WWUTT 171 God's Purpose of Election?

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God's purpose of election continues, not because of our works, not because of anything that we have done, not because of any choice that we have made, but because of God who purposes and calls according to His will when we understand the text.
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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.
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Visit our website at www .wutt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
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Thank you, Becky. All right, here we go, Romans chapter nine. If you want to open up your
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Bibles and join with me there. If you hear a lot of crackling in the background or maybe even a rumble come across the microphone,
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I'm recording this during a thunderstorm. So hopefully the power will stay on and I won't have to rerecord any of this.
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Here's what I would like to do over the next couple of days. Well, at least today and tomorrow, we're just going to exegete
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Romans chapter nine. I know two days on one of the most controversial chapters in the
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Bible. Well, then when we get to Wednesday, I'm going to approach this from a little bit different way. And instead of saying now what
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I'm planning on doing, we'll just wait until we get there and then I'll explain it. So let's go back and cover the verses that we looked at on Thursday and then keep going from there.
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I'm going to read through at least verse 29. So Romans chapter nine, starting in verse one,
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I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the
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Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.
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They are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises.
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To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is
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God overall, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed.
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For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.
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But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
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For this is what the promise said about this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son.
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And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather
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Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
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She was told the older will serve the younger as it is written, Jacob, I have loved, but Esau, I hated.
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What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part 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. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy for the scripture says to Pharaoh for this very purpose,
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I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
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So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills.
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You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will? But who are you,
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O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this?
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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?
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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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Even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but from the Gentiles.
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As indeed he says in Hosea, those who were not my people, I will call my people and her who was not beloved,
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I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people.
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There they will be called sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them shall be saved.
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For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And as Isaiah predicted, if the
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Lord of hosts has not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.
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Now, I want to say on the outset of this here that I am not the final voice on Romans chapter nine, especially not the first.
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There are men who are much more knowledgeable than I, who have exegeted this passage, and I have learned from them.
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In fact, I would say one of the best, shortest and concise expositions of Romans nine that I have ever heard.
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And I'm talking short, not like sermon after sermon after sermon, but 20 minutes, I think is all it is, was presented by Dr.
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James White in his debate with Leighton Flowers from a couple of years ago. So you can look that up on YouTube. It's great.
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And that's coming from a guy who's got way more credentials than I have. Somebody who's way more learned and has more expertise in the scriptures,
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Dr. James White and Leighton Flowers debates on YouTube. What we have here in Romans nine is
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Paul presenting various signposts where he is addressing an argument that has been raised against this doctrine of election that he is presenting.
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For example, in verse 14, we read, what shall we say then? Is there any injustice on God's part?
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By no means. And then we see in verse 19, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?
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All right. And the thing about these arguments that Paul presents hypothetically and then responds to now, these are all arguments that he has heard before.
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And so in case there is any in this church who would be making the same arguments or perhaps they would encounter people in Rome as they spread the gospel, who would make these same arguments.
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Paul is going ahead and addressing the argument. And so it's kind of like he's presenting the argument to present this case of the doctrine of election as he presents it.
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The thing about this is that these are still the same arguments, the same ones that I hear from opponents of this doctrine even today or the people that would be just like outright anti Calvinist, which is what
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Leighton Flowers, whom Dr. White debated, is one of them. His whole one string song is just to be against Calvinism.
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It's what his what what his entire ministry is based on. And the same arguments that are brought up by those who are opposed to this viewpoint are the very same arguments that Paul addresses here in Romans chapter nine.
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They're really no different. And Dr. White, in that debate with Mr. Flowers, says that if you are identifying with the hypothetical question that Paul is presenting here, then you're on the wrong side.
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You're going against the apostle Paul and you don't want to be there. So it's a wonderful guide that we have that kind of helps organize these thoughts and the presentation of this doctrine of election that we have here in Romans chapter nine.
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It begins in verse six. It's not as though the word of God has failed because that is a response to an argument.
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Well, it sounds like God's word is failed because the people that he called out of Egypt, most of them don't even believe in Christ.
