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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, when we understand the text?
You are listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website www .wwutt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky.
Here we are again at Romans chapter 9. If you want to open up your Bibles and join with me there, I finished up yesterday in verse 13, as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Paul quoting the first couple of verses in the book of Malachi there.
And I mentioned that Esau I hated is not the shocking statement. It's Jacob I loved that's the shocking statement. Because if we have understood anything about the Bible all the way up to this point, it is that God hates sin.
We see that from Genesis chapter 3, that Adam and Eve's sin against God, disobeying His command not to eat of the forbidden fruit, that it sent all of the universe into upheaval. None of creation was cursed until Adam and Eve sinned.
Death came into the picture at that point. I quoted from Psalm 5 yesterday that God hates those who do sin. In Psalm 711, it says, God is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day. When we read that in the King James, it says that God is pouring out His wrath every day.
We've read in Romans chapter 2 that God is storing up His wrath for the day of judgment. In Romans chapter 3, all are unrighteous. No one does good, not even one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
God is so good and He is so righteous and holy that He cannot tolerate sin. Paul Washer has said the most frightening news is that God is good. Why is that frightening news? Because you're not. So now what?
God is so good, He is so righteous and so holy that He can't even stand in the place of sinners. Or as it says in Habakkuk 113, He won't even look upon sinners. His eyes are so holy, He won't even look at us in that state.
So what hope is there for us? Well, God loves us so much, He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. See, that's another indication of how serious sin is. The only way it could be paid for was by the blood of the perfect Son of God.
Do we look at the cross and understand the magnificent price that needed to be paid for our sin and that only Christ could pay it? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, left His throne in heaven, came down to earth, took on flesh as a man, lived a perfect life, lived the perfect life that we couldn't live, and died the death that we were supposed to die.
And His death upon the cross paid for our sins. The blood of that perfect and spotless Lamb was the atonement for our sins and it says that He absorbed the wrath of God there upon the cross. As we read in Isaiah 53, it pleased God to crush Him.
God was satisfied by the sacrifice and showed that He had received the sacrifice by bringing Christ back again from the grave so that all who are in Christ Jesus not only have their sins forgiven, but we are given Christ's eternal life.
Our sin is so serious it required the sacrifice of the Son of God for forgiveness, but we have that through Jesus Christ our Lord. Those who are not in Christ are still under the wrath of God. John 3 .36, he who has the Son has life.
He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Why? Because God hates sin. And because of the fallenness of man, we all walk in sin until the intervention of Christ and the Holy Spirit that brings us from darkness into His marvelous light.
So it should not be shocking to us if we have read the Bible up to this point and understood God's attitude about sin. It should not be shocking to us to read Esau I hated. What should be shocking to us is Jacob I loved and we would praise God and rejoice in the Lord for that statement that He did not leave us to die in our sins, but sent His Son to be that atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God loved through His Son, Jesus Christ. We tend to just think of 1 John 4, God is love and that's the attribute that we stick on God and exclude any concept of His holiness, His perfect justice, His righteousness and His wrath.
We think of love and wrath as being opposites, but I tell you that God's love, His grace, His love and His mercy that He shows toward us cannot be understood if we do not understand God's wrath, His disposition toward our sin.
Praise God that He loves us though we have done nothing to deserve God's love. In our blasphemy and in our rebellion, what we deserve is His wrath. But by His grace and His mercy, He has poured out His love upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And Paul talks about that here in Romans chapter 9, I'm going to be jumping ahead here but I think it's necessary to read this point to kind of go with my train of thought. In verse 22, what if God desiring to show His wrath and 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.
Let's come back to verse 14 and we'll go on from there and we'll get to those verses here. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? So here Paul comes to another one of those signposts in Romans chapter 9, which I talked about yesterday, where he's responding to one of the arguments that a person would make against this doctrine of election that God has or that Paul has presented.
God has presented it through the Apostle Paul. Paul says that this is done in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of Him who calls, which we read in verse 11.
So what shall we say then? If God is choosing Isaac and bringing to life where life was not possible, if He's choosing Jacob over Esau, though neither one had been born and had made any decision good or bad, is there injustice then on God's part?
Is it unjust for Him to pick this person but exclude that person? And Paul says, by no means. In Greek, it's the phrase mygenoita. It is the strongest phrase of opposition that Paul could present. No, is what he's saying.
No, no, no, no. God is just. For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. That's from Exodus 33. I had mentioned that last week on Thursday.
Verse 16, 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 I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Verse 18, so then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. We read in Joshua chapter 11 as Joshua and the Israelites are going through the land of Canaan, destroying their enemies and taking the land that God had promised to them.
Joshua took all that land, the hill country and all the Negev and all the land of Goshen and the low land and the Ereba and the hill country of Israel and its low land from Mount Halak, which rises towards Seir as far as Baal God in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.
And he captured all their kings and struck them down and put them to death. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon.
They took them all in battle for it was the Lord's doing. This is Joshua 1120 for it was the Lord's doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed just as the Lord commanded Moses.
