The Sovereignty of God: Unraveling Romans Chapter Nine

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We're going to go ahead and continue our sermon series in the Book of Romans.

If you're following along with us, you'll know that we're in Romans chapter nine.

So please turn with me to Romans Chapter nine.

We're going to pick up where we left off last week.

We left off in verse number 18.

And really the whole chapter in Romans chapter 9 is dealing with a question.

And that question is this, is God faithful?

Well, we would all say, yes, he's faithful.

But then the people there in Rome that had received this letter from Paul are thinking, well, you just said that God is faithful, but yet the people that you called in the Old Testament are not faithful anymore.

They, for the most part, have turned their back.

He says Israel has turned their back against Messiah that turned their back against the Lord.

And so he says in verse number four, the Israelites, those people that were chosen by God in the Old Testament, had specific blessings, and that was the blessing of adoption, the blessing of the glory of the Lord coming to them, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, the patriarchs, the fathers, and ultimately the blessing of having Christ come to them and come through them.

And.

And then the people are seeing all of these things, and then they say, but what about God's faithfulness?

Because how could Israel turn their backs against God?

And if God was faithful to Israel, and then it seems like he's not faithful, is he going to be faithful to us?

And.

And remember, Romans chapter eight is all about God staying faithful, no matter what the case might be that he's always faithful and that he's always going to work out his good.

And so Paul deals with that in this passage.

And essentially what we see in Romans chapter nine is Paul explained that God is always faithful and that God is ultimately sovereign and God can use our good decisions for his glory, and he can use our bad decisions for his glory.

God is sovereign overall.

And sometimes what people do is they read Romans chapter 9, and the understanding that comes through this is that some are chosen for salvation, not about their belief, but ultimately God's prerogative.

And some are chosen to be rejected, not according to their belief.

But ultimately according to God's prerogative.

And so when we read this passage, we see those things like Jacob, God love Esau, he hated.

And we talked about that last week, what that really means.

And ultimately what we see in Romans chapter nine is that this is not in context, talking about effectual salvation for the individual.

But this is ultimately God's choosing of who he is, bringing the truth of his gospel, the truth of his word, to this lost and dying world.

And so for a time, it was Israel.

And then we see in this whole passage that Israel rebels against God by their disbelief in the Messiah.

Therefore, that oracle of God, that truth of God is passed on to the Gentiles.

So the Jew first to also to the Greek.

That's what the Gospel says in Romans chapter one.

So we're going to see here in verse number 18, this statement.

He says, therefore hath the mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will hardeneth.

Whom he will, he will hardeneth.

And the idea is this.

There are people like Pharaoh that's mentioned in this passage.

And by the way, if you were not here last week, I'm not going to be able to recap everything.

I would encourage you to listen back to that sermon either on, on some aspect of our website, whether it be YouTub, YouTube or Facebook or the podcast.

But he says, hey, Pharaoh is an example of someone who had his heart hardened by God.

Now some people take that and say, well, that means that Pharaoh had no chance.

Even if Pharaoh wanted to turn to the Lord in repentance, he couldn't have because God hardened his heart.

But what we saw back in the Book of Exodus is that repeatedly Pharaoh hardened his heart against God.

It says, Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart.

And then eventually what God does is he says, okay, Pharaoh, you've hardened your heart enough.

I'm going to turn you over to that, and I'm going to harden you in your rebellion.

So essentially, it's this.

God didn't give something to Pharaoh that he didn't want.

Already Pharaoh had hardened his heart, and God therefore set him in his ways.

And so that's what we're going to see over and over again.

We see that he does that with Esau, he says that he does that with Ishmael.

But then on the other side of that, God chooses Jacob to see the word of the truth pass through him.

God uses Israel, God uses Abraham.

God uses certain individuals for that purpose.

And so back when we look at that, that situation between Jacob and Esau, he chooses Jacob He's.

He's exclusive to Jacob at that point so that he can be inclusive in the gospel to the future.

Thankfully, today, all of us, it doesn't matter what bloodline we are in.

It doesn't matter where we're born.

It doesn't matter what our background is.

Doesn't matter what country that.

That we live in.

The Bible says the Gospel is for all.

And so God at certain periods of his history was exclusive to certain individuals and certain groups so that he could be inclusive to the preparation and the presentation of the Gospel to this world.

And so the question that's asked then in some of these people's minds is in verse 14, what shall we say then?

Is there unrighteousness with God?

So Paul addresses some people's question.

Is God unrighteous by doing this?

Is God unrighteous by choosing certain people to have the word of God pass through and certain people that he doesn't?

Is God unrighteous for hardening people in their rebellion?

And obviously the answer is no.

God forbid, kill that idea.

God is not unrighteous.

God is perfectly righteous in every way.

God has every reason to just throw us all off the face of the planet because of our sin.

We all deserve death.

For the wages of sin is death.

But it's the mercy of God that anybody has anything when it comes to the opportunity to know him and to understand his grace.

And so he talks about this in mercy.

And in verse 18.

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will, he hardeneth.

Meaning this.

God can give mercy to whoever he wants to give mercy to.

God can harden and judge anyone that he wants to.

