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Reading Romans 9:21, where Paul uses the analogy that we are clay in the hands of the pottery, a reference that comes from several places in the Old Testament. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Romans 9 21 says, 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? This is not an analogy Paul has come up with, it's in the Old Testament, when we understand the text.
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Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of Romans chapter 9 and reading the section that we left off with last week, I'm going to start in verse 19 through 24. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, You will say to me then, why does he still find fault?
For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory?
Even us, whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. I mentioned last week when we started looking at this section that this was really the portion of scripture that helped me to understand the doctrine of God's sovereign election.
Now I worded it that way. I didn't exactly explain what it was that I meant. When I was raised, I was not taught doctrine in the sense that I understood theological terms. Like my dad didn't teach me systematic theology or anything out of some sort of theology textbook.
So I didn't learn the terminology. In fact, even when I became a pastor, I was very poor in understanding that terminology since I had not gone to seminary. I didn't learn church history. I didn't learn languages.
So there were things like that I had to sort of catch up on, even as I was teaching the word of God to the church that I was a pastor over. And so it was learning these doctrinal terms that I had to apply them to what I already understood biblically.
So like the doctrine of God's sovereign election, which is also called Calvinism or monergism. I didn't understand those terms before. Calvinism to me, when I was being raised, I was taught that Calvinism was the idea that God had already decided whom he was going to save.
So there was no reason to go out and evangelize anybody. Now that's what I was taught about Calvinism. But I was taught about God, that he has chosen from before the foundation of the world whom he will save and whom he will not save from sinful man and therefore has reserved for destruction.
I was taught that because I was taught the scriptures. Now, as I've just explained that to you, you go, well, that's Calvinism, right? And that's especially what critics of that doctrine will call it.
They will say, well, that's Calvinism. That was what Calvin came up with. But I believe, as I said last week, before it was Calvinism, it was it was called what Luther taught. It was called monergism or it was called Augustinianism because it was the doctrine of Augustine.
And before Augustine talked about God's sovereign election, it was called Paulinism because they attributed it to the apostle Paul. But we've seen throughout our study of Romans nine here that Paul has even gone back to Old Testament examples that we may understand this is not even a new doctrine that has come about since Christ.
It has been all throughout the scriptures that God has chosen for himself a remnant. He chooses from sinful man whom he is going to save. And he chose from every nation on earth, Israel, to redeem for himself.
He said to Abraham, all other men on earth, he called a man named Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans and said to him, with you, I am going to make a great nation. Many nations will come from you. Many kings will come from you.
Whoever blesses you, I will bless. Whoever curses you, I will curse. And as we understand from Galatians three, even we who are in Christ are children of Abraham. So God calls Abraham, he calls Isaac and Jacob.
And from Jacob comes the twelve tribes. We have the entire nation of Israel that is there in Egypt. Egypt enslaves them. Pharaoh, who did not remember Joseph, who rescued the Israelites and brought his father and everybody down to Egypt.
They multiplied and became great. But then as Exodus begins, another Pharaoh became king who did not remember Joseph and they enslaved the people of Israel. But God remembered the covenant that he made with Abraham to make Israel a great nation and to give them the land of Canaan.
That was going to be their inheritance. That's what he that's what he had promised Abraham. And God, faithful to himself, was going to give this inheritance to his descendants. But God had not just chosen Israel to redeem.
He had also chosen Pharaoh and Egypt to destroy. Remember what we had read last week in verses 16 through 18. 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 may may be proclaimed in all the earth.
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. When you go to Exodus chapter seven, I'm going to read this from the New American Standard Bible because I like the way this translation words a little a little bit better.
Here's what you read in Exodus seven verses one through seven. The Lord said to Moses, see, I make you as God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.
But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people, the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt by great judgments.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst. So Moses and Aaron did it as the Lord commanded them. Thus they did. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron, 83, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
So, you know, these were not mighty men. These were old men in their age who were listening to God and doing as he had said. But notice again, the wording of that here, verse three, God says, I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
He hardens Pharaoh's heart so he can show his power. That's why God does this. He does it to the honor of his name. Verse four, when Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people, the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt by great judgments.
