Sunday Sermon: Who Are You O Man (Romans 9:19-21)

You're listening to the preaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an

Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday. Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series.

Here is Pastor Gabe. If you would open in your Bible to Romans chapter 9, we continue our series in Romans 9, this morning looking especially at verses 19 to 24.

I was reading this morning from Puritan Christopher Love, 17th century Welsh preacher who said the following,

Children, as one who is elect, you must think that when you come to die, your deathbed is the very suburbs of heaven.

And as we come to think about what we have been reading over the course of Romans 9, that God's purpose of election might continue.

Remember also those things we read in Romans chapter 8, that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our

Lord. And you having been called to himself through the hearing of the gospel, you have not only been predestined, you have not only been called, you are not only justified, but we will be glorified.

But some of these concepts as we have been studying in this chapter can be very deep and complicated, especially from our finite human perspective as we consider the divine eternal choices of God.

And so we come to entertain some of those potential objections as we're in this section of Romans 9, verses 19 to 24.

In honor of the word of the King, would you please stand? Romans chapter 9, beginning in verse 19, hear the word of the

Lord. 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 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. You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, we come to this passage today to behold some difficult truths.

As we have read about previously, you have mercy on whomever you will and you harden whomever you will.

So if we have come to believe in the grace of God that has been shown to us through the gospel of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we know that we have come to believe these words because you had mercy on us.

You had mercy on whomever you will. But Lord, we also see in our present, throughout history, and as will be the case until Christ returns, that there are those whose hearts you have hardened.

And even in this, you harden whomever you will. And it is difficult for us to grasp this concept sometime, to grapple with these things, but in our searching, in our questioning, in our asking of you what your will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven,

I pray Lord that in our asking, we don't become accusatory. We don't look at God and point the finger and say, why have you done this?

Why did you make me like this? Why did you make him or her in this way? Why have you ordained this scenario to be like this?

Far be it from us to ever ask, God, don't you love me?

For we have seen the evidence of God's love in the cross of Jesus Christ.

In the giving of your Son for us, he who put on human flesh and dwelt among us, living the perfect life that we could not live, dying the death that we were supposed to die, taking the wrath of God upon himself as he died on the cross for our sins and rising again from the dead so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

We already have more than we could ever ask for or imagine. And so let us be humble when we ask, when we pray to see your will be done.

Not mine, but yours. In Jesus' name we pray. And all God's people said,

Amen. I so appreciate our brother Alan reading for us out of the book of Job this morning.

I don't know if some of you are familiar with this regarding the dating of the books of the

Bible, but there are many scholars who believe that Job may be the oldest book of the Bible. So it was written even before Moses wrote

Genesis through Deuteronomy. And from the very first book of the Bible, if you take that view, if you would see it as being the oldest book of the

Bible to be written, to be put down in paper and be called scripture, then you see from the very first book of the

Bible, a man grasping with the concepts of God's eternal decrees.

God having ordained all that is to come to pass. God who is sovereign over all, who is all powerful, and yet he would allow even this righteous man named

Job to undergo these incredible trials. Whatever difficulties you have been through in your life, can you say that anything has happened like what happened to Job as Alan read it for us this morning?

All at once these things take place with losing his property and even his children dying.

And yet when all of this had happened, he rose up, he tore his robe, he shaved his head, and Job 1 .20

tells us that he worshipped. Though all of this tragedy came before God, or sorry, all this tragedy came upon Job.

He came before God and worshipped. And he said in verse 21, naked

I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the

Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I love that praise song, by the way.

That was written a little over 20 years ago, Matt Redman. He gives and takes away, he gives and takes away.

My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name. Taken right from these words of Job.

And here in verse 22, very last verse of Job chapter one, we read this.

In all this, Job did not sin or charge

God with wrong. Though he recognized the

Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Now, some may argue with that.

Well, Job's perspective, he just didn't quite have it right because it was really Satan that came upon him, right? Satan did all these things.

