew you. Here's Paul's argument. Now watch what he says over in
verse 5 and 6, because I want you to see the argument as well.
Over in verse 5, starting verse 5, Romans 11, 5, he says, Even
so then, at this present time, he's talking in the first century.
We'll get here, but I want you to see the argument. Also, there
is a what? The word is remnant. It's not
the masses of the multitude, it's a remnant. According to
the election of what? He says, Also, at this present
time, God has a remnant. Not all the Jews will be saved.
Only a remnant. Paul was arguing for that in
his generation. He says, at this present time,
God has a remnant whom he's going to save according to the election
of grace, not of what? That's exactly right. And then
he explains it in verse six so that you and I might get it.
And if it be by grace, then it is no more of what? Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it be works, then it is
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more what?
Do you see how he's driving home the argument that election is
the sovereign act of God? And no one can question why he
saved Jacob and didn't save Esau, why he saved Isaac and didn't
save Ishmael, why he saved Abel but didn't save Cain, why he
saved Joseph but didn't save the other rebels, why he saved
the 11 disciples and let Judas perish. You and I can't argue
with God. We gotta let God be God. Brother
Job had to figure that out, didn't he? Brother Job had to figure
out over 38 chapters that God does not have to explain to you
and me why he does what he does. Are you with me so far? Watch
this now. Watch it now. Job knew he was a good man. He knew he
was a righteous man. He knew God's favor was upon
him. He was saved by God's grace. God had blessed him large. Then
God started taking things away. And like you guys learned, as
long as it was just material things, he was cool with it.
Even his family, he was cool with it. The Lord gives, the
Lord takes away. Soon as he let the devil start
touching his flesh, that's when he started crying out. Lord,
I wish I had never been born. Why you beating me up? I'm your
servant. I've done all things well. Why
you chasing me down? Do you guys remember that lengthy
series we went through years ago? And what I taught you was
this. The only way you can explain suffering in the world is by
the cross work of Jesus Christ. that if you take your eyes off
of Calvary, you can never understand why you go through suffering.
And this is what he was teaching Job. He didn't know that he had
actually boasted in Job. Job didn't know that God had
actually boasted in him, telling the devil, this is my servant,
he will never abandon me. And he let the devil have at
him. And as much as Job was pressed down by the trials of life, Job
never charged God with falling. Is that true? And I've told you
before, if you're God's elect, there are a lot of sins you will
commit, but there are certain sins he's going to keep you from
ever committing. He will never let you blaspheme
the Holy Ghost. He will never let you walk away
from Christ. He will show you that you are
rotten to the core and that you would walk away if you could,
but he will never let you walk away from him. And God came to Job with the
same question we're getting ready to deal with here in a moment.
So Job, I kept my mouth shut for about 37 chapters. and let
you just run off at the mouth and wax eloquent about if you
could find me, you would tell me a thing or two. You all remember
that? If I could just find him, if
I could find somebody tell me where God is, if I could get
to him, I would lay out my petitions. I would ask him why this, why
that, why the other thing. And God says, okay, I'm going
to ask you a few questions. Where were you at? Where were you at? Can you explain
to me how I made the behemoth? Can you explain to me how the
eagle flies? Can you explain to me how the oceans rush, rush
with the mighty power that they do and they stop right before
they destroy the inhabitants of the land? Were you there when
the morning star sang and gave glory to me in the spreading
of the universe? Were you there, Job? Were you
there when I set forth the constellations and gave them all names, draped
the heavens for my own glory? Were you there, Job? Can you
explain any of that for me, Job? Can you explain that, Job? Job
says, I have heard of you with the
hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen you. I put my
hand on my mouth, my face in the dust. I am nothing but dust
and ashes and I never should have raised the question in the
first place. This is where we are. Let me
show you something. I do not advocate you being ignorant. But I do not advocate you being
arrogant either. And boastful enough to think
that you can demand God to show you how he thinks. Are you hearing
me? When you see it in the scriptures,
what it says is what it says. And your job and mine is to say,
if God wants me to understand it, I'll get it. But what I'm
not going to do is charge God with folly. You guys got that? Well now, so let's go on because
we need to work our way through this. Point number one was to
underscore election is according to grace or no one would be saved. Point number two, the love and
hatred of God is a fact of his righteous nature. Have I proven
that? that God must necessarily hate. And now I'm going to run
through sub points A, B, and C and get to D in order to show
you scripturally because I am sure there are some in the audience
and many that are listening that will not submit to this revelatory
truth that God hates not just the sin, but the sinner. The love and hatred of God is
a fact intrinsic to his nature. This is where Paul argues in
Romans 9 verses 11 and 12. Look at what he says, because
this is the premise from which we launch into now this consideration. I'm going to start at verse 12
and then 13. It was said of her, the elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I what?
