Who are you, O Man?

Romans 9 as an Apology for God’s Freedom in Election

We'll begin with a word of prayer tonight, and then we will continue in our study of Romans, chapter nine. Our Father and our God, we thank you for the opportunity to come into your house and to discuss and study your word, to have our questions answered, and to focus on those things which we believe bring you praise and please you, and that is learning about you and praising you through our time of worship.

And Lord, we do believe that our times of study are genuine times of worship, because in them we are drawing close to you, and we are coming to know your person better, and as such, coming to know you better.

We pray as we continue on in our research of Romans, chapter nine, that you would open our hearts to the truth. I pray, Lord, as the pastor, that you would keep me from error as I teach. Lord God, that you would keep me from saying things that are out of line with the text of Scripture and that are out of line with the truth.

And I pray, God, for, again, open hearts to hear the word, to understand it, and I pray as we look forward to the future of our church, that our commitment, that our church's focus would be the truth.

That we would be known to not, to be a church that is not afraid to proclaim that which is true, even if it is opposed to the culture, even if it is opposed to the normative way people do their lives in the century in which we live.

But that we would proclaim truth because your word teaches us that the truth is what truly sets us free. And tonight, as we examine this text, again, we pray that you would sanctify us in your truth and remind us, O Lord, that your word is truth.

In Jesus' name, Amen. If you have your outline, the first bolded statement says the tragic unbelief of Israel. Romans 9, verses 1 through 5 deal with the tragic unbelief of Israel. We said number one was Paul's personal connection with unbelieving Israel.

Paul said that he loved his brethren so much that he wished himself could be accursed if it meant the salvation of his kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites. And then, of course, verses 4 and 5 talk about God's personal connection with unbelieving Israel.

Last week, we looked at verses 6 through 13 and we said that Israel's unbelief is consistent with God's plan. And number one, we said it is consistent with his promises. That was last week's the blank that we dealt with last week.

Verses 6, 13. Now, just to give a quick reminder of what we have learned so far, I wanted to read to you just sort of going over what we've learned. Paul's concern, beginning in the first part of Romans chapter nine, is providing an apologetic against an anticipated objection to his aforementioned position.

He has said that God will not forsake his people. And then the question that would naturally arise from that is, well, has God forsaken those whom he promised not to forsake, namely, Israel? And thus, if he has, has his word failed?

This is why the first part of Romans 9, it says it's not as if the word of God has failed. Well, that's the question. If all these Israelites are not saved, then hasn't the word of God failed? And the answer is no, because God's promises have always been to the spiritual offspring of Abraham.

Those who share the faith of Abraham, not just the genetic line of Abraham. Failure would imply that God's promises of salvation were given to every ethnic Jew. If God had failed, that would mean the promise was to every ethnic Jew.

But God did not promise salvation to every ethnic Jew. Salvation is not a national thing, even in the Old Testament. I know what you're thinking. Salvation in the Old Testament, well, God called Israel, so that sort of is a national thing.

However, if you go into the Old Testament, what you see quickly and clearly are names like Rahab, Bathsheba. And you could even go back and say, Abraham, before he was a nation, was just an individual.

And he wasn't a Jew because he preceded the Jews. He was the forefather of the Jews. So salvation and election have always been individual in that sense. Romans 9 -11 teaches two important lessons. One, salvation is not national, it's individual.

It also teaches us that salvation is not ethnic. We do not inherit salvation. A person is not saved just because he is born a Jew. The only way God's promises would have failed would be if he had promised salvation to all Jews ethnically, and he had not.

So his promises have not failed. Salvation is the result of election, and election is not national, it is individual. We see this in the choice of Abraham, the choice of Isaac, and the choice of Jacob, which is what we've been studying the last few weeks.

He said, I chose Abraham, and after that I chose Isaac, and then after that I chose Jacob. And Jacob, of course, was the most profound choice. Why? Why was Jacob the most profound choice when he chose Jacob and not Esau?

Yes, but what made the choice so profound? It wasn't the oldest. It was before he was born. They were twins. They were as close as any two genetic human beings have ever been in the sense that they came from the same womb at the same time.