But who did Satan go before and ask permission to do it? And God allowed

Satan to do these things to test Job in this way. And yet, though the Lord gave and the

Lord took away, Job said, blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all this, he did not charge

God with wrong. Now, we read that passage this morning and I consider that once again because as we come here to this section of Romans 9, what we have here is

Paul responding to somebody who is charging God with wrong. The nature of this question is accusatory toward God.

The nature of the questions that Paul is answering here in this section is to point the finger back at God and say, well, you did this, so how can you find fault with anyone if it's all you're doing?

You have mercy on whomever you will. You harden whomever you will. Then how can

God find fault? Because it's God who's the one who's done it. And Paul's response to this person is, who are you, oh man, to answer back to God?

Now, Paul's response actually very much like what the Lord's response to Job is going to be as Job laments his condition and his situation and wishes that he could bring his complaint before God as though in a courtroom, in trial, and be able to bring these up before the

Almighty. So, God does eventually come before Job and say, who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge?

And tests Job in this way in the questions that he asks Job. Essentially, the nature of God's response to Job is, who are you, oh man, to answer back to God?

And Paul goes on to say, well, what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this?

And this is the section that we're going to be looking at between this week and next week, verses 19 to 24.

We have here in these verses five questions that are being asked. Now, there are six question marks, but I really think we whittle this down to five questions.

So, at first, we have in verse 19, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?

That's really one question. And so, that's the objector speaking,

Paul anticipating this objection that is to come because of what he has just laid out concerning Moses and Pharaoh.

And then, Paul responds with a question himself, but who are you, oh man, to answer back to God?

So, there's the second question. And then, the third being, well, what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this?

Those three questions we'll consider today. And then, next week, continuing on with the next two questions.

Verse 21, 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?

And then, that fifth question 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?

Not just from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. Now, it's that part of the question that we need to keep in mind as we explore all the questions that come up here in this particular section of Scripture.

We need to remember that we as the saints, those who have been called, those who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and believed and put our faith and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, our reconciliation with God, we need to keep in mind that he has prepared us for glory.

And so, our response to God in these things that we explore in this passage of Scripture should be praise.

Our response should be worship. Just as Job fell down before God and worshiped him, so this must also be our response as we consider the deep theological truths that we explore in this particular passage.

So again, the questions that we look at today, number one, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?

Number two, but who are you, O man, to answer back to God? And then third, will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this?

And we'll consider the implications of these questions as we go through them.

So, looking first of all at verse 19, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault?

Find fault in whom? Find fault in us. Remember the context of this question as it's being asked, for who can resist his will?

This is coming right on the heels of the statement that he made in verse 18. So then, he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills.

Last week, we considered Moses and Pharaoh. We've talked about Jacob and Esau.

We've talked about even Isaac versus Ishmael. And here, we had Moses versus Pharaoh.

Moses is called to go back into Egypt and to tell Pharaoh, let my people go.

Moses is 80 years old at the time that God has told him to go back into Egypt. And he says to Moses, and this statement actually in verse 15, the quotation that we have in verse 15, comes from God's conversation with Moses on the mountain after the

Israelites had worshipped a golden calf. And God's saying to Moses, I will have mercy on whom

I have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. And this is, this is to know that we who have the mercy of God, he has shown us mercy because he has willed to do so.

He has shown us compassion because it has been

God's desire to have compassion for us. But then as we go on to read verse 16, so then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy so that he gets all the glory and he gets all the praise.

And as Paul had said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus.

And this was so that no man may boast. But then

Paul backs this up with scripture further. And this one being the reference back to Exodus 9, 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.

And as I had said to you last week, why was it that Pharaoh's heart was hardened again and again and again, going through plague after plague after plague, and yet he continued to disobey

God and harden his heart and would not let the people go. If he just let the slaves of Israel go, then all of these things would have stopped.

How was it that Pharaoh continued to persist in his hardness of heart? That's because God had hardened his heart for this purpose, to raise him up to show

God's mighty power through Pharaoh. And as I said to you last week, people all over the world continue to talk about the things that we read about in Exodus.

Ten plagues, the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea, the people coming out of slavery into the wilderness.

These things continue to be the subject of many conversations, even movies that get made out of Hollywood, so that God's purpose of election might continue.