And the question is anticipated in verse 14. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with God? The answer is what?
So because God hated Esau, there's a characteristic in God, an attribute
in God, a quality in God where God must hate that which is contrary
to its nature or else God could not love himself. Let me remind
you of three things then before we deal with this last point.
Under point number two the love and hatred of God a fact of his
righteous nature You can affirm that again in Exodus 34 5 through
7 those that are loved of God Also are those that rule with
God and they are called the true Israel of God. Do you guys see
that now? I want I want to just state it
and I'll share with you one verse Those that experience the love
of God are those that rule with God and they are the true Israel
of God Now, let me see if I can make that proposition quickly
good if God loves you. I Then he chose you in Christ
to be where Christ is. And Christ is at the right hand
of the Father, ruling as the Father's vicar over everything.
And those that are loved of God rule with Christ at the right
hand of God. Do you guys see that argument?
See the logic? If he loves you, he has placed
you in Christ. If he's placed you in Christ,
you rule with Christ. That's what the word Israel means.
He who rules with God. Revelation chapter 1 verse 5
and 6 watch it revelation 1 5 and 6 I want you to see this for
yourself and you know what that means when you call yourself
a Christian, you know what you're saying you're an Israelite and
When you call yourself an Israelite, you're saying that you rule with
God and if you say that you're ruling with God It's because
God loved you those whom God loves he places in Christ and
sits them at his right hand so that they rule with Christ in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus are you guys with me look at
verse number five then and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of
the kings of the earth washes now unto him that what and washed
us from his own from our sins in his own blood verse 6 verse
6 and hath made us what we rule and We rule. He's made us kings
and priests unto God and to his father and to him be glory and
dominion for what? Ever and ever and ever what?
Amen. Those that are loved are those
that rule. Those that rule are those that
are in Christ. And we rule with Christ as long
as he rules. And how long does he rule? Forever. This is what we call the Israel
of God. Galatians chapter 6. I want you
to see it for yourself. Galatians chapter 6. This is
how Paul redefined or defined the concept of the Israel of
God in a biblical sense. I'm trying to help you understand
the nature of God's love in his covenant expression when men
and women are found to be in Christ. Paul knows he's talking
to the Judaizers in the book of Galatians. who are trying
to bring the Gentiles back up under the law, keeping the law
and being circumcised. And here's what he says about
this whole business of Judaism. I am in verse 12 of chapter 6,
and I'm going to go through verse 15. Are you there? Now, as many
as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain
you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ. That's a horrible indictment.
But what it says is, rather than trusting the merits of Christ's
blood as the grounds of your hope for glory, they want you
to do some kind of legalistic, self-righteous, religious works.
And in so doing, you make void of the cross of Christ. You know
what that means? Legal works religion and the
gospel are mutually exclusive. If you are part of a church that
teaches salvation by works, you are not part of a gospel church.