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So his word must have failed. And so Paul responds to that. Then you have in verse 14, is there any injustice on God's part?
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And then you have in verse 19, you will say to me, then why does he still find fault?
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And then Paul kind of wraps it up in verse 30 when he says, what shall we say then? So let's go back to verse six.
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We're looking at verses one through five, primarily last week. Let's come back to verse six. But it is not as though the word of God has failed.
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So, again, Paul is addressing the opponents who are saying, well, God's word failed. Most of Israel does not believe in Christ as savior.
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And so here you're presenting this man who claimed to be God, who died on a cross, who got buried in a tomb, and he came back again from the grave to fulfill
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God's purpose of election. And yet Israel, who was the elect people, don't even follow him.
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But Paul is responding, but not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. So those who are the children of the promise aren't those who came from the ethnic line of Israel, the descendants of the flesh of Abraham.
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Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
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This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
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So how can you know if you are elect? Repent of your sins and believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That is how you know that you are elect.
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That's how you know that you are the children, among the children of the promise. If you believe in Christ as Savior.
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For this is what the promise said. Paul goes on in verse 9, about this time next year,
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I shall return and Sarah will have a son. And he's quoting from the story in Genesis chapter 18, where the
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Lord met Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre and Abraham was serving him. And God said, where is
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Sarah, your wife? And he said, she is in the tent. And so the Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time next year.
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And Sarah, your wife shall have a son. And Sarah was listening and she laughed because she was well beyond childbearing years.
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So it was ridiculous to her, this promise that she was going to have a child.
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Sarah laughed to herself and said, am I after I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure?
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And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old? Is anything too hard for the
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Lord at the appointed time? I will return to you about this time next year and Sarah shall have a son.
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But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh for she was afraid. He said, no, but you did laugh.
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And then, of course, when they did have that child, they named him Isaac, which meant laughter because when they previously laughed at the idea that Sarah was going to have a child, that laughter, which was out of ridiculousness, was changed to a laughter of joy.
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And so they named Isaac accordingly because of that. So this is the promise that God gave to Abraham and Sarah, where they were incapable, physically unable to have children.
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It was God by his power and his sovereignty that brought life where life previously could not be.
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And so it was by God's ordination that Isaac would be born and it would be from him that would come the children of the promise.
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Now, this is in contrast with Ishmael, who was the illegitimate son of Abraham, whom he had with Hagar, Sarah's maidservant.
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The Lord saying to Abraham, it is not with Hagar that you were meant to have this child that I have promised you.
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The one that will from from this child will come your descendants. But it is specifically with Sarah.
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So Isaac is the it's from Isaac in particular, came the children of the promise.
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Because remember, not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. If all were children of Abraham, then even the descendants of Ishmael would be considered the children of Abraham.
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But they are not the ones that received the promise of God. It is those who were descended specifically from Isaac.
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And then verse 10, not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather
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Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
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And before I go on, I want to say that that passage really is the linchpin in this doctrine of election that Paul is presenting here in Romans chapter nine.
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It is not because of works, but because of him who calls.
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God is the one who purposes who will be saved and who will not.
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And we read this in multiple places in the scriptures. In fact, one of our most popular what videos starts with Ephesians chapter one verses four through six, where we read that he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.
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In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
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Before the foundations of the world were laid, the Lord had predestined those who would be saved and those who would be the objects of his wrath.
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This is not for contestation. It is simply what the Bible says. Revelation 13, eight.
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We read the following. All who dwell on the earth will worship the beast. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain.
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Your name was written in that book before the foundations of the earth were named.
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Now, now, hold on tight here, because don't just click off and then and then go, well, you're espousing a doctrine
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I don't agree with. So I'm not listening to this program anymore. If you've been listening to what for any measure of time, you should have already known this was where I was at.
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But anyway, you have to hear the whole thing, because as I said last week,
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Romans nine, ten and eleven all go together. You can't just listen to a person's exposition of Romans chapter nine and determine whether or not they are sound in their in their doctrine, in their understanding, because you are gauging passages in Romans nine a certain way.