The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst. Not Israel will know, although Israel will certainly know. But in this particular instance, when God is speaking to Moses, he says Egypt will know.
Egypt was not redeemed. They faced great judgments. And when God did bring the Israelites out of Egypt, he said to them in the wilderness, if you will obey me and walk in my statutes, then I will not bring on you the plagues that I brought on Egypt.
Egypt certainly knew that the God of Israel is the Lord God, creator of all. They certainly knew that. This was God demonstrating himself to them, but they were not redeemed. Egypt was not the saved nation.
Israel was the saved nation. And so we have again here in Romans chapter nine, 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 among those redeemed and among those judged.
God does this for the praise of his name. He has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. And again, I came to understand this at a very young age, though I did not know the names of doctrines.
I knew what the scripture says, but it was this section in particular that really helped me to understand, that really showed me what it meant that God chose for himself whom he would save and he hardens whom he would not save and thus turns over to destruction.
And here we have in verse 19, you will say to me, then here's the argument. I hear this argument a lot, by the way, even though it's in scripture, they don't learn from the fact that Paul is responding to the argument.
Why does God still find fault for who can resist his will? So the argument usually goes like this. If you believe in Calvinism, monergism, if you believe in the doctrine of God's sovereign election, then the argument that often comes at you is, well, then we're all robots, right?
We're all just automatons or we're all chess pieces on the board of chess and God is just kind of moving us around wherever he wants. So we don't even have any choice in the matter where we're just robots and nothing matters at all because God has already decided.
We're little puppets. We're little marionettes. God is the one pulling the strings, okay? When a person makes that argument, they're saying exactly the argument that Paul is saying here anticipating the person who would argue with him.
You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will? Who can resist? If God has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills, then who can resist his will?
Like why are you even speaking to us, Paul? I can't make up my mind one way or the other because God has already made up my mind for me, apparently. And then what's the response to that? Verse 20. But who are you?
Oh man, to answer back to God, nobody's going to be able to stand there on the day of judgment and point at God and say, well, this was all you and not of me. As I pointed out last week, we are all going to be held accountable for our actions.
It is God who works in you to will and to work for his good pleasure. That's Philippians 2, 13. But as it says in the verse right before it, verse 12, it says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
So you are being told in two verses back to back, you must work out your own salvation. And it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. You must respond to this instruction and continue to grow in sanctification, but it's ultimately God that does it.
Charles Spurgeon once said this, if I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is foreordained, that is true. And if I find in another scripture that man is responsible for all 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. Spurgeon also said this, there are two great truths from which from this platform I have proclaimed for many years.
The first is that salvation is free to every man who will have it. The second is that God gives salvation to a people whom he has chosen. And these truths are not in conflict with each other in the least degree.
We're the ones that seem to find, we're the ones that have a problem with understanding how we're responsible for our actions. And at the same time, God has already decreed everything that is going to take place.
We're the ones that have a problem with that because we are by our nature rebellious against God. We want to proclaim our own autonomy. We don't want to have to submit to God's sovereignty. And so in our efforts to try to fight for ourselves and our own free will and our own power and ability to decide our fate in our own situation, we will cling to a strength that we think we have, which we would not even possess at all if God had not given it to us.
So we will claim by the strength of our own will, we are able to decide our future or our fate. And it is God who has willed and acted according to his good pleasure, even hardening whom he wills for the purpose of proclaiming his name as mighty in the earth.
And we, praise God, those who believe in Christ are those who see his glory demonstrated that he might make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
So this analogy that we have here of a potter and the clay, who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this? This is not an original example, original in the sense that Paul is not the one that has come up with this.
He's really pointing back to an example that we find come up several times in the Old Testament. The most commonplace or the most popular place I believe that's referenced is in Isaiah chapter 29. Now, this is a section that even Jesus himself referenced when talking about the Pharisees in Isaiah 29, 13, the Lord said, because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.
Therefore behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden. Okay, that's Isaiah 29 verses 13 and 14 and it's exactly those verses that Jesus said to the Pharisees when he said, well, did Isaiah speak of you?
