WWUTT 1298 Who Are You O Man to Answer Back to God (Romans 9:19-20)

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Romans 9 .20 says, Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?

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Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? You will be held accountable before God when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will.

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For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in Romans 9, and I'm going to begin reading in verse 19, and we'll go through verse 29.

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The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault?

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For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?

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Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay

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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,

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Has endured with much patience Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction In order to make known the riches of His glory

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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 also from the

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Gentiles As indeed He says in Hosea, Those who were not My people

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I will call My people And her who was not beloved I will call beloved

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And in the very place where it was said to them You are not My people There they will be called

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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

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Only a remnant of them will be saved For the Lord will carry out

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His sentence Upon the earth fully and without delay And as Isaiah predicted

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If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring We would have been like Sodom And become like Gomorrah These verses here in Romans 9

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Verses 19 through 23 or 24 This is my favorite section

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At least as far as the convicting message of Romans 9 goes Because this was really

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The section of scripture that showed to me God's sovereign election

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The doctrine of God having chosen From before the foundation of the world Whom He would save And those whom

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He would not save That He has reserved for destruction This is by God's choosing

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And no one is able to stand in the presence of God And point the finger at Him And say that He has done anything wrong

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Consider the apologetic that Paul has laid out up to this point He has talked about how

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God chose Abraham Of everyone on earth God chose Abraham Who was from Ur of the

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Chaldeans And brought him to Canaan And said that this was the land He would give to his posterity

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As an inheritance From Abraham God chose Isaac Not Ishmael Who was the oldest son

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But from Sarah God would give Abraham a son

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And he would be the child of promise That was Isaac Isaac married Rebekah And from Isaac and Rebekah you had

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Jacob and Esau The twins God chose Jacob He loved Jacob If God has chosen

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To fellowship with one He has demonstrated love for that person So the fellowship that God has with one

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Is the love that He has for them The affection that He placed on them Even before they were born

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We who were foreknown by God As we had talked about earlier in Romans chapter 8

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The one that God does not choose He hates His wrath remains on Him John 3, 36

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Whoever has the Son has life But whoever does not obey the Son Shall not see life

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But the wrath of God remains on him Will God pour out His wrath On those whom

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He loves? Absolutely not Paul says this to the Thessalonians You have not been destined for wrath

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If we are in Christ We are not destined to suffer wrath But that we would participate

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In His glory for all eternity When we are welcomed into His heavenly kingdom forever

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Those who are not chosen They remain under the wrath of God Because that is the default state

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Of every man and woman We are born of the line of Adam We have inherited His sin nature

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It is in our nature to rebel against God So our default position

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Is under the judgment of God God chooses Whom He will save We do not choose to be saved

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God chooses to reveal Himself to us And those whom He has revealed

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Himself to Know God And He knows them You have in Matthew chapter 11

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Jesus prayed this I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth I've read this many times I know we've even looked at this over the course of our study of Romans But I call this to mind again

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Romans 11 verse 25 Jesus prayed, I thank you Father Lord of heaven and earth

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That you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding Meaning the wise and understanding by worldly standards

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Or the wise and understanding by their own standards And you have revealed these things to little children

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Yes Father, for such was your gracious will It's by the will of God That we see the will of God It is by His grace that He reveals

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Himself to us Listen to what Jesus says next All things have been handed over to me by my

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Father And no one knows the Son except the Father And no one knows the

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Father except the Son And anyone to whom the Son chooses

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To reveal Him If you know God If you have fellowship with God It is because God has chosen

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To reveal Himself to you Not that you were seeking God And that you decided on your own

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That you were going to become a follower of God But because God chose you To follow

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Him Jesus has said to His disciples You did not choose me But I chose you and appointed you

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That you should go and bear fruit Now there are some that will take that That statement that Jesus made to His own disciples

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And they will say well that's to a disciple Or that's to a prophet Because you have in Jeremiah chapter 1

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It being stated to Jeremiah That He was appointed before He was born To be a prophet to the nations

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Or the Apostle Paul Galatians 1 .15 Saying that He was set apart Before He was born

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And called by the grace of God And there are those who will say Well that's a prophet or that's an apostle

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That doesn't apply to everyone Well Paul uses the same language When he addresses the

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Thessalonians In 1 Thessalonians 1 .4 he says We know brothers

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Loved by God That He has chosen you Because our gospel

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Came to you not only in word But also in power And in the Holy Spirit And with full conviction

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So if they're convicted over their sin And they repent of sin and believe In Christ as Savior That is the evidence that we see in a person's life

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That God has chosen them Not because they believed God chose them to believe

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The Apostle Paul said In Titus 1 .1 In the beginning of his letter

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To Titus He says that he's an apostle For the sake of the faith

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Of God's elect So that by preaching the gospel Of Jesus Christ Those whom

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God has appointed to salvation Would hear and believe And so be saved

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It is not for you and me to know Who the elect are God knows that We must be faithful to go out and preach the gospel

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Without prejudice toward anybody Charles Spurgeon once said If it was easy enough to go out and look for those

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Whom God had marked for salvation Like they had a red X on them somewhere You just look for the

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X Like okay well that's the person that I'm supposed to preach to Well that would make it a whole lot easier But we don't know that It is not for us to know that So we have been told to go and preach the gospel

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To everyone So we must And though God has chosen

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Before anyone has done anything Good or bad This does not make God unjust And we went through various scriptures yesterday

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Highlighting how this doctrine Has been consistent through the Old Testament And the New That God has chosen for himself

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Those whom he would save From sinful man 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 Verse 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills

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And he hardens whomever he wills And in between those two passages We had the example of Pharaoh Whom God had hardened

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And through the one whom he had appointed For destruction, Pharaoh himself God even demonstrates his glory

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Through him So then we get to verse 19 Which we started with in today's lesson

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With Paul again anticipating The question of the person who's going to argue With this apologetic that he's laying out

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You will say to me then Why does he still find fault Why does

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God find fault With anybody For who can resist his will If it is by God's will

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That a person receives mercy Or a person receives wrath

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If a person's heart is softened To love God and follow him Or a person's heart is hardened

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To rebel against him If that's God's decision If he's the one who works that in the heart of a person

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Then how can he still Find fault with anybody Since God is the one who did it

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For who can resist his will And Paul's answer to this Verse 20 But who are you,

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O man To answer back to God Who are you to answer back to God Who are you to say

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That God doesn't know better And you need to do it my way None of us have any

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Moral ground by which we can say That because we're not holy We are not righteous

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We do not even compare to the holiness And righteousness of the one who has created All things and set forth

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His law that we might see His holy character in his Commands and precepts and the

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Written word that has been given to us No one, no person Can ever say to God Or blame

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God for For any wrongdoing On his part, and by the way

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Adam tried this You go back to the story in Genesis Chapter 3 of the fall

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Where the serpent tempts Eve to Eat the fruit, she eats it, hands it To her husband who is with her

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And he eats The tree of the knowledge of good and evil Which God told them not to eat from And their eyes are open and they realize

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They're naked, so they sow fig leaves For themselves, they try to hide God calls out to them, they come out

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And God says What is this that you have done, have you Eaten from the tree that I told you not to eat from And what is

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Adam's response The woman You put here with me Gave me some of the fruit

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And I ate, Adam is pointing the Finger at God, now he's certainly throwing His wife under the bus as well

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I can't imagine that they were really in the Best of spirits, even within Their own marriage when they were

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Cast out of the garden, you see the picture Of Adam and Eve being cast out of the garden You know the paintings and the drawings

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And the etchings that have been done And it always shows them like arm in arm They're with each other and they're like Sad because they're being cast out of the garden

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I really don't think it was like that Adam threw his wife Under the bus in the presence of God When Adam was the one that was supposed to Protect Eve from the temptation

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Of the snake, and he didn't Do that, and yet He's throwing her under the bus But really in that response

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We often miss that Adam Is pointing the finger at God The woman you put here with me

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Gave me some of the fruit and I ate If you hadn't given me this woman I wouldn't have sinned against you God Who are you oh man to answer

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Back to God Will what is molded Say to its molder

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Why have you made me like this It's you who either Softened my heart or hardened my

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Heart but who are we The clay to answer back To God and anyone who tries

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To argue against the doctrine of God Sovereign election in this way is falling In the category of this person

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That is arguing against what Paul is Teaching I have a Nazarene friend whom

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I've Known for oh goodness twelve Not twelve years Eight or nine years something like that We've known each other for a long time we've gone out and done

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Evangelism together and things like that Reaching out to high school students in particular And he and I have had these conversations

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Before because as a Nazarene he's Fully Arminian and And his response to this whenever we

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Start talking about sovereignty and things Of that nature God having predestined God having chosen

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Calvinism Whenever that word comes up whenever We start talking about these things his response

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Will be well if God wanted Me to be a Calvinist then he would have made me one If his

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He thinks that this is a foolproof Argument if predestination is Real then

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God would have Predestined me to be a Calvinist He doesn't realize And I've tried to show this to him but he doesn't see it as Being the same he doesn't realize that his

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Response is God Made me this way I'm not a Calvinist because God Made me not a

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Calvinist and I've tried to show him that that's exactly the Argument that Paul is responding to in verse 20 Well not exactly but it falls into that category

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And he just refuses to see it no no I'm not saying the same thing That the person in Romans 9 20 is saying

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And of course he tries to dismiss that as Anyway we're talking about something national here Because this just has to do with Israel it doesn't have

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To do with me but when we get down to verse 24 Paul says even Us whom he has called not from the

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Jews Only but also from the Gentiles So it's not just about Jews In this section it's

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Jews and Gentiles And we've had the example of both Jews and Gentiles God having chosen His elect and then you have

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A Gentile that God had raised up for destruction Pharaoh and hardened his Heart that his power might be demonstrated

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In him so it's we're not just talking Jews we're not just talking a national Ethnic sort of a thing that Is going on here in Romans 9 we're talking

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Those whom God has chosen from Before the foundation of the world and the response Here is oh man but who

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Are you oh man to Answer back to God that's not the Jew That's any

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Man who are you Oh man like the Gentile Would not be able to stand before God In judgment and say well you gave the

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Law to the Jews I didn't even Know what your law was so Why are you condemning me according

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To a set or standard of rules That I didn't know because you only gave it to one Nation will the

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Gentile be able to stay to say that In the presence of God on judgment day Absolutely not and we talked about that we were going

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Through Romans chapter 2 there we Have an address to oh man As well Romans 2 1 therefore you

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Have no excuse oh man Every one of you Who judges for in passing judgment

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On another you condemn yourself Because you the judge practice the very Same things nobody

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Jew or Gentile will be able to stand In the presence of God and accuse him Of any wrongdoing

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You didn't give me the law you gave it to these People I never had the gospel preached To me so why are you

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Condemning me for something it was never even offered Me nobody's gonna be able to say that Who are you oh man to answer

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Back to God well what Is molded say to its molder Why have you

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Made me like this You have heard the gospel of Christ I'm speaking to You listener you have heard me

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Preach the gospel Jesus died On the cross for sins he rose Again from the dead he is seated

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At the right hand of God all authority In heaven and on earth has been given to him He is returning and he will

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Judge the living and the dead Turn from your sin and believe in Christ You've heard the message of the gospel

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Proclaimed to you if you don't Believe it you will not be able to Say on the day of judgment well

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God You made me not believe it and that's Why I didn't believe it nobody's Ever going to be able to say that You have the responsibility now to Turn from your sin and believe

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In what it is that I have preached you Or what any evangelist has Ever preached to you and you

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Will be held accountable for what You did that's in Romans 14 12 each of us

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Will give an account of himself To God and you will Not be able to say on that day well it's your fault

