If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to Romans chapter 9. You can pull up that portion
in your bulletin where it speaks to the pastor's outline and commentary
as we continue to work our way through the ninth chapter of
Romans. When you are speaking to someone
on a particular topic, and you know your subject, but they don't,
It doesn't matter how cogent your argument is or how thorough
you have presented your case for the subject that you are
discussing. If a person doesn't know your
subject, they may not be persuaded by your argument. It doesn't
matter how cogent, how clear, how much effort you put into
your argument. Your argument may be airtight
and unassailable in its logic, in its reason, in its defense. But if people don't know the
subject that you're talking about, they still will not be persuaded
by your argument. So what I want to do today is
to make sure that some of you get through Romans chapter 9
with me unscathed by certain assumptions that are undetectable
in your own heart and mind, which are sort of cultural norms, ideas,
and theories that we have all held to one way or the other
until we have come to know God in the truth. And so it's going
to be very important for you to pay attention. And if somehow
today's message evades you, get the CD and listen to it 10 times. Because we are on holy ground
right here. The ground of the apostles' argument
for the righteous character of God, which most people will miss
if they don't prioritize knowing God above presuming that they
know anything. Where most people stumble in
Romans 9 is the fact that they don't really know God enough
to understand the apostles arguments. And when they are confronted
by false assumptions, because those false assumptions are so
malleable and so convenient to our nature, we embrace those
false assumptions as a basic knee-jerk reaction to what God
is doing because we just don't believe that God would act that
way. And it's not that God is acting in
any way other than He has always acted. It's just that we are
not used to God being God until we get to know God in the truth. So what I want to do is work
with us to understand the apostles urgent desire to get his auditors
to grasp the reasons for which he is arguing that God cannot
fail. God cannot lie. God will not
change. Either we will learn who God
is. And this is eternal life. that you might know, that they
might know thee, the true and the living God and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent. Or we will perish under our false
assumptions as to how God ought to act. That's the real challenge
in Romans chapter 9. So I will assert to you a number
of things by way of foundation for our dealing with the three
points that are in your outline in Romans 9 And we have two to
three more sermons in Romans 9. Here's my first Assertion
that God is righteous Always righteous in everything that
he does God is righteous always righteous in everything that
he does For the person that knows God in the truth, we call that
an a priori assumption. It's the notion that we would
never question God in terms of what he does because we know
God. And this is what we know about
God. God is righteous. He's righteous
in his nature. He's righteous in his being.
God's nature is morally excellent. His intrinsic qualities as God
leaves no room for us to ever question whether or not whatever
God thinks or does is right. When you know God in the truth,
you don't struggle with whether or not what God did or said was
wrong. And yet when you really don't
know Him, whether you say it audibly or not, in your soul
you struggle with how God acts. And this is the foundation that
has to be laid for any believer to properly comprehend the arguments
in Romans 9. What Paul is going to argue,
as he has been arguing from Romans chapter 1 to the point where
we are now, is that God is righteous in everything that he does. And
therefore, if that is a true assumption that God is righteous
in everything that he does, children of God, must we not then say
that God is righteous when he saves? And God is righteous when
he damns? The soul that God saves, he saves
righteously. And the soul that he damns, he
damns righteously. For those of us who know God
in that truth, it settles the issue of why God acts the way
that he does. And so the apostle wants us to
work through this basic axiom that he has started for us in
Romans 1. If you guys remember, if you
guys remember, I told you that the objective of the book of
Romans is to exalt and magnify the righteousness of God. And
in Romans chapter 1 verse 16, remember what Paul said? I am
not ashamed of the gospel. Because the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Gentile, for in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed. What's revealed? The righteous
character of God. In Romans 1 he says, I am sharing
with you the fact that God is revealed in the gospel as righteous.
But remember in Romans 1 he said also that God has revealed not
only his righteousness in the gospel, but his righteousness
in his wrath against mankind. For the wrath of God is revealed
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. That's Romans 1 verse 18. So
Paul, by the Spirit of God, is showing us that God is righteous
in the gospel, that God is righteous in his judgments upon humanity.
And in Romans chapter 1, God is righteous not only in revealing
his wrath, but reprobating the nations. who refused to retain
a knowledge of God in their mind. That's verse 26 of Romans chapter
1. Because they refused to retain
a knowledge of God in their minds, He gave them over to a reprobate
mind. Is God righteous when He gives
a person over? Romans chapter 1 declares God's righteousness
in the gospel, God's righteousness to reveal His wrath, God's righteousness
to reprobate the nations. That's where we are today in
our culture. Reprobation is the passive act of God of giving
men over to their fallen nature so that we do those things that
are base and vile That's what we are in Romans chapter 2 the
Apostle Paul said that God was righteous in Condemning Israel
for trying to merit favor with God by good works by the time
we get to Romans 3 God reveals his righteousness and this sense
that he condemns the whole human race as being guilty sinners. The righteousness of God sets
forth a sentence upon all of us. You, me, your mama, your
grandmama, your great-grandmama, all the way back to our first
mama and daddy. Are you ready? All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's the righteous judgment
of God upon humanity. What God has stated in Romans
3 is if you go back to the first man and then the whole human
race up to this present hour, are you ready? There's none righteous. No, not one. That's God's judgment
on us. Now, if you don't know God, you
don't like that judgment. But it's true anyway. And by
the time we get to Romans chapter 4, what God says, not only declaring
his righteousness in the gospel, His righteousness in his wrath,
his righteousness in his reprobation, his righteousness in declaring
Jew and Gentile under sin, but his righteousness to propitiate
our sin by the death of Christ on the cross. Remember in Romans
chapter 3 verse 25, the scripture says, God has set forth his son
to be a propitiation for our sins. Watch this now, the setting
forth of Christ. the Lamb of God by which God
now satisfies his divine justice is a display of God's righteousness
God has proved himself to be righteous by the death of his
son watch this now and the death of God's son at Calvary's tree
was not a love offering to sinners so that God might appeal to you
on the basis of some of your goodness to come to God, it's
a revelation of God's right to damn all men in the person of
Christ. Are you hearing me? If God spared
not His Son, where will the ungodly stand on the day of judgment?