Because ultimately people that come to God in humility and find his mercy will be showing the glory of God and those that are in rebellion and God hardens, God will still get the glory either way.

God gets the glory.

And then we see in verse number 19, Paul comes up with basically another answer to another question.

And we're going to see that this question was not asked out of curiosity.

This question was not asked out of authenticity.

This question, this hypothetical question was probably not a hypothetical question for Paul.

Maybe he had people already asking this, and he rebukes it because it's asked out of pride.

It's maybe even asked out of a sense of bitterness.

It says in verse number 19, thou will say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will?

So essentially Paul is saying this.

There are some people that come and say, well, if God is going to do what he wants to do.

Why does he even hold us accountable?

If God's going to give mercy to who he's going to give mercy to, and if God's going to harden those that he wants to harden, then why does he hold us accountable?

Essentially, it's this prideful thing saying this.

Why does God care about me if he's the one in control?

And if this was an authentic question, I believe Paul would answer it with a biblical answer.

But essentially Paul answers with a rebuke.

And the rebuke is indicative of the pride that's in this question.

And so he responds with verse number 20, nay or no.

But oh man, who art thou that replies against God?

Paul rebukes this person, this questioner, by saying this.

Who are you to question God's will?

Who are you to question God's direction?

Who are you to question God's plan?

Who are you to question God's mercy?

And I want to pause there just for a moment because it would be easy specifically for me to just buzz through the book of Romans and, and buzz through Romans, chapter nine and just go through as fast as we can.

But I've got to check myself and I want to slow down and I want to make sure all of us understand what Paul is talking about here.

Essentially what Paul is saying is this.

We, as the creation of God, have no right to question God now.

We.

We have an opportunity, and some might even say the.

The grace of God brings us to a place where we can ask God questions.

We talked a little bit about this earlier on.

The idea would be this.

It's appropriate to ask God an authentic question or why are you doing what you're doing?

How is this working through me?

How can I serve you?

How can I be led by you?

But then it is a biblical inaccuracy, and I would say a biblical sin to come to God and question his character, because then we're indicating that we're in a lack of faith.

And so he says, no, who are you to question God?

And then he says something very interesting.

He says, shall the thing formed say to him that is formed it why hast thou made me thus?

So essentially what Paul says is this.

We who are the creation should not come to the Creator and say, lord, why are you using me for mercy?

Why are you using me for your glory?

Why are you using me for this will and your plan in this world?

Because ultimately we are the creation.

We can't dictate to the Creator what we can do and what he can do.

And actually he quotes a Bible passage here.

He quotes a passage from Isaiah, chapter 29.

And essentially he quotes Isaiah 29.

We're going to go there in a minute.

And then he quotes another passage, basically Jeremiah, chapter 18.

And I think what we need to do when we're looking at difficult passages that have multiple interpretations in churches today is, is to use Scripture to comment on Scripture.

You know, I'm not the best commentator.

There's some good commentators out there.

And I. I don't tell you, don't listen to commentaries, because commentaries can help us have some clarity when we're studying passages.

But I think the best commentary on Scripture is other Scripture.

And so if Paul is going to quote Isaiah chapter 29, and if Paul is going to quote Jeremiah chapter 18, we need to know what those passages of Scripture are talking about, because many people read verses 19, 20, and 21, and they take it as this.

Basically, God takes clay, and in his discretion, he makes some of the vessels to be saved, and he makes some of the vessels not to be saved.

And basically this happened at the beginning of time.

And these people that he made to be vessels that are unsafe had no choice but to be this way.

And so that can be kind of confusing because what we see here is this deterministic focus that there are some who have no choice but to be saved and some have no choice but to be rejected.

Again, we're not talking about individual effectual salvation.

We're talking about being used by God.

And so some in their rebellion are not used by God for good.

They're used by God to show his judgment.

And some are in obedience used by God for his mercy and his grace, and ultimately are used to be presenting the word of God.

So he says here in verse number 21, Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor?

So the question would be this.

Doesn't God have the right to use some vessels for honor and some vessels for dishonor?

And of course he has that right.

But without understanding the other passages of Scripture, we might say, well, it's none of our choice whether or not we're a vessel of honor or dishonor.

It's ultimately God's choice, and we have no choice in that matter.

But I want you to see that the other passages of Scripture don't use that analogy.

Actually, in Both Isaiah chapter 29 and Jeremiah 18, we see that the clay actually has an opportunity to repent and turn back to Christ.

So Obviously, this analogy of the clay, we would say, well, how could the clay make a choice?

How.

How could the.

The clay tell the potter what to do?

Well, the clay can't tell the potter what to do.

But ultimately, we see in Isaiah chapter 29 that there's this call for these individuals to turn away from their wicked ways.

So if.

If you can, you can turn to Isaiah chapter 29.

I'll try to give you somewhat of a background of this passage of Scripture that Paul quotes.

But.

But essentially what's happening in Isaiah chapter 29 is that Israel is making a friendship with Egypt.

Israel has tried to find their own path.

And the path that they think is the best path is to devise a plan, to devise an alliance with Egypt, which we know that in the Bible, Egypt is always a picture of sin.

It's always a picture of rebellion.

It's always a picture of the ways of this world.

