WWUTT 174 Predestined for Hell? (Part 2)

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WWUTT 385 God's Sovereign Plan? (Part 3)

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Romans 9 .16 says that our salvation is dependent not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
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Today we continue a study of Romans 9 looking at a popular interpretation and how to respond to it with right doctrine when we understand the text.
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You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com
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and don't forget our website www .tt .com. Here's our host Pastor Gabe.
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Thank you Becky. Welcome back to part two of a sermon that we began yesterday with Dr. Adrian Rogers.
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Over the course of the week we've been studying Romans 9 and I've presented the sound biblical case for God's sovereign election that according to Romans 9 22 through 23
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God has predestined from the foundation of the world those who will be saved and those who will be the objects of his wrath.
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How can a biblical expositor, a person who studies verse by verse through the scriptures, see that Romans 9 draws any other conclusion?
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Well yesterday and today we've heard what I believe to be the most common arguments against predestination and that in the sermon of the late
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Dr. Adrian Rogers. Rogers is pulling together a three -point sermon from Romans 9. So far his first two points have been that God is a
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God of sovereign choices and God's spotless character. Regarding the statement in verse 13,
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Jacob I have loved but Esau I hated, Rogers has said it is national not personal, it's about service not salvation, it's about preference not despite.
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But I have shown how much Rogers has had to play with the text and what he's had to leave out even skipping a verse in Romans 9 in order to shape the theology that he holds.
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He's reading these things into the scriptures not drawing them out from the scriptures. We're up to verse 17 now and we'll start talking today about God's purpose for Pharaoh.
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I want to reiterate again that I respect the ministry of Dr. Adrian Rogers and consider him a brother in Christ.
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But on this particular subject in the way that he understood Romans 9, he was wrong.
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While there was much that I agreed with him on yesterday, our differences will become more apparent today.
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As we left off yesterday, Romans 9, 16 says, so then it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy.
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That is a key passage to understanding the doctrine unfolding here in Romans 9.
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Here once again is Dr. Adrian Rogers. You see, listen, God's mercy is not rooted in man's merit.
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Pay attention. God's mercy is found in God because God is a merciful God. Put these verses down,
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Titus chapter 3 and verse 5, it is not by works of righteousness that we have done but according to his mercy he saved us.
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Now that's what he's talking about here. Put this verse down, Psalm 32 verse 10, many sorrows shall be to the wicked but to him that trusteth the
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Lord, mercy shall come pass him about. If you trust God, he'll give you mercy. Now look at this one,
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Proverbs 28 verse 13. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
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Look up here, let me tell you something. If you want mercy, you can have it. You say, well, it's according to God who wills to show mercy.
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That's right. And God wills to show you mercy. God is a merciful God. Now, listen to me.
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Pardon is according to God's sovereign will, God has decided that he will show us mercy when we don't deserve it.
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It doesn't write a root in our merit, but in his mercy. But punishment is according to man's stubborn wickedness.
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Okay, notice how Rogers has worded that now. Do you want to have mercy? Then you can have it because God wills for you to have mercy.
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Just ask for it and God will show you mercy. But there's an incomplete understanding there.
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When a person is genuinely repentant of their sin and asks for mercy, they do so because the
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Holy Spirit has made them repentant. Acts 5 31 and 2 Timothy 2 25 tells us repentance is given by God.
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I'll come back to this point a little bit later on to Rogers reference Titus 3 5. God saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the
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Holy Spirit. He didn't include that last part of the verse. It is the Holy Spirit that makes us able to hear the word of Christ and respond to it before the spirit intervenes.
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We can do nothing good before God. That's also Romans 3 10 through 11 and Romans 8 6 through 8.
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So if no one can do good, how would we be able to repent, which would be a good thing?
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It's because the spirit has made us to repent and not just repent, but repent in such a way that your offering is pleasing to the
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Lord. David prayed in Psalm 51 16 through 17 for you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.
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You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart.
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Oh God, you will not despise. So the act of service in and of itself is not enough.
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It must come from a heart that is made right before God. And how is the heart made right by Christ?
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You can pray a prayer of repentance, but it means nothing if the spirit of God is not there.
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Lorraine Bettner and his classic work, the reform doctrine of predestination said, it's not that we are unable to exercise volition, but we are unable to exercise holy volition, meaning that, sure, you can will yourself to repent.