And as God had spoken to his people Israel through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, he said to them, don't think that you are taking this country because of anything that you have done. It is rather because the people who are there are so evil that I am going to destroy them and you are going to be the instrument that I'm going to use to destroy this people.
So it is not because of anything great that you have done, but because of their sin that they're being driven off the land and it is being given to you. And that is something that that I fear is happening to the United States of America, that we are falling into so much great evil that God would indeed drive us off of this land and give it to our enemies.
If we are to be sustained as a people, it won't be because of any righteous thing that we have done, but because of a revival that sweeps through this land by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is only by God's grace and mercy that we would be spared the wrath that we deserve for the horrible, heinous evils that are happening right now.
I mean, you're looking at issues like abortion and porn and transgender issues and same-sex marriage and on and on it goes. I mean, the Bible very clearly states that those who are in these sins will not inherit the kingdom of God.
It is only through Christ and His righteousness that we can be forgiven of these sins and receive eternal life. So I pray that the heart of this nation is not yet hardened to repent of its sins and turn back toward the Lord.
The church needs to do this, especially first. If there is any sort of revival that is going to sweep across this land, it absolutely will not happen until our churches start repenting and seeking the Lord and preaching the truth of the scriptures instead of trying to pander to everybody in the culture.
The Lord will harden the hearts of His enemies and turn them over to the sword, just as we see this in Joshua chapter 11. He has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. Now when Paul's talking about this in Romans 9 18, he's saying this in light of what happened with Pharaoh and God's purpose with Pharaoh, that he would raise him up so that God would show his power in him, that his name might be proclaimed in all the earth, raising him up, meaning making him king over Egypt so that he would defy God and God's miracles would be shown about Egypt, delivering his people from slavery at the hands of a pagan people.
And so there's much that can be said here about Pharaoh's hardened heart. You know, people saying, did God harden his heart? Did Pharaoh harden his own heart? And on and on it goes. We're going to look at this more tomorrow and Thursday with the direction that I'm planning on taking here with Romans chapter 9.
We'll talk about that a little bit more. So hang tight. For now, I want to keep moving so we can get through the rest of this section. Verse 19, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?
But who are you? Oh man, to answer back to God. So we have another signpost here where Paul is raising up yet another argument against the doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of election. You will say to me, why does God still find fault?
So if he has predestined all of this, if he's the one that predestined Pharaoh to be a king of Egypt to defy God so that God's power would be seen throughout Egypt, then who can resist his will? Who could decide to do anything different?
But then Paul says in verse 20, but who are you to answer back to God? I mean, who are you to say this to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God desiring to show his wrath and make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
Even us whom he has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. That paragraph there verses 19 through 24 really lays it out quite plainly that God has predestined certain vessels for wrath and destruction, and he has predestined certain vessels for mercy and righteousness and love and grace.
And he's done this to show the full range of his power and his glory. If God was just saving everybody, if it was universalism and everybody by default was just going to get to go to heaven, God's full range of his power and glory is not being displayed.
There is no understanding of God's wrath, but it is through those that he has prepared for dishonorable use that he shows even his wrath to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
Again, as I read yesterday in Ephesians chapter one, this is all for the praise of his glorious grace. This is all the work of God. It is not by any work that we have done, but what God has done. And again, I must reiterate and state again, as I did yesterday, this in no way relieves you from any responsibility for your actions.
You still have a responsibility to hear the word of God and respond to it. In no way should we be reading this going, okay, well, it's all fatalism, right? It's all been predestined and predetermined and I don't have to do anything.
That's not what is being said here. You're missing the whole picture when you read only chapter nine at the exclusion of chapters 10 and 11, because Paul will go on in chapter 10 to say that it has been called upon us to take the message of God to the world.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news of the gospel of peace, which we read in chapter 10. Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ, which is Romans 10, 17, a verse that I quote constantly to my congregation so that they understand the importance of taking the gospel to a lost world.
Those who are not in Christ won't come to Christ until they hear the gospel. It is not simply enough to preach by our actions. Our actions merely verify the message that we carry. I can tell that you are a follower of Christ because you do the things that he said to do, but our actions themselves do not preach the gospel.
We must preach the gospel with our mouths, proclaiming this gospel to the world. That is still a part of God's divine plan that he has predestined for his church, that they would receive the gospel of Christ and carry the gospel of Christ to the world.
A pillar and a buttress of the truth, as is described to Timothy. We go on in verse 25, as indeed he says in Hosea, those who were not my people, I will call my people. So once we were not a people, but now we are a people.
Peter talks about that. First Peter chapter two, and her who was not beloved, I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people. They will be called sons of the living God.
And Paul is quoting from the Old Testament, as he says in verse 25, as indeed he says in Hosea. We've read from Hosea 2, 23 and 1, 10, the two references that Paul has drawn out here. And then he quotes the prophet Isaiah in verse 27.
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 will be saved for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.
And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts has not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. So this is going back to verse six, where Paul says, it is not as though the word of God has failed for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.