Is not the cross a clear, vivid illustration of the holiness
of God to punish sin? Is it? God has spoken clearly
then on the cross that the wages of sin is what? You think if
God saw sin on his son and punished his holy son his righteous son
his only begotten son And if he sees sin on you and me, what's
he gonna do to us? Will God be righteous to send
us to him? Yes, he will this is the argument that Paul is
laying down as he moves on to chapter 5 and in chapter 5 God
reveals his righteousness and to justify sinners based upon
a new federal headship in the last Adam, Jesus Christ. Remember,
many of us have been justified freely by the grace of God through
Jesus Christ, who is the new head of a new race of new creatures
in Christ, having been justified and therefore having the merits
of Christ's righteousness imputed to us so that in Christ all live. Remember that argument? God was
righteous. imputing to sinners the righteousness
of Christ because he chose those sinners in Christ before the
world began now some folk don't like that but I happen to love
it and I'll tell you why because
I love God being God I've learned some things about God Abraham
did as well and you know what Abraham learned sometimes God's
ways trouble us and But when you return to the fact of who
God is, your troubles settle down. Abraham was worried about
God having revealed to him that he was going to destroy all of
Sodom and Gomorrah. He was worried because as Abraham
scratched his head, he figured, wait a minute now, if God destroys
everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah, my kinfolk are in Sodom and Gomorrah. You notice how every man has
an interest in himself. And remember how he goes to God
and says, now, God, now, God, please, now, look, look, if there'd
be a handful of righteous people in the land, would you spare
it? And he said, now, if it's 50, God says, if it's 50, I'll
let it go. And Abraham walked away for a minute and said, wait
a minute, I don't know if that deal is going to work, because
I know those folks in Sodom and Gomorrah. God, excuse me now,
don't think I'm presumptuous, but I want to ask you another
question. Is it all right if I bring that down to 40? God
says, cool with me. Let's work with your 40. And
he walked away, and his conscience said, he said, Abraham, you better
go back and renegotiate that deal. Because I doubt if you
find 40 righteous men in San Francisco and in Oakland. So
Abraham goes back. He says, God. Give me one more,
give me one more shot at this deal. And before he raises the
proposition, here's what he says. I know that the God of all the
earth, the judge, the only one capable of judging rightly will
only do that which is right. What he appealed to God on was
the grounds of his knowledge that God cannot do wrong. Are you hearing me? Even though
he struggled with the possibility of his nephew and his nieces
and his children, the children of Lot would be destroyed in
the wrath of God, he'd have to know that if God destroyed Lot
and his family for living and dwelling and being among that
culture that rejected God, that God would be right in his judgment.
Am I telling the truth? He finally said to God now if
you do it You're right, but I'm just asking I'm just asking See
what I'm getting at is whether you know it or not when God acts
we struggle and we struggle not because Watch this now not because
what God did was wrong But because we don't understand God as we
ought to understand God If we always retained in our minds
that whatever God does is right. It would make it a whole lot
easier for us to handle how God acts. See what Paul is doing
as he's working through Romans chapter 9, and we're going to
work through this as well. He's trying to persuade his auditors,
which are Jews and Gentiles, watch this now, that God's promises
are yes and amen in Christ. He's trying to persuade them,
children of God, that when God says in Romans chapter 8, 28,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them that are called according to his purpose, that God means
to make that to come to pass. Like we quote that, don't we,
saints? Don't we quote it? All things work together for
good to them that love God. But very few of us who quote
that have ever been in the kind of hell that Job was in. or the kind of hell that brothers
and sisters are in around the world whose worlds have been
turned upside down by the chaos of our culture and the craziness
of madmen because God has allowed mankind to now eat the fruit
of his own doings and we are destroying ourselves in a madness
that we can't even reason through. Can you tell me that people can
sit serenely and not struggle through what's happening to our
world without crying out to God, God what are you up to? So I
got to bring this home to you because you and I sit in an air-conditioned
building with beautiful clothes on in this Western culture pretending
or hoping that we're Christian when we don't never get exercised
in terms of our faith like our brothers and sisters around the
world. You tell me what grounds of hope do brothers and sisters
have around the world whose livelihood, whose homes, whose peace, domesticity
are taken away in a moment of war other than this? that I know
that whatever God does is right, even though He's destroying everything
around me. Are you guys hearing me? That's
part of what's in your bulletin. That's part of what's in your
bulletin. It's that kind of faith that sustains people in the midst
of trouble. And this is eternal life, that
they might know you, not theories of you, you! Not concepts and
ideas about you, you! What keeps a person in the midst
of trouble is knowing God. That's how Abraham was able to
reconcile it. And I want you to get this now,
as we work through Romans chapter 9, Paul is into his second argument,
closing out his first argument, building on it by his second.
And his fundamental argument is this, that God is righteous
in choosing a people for himself. before the world began in the
person of Christ called the elect. And that the elect, no matter
where they are in the world, will be infallibly drawn to God
at some point through the gospel and secured in their salvation
and brought to glory at last because of a promise between
the Father and the Son. And that work of grace in saving
your soul had nothing to do with you. It had everything to do
with God's mercy in Christ to have a people for himself. This
is what Paul is pressing home. And you got to get this. You
are only saved by mercy. You got to get that. You got
to get that. God didn't owe you anything.
God doesn't owe you anything. You and I stand purely on grace.
And grace is God bestowing upon you mercy. and not sending your
soul to hell because someone advocated for you before you
even had a being. Are you hearing what I'm saying? And so the title of our message
that we're going to work through today, where the apostle is going,
and these are the, I guess they call them the hard truths of
God. But where I grew up at, this is not that hard. Jacob
have I loved. But he so hath I hated. This
doctrine is despised and maligned and distorted and ridiculed in
the church today as something that is beneath God to do. And so you find the church that
does not know God trying to rescue God from his purposes to choose
and elect whom he wills. and make them vessels of mercy
prepared for glory and his right to leave others to his just judgment
against them for their sin. There are preachers and pastors
and teachers and theologians who try to rescue God from the
doctrine of election. Are you hearing me? They immediately
say that's not right. This is Paul's anticipation in
verse 14 Romans 9 14. Listen to it Romans 9 14 here
what the Apostle Paul says What then shall we say is there what? Unrighteousness with God. Do
you see it? Is there unrighteousness with
God what is Paul doing he's anticipating the gains here's those who will
argue against God's right To choose some and leave others.
