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Reading Romans 9:22-23, continuing to draw upon examples from Scripture where God has shown mercy to one and judgment to another. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy?
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Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you Becky, still in our study of Romans chapter 9. And as with yesterday I'm going to begin by reading verses 19 through 24. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, You will say to me then, why does he still find fault?
For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay? To make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
Yesterday we were looking primarily at verse 21. Has the potter no right over the clay? To make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? God has made mankind and He uses some for honor and some for dishonor.
And previously we've seen examples of those whom God has used for honor and for dishonor. He showed love to Jacob but Esau he hated. He showed his mercy to Israel but his wrath to Pharaoh and to the rest of Egypt and raised Pharaoh up that he might demonstrate the power in his judgment upon Pharaoh and the rest of Egypt.
And Israel saw that. They saw the plagues that came down upon Egypt but it was so they might see the mercy of God that He had showed to them. And this is this next section we're looking at today verses 22 and 23.
What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Pharaoh is the example we got earlier. In order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
Let's sit on that Exodus narrative for a moment here. So the story that we have in the book of Exodus, how do we often read this story? We think of it as like a Western, right? You got your guys in the white hats and the guys in the black hats.
The Israelites are the good guys and they're being tormented by the bad guys who are the Egyptians. They're the guys in the black hats. And then you've got a new sheriff that comes into town, right? That's Moses.
He comes riding into town and he's gonna clean up this place. And so he lays down the law on the Egyptians. He gives justice to them so that he can relieve the oppression of the Israelites and everybody cheers and is happy, right?
That's that's the way we read the book of Exodus. You got your good guys, you got your bad guys, you got your new sheriff that rides into town. Let me present it to you this way. No one in the story of Exodus is wearing a white hat except God.
He's the only one. The Israelites are not the good guys and the Egyptians the bad guys. And then Sheriff Moses comes in to clean up this place. Who was Moses? Moses was raised in the house of Pharaoh.
He murdered an Egyptian and even the Israelites were accusatory toward him about that and then Pharaoh wanted to put him to death. So he ran away and he goes to Midian and under a Midian priest he marries his daughter, is tending his flock when God speaks to Moses through the burning bush and says I'm gonna send you back to Egypt and you're gonna tell Pharaoh to let my people go, which Moses didn't want to do.
And then after he continually, persistently refused to go or was asking God to send somebody else instead, God said well your brother Aaron is gonna speak to you so you will be like God to Pharaoh and Aaron will be your prophet.
So and God was angry with Moses because he kept complaining about it but he had mercy to Moses and said your brother Aaron will speak for you. He went back to Egypt. Aaron met with him. God had appeared to Aaron and spoke with him as well.
So they go and tell Pharaoh thus says the Lord God let my people go that they may serve me. The Israelites, let's talk about them for a moment here. Were they the good guys? Were they good just because they were being tormented and oppressed by the Egyptians?
No. In fact every indication that we have from Exodus is that the Israelites outnumbered the Egyptians. So there was actually more of them but the Egyptians put taskmasters over the Israelites and persecuted them with labor so that they would not rise up against the Egyptians.
That was the tactic that Pharaoh exercised to keep the Israelites under his thumb so that they would not realize how powerful a nation they were and then come and rise up against Egypt. So he wanted to deal shrewdly with the Israelites in this way.
You can read all of that in Exodus 1. Who who was it that the Israelites worshipped before God spoke to Moses and told Moses the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob has appeared to you? Who were the Israelites worshipping before that?
Now some of them truly did fear God because we read about the the Israelite midwives in Exodus chapter 1 when Pharaoh told the midwives if a baby is born and it is a boy you're supposed to kill the boy but if it's a girl you let the girl live.
This was among the Hebrews. The midwives wouldn't do it and it says they didn't because they feared God. So there indeed some people in Israel who knew the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but as a nation the Israelites did not worship God.
They were not worshippers of God by the time that Moses showed up and said let my people go. He went and addressed the Israelites and said that the Lord God has spoken to me so that the Israelites would know the Lord God as well.
The Israelites believed in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but Pharaoh did not. He said who is this Lord God and why do I have to listen to him? God in redeeming his people from slavery in Egypt was also redeeming them from the gods that they worshipped there in Egypt.
We tend to not think about this. We think of Israel as being the nation that worshipped the one true God, the Lord God. They did not. Not before Moses came they worshipped the same gods that the Egyptians worshipped.
Consider this in Ezekiel chapter 20 verses 5 through 7. Thus says the Lord God on the day when I chose Israel I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob making myself known to them in the land of Egypt.
I swore to them saying I am the Lord your God. On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them. A land flowing with milk and honey the most glorious of all lands and I said to them cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on every one of you and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God. He made himself known to Israel through Moses. They did not know God's name as Yahweh. The name Yahweh does not come up until Exodus. God even says to Moses this name I am who I am.