And God chose one and not the other. So in that sense, God is showing us that his election is individual. Now, could it be argued that Israel as a nation was elect? Well, we could say this. Israel as a nation was chosen to be the vessel of God's word, God's will, and God's Messiah.

So in that sense, the nation itself was elect. However, the election to salvation is an individual election, both in the Old Testament and in the New. And if you want to just think of a cross-reference in your mind or if you want to write this down, 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 18.

What's that story? That's the story of a prophet named Elijah. And remember, Elijah said, I am the only one left. And what did God say to Elijah? No, I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

The point God was making was, no, I have chosen seven thousand who have not. I have kept for myself. And Paul repeats that in Romans chapter 11, verse four. I have kept for myself an elect remnant. Yes, the nation has squandered its blessings.

Yes, the nation has gone its own way. And yes, many Israelites are worshiping Baal. But I have kept for myself an elect remnant. So even in the Old Testament, we see the individual election of God. All right.

So that is where we are tonight. Looking at verse 14, we say that not only is Israel's unbelief consistent with God's plan because it's consistent with his promises. But it is also consistent with his person, with his person.

And we will begin tonight in verse 14. Paul anticipates questions. Paul was a missionary. Paul was a preacher. Paul was an evangelist. But Paul was also an apologist. Remember what an apologist is. An apologist is not a person who says, I'm sorry.

What is an apologist? A defender. A person who makes a defense for what they have said and what they have believed. And we talk about Christian apologetics. We take a stand for what we believe. We take a stand for what we teach.

We stand against error. And Paul, in his writings, you see his apologetic nature coming out. Because every time he says something that's hard to believe, he then follows it with the anticipation of a question.

You will say to me this. But I will respond this way. That's Paul's very heart as a teacher. He knows what the objector is going to say. And he is there ready to offer up a biblical response. So he says, what shall we say then?

Is there injustice on God's part? Now, before we go any further in looking at that question or going to his answer, rather, let's just look at the question. He says, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?

Why did Paul ask that question? Because right before that, the Bible reads, Jacob, I loved, Esau, I hated. That's what it said right before that verse. And you see, when you read the phrase, Jacob, I loved, Esau, I hated.

Immediately, your mind begins to drift towards fairness. You begin to drift towards the concept of injustice. In fact, I don't know how many of you. I'm sure some of you know the name B .B. Warfield. B .B. Warfield said this.

He said the marvel of marvels is not that God in his infinite love has not elected all this guilty race to be saved, but that he has elected any at all. But you see, we don't look at ourselves that way anymore.

We don't look at salvation as something we don't deserve. We look at salvation as something everybody deserves. Everybody should have it. Everybody should get it. In fact, the only people that don't deserve it is Osama Bin Laden.

That's how we talk. Yeah, we want him in hell. But the sweet old lady who never received Jesus, who lived her whole life in sin. No, she's sweet. So she's going to go to heaven or the sweet old man or the teenager who did whatever.

You see, we only want hell for the most desperately wicked, but we don't understand that sin condemns us all to hell. And the only salvation is Jesus Christ. That's the most difficult thing for people to understand.

And if you preach that, you will be called a fanatic. You will be called a Bible thumper. You will be called narrow minded. And you know what? Jimmy Crack Corn. I don't care. Because the truth must be proclaimed.

And when we talk about salvation, when we read the Bible, there are verses of the Bible that are very hard to understand. There are verses of the Bible that are very hard to take. And Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

That's a very difficult verse, and some people cannot even deal with that verse. But Paul gives us an apologetic. He asked the question. He said, what shall we say then? Does this make God unjust? You know what's so great about that?

Paul is answering the objection that every Arminian raises when they read that verse. Every Arminian reads the verse, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated, and they'll all say the same thing. Well, if that's true, God's unfair.

Paul, if honestly, if your question is the same question that the Apostle anticipates and answers, then you're on the opposite side of the Apostle. And if the Apostle is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you're on the opposite side of the Holy Spirit.

And because the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, and the Trinity is what makes up God, you're on the opposite side of God. That's a bad place to be, is on the opposite side of God on an issue.