And so essentially, what that passage In Isaiah chapter 29 is talking about is that Israel is in a place of spiritual blindness.

They're in a spiritual stupor.

They don't know what to do.

And so they say, you know what?

We're going to try to figure it out our own way.

We're going to turn to Egypt because obviously Egypt's the big major power that can give us strength and wisdom and direction.

And then we see verse number 13, and I think it's important for us to see this verse because it's really where the thought that Paul quotes in Isaiah, or, excuse me, Romans, chapter 9, and verse number 13 of Isaiah chapter 24, he says, when thus, or, excuse me, 29, Isaiah 29.

Sorry about that.

Let me get there in my text.

Isaiah, chapter 29, verse number 13.

Some of you could probably beat me there.

Now, Wherefore the Lord saith, for as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but have removed their heart from far from me.

So he says, you and Israel, in that context, he says, everyone's saying the right things, but their heart's not in the right place.

They've removed their heart far from me.

And their fear toward me is taught by the percept of man.

The precept of man, which means this.

The way that they're trying to understand God is through the eyes of man.

And obviously that's a big issue.

Verse 14.

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hit.

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord.

So he says, there, there is a problem.

Woe unto them that try to hide their heart from the Lord.

And their works are in the dark.

Meaning Israel was trying to hide things from God and do their own things.

And then he says, are, they say.

And they say, who seeth us and who knoweth us?

Surely your turning of these things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay.

Okay, here's that analogy.

For shall the work say of him that made it?

He made me not.

Or shall the thing frame say of him that framed it?

He hath no understanding.

So that's what Paul quotes there.

What is Paul quoting?

Paul is quoting that passage of scripture where Israel is trying to do their own thing and God is calling them to come back to him.

And so there's a choice for Israel there.

There's a choice for them to turn back to the will of God, to turn back to the obedience of God.

And he says, who are you to tell God what you're doing?

Who.

Who are you to tell God that there's a better way?

So, so it would be like, think of this analogy.

The.

And again, this is not a perfect analogy in some regards because we don't look at clay pots that talk.

Okay, but let's pretend that the clay pot in this analogy can talk.

And so the potter is making the clay pot and he's.

He's molding it and morphing it.

And all of a sudden the clay pot talks to the potter and says, no, no, no, don't make me like that.

We.

We want to be made in a certain way that fits us better that.

That, that we could be a more of a help to this person.

And, and the, and some of you are like, what are you talking about?

You're losing me here.

Okay, pretend like the pot can talk and the pot is telling the potter, don't make me this way.

This isn't going to work.

I have my own way.

Egypt's ways better.

That pot that I saw across town looks a lot better.

And, and he's saying, how silly is that?

How silly is the clay talking to the potter telling him that this is the way.

It's the same way that we as God's people turn to him and say, we can repent on our own way.

We can do our own thing.

We can find God, we can find hope, we can find salvation, we can find satisfaction.

We.

Our way.

That's what he's talking about here.

And so it would be on the responsibility of the clay of the people to allow God to mold them and to form them in the way that he desires them to be formed.

So that's one analogy.

So there's a choice there for Israel.

There's a choice to turn to God.

And so I want you to see the other passage here in Jeremiah chapter 18, because we're allowing Paul's quotes to essentially be confirmed with these passages of Scripture.

We don't just take Romans 9 for Romans 9.

We want to look at all these other passages.

So look at Jeremiah chapter 18 with me.

This is the classic potter and clay analogy.

And the reason why I want you to see these passages of Scripture is because I want you to see that in each one of these passages of Scripture where the analogy the potter and clay is used, that there is a responsibility of the clay to submit themselves to the master, to the potter, to the one who is making these vessels, these jars of clay.

So look at Jeremiah chapter 18 with me.

Some of you know what the whole book of Jeremiah is about.

The whole book of Jeremiah is about Jeremiah being called by God to warn Israel of the upcoming judgment if they continue on in their sin.

So Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because he's got to bring some very difficult preaching to the people of Israel.

But also on top of that, the people aren't listening to him.

The people are rejecting him.

And sometimes as a pastor, we can identify with Jeremiah.

We think, am I making any sense to people?

Is there any impact?

And Jeremiah struggled with that, but he comes to Israel and he says, israel, you need to turn away from your wicked ways so that you don't find yourself in judgment.

And then what happens here is the Lord speaks to Jeremiah in chapter 18.

It says the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

And so God tells Jeremiah to go to a potter's house.

And then he's going to give him a lesson here.

He's going to teach him something to teach the people.

Verse 3.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter.

So basically it's flawed clay in the hand of the potter going forward, he says, so he made it again, another vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it so the vessel wasn't working the way that the potter had intended it to work, and therefore he made it into something else.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter, meaning this Israel, if you disobey me, if you live in your rebellion, guess what?

I can change you.

I can change your purpose, I can change my plan for you, and I can use you for something else.

Maybe not honor, but for dishonor.

Verse 6 He says, Can I not deal with you as this potter saith the Lord?

Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

So he says, israel, you're in my hand.

I can do with you what I want to do with you.

Verse 7.

At what instance I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil.

So he says, if this nation turns from evil, and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it.