Tell them that I am has sent you to them. He says to Moses this name I did not even make known to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. So he is revealing his name to Moses which no one prior to God speaking Yahweh to Moses and then Moses goes and tells Israel about Yahweh a name they did not know until Moses brought it to them.
Now again there were some that feared the God of Joseph. They feared the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and indeed worshiped him but even those women the midwives the the Hebrew midwives that said they feared God there's still a possibility there that they may were also worshiping the Egyptian God so there was kind of a syncretism that was going on.
God showed mercy to Israel but his wrath upon Egypt. You have a nation of people that are all worshiping the same false gods but he shows himself to Israel because of the covenant that he made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
He showed himself to Egypt as well but in his wrath not in his mercy. He shows his mercy to Israel he shows his wrath to Egypt. Israel was worshiping false gods too. God was merciful with them. He brought judgment down on Egypt.
So if we're looking at the story of Exodus as a Western the only one wearing the white hat here is God. He is the one who is good everyone else has done evil. He shows his mercy on Israel because he has chosen to show mercy to them and he says this to Moses I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion and that was the statement that we had even repeated in Romans 9 15 and then verse 18 so he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills.
Verses 22 and 23 what if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
Shows his wrath to Egypt his mercy to Israel and then when he delivers Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians well first of all they rebel against God and so he causes one generation to perish in the wilderness and then their children receive the land that was promised to the offspring of Abraham when they are sent into the land of Canaan and they're instructed to conquer it.
Book of Deuteronomy book of Joshua you see there again a people whom God has been patient with that he is exercising his judgment upon for their evil. That's Canaan. And a people whom God has shown the riches of his mercy to that's Israel who is taking the promised land from the Canaanites.
The Israelites were small compared to the rest of the cities and nations that live there in the land of Canaan. But God's favor was with Israel and his judgment was coming upon the Canaanites. Remember what God said to Abraham in his covenant with him when he said to Abraham that his descendants would inherit this land but it wouldn't come for centuries later.
He says in Genesis 15 16 they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. This was already an evil people that was in that land but they were gonna become more depraved before God's judgment would be poured out on them for the evil that they were doing.
Hence God was desiring to show his wrath and make known his power enduring with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction every kingdom and and nation that lived there in the land of Canaan before the Israelites came in and took it in Deuteronomy 9.
For Jesus said to Israel do not say in your heart after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you. It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.
How why is it that Israel got to take the promised land. It's because they were wonderful good people and they did everything right and they kept the law perfectly. We know they did not. They worshipped a golden calf right after God had given them the Ten Commandments.
They they rebelled against Moses and Aaron. They grumbled in the wilderness though God was constantly providing for them and promising them a land that was flowing with milk and honey. These were not a righteous people.
God described them as a stiff-necked people refusing to turn from their way. So it's not because they were good that God was giving them a good land. It's because God is good. And the people of that land were Israel.
And it was time for the good and righteous and just God to pour out his vengeance on them. Their iniquity had come to completion and they were being judged. Israel was the weapon in God's hand that he used to judge those nations.
And then giving that land to the Israelites because God is faithful to himself. Because God is faithful to the promise that he made to Abraham. Because God is good not because we are good. So he shows mercy to whom he will show mercy and he hardens whomever he wills.
He even hardened the hearts of the people who lived in the land of Canaan so that his wrath would be seen the his glory demonstrated in the judgment that he would pour out on them. Israel would witness this so they would worship the Lord their God.
It says in Joshua chapter 11. Verse 20 is Joshua's leading the armies into the land of Canaan to conquer it and possess it. It says. For it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed just as the Lord commanded Moses.
Why does God show mercy to one and his judgment to another. We don't know but we know God is good when he does it. Everything that God does is just it is always right. There is no evil in God whatsoever.
So again we cannot point the finger at God and say this is because of you that I did this. You made me this way. You will say to me then. Paul said back in verse 19. Why does he still find fault for who can resist his will.
But who are you. Oh man to answer back to God. Well what is molded. Say to its molder. Why have you made me like this. God has a right to make from mankind a group of people that he is going to show his judgment upon and a group of people that he is going to show his mercy upon.
And we should not dare stand in the place that we are in. We as followers of Jesus as worshippers of God we should not dare stand here and say it's because I did anything good. It's because God is good again the same and the same thing that God said to Israel.
Don't think that you are righteous. And that's why I'm giving you this land understand that same thing for you when it comes to the eternal promises that God has given you through Christ. Don't you dare.
Don't you dare sit there and say oh how good and wonderful I am that God would give this to me. No. You fall on your face and worship because you know you were just as deserving as anyone else who falls under the judgment of God to perish in his wrath.