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You can stop doing what the Bible says is evil and start doing what the Bible says is good. But you are unable to do that in any genuine way, a way that is pleasing to the
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Lord, unless the spirit of God dwells in you. My friends do not be confused.
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The regeneration of the Holy Spirit happens first, making you able to hear the words of God and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that is good in the eyes of God.
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This is what Jesus meant when he said, unless one is born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
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John three, five, the water and the spirit are also the descriptors that Paul uses in Titus three, five, which again,
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Rogers did not give the full passage. Let's keep going. Begin to read now in verse 17, for the scripture saith also unto
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Pharaoh. Now, you know who Pharaoh was. He was the vile, wicked king of Egypt, and God now is speaking to Pharaoh.
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Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
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Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth.
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Now, people have raised their theological motors on this. They say, uh -oh, God made
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Pharaoh, raised him up so he could knock him down. God created him so he could send him to hell.
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No, that's not what this says at all. Now, listen, when the Bible says that God raised up Pharaoh, that doesn't mean that God grew him from a child.
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That's not what the language means. It means that God put him on the highest throne.
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God gave him place and power and prestige that he might bring him down.
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God set him up in order to bring him down. God raised him up to the very highest throne.
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Boy, that sure sounds personal, doesn't it? That doesn't sound like preference.
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That sounds like God specifically used Pharaoh to achieve some ultimate purpose. I just point that out because Rogers is inconsistent with his application of national, not personal when he was talking about Jacob and Esau in verse 13.
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Now, what he's talking about is that he's going to be glorified by his judgment on this man.
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Put in your margin, Exodus 9, verse 16, and here's what God says to Pharaoh, And in very deed and for this cause have
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I raised thee up for to show in thee my power, that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
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Yes, absolutely. Same with Jacob and Esau. Again, Rogers theology is inconsistent here.
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He doesn't want to acknowledge that God used Esau to show his power, but Rogers acknowledges
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God used Pharaoh for that purpose. And Pharaoh was not a descendant of Jacob or Esau, which really hurts
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Rogers case that it's national and not personal. By the way, Cecil B.
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DeMille made a movie of this, called the Ten Commandments and God judging
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Pharaoh. And it's been seen all over the world. Many people haven't read the book, have seen the movie. Now, God did not override
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Pharaoh's will. Eighteen times in this passage in Exodus, we find this phrase that, and Pharaoh hardened his heart, or Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
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Eighteen times, about half of those times, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Now you have to understand this, that Pharaoh first hardened his own heart before God hardened his heart.
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Actually, no, that's not correct. And it's 19 times, not 18 times. The very first time that we see the mentioning of Pharaoh's heart being hardened, it's in Exodus 421.
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God saying to Moses through the burning bush, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. The next time is
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Exodus 7 -3. God saying, I will harden Pharaoh's heart. The next three occasions are all in Exodus 7, and it says that Pharaoh's heart was hardened.
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It's not until Exodus 8 -15 where it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart.
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And there are only three occurrences where it says Pharaoh hardened his heart. Nine of those 19 times, it specifically says
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God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now I'll bend a little bit on this. It could be argued that Pharaoh hardened his heart before Exodus 421.
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In other words, Pharaoh had already hardened his heart before we pick it up in the narrative, and then God hardened it further according to the narrative.
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Now I can give on that one, but before I make the point that I want to make with this, I'll go ahead and let
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Rogers finish his references. Put these verses down. For example, Exodus 8 -15.
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But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart.
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And he hearkened not unto them. Or Exodus 8 -32. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also.
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Neither would he let the people go. See, the understanding that one should arrive at here by the time you get to Exodus 8 -15 and 32 is that God did the hardening.
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Rogers wants to say that because Pharaoh hardened his own heart, then God further hardened his heart.
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But really the opposite is true. Because God first hardened Pharaoh's heart,
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Pharaoh further hardened his own heart. Pharaoh is not doing anything, nor is he making any decision that God did not intend to be made.
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Even if I wanted to concede to Rogers' point, he's still arguing that God acts against the human will.
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If God hardened Pharaoh's heart after Pharaoh had hardened his own heart, that means that God hardened
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Pharaoh to a point where he could not repent, right? Tell me, is that not God acting over the human will?
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No matter how hard Rogers and others who share his views try to argue for the freedom of the human will, there will still be in their own arguments examples of God sovereignly enacting his own will over the human will.