And so the idea is, he says, if you turn away from it.

And in verse 8 he says, I will repent.

Now, God doesn't have to repent in the fact that he sinned and that he has to like, confess his sin.

That idea of repent.

Some of you know the the technical term for repentance, to turn away from something.

The Bible says that God is going to bring judgment.

But if the people come in repentance and turn away from the evil that they're doing, God will turn away from his judgment, as it says here.

And then he says he will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instance I shall speak concerning the nation and concerning the kingdom, to build it and to plant it.

If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good.

So God says, I had a plan for good, but if that nation rejects me and turns to rebellion and turns to sin, wherewith I said I should benefit them, meaning he's going to pull away.

That's that picture of mercy and judgments, mercy and hardening.

He says, if Israel continues to turn its back against me, I will harden it, and I will use it for a vessel of dishonor, so that I will get glory that way.

And then I will use something else.

And we know that In Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11 it tells us that Israel has turned its back against the Lord Messiah.

And obviously we know the rising of the church.

The Gentiles come into the fold and that's what we Romans 9, 10 and 11 are about.

So we go back to Romans chapter 9.

I. I don't want to lose you here, but I want you to see the point that I'm trying to make.

The teaching often in Romans 9 is that the, the clay has no choice.

Like, we just God hates us and he wants to use us for dishonor.

So that's what he's going to do.

God might have grace and mercy on us and he uses us for honor.

But the idea in Genesis or in Jeremiah chapter 18, the idea in Isaiah chapter 29, the idea that we're going to see in second Timothy chapter two here in a few moments, is that we have a responsibility to make a decision.

And in our decision, God will use our decision of obedience and yielding to him to be a vessel of honor.

And then he will use those bad decisions as a vessel of dishonor.

But ultimately God gets the glory for both of those decisions.

So that's, I believe, a picture of God's sovereignty, that God uses the good decisions of mankind for his glory, but he also uses the bad decisions for mankind for his glory, I. E. Pharaoh, Esau, Ishmael, all the ones that we saw before.

And that's what this passage of Scripture is dealing with God using people for his glory, God using people for the word of God to be presented to the world.

Now, we're going to get to application here in a few moments, but I just want to make that point there.

So let's go back to Romans chapter nine.

He says, basically he's responding to that question of, well, if God is just forcing us to do everything, if God is in control, why do I have any responsibility?

Why does God hold me accountable?

And Paul says, well, think you're not thinking the right thing.

Who are you to question God?

Who are you to question God's purposes?

And so he says, oh man, who art thou to reply against God?

Shall the thing form say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?

That's that quote from Isaiah 29.

He says, we have no right to question God and how he's using us.

Verse 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor?

So he essentially says that God is going to use certain people for honor.

Vessels or jars of clay for honor, jars of clay for dishonor.

And I want to, I want you to see in the New Testament another passage that speaks to this very thing.

Paul uses the same analogy in 2 Timothy, chapter 2.

And again, I think that what we're going to see is that there's always a responsibility for us to yield ourselves to him in obedience.

And it's a responsibility for us to not make the decision of falling into the trap, of telling the potter that we have a better plan.

Remember, that's what.

That's what Israel was doing in Isaiah, chapter 29.

We've got a better plan.

We're going to Egypt.

Now, the irony of all of this is that In Isaiah chapter 29, there's this great revival found through King Hezekiah.

And King Hezekiah preaches the Word and we have the Word presented.

And the people of Israel do turn to the potter and say that your way is the right way.

And In Jeremiah chapter 18, it's the opposite.

We know that in Jeremiah that eventually comes to a place where they do find judgment and find themselves in control from another country.

And so second Timothy, chapter two tells us another passage of Scripture about vessels of honor and dishonor.

And he says, here is how you can be used as a vessel of honor.

Now, if it was ultimately no responsibility for us go, we would just hear this.

God's going to use you for honor or dishonor, and you have no choice.

God's going to save you or not save you.

You have no choice.

But here in second Timothy chapter two, we see that there is a responsibility for us.

And I believe he's talking specifically to believers in this case because he warns us to flee away from these sins, these iniquities that are mentioned.

So verse 19, he says, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure.

I think that we can stop there and recognize that to say this, God's word, God's truth, God's foundation is not going to be shaken.

No matter what decision we make as a country, no matter what decision that we make as an individual, God's plan is always going to come to pass.

And then he says here in verse number 19, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.

God knows who are his, that that have believed in him, and let everyone that name with the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

So he's talking to Christians.

He knows those that believe in him, and the call for all that believe in him are to depart from iniquity or sin.

It is God's plan for us to run away from sin.

It doesn't mean that he expects us and requires us to be perfect, because none of us can be perfect.

We know that because we're wrestling with the flesh.

But it is God's will for us to grow closer and closer to him, and so that we can flee and depart from iniquity, that we can separate ourselves to be used by God.

And so then he says in verse number 20, but in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor.

So he says, within the great house, and he gives a picture of this big house, he says, there's vessels of honor and there's vessels of dishonor.

There's going to be vessels.

They're both vessels of God.

God is going to use both of these vessels.

But some are honorable, as we see here, gold and silver, and some are dishonorable wood and of earth.