If you go to a church which says you are saved by what you do
and what God does, you are not part of a gospel church. The
two are mutually exclusive. You cannot be saved by your works
plus Christ's works. You can only be saved by his
work alone. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? What Paul then does is demolishes
the notion that we can kind of have a koinea or fellowship between
legal religion and the religion of grace. This is why Judaism
and Christianity are not the same. This is why Judaism and
Christianity do not have the same God. It's impossible. Listen to what he says. Verse
13. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law. I love it, don't you? These hypocrites,
they demand you to get baptized, demand you to speak in tongue,
demand you to pay your tithe, demand you to keep your clothes
right, demand you to do this, demand you to do that, and they
don't even do it. You know what we call that? Religion.
That's what we call it, religion? Religion. And all of that doing
Causes you to miss Christ Who did it all? Did he do it all
is he the real Israelite? Is he the true seed? Did he get
the job done all by himself watch this now? Verse 13 for neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law what this means
This is an axiom when you go to churches where the preacher
says you got to do this you you get to ask him Did you do it?
And when he says I did it you get to ask him. Are you still
doing it? Do you hear me? because they're not keeping God's
law. Here it is, but they desire, here it is, but desire to have
you circumcised that they may, here it is, glory in your flesh.
See why they call you to good works? That they might glory
in your flesh. Now watch this. Here's the axiom
of the gospel. You should know it by now. No
flesh shall glory in God's sight. If there's a religious protocol
or practice to which they are calling you, that might cause
you to glory in your flesh, it's not the gospel. The gospel always
and only glories in Christ. Are you with me so far? In other
words, works religion is not to be tolerated. It's damnable
to your soul and the glory of God, which I'm going to reiterate
before we close. God does everything for his own
glory. You better get that. God does
everything for his own good. I don't care how bad the issue
was. I don't care how, how, how, how jacked up it was. The melee,
the conundrum, the, the catastrophe, the judgment, the chaos. All
you need to ask is, did God do that? And if we can affirm that,
well, God's going to get his glory out of it. God's going
to get his glory out of it because God does everything for his own
glory. I'm teaching you how to keep your soul out of hell. Watch this now he goes on to
say in verse 14, but God forbid that I should glory in Anything
other than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see it?
See that should be the narrow place of glorying for you in
the cross Your job should be pointing men and women to the
cross Your job should be bringing every thought into captivity
to the doctrine of the cross. Does it honor the cross? Does
it confirm the cross? Does it augment the cross? Does
it glory in the cross? Is it a consequence of the cross?
Does it oppose the cross? Then it be anathema. If it obscures
the glory of God in Christ on the cross because it's at the
cross where both God's mercy and his justice are seen. Are you guys hearing me? The
cross will keep you retaining both of God's attributes, his
mercy and his justice. If you split God in half like
a baby and say, I only want the love of God, you have now demolished
the cross and you have missed Christ who reveals to us by the
sacrifice that he made that God is both loving and holy at the
same time. And he must punish sin. He will
punish sin. Are you guys hearing me? That's
the character of God we're talking about here. Here it is, here
it is. He says, but God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is what? In
unto the world. Study that verse. Because a lot
of us are crucified to the gospel and not to the world. A lot of
us are crucified to the word, but not to the world. And you
should be crucified to the world and committed to the gospel.
You should be crucified to the flesh and committed to the glory
of God. And what that means is you should
be dead to the world. It should be anathema to you.
It shouldn't control your life and dominate your life and run
your life. What Paul said was the gospel
has so captured me that I don't care what the world does. I'm
dead to it. That's huge. Now you get a little
insight into what we call gospel freedom. Because when you are
not a slave to this world system, you are free. Whomsoever the
son shall set free shall be free indeed. Right? You shall know
the truth and the truth shall set you free. This is what makes
you a true disciple. And when the gospel comes in
power, it liberates you from this world system. Is that right?
It frees you from the allurements of the world. It frees you from
the deceptions of the world, from the powers of the world,
from the traps of the world, from the deception of the world.