And verse 18, so then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

So in light of saying that, it is God's choice, it is his divine will that he would choose one and pass over another.

That he would choose Jacob, but abhor Esau. And all these things as we have read them,

Paul anticipates the question that will come. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault, for who can resist his will?

Now remember, in starting all of this in chapter 9, Paul had talked about the

Israelites, and how though they had been chosen by God, yet there were many of them that had fallen away.

And even to this day, with the preaching of the gospel, we see the vast majority of Jews are rejecting the gospel.

Even though Christ is the fulfillment of all of these things that had been spoken of first to the

Jews. And so this question, as Paul anticipates it in verse 19, this would surely come from the

Jews. But don't be mistaken ladies and gentlemen, that this is not just a Jew who would ask this question, why does he still find fault, for who can resist his will?

There are many believers and unbelievers who will also ask this same question.

And my friends, you don't even have to assert Calvinism in order to hear it. I don't know if you're familiar with Stephen Fry, who is a

British actor. For many decades now, he's worked on many documentaries and so on and so forth.

Very very famous voice. Sometimes you'll probably hear his voice in a movie or TV show, and not even know that you just heard the voice of Stephen Fry.

Well Stephen Fry is a hard -hearted atheist. I mean not just to the standpoint of I don't believe

God, he actively hates God. And there was an interview that he did, where I don't know if the interviewer was

Christian or not, but you could tell that the interviewer was very very uncomfortable with some of the things that Stephen Fry was saying about God.

Now they were so reprehensible and abhorrent, I'm not even going to repeat them here. But essentially the nature of what

Stephen Fry said was this, cancer in children? How dare you? That was his response to God.

The interviewer had asked him, if God is real and you stand before him, what is it that you're going to say to him? And Fry had this long list of accusations that he was going to make to God.

If God is sovereign and he is in control, then how could he possibly allow these kinds of things to happen?

Especially to children. It seems like these objections always come back to kids. Whenever somebody gives an example, because children we would consider to be the most innocent among us.

And yet God would allow these things to happen to children? It is even among unbelievers to point the finger at God and say, why has he done this?

And why would he still find fault with anyone, with anybody, because he's the one who made us this way.

I've shared with you before the atheist Bertrand Russell, when we were back in Romans chapter 1,

I used him as an example. He was also asked this question, if God is real and you appear before him, what are you going to say to him?

Bertrand Russell said, I'm going to ask God, why did you take such pains to remain so hidden?

And again, his reaction would be to point the finger at God and go, it's your fault I didn't believe.

You hid yourself. So now why are you going to judge me for something that you did?

I have some competition. It's okay. It's all right. I've had that happen many times.

I pull up the Bible app and it just starts speaking. I understand. So don't worry about it. But this is, this is a common objection again.

And there are those who are believers who will say this. When you get into conversations about God's sovereignty, when you get into conversations about God, having ordained whatsoever it is that comes to pass somebody who is immature in their belief, who does not yet understand what the scriptures say about this or the fullness of which these things are discussed throughout scripture, they too will come to this question and say, well then how can we say that anything is anybody's fault?

If God has ordained it, then isn't it his problem? Even unbelievers, sorry, even believers will come to this state of asking this kind of question.

Now, whenever somebody will present it, present this objection in a way in which to accuse

God of something and they will, they will go to like a worst case scenario.

Are you saying that God ordains all things? Then did God ordain the

Holocaust, right? Did God ordain that nine 11 would happen?

Or they might even come up with some sort of description of something that happens to a child that again would be so monstrous.

I dare not repeat it from up here. Now I want to tell you when somebody brings these kinds of objections against a doctrine of divine ordination,

I never, I never, never respond to those questions on the ground on which they are presented because I could give the correct answer.

And what's that going to do for the person who's asking it? It's just going to make them mad at God. They think that their anger is directed toward me because they think

I'm teaching something falsely, but really their objection is exactly the objection that Paul is responding to here.

And I don't, for the sake of that person, I don't want to put them in a position of now you've got to stand before God and answer for the words that you just said.

So how will I answer these questions instead? What I will do instead is

I will take them to scripture and I will let them grapple with the scriptures because if they don't understand what the scriptures say, then they're not going to risk.

They're not going to accept the answer that I give them regarding the scenario that they just presented. So why don't we do that?

Let's consider some of the scriptures. Turn with me, if you will, to first Kings chapter 22, let's go to first Kings chapter 22.

Now, this is the end of first Kings when Ahab, who is the king of Israel, is wanting to go to battle with Jehoshaphat, the two of them in battle together against their enemies, against the king of Syria.

This is, they're teaming up. Jehoshaphat is kind of liking this idea on, on his face because Jehoshaphat wants

Israel and Judah to be united again. We are, we are the same people that have been called out of slavery and given this promised land.

Why are we fighting each other? Let's be united. So Jehoshaphat is going to team up with Ahab to go against Syria, but Jehoshaphat wants to know first, will

God be with us in this battle? Is he going to give the Syrians into our hands?

And so Jehoshaphat says to Ahab, consult your prophets and let's find out what it is that they have to say.

Well, as you read about in verse five, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire first for the word of the

Lord. And verse six, then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men and said to them, shall

I go to battle against Ramoth Gilead or shall I refrain? And they said, go up for the

Lord will give it into the hand of the king. Now we don't have anything in here about those prophets actually going to the

Lord and hearing from God, but they just very simply say to Ahab, 400 men testifying to him, go up and you will be successful.

Verse seven, but Jehoshaphat said, is there another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?

You kind of get the sense here that Jehoshaphat's going, you got 400 yes men here. Is there somebody else that we can talk to?

And verse eight, the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, yeah, there's, there's one man by whom we may inquire of the

Lord. He's Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but I hate him for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.

It's actually kind of an indictment against the charismatic movement of today to all these prophecies have to be very positive.

We don't ever dare say anything negative. So Ahab doesn't even want to hear anything negative.

So I'm not going to go talk to Micaiah. He just says bad things concerning me, but Jehoshaphat says, we're not going to go anywhere or do anything until we hear from him.

So Micaiah is brought to them and Micaiah says in verse 14, as the

Lord lives, what the Lord says to me that I will speak. And when he had come to the king, the king said to him,

Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall we refrain? And he answered him, go up in triumph.

The Lord will give it into the hand of the king. Now you kind of get the sense here that Micaiah might have been a little sarcastic in his response.

Like he's mocking the other prophets who have just said this. How do I conclude that? Because when you, when you go on from there, sorry,

I've lost my place. 16. Thank you. But the king said to him, how many times shall

I make you swear that you speak to me? Nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord. So Ahab's like Micaiah is just given the answer that Ahab wants to hear, but he's not accepting it as, as being genuine.

Micaiah was rather mocking the other prophets. And so Micaiah said, therefore hear the word of the

Lord. Well, no, I'm sorry. Now I'm moving ahead. Verse 17. He said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd.

And the Lord said, these have no master. Let each return to his home in peace.

So Micaiah is prophesying that they're not going to succeed, but that everyone will be scattered.

And so Ahab's response then to Jehoshaphat was, did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but only evil.

And listen to what Micaiah then reveals to Ahab in verse 19 to 23.

And Micaiah said, therefore, hear the word of the Lord.

I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left.

And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?

And one said one thing and another said another. And then a spirit came forward and stood before the

Lord saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, by what means?

And he said, I will go out and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.

And he said, you are to entice him and you shall succeed.

Go out and do so. Now, therefore, behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets.

The Lord has declared disaster for you.

Now, as you probably know, the rest of the account, Ahab rejects this word of Micaiah. He goes out into battle anyway, even disguises himself so that the people won't think that he's the king and try to kill him.

But it's a random arrow flying through the air that hits Ahab anyway.

And he slowly bleeds out and he dies, confirming exactly what it was.

That Micaiah had revealed as the prophet of God. Now, for those who would object that to those who would object to the statement that God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass.

I'll present this account to them in Scripture, and I will say. Do you see how

God had ordained everything that would happen so that Ahab would come to death?

Ahab would come to judgment because of his rebellion and his rejection of God's word. Now, often the response then that I will get to that will be, well, of course, because Ahab was evil.

So just as what God had done with Pharaoh, so he was doing with Ahab. So God was was putting

Ahab in this position to now go out into battle and then he would be killed. But it was still according to Ahab's choice.

OK, fine. But I think you've missed the point that I'm trying to make.

It's really not concerning Ahab. It's concerning the prophets who lied to him.

God doesn't make Ahab go out into battle. He doesn't control him to go out into battle and therefore die.

That is true. But we are given a view of this heavenly council that is taking place before the throne of God in which

God says to the spirits who come before the throne, who is going to go and entice

Ahab so that he goes out into battle and comes into judgment. And you have various spirits saying this, that or the other.

And one spirit goes, comes forward and says, I will entice him. God says, how are you going to do it?

And the spirit says, I'm going to go be a lying spirit in the tongues of 400 of Ahab's prophets.

So they will lie to him and he will believe the lie and he will go out into battle and be judged.

And so now the question that I put forth is this. Did God ordain that these men would lie?

Yes, he did. But we read in James that God doesn't tempt anyone and God doesn't cause anyone to sin.

So how could you say that God ordained that these prophets would lie, which is reprehensible?

That is a sin. That's a breaking of the commandments. You shall not lie. So how could you say that God would make these men lie?

Was God the one who put himself into the mouths of those prophets so that they would lie? It wasn't

God. God himself does not cause anyone to sin.

There is no injustice or wickedness in God. In our own confession as Reformed Baptists, it's said in the confession,

God is not the author of evil. And he does not author evil here.

Evil comes from the hearts of wicked men who are in rebellion against God and these men who are already in rebellion against God.

This lying spirit comes into their mouths to cause them to do what was already in their hearts to do anyway.

But indeed, this lying spirit causes them to speak this lie to Ahab so that he would believe the lie and come into judgment.

It's not God himself that does it. This is what we refer to as secondary causes. It's a secondary cause.

A lying spirit that did it. But God gives permission to this spirit to therefore go and do it to accomplish that which

God had ordained to happen. He may not be the direct agent that causes it.

But he certainly ordains it. And I think cause is the right word for us here.

The spirit caused these prophets to lie because as we read in Ezekiel chapter 36, when

God pours his Holy Spirit upon us, he causes us to walk in his statutes and be careful to obey his rules.

Praise God. Now, some will hear that and they will say, well, then you're just arguing that God makes us automatons.

Or we're just pieces on a chessboard and God controls wherever it is that we fall or land.

It's not my argument at all. I mean, I believe in the doctrine of the incarnation that Jesus put on flesh and dwelt among us.

And in the book of Hebrews, it says he became like his brothers in every way and yet was without sin.

So would I make the argument that Jesus becomes a pawn on a chessboard of God or that he becomes an automaton and he's also a pre -programmed robot?

No, not at all. These things are indeed very mysterious to us to understand these ways and works of God, but they by no means contradict.

I read to you this quote from Spurgeon. If I find taught in the Bible that everything is foreordained, that's true.

And if I find in another passage that man is responsible for his actions, that's also true.

And it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths ever contradict each other.

I had quoted that online and an author by the name of Peter responded to me, responded to that quote from Spurgeon and said completely 100 % false.

Man cannot be responsible for their actions if their actions have been decided for them. So do you believe in the

Bible or do you believe in Calvinist heresy? You know how I responded to him?

You will say to me, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But 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? Layton Flowers, who has a ministry that he calls

Soteriology 101, but the nature of this entire ministry is to oppose Calvinism. That's, that's his shtick.

It's what he does. Flowers said Calvinists wouldn't punish a man born blind who doesn't see the sign giving him directions, but they would punish a man who refuses to look at the sign, even though they could have seen and obeyed its directions.

Yet when it comes to their theology, they drop this intuition and think it's appropriate for men to be judged for their innate natural condition.

I responded to him, Romans 9, 19 to 20. 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? Well, what is molded say to its molder.

Why have you made me like this? A pastor in Louisiana named

Sean objected to me and said the following. If Calvinism is true, then the gospel call is not honest.

