Let's look at the scripture,
Romans 9, verse 1. Paul begins by expressing his
compassion and concern for his lost friends, his brothers, in
the flesh. And we are all brothers in the
flesh. We came from the same root, Adam. We are all of one blood in the
flesh, black and white, red and yellow. There's no super-pure
Aryan race, as Mr. Hitler used to say. We're all
of one blood, one blood. I say the truth in Christ, I'm
not lying, he said. My conscience will bear me witness
in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness, great heaviness,
and continual sorrow. These people are always on my
mind. For my brethren, I could wish that myself were separated
from Christ. I don't understand that. Moses
said that, though, in Exodus 32. Let's look over there and
see this other example. In Exodus 32, here the Apostle
Paul and Moses, I guess Moses one of the greatest men of the
Old Testament and Paul one of the greatest of the New, one
of the most used men of God in the Old and New Testaments, Moses
and Paul. Both of them had that sincere concern for the salvation
of people. and compassion for their brethren. Listen to Moses, Exodus 32, 31. Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, O this people have sinned a great sin, and have
made them gods of gold, idol-worshippers. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and he pauses, and he says, Block me, I pray thee,
out of thy book which thou shalt write." Do you think of that?
I was studying this and I thought to myself, you pray for your
children and your grandchildren and your friends and neighbors
and folks to whom you preach. Have you ever been able to pray
like that? No, sir, I haven't. I wish I could. But to be totally
honest, I don't, I'm not able to say, Lord, if you don't save
Joe or John or Bill or Bob or Betty or Mary just blot me out
of the book you've written. That's compassion. Well, the
Lord said to Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will
I blot out of my book. And I don't understand this,
and I'm not going to try to analyze it. I just know what he said.
Over here in chapter 10, look across the page where Paul writes
where I'm preaching tonight. He said, My heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. That's my
heart's desire and prayer to God. I've heard people say, Well,
if you believe in sovereign grace, you lose your compassion for
the lost. You lose your evangelistic fervor. You lose your missionary zeal.
You lose your concern for people. You just get an indifferent attitude,
and you say, Well, if they're one of God's elect, they're going
to be saved. Let me tell you something. Any person who finds a refuge
for indifference, who finds a refuge for a miserly spirit, who finds a refuge
to excuse his prayerlessness in the sovereignty of God has
never met the sovereign God, never has. He knows nothing about
the grace of God. He knows nothing about the grace
of God. I just know that so. Here is
Moses who certainly believed in God's sovereignty and power
and elective grace because he led a people whom God had chosen.
And the Apostle Paul who had more to say about God's sovereignty
and God's elective grace than anybody in the New Testament
was the greatest missionary the Lord ever had. He traveled all
over his known world, his own world, to preach Christ. He preached
day and night, house to house, he witnessed to people, he wept
over people, he prayed for people, he agonized, he pleaded with
men, he beseeched them to be reconciled to God. Some of the
greatest missionaries who ever lived, Cary, Judson, These men
were solid grace men who believed in the purpose of God. Walter
Gruber believed in the grace of God. That's an example. Aaron
Dumas, whom you visit. These men, their strength is
given entirely to preaching the gospel. And I've preached, your
own pastor has preached more and traveled more and witnessed
to more people since I came to the knowledge of God's gospel
of grace than I ever did before. So don't hide in there. You say,
well, I believe what you believe, I wouldn't preach. Now, wait
a minute. There's no cause to preach unless you believe God's
going to save somebody. If you believe salvation is left
up to men, there's no cause to preach, because with men it's
impossible. There's no cause to preach. If
I thought that the dry bones had to give themselves I wouldn't
waste my time saying, Oh, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord,
because no dry bone ever yet gave himself life. But when Ezekiel
went out to the valley and God said, Can these bones live? Well,
Ezekiel thought, If it's left up to me, they can't. That is,
I have no power to give life to bones. If it's left up to
them, they can't. They can't live. But Lord, thou
knowest And Ezekiel preached, number one, because God told
him to. Number two, he preached for the glory of God. Number
three, he preached to the bones that they might do just what
he commanded them to do, hear the word of the Lord. That's
so. And when I go forth to preach here and other places our missionaries
go, we know salvations of the Lord. We know he's able to give
life to dead bones. He's able to raise dead sinners.