And so he says, verse 21, if a man therefore purge himself from these.

These what?

He's talking about the sin.

He's talking about rebellion.

He shall be a vessel unto honor.

So he says here, how can the believer be a vessel used by God?

We'll just wait for God's prerogative to come about, to come to pass.

No, to purge myself of these sins, to purge myself of these worldly ways of thinking, as we saw in Isaiah, chapter 29.

Don't think that it's in your hands.

Don't tell the potter how you should be used.

It says here, obey the word of God, and then you can be a vessel of honor, sanctified.

You guys know what sanctify means?

Sanctify means set aside for a specific use.

So now I want to be a Christian that can be used by God, to be used by him for honor, to be used by him to pass along the truth of the gospel, to impact people for the truth of the kingdom.

And so he says here in verse 21, to be that type of vessel, we have to be sanctified.

And then it says here, meat or good for the Master's use.

God can use us, and he can be using us, as it says here, and prepared unto every good work.

And then the next verse is, flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

And so the idea here would be that we can be used as a vessel of honor if we allow ourselves to yield to the Master's work, to yield to the Master's plan for us, as we were told last week in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10, that we are his workmanship, prepared to good works.

Right?

We are God has a plan for us.

And so we go back to Romans, chapter nine, and we see that it's not a matter of God just forcing us to be a vessel of dishonor or a vessel of honor.

We have a responsibility to respond to him in obedience.

And if we respond to him in obedience, God will use us for his work.

When it comes to mercy, when it comes to grace, when it comes to the oracles of God, as mentioned before, the church is called to be the pillar and ground of truth.

Now, the rest of this passage, and we're going to talk more and more about this as the study goes along, it's basically a condemnation against Israel for turning their backs against the Lord by turning their backs against the Messiah.

And so he basically says, israel, you have missed it.

You have missed the mark.

You.

You've lost the opportunity to be a vessel of honor, and now you're being a vessel of dishonor.

So essentially what God is saying in Romans 9 is that God is using the disobedience of Israel for His plan and his purpose.

How does that work?

Well, we all know that God has now allowed for the Gentiles to be brought in and wholesale, right?

Paul talks about that.

And he's going to talk about that in this passage here.

He essentially says, now the church that is not just isolated to Israel, but now it's open for all to come in.

Now the church is used by God as a vessel of honor.

So we go to verse number 22.

Paul is going to give a hypothetical here.

He's going to say something.

And again, I think that it's important to understand the context, because verse 22, verse 23, and verse 24 basically is not telling us that God just chooses some people that he likes to be saved and he hates other people, that he doesn't want to be saved.

And that's what it's all about.

No, he says in verse 20:22, what if God.

This is a hypothetical question that he really doesn't give an answer to here.

It's kind of like.

It's kind of like if some of you are living in your past and you say, if I would have just done this, but you don't finish the statement.

It's kind of like that's what Paul's doing here.

He says, what if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering?

Or that word, long suffering is patience, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.

So what is he saying here?

He's saying this.

What if God is patient with those that are in rebellion.

He could do that.

He did that with Pharaoh.

He gave Pharaoh multiple chances.

What if God, willing to show his wrath and willing to make his power known, endured with much long suffering?

The vessels wrath, Vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.

So ultimately, what the question is here is why does God give mercy to some?

And why does God judge others quicker than others?

Well, we don't know that answer, but.

And Paul doesn't essentially give that.

He just says, what about that?

What if that might be the case?

And we know that it is the case in some places and points verse 23, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had a four prepared unto glory.

Meaning this.

Well, the reason why God does what he does is ultimately so that he can show his mercy upon people that are faithful, but ultimately under people that are not faithful.

Israel was not perfectly faithful, but God's plan was brought through Israel.

The church is not perfectly faithful, but God brings his plan through the church.

And so what he says here in verse 24 is this even us?

Now remember, who is Paul talking about?

Who's us?

Well, if you start back in the beginning of Romans 9, he's talking about the.

The Israelites.

He's talking about believers.

He's talking about true believers, ones that are coming in faith.

He says, even us, whom he hath called.

Not of the Jews only, but now what he says, but also of the Gentiles, he says, now the door is open.

Now faith is for all.

And therefore when we come in faith, it's not a matter of what our lineage is, it's not a matter of our works.

It's.

It's based in our faith.

And so he says it's God's mercy that he's bringing in the Gentiles into the fold.

That would have been an offensive thing for the Jewish people to hear because they were the chosen people, they were the ones that were called.

And so for them to say, well, I thought God was faithful.

And now he's letting these Gentiles come in and now he's using us as a vessel of dishonor.

That doesn't make any sense.

And Paul says, look, God has the right to do this.

He's been doing this since the book of Jeremiah, he's been doing this in the book of Isaiah, he's been doing this throughout.

That if there is an individual who's rebelling, God does not have to use that individual for the oracles of God.

He can open up the door for anyone to be used.

And that's sometimes often what we think.

Even when we look inside the church, we say, well, that person's obviously going to be used by God because maybe their pedigree or maybe their education or maybe the way that they look, or maybe what.

What family they're a part of.