Are you guys hearing me? When you hear about the doctrine
of election, does that question rise up in you? It may. That's
legitimate. If it does, I'm going to tell
you why here in a moment to lay down a little deeper foundation
so that as we go through Paul's argument, you will understand
why Paul argues what he argues. But if you and I are troubled
with the idea that God would choose Jacob and let Esau go
to hell, it's probably because we are questioning the righteousness
of God. Are you guys hearing me? We're
questioning the righteousness of God. That's one argument that
Paul is going to deal with. Here's the second argument that
he's going to deal with. It's in verse 19. In verse 19. Here's
what the apostle is addressing when we get there. He will be
dealing with why God raised up Pharaoh. and destroyed Pharaoh
publicly so that the whole world might know something about God
in terms of his wrath and justice. And we read here over in verse
19, these words, thou would then say unto me, why doth he yet
find fault? That is, why does God find fault
with sinners? Since who can resist his will?
Here's what they're doing now. Not only are they questioning
the righteous character of God in choosing, They're questioning
the character of God in his judicial judgment upon humanity, essentially
saying this. Are you ready? God is a monster
who arbitrarily pours out judgment upon people unjustly. Since we
all know that God can do whatever he wants to do. And since God
can do whatever he wants to do, it seems to me that it's wrong
that God would, knowing that a man has no ability to stop
God from doing what he wants to do, still send that man to
hell. Now let me help you understand
something about that kind of reasoning. They are reading into
the text and they're reading into the history of God's work.
Watch this now. Their own self Righteousness
Let me share with you what's going on in your heart in mind
to particularly when you don't have a biblical worldview There
are three assumptions three assumptions. You can write these down Because
either you're gonna be a biblically based Chris Christian. Are you
gonna be one of those kind of Christians that that has their
own opinions? Have you met him? Well, I believe this what does
it matter what you believe? So long as what you believe does
not correspond to Scripture. I But but I deal with Christians
on the on this on this level all the time They are so given
over to their own opinions that when you share with them the
Word of God Even the Word of God can't overthrow their opinions
Here are three false opinions that have prevailed in the church
today which has divided the church between those who believe and
love and know and understand and trust the sovereignty of
God and the rest who put God in a cage and in a box and make
him a servant and of the whim and capri of mankind. Here are
the three presuppositional positions that the human race holds. Here
it is. First, mankind actually believes he's good. This is the first flaw that's
present in our culture and it permeates everyone, including
Christians. On some days you wake up with
your head on backwards unwittingly thinking that you are intrinsically
good. And as a consequence, you don't
think that bad things ought to happen to you. Oh yeah, they
must happen to your neighbor because you don't like your neighbor.
But they shouldn't happen to you. But when we think like that,
it's because we have let the doctrine of humanism enter into
our soul and give us a false assessment of ourselves. Are
you guys following me? The first one is humanism. The
basic argument that man is good, and as Solomon put it in the
book of Proverbs chapter 21, every man will proclaim his own
goodness. Every man will talk about how
good he is, but God's Word basically has told us that's a lie. Is
that true? There's none good, no not one. There's none that
doeth good, there's none that think right, there's none profitable,
there's none that seeketh after God. How many? None. Now, if
the vast majority of us are operating out of the false premise that
there is some intrinsic goodness to us, our problem is with God's
Word, is it not? And until you and I detect that
fallacy in us, we're going to be inclined to question why God
does what he does. Second what? Second what? The
second fallacy that mankind operates out of is his basic assumption
that he is free. Humanity really believes that
he is a free moral agent. I want you to write that down
for those of you who really want to be profitable in sharing the
gospel and defending God as we are called to do. Because you're
going to meet people who will, without any qualification whatsoever,
without any premise, without any basis, without any evidence, They're gonna just tell you that
we are all free moral agents. Do you know what that means?
They're gonna be saying that we all have the right to do what
we want to do. We can either do good or we can
either do evil. We're free to do that. That is
the basic assumption of the whole human race. One, that we're good.
Two, that we're free. The third one is, is that we
all have the power of choice. We all have the power of choice
that every one of us has the choice to receive God or reject
God like intrinsically We have that ability now Let me help
you with all three right quick so that when we go to the text,
you'll see how Paul argues it Humankind mankind humanity is
neither good Nor free nor capable of choosing right things Mankind
is neither good nor free, nor able to do the right thing. Watch
this now. The Bible is clear that mankind
is not good. He's rotten to the core. Secondly,
the Bible is clear that man is not free. He's a slave of sin,
bound by the devil, blinded by his sin. And the only thing he
can do is evil. Are you guys hearing me? That's
point number two. Thirdly, he does not have the
intrinsic capacity to do good. And that is choose God. Which
is the greatest good any human being can do. Are you guys with
me so far? Watch this now. It's not in you,
the ability, the intrinsic natural ability to choose God. That power
was lost when your mama and daddy sinned. back in the garden. Are you guys hearing me? So when
the scriptures speak absolutely and emphatically, there's none
that seeketh after God. No, not one. That means you and
me. You know what that means? If
you and I ever seek God, he sought us first. He changed our heart. He gave us a new spirit. He wrote
out his laws on our heart. He placed his own spirit in us
and moved us by the gift of faith to choose him. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Are you hearing me? Because very few churches teach
what I'm teaching. And they hate people like me
who teach what I teach boldly because these battles have been
fought for hundreds of years in the levels of scholarship.
And they have reaped through the pulpits teaching humanism. And that is not only is man good,
but he has the potential for goodness so that the gospel has
been inverted upside down on his head and God is a slave to
the whim and will of men. So now we rub the proverbial
genie and God has to bless us because we say something or do
something. Can I ask you a question as we
deal with point number one? Does God have to show you mercy?
If he has to, it's not mercy. Will you hear me? If God has
to show you mercy, it's not mercy. It's merit and reward based upon
something God sees in you that demands him do it. Does anyone
who is a guilty hell bound sinner have a right to demand mercy
of God? Are you guys hearing me? Time
to go to work then. Point number one. Election defined. Let's read verses 9 through 11
and then we'll quickly work through our fundamental points here so
that you guys can see where the apostle is going in his argument.
His argument is airtight to me. His argument is clear. Paul himself
has learned something about the sovereignty of God, which all
the prophets and faithful pastors must learn. In Romans chapter
9, verse 9 through 11, he says, For this is the word of promise.