And he commands us to go and he uses these means, these instruments,
these means of grace to bring sinners to himself. Now watch
verse 4. He talks about these people for
whom he prayed, these people for whom he wept, these people
for whom he agonized. In verse 4 he said, tell you
who they are, they are Israelites. They are Israelites, highly favored
people, highly favored of God, to whom pertaineth the adoption.
Now listen to me. God chose men and not angels. If you'll turn to Hebrews 2,
there were, if I might call them races, I don't know what else
to call them, but there were two races that fell. The angels
fell, they fell before men. But God didn't take on himself
the nature of angels. He wasn't pleased to choose or
save angels. He wasn't pleased to give angels
a Redeemer. It says in Hebrews 2.16, "...verily
he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham, took on him the seed of men." That was
God's sovereign choice. He chose men and rejected the
angels and reserved them in everlasting chains of darkness unto the day
of judgment. Then among all the people of
the earth he chose Israel. A little nation turned to Deuteronomy
7. That's the people Paul is talking
about in Deuteronomy 7. Listen to this, and I'm going
to read verses 6, 7, and 8. What I'm saying is this. Paul
said, I agonize for my brethren in the flesh, a highly favored
people, a special people, Israelite. whom God chose from the other
nations in Deuteronomy 7, verse 6, for thou art a holy people
unto the Lord thy God, the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be
a special people unto himself above all people that are upon
the face of the earth." The Lord didn't set his love upon you
to choose you because you were more in number, you weren't mightier
than any people, you were the fewest of all. He didn't choose
you because you were something special in yourself. But because
the Lord loved you, you didn't even love him, he loved you.
And because he would keep the oath that he swore unto your
fathers, God's a covenant God, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God chose Israel over
the other nations. They were the Midianites, the
Medes and Persians, the Hittites, the Philistines, the Amorites,
the Egyptians, just keep naming the nations. But these people
for whom Paul is praying and over whom he agonizes and for
whom he is so concerned are the Israelites, to whom pertaineth
the adoption, to whom, listen, read on, the glory. Who witnessed
the glory of God at Mount Sinai? Israel. The thunder, the lightning,
the giving of the law. And the covenants, the giving
of the law, the covenants, covenant made with Moses, covenant made
with Abraham, God's giving of the law, the service of God,
what nation had the tabernacle? Now, brethren, this was a big
world, and all over this world were tribes and kindreds and
nations and tongues and people. There were all kinds of nations.
There was one tabernacle. There was one tabernacle. There
was one holy of holies. There was one mercy seat. There
was one mercy seat over which appeared the Shekinah glory.
There was one priesthood, one great high priest. There was
one atonement, and that was in Israel. Israel. That's what Paul is saying here.
Israel. The service of God, the holy
days, the tabernacle service, the scapegoat. Israel. Now, I don't know what we'll
do here. When we holler about this unfair and unrighteous and
that's not right and all this, what are we going to do with
these facts? What are we going to do with
them? We receive them by faith and we bow to God's will. Let
God be God and every man alive. He hath hid these things from
the wise and prudent and he hath revealed them to babes. But when
you battle what we call God's sovereignty and salvation and
God's elective grace, you're fighting the whole Old Testament.
You've got to take this book from Malachi back and throw it
in the garbage can, because God chose Abraham. Abraham was an
idol-worshipper down in his father's land, worshiping, bowing before
idols, 75 years old, God told. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. God was pleased to save him and
his house, and he announced it 120 years before it took place.
He chose Israel. That's what Paul is saying here,
who are the Israelites. Verse 5, who are the fathers?
The children of Israel had the prophets. I don't read about
any Egyptian prophets. I don't read about any Elistim
prophets. They had a Goliath, but Israel
had David. And of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came, the salvation of the Jews. He was born of Mary,
the rightful heir to David's throne, born in Bethlehem, city
of David. As concerning the flesh, the
Lord Jesus Christ was an Israelite. That's exactly who is overall
God-blessed forever. That's who he is, this child,
this little nation of Israel, all but obliterated, all but
annihilated under the heel of the Roman government. But God
had promised, Abraham, of your seed shall come the Messiah,
of your seed. He'll be born the seed of woman,
of the seed of Abraham, of the family of Jesse, of the tribe
of Judah, of the household of David. so many years after the
rebuilding of the wall. And all that was left of Israel
under the heel of the Roman government was their rightful Queen Mary,
who was a teenage virgin engaged to marry a man named Joseph,
who was also in the line of David. And they were so poor, they were
so poor and so without and so worthless in the esteem of the
world, that when they came to pay their taxes in Bethlehem,
they weren't even welcome to stay in anybody's home or in
a hotel, they stayed in a stable. That's how renowned David's throne
was at that time in this world. She's the Queen. That's like
Prince Charles staying in a stable when he comes to this country.