And certainly God can use those people, but he doesn't use them because of their good standing, because of their lineage, because of their looks.

God uses people because of his decision in their life, and ultimately they're yielding their obedience to him.

And that's the picture here in Romans, chapter nine.

He goes on to say, there's some more prophecies about how God turns away from Israel for a time because of their disobedience.

And then we're going to see that they stumble.

And at the end of this chapter, we see that their stumbling block is Jesus.

And then Romans 10 talks about Israel's rejection of Christ.

And then Romans 11 speaks of how they can be brought back into the fold and how they will be brought back into the fold.

So you would say, what's the point of this lesson here today?

What's the point of these verses that we've looked at here this morning?

The point is this, that God does use vessels of dishonor for his glory.

But we as believers should not just say, well, that's God's choice.

I can just do whatever I want to do.

No, it's me aligning myself as we saw in Jeremiah, chapter 18, Isaiah, chapter 29, and other passages of Scripture, that I have the responsibility not to question God and what he wants me to do in my life.

Not to question God and how he wants the Word to be presented, but to follow him in obedience and be used by the Master, to be used by the potter and to think about how insignificant we are as the clay.

I think so.

So many times we, as the clay, want to dictate to the potter what we are supposed to do.

Like, lord, I'll be used by you if you do it this way.

I will be comfortable with serving at this capacity.

But don't tell me to do that, because I'm not comfortable doing that.

That's as silly as the clay looking at the potter and saying, well, you know what?

I don't want to be used that way.

I don't think you can use that person.

I don't think you can use this person because they aren't as mature as me or they don't look the part.

The folks.

The true question that I think we all have to answer is, am I willing to submit myself to the potter and say, lord, whatever you want to do with me, I will do and I will obey.

And I won't be like as Israel was in Isaiah, chapter 29, thinking that all the ways of the world, the precept of man, is the right way to go.

And I will come back to a place of repentance.

One commentator said it, said it this way, Hardening does not mean hopelessness.

Maybe there's a time in your life, in your rebellion, that you come to a place where you have not been able to be used by God because of that sin, because of that rebellion, because of that confusion and maybe even bitterness.

And so what the Bible says is that it's not too late to turn your hearts back to the Lord.

It's not too late to say, lord, I submit to you as the master, as the potter, and I come to you as the clay.

Mold me in the way that you want me to be molded.

I want to be a vessel of honor.

Because here's the thing.

All of us should want to be a part of the work of God.

Not all of us will be a part of the work of God if we don't submit ourselves to him now.

We will be part of the glory of God.

Because, let me say it this way, God even uses the open rebellion of sinners for his glory.

Why?

Because we talked about this last week.

God gets glory through judgment.

God gets glory even through people's rebellion.

And God gets glory through mercy and grace.

But I don't know about you, but I want to be following in obedience so that I can be used as a vessel of honor, as second Timothy, chapter two says.

So what do I do?

It says, depart from iniquity.

Purge myself of the things of this world.

And so what we see in Romans chapter nine is that Israel had turned their eyes to fleshly things.

We're going to talk about that more in the next few weeks.

But essentially, they tried to find righteousness through the law.

They tried to find righteousness through actions.

They try to find righteousness through tradition.

They try to find righteousness through the eyes of man.

And what the Bible says is that every time we try to find righteousness in our own strength, we will eventually find ourselves in a place of pride.

And what does the Bible say about pride?

Pride brings us to a place of destruction.

Pride brings us to a place where God rejects the prideful but gives grace to the humble.

That's in First Peter, chapter five.

God resists the prideful but gives grace to the humble.

And so what do we see here?

We see that that Israel is being used as a vessel of dishonor at that point in time in the book of Romans, because they turn to the eyes of man and the traditions of man and tried to earn their righteousness without trusting in the grace of God.

And what happens is that God says, okay, just as I said in Romans chapter is three, just as I said in Romans chapter six, that all of us have a problem of sin.

And that problem of sin cannot be fixed by my own strength.

And so back In Jeremiah chapter 18, what was it that if you are not being willing to be used, if you're marred clay, God will just make me into something else.

God will make me into a vessel of dishonor.

And so again, my interpretation of Romans chapter 9 is this is not talking about an effectual salvation of a person and God's discretion that God, God can and will save who he wants to save.

We understand that.

But at the same time, it doesn't negate the responsibility of man to follow in obedience.

And so if we want to be used by God, we sell that word election.

Remember what that word election means is to be selected for a specific service.

So if you are elected of God, that means you've trusted in him, you're part of the family of God, and God has elected you for a special role of service within his kingdom.

And so Paul says, Israel had missed the mark.

The church now is in that role.

And we're going to talk more about that as we come along in this series.

But I want us to go back and think about a couple things here.

Number one, think about the mercy of God.

Think about the importance of all of us desiring and yielding and living in the mercy of God.

All of us need mercy because none of us are going to be perfectly obedient in our lives.

All of us deserve God's judgment.

All of us deserve God's hardening.

And so God is faithful and he's patient.

Think about how many times God has been faithful with you.

I can think about in my life how many times God has been faithful to me.

God has extended me mercy time after time after time, and I don't deserve it.