Because the world is luring us in every day. I see hundreds
of thousands and millions of professing Christians sinking
into hell because they're trying to have this world and the world
to come at the same time. I see it. I'm looking at it with
my own eyes right now. I'm seeing people who are denying
the reality that you cannot love this world and love God too.
You can't have two lovers, I'm sorry. And if the gospel isn't
working to cut us loose, to extricate us, to cut the cords of this
world system from us, we're continually being bound by this system. Are
you hearing what I'm saying? Now watch how Paul closes out
his argument to his own Jewish brethren around the Israel of
God. Here's what he says. He says, For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor what? But what? See what he just said? It's not
about Jew or Gentile. It's about a new creature. If
any man be in Christ, he's a what? This is what we call the Israel
of God. It's not Jew or Gentile. Those
distinctions mean nothing in the larger covenant scheme of
God. God has a real Israel made up of both Jew and Gentile, which
I will affirm more fully next week when we deal with the vessels
of mercy and wrath. And I'll show you that God has
always had an Israel of God that is made up of both Jew and Gentile.
That is the true Israel of God. And it's called the church of
the living God. Here it is. Here it is. For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but
a new creature. Paul says, I don't want to know
about your ethnicity. I want to know whether you're
born again. Verse 16. And as many as walk according
to this rule, this law, this principle, this statute, this
gospel, peace be on them and mercy upon the what? Israel of
God. Circle it and mark it. That's
the Israel of God. Under point number two, the love
and hatred of God, a fact of his righteous nature. Let's now
move on down to our fourth sub point. Having said those who
are who are loved of God are those who also rule and they
are called the true Israel of God. We understand then that
the elder shall serve the younger as Ishmael did Isaac and as Esau
Jacob and as Adam one to Adam the last Adam in whom all died
God has decreed a people whom he's going to save in his covenant
of mercy and grace and he's decreed to allow others to perish in
their own sin which is point number C such are left out of
the covenant of grace and redemption left out and they're called reprobates
The example I give you is in Galatians 4, 21 through 31, and
I won't take you there because I want to now permeate your thinking
with point number D, but here's what I will say. If you go back
to Galatians 4 and let the Spirit of God speak to you, He will
show you that Ishmael and his mother Hagar were cast out because
the bondwoman and her children can never be part of the free
woman and the child of promise. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? There's no way they can go together. And God had decreed
that before the world began. And so now we move to our fourth
point, our fifth point, our fifth sub-point. One, two, three, four. It's our fourth sub-point. Those
whom God hates also what? Hate God. I want you to get this
now. Those whom God hates also hate
God. We're getting ready to move into
and just touch on here in a moment why God is about to raise up
the Pharaoh account and show you that God had intention from
the beginning of the world that he was going to get glory to
his name all around the world. The fame of God, according to
God's decree, would be spread all around the world through
him destroying Pharaoh. Are you guys hearing me? Pharaoh
is going to be destroyed by God. And God says, through my process
of destroying Pharaoh, I'm going to be glorified by Gentiles all
over planet Earth. Men and women are going to know
my name through my destruction of Pharaoh. And I'm going to
teach you the gospel today in it, OK? so that you aren't wrapped
up in the mere historical narrative and asking the psychological
and emotional question, well, what did Pharaoh do wrong that
he should be raised up and tore up by God like that? I mean,
God is way bigger than Pharaoh. Why Pharaoh? I mean, Pharaoh
didn't do a whole lot wrong. That's where people go. I'm getting
ready to show you that Pharaoh is a representation of the devil
himself. and the one creature in this
universe that's constantly questioning God is the devil. Some of y'all
are gonna get it. I'm trying to teach you the gospel.