The British throne is too important for that, but the throne of Israel
had degenerated that low. And he was born and wrapped in
swaddling clothes and laid in a manger while cows stood around
and sheep and goats. But that's the King! Explain that for me. That's the
will of the sovereign God. But that's identification. Our
Lord was born lowly that he might be identified with the lowest.
He was born unesteemed, we esteem him not. No beauty, no comeliness
that we should desire him, because that he might be identified,
no center is so low that he can't be identified with Christ. Our
religion, though, we dress up our representatives of religion.
We put funny-looking robes and hats and stars and all these
things so they would be different from the people. But when God
sent a man, he sent a man dressed like the people from among the
people. That's right. Even the Messiah
himself, they said those bright shining stars of Israel, those
Pharisees dressed in their long robes and their broad phylacteries
and all that sort of thing, looked at him as he was teaching them
and said, Well, you're a carpenter, do you teach us? Nobody learns
from a carpenter. God's people do. God's people
do. They learn from sinners saved
by grace. They learn from carpenters and fishermen and plumbers and
electricians and folks that are nothing. I'll tell you who you
can't learn from is ecclesiastical theological powers dressed in
the religious garb, haunting themselves off as something they're
not. God didn't send them. God chose the foolish things
to bring to naught the things that are, the base and the things
that are despised and the things that are nothing, to bring to
nothing the things that claim to be what they're not. That's
right. Look for God where men don't look for him. Listen for
a word from God where men don't listen, where God's men listen. The carpenters got a message.
That's right, I'm telling you the truth. God will put, he will
put complete He will put complete shame on everything we try to
enlarge and exalt in his presence. And he'll use that which is nothing.
That's so. Don't go where the crowds are,
go where God is. Verse 6, now watch this. So,
not as though God had failed, you say, well, Israel didn't
believe. No, they didn't. Out of the thousands that left
Egypt, only two entered the promised land. Only two, Caleb and Joshua,
who were over 20 years of age when they left. Not as though
the word of God had taken none effect. And here is the explanation
that you've got to understand in this whole thing. They are
not all Israel which are of Israel. This is what we fail to recognize.
Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all
children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Who is Isaac?
Now, turn to Romans 2. Let me show you something here.
Here's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, I have a burden
for these Jews, my brethren. I'm a Pharisee, a Pharisee, I
was I was born of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,
and I'm concerned for my people. And they are honored people,
they are special people to whom belong the adoption and the covenants
and the giving of the law and the service of the temple and
the glory, and even the prophets and the fathers, and of whom
Christ came. But wait a minute. Lest you think
that a person has a corner on God because he's a Jew, Paul
said, forget it, because they are not all Israel who are of
Israel. Romans 2.28 says this, listen
to it, Romans 2.28, he's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
He's not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly.
Who's a true Jew? A born again, redeemed, spirit
called, God saved, sinner, Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond
or free, white or black. That's what Paul said. That's
exactly what it's saying. Turn to Galatians 3.16. Now,
here's the key here. Galatians 3.16. This is a key
verse in the whole Bible relative to Jew and Gentile, relative
to the position of Israel now. Galatians 3.16. Now, to Abraham
and to his seed. That's singular. to his seed
were the promises, what promise? Promise of life, salvation, justification,
sanctification, redemption. These are the promises. Eternal
inheritance, glory to Abraham and his seed were the promises
made. Listen, he saith not unto seeds
as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed who is Christ. Let me tell you something. If
you can get hold of If you can get hold of that, the Old Testament,
the New Testament, the Word of God will open as it's never opened
before when you consider these things called nations and people. There are just two religions
in this world, always have been. I don't care what to call them,
sir. I know we have a lot of classifications and divisions.