People say, well, that's just Paul's opinion. Well, then throw your Bible away. If that's what you think about the Bible, well, don't throw it away. Give it to me on your way out because I'll find somebody who can use it.

But you don't need it. If that's all it is to you, it's Paul's opinion or Isaiah's opinion or Mark's opinion, then it's not the word of God. Ready to go now. OK, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?

Meganoita. What is Meganoita? That is the Greek, the strongest statement of the negative in the Greek. May it never be. Or in the ESV, by no means. In the King James Bible, it says God forbid. This question, the question Paul anticipates, as I said, are in direct response to the reformed understanding.

If God elects him, he's unfair. Paul says, no, he is not. But why? He doesn't just end there. He doesn't just he doesn't just leave us hanging. He doesn't say, is there injustice on God's part? Meganoita by no means.

What does he say after that? He backs it up with the Bible. Don't you got to love that? Don't you love a man who does that? You got to love the Apostle Paul because he goes to the Old Testament and he quotes from the Bible in the Bible because he's writing the Bible and he's quoting from the Bible.

He's making this point from Scripture. He says, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. This is forever the divine right of God to show compassion to whom he chooses.

Jesus speaks of this ability within God and some of his parables. And I shiver to see people miss this because Jesus talks about God's freedom in his parables and people read right over it. Think about the parable of the prodigal son.

It's in if you want to write it down, it's in Luke 15, verses 11 through 32. Most of you know the story of the prodigal son. And actually, John MacArthur, I think, got it really good when he said it's actually the tale of two sons because everybody thinks about the son who goes away, gets into trouble and has to come back home and how the father shows love for him.

But neither one of those people are the direct focus of the story. The focus of the story is the other person. The focus of the other of the story is the other brother, because when he looks and sees that his brother has been brought back into the family fold, when he looks and sees that his brother has not been made a slave, but instead has received the signet ring and the signet ring meant that he'd been redeemed back to his original position, that he'd been brought back into the family, that he had shoes on his feet and and slaves in our shoes.

And he had the signet ring and he was back in that position, position of authority. And the brother said, look, I'm not going to his celebration. What did the father say to the brother? And now he's back.

And what is the what is the key to that? That it is God's freedom to be merciful and how he chooses to be merciful and to have compassion on whom he chooses to have compassion. You know, if you read that story, we don't have time to go through it tonight.

I've talked to that story a few times because some of the things that we miss in that story is just how despicable the first brother was in asking for his inheritance early. He was basically telling his father, I wish you were dead.

And by going away and squandering his father's inheritance that he had received, he was he was basically telling his father, I hate you. I don't want you around. I want to be my own man. I want to be my own person.

And in doing that, the father still showed mercy and compassion because he shows mercy to whom he wills. And he willed to show mercy to the child, to the son. The other son didn't want to give him mercy.

I'm sure his friend said, man, you're crazy for taking that kid back. You need to put him out in the slave house. But God shows mercy to whom he wills. There's another story, my favorite parable in regard to this subject is in Matthew, chapter 20, verses 1 through 16.

Matthew, chapter 20, verses 1 through 16. That is the story that Jesus told when he said that there was a man who had a field that needed tending. And he went out and got laborers to work in his field.

And he went out and promised them a certain amount for the day. And then at midday, he realized he needed some more workers in the field. So he went out and got more workers and brought them in. And he showed them the field.

And they worked. And he promised them the same amount. And then later in the day, he went and got more workers and brought them into the field. And he promised them the same amount. Then at the last hour, there was only one hour's work left to be done, but he needed more workers.

So he went and got and brought him in to do that work. And all of them made the same amount. They were all promised a day's wage. And they all made a day's wage, even the person who only worked one hour.

And what is the question? You should give the person who was there all day more? Or you should give the person who was only there one hour less? But you should not give them both the same because it's unfair.

And what does the owner of the property say? Is it not mine to do with as I will? And thus God said, I'm sorry, go ahead. And they agreed. But you see, that's the point. When you get to Romans chapter 9 and you read those words, God says, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Why? Because it's my mercy to give. It's my compassion to give. It's mine. And I am free in it. We talk and we tout the freedom of man, but we forget the freedom of God. And this passage tells us, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.