You were just as deserving of that. But he has shown his mercy to you. He has shown his love to you by giving his son Jesus to die for your sins. You were wicked. God is good and he is merciful to save you.
To give you faith. That you would believe in Jesus Christ. To grant repentance to you. That you would turn from sin and desire righteousness. The righteousness you have is not yours. It's not because you did anything good.
It's because God did something good for you. So praise God live in uprightness and righteousness. If you've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ you must live as Jesus lives. And anything that comes upon you in this life no matter what it is you face and no matter what it is you go through it's it's not a punishment.
It's so that you would worship God even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances that you would desire God. You would never be too comfortable with this world because we're not meant to stay here.
We should desire to be in the place where God is in his glory forever. And so the things that we endure in this life we rejoice in God even as we go through difficult trials. And this is making us more like Christ.
We share in the sufferings of Christ. It also makes us rely more upon God not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 2nd Corinthians 1 9. We also have in chapter 4 where Paul says. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that are seen are transient. This world is corrupt and so it is wasting away. But the things that are unseen are eternal because they are holy and good. And that is where we must set our hearts desire in the place where God dwells because we desire to be with him.
In 2nd Corinthians 12 the Apostle Paul begs that God would take away a tormentor of Satan from him. But God says even in the midst of this as Paul is being tormented by a messenger of Satan God doesn't take it from him.
He says rather 2nd Corinthians 12 9. My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. And then Paul goes on to say. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses even in these adversaries that come against Paul so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Verse 10. For the sake of Christ. Then I am content with weaknesses insults hardships persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak then I am strong. Because our strength comes from God it does not come from ourselves.
The power of Christ rests upon us. So may we go through these afflictions that we may know the power of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Even even these adversaries that come against us God uses for some ultimate purpose Proverbs 16.
For the Lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble as I had quoted to you yesterday. I've probably quoted this verse a few times in our study of Romans 9. But Lamentations chapter 3 verse 37 who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord has commanded it is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come.
Remember that Joseph said to his brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt. Genesis 50 20. As for you you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
And that's not the first time that Joseph had said that to his brothers. He said it previously in chapter 45 when he first revealed himself to them they did not know that he was the second in command in Egypt.
And when he showed them that he was still alive and that he was even ruling over Egypt he said to them now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here for God sent me before you to preserve life.
God did this. You intended it for evil. But God even took this evil thing. He even decreed that this evil thing would happen for good for good to be accomplished. And that was the salvation of the people that God meant to save the household of Jacob.
The descendants of Abraham with whom he had a covenant in Job chapter 2. And Job had been afflicted by Satan when he had lost everything that he had even his own children. And now he had even lost his health.
Job's wife says to him in verses 9 and 10. Job 2 9 and 10. Do you still hold fast your integrity curse God and die. But Job responded to her. You speak as one of the foolish women would speak shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil.
And it says in all this. Job did not sin with his lips. He did not sin by saying that God gives good. And he even causes the evil things that happen to us. Isaiah chapter 45. From the mouth of God himself.
Verse 7. I form light and create darkness. I make well-being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Verse 13. Consider the work of God who can make straight what he has made crooked.
In the day of prosperity be joyful and in the day of adversity consider God has made the one as well as the other the day of joy and the day of adversity so that man may not find out anything that will be after him again.
That's Ecclesiastes 7 13 and 14. What is the point of all of this. What am I am. So what am I saying. I am saying this that you may know that God is sovereign that nothing is happening outside of his control.
And even the bad things that happen to you do not mean that God is not there. He is perfecting you. Even in the midst of this trouble that you would call upon the name of the Lord he will save you. You will desire God and you will dwell with him forever.
God is asking you. Do you love me more than you love your desire for comfort. And so that even in the midst of of difficulty you may say unto the Lord yes Lord when I am weak then I am strong that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Let us pray Heavenly Father we have read here in your word that you reserve some for mercy and others you have made for destruction. And so I pray God that we would love you all the more knowing that you have shown mercy to us.
And it's not been because of us. It's because you are a good God. How dare any man ever accuse you of evil. For we have all done evil in the sight of God and what we all deserve is destruction. But you've shown us mercy.
You've shown us Christ and you've even revealed your will to us according to your word. So may we love what we read here. Not not grip our face and go. Oh my goodness. How could God ever do such a thing.
Who are we to know the mind of God we are but feeble puny people who have rebelled against God. You are good and you have shown us mercy. Turn us from sin convict us of sin. So we have no desire for that we desire the God who is holy who does all things to his glory.
And has even welcomed us into that glory through faith in your son Jesus Christ. Set Christ before our eyes. Make us more like Jesus in his name. We.
Pray amen. For more about our ministry visit us online at www .tt .com.