So, so don't get me wrong, this passage of scripture is not talking about all of us have to be perfect to be used by God, because none of us could be used by God, then, okay, none of us could be used by God if God was requiring us to be perfectly faithful.

But what he is Requiring us is to have a broken heart and a willingness to be used by Him.

And so what I would encourage you to do here this morning is to think about that analogy of the potter and the clay.

Are we the clay that's basically turning to the potter saying, lord, I don't want to be used that way?

I think you're doing the wrong thing and I'm questioning you.

Remember what Paul said.

Who are we to question God?

Shall the thing form say to him that formed it, why hast Thou made me thus?

You know, there's times in my life where I'm like, honestly, Lord, if youf would have just done this for me, if you would've made me stronger in this area or smarter in this area, I could be used so much better for you if you would just give me this, this skill set or that thing.

And a lot of times what happens is that we question God and how he's ordained us in our life.

I would say this.

God has made you a specific way for a specific call for you to follow in obedience.

And you might not have the same giftings as somebody else, but God has given you individual giftings to use for being a part of the blessing of the Word of God to this world.

The way think about Israel in the Old Testament, God didn't use predominantly, God didn't use the Philistines for His plan.

God didn't use the Amorites for His plan.

And when it comes to the oracles of God, the law wasn't given to those people.

The law was given to Israel.

Israel was used as that vessel of presenting the truth of God to the world.

Now whose role is that today?

The role today is the church.

You are the church.

The role is today.

The church is used as the oracles of God, as the blessing of God, as the word of God.

We are called to be the pillar and ground of truth.

And so we as the church, guess what?

If we fail, God's still not going to fail.

I think that's a lot of times the picture that we have in our culture today is that, you know, the church is failing, so God is failing.

Folks, if all of us walked away from the church today, that would be an egregious, terrible sin.

It would be sad, it would be painful.

We would be missing out.

But guess what?

God's plan is not going to be foiled by our inadequacies.

We could walk away.

God could use somebody else.

God.

God could take that clay and go, okay, you were intended to be a vessel of honor, but Now I'll use you as a vessel of dishonor.

And now I'm going to get my glory through your judgment, through your rebellion.

The point is, is I don't want to be used that way.

I want to be used by God in a way that he intends for me to be used.

And therefore, as the church think about it this way.

God doesn't need us, but God wants us and has a plan for us.

And he says, don't miss the mark, don't miss the boat.

This is your time, this is your opportunity.

Israel missed their opportunity at that point.

God still gave them a path back to find him in repentance and, and, and, and humility and ultimately faith.

And we'll get more into that.

But what I would encourage you to think about is this.

Are you the clay that looks to the Lord and says, do it this way, don't make me that way, make me this way.

Don't call me to this, but call me to this?

He says, no, no.

Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lung to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor?

Just as God used Pharaoh as a, as a vessel of dishonor, so he can use anyone for a vessel of dishonor in our rebellion in a hardness.

So some people say, well, if God hardens my heart, what choice do I have?

God will only harden those that are already in rebellion to him.

God will turn some over to their reprobate minds.

God will turn some over that are already in rebellion and say, that's what you want.

Okay, have that, take that.

And now you're hardened in that.

Think of the, think of the analogy of, of the clay pot.

I don't know if any of you got into pottery.

I've never gotten into pottery.

So if this analogy isn't perfect, just tell me after the service.

Okay, but you know, if we're making a clay pot, right, it's moldable at a certain point until we put it into the fire, until you put it into the heat.

And then once it's heated, it's set in that way that it is, right?

So for example, let's say I had this pot and I'm making this pot.

And right before I put it into the heat to set it in, I like put my handprint in and I fall into it and I say, well, I'm going to put it in there anyway.

It's going to hard.

It's not going to harden back into what I intended it to be.

It's going to Stay hardened in that form that it was in when it faced that heat.

That's what God does in his hardening.

There's a certain person who comes in rebellion to him.

Eventually God says, okay, I'm going to set you in that place.

So, for example, Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God multiple times.

God says, okay, you're going to stay in that hardening.

But the Bible says there in Jeremiah 18, Isaiah 29, and I believe here in even Romans, chapter nine, that it's not too late if we find our place in a sense of humility to come back to God in forgiveness, come back in repentance, and say, lord, I turn to you.

And if.

If we have the capacity to do that, I'm going to say, you have not been hardened to the place where you've missed your chance.

Some people have told me, pastor, I'm afraid of committing the unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Spirit.

I'm afraid that God hasn't chosen me.

I'm afraid that maybe I've made too many mistakes.

Folks, if you have that concern, you have not been hurting too far.

You have not committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

If you are desiring to follow God in obedience, that's.

That's actually an evidence that you do have a soft heart to that.

Now, some of us have struggled and some of us are, are dealing with certain issues.

But folks, someone who is hardened and someone who's given over to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, has turned their minds and their hearts away from God and has no desire for Him.

And so the, the.

I believe the danger in the philosophy of determinism is that there are people who say, I really want to come to God, but I don't even think I'm one of the chosen.

Folks, if you desire the Lord, if you come to him in faith, anybody can be saved.

Okay?

Anybody who comes to him in faith will be saved.

