I'd like for you to turn with
me this morning to Romans chapter 9. When you've found your place
there, just put a marker or leave your Bibles open to that passage.
And let me give you just a little bit of background on the subject
matter leading up to my text. Paul begins this chapter with
an earnest prayer for the nation of Israel. And he did this for
three reasons. The first reason, he gives very
plainly, they were his kinsmen. This was his family. This was
his blood kin. And he saw them in their idolatry,
and he saw them in their legalism, and he saw them rebelling against
God. And his heart was broken. And
he brought them up before God in prayer. He said, my earnest,
my sincere prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. They were his kinsmen. And then
secondly, because he knew they were lost. He knew they were lost. He was
one of them. Somebody said, well, you know, you used to be in religion,
and he said, God saved you through religion. I said, God didn't
save me through religion, He saved me out of it. He saved
some men out of bars, and He saved some women out of brothels,
and He saved some men out of religion. Religion is not a step up, it's
a step down. False religion, I'm telling you
the truth, false religion is the first step to reprobation. It's not a step up, it's a step
down. Well, at least they go to church.
Be careful. Be careful. Paul knew they were
lost. These things that he once took
pride in. You can read about this over
in Philippians chapter 3. These things that he once boasted
in and took pride in. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was of the tribe of Benjamin.
He was an Israelite of the Israelites. He was a kingpin. He was next
to Gamaliel as far as his height in the Sanhedrin. He was somebody. He was one of these men. And
God saved him. And then he saw himself as a
rebel. He saw the truth about his worship. He saw the truth about his morality,
his so-called morality. Oh, wretched man that I am. That don't sound like the Paul
before his conversion. Before his conversion, he would
have been that one behind that Gentile up there who couldn't
even lift up his eyes to heaven and be saying, I thank God I'm
not like him. No, he wasn't like him. He was
lost. He was lost. Paul realized that
the Jews were lost. He doesn't ask here for God to
straighten them out on some difficulties. That's not what this prayer is
about, is it? What's that saying? It says that
they might be saved. They weren't saved and then left
ignorant of a few things. They weren't saved. And then this third thing, perhaps
you've never even thought about before. He's praying for these
people because he knew these people were associated by the
world with God. Their ideas of the God of the
Bible were strictly seen through Israel. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
God so identified himself with that nation that to this day,
2,000 years after the death of Christ, That this world, most
nations, I'm not saying every one of them, but most nations
still hold a superstitious belief in their association with the
God of Israel that they won't touch Israel. They won't touch
them. That's how much they associate.
So you see what I'm saying? Now these are lost men giving
out a false notion of the living God. And this whole world is
looking to them to know something about God. They are led into
idolatry. Do you follow what I am saying?
And for this reason, Paul's heart is broken and he prays for them. There were people associated,
even to this day, you can see it. Paul summed it up this way
in Romans 9.4, they are Israelites, sons of Jacob. to whom pertaineth
the adoption." God never talked about adoption with the Gentiles.
He didn't talk about adoption with the Canaanites or the Hittites. He talked about adoption to Israel. And the glory, the glory of God. He didn't reveal His glory to
anybody outside of Israel. And the covenants, and the giving
of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose
are the fathers. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
on and on and on, all the prophets, all Jews, every one of them. And of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came, who is over all God blessed forever. Now,
it matters a great deal how men and women see these great congregations
in our day. Actually, natural Israel is a
picture of worldly religion. It's a picture of it. And God,
He uses it that way. Paul preached it that way. And it matters a great deal how
men and women see these great congregations and denominations
and multitudes that are associated with God and His beloved Son.
Having been a part of that religion and having obtained a high and
respectable position in it, and now being saved out of it, he
realized what a terrible influence they were upon their own children
and upon the nations of this world. His own house, according
to our Lord's teaching, had become his worst enemy. Our Lord said,
here's your enemies. They're going to be them in your
own house. And here it is fulfilled. Fulfilled. And I believe one
of the biggest obstacles that a preacher faces is to overcome
this world's association of Israel with the living God. And you
can just take that Israel and apply it to Baptists, Methodists,
Catholics, and on and on and on. Those who stand for and this
world looks at in association with the living God, that's the
biggest obstacle I face. If it was just a matter of teaching
you Bible doctrine, there'd be no problem. But I have to teach
men and women who've been brainwashed by religion all their life, who
just automatically assume, having never read the Bible, automatically
assume that what I'm saying is wrong. If all of these things, the adoption
of sons, and the promises, and the covenants, and the giving
of the law, and the services of God, and all these things,
If all these things came by the Jews, and the Jews rejected Christ,
don't that make the Word of God of none effect? Does it? Doesn't that prove that
its prophecies were not fulfilled? Listen to this, verse 6. Not
as though the Word of God hath taken none effect, for they are
not all Israel, which are of Israel. You're looking at this
thing wrong, he says. Everybody says I'm a Jew. He's
not a Jew. Everybody says I'm a son of Abraham.