There's Catholic, Protestant, and Jew. There's also Baptist,
Methodist, and Presbyterian. There's Orthodox Jew and Liberal
Jew. And there's Orthodox Catholic
and Charismatic Catholic. And there's Pentecostal and all
these other things. There's two religions in the world. The religion
of Cain, the religion of Abel. The religion of Cain is works.
Sinner save thyself. That's the religion of Cain. The religion of Abel is faith. Believing God and coming to God
through the intercessory power and person of a sin offering
and sacrifice, shedding his blood. Just two religions. And there
are two races. Believers and unbelievers. There
are those who know Christ and those who do not. There are those
who are redeemed by Christ and they are spiritual Israel. And
the others are pagans. A man who is not in Christ, in
God, He's a pagan, he's a heathen, he's a Gentile. That's exactly
right. Those who are in Christ are Jews, those who are out of
Christ are Gentiles. Look at verse 8. That is, they
which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children
of God. Is that clear enough? That's
clear as it can be made. Abraham's seed, those people
who live over there now in that little country called Israel,
they are not the people of God. It is not the fleshly seed of
Abraham, but the children of the promise. The promise was
made to Christ. The promise was made to Christ.
God said, I'll give you a people that were not called a people.
Nations that knew thee not shall run to thee. They're counted
for the seed. And then he gives two illustrations
of his sovereignty. Now, watch this. He shows us
two sons born of the same father, Abraham. For this is the word
of promise, at that time will I come and save her, she'll have
a son." But wait a minute, Abraham already had one son, Ishmael. That's right, Ishmael. Here are
two boys born of the same human father, Abraham. They're both
sons of Abraham. All those Arabs over there are
sons of Abraham in the flesh, every one of them. They came
from Ishmael. God rejected Ishmael. God Almighty turned his back
on Ishmael and God chose Isaac. Is that true? You know this is
true. In Isaac shall thy seed be caught.
That's his sovereign prerogative. And I bow to that sovereignty.
God says not Ishmael won't do. Ishmael is the son of the bondwoman.
Ishmael is the son of the flesh. Ishmael is the son of human effort
and human endeavor and human planning and human logic. Isaac
is supernaturally born, Isaac is born of a dead womb, Isaac
is the gift of God, and Isaac is the type of Christ. And in
Isaac shall thy seed be caught. But God goes a step further. He chose Isaac, rejected Ishmael,
born of the same father. Then he takes two boys in the
same mother's womb and rejects one and chooses the other. In other words, if anybody wants
to see this thing of salvation wholly, completely, of God's
sovereign pleasure and will, God shows it to you here. He
says, I give you one father and two sons, and I choose one and
reject the other. But you say there are a lot of
reasons, a lot of reasons why Ishmael was turned down. There
are a lot of reasons. I can find a lot of reasons why
Isaac is the son of a marriage union, the other is the son of
a union that wasn't supposed to be. All right, God says, I'll
give you another illustration. I'll put two sons begotten of
the same father in the same womb, and I'll choose one of them and
reject the other. Then what have you got to say? And he said,
before they're ever born, I'll choose them. And before they
ever do any good or evil, I'll choose them. And then we have
no reply. Read it. Not only this, not only
two sons born to the same daddy, But here are two sons born of
the same daddy and the same mother in the same womb at the same
time, when Rebecca had conceived by one even our father Isaac,
and the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, both of them evil by nature, I know that. So I
said one time, well, I don't understand how God could love
Jacob, reject and hate Esau. What don't you understand? I
don't understand how God could hate Esau. I do. Can't you understand
why God could hate him? He was a hateful person, and
so was Jacob. What I can't understand is this,
how could God love Jacob? I want to know how God could
love me. Why should God love me? What is there in me? What
is there in me to merit the recognition or love of a holy God. David
said, when I consider the heavens a work of thy hands, what on
earth is man that thou art even considerate of him, mindful of
him, even think of him? You understand? I don't understand.