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That I didn't believe it you have heard me Preach it you have the responsibility Now to turn from your sin

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Or God will judge You on the day of judgment put your faith In Christ and you will be

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Saved God has created All people for his glory He will show

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His mighty power through you How may God use you To demonstrate his glory and goodness

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He will do this either By destroying you In his righteous judgment or By delivering you in his grace

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And mercy and this he Has predestined from before The foundation of the world yet Every man will be held accountable

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For his own actions and No man has any basis upon Which to accuse God With wrongdoing we're

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Coming to the end of our devotional lesson today We're going to come back to this section Again next week but here we've

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Had it stated to us will What is molded say to its Molder why have you made

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Me like this has the Potter no right over the clay To make out of the same lump

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One vessel for honorable use And another for dishonorable Use what if God desiring to show his

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Wrath and make known his power Has endured with much Patience vessels of wrath

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Prepared for destruction in Order to make known the riches of his glory For vessels of mercy which

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He has prepared beforehand for Glory this is not The only place in scripture that this argument has

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Been made and that's what we're going to come back to next Week we'll we'll do some more cross Referencing and understand

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Even further this doctrine of God's sovereign election but let me give You some practical applications for this

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Why is this so important to Believe well because it's in The bible and we are

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To believe every word of scripture that should Be reason enough but let me give you five Applications five practical applications

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Here number one So your prayers would not be hindered If you have a limited

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Understanding of who God is Your prayers will also be Limited second

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So that you would Be relieved of your burdens If you believe that your

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Salvation is dependent upon a choice that You have made or that Keeping your salvation is dependent upon Your continued choices

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Then you are being weighed down by an Unnecessary burden strapped to your Back by bad doctrine

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As i have been presenting These arguments as paul has been Presenting these arguments as we as we

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Have looked at them in god's Word i hope that you have been Able to see from the scriptures that Salvation including faith

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And belief and even Repentance itself Is not the work of man

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Salvation is from Beginning to end the gracious Work of god trusting in the

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Sovereignty of god will Give rest to your Souls Third So that you will be more

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Considerate of others Think about this sovereignty Means supreme

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Governance autonomy Means self -governance when You fight for your own autonomy

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Or free will as it's often Termed then you oppose the Sovereignty of god

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This is not only a conflict with God you cause strife Between yourself and others

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Your autonomy Versus their autonomy Consider others needs

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As christ considered our need By being obedient to the will Of his father as stated in philippians 2 11 number 4

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Fourth so that You would understand your sin rightly If we do not

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Have a right understanding of our sin We are prone to think more highly of Ourselves and less highly

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Of god the more We make of god the less We make of us the more

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We see his holiness The more we're aware Of our own depravity

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And need for a savior then you Will praise him all the more for The goodness that he has shown

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To you Fifth number five and this is my last one Fifth application in understanding

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The doctrine of god's sovereign election Fifth so that you May worship god

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Appropriately It is important that we worship God for who he has said that he

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Is not for who we Want him to be may we Understand his theology

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According to his own words that we Have here in the bible and not try to Fit him in our box or impose our

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Ideas onto his As john the baptist said John 3 30 he must

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Increase but i must Decrease and we'll Come back to these lessons again

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Next week tomorrow we continue With our study and proverbs for our Old testament study let's pray heavenly

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Father we thank you for the goodness that You continue to show us through your word and I pray that we would become better worshipers

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Of god that we would see you for who You are as you have Demonstrated your goodness

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Through christ who died on the cross For us who rose again from The from the dead the mercies that Are continually shown to us every day

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May we be convicted of our sin may We never be comfortable with our sin But we desire holiness and Sanctification that we would be renewed

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That we would pursue god that We would desire to be more Like you growing in Godliness and christ likeness

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Daily forgive Us our transgressions deliver Us from temptation

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May your will be Our greatest desire in jesus name We pray amen

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You've been listening to When we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes Monday Tuesday and Wednesday Gabe will be going through a

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New testament study then on Thursday We look at an Old testament book On Friday we take questions from the