He's not a son of Abraham. Verse 7, Neither because they
are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. Not Ishmael, who was the son
of the bondman, The son who was the result of fleshly reasoning
and human logic and manipulation. Verse 9. But this is the word
of promise, that this time I'll come and Sarah shall have a son. Not the young bondmaid Hagar,
but the son of a woman a hundred years old. The son of promise. Verse 10. Not only this. But when Rebekah conceived by
Isaac, this is the son of promise, before the children were ever
born or did any good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth,
it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. This
was the children of the child of promise. Verse 13, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now, what do men have to say
about that? What do you have to say about that? I've read
it to you from the Word of God. What have you got to say about
that? About the cutting off of an entire nation. About God's
sovereign election of one twin over the other. about God's spiritual
kingdom versus an earthly kingdom. Has God been unrighteous in His
dealings with Israel? Has God been unrighteous, unfair
to this world, allowing them to go on associating salvation
with the Jew? God forbid. For He told Moses
at the very outset, before Israel was Israel, God told Moses this
very thing, I'll have mercy. on whom I will have mercy. And
I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion." And
did he not prove that very thing in the slaying of thousands of
them? And the death of all those over 20 years of old when they
were numbered after God delivered them out of Egypt? He said their
carcasses fell in the wilderness. Didn't he prove that very thing?
So then, verse 16, It is not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God, who showeth mercy. Is it not clear
in the Scriptures how God told Moses concerning Pharaoh that
he raised him up in prominence and position and glory for this
one reason, to overthrow him and show the power of God? to declare His name throughout
all the earth that men might fear Him? Verse 18, Therefore
hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy. Now listen, and whom
He will, He hardneth. He hardneth. They hear, but they
won't obey. They won't bow. And their hearts
You remember our study as we went through, and I showed you,
and all those curses that God kept sending upon Egypt, how
each time it said, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, a little
more, and a little more, and a little more. And you know what
it also said? And God hardened his heart. That's
right. Now wait a minute, preacher,
don't that violate man's free will? It would if he had one.
If he had one. But he don't have one. That's the sad part of it. His
will is not free. His will is in bondage with the
rest of his faculty. He's in bondage. He's under sin. He's blind. He's blind. He's dead. Now, Paul says in verse 19, Romans
chapter 9, Thou wilt say unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say unto
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Now here's
my text. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honor and another to dishonor, of the same lump
That's right. He lumps all men into one lump. There's no glory in being a lump,
is there? That's what we are. We're just a lump. He reached
down when He formed man, and He took the red earth. He took
the dust in His hand, and He formed man out of the dust. He was nothing but a lump. But
out of that same lump, the potter makes one vessel under water,
and another to dishonor. Had not the potter power over
the clay to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? My friend, after Adam's fall,
that's all we're fit for is destruction. You look around and you see some
folks and you see them and you say, well, they're better than
this one. That might very well be. They
might be better than this one. But why are they better? God's restrained some to accomplish
His purpose. But don't you ever get that idea
that God's restraining grace is righteousness due to man. He'd be worse than the cannibal
over in darkest Africa. if God didn't constrain him. They fit for destruction. That's
all they fit for. And that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared unto glory. Even us, Paul said, even us,
whom he hath called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. My friend, the airways and the
internet full of men and women trying to get the ear of this
world over what they see as the issue of the day. The issue of
the day. War and peace, sickness and hunger,
wealth and prosperity, the environment, political stability, stability
of the nation. All of these things. They're
trying to get the ear of this world. And they get on their
soapbox. And then they start to deal with
what they believe is the real issue of the day. and the religions
of the world. They're on their soapbox as well.