I don't understand how God could love me. I don't understand how
you could, let alone God. You see what I'm saying? Nothing
but pride. Nothing but pride, just pure
egotism and arrogance, would give us the thought that anybody
could love us. You think you merit love? On
what basis? You don't merit the love of people,
let alone the love of God. Infinitely holy God, that's ridiculous,
that's arrogance and a haughty spirit to think God God ought
to love us. Children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to his election might stand, not of works in
any shape, form, or fashion, but of him that calleth it was
said to Rebekah, that older boy is going to serve that younger
boy. That's my will, God said. And he went on and said, it's
written in Malachi 1, 2 and 3, I love Jacob. I love Jacob. And I tell you this, God's love
for Jacob was in Christ. There's nothing about Jacob to
love, but God's love for anybody is in Christ. Christ is our representative,
Christ is our surety, Christ is the one, he is our ark, he
is our covenant head, he is the one that God accepts and accepts
us in Christ. You see that? Jacob hath a love,
Esau hath a hatred, Esau hath no refuge, he hath no Redeemer,
he hath no Mediator. Verse 14, what shall we say to
that? Is God unrighteous? Is God unrighteous? Is there with God injustice and
unrighteousness and unfairness? Do you believe that? God forbid. I don't understand all this,
but I do understand this. God is righteous. Whatever God
does is right. I've got to bow to that. I've
got to. And in order to fit God's will
in with my ideas of righteousness, I'm not going to change the book.
I'm going to live just like it is and say, I don't understand
it, but I will someday. My little finite mind can't comprehend
the infinite God. My little weak mind cannot comprehend
the eternal God of the universe whom the heavens won't contain.
But don't be guilty of this. Don't be guilty of charging God
with unrighteousness now. Don't be guilty of that. That's
foolish. He gave this example to Moses. Turn to Exodus 33. Now, the Word speaks through
the Word. Scripture to scripture. The best
commentary on the Bible is the Bible. It is for a fact. Moses said, Lord, in Exodus 33,
verse 18, he said, Lord, show me your glory. Exodus 33, verse
18, show me your glory. I beseech thee. And the Lord
said in verse 19, I will make all my goodness, my grace, pass
before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy." Verse 16, that's what he said to Moses. Now back to
Romans 9. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, but brethren, our wills are affected by sin. You know
that and I know that. Christ said, you will not come
to me that you might have life. He said, I come in my Father's
name, and you receive me, not let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. In John 1, it says, As many as
received him, to them gave he the right, the privilege, to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
which were born, not of the flesh, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. It's not
of him that will it. Actually, if we had our wills
We never would come to God. We'd go the other way, and that's
so. It's not of him that will it, nor of him that run it. Activity
and energy and religious zeal, religious ceremonies and religious
holy days and religious doing, that's not the way to God. But
it is of God that showeth mercy. Mercy to the guilty. is the gift
of God. And I'll tell you this, even
the vessels of wrath will praise his name. He said in verse 17,
the scripture said to Pharaoh. Now, Pharaoh bucked God, Pharaoh
held on to Israel, Pharaoh fought Moses, Pharaoh resisted, and
God said to Pharaoh, and this is found in Exodus 9.16, even
for this same purpose have I raised thee up. that I might show my
power in thee, that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth." Now, let me ask you a question. Almighty God, in eternity past,
has ordained Christ to be the surety, sin offering and sacrifice
for his people. He has ordained that Christ should
die on this earth, that Christ should die on a cursed death,
a humiliating death, naked, beaten and spit upon and nailed to a
cross. and despised and rejected and
forsaken of men and hated, how is he going to get anybody to
perform that task? Jesus Christ is God, he is coming
into this earth, he did no evil, spoke no evil, thought no evil,
went about doing good. He was tenderhearted, forgiving,
healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, was a hero of some
of the common people. How is he going to get anybody
to nail such a one to a tree? That's a good thought, isn't
it? How is he going to get anybody
to nail such a champion to a cross? Well, he did. They carried out his will, he
lifted all restraining grace. Let me tell you something. If Almighty God lifted his restraining
hand and mercy and grace from you right now, you'd turn into
a raging maniac, devil. You'd say, how can men get in
a building with a shotgun and shoot little children on a playground?
Left to themselves, that's what they do. How can men be homosexuals
and and live like they are left to themselves. That's what we
are, a part in the restraining hand of God. And when Jesus turned
to Acts, let me show you something. You run around here talking about
the dignity of the flesh. I'm telling you this, it's the
dignity of God that holds the flesh back. It's God keeping
this world from becoming a hell. That's exactly what it's God
restraining hand even upon the Pharaohs and even upon the Herods
and even upon the Hitlers. And God lets the devil go as
far as he'll let him go to carry out his purpose. See, God creates
light and darkness. God is light. Darkness is created
by God withholding his presence. Good and evil. God said, I create
good and evil. Good is God. Evil is absence
of God. And God Almighty can use you
right now to tear this church up. Sure he can. He can use you
to tear this church up. All he's got to do is leave you
alone, just take his restraining hand, just let you act like a
human being. That's all. He could let you
destroy your home. All he's got to do is lift his
restraining hand. We're kept by the power of God.