At this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac, here it is in verse 11, for the children
being not yet what? Neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, the purpose of God, according
to what? Election might stand, not fall,
but stand, watch this now, not of works. God has a purpose,
it's called election. God has deemed that that purpose
of election will only stand Watch this now if God accomplishes
his electing purpose on the grounds of grace Not words Do you guys
see that? God has deemed that if he leaves
man To bring something to the table by which man merits God
choosing him There won't be one soul in heaven You'll get that
one of these days God looked over the whole of
the universe and he didn't see one person doing one right thing
by which they might merit God bringing them to heaven. What
that means is, ladies and gentlemen, those of us who end up in glory,
right along with the billions of believers, a number which
no man can number, Out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue,
from the beginning of time to the end of time, a number that
is declared in the book of Revelation 10,000 times, 10,000 times, hundreds
of thousands of souls are in glory, in the presence of God,
worshiping the triune Jehovah in the bliss of perfection, only
because they are objects of grace and mercy. Are you guys hearing
me? Everyone of the souls that are
in heaven right now understand the doctrine I am teaching perfectly. They understand it perfectly.
They would never dare to argue that they are in heaven on the
grounds of something they did. And what does Paul do? He builds
his argument of election around the patriarchs, because the patriarchs
are the false foundation of the fleshly seed of Israel, believing
that they are the children of God, because their daddy's name
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What God taught them and reminded
them was, remember Abraham had two sons. Remember that? Isaac and who? Ishmael. And remember
how Abraham wanted Ishmael to live before God? God said, no,
I'm choosing who? Isaac. And then when Isaac and
Rebecca finally conceived and they conceived miraculously,
just like Abraham and Sarah, right? That it might be all of
grace. Remember, the godly women were barren women so that the
children that would come forth would be a product of grace and
not human works. So that when Isaac and Rebecca
had Jacob and Esau, both of them were products of the grace of
God. And yet God chose Jacob And not
Esau, remember that? And then when we go into the
life of the 12 tribes, you know what God did? God overlooked
all those boys and chose Joseph. Joseph was the baby. According
to law and according to works, the firstborn should have gotten
the inheritance. But God is demonstrating he chooses
whom he wills. And it doesn't matter what you
and I think about it, saved or not. Certainly Abraham was saved. Certainly Isaac was saved. Certainly
Jacob was saved. And they wanted their firstborns
to live before God. God said, no, I know what I'm
doing. I'm saving according to my grace. I'm choosing according
to my grace because I know what I'm doing. And that's where you
and I have to learn how to submit to God. That's their argument. Going back to our PowerPoint,
I want us to address this. Now look at the outline in your PowerPoint. I just want you to see two or
three things fundamentally to this idea of election defined.
Election, ladies and gentlemen, is an act of free grace on the
part of God. It's an unmerited act of God. Subpoint A, election is not rooted
in what? I want you to get that now because
in our In our world right now presently among pastors, and
you will hear prominent pastors on the radio, turn the doctrine
of election upside down and say that God looked down the corridors
of time and chose you knowing that you were going to choose
Him. Perish the thought. Perish the thought. God didn't
look down the corridors of time and choose you. because of what
you would do. If God had to choose you for
what you would do, God would have had to throw your tail in
hell because of what you surely did. And the reason why you are
on a trajectory for heaven is because God disregarded your
words and regarded Christ's word and imputed Christ's word to
you. So that when he saw you, he saw you in Christ and said,
she's going to heaven. He's going to heaven. They're
going to heaven on the basis of what Christ did, not what
they did. Am I making some sense? Ephesians
chapter one, verse three through five. Let's hear it again. Paul
is worshiping. I told you he's a charismatic
apostle. Every time he thinks about God,
he go to shout and hallelujah, praise the Lord and exulting
in God. Ephesians one three, you guys know it. Ephesians one
three. I get there one day. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us. You see the one who gets praised?
The one we eulogize as God the Father? He is the first cause
of all our blessings. That's where you go when you
start worshiping and exalting and exalting in God and giving
praise. You give praise to the Father. Because it's the father
that pours out the blessings and he pours out the blessings
because of who he is not who we are Blessed be the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all
Spiritual blessings in heavenly places. We're in Christ Paul
wants you to know the blessings are in Christ. They're not in
you. They're in Christ you get them, but that's only cuz you're
in Christ and If you're out of christ, no blessings if you're
in christ the blessings come verse four watch this now Watch
this now According as he hath what chosen us stop right there
who chose us Did we choose god or did god choose us? According
as he has chosen us where in him. I want you to get this now
god did the choosing The place that he chose us in was in Christ. You got that? He chose us in
Christ. When? Before the world began. Before
the world began. Before the world began so that
you could never say that God chose you on the basis of something
you did. He chose you before the world
began. He chose you in Christ. He chose you to bless you in
Christ. And all of the blessings come in one place, and that's
in Christ. Watch and see now what the reason
is for which he chose you in Christ. Watch it now. According
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be what? That set apart, saints. Set apart. Did you get that? Before the
world began, God chose to set you apart in Christ. So he hunted
you down in time, and he called you by his grace, and he brought
you out of darkness into his marvelous light, and he put his
spirit in you to wash you and cleanse you and to make you his.
That's called being holy. And it's not something you did,
it's something God did. He took your funky tail, dipped
you in the blood of the Lamb, washed you in the Holy Ghost,
and sanctified you by his spirit and called you his. That's what
it means to be holy. To be holy is to be set apart
by God on the basis of what he did, not what you did. Do you
guys see that? So the reason he chose you is
because he wanted you. And this is crazy. There was
nothing about you or me worth wanting. That's wild, isn't it? Isn't that wild? And listen to
the language, that we should be holy and without what? That
means that God's going to see to it that you and I are morally
excellent, right and just. unassailable, uncondemnable,
unaccusable, unseparable, because he's gonna make it that we're
just like his son, Jesus Christ, so that no weapon formed against
us will prosper. Every tongue that rises against
us in judgment, we shall condemn. Why? Because the righteousness
of God is ours in Christ Jesus. Do you see it? Do you see it? It's very important for you and
I to comprehend this. Election is the work of God.
It has nothing to do with words. Whenever people ask you, how'd
you get saved? Quote Titus 3, 5 quickly. You can bring it up for them.
They don't know it. My generation is a bunch of ignorant
Christians. I pray for y'all. Not by works
of righteousness, which we have done. But according to His what? Stop right there. See it? The
only reason I'm saved is because of His mercy. According to His
mercy. I want you to hear this now.
He saved us. You got the construction? How
did you get saved? He saved me. How did you get saved? God saved
me. How did you get saved? I know. No, God saved me. Did you get it? By the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed
upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Lord, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
See, it's all based upon the grace of God. All based upon
the grace of God. Second sub point. Election is
defined by an act of free grace unmerited is not rooted in works
point number B Election is God's what? It's God's free choice
Not influenced by our action But his calling It's God's free
choice not influenced by our action, but it's calling mark
again Romans chapter 8 verse 30 Romans chapter 8 30 Paul is
expanding really beloved on verses 8 verses 28 in Romans chapter
8 through verse 30 Where we read in verse 30 moreover whom he
did what? Then he also what remember what
we said about the call This call is what we call the gospel call
Where the gospel goes forth and many hear it, but only the elect
respond to it Many hear the gospel intellectually, rationally, within
the framework of their cranium, but they don't hear it in their
heart until God gives them a new nature. Many people hear the
gospel on an emotional level, on a needy level, on a personal
needs level. As we learn in the parable of
the sower and the seed, the word of God is sown on the stony ground,
the byway ground, shallow ground, and then on good soil, right?
And it only bears fruit on good soil. What is the good soil? It's the heart that's been renewed
by the Spirit of God so that the truth of the gospel actually
takes root, germinate, take root downward, bear fruit upward.
The reason why you and I believe the gospel is because God gives
us grace to believe the gospel. We look at that person next to
us who does not believe the gospel and we wonder why they don't
believe the gospel. Well, it ain't because you bright and
they stupid. I know you got a C in high school,
but it's not because you're bright and stupid. It's because God
chose to reveal his grace to you and you are an object of
mercy. When you are saved, the one thing
you must get your PhD in is mercy. This is where he's going when
he builds his second argument around vessels of mercy and vessels
of wrath. All you are is a vessel of mercy. Now when you know you're a vessel
of mercy, you'll stop stealing God's glory. Do you hear me? That's exactly what we're dealing
with here. And so our first point is that election is not rooted
in works. Secondly, election is God's free choice. Listen
to 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. I want you to hear this. In
fact, go there in your Bible. I want you to mark this. This
frames how God calls you and me in his intentions to save
us and bestow upon us his merciful grace. 2 Timothy chapter 1. I'm
going to start at verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Do you guys see what Paul said?
Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Suffer for the gospel's sake,
as he said, because God's righteousness is in it. Verse 9. Who had what? Who saved us? God did. The word who is what we call
a pronoun. It has an antecedent in the previous
verse. The antecedent in the previous
verse is the last word in the verse. That's theos, which means
what? God. God saved us. Watch this now. Not according. Watch this. He saved us and called
us with a what kind of calling? Holy calling. The gospel is a
holy calling. The gospel is a holy calling.
In fact, the New Testament writers gives three adjectives around
the gospel call. They call the gospel a high calling.
Philippians chapter 3. I press toward the mark of the
high calling in God. If you heard the gospel, you
heard it from heaven. If you've heard the gospel, it
came from heaven. Heaven opened up its doors and
you heard the voice of God. Are you guys hearing me? It's
a heavenly call. It's a high call. And it's a
holy call. It's a call to separation. It's
a call to God. It's not a call to continue living
in this world system. It's a call out of this world
system. Are you hearing me? It's the high call of God. It's
the heavenly call of God. It's the holy calling. God is
calling men and women out of this world system, this evil
world system, unto himself through Jesus. He's conforming them to
His image, making them new creatures in Christ so that they are a
new people, a new kingdom, a new body, a new man. If any man be
in Christ Jesus, he's what? They separated in that sense.
Now we're in the world, but we're not of the world. Listen carefully
to me now. If God's called you, there's
a real sense of separation in your soul from the world. I love
the way David put it in the psalm. David said it in Psalm 119 like
this. He says, Lord, bring your commandments back to me. Help
me to hear your word, because I'm a stranger in the earth.
See, when God makes you a stranger in the earth, you don't have
a whole lot of friends down here. And when you don't have a whole
lot of friends down here, you need God to be your friend. And
when you know that God's your real friend, you need God to
talk to you a lot. And God talks to us through his
word, through the preaching by his Holy Ghost, because we're
strangers in the world. One of the evidences that God's
really dealt with you is because you become a stranger to the
world and the world becomes a stranger to you. Right. And so you start
having these problems with people. Why? Because you talk a different
way based upon a new thesis, a whole new program in your computer
system. You see things differently and
because you see things differently, you unintentionally find yourself
arguing with folks because God has given you eyes to see what
formerly you never saw. Am I making some sense? And now
because he put new bifocals on you, you got a new prism by which
you see things, now you're starting to call it for what it is. And
when you start calling it for what it is, darkness, because
the world loves darkness, they don't like your conversation
no more. Because what you're calling it is for what it really
is, sin and rebellion against God. But that's the only way
you're going to really know that God has separated you. Are you
hearing me? The only way you're going to
really know is for you to see it like God sees it, say it like
God says it, and let the chips fall where they may. And one
of the things that God does for his people when he calls him
out of darkness like that He places them in the family of
God So that they can have people who think like them and see like
them to affirm them in their walk Because you would go crazy
all by yourself in this crazy world Seeing things the way God
sees it and nobody come along to you say child You not seeing
it the wrong way you seeing it exactly the way God sees it You
got a bunch of hell-bound sinners, like our elder said this morning,
the walking dead, and all they want to do is eat the flesh.
Eat the flesh. God has raised you from the dead,
and now you want to now live before God, and that conflict
goes on until you hit the dust. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
It's very important for you to comprehend. He saved us, and
He called us with a holy calling, not according to our what? But according to His own, watch
this now, purpose, and grace, watch this, which was given us,
hallelujah. Do you see it? It was given us
in Christ before the world began. Do you see that? This is called
the grace package that the father gave to the son to vouchsafe
and keep for us before we even got here. So that your getting
here was secure. Your living here was secure.