You're running around questioning God and challenging God and arguing
with God. That's what the devil does. That's
how he got our parents to fall. God in his sovereignty set up
one tree and said, leave it alone. And the snake came up to that
silly woman You know you silly when you talking to a snake. You know you silly. Coochie coochie
coochie coochie. But see, your head is on backwards
the moment you start questioning God's right to set limits on
you. You hear me now? And so she sat
there and listened to the devil distort the character and nature
of God. Twist is true. and then tell
her and her husband something that was exactly opposite of
what God said. You know you're not listening
to God when someone else can come along and tell you the very
opposite of what God says, and then you believe it. You know
you're not listening to God when God says, in the day you eat
that tree, you're going to hell. And then a snake comes along
and says, no, in the day you eat that tree, you're going to
be just like God. Blessed is the man. that walks not in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits
in the seat of the scorner. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, who brings forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall
prosper. So it is with every believer
in Christ who's rooted and grounded in the Word of God. The promises
of God are yes and amen to every one of them. I'm saying what I'm saying because
I know many of you listen to the voice of the devil. This
is why you can't hear God. This is why the Word of God is
not opening up to you. And it's important for you to
shut your brain down and listen to God. Keep silent in His holy
temple. Let me run through these verses.
Proverbs 8, verse 17. Let's look at this. I'm going
to run through about five verses and then I'm going to deal with
my final point for today. Proverbs 8, verse 17. Watch what
it says. Here it is. I love them that
love me. Stop right there. See, in this
generation where God loves everything, the devil, fallen angels, he
loves Pharaoh, he loves Judas Iscariot, he loves Ahab, he loves
all of them, really he loves them. Even though they're going
to hell and burning in a fire that is unquenchable, where the
smoke of their torment will rise up forever and ever, even though
God is going to exorcise the fury of his wrath on them, Even
though he's gonna rain down upon the wicked fire and brimstone
and an horrible tempest We're gonna say that God loves them
Are you crazy? Are you crazy? You're gonna try
to capacitate in one place the fury of God's wrath as an expression
of his righteous hatred That God loves the objects of his
wrath Are you going to do that? Are you going to lose your mind
and do that? Are you going to stand back and say, whatsoever
God does is right? See what the text says? I love
them. That what? This is why the fruit of faith
always demands what? Love. This is a whole nother
subject, but you better get this. Jesus turned to his disciples
after they had all scattered. When he came back, he simply
asked him one question. Do you love me? You got that? The evidence that God loves you
is that you love him. Did you get that? The evidence that God loves you
is that you love him. Because he loves them that love
him. And the evidence that you love
him is you seriously seek God. You know what it takes? Those
that seek me early show what? You got it. You got it. How do
I know I love God? I'm pursuing Him. I'm not wasting
my time dilly-dallying in this world. I'm not trying to get
all this life has and then maybe at the last day before I breathe
my last breath, when my body is raggedy and my mind is tore
up and I ain't got nothing to give God, then I try to say,
well I'm ready to enter into the kingdom of God. No! God loves
those that love him and if you love him you're gonna seek him
while you're 12 years old while you're 13 years old while you're
15 years old while you're 17 years old you're gonna seek him
right now he's gonna be the priority of your life first seek ye the
kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be what
see that's what God is saying and he'll make you to love him
won't he The next verse I want you to see then is very important
in Proverbs 8, verse 35. Listen to it. Proverbs 8, verse
35. It's very important. Here's what
God says about the people that hate Him. Because I'm sharing
with you verses that underscore that people hate God, don't they?
See, remember what I told you last week? The fundamental argument
is that everybody's good. The whole human race is good.
Now, can you be good and hate God at the same time? I'm just
trying to help y'all think, because I'm not going crazy with this
world. Have y'all noticed that the world is nutty? Have you
noticed that we engage in some of the most stupid, idiotic,
absurd stuff, and we call that reasonable and rational? I mean,
we're doing stuff that's so bad today that people 50 years ago
or 100 years ago would turn over in their graves if they saw it,
right? You know what God calls what we're doing today? Reprobation.
He takes his hand off and he shows us that we are beasts.