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Now what happened is this, that Pharaoh was already lost. God didn't make him lost.
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Pharaoh was vile, wicked, cruel. He was a despot. He had murdered thousands of people.
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He had a heart set against God. All the judgments of God upon Pharaoh, all they did was to crystallize
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Pharaoh in his sin. Listen, God did not harden his heart when he was young and tender, when he was a child.
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God witnessed to him. God warned him. God sent a messenger to him.
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God sent the plagues, but Pharaoh himself hardened his own heart. God did not create
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Pharaoh and say, I have chosen you that I'm going to send you to hell.
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No, God said, I'm going to make an example out of you. I am going to show my power in you.
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Are you hard in your own heart? Now as a reciprocal action, I'm going to send a plagues that will even further harden your heart, will crystallize you in sin.
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And I'm going to use you as an example of my punishment. There's a difference between saying that God created
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Pharaoh to go to hell and that God used Pharaoh to show his mighty power through him. Throughout Romans, Paul has carefully been laying out a theology of justification, that we are justified before God through Jesus Christ, our
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Lord. He starts out in the first three chapters, bringing all men into condemnation before God for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3, 23.
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But then it says we've been justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, verse 24.
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In chapter four, he talks about that we receive this justification by faith. In chapter five, he lays out the doctrine of original sin.
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In chapter six, he talks about how if we are in Christ, we are no longer to be slaves of sin, but are slaves of righteousness.
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In chapter seven, he talks about how just as justification cannot be attained by our obedience to the law, so sanctification is not acquired that way either.
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But justification is the work of God and sanctification is also the continual work of God.
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In chapter eight, he talks about how the spirit drew us to Christ and keeps us secure in Christ and no one can separate us from the love of Christ.
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And here we are in chapter nine, where Paul is saying that God's plan of redemption is not according to human will or exertion, but God who has mercy.
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God has created all things and all people for his glory. Everything in the Garden of Eden was in a perfect glorious state, but then when
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Adam sinned, mankind fell from grace and God subjected all things to futility.
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All who are born in the line of Adam are born into sin. This is called the doctrine of original sin.
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It's a very important doctrine given previously in chapter five. That means that all who are born in the line of Adam are hell bound.
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It is God who by his sovereign choosing, to borrow from a term that Rogers has been using, called some out of darkness and into his marvelous light.
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And he predetermined that before the foundation of the world who would be chosen according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace.
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That's Ephesians one, four through six. This is why hermeneutics are important. Hermeneutics are a method or a theory of interpretation.
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In this case, the way that one interprets the Bible. Romans nine is not some standalone chapter.
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We must be looking at it in light of everything that we've studied in Romans up to this point and everything that comes after it as well.
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Because as I mentioned yesterday, chapters nine, 10 and 11 go together. God predetermining a person for hell is not the argument being made in Romans nine.
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It's God being glorified in all ways through all things. Some he has chosen that he might display his glory through mercy and some he has chosen that he might display his glory through wrath.
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Now, listen to me, folks. God is in the business of getting glory to himself.
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God is in the business of getting glory to himself. God's love will be magnified in heaven and God's justice is going to be manifest in hell.
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God said, I raised you up that I might show my power in you.
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Amen. That's where we would agree. But the only reason that God hardened Pharaoh's heart is that Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart.
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And that's where we would disagree. Roger's conclusion does not fit the narrative of Exodus, nor does it fit the rest of scripture, nor does it fit the context of Romans nine.
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Now, God has every right to punish sin. God says,
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I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy and whom I will,
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I will harden. Of course he does, because he is the God who will give to us.
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If we want mercy, God will give us mercy. If we harden our hearts, God will further harden our hearts.
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So Roger says that God doesn't initially harden our hearts by the power of his will, but he will further harden our hearts by the power of his will.
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As if God is saying, fine, you don't want to repent? I'll make it impossible for you to repent.
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So like it or not, using Roger's own reasoning, God sovereignly reigns over the human will.
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The reason why a person repents is because God showed mercy to that person. He doesn't show mercy because they were repentant.
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They're repentant because God showed mercy. Now let's give another illustration here.
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Begin in verse 19. And this is one that has caused many people to have difficulty.
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Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault?
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For who has resisted his will? If God is sovereign, we're just victims.
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There's nothing we can do about it. Notice verse 20. But nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God?
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Shall the thing form, saying to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?
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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?
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And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he hath afore prepared unto glory.