Even your hell-bound actions were secured. God heads you in
until he met you at the appointed time and he allowed that package
of grace to open up and dump itself on your head and you came
to know the glory of God in the person of Christ and it changed
your life. Well, that's what happened to me. Is that what
happened to you? Is that what happened to you? Did you come
to understand that you were a sinner under the wrath of God, that
you had your fist in God's face, that you didn't know God from
the man on the moon and what you thought you knew about God
was wrong until he revealed his glory to you. And then he started
drawing you to himself because you would have never came if
he didn't draw you. No one can come unto me, Jesus said, except
my father would send me what? Draw him. And you know what God
had to do as he was dragging your tail? Break you down. Break
you down. Put the handcuffs of grace on
you and break you down. We call this the doctrine of
irresistible grace. You can't win against omnipotence.
You can fight, but you won't win. God will let you fight like
the big Marlins. Jump up in the air and do all
of the twists. He'll let you fight. He'll let
that drag out for months, even years. Some folk are fighting
for years. And finally you get tired and
he start towing your butt on in. Towing you on in. Towing you
on in. He has never broke a line in
his life. Do you understand that? God's
test is a grace test. It ain't no fish that was chosen
in Christ that's not coming in. That's what he did for us. That's
what he did for us. Let's go back to our PowerPoint.
Second point that I want to deal with now for my time's sake.
This is critical for you to get. We're going to talk now about
something very challenging but essential because it's at the
heart of Paul's argument and that's this. The love and hatred
of God. is a fact of his righteous nature. The love and hatred of God is
a fact of his righteous nature. Again, because many of us grew
up in a culture where the arguments were fought before we knew them
and the issues were settled before we understood them, we adopted
certain cliches and phrases and terminology that were based upon
flawed arguments. We thought we were right, but
we hadn't really even investigated it. You know what we call that?
Presumption. When you think you know something,
but you haven't searched it out, you're merely presumptuous. This
is so critical in the realm of theology and doctrine. Because
you and I will perish under the wrath of God if we stand before
Christ on the last day, and He tells us He never knew us. While we were presuming that
we knew Him. Based upon flawed ideas, faulty
notions, distorted doctrines. There are millions and millions
of professing Christians who swear they know God. Of whom
Christ has warned several times in the Scriptures. I'm warning
you, just because you say you know Me, Does not mean you know
me. If you are presuming you know
me, but are not committed to biblical doctrine, you're going
to face me on the last day. And I'm going to tell you, there
was never a time where you and I really had a conversation and
you sat at my feet and you were taught by my word. And you said,
yes, Lord Jesus, you are sovereign. You are Lord. You do whatever
you want to do. And all I want is what you got.
But you assume certain doctrines, assume certain practices, and
you live with a false notion of a walk with God until you
actually have to face the king. And he will say to you, depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Ladies and
gentlemen, isn't that a horrible warning? Now, stay with me for
a moment. Doesn't that merit you and I
making our calling and election sure? Did that merit you taking
Bible teaching seriously? Did that merit you examining
the doctrines instead of saying, well, it's my opinion. Your opinion
is going to send you to hell. Your thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Your ways are not God's ways. As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so God's ways are higher than our ways. If we don't
ask God to show us the truth, we're going to perish in our
own deceit. Are you hearing me? Are you hearing me? You will
never go to heaven on a lie. You will never get to heaven
on a lie. God's saving people through the truth of the gospel.
When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will convince the
world of sin, convince the world of righteousness, convince the
world of judgment. In our churches, sin, righteousness,
and judgment aren't even talked about. Do you hear me? They're not seriously engaged,
investigated. Their origin is not explored.
Their consequences are not explored. The remedy is not really seriously
explored. You don't hear this kind of teaching
in your average pulpit today. Why? Because the scholars have
told the pastors that the people in the pews can't stand this
kind of strong doctrine. And so they don't teach it because
they're afraid that they're going to empty their churches out.
I've been preaching this stuff for 19 years and all we do is
keep getting fuller and fuller. Do you know why? Because I learned
long ago, all men are liars. Christ told me, if I be lifted
up, I'll draw all my people to me. And the role of sound Bible
teachers is to exalt Christ. We exalt Christ. We lift him
up so the world can see him. So that God's elect can see the
only hope of salvation and come to him by faith. You can't come
unless you see him. You can't come. You can't come. Love and hate, as we're about
to deal with, are what? Verbs. They are not quaint, mere
emotional predispositions. And love is expressed in two
ways, passively and actively. Do I have your attention? Again,
in our churches, there's no category for hatred in the nature of God. There is a false dualism that
either prevails tacitly or is openly and boldly proclaimed
that God is only good and never does evil and the devil is the
one that's only evil and only does evil so that we have this
dualism in the world. You guys hear me? So that every
evil thing that occurs, people say, that's the devil. I'm here
to assert to you that God brings evil that God purposes evil,
that God employs evil upon everything that He deems needs to experience
the evil of His justice. Are you guys hearing me? When
you read your Bible carefully, you will understand that God,
in His righteous nature, pours out His wrath upon humanity.
And that wrath is evil. When God told your parents, Adam
and Eve, Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Remember that? He knew those two knuckleheads
was like your kids. You know how your kids are? You
tell them, don't. They had it right there. He knew it. But
that was a tree that God planted. The devil didn't plant that tree.
A sovereign God planted that tree. So how did evil get here? God brought it here. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? God brought it here. What he
told you as a moral agent, not a free moral agent, I'll deal
with that next week. He told you as a moral agent,
if you're my son, avoid that tree. You can have every other
tree in the garden, avoid that tree. Do you know what happened?
The devil came along with the doctrine of humanism, the doctrine
of internal goodness on the part of man. the doctrine of man's
freedom and the doctrine of man's choice and told mankind he has
a right to choose whatever he wants to choose. Am I telling
the truth? See, God didn't tell Adam and
Eve, you can choose this tree or you can choose those trees.