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You have to hear this in the context with ten and eleven that follow it as well. All of these things kept together in a continued strain of thought and a continued theme that Paul is presenting here.
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So you've got to absorb all of this at once and understand that the Roman Christians that were hearing this being presented, they're hearing this letter being read all at once.
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So it wasn't sermon after sermon, after sermon on Romans chapter nine. It was a law, a letter that had been written by Paul that was being presented to the entire church, and they're sitting and listening to the whole thing.
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So the best way to grab all of this in context is to be in this word and read it all together, read it again and read it again and read it again.
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And then once you have gotten used to what it says and you're pretty adept at being able to reference what happens in what section and what scripture, then listen to those who are exposing the scriptures and giving you an explanation verse by verse as to what is being said.
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So I brought up the word Calvinism earlier because of those who would present themselves as being anti -Calvinist.
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They're against any concept of predestination. I have never called myself a Calvinist. Now that's not to say that I disagree with Calvinism.
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I believe as Spurgeon did, that Calvinism is just a nickname for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the doctrines of grace.
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I've just not found any use for me in particular to label myself a
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Calvinist, not looking down on anyone who does. Most of the teachers that I greatly respect would call themselves
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Calvinists. But though I don't call myself that, there are people who have labeled me that because it's easier for them to dismiss what
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I teach. Oh, well, you're a Calvinist, so I'm not going to listen to you. Yeah, their hearts are set against any mention or understanding of predestination, of God having chosen before the foundation of the world, those who would be saved and those who would be the objects of his wrath, which he talks about here in Romans chapter nine.
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And so you got to stick with this, okay? You got to hold tight and listen to all that is being presented because the doctrine of predestination does not mean that we should not be evangelizing to people.
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Well, if God has already decided who's going to be saved and who's not, then there's no reason for us to go evangelize with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Well, Paul says clearly in Romans 10, that is our assignment. And if you are in Christ and you are part of his church, then he has charged you with carrying the gospel to the nations.
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As Spurgeon has said, if you don't desire men to be saved, then you yourself are not saved.
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You can be sure of that. So this doctrine does not in any way tell people that they should not be going out and evangelizing.
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If we are in Christ, we are part of the divine plan, the assignment that has now been given to the people of God to be carriers of the gospel, to be his ambassadors, to be disciples, taking up a cross daily and following after him.
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It means taking the good news of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins, who absorbed the wrath of God, and only through him might we be saved, taking that message to the world.
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Paul says in Romans 10, 17, that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
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The church is the instrument that God has chosen to be the carriers of that message.
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A pillar and a buttress of the truth is how Paul describes the church to his understudy
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Timothy. So there is still very much a calling for us to be presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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This is not a doctrine that we logically switch off in our minds and go, well, this just doesn't logically play out.
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Okay, well, 1 Corinthians 1 says that God has made foolish the wisdom of this world.
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And so we need to hold fast to what the scriptures say, not what we want to reason out in our minds as being the most reasonable explanation according to what we want it to say.
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So sticking with Romans 9 here, and again, we come back, I've rabbit trailed a little bit.
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You might call that a rant if you like. I just had an instance this past January where somebody sat in my church and heard me give an explanation of something in Romans chapter 9, and they left and never came back.
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And it didn't even ask a single question. And they had already even pledged themselves as members.
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But once they heard that I was on the side of predestination, they were like, we're out of here. And then just hightailed it out of our church.
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Folks, that is wrong. It is setting yourself against what the Bible says. And like I said earlier, if you find yourself sympathizing with the argument, is there any injustice on God's part?
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Well, it's unjust for God to choose before the foundation of the world who will be saved. You will say to me, then why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?
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Well, we don't really have a choice because it's according to the will of God. OK, if you're making those arguments, then you're siding with the person who is arguing against the apostle
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Paul. And if that's where you are, you're on the wrong side. We have to study the scriptures and be submissive to the authority of the apostles teaching.
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So we come back here to verse 11, where Paul says, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
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She was told the older will serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob, I loved, but Esau, I hated.