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Now here's the idea. Some people have the idea that God says, I'm gonna make two vessels. I'm gonna make a vessel and send that vessel to heaven.
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I'm gonna make another vessel and send it to hell. People are just like clay. Weak, helpless, insensible clay.
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And I'm the potter. So I'm just take a lump of clay and I'm gonna make a vessel. God made
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Adrian for heaven. God made you for hell. Nothing you can do about it. Is that the kind of a
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God that is displayed in the Bible or in the book of Romans? Listen carefully folks and understand what the apostle
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Paul is saying here. God did not ordain some for hell.
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What potter, what potter would ever make a vessel just so he could destroy?
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Can you imagine a potter in a potter shop making a bunch of vessels and sending them on a shelf and then making a bunch of other vessels and sending them on the shelf and then taking a stick and just breaking them all to pieces.
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I mean that he set out to do that. Of course not. There are two problems with the way Rogers is expounding upon this example.
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First of all, he's excluding the most important part of the metaphor. Romans 9, 22 through 23.
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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.
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Rogers is focusing on one side of the word picture and ignoring the context. Second problem,
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Rogers is not trying to understand Paul's metaphor as Paul understood it or as the
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Christians in Rome receiving this letter would have understood it. We're not talking about just a bunch of pots on a shelf in a pottery store.
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Some vessels are made for glory meaning that they are fashion decorated covered with gold intricately painted and crafted.
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Other vessels are just dirt and clay used for daily tasks but have no lasting value.
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And when they're broken and done they just get thrown into the fire and destroyed.
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There's no reason to preserve any part of them because they have no value. The potter decides with his lump of clay which vessels he will make for honor and which will not receive honor.
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The vessels don't choose, the potter chooses. That's the analogy. Paul says in 2
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Timothy 2 .20 there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay some for honorable use some for dishonorable.
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So Paul's question in Romans 9 .22 -23 is then this which is not a hypothetical question.
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A hypothetical question is a hypothesis or a guess. Paul is not guessing. He is presenting truth to the
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Roman Christians in such a way that they are made to think about what is being said.
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These are infinite concepts that are being presented here that we in our finite minds cannot grasp which is why
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Paul is gently proposing them in the form of this question.
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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.
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As I've stated before and I will state again we do not know who the elect are.
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It's not our place to know who the elect are. God knows that. Our responsibility is to hear the gospel respond to it and then take the gospel to the world for the sake of the faith of God's elect as Paul put it in Titus 1 .1
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you still must obey the commands of Christ. No one is exempt from that.
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God did not ordain some people to hell. No, listen. The reason that some vessels were destroyed is they did not realize the purpose of the potter.
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Look in verse 20 if you will of this same chapter. Shall the thing form saying to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus?
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It doesn't say the thing created but the thing formed. Here God is shaping and some will not take the shaping.
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Look in verse 22. What if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath?
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God who was long suffering God is forming, working, forming but these vessels of wrath are not yielding to the hands of the potter.
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Put down this verse. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises.
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Some men count slackness but his long suffering same word that's used over here in Romans 9 is long suffering to usward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
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Peter said in 1 Peter 2 8 that those who stumble on the word of God do as they were destined to do.
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So this idea of predestination isn't absent to Peter's letters either. In 2
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Peter 3 the apostle said that scoffers would come in the last days following their own sinful desires.
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They will say where is this promise of his coming for ever since the fathers fell asleep all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.
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They deliberately overlook that the heavens were formed by the word of God and then the world that then existed was brought to destruction by God judged because of their wickedness.
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That's in verse 6. So then in verse 7 but by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
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What's being talked about there is an intended purposed day with people who on that day will be destroyed.
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Just because that day hasn't come yet doesn't mean that God isn't slow to deliver. That's what Peter is saying and we've already talked about this in Romans as well.
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Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
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Romans 2 4 God's patience is meant to lead you to repentance. That's also
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Peter's point in 2 Peter 3 9. Every person has their purpose in the plan of God's glory.
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Some for honor and some for dishonor and 2 Peter 3 9 in no way says otherwise.
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On the contrary it speaks of a specific planned day when the wrath of God will be poured out on those who have been destined for that day.
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Proverbs 16 4 says the Lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble.
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But you say pastor it says here that they were fitted for destruction. Look at this verse again and he talks about some vessels of wrath fitted to destruction in verse 22.
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Let me tell you what W .E. Vine in his expository dictionary of the
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New Testament words says and listen carefully to this. The middle voice
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I know you've been warning all morning to hear something about the middle voice but now listen carefully. The middle voice indicates that the vessels of wrath fitted themselves for destruction.
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It is not the potter who fits them for destruction. They fitted themselves for destruction.
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The potter was long -suffering. He did not create them. He formed them.
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But they were fitted that is they made themselves fit for destruction.
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God does not create people in order to damn them. God does not create people in order to destroy them.
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God is a God of love. Now if you think that I'm not if you think that God wants some to go to hell just listen to this scripture.
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It speaks of God who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
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That's first Timothy 2 4 that he's quoting there and I referenced that one yesterday. The problem is with the way
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Rogers sets that verse up. He says if you think God wants some to go to hell listen to this verse.
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Well, I believe that God has predestined some for salvation and some for wrath but that's different than saying
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God wants people to go to hell. There's what God wills to have happen and then there's what
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God will do. God desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth but he's going to save some and destroy the rest.
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Ezekiel 33 11 says that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked yet Ezekiel 24 13 says that he is satisfied by pouring out his fury on the wicked.
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Both statements can be true without being a contradiction regarding the nature of God. Now you can harden your heart.
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The Bible warns against people being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Put this verse down Hebrews chapter 3 verse 15
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Today if you will hear his voice harden not your heart. I'm telling you if you harden your heart against God you will crystallize in your sin and God's judgment upon you will even harden your heart even more but God hardened
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Pharaoh's heart after Pharaoh first hardened his own heart against the Lord and God destroyed
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Pharaoh. Yes, he did because in the long suffering of God and the warnings that God sent to Pharaoh Pharaoh would not accept those warnings and yes indeed he was made an example of God's wrath and remember this
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God is going to get glory with those in heaven and God is going to get glory by judgment and those who go to hell.
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I'd put this before you Pharaoh could not repent because God hardened his heart and it was the will of the
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Lord to raise him up as an example. That's something Rogers is not going to touch on because he doesn't believe
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God hardened Pharaoh's heart. There are some who will argue with this theology and say well then
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God is being unjust if he hardened Pharaoh's heart and Pharaoh couldn't repent and that's exactly the same argument
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Paul is putting forward in Romans 9 14 and then responding to it. What shall we say then?
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Is there injustice on God's part? My good Noita by no means for he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom
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I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Rogers doesn't realize that he's raising the same objections to predestination that Paul has already said his critics would raise and then
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Paul is responding to those criticisms. Verse 19 you will say to me then why does
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God still find fault for who can resist his will but who are you oh 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 one for dishonorable use who are you to say what
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God can and can't do you see Paul is responding to the same objections that Rogers is raising against the doctrine of predestination the idea that God has predestined some for mercy and some for wrath the answer is right there in the scriptures
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Rogers just doesn't want to get past his prejudice and read them the right way now
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I've said this before to those who share Rogers view of explaining predestination and they will say well you can't blame me
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I just read the scriptures this way because God ordained me to read them this way well aren't you clever and that may be true but here's the thing
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Paul goes on to say in Romans 14 21 each of us will give an account of himself to God so you're still going to be responsible for your actions no one is going to be able to stand before God and say well you made me this way it's your fault that's exactly the argument
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Paul is responding to when he says but who are you oh man to answer back to God the qualifier oh man is being addressed to all men you must hear the word of the
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Lord and respond to it it is still your responsibility to do so now here's the third thing
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I want you to see today remember God's sovereign choices God is sovereign
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God can choose whomever he wants for his service God chose
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Abraham God chose Isaac over Ishmael and God chose
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Jacob over Esau God chose these for service not salvation that's not what he's talking about and and he's not talking about individuals per se he's talking about nations
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God is moving there's God's sovereign choices can Rogers give one single reference that says that God chose these men only for service but not salvation no he cannot because it's not in the
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Bible the examples that Rogers is giving Abraham Isaac and Jacob these men received salvation and their brothers did not and salvation came through their line
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Jesus Christ who was born as a descendant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob yes my brothers and sisters this is every bit about salvation not service friend the second thing
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I want you to see is God's spotless character you will never point a finger at God and say
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God is unrighteous no God is not unrighteous God shows mercy upon whom he will show mercy to whom will
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God show mercy to those who repent of the sin to those who want mercy if you want mercy you can have it and God gives judgment to those to whom he will give judgment those who refuse him
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God is a sovereign God and some people say well God is too good to punish sin no God is too good not to punish sin yeah
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I agree with that God is too good not to punish sin but again Rogers presents this as if you repent of your sin you will receive salvation yes that's true but I tell you that you cannot repent of your sin unless God intervenes first understand this before men can be saved
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God must act and I happen to know that if I were sitting across from Adrian Rogers and said that he'd agree with me like I said in yesterday's broadcast
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I respect the man in his ministry but on the subject of God's sovereign election he simply is not correct
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God is righteous now here's the third and final thing I want you to see not only God's sovereign choices and not only
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God's spotless character but I want you to see God's steadfast concern what is
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God's steadfast concern? well notice in verse 23 what is God all about?
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and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy that is the people who are saved which he hath afore prepared unto glory that's what he's doing he's preparing us for glory he's all things are working together for good to make us like the
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Lord Jesus even us whom he hath called not of the Jews only he's trying to say to the
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Jews look you don't you've not cornered the market of it on this thing but also of the Gentiles as he saith also in Osea that is in Hosea I will call them my people which were not my people he's talking about us
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Gentiles and on her beloved which was not beloved God is saying
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I'm just going to take a bunch of folks that are not part of the covenant promises of Israel and I'm going to include them in and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them ye are not my people there shall they be called the children of the living
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God he's talking about us folks what he's saying is I am in the purpose of taking both
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Jews and Gentiles and making them children of God this is God's this is
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God's steadfast purpose the highest privilege on earth is to be a son a daughter of God wonderfully said the highest purpose is to be a son or a daughter of God to hear the words of the
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Lord and receive salvation now I'm going to give you a lot of scriptures you write them down on the margin of your of your bulletin very carefully
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I'm just going to show you that God wants all people saved that God didn't create anybody to go to hell the first one you've known since you were a child
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John 3 16 listen to it for God so loved the elect something wrong there isn't it for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that if a certain number would believe on him no that if whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved who gets saved whoever believes whoever believes in him will not perish so no matter how you argue it there is a set number who will be saved understanding
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John 3 16 in context doesn't mean looking at the verses after it it also means looking at the verses before it
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Jesus was talking to Nicodemus the Pharisee that came to him by night and much of what he said to Nicodemus was a reference to the
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Old Testament scriptures which Nicodemus should have known he was a teacher of the law in Israel so in verses 14 and 15
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Jesus said and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life that's a reference to the story in Numbers 21 when
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God sent fiery serpents into the Israelite camp to punish the people for their disobedience many died from their snake bites and then when they feared
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God and repented Moses put a bronze serpent on a pole and if a serpent bit anyone they just had to look at the bronze serpent and they would live well
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Jesus said just as this happened for Israel I will do this also for the whole world because here's the thing
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Nicodemus and other Jews indeed believed that a Messiah a Savior was coming but they believed that Savior was coming for the
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Jews in John 3 16 Jesus was saying no I'm not coming for the
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Jews only I'm coming for Jews and Gentiles the whole world of men from every tribe and every nation that was a stunning statement to Nicodemus who considered the
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Messiah to be exclusive to the Jews so when Jesus says for God so loved the world that he gave to them his only son he's talking about the whole world of men every tribe and every nation that's the context because as we read in Titus 2 14
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Jesus gave himself up for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works that's a select group not every single person now the scriptures say that God is reconciling all things in heaven and on earth through the person and work of Jesus Christ making peace by the blood of his cross that's
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Colossians 1 20 so God did more than send Christ for every person he's working in Christ to restore all of creation an understanding of Christ in that way is big it's very big reconciling all things in heaven and on earth making peace not just in people but in all creation in the known and unknown universe and that means removing those who were evil and followed after the devil and God does have a definite plan for them in showing his glory enduring 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 once again
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Romans 9 22 through 23 put this scripture down Isaiah 53 verse 6 all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the
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Lord hath laid on him on Jesus the iniquity of us all Jesus died for us all well no he didn't and not even
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Adrian Rogers believes that not everyone's sins have been forgiven or everyone would stand before God as righteous only those whom
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Christ has redeemed are righteous Peter uses Isaiah 53 6 when he says for you were straying like sheep but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls 1
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Peter 2 15 that's only those whom Christ has called repent and believe are not preferences they're not suggestions they are commands those who are his sheep will follow them those who are not his sheep won't the sheep whom he has rescued from going astray will hear the word of God and answer to it as Jesus talks about in John 10 even if it takes years to hear it they will respond because they are his sheep
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Romans 8 verse 32 he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things context context is so important Romans 8 31 through 32 what then shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things come on Paul is clearly talking only to believers here some people say