God said, don't mess with that tree. Doesn't that sound like
a whole lot different than you can choose this one or choose
that one? What I'm asserting to you is the notion Man's freedom
to choose good or evil was never part of God's equation God doesn't
tell his children to choose evil or good because we will always
choose evil God always commands us to obey him Now when you're
a good daddy, that's all you do. You say listen obey me It's
gonna work out if you obey, isn't that right? Now if you don't
it's on you so when we read about the love and hate of God and
we must and When you read a verse like this in Romans chapter nine,
verse 12, where the apostle sets it forth so very clear. And then
in verse 13, which is our next point, and we'll develop this
and we'll close for today. It was said unto her, that is speaking
to Rebecca, the elder shall serve the what? As it is written, Jacob
have I what? But Esau have I what? I need
you to get this. I need you to get that there
is in God's nature, because of His holiness, a hatred for everything
that does not conform to His law. I need you to understand
that God has a holy hatred, which holy hatred is a seed within
you and me. See, you and I are hypocrites,
because we don't want God to hate, but we will hate. the drop of a hat I think I'm
gonna work this right here for a few minutes and I'll tell you
why because we have the audacity to invert the whole concept see
now really what's taking place if I've got your attention is
you and I and the whole human race have put God on judgment
the whole human race is judging God that's right We are judging
God, and we're saying, God, you don't have a right to be God. Y'all with me for a few minutes?
Let me show you what I'm saying. When Adam and Eve ate of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, guess what they were
saying to God? You don't have a right to be God. For you to
tell me not to eat this tree, you're taking away my right of
freedom. You're taking away my right of
choice. I'm going to show you, God, that I have the right and
I have the freedom to choose what I want. And every time we
act like that, we sin. This is what I say to mankind
around the doctrine of free will, which we will explore next week.
Your free will is only your ability to sin. That's all it is. Your free will is not your ability
to do right or wrong. Your free will is only the fact
that you have the ability to sin against god Are y'all with
me for a second? So you have to think sometimes
in church you have to think sometimes The garden that god set up was
a garden of freedom For the children to be able to enjoy god's blessings
and bounty It was only one tree that he said don't touch And
they abused their freedom because they wanted to exercise their
right of choice. And their right of choice was
sin, wasn't it? God set them up to show them
that if you choose rather than simply obey, you're going to
sin. Some of y'all write this down
because you need to write it down. The word is heresy, which doesn't
get taught today. H-E-R-E-S-Y, heresy. It's the Greek term to choose. What is heresy? Choosing. What is choosing? Deciding not
to obey God. That's all it is. Every erroneous
doctrine, every false teaching, every way that is not right is
heretical because it's our choosing. There's a way that seems right
unto a man. But the end thereof are the ways
of what? Are y'all with me? I'm going
to let you go. I know you're hungry. I know you're weary now.
But I need you to understand that you must negotiate Romans
9 successfully if you're going to know God. Because see, God
doesn't bend His character. He doesn't bend His rules. He
doesn't bend His ways just because you and I got a Charlie Hearst
between our two ears. God doesn't stoop and compromise
his principles just because we don't like what he says. I've
told you last week, I said it the week before, I'll say it
again. As long as you agree with it, even though you don't like
it, you're halfway home. God doesn't care about your feelings
when it comes to eternity. But when you come to understand,
like Abraham did, that whatever God does is right, eventually
you will learn to like it. eventually you will learn to
like it. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I what? And Esau have I what? So I'm going to treat this for
a few minutes just to deal with, again, the prevailing false arguments
that are present in theology today, scholarship, and commentaries. And for those of you who have
also been, as it were, affected by the interpretation, the liberal
school of thought will argue that the Bible does not teach
personal election, but that the Bible teaches a general national
election, and that contextually what's taking place in Romans
9 is that God was simply talking about either electing the nation
of Israel versus the nation of Esau, so that in electing the
nation of Israel, God now makes it possible for people to choose
Him through Christ. Our argument against a national
election starts here. You can't elect a nation without
first electing a person. Because a person, or rather a
nation, is made up of what? Persons. And the text does not
speak about a nation, it speaks about two babies. The one Esau,
the other Jacob. Am I making some sense? And so
that out of both come a destiny that is based upon God leaving
one to himself and God protecting the other because God had a purpose
in the other. The one that God protects is
the one that God elects. The one that God lets go is the
one that God hates. Are you with me? Now watch this
now. Watch this now. Let me go back
to my definition. I want you to keep that there.
Love and hate are verbs. In love, I can allow you to go
free from an otherwise right to punish you for crimes that
you've committed against me. And we would call that a passive
act of love. You guys got that? In love, I
can also pay the price needed to let you go, so maintaining
justice in the process, we would call that an active mode of love. In hatred, I can leave you to
yourself and let you rot in your own sinful behavior. As a consequence
of what you sow, you what? I can actively also impose upon
you a righteous judgment to exacerbate your own sinful tendencies against
me so that I accelerate the very wrath that's in your soul that
you deserve. This is called active hatred,
which is going to be Paul's argument next week when he shows us how
God hardened the heart of Pharaoh 13 times. and let Moses and Aaron
know Pharaoh will not let you go. Not until I have tore up
Egypt. And even then he will only let
you go when I kill him in the Red Sea. Now he's letting the
children of Israel know beforehand that Pharaoh is going to have
a hardened heart against God's gospel. Because what Moses came
to Pharaoh and said was, let my people go. Is that the gospel? Let my people go. Set my people
free. Let them go. They're mine. Is
that the gospel? They are my son. They are my
elect people. Let them go. And Pharaoh is going to say,
no, watch this. Who is the Lord? You get you
getting ready to find out who the Lord is. See, we're back
to the opening of our text today, aren't we? If you don't know
God, You will act contrary to God when God acts like God in
your presence. This is what Paul is going to
develop next week. Here he's teaching you and me that there's
a category in God's nature that the believer must understand
that amounts to what we call hatred. And theologians will
tell you that this word can be translated really to love less. Did y'all hear that? Okay, so
I'm getting ready to reason with you right now. Okay, this is,
it's remarkable to me how stupid we are when idiotic and absurd
statements are made. They tell me that the word here,
to hate, in the New Testament, which corresponds to God's word
to hate in the Old Testament, and I can show you multiple verses
where God hates evil. where God is angry with the wicked
every day. That God will destroy all workers
of iniquity. That God hates those that lie.
That God hates those that deceive. That God hates men and women
who hold false balances. God is a God that hates. I can
show you verses all over the Bible. But these liberal theologians
would tell me that that simply means that God loves you less.