And they're talking about declining morality, and church government,
and religious freedoms, and man's free will, and who knows what
else. But when it's all boiled down, there is but one issue,
just one issue. And Paul comes to it here in
Romans chapter 9. Who has the right to rule? Who sits on the throne? Who dictates
policy? Who sits on the throne of omnipotence? Who art thou that replies against
God? Can't you see that in His answer? We sit back and squawk about
God and question God, and it's not fair for God. God is God. The sooner you come to realize
it, the better off you're going to be. He's God. There's just
one God. I read it to you in Isaiah a
few minutes ago. He created the world. He maintains
the world. He preserves the world. He worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. He's God. He's
God. Just one issue. Who rules? Who makes the decision? Who gives
the orders? Who's in charge? Who has the
right to dictate policy? to design things as he sees fit. Over and over it tells you in
Ephesians chapter 1, according to the good pleasure of his will. To ordain things and enforce
them by law and punishment, to delegate authority as he sees
fit. Well, I just don't like this
thing about a preacher telling me what I have to do. So what? So what? You don't dictate policy,
he does. He does. that sits in a place certain
means and ignores others. Who sits on the throne? That's
the first point to my message. Who sits on the throne? Does
God share His throne with man? Does He share His throne with
the creatures? He said He sits on the circle there, dangles
His feet over the side and considers all the inhabitants of the earth
as grasshoppers. What do you do with grasshoppers?
You brush them off. They're just an aggravation to
you. Huh? Grasshoppers. Oh, my soul. Either God sits upon the throne
of absolute omnipotence and sovereignty, or He's not God. Either God is
in control of all things, or He's in control of nothing. That is just how clear-cut it
is. He either does all He wills to do, or His will is no more
than a powerless desire. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. God tells us in Ephesians 1 that
in the fullness of times He will gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven which are on earth, even
in him, Ephesians 1, verse 11, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, now listen, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. He found me like He sits on the
throne. In these two verses, the Holy
Spirit sets before us the sovereign purpose of God who predestinates
all things to accomplish His sovereign design. And He declares
not only in the creation of all things and the end of all things,
but in His sovereign dominion over all things, working all
things, He said. All these things which He predestinated
He works according to the purpose and counsel of His own will. The God of my generation is as
opposite of the God of the Bible as East is from West, Up is from
Down, and Black is from White. There's not even the slightest
similarity. The idol, and that's what it
is that they call their deity, has none of the attributes by
which the living God is known. Their God is changeable. He sees
things and he says, well, his compassion moves him and it changes
his mind. Where do you get that from? You
ain't going to find that in the Bible. Flexible. He's flexible. He's
compromising. He's willing to compromise to
fill up a little house in this world full of people. He's willing
to compromise. Somebody is, but it ain't God. He has no power except that which
men give Him. And even that power can be resisted. Creation, they say, is by Mother
Nature. Evolution, providence is by chance
and circumstance. And His hands are tied completely
in salvation. All things pending the acceptance
and free will of man. I'm telling you, it's utterly
An impossibility to preach to this generation a gospel of reconciliation
until the God of the Bible is set upon the throne and their
God lays dead on His face on the ground. You're not going
to get to first base preaching to this generation because they
have an idol in their brain. They've got an idol in their
mind of a God who's not the God of the Bible. That's why there's
no fear of God before their eyes because they don't know God.
They don't know God. God sits upon the throne of absolute
dominion. He rules in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the world. And none can stay
His hand or even question what He does. And in His times, Paul
said, in His times, not your times, in His times, in His times,
here's what He's going to show. And He is going to show it to
everyone. He is going to show it to the devils in hell. He is going to
show it to the lost. He is going to show it to the
angels in heaven. And He is going to show it to
the redeemed. He is going to show who is the only potentate. You will know it then. Who is
the only potentate? The King of kings and Lord of
lords. He alone created man. He alone
judged him. in Adam, and he alone will justify
or condemn him before the judgment seat of Christ. You and I are
nothing but lumps of clay in the Master's hands, worthless,
lifeless dust. Our only value, are you listening? Our only value is what the sovereign
God of glory has designed to make out of the clay for His
own glory. That's the only value in you.
It's like that black backdrop that jewelers display diamonds
on. That's what we are. We're the
clay pot into which he puts his drink. We're nothing. We're nothing. But nothing is
exactly what God has purposed to make these vessels of honor
out of. Listen to Isaiah the prophet,
Isaiah 29 verse 15. Woe unto them that seek deep
to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in
the dark." And they say, who seeth us? Nobody seeth us. We had hideouts when we were
kids. We'd get us a magazine, one of
these girly magazines. We were about 14, and we'd sneak
them girly magazines out in the hideout, and nobody could see
us, and we'd look at them. And we'd get us a pack of cigarettes.