Now, I did this the last time we went through this, but some of you weren't here. And I do want to show this because some of you might miss it. And if you weren't here before, I want you to miss this because it's kind of an interesting little linguistic thing.

Is the word mercy in English is not a verb in English. It is a noun. But in the Greek language here, mercy is a verb. All right. In the Greek. So actually what it says is I will mercy whom I will mercy.

We wouldn't say it that way because that's not the way English works. And we wouldn't use the word mercy as a verb. He said he had to say I will have mercy. But that's adding the word have. It literally says I will mercy whom I will mercy.

I will compassion whom I will compassion. And you might want to think on that a while. Just contemplate, because it really demonstrates the action being done on God's part. He is mercying. Us. He is compassioning.

Us. When he elects us. Verse 16. So then it depends not on. Wait a minute. Did I jump? I didn't jump. OK, so then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God. Who shows mercy or who has mercy again?

It literally says so. It does. It depends not on the human will or exertion, but on God who mercies. Now, this verse is somewhat debated by some folks because they ask the question, what does it refer to?

What is the antecedent of it? As he says, it depends not on human will or exertion. The non reform position views it as many different things. Some say it is national privilege. Others say it is divine blessings.

But if it refers to salvation, which is the extent, the extension of God's mercy and grace, which is what he was just talking about, the extension of his grace. I will mercy whom I mercy. I will compassion whom I have compassion.

And it is not based on human will or exertion. It then refers back to the extension of the grace, the extension, the mercying. That's what it is focused back upon. If that is the case, then this verse seals the fact that salvation is of God alone because he clearly says it is not of human will.

How did you get saved? I got saved because I have my free will involved here. It says you didn't hear it says it wasn't based on your will. What is the will? The mind making a choice. Did you make a choice to come to Christ?

Yes, you did. But what enabled the choice? God's mercy. It is not human will or exertion. It is the mercy of God. Our salvation did not originate in us or in our works, but in God. Psalm 65, verse four says, Blessed is the man whom you choose and cause to approach unto thee.

The one that you choose and cause to approach. All right. Verse 17. He's building his case on Scripture again. Paul teaches us how to preach. Those of you who are Bible teachers in here, Sunday school teachers, you guys who teach for me when I'm away and who preach in Sunday school classes and teach in Sunday school classes.

He's telling you how to do it. How do you make the case for truth? You use the Scripture. That's how you make the case for truth. He says, For the Scripture says to Pharaoh for this very purpose, I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

So then he has mercy on whom he wills and he hardens whom he wills. The use of Pharaoh in this passage has caused no end of questions from the non-reformed position. Because again, if Paul is strictly speaking of the election and reprobation of nations, why would he now choose an individual as an example?

Every time the subject of Pharaoh's hardening comes up, you will hear the same objection. Beloved, if you ever mentioned, if you're talking to someone about election and you're talking to somebody about Romans 9, I'm going to prepare you for the objection.

You will hear this objection. Well, Pharaoh hardened himself. You'll hear that objection. And this is true. Pharaoh very much hardened his heart. The Bible says it. So it's true. However, the Bible also records for us long before Pharaoh hardened his heart.

In Exodus chapter four and verse 21, when the Lord is speaking to Moses from the burning bush. Exodus 4 and 21. And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt and see that thou do.

And I'm just going to tell you right now, for whatever reason, these notes are the King James Version. So if it's not exactly the ESV like you used to, it's OK. If you hear the V's and the Vows, it just just happens to be how I my my notes when I was copying and pasting.

I must have copied from the King James Version, which is fine. I love to preach from it because it sounds very regal. Some people. The only problem I have with King James, sometimes you have to translate English and English.

And I find that somewhat redundant. But he says, Exodus 4, 21. And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thy hand.

But I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go. Can God be any more clear than that? When he says, I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Now, later in Exodus chapter eight, verse 15, it says, when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart and hearken not unto them as the Lord had said.

It says it in the verse as the Lord had said. Yes, he hardened his heart, but the Bible said God said this was going to happen. Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? Because God in some way was trying to be mean to Pharaoh, because Pharaoh in some way was an innocent bystander who God decided to take out.