This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Okay, continue to go down from there. Verse 15, ah, you who hide deep from the Lord, your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark and who say, who sees us?
Who knows us? Verse 16, you turn things upside down. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay that the thing made should say of its maker. He did not make me or the thing forum to say of him who formed it.
He has no understanding. All right. So we have that example there in Isaiah 29 and Paul calls upon that in the analogy that he gives here in Romans nine. We also have in Isaiah 30, 14, it's breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments, not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth or to dip up water out of the cistern.
Isaiah 64, eight, but now, Oh Lord, you are our father. We are the clay and you are our potter for we are all the work of your hand. That's the humble approach right there to acknowledge that we are the clay and he is the potter and he is the one who forms us into a vessel for his honorable use.
Praise him for that. You didn't do that. God did that because he is merciful to you. Consider Jeremiah chapter 18. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will let you hear my words.
So I went down to the potter's house and there he was working at his wheel and the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand and he reworked it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Then the word of the Lord came to me, Oh house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done declares the Lord behold like the clay and the potter's hand. So are you in my hand, Oh house of Israel, if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it.
And if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
The interesting thing here is we see both the sovereignty of God and the providence of God. God's sovereignty is what he has decreed from before the foundation of the world and whatever he has decreed he will do.
His providence is working in the midst of our situation to accomplish what it is that he had decreed from before the foundation of the world. So we have his sovereign decree and then we have his providential working in which in the midst of circumstances and time and our situations and persons, God brings about that which he had decreed from the very beginning.
But everything that happens, every single thing that takes place is by the ordination of God, even the destruction of his own son, because we read about that over and over in Acts 2 and in Acts 4, that God did what his hand had predestined to take place, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins.
God had even ordained that that should happen. So if God had ordained the death of his own son, which is the most heinous evil that has ever been perpetrated by man, then who are we to think that any other evil that happens in the world was not by God's sovereign decree.
If God did not decree it and he did not ordain it, then here's the reality we must face from that. God is powerless to stop it and we have no guarantee that any of the things that he has promised us will actually come true.
If there are things that occur which God did not decree to have happen or take place, if God did not decree it, then who did? If something happens that is outside the power and the will of God, then who made it happen?
They have more power than God has. That's why we must be very careful when we enter into these situations, especially and even when something that is a great evil would take place, that we look at this and we say that God is not the one who did this.
Well, providentially, certainly not. It's not by God's hand that he brought about this evil. It's wicked and evil men that did this. But even the evil that is taking place in the world is happening because God decreed it beforehand.
Where did I get this idea from? The Bible. Lamentations 3, verse 37, who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that good and bad come?
And this is being spoken in the context of a judgment that had come upon Israel. And these were harsh judgments, which all with all kinds of evils committed against the children of Israel by those people who were taking them captive.
And yet God had ordained all of this. Nothing was coming to pass that God had not commanded, that he had not ordained. Everything that takes place is by the ordination of God. If it was not, then there's no meaning and purpose in it.
So whatever evil thing has happened to you, evil when done by the hands of men, but good when meant by God, that's Genesis 50, 20. Check that one out. As we have read in Romans 8, 28, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
He is working this out ultimately for your good. So turn to the Lord and trust in him even in and especially in the day of trouble, because the promise that we have coming up here as we're continuing through this section of Romans 9 is this, that he is making known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
Amen. We'll stop there for now. Come back to this section tomorrow. Heavenly Father, you have shown us so much kindness for we have all been rebels against you. We've all gone against God and your commandments.
We have all gone our own way and exalted our own selves in our own glory. What we deserve for this is destruction. But you have shown us mercy because you are good. You are great to make your name known even through those whom you have rescued out of sinful man and redeemed and are making righteous and growing us in sanctification after the image of your son, Jesus.
May we continue to look to Christ and trust in you day by day that even the craziness and the chaos of events that happen around us are still happening under your sovereign decree and ultimately for our good and your glory.
We ask that we continue to trust in you today, day by day, for the praise of your great name. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.
Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.