Even the unbeliever is restrained by God. You don't believe that?
Sure that's so. The wrath of man will praise
the Lord. I'm telling you the truth. He's a sovereign God in
all things. Look at Acts 2, verse 23. Listen, "...him being delivered
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Look at
Acts 4, same thing. It says in verse 27 of Acts 4,
"...the truth of a truth, thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
Both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together to do what God's hand and counsel
determined before to be done. They carried out God's will,
and all the Lord did was lead them to themselves. Verse 17 of Romans 9 is saying
to Pharaoh, I raised you up. I tell you, when he was born
of his mama, he couldn't breathe without God. The family in which
he was born was by God's will. He was born a Pharaoh's son.
He grew up to be a Pharaoh. God kept him from losing his
mind, God gave him strength of purpose and power of heart and
so forth, and God used him, but he just left him to himself.
And listen, Pharaoh hardened his heart, what else does it
say? Come on now, God hardened his
heart. I know a lot of people just choke
to death when they say that, but that's what it says. God
hardened his heart. How did God harden his heart?
By leaving him alone. And I'm telling you, I'm declaring
this to you, people are saved by believing God. Righteousness
comes the same way it came to Abraham by believing God, and
not just believing that somebody died on the cross, believing
the purpose that sent him to the cross. and the purpose that's
accomplished by his death on the cross, and the God who was
reigning when he died on that cross. That's right, by believing
God, bowing to the sovereign glory and character of God. Now, Sparrow said, who's the
Lord that I should serve him? I'll tell you who he is. He's
the one that's letting you breathe. He's the one that's letting you
walk. And I raised you up to show my
power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth, even the vessels of wrath, O praise the Lord."
Someday the man who gritted his teeth and set his jaw and clenched
his fist against God's elective grace in Christ, someday that
very man's words will be revealed as having accomplished God's
purpose. I believe that. God cannot fail. Pharaoh said,
I won't let them go, I won't let them go. Then when I let
them go, I'll go after them. It's all in his will, all in
his good purpose. Therefore, verse 18, hath he
mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he'll harden. Now, here's
another objection. Thou wilt say then to me, well,
why does he yet find fault? Why is he still disturbed with
us? Why does he judge us? Who can resist his will? It says,
who hath resisted, it means who can, who hath, who can, who will.
Who are thou? Can we fight God? Can we prevail? Can we change his will? No, sir. No, we can't. Let me show you,
there are three objections in this chapter, three objections
that Paul voices against God's sovereign mercy. The first one
is found in verse 6. Here they are, look at them now.
It seems to say, Most of Israel perishes, so it looks like the
purpose of God is failed. That's what that verse is saying.
Listen, not as though the word of God had taken on effect. In
other words, for they are not all Israel who are Israel. In
other words, it's saying this. Well, most of Israel, the Jews,
perished, then God's purpose didn't work. And Paul's answer
is this. Paul's answer is this, he says
that they're not all Israel who claim to be Israel. They're not
all Israel who claim to be Israel. The purpose of God hasn't failed.
Verse 14, look at this. What shall we say then? Listen
to this objection. Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unjust to choose some and pass by others? Look at verse 19, here's another
objection. Why does God find fault? Who
hath resisted his will? That's the three objections.
Here are the three answers, beginning with verse 20. O man, who art thou that replyest
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Who are you
to question God's ways? How foolish for a finite creature
to dispute with God, to sit in judgment on God! The reason for what God does
is found in himself. That's where you find the reason,
in himself, not in human wisdom. Here's the second answer. He
says, "...hath not the potter power over the clay?" The word
power denotes authority. The word power denotes right
or privilege. It says, "...as many as received
him, to them gave he the power, the right, the privilege to become
sons of God." He's asking here, does not the potter have the
right or authority or privilege to do what he wants to with the
clay? God's power, listen to this, is always exercised in
a way that's consistent with his righteousness and his glory. God has a right, he has the authority
to do with us what he will as it serves his glory. That's right,
and brings honor to his name. You can read, I won't take the
time this morning, Jeremiah 18 tells you about the potter. He
took Jeremiah out of the potter's house, he said, Observe it, the
potter fashions the clay like he wills. It's his clay. Here's
the third answer, verse 22. What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with 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 before prepared unto glory, even us, whom he
hath called not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles." Here's
what he's saying. God has ordained from all eternity, this is true,
to make known to this universe two things. Two things. God will, I believe this. I find
it to be true in this book. God will make known two things.