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So, again, stating this again, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
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Because remember, Jacob and Esau had not yet been born and had done nothing either good or bad.
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And yet the Lord had said, verse 13, Jacob, I loved, but Esau, I hated.
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It was already predestined and predetermined that it was through Jacob that the children of the promise would come.
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Now, here is the sensational thing about verse 13. Oftentimes when it gets quoted,
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Jacob, I loved, but Esau, I hated. We think Esau, I hated is the outrageous verse.
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That's the shocking statement. God hating anybody. Oh, no, Esau, I hated is not the shocking statement.
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Jacob, I loved. That's the shocking statement. We read in the
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Psalms that God is a righteous judge, a God that feels indignation every day. In fact, we read in Psalm 5, you are not a
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God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes.
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You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies.
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The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful men. And if we understand the scriptures properly, as we have already read in Romans 3, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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All are worthless. There is none who does good, none who does righteous, not even one.
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So it is not shocking to us to read that Esau, I hated. What is shocking is
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Jacob, I loved. Jacob was no better person than Esau.
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Jacob was a scumbag. He lied and cheated his way to the success that he had.
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There was nothing that Jacob said or did that made him any better than Esau.
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And yet God called Jacob and it was his purpose of election that would continue through Jacob.
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Jacob was chosen, Esau was excluded before either one of them had been born and could make a decision good or bad.
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This is God's sovereignty and it is not up for us to say that God is unjust, which is the next statement we're going to address when we come back to this tomorrow in verse 14.
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Is there any injustice on God's part? Nor is it for us to be able to say that, well, we don't have free will then because God has already decided who's going to be saved and who's who's not and who can resist his will, which are the next two arguments coming up, verses 14 and verse 19.
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It is not for us to determine these things. God is sovereign. It is his plan of election that he had determined before the foundation of the world.
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We read clearly in the scriptures that we are going to be held accountable for the choices that we make.
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God is going to judge us according to whether or not we were in Christ and we lived righteously according to the commands of his son.
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If we loved his son and we understood that righteousness did not come by any work of ours, but only by the work of Christ on the cross.
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Did we understand that or were we following the prince of the power of the air who is Satan? We're either children of God or we're children of the devil adopted through Christ Jesus into God's kingdom or we are continuing to walk as sons of disobedience as all of the rest of the world is who is not in Christ Jesus as is described in Ephesians chapter two.
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We will be judged according to our works. The scripture is clear on that point, but the righteousness that we have does not come from us.
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It comes from the work of Christ. So are we getting into heaven because our works were a reflection of the righteousness that we had received in Christ Jesus or was it by our own merit and we were doing the works of the devil instead?
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So you have heard the word of God and you have to obey it. You are going to be held accountable for that.
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Charles Spurgeon has said, I've quoted Spurgeon twice already. I'm going to pull one up for you again. He said,
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I believe that nothing happens apart from divine determination and decree. We shall never be able to escape from the doctrine of divine predestination.
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The doctrine that God has foreordained certain people unto eternal life. Spurgeon has also said, if I read in one part of the scriptures that God has foreordained something, that is true.
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And if I read in another part of the scriptures that I am held accountable for my actions, that is also true.
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And it is only my folly that finds any contention between those two ideas.
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Has God predestined? Yes. Are you still held accountable for your actions? Yes. So hear the word of the
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Lord and obey it. We'll come back to this again tomorrow, beginning in verse 14.
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God, as we have read your scriptures today, help us to understand your word. And we can only do that by the guidance of the
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Holy Spirit. Help us to be patient with these scriptures. There are things here that we need to understand are divine and are seen from an eternal perspective that we're just not meant to understand yet.
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But as you have given to us in your word in first Corinthians 13, now we see as though through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face and we shall know just as we are fully known.
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We can't fully understand these things from the eternal perspective right now. You know who is elect.
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So let us place our trust in you and live in obedience to the command to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations, teaching all that you have commanded, baptizing in the name of the
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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And it is in the name of God that we pray. Amen.
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Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt