In Romans chapter 9, we'll look
at another couple of verses this morning. Verse 19, we'll start. Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will. Paul says here again, he anticipates
the objection of the sinner to the sovereignty of God. He says,
here's what your response is going to be. He knows what it's
going to be. And we know too, don't we? Because we know man. We know ourselves enough to know
that by nature we rebel against and reject the truth of God's
sovereignty which was declared in verse 18. Therefore hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth.
Thou wilt say therefore. You're going to respond to that
and it's not going to be favorable. You're going to say, how can
God blame me then for my sin? If it's up to, if he has mercy
on whom he will and he hardens him, he will. Who hath resisted
his will? Everything's according to his
will. How then can he hold me responsible for my sin? And again, Paul not only anticipates
this objection, but rebukes it. He does not indulge this foolish
question by making excuses for God, like some, again, as I've
said before, seem compelled to do. He rebukes anyone who thinks
or says such a thing. Look at verse 20. Nay, but O
man, who in the world do you think
you are? Who art thou that replies against God? Who are you to question
the truth of God? God has mercy on whom He will,
and He hardeneth whom He will. Now bow and worship Him and plead
for mercy. He's plenteous in mercy. He delights
to show mercy. But who are you to reply against
him, to question him? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Again, the
objection is that if God is sovereign and salvation is by his sovereign
will, then how can man be held accountable? And men have tried
to explain how God's sovereignty and man's responsibility can
be reconciled, so to speak. Someone asked Charles Spurgeon
one time, how do you reconcile God's sovereignty and man's responsibility? He said, I don't need to reconcile
them. You don't reconcile friends. They're not opposed to one another.
Man is responsible for his sin and God is sovereign. If that
doesn't make sense to you, if you can't figure that out, or
if you object to it, shut up. I'm talking to myself and every
sinner. You're not worthy to reply against God. Who are thou?
Oh man. You're the thing formed is what
you are. Now act like it. And ask God for wisdom and understanding
about who he is and what we are before him and how can I be an
object of his mercy? That's what I'm interested in.
You're either going to be interested in rebellion or you're going
to be interested in that mercy. If he's gonna have mercy on somebody,
let's look into that. Let's look into that instead
of questioning God. And in the effort to reconcile
man's responsibility with the sovereignty of God, men tend
to go where the word of God does not go. If you go beyond or outside
of God's clear revelation in order to try to understand God,
who can find out God anyway? You think with your puny understanding,
you're going to understand the things of God. All we know is
what he reveals to us. So the minute you step outside
of the revelation of God in his word, you're in dark territory.
dark territory. What we do know from God's Word
is that God is absolutely sovereign. He does as He pleases, with whom
He pleases, when He pleases, the way He pleases, always what
He pleases. He has mercy on whom he will.
He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, Nebuchadnezzar said, and none
can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? He said,
I will do all my pleasure. And that's what he does. We know
that now. There's not any question in that. God asked Abraham, is anything
too hard for the Lord? Is there something God can't
do? We don't preach that God is trying
to save man, but man won't let him because he said, nothing's
too hard for me. Isaiah wrote, behold, the Lord's
hand is not shortened that it cannot save. He wants to save
somebody, he'll save them. He does all his pleasure. The Lord Jesus said in John 5,
21, I give life to whomsoever I will. Who are thou, old man,
to say that God's trying to do anything? He didn't say, I give life to
everybody that lets me. He said, I give life to whomsoever
I will. We don't preach that salvation
is by man's will, because Paul just said in this same context
in Romans 9, it is not of him that willeth. Mercy is not of
him that willeth. That's not how mercy is obtained.
It's of God that giveth it to whomsoever he will. We also know from God's word
that man is responsible for his own sin. And not any question
about that. You can wonder how that can be
all you want to, or you can bow and just acknowledge the truth
of God. You cannot blame God for your
sin and get away with it. You're not gonna say, well, I
haven't resisted his will. Everything's according to his
will, you know. Everything's according to his will and you're
gonna go to hell for your sin. Unless he has mercy on you. And me too. We can't blame God
for it. He said, except you repent, you
shall all likewise perish. Paul said in Acts 17, 30, God
now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. God says in Romans chapter one,
we'll read some of it in a moment here, that men have no excuse
for their sin. That's what they're doing here
in Romans. Now they're making an excuse for their sin. And
when I say they, I mean we. Without God's grace, without
the revelation of the truth from God, we make excuse for our sin. But in chapter one of Romans,
God said, you don't have any excuse. You are without excuse.