Because God is just a whimsical God who enjoys inflicting pain upon innocent people. Is that why God did it? Well, I want to re-encourage you to look back at Romans 9, because Romans 9 tells us why he did it.

Romans 9 tells us, he says, for this very reason I raised you up, that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Why did God raise up Pharaoh? And why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? Because through that action, God's name was proclaimed throughout all the earth.

Well, that's not fair to Pharaoh. Here he is, that nice guy. Everybody loved him. He loved to have people over. He was very hospitable, and God just came along and crushed his spirit. Is that the position we're going to take on Pharaoh?

Because honestly, when you talk to people about this verse, that's the position they seem to take. It's like, well, Pharaoh didn't deserve that. The love that we all deserve. Look, chapter 13, Jesus had people approach him and they said, Jesus, there's been this tragedy.

And these people have been slaughtered in the synagogue. And Jesus looked at him and he says, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. You see, that's what we need to remember. Jesus made the point.

He said, look, you all have judgment coming unless you repent. Did Pharaoh receive anything that Pharaoh did not deserve? No. Did Pharaoh get anything that he himself did not want? I will push that point a little further along as we get there.

But let me just say this about that. Some people make the case that Pharaoh, in some way, God made him worse than he already was by introducing sin. But see, that's the thing that we need to understand.

What does it mean to harden someone? What does it mean to harden a heart? I will tell you this. I do not believe that the Bible ever teaches that God introduces sin into someone's heart. In fact, I would say that the opposite could be argued as true.

That the Bible says that God tempts no one to sin. And the word tempt, meaning that God does not encourage anyone to sin. As the devil encouraged Eve in the garden to sin, he said to her, hey, God hasn't really said that.

If you take that fruit, you will be as smart as God. You will know things like God knows things. You will be like God. Remember, that's temptation to sin. And the Bible says God does not tempt us to sin.

However, the Bible is very clear that God does harden a heart. You say, well, what's the difference? I have an illustration and I hope that I hope this makes sense. Because really, there's a very important thing that we need to understand.

And that is the doctrine of equal ultimacy. And I don't want to run away and use words like that to confuse you. Equal ultimacy says this, God extends the same amount of energy. If you want to say God spends energy, God does the same amount of work in saving someone as he does in damning someone.

That God sends the same, that God predestines to life and he extends to them goodness. And he predestines to death and he extends to them badness. And that we call equal ultimacy. That God is doing equal amount of work in both.

Here's the problem with that. Number one, God doesn't have to do anything to condemn us. The Bible says in John chapter three, we are condemned already. So the work of having to condemn us. He didn't have to do anything extended to condemn us.

That condemnation is already done. Huh? Through Adam, through our sin too. And I look at, I think of a, I think of a set of pedals. And please, this ain't going to go real well on the recording. But I want you to, I want you to illustrate this.

I'm solving the problem of equal ultimacy. Not that many of you came with that problem tonight. But the problem of equal ultimacy is that God extends the same amount towards both. So he equally graced Moses and equally pardoned Pharaoh.

And it's an equal motion. Here's the thing. Grace is the extension of the goodness of God toward an individual. Hardening is the retracting of the goodness of God to an individual. Hear that again. Grace is the extension of the goodness of God towards an individual.

And hardening is the retraction of the goodness of God from an individual. Because we all have something that is called common grace. Grace. The Bible says that the rain falls on the just and on the unjust.

We all receive a measure of grace from God. If we didn't, our hearts would stop right now. Your very heart beating in your chest is an extension of the grace of God. If God were to remove his grace from the world, we would all be out like a light never to be kindled again.

But when God extends grace to someone, salvific grace, salvation, grace. That is an extension on God's part, but when God hardens someone, he pulls his grace back from them. And as such, that which is already depraved is allowed to have the full expression of its depravity.

That which is already fully sinful is no longer restrained from its sin. Do you believe as bad as he was that bin Laden could have been worse? You better believe it. Do you believe that Hitler could have been worse?