If a person is born so depraved that he cannot respond to the gospel without a work of God to change him, then you're telling people to repent and believe who cannot actually repent and believe.

And I responded to him, 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?

Well, what is molded say to its molder. Why have you made me like this?

Do you get the point? God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass.

And we are in no position whatsoever to judge God for whatsoever. Whatever he does, he pleases.

Psalm 115 verse 3, our God is in the heavens. Whatsoever he does, whatsoever pleases him that he does.

Lamentations 3, 37 to 38, 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?

So again, like with Job, who did not dare blame

God by accusing him with wrong, but he fell to the ground and worshiped.

And my friends, likewise us, is our response to God's purpose and plan for us in this life, in this moment to fall down before God and worship him.

I have been a party many times to persons going through really, really difficult trials in their lives that I'm not going through, but they are.

And I try as sympathetically as I can as a pastor to sit with them and weep with them and pray with them.

And sometimes in those occasions, we'll fall down on the floor together and worship.

But sometimes in those occasions, the person that I'm there with trying to pastorally guide gets angry and begins to ask, why would

God do this to me? And I tenderly try to guide the person back to recognizing the goodness of the mercy of God that he's already shown to you.

You didn't deserve it. None of us do. And yet he gave it to us anyway.

Any of us, my friends, are just as worthy of the fate of Ahab. Any of us are just as worthy of the fate of Pharaoh.

Any of us are just as worthy of what happened to Job. But which one will you respond like?

Will in those moments you fall on the ground and worship God and know that in all things, as we've already read from Romans 8, 28, he is working out for good.

All things for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

As I had said to you last week, the things that we're reading about here in Romans 9, these things reinforce what we had read in Romans 8.

That he does not wish harm upon us, but for our good. And that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our

Lord. Not even death itself will separate us from God's love. For as we had heard from Christopher Love this morning, when we come to die, our deathbed is the very suburbs of heaven.

And so we look at these questions again. Why does he still find fault for who can resist his will? But who are you,

O man? Who are you, O man? Who do you think you are to answer back to God?

Well, what is molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like this?

And remember, as I've said to you over the course of this study in chapters 8 and chapter 9, this is the same accusation that Adam made when

Adam and Eve had sinned against God. And God said to them, have you eaten the fruit that I told you not to eat from?

What was Adam's response? The woman you gave to be with me gave me some of the fruit and I ate it.

And if we ever ask these accusatory questions of God in such a way as to point the finger at him and say, if it was ordained by you, then you're the one who did this.

We are just repeating the same sin that Adam committed in the garden. After disobeying

God, he pointed the finger at him and said, you did it. And brethren, far be it from us to ever develop that kind of attitude in our spirits.

But as is said in Hebrews chapter 12, if you're disciplined, rejoice.

You're disciplined because God loves you. He doesn't discipline. He doesn't discipline everybody, but his sons and his daughters.

If he didn't discipline you, then you wouldn't be sons and daughters of God. You would be illegitimate children.

It's said there. And so that even in our tough moments, even in our trials, we would rejoice and know

God loves me and he is perfecting me. And he is making more like Christ and preparing me for his eternal kingdom and for glory.

So that our trials that we go through here in this life would cause us to cling all the more to Christ and we would fall on the ground before him and worship.

My friends, I come up here to read these passages to you week after week. Not because I think

I'm holier than anyone else, but because I too have searched the scriptures for the answers to these things and have found

I am a sinner deserving of judgment. I deserve the wrath of God.

But he had mercy on me as he willed to have mercy on me, not because of anything

I did, not because of anything good in me, but because of God who wills it.

And I praise God because of it. And for my friends and my relatives who do not yet know

Christ and are not yet saved, I pray for them that God would have the same mercy upon them that he has for me.

But whatever the decision of God would be, may the name of the

Lord be praised. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now

I see because God had mercy on me.

You've been listening to the preaching of Pastor Gabriel Hughes, a presentation of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

For more information about our church, visit our website at providencecasagrande .com. On behalf of our church family, my name is

Becky, thanking you for listening. Join us again Monday for more Bible study, when we understand the text.