Help me. Help me. Please help me. Because what they're telling
me is The souls that are going to end up in hell are folks whom
God loves less. Ladies and gentlemen, does that
make any sense to you whatsoever? Would you define the soul that's
burning in hell under the wrath of God, the smoke of their torment
going up forever and ever, the anger of God upon the souls of
men, a little less love? Then the folks that are enjoying
bliss and glory over here with the Lord Jesus Christ, wouldn't
you call that hatred? Wouldn't you be hating someone
if you left them to go over the cliff that you know they're going
over and they can't stop from going over unless you actually
help them? Wouldn't we call that hatred?
Stay with me now, I'm trying to reason with you because I
want to deliver some of you from some of these faulty and flawed
notions that are espoused today and they're rooted in human goodness. Does it make any sense to define
God sending men and women to hell, Him loving them less? Does that make any sense? Watch
this then, I'm just going to appeal to you on the historical
context of what's taking place in Malachi chapter 1. Do you
notice I gave our premise text Malachi chapter 1? I want to
read verses 1-5 in Malachi chapter 1. I just want you to watch how
God interacts with the Esamites. I want you to hear how He interacts
with them because this is Paul's parter passage for his argument
in Romans 9, right? Paul said, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I what? He got it right
here. Are you with me? Now watch how God talks and y'all
help me, y'all reasonable people. I'm gonna let you out here in
a moment. Just think about while you're sitting there in the chair,
you're gonna be burning about 20 more calories. That way you
can eat a little bit more dessert. Now watch this, watch this now.
I want you to see how God shows us, how God shows us the evil
of our own hearts. Watch this now. The burden of
the word of the Lord to Israel. Malachi so this word is to God's
elect. I'm gonna show you that next
week. He's gonna show you how God's about to show his elect.
I'm talking about his ideal people not the flesh. Didn't we learn
that last week his ideal people? He's getting ready to show his
ideal people hear me now that the only reason you're not going
to hell like the Isamites It's because God loved you He can
really show you that verse 2 Have I loved you said the Lord. What's the answer? You guys don't
sound like God loved you. What's the answer? This is the
Lord talking now. I love this. Watch the Lord.
He says, have I loved you? Yet you say, now this is these
are called these stupid Christians who don't know doctrine. Yet
you say, where in have you loved us? Have you ever said that to
God? If you have, you lost your mind
and you fail to understand that the seal of his love for you
is the cross of Jesus Christ. You got caught up in your feelings,
in your circumstances, in yourself, in the moment, in the temporary,
and feel that God gave you a wedding ring, and it's called the cross
of Christ. Y'all got that? Don't get that finger all mixed
up. All right, so watch this now. Yet you say, when have you
loved us? Here's what God's answer is.
Was not Esau your Jacob your what? Woo! God planted dozens
right here. I love God. You know what he
just stated? Jacob, you, and Esau were exactly alike. You're both sinners. You're both
rebels. You both came out of the same
womb. You both came out speaking lies.
And you know Jacob was tricky dick, wasn't he? You know Jacob
was a mess, wasn't he a mess? And your God is appealing to
Jacob on the basis of God's love for him. He's saying to Jacob,
now think about your brother Esau. There's no reason in you
that I should have chosen you over Esau. We're back to the
mercy of God again, aren't we? Are y'all with me, saints? Watch
this now. Was not Esau Jacob's brother, said the Lord, and yet
I love Jacob. Verse three, verse three. Watch
this now. Here it is. And I hated who? Esau. Now watch
the hatred of God. And I laid his mountains and
his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. In the historical
context, be careful of what I call hyper-contextualizing as a hermeneutic,
because historical contexts only are designed to launch us into
the realities of the gospel. Don't ever get stuck on the historical
context, but they teach us a lesson. Watch the lesson. This is how
God hated Esau and the nation of the Edomites. He destroyed
their mountains and wasted the whole of their land and turned
it into deserts for dragons in the wilderness. The juxtaposition
is that of him blessing Palestine with olive gardens and vineyards
and wine. And all of that, which constituted
what we call the land of what? Milk and honey. You see the juxtaposition? When God shows his love to you,
he shows it evidentially. And when God shows his wrath,
he shows it evidentially. Watch the next verse. Watch it.
Here it is. Here it is, verse 4. Whereas, Edom said, now I
want you to mark the people who despise God's electing love and
ask yourself the question, am I one of them? Whereas, Edom
said, we are impoverished, yes. But we will return and build
the desolate places. Do you hear that defiant, arrogant,
pompous, self-righteous, humanistic person boasting in the powers
of his free will? Do you see it? We will rebuild. How about we will repent? How
about we will acknowledge our sin? How about we will recognize
that God is bringing his judgment on our nation because we're a
bunch of rebels. But doesn't our nation sound
like that? When we get in trouble, we don't go to God in repentance.
We say, we will rebuild. We will restore. We'll make the
twin towers better than they were before. See, we're a bunch
of Isamites. Y'all are hearing me now, right
now. You guys are hearing me. This is going to make your lunch
a whole lot better. What I am doing, which is what all gospel
preachers do, is defend God's character from a world that has
nothing but arguments against God and what God does. See, Jesus
was in this same position. He was constantly saying to the
rulers, which one of you can convince me of sin? Remember
that? They were always charging Jesus
with crimes, weren't they? He's born of fornication. He's
a child of the devil. He's a winebibber. He's a glutton.
He's filled with devils. He's this or that. Christ said,
prove to me that who I am and what I do is sinful. Christ came
as a representative of his father, did he not? And the Bible tells
us he knew no sin, he did no sin, and him was no sin at all. He was the holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, only person on this earth that did no sin.
Is that right? And yet they were still charging him with sin,
even to the point of crucifying him. I'm building my argument,
am I not? Against a generation of people who, because they don't
know God, don't like the way God acts. I'll close it here. He says, Thus saith the Lord
of hope, they shall build. Right. But I'm going to throw
them down. Ladies and gentlemen, you are
in bad shape when you make God your enemy. When you boast in
your powers of freedom and you boast in your abilities to do
what you want to do, when you defy God's providence in your
life, you know that God brings you down, that you might look
up and call upon Him. Do you know that? God humbles
people in order that they might cry out and acknowledge their
sin and rebellion against God. And when you are on your face
and your land is devastated, and your circumstances are just
a miserable mess, and you simply say, I will recover, I will rebuild,
I will restore, You are puffing up your humanism and self-righteousness
against the mercy of God that's hanging over your head waiting
for you to acknowledge that God is sovereign and whatever God
does is right. We'll pick this up next time.
Amen.