We are beasts. We are beasts. And God's elect,
those who are biblically informed, will never ever consent to the
folly that's going on in this world system. We know better.
And the reason we won't is this. It doesn't honor God. And if
it doesn't honor God, I can't approve of it. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Watch it now. Proverbs 8 verse
35. For whosoever findeth me findeth
life and shall obtain favor of the Lord. Verse 36. But he that
sinneth against me does what? All that hate me. That's right. They love that. They love that. They don't love God. You can't
hate God and love God at the same time. You love death. Now
watch this. If you hate God and you love
death, guess what you're going to get at the last day? Death.
Death. See, for people who are saying,
I want justice, I want justice, I want justice, I want justice,
hell is your justice. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Hell is your justice. I know you don't like this, but
you got to hear it. You have two options before you
in the character of God. His justice or his what? His justice or his what? I want
to hear some people in the house that know how to say mercy. His
justice or his what? Now watch this now. This is the
only two options. This is the only two options.
You can bow before the mercy of God and experience the grace
of God and give God all the glory for it. Let the whole world know
that God saved you by his mercy. He didn't have to do it that
God showed you his grace He didn't have to give it to you that God
saved you through the merits of the sacrifice of his son Jesus
Christ I don't know why he did it you can tell him that or you
can tell him well You know I'm waiting on the last day so I
can argue my own plea in the courtroom of God's justice and
let God know how good I was down here and God's gonna throw you right
into hell and After he convinces you that he was always right. Are you guys hearing me? After
he convinces you that he was always right. We may not like
the fact that God does what he does. But here's what you got
to get. This is axiomatic to God's nature.
Everything God does is for his own glory. This is what Christianity
has missed it today. If you get this, you'll understand
wars are for the glory of God. Tragedies are for the glory of
God. Setbacks and struggles are for
the glory of God. Calamities and evils are for
the glory of God. Or else God would not let it
happen. Our last point. I'm just going
to touch on these. Point number three. Just going to touch on
these just so you can get this. Point number three says prejudice
against God's right to choose is president prejudice against
his what? right and the points go like this and I'm going to
run through these because I'm We have basically affirmed these
already and I want to go to my fourth point and I'm not going
to develop my fourth point I'm going to just simply close it
out and the the basis upon which I established this main point
is in verses 14 18 and 19 of our text of which I want us to
read and Prejudice against God's right to choose is prejudice
against his mercy. This is what Paul is arguing
You gotta let God have the right to choose Because if not, there's
no room for mercy And if there's no room for mercy, you can't
be saved Is that a good argument? Here's what he says in verse
14 of Romans chapter 9 He says, in verse 14, these words, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? The answer is what? God forbid. Verse 18. Watch how
he speaks in verse 18. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom
he will. He will have mercy. In whom he
will, he what? Now stop right there. I love
what Paul is doing. I'm going to stop here. I love
what he's doing. You know what he just stated? For those who
are trying to figure out why God does what he does, he says,
I just want you to know God does what he does because God does
what he does. Well, Paul, you didn't explain
anything. I ain't gonna explain nothing.