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Jesus didn't die for everybody he did he did first Timothy 2 4 it speaks of God who will have all men to be saved first John 4 verse 14 and we've seen and do testify that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world and then verse 15 whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God God abides in him and he in God like John 3 16 that's only those who believe and I addressed the usage of first Timothy 2 4 earlier first John 2 verses 1 and 2 my little children these things write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father
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Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation that is the satisfaction for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world that's the reason
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I'm glad that I'm a gospel preacher friend that's the reason I can say to anybody any place anywhere if you want mercy you can have mercy if you want salvation you can have salvation if you want to be saved
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I'm telling you on the authority of the word of God that you can be saved and God closes the blessed book the book of the revelation in chapter 22 verse 17 and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely amen to that and let us preach it that way
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Colossians 1 starting in verse 27 God chose to make known to the saints that's all
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Christians how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is
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Christ in you the hope of glory him we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ that's our mission
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Jesus said to go and preach to the whole world and so we must God's love is demonstrated in his gospel and we should desire for the whole world to hear it my friend whosoever will whosoever heareth shout shout the sound spread the blessed tidings all the world around tell the joyful news wherever man be found whosoever will may come and whosoever cometh need not delay now the door is open enter while you may
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Jesus is the true the only living way whosoever will may come whosoever will the promise is secure whosoever will forever must endure whosoever will tis life forevermore whosoever will may come whosoever will whosoever will send the proclamation over veil and hill tis a loving father calls the wanderer home whosoever will may come it is a liable to the character of God that God would say to a little baby never ever having been born done good nor evil you are going to hell and there's nothing you can do about it see that's a thing that bugs me about this not not the whosoever will part he's preaching the gospel there quoting from a hymn from Philip Bliss but when he says that babies are condemned to hell by God when
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Rogers says that he's specifically targeting those who believe that God is predestined some for mercy and some for wrath that's so divisive that does not unify the body of Christ I don't preach that God condemns babies to hell quite the opposite actually
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I don't believe that for one skinny minute I preach a gospel of whosoever will if Rogers thinks that only the whosoever wills go to heaven then babies go to hell because they never had an opportunity to choose now
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I don't think Rogers actually believed that I'm just saying his logic doesn't fit it doesn't fit the scriptures and it doesn't fit his own position if you believe that God does not predestined who will be saved though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad as it says in Romans 9 11 then you cannot make an argument for God saving the unborn or for children who cannot choose or the mentally handicapped
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I can make that argument because I argue for the doctrine of predestination but a person who rejects that scriptural interpretation cannot
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God is a sovereign God and there's God's sovereign choice there's
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God's thoughtless character but friend there is God's steadfast concern he wants people saved and he wants you saved and if you want to be saved
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I'm telling you he will save you today and he'll keep you and present you spotless before his throne would you bow your heads in prayer heads are bowed and eyes are closed would you begin to pray for those around you who may not know
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Jesus now that that is an interesting way to put that would you pray for those around you who do not know
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Jesus why why would you pray for them do you not pray as Adrian Rogers also prays that God would break the hearts of those who do not know
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Christ so that they would receive him as Lord and Savior are you not praying and asking for God's will to be done over that person's life instead of their own will then you understand
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Romans 9 16 so then it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy you pray for God to intervene in that person's destructive path as you should because it is
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God's will not our will be done always as Charles Spurgeon has said if I find taught in one part of the
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Bible that everything is foreordained that is true and if I find in another scripture that man is responsible for all of his actions that is also true and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other folks that is the doctrine of predestination
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God as we wrap up this time I pray that we would continue to seek the scriptures we would continue to meditate on your word we would engage in difficult concepts things that aren't so easy to grasp just sitting there and looking at a few words in the
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Bible but that we are searching the scriptures constantly meditating in prayer asking you to reveal to us the truths of your word no matter how difficult they may be for us no matter how much of us has to change in order to understand the truth that we are reading guide us in these things always and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and we pray this in Jesus name
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Amen Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas find out more online at www .utt