Do you believe that more people could have died on 9 -11? God's grace is always there, you see. So when we talk about equal ultimacy, it's not as if God is making Pharaoh evil. He doesn't have to. He's already evil.

But when he lifts the restraint of grace, Pharaoh is then having the full expression of his evil. And he, as such, displays to the world his hatred of God. Beloved, the world hates God. Oh, that sounds awful harsh, Pastor Foskey.

You read Romans 1, you spend a couple of days meditating on it, and you come back to me. You tell me that you don't think that Romans 1 teaches that the world hates God. The Bible says we suppress the truth and unrighteousness in Romans chapter 1.

It says God gives us over to a debased mind. And what happens when God gives someone over to a debased mind? By the way, Romans 1 is the parallel passage here because Romans 1, when it talks about God, gave them up to a debased mind.

That's another way of saying God hardened their hearts. And when he gave them up to a debased mind to do what was unnatural within themselves, the women leaving their men and craving the lust of another woman and men leaving their wives and lusting after men.

We see that happening. And then you see that list of sins and what is contained in the list of sins at the bottom of Romans chapter one. Idolatry, fornication, hatred of God and gossip, by the way, is right next to haters of God.

Just want to throw that out there because people often think gossip isn't that big a deal. But when it's right next to hatred of God in the list, you might want to remember that. So anyhow, the point of the matter is he says to Pharaoh or he says to Moses, rather, for this very purpose, I raised you up that my power, my might, that I might be shown my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

So then he has mercy on whom he wills and he hardens whom he wills. Beloved, that is God's prerogative. He can harden whom he wills. It's hard to accept because in some ways that does rob us of what we have been promised and that is some sort of autonomy in our will.

But beloved, let me say this. God has never given any man anything in his heart that was evil, that wasn't already there. God has never introduced evil into the heart of man. Verse 19, this is the second question Paul asks, you will say to me, then why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will? Again, we have the anticipation of the question which flows naturally from a reformed interpretation, if in fact we were misreading Paul's words, that his use of Pharaoh was to show that he had hardened himself, as some people say.

Well, Pharaoh hardened himself. Then this question would not be appropriate. If Pharaoh had simply hardened himself and God had nothing to do with the hardening, then the next question you will say to me, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?

That question does not lead from our many an understanding of Romans nine. That question does not lead from a free will perspective of Romans chapter nine. That question leads from a reformed perspective, which tells us we're on the right track.

The question is this. If it is God who hardens by his own choice, why then does he still hold people responsible? And beloved, that is a hard question. If God is the one who has the prerogative to harden whom he wills, why then does he still find man responsible?

Menunge ha-anthropo, on the contrary, oh man, who are you? To answer back to God. That's Paul's answer. Literally, it begins with the phrase, oh, man, the phrase, the first word is Menunge, and that is the word for on the contrary.

Now, in your Bible, it's going to it's going to say it's going to say, but who are you? Oh, man. That actually the word there, Menunge, is on the contrary, oh, man, it's o-anthropo. And then he says, who are you, old man, to answer back to God?

Who are you? You might say, well, I'm I'm Keith Foskey. I got every right to ask God questions. I got every right to go to the throne of God and say, God, why did you do that? I want to remind you of a little guy named Isaiah.

I don't know if he's little or not. I wouldn't say that, but he was a man in Isaiah chapter six. He had an opportunity to stand before God and you know what he did? He said to God, God, you really haven't done this right.

God, you haven't really you haven't really convinced me that you exist. You haven't really convinced me of this whole righteousness thing. I'm not really convinced that you're the one who gets to decide on who marries whom and what kind of things happen and whether men and women should do what they should do and whether there's a place for womanhood and a place for manhood and whether or not we should be able to allow to do abortions.

And God, you really haven't convinced me that we should have a church that has rules and church discipline. And you haven't really convinced me that we're supposed to have a male eldership. And God, you haven't convinced me that the deacons are supposed to behave a certain way and that pastors are supposed to behave a certain way.

God, you really haven't done that. No, what Isaiah did was he put his hand over his mouth and he said, woe is me, for I am a man of unclean and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Woe in the vernacular is a statement of judgment.