I want you to hear this. This is why I've repeated this
principle in the opening of the message. When you're asking God
to explain why he does what he does, You're asking more than
you deserve or have a right to. Do you hear me, creature, creature? Listen to me, creature. You're
the clay. I have to come back here and
deal with it next week. You're the clay. You just don't get to tell God
he's got to do a better job of explaining himself Are you with
me? You're gonna be saved when you
let God be the Potter And you be the clay Because you're gonna be the clay
anyway And God's gonna be the Potter I want this to come home for
my folks at Grace. And I got more to talk about
here because this sovereignty of God thing, some of y'all slipping
all over the place with it, thinking you understand. That's why I'm
taking my time. I don't want you slipping all
over the place and mixing up sovereignty with fatalistic determinism
and throwing your hands up in there. You're going to go to
hell for your actions. You guys notice the article in
your bulletin on free will? How many of y'all read that so
far? Y'all shouldn't have read it, you should have been listening
to me. But I want to read this for the
record and I want you to meditate on it when we take up where we
are next time. I just want you to hear it read. What does evolution Santa Claus
and free will have in common. They're all myths. For the will of man to be free,
it must be capable of volitional activity uninfluenced by any
force outside of itself, perceived or not. To be free is to act
unconstrained by factors capable of influencing and determining
the choices made. Moreover, for the will, that
is the volition, the desired wish to be truly free, it must
face no consequences for its actions. Example, am I truly free to run
a red light? go beyond the designated speed
limit, to drive outside the bounds of the pre-established road patterns
marked out beforehand? Will there not be serious consequences
if I do? Will we not call this sin? See
the logic? See the logic? Transgression
is sin. And in the theological sense,
would we not say that not only are we in transgression for our
actions with serious consequences to follow, but that our actions
were indeed driven by a myriad of factors which made it possible
to act out the way we did? Do you accept that argument?
The reason for which Adam and Eve rebelled against God were
factors intrinsic and external. That's why God set that model
up. They were not really free. Christian theology does not render
man the powers of free choice to do good or evil as if he were
a sovereign over his life. But rather, he is a slave both
to God, the devil and his own sinful lust. He is told explicitly
that he cannot, does not and will not do good. Is that true,
Saints? He is told by the word of God
that any good done by him is because of God's grace. Is that right? He is told by
the word of God explicitly, however, that he is responsible for his
what? For those of you then who are beginning to work through
this issue of free will, mark this. The term human responsibility
and free will are not synonymous terms. When you hear the sovereignty
of God over human responsibility, you are not hearing an argument
of the sovereignty of God over the free will of man. Human responsibility
means you are accountable for your actions. It does not infer
or imply that you are free to do or not do what you do. Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? We believe in human responsibility,
don't we? We believe in consequences to
actions, don't we? But we do not believe a man is free within
himself to do good without the help of God. Listen to the argument. It follows then that to be responsible
and accountable for your actions does not mean you are capable
of doing the right thing. Therefore, human responsibility
and free will are not what? It does not follow, however,
that for God to demand obedience that therefore it is inherently
possible for man to obey. See the assumption? If God demands
that you obey, does it follow that you have the ability to
obey? If God demands that you obey him, does it follow that
you have the ability to obey? No! That's the other inherent
argument that you have to be ready to deal with. God demanded
Lazarus to come out of the tomb. God told the paralyzed man to
rise up and walk. He told blind men to see. Did
they have the intrinsic ability to do any of that? Did not God
have to infuse them with the ability to do what they could
not do? So it is with you and me. If
we are ever going to do good, the one who gives the command
must also give the grace. Listen to it. So it is with every
imperative. God must accompany the imperative
with power as in every command. Healing that was done by the
Lord Jesus Christ or the apostles. To say rise up and walk does
not mean one has the ability to do it in themselves. Even
so, to believe the gospel requires the gift of what? In closing,
unsaved man freely sins. He does it willingly and wantingly.
He is not in conflict with his choices. In that extremely narrow
sense, he is free only to sin, but not to do righteousness as
an alternative. Until we are made free, which
is a passive act of grace, liberating the soul from the bondage of
sin, then and then only can righteousness be possibly done. Is that so?
But even then, he is not capable of doing good until Christ works
in him the ability to perform true obedience. Why is this necessarily
so? That God might get all the glory
and salvation and that no flesh should glory in his sight by
saying, I by my own strength chose God. Beloved, It is this
kind of biblical preaching that lays the sinner low, shows him
to be helpless, and prepares him to seek only mercy from God
without demand to save him. To ask God to do for him what
he cannot do for himself, and that is believe the gospel. If
he should ask, God will do it. Because it was the grace of God
that moved him to ask sincerely. Amen.