Somebody'd swipe some cigarettes from somebody, and we'd take
them out, and we'd all puff around on them cigarettes. Nobody saw
us. Nobody saw us. Man walks down the street. Hand
in hand, got his arm around his wife and they're walking down
the street. Here comes a woman up the other side. He commits
adultery with that woman going up the other side with his arm
around his wife walking down this side. And he says, nobody
sees me. God sees it. God sees it. He said, we come in and we practice
religion, but our hearts are full of filth and rebellion. And we say, nobody sees it. God
sees it. He sees it. Surely your turning
of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay. For shall the work say of him
that made it, he hath made me not? Or shall the thing framed
say of him that framed it? He didn't have any understanding.
He made a mistake. He didn't foresee the fall of
man. He didn't foresee Satan's influence in the world. He didn't
foresee my temptation. I'm going to tell you something.
The first thing God makes a sinner to know is that God is God and
He does what He pleases and there's nothing you can do about it.
Nothing you can do about it. And here's the second thing I
want you to see. in the text is why this throne is so important,
why this sovereignty is so important. If God did not maintain His throne,
man would be worse than cannibals in the darkest... I'm talking
about bone in the nose and the big rings in the ears and got
a man that they killed and put in a pot, stirring it, getting
ready to eat him, getting ready to have supper. There's no end
to what man would be apart from God sitting on His throne. No end to it. How do you know
that? Because I look at the Son of
God. You might have an excuse to hate
me. I understand that. Somebody gets
mad and leaves. I don't like Him. I understand that. I know
what I am. But why did they nail Him to
the cross? Which of you convinces me of sin? then there's a deeper
problem there than my personality. Man hates God. He don't hate
his God. He hates the sovereign God. But
if God did not maintain His throne, man would be doomed. There'd
be no hope for him at all. Turn with me to Jeremiah 18.
Let me show you something. God took up a handful of dust
in his hands and formed man. But man was marred in the garden. He was perfect when God created
him. But he was marred in the garden. God's beautiful work
was marred and rendered a falling vessel, a vessel of dishonor. Now watch this, Jeremiah chapter
18 verse 4. The Lord which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord sang, Arise, and go down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause thee to hear my words." You're not going
to learn anything out here in the house of free will. You're
not going to learn anything out here in the house of ceremonialism. Here's where you're going to
learn the lesson, at the potter's house. At the potter's house. God's house. That's where the
lessons are taught. Verse 3, Then I went down to
the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. Who did? Who did? Who was doing this work?
The potter. Oh, I thought the vessel was
done off. Vessel just laying there. It
was the potter. The potter brought a work on
the wheel. That's the first thing the sinner
taught God who the potter is. Who's in charge of the work?
Who must do the work? Verse 4, And the vessel that he made of
clay, now listen, was marred in the hands of the potter. I thought he took himself out
of his hands. I ain't what this is. He was marred by his own hand
and according to his own purpose. Didn't catch him by surprise.
It was marred in the hand of the potter. When man fell in
the garden, he did not cause the vessel, now listen, to slip
from the potter's hands. The potter's hands still had
hold of the vessel. It was marred, but it didn't
come out of his hand. And it didn't take him by surprise.
And he had a purpose in it. Now watch this. He held it firmly. And when man
fell in Adam, God did not cease. Listen to this. He didn't cease
turning the vessel. He didn't cease in his work when
man fell. It was part of his work, part
of his design. He continued on without interruption. It was marred in the hand of
the potter, so he made it again. Now watch this. Another vessel has seemed good
to the potter to make it. Isn't that clear? The potter. I tell you, the difference between
that vessel of dishonor and that vessel of honor is God's hand. God's hand. And he told Jeremiah,
he said, now you come down here to the potter's house and I'm
going to show you what this thing is all about. Verse 6, O house
of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house
of Israel. Now go back to Romans 9 and I'll
wind this thing up. Verse 22, what if God? We already know what happens
when Satan gets a hold of man. We already know what happens
when man does his will. Now Paul said, what if God? Willing
to show his wrath and make his power known, endured much longsuffering,
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory." Our one hope, the only
hope I can give to this fallen, depraved world, is that God,
in sovereign mercy and according to His eternal election of grace,
held some in His as they were marred while he let others go. That's sovereign grace, sovereign
mercy. But it made them again another
vessel. He said, in Christ we're new
creatures, new creatures. A glorious vessel, vessel of
honor, with the potter's name unashamedly engraven in the vessel. He shall be called, Jeremiah
said, the Lord our righteousness. And then he turned right around
and he said, and she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That vessel bears his name, bears
his glory, bears his honor. And apart from him, she's nothing.
She's nothing.