The critics of the gospel have said, well, look at this. I mean, God has delivered his people out and they're not even believing in Christ. So by the gospel that you're preaching, a gospel that means that we can only be saved through Jesus Christ and not by works, then these people are, I mean, God's plan has failed because all the people of Israel are going to perish.
But Paul says here there will be a remnant. So a remnant of Israel does believe in Christ, Paul being one of them, because he is an Israelite. And if God had not raised up for them offspring, they would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.
But the promise is being fulfilled through Israel. Paul is pointing out the promise that God had set forth through his people is still being accomplished. Through the people came Christ, came the oracles of God, came the prophets, all of these things that had been prophesied and were fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
And as we also read in the Old Testament, how not only Jews would cry out to the Lord, but also the pagans and the Gentiles would come to know the Lord also. Now, the Israelites didn't understand how this was going to happen.
They thought that God was going to make Israel a great empire again, and then all the people who respected that empire would therefore be blessed. Those who curse you will be cursed. Those who bless you will be blessed, as said to Abraham.
So that's how they thought a salvation for the Gentiles was going to occur, is because that they were on the side of the empire of Israel. So when Jesus came about, they were looking for this Messiah who was going to become like King David and ascend again to the throne and turn Israel into some kind of empire.
But that wasn't the plan of God. So prior to the cross, people didn't understand how this was supposed to be accomplished for the people of God to receive salvation and this eternal kingdom. And then on the other side of the cross, we're able to look at this and understand the mysteries that were before have since been revealed to the children of God.
Paul talks about this in Ephesians chapter three, when Paul says, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit.
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. That's Ephesians chapter three, verses four through six. So again, as these things had been prophesied, even in the Old Testament, which we've read some of that here from Hosea and from Isaiah, they did not know how this was going to come about until now we are on this side of the cross with the blessing of the Holy Spirit and able to look in the holy scriptures and see how God was fulfilling his promise all along through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The promised children of God would not be an ethnic people, but would be a spiritual people. Amen. Praise the Lord. This was predestined by God from the foundation of the world. So delight in the Lord for the salvation that you have for you did not choose it, but God chose you.
In Psalm 71, we read the following for you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth upon you, I have leaned from before my birth. You are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you and skipping ahead to verse 17, O God, from my youth, you have taught me and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. This psalm was sung by Israel, thanking God for making them elect.
Many of the psalms were corporate songs that were sung by an assembly of the Israelites together. One of the things that this psalm expresses, Psalm 71 is thanks to God for being born in the bloodline of Abraham, the covenant people of God and recipients of his blessed promises.
Now if you're a follower of Jesus, believe it or not, you're part of that bloodline today. Jesus is a descendant of Abraham and it is by his blood that we have become the children of God, adopted sons and daughters of God.
So it is no longer those who are genetically born of Abraham who are of the covenant, but those who are spiritually born again in Christ. As we read in Galatians 3 29, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
This psalm is so deep in its theology because the person singing it meant to trace God's work in their lives all the way back to their very beginnings before they even existed and consider that their faith began before they could even speak it.
Why? How is that even possible? Because God had predestined it to the praise of his glorious grace. So praise God for your salvation. Also understand that when you are preaching the gospel to somebody else, the spirit is at work to change their hearts and minds.
You don't save anybody. The spirit is the one who saves. We need to be careful about, you know, when we get into theological debates and arguments, we need to be careful about trying to get blood on our theological sword, you know, jabbing a person with a particular argument and then going, ha ha, I gotcha.
That's not the point. The point is not to win an argument. We simply need to present the gospel soundly and faithfully as we have called to so that that gospel will work on their hearts and minds and not feel like that we need to skewer the person right now in the argument and force them into making a decision right there on the spot, but rather let the message of the gospel work on their hearts and minds and the spirit will continue to do that work in them.
I think it's great for us to do follow up and come back to that person and say, hey, have you given any more consideration of the things that we talked about yesterday? But there is a time and a place where we give that person just enough to think about and not feel like that.
We need to skewer them and seal the deal right there on the spot because that's not our decision to make. We're just in communications. God is the one who is in sales. I'm drawing that from, uh, from Vody Bokom.
So anyway, let us be faithful to the gospel message and preach it accurately and the spirit will do his work. We don't know who the elect are. God knows who the elect are. You know that you are elect because you have repented of your sins and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and by by grace through faith, are you saved?
And so let us be faithful to the Lord our God and his promises, praising him for the blessedness that we have received through Jesus Christ, our Lord, not by any work that we have done, but because of what God has done.
We're going to come back to this again tomorrow and approach Romans chapter nine in a little bit different way. And again, I will explain how we're going to do that tomorrow. Our Lord God, I thank you so much for this text and I thank you for Psalms like Psalm 71, the scriptures that we read in Hosea chapters one and two, uh, the prophecies from Isaiah that we could see God's sovereign plan of election at work long before we were even born so that we might give praise to you for your grace and your mercy upon us, calling us to yourself before we could make a decision, good or bad Lord, keep us fixed upon your scriptures and your word and help us to know that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, our Lord forgiveness of sins comes only through Christ so that we might repent of our sins, receive that grace and eternal life.
It is in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.
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