Number one, His wrath against sinners. That's what it says
in verse, God willing to show His wrath. To show His wrath. His wrath against what? Ceaseless
sin. Rebellion. Rebellion wherever
it's found. It's going to be stamped out
wherever it's found. Wherever arrogance and pride
goeth before destruction, Holy Spirit before the fall. God resists
the pride. If He finds it in me or you,
He's going to deal with it. Sin. And sin is against God. And the chief sin is unbelief.
That's the chief sin, unbelief. Failing to give Him the glory,
to believe God. He's going to stamp it out. He's
going to show His wrath against this rebellion. You see, this
thing of sin goes back to Satan. I know we've got sin, spitting
and chewing and drinking and smoking and going to the show
and all. Those are just outcroppings of attitude and all. Sin is a
will. It's a will pitted against his
will. It's an attitude pitted against
his authority. That's what sin is. I will, Satan said, I will, I
will, I will. God said, no, you won't. No,
you won't. And I saw him fall from heaven,
Christ said, as lightning. And Adam in the garden of Eden,
Satan said, you will be like God. You will throw off the shackles. You will throw off the rain. You will throw off the, you'll
be your own boss. All right, I will. And that's
our whole problem. That's what scares me about what
we call Arminianism, free willism. It's free will, it's will. It's
will worship. You say we have a free will,
that's what Satan said, I will! Is that not right? The whole
problem started back yonder with pitting a will against God's
will. And the whole problem is conquered
in Gethsemane's garden when my Lord said, not my will, but thy
will be done. And he was my representative
when he said that. And that's where I've got to
be whipped. That's where I've got to be conquered. That's where
I've got to be subdued. That's where God's got to deal
with me is my blooming will. And that's what, when I see a
church, a free will Baptist church, I think unto God. That's satanic. Free will! Brethren, God has
the only free will, and he's going to exercise it. He said,
I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. You like that? No,
I don't. Then you'll go to hell with your
free will. I don't want a free will. I want a will that's in
subjection to a sovereign will, God's will. I will. God said, I will. You say, I
will. Two wills ain't going to live together. especially in
one of them's heads. And where yours meets his, you
better hope he wins. You better hope he does. And
I was going to show the second thing, which is glory. Turn to
Ephesians 2. I'll tell you, I've dealt with
some things that this is where the rubber meets the road. This
is where the issues are decided. This is where salvation and damnation
part company. It's who is king. In Ephesians
2 verse 7, that in the ages to come he might show, he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. That's what he's going to show.
He's going to show his wrath against sin and human will and
he's going to show the exceeding riches of his grace. But I tell
you this, I walk before him and I say this, I bow down. Let God
be God. Let God be God. Bow to the crown
rights of King Jesus. Do what you will with your own,
Lord. I want to be among those who are trophies of His grace.
I want it so desperately. Do with me what you will, Lord.
Do with me what you will, but show me mercy for Christ's sake.
I want to be one of those on whom God and through whom God
displays His grace. I don't want to be among those.
through whom he shows his judgment around. Now we're going out to
bow. And a lot of people say, well,
that's just theoretical. That's something that ought to
stay in the study. That's something that ought to
stay back in the dusty halls of learning. That's theories
that men fought over. Well, that's gospel. Gospel. Who is God? Ronnie prayed it
a while ago. We accept and bow to who you
say you are. Do you hear him? And we accept
and bow to who you say we are. And Lord, we accept and bow to
whom you say Christ is. And I'll tell you this, you'll
never go to hell believing that. And no man ever perished glorifying
Christ. Never. But I'll tell you, a lot
of folks have perished who've sucked their jaws and gritted
their teeth and clenched their fists and said, I don't believe
it. Your God's a monster, all right? You get ready to deal
with a monster then. Because that's the God of the
Bible. the Sovereign Lord, King of heaven and earth. First of all, in Romans 5 verse
12,