God has made himself known. He has revealed himself in nature,
in creation, and he's revealed himself in his word. And man's
problem is not innocent ignorance, but willful ignorance. There's
a difference. And what they do know of the
true God results in rebellion against him and not submission
to him. Turn to Romans 1. And let's look at a small part
of this this morning. Romans chapter 1. And while you're
turning there, let me just say again that notice that Paul doesn't
try to explain it. He doesn't try to make excuses
for God's sovereign grace and mercy. He just says, you're not
worthy to question him. He says, nay. Shut it. Oh man, nay, don't be replying
like that to God. All right, Romans 1, 19. Is man
responsible for his sin? Do we have any excuse before
God? Look at verse 19, Romans 1. Because that which may be
known of God is manifest in them. There is that which may be known
of God from creation, as you see in the context there in Romans
1. You're not gonna know anything about redemption by looking at
the sunset or the sunrise. You're not gonna look at a mountain,
a beautiful mountain range, just the glories of creation, but
you're not gonna learn about redeeming dying love there. No, you're not. That's not what
it says here. That which may be known is manifest
in them for God hath showed it unto them. What can you learn
by looking at God's creation? For the invisible things, verse
20, of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead. You can look at what God made
and know he's God. You can know that he's all powerful,
that he can do anything, can't you? You look at his creation. so that they are without excuse. Because that, when they knew
God, not savingly now, of course, you're not gonna get saved looking
at the sunrise, no matter how beautiful it is. But you can
bow to God. You can say, whoever made that's
my God. And whoever made that sunrise
made me. Whoever made those mountain and
these beautiful creatures The glories that surround me made
me too. And I'll find out more about
him if I can. But when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful. God fed
them every day, made sure they had water, caused them to grow,
gave them health and strength and all things to enjoy. And
they glorified themselves instead of God. just like we do now,
but became vain in their imaginations. He goes on to say later, they
worship the birds. It wasn't that they didn't know
that there was such a thing as worship that was due to somebody
because they worship creatures instead of God that made them.
The creature rather than the creator. And there again, They're
not worshiping a savior now, because just in this light alone,
you're not going to understand salvation at all. You're not
going to see it. But you can worship a creator just by the
invisible things clearly seen in the creation. If there's a
creation, there's a creator. And you can worship, and they
worship the creature rather than the creator. It became vain,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Religious man says that God's
sovereignty is deep, dark doctrine, hard
to understand. Now listen to me carefully here. What we just read now shows that
everybody, just from the light of nature, ought to bow to God
as God, as the sovereign God who does as he pleases. But man,
here's the doctrine of God's sovereignty that he's on the
throne and he does what he will in heaven and in earth, everywhere. They hear the truth of what Job
learned on the ash heap that God, you can do anything and
nobody can stop you. And they rebel against that and
they say, oh, I can't understand that. That's deep. That's dark
doctrine. I can't understand that. But the Bible says here
that even a man who has never heard the gospel ought to bow
to God's sovereignty. Is that what that says? You read Romans 1 all through.
Even if you've never heard the gospel in your life, you should
know enough to bow to the sovereign God. There's nothing deep and
dark and mysterious about the fact that God does what he wants
to do, and you don't. That's just simple, isn't it?
Every child can understand that. The reason it's complicated is
because you can't reconcile it with your own preconceived notions
of who God is and who you are. So the very thing that Paul is
teaching in Romans chapter 9 here, the sovereignty of God, that
He bestows mercy on whom He will, which is more light than you'll
get from creation, but it's the same principle, isn't it? It's
the same truth that God does what He wants to do. It just
includes the additional beautiful gospel truth that he does what
he wants to do in saving sinners. And men are without excuse for
not bowing. For replying against God, you're
without excuse. That's all you need to know about
that. According to Paul, he didn't try to explain it further than
that. He just declares later in the
chapter, as we'll see, what God did. and why he did it. Even the very creation reproves
you every day and teaches you that God does what he pleases
and that he's to be worshipped for it. For being God. And then the gospel is preached
and more light is shown. But in the rebel heart, the unregenerate
heart, more light just causes more rebellion. As God has declared he's pleased
to show mercy, he bestows mercy upon the sinner and reveals and
gives spiritual understanding so that the rebel becomes a loving,
submissive son. Instead of replying against God,
the sinner begins to praise God for that mercy that came where
he was. God gives a new heart so that
enmity and ingratitude gives way to submission and adoration
and thanksgiving. That's what happens when he does
have mercy. And it is of God that showeth
mercy. We are a ruined race. Our natural reaction to any revelation
of God whatsoever is to rebel. And unless and until God shows
mercy upon whom he pleases, we all must perish together.
We're without excuse. We're full of every sin, all
rebellion and depravity, and without excuse before God. Sovereign electing grace is not
a doctrine of exclusion. That's what we're accused of.
Oh, you just, you know, y'all think y'all are the chosen few
and everybody else is excluded. No, we're all excluded by nature.
We don't need to exclude anybody. We're all excluded. We've already
forfeited. Just by being born into this
world, we forfeited God's grace. Because we're sinful by nature. We go astray from the womb, speaking
lies. We're conceived in sin, and shaped
in iniquity. It's not a doctrine of exclusion.
It's a doctrine of hope. The only hope a sinner has is
in the sovereign grace of Almighty God who has mercy on sinners. And I tell you this, a true sinner
will delight in that instead of replying against God and rebelling
against God's sovereign right to do with his own what he will.
A real sinner now that knows what he is before God, by his
grace, by revealing grace, will catch on that word mercy. and
never let go of it. Mercy? How? Where? And then, as the gospel is revealed,
we find out how God can be God and still have mercy on a wretch
like me. And we find out where that mercy
is. It's seen in the face of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. and is to be found in his loving
arms, is to be found at his feet where the mercy beggar falls
and cries for mercy. But someone who is not a sinner
in the sense that the Lord Jesus said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners, righteous in that sense, righteous in your
own eyes, you will reply against God every time until you become
that mercy beggar. May God give you and I grace
to bow and worship the Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself the mercy
of God. God has mercy upon whom he will,
and this mercy is in his son. This is the record that God has
given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his son.