The Bible says, now, now, that means that you are part of the chosen.

That means you are part of the elect.

That means you have a purpose.

You've been selected for service.

So don't ever feel that you say, you know what?

Maybe I'm not one of God's elect.

The only way that makes you one of God's not elect is you in disbelief.

If you don't believe in him, you're not part of the elect.

But if you trust in him and believe in him, you will be.

And so therefore, don't fear whether or not you're good enough for God or that God loved you, folks, The Bible says that God proved his love for you.

Romans 5, 8.

But God commended or demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ proved his love for you by dying on the cross for you.

There's some people that teach out there that God only died for certain people that God died for this section right here, but he didn't die for this section over here, and he died for this section over here.

They're going to get saved, but you guys had no chance.

Now, I'm not saying you guys are bad, okay?

I'm just.

You're in that section.

The Bible says, I believe that whosoever believeth in him, God died.

He offers the gift of grace for all.

For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not of works.

Lest any man should boast, it's a gift of offering to us.

And the Bible says in John chapter one, as many as received him, they became the sons of children of God.

And so, yes, we can reject.

I believe we can reject.

We can reject or receive.

Now, some people teach, and I have to reiterate this from last week, some people teach that, hey, well, if you believe that it's a choice, that means that you believe that you're saving yourself, that you are some kind of smart, wise person, and then you save yourself.

And then the Holy Spirit comes in.

Folks, we cannot get saved without the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

And the Word of God reveals the truth to us.

The Holy Spirit convicts our hearts, awakens our hearts.

And then we have a decision on whether or not we're going to respond in faith or we're going to respond in our rebellion and disbelief.

And I believe that's the picture that's laid out for us in salvation.

So I would encourage you to think about Romans chapter nine, if you have a different viewpoint on that.

I understand that there are different viewpoints on that.

But what I will say is this.

We have to see scripture for scripture.

We have to see it in context.

And as we come back next week, we're going to see some passages of scripture that specifically speak to what God does to those who live in rebellion.

And ultimately the fact that he will in many cases pull away the opportunity to be part of the work of God.

Think about revelation.

Think about when he's talking to the candlesticks and he says, I will remove those things if you are unfaithful.

And so let's Be faithful.

Let's be true.

Let's be the ones who submit ourselves to God and say, lord, use me.

I don't care how you use me, but use me for your purpose.

Use me.

For I want to be a vessel of honor.

I come to you in a sense of humility and brokenness and say, I want to turn away from my way of thinking.

I want to turn away from my good works.

I want to turn away from my plans and my projections.

And I want your plan and your way to be seen in my life.

And so God shows mercy to who he will show mercy to.

That's a true statement.

God is sovereign.

God is above all.

And I don't think that we're more powerful than God.

I don't believe that we find God in our own strength.

I. I don't believe that we can lose our salvation, that our salvation is based on anything that we do.

I believe salvation is based on everything that Jesus Christ has done for us.

And the fact is, is that we must trust in that.

And then when we trust in that, we are secure.

We are part of the family of God, and nobody can steal that away from us.

Because one side of the coin is this.

Many times when people are debating this topic of.

Of determinism, election, salvation, all those different types of things, they usually only lump people into two camps.

You have one camp that believes it's all God and we're secure forever.

And there's another camp that believes it's all free will and we're not secure and we can lose our salvation if we turn away from God.

I don't believe that either one of those are completely right.

I think those are extremes on both sides of the coin.

I believe that God awakens our heart.

I believe that we respond in faith.

I believe that once we respond in faith, we are secure.

The Bible says that we are sealed until the day of redemption.

The Holy Spirit seals us.

And so, for example, my kids say, please don't use me in analogy, okay?

And so I try not to, but I. I have to, okay?

It's just as it is.

So my.

My children are my children.

That nothing, no one can take that away.

They can't get into my blood and change up my bloodline and their bloodline and say, they're not.

Those are my children.

Now.

Can they disappoint me?

Sure, of course.

Can they disobey me?

Sure.

Can.

Can they, in their rebellion to me, break fellowship?

Sure.

You guys know this.

My children, they got to a certain age, they could say, dad, I'M never talking to you.

I'm running.

I.

You know, some of you maybe did this when you were kids.

You packed your bags up, I'm running away from home.

They close their door and they say, I'm not talking to you.

Right?

Fellowship can be hindered because of rebellion and sin, but that can be restored.

But one thing that can never change with my children is that they are going to be my children.

Not because they're faithful, but because they're my children and I love them.

And then I want to be a faithful father to them.

And that's the same thing with the Lord.

There are people that can reject their relationship with God.

There can be people who say that, you know what?

I'm going to go my own way.

But if they have trusted in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit indwells them, there should be that biblical conviction to come back to the Father.

But at the same time, we don't hold on to our salvation.

God holds on to our salvation.

No man can pluck us out of his hand.

I can't even pluck myself out of his hand when I trust in him.

And so there's a lot of different belief systems on that.

But I wanted to share that with you here today because I don't want you to think that there's just only two sides of the coin.

It's all free will and it's all man strength.

And then on the other side, it's all God's strength.

And there's no human responsibility, folks.

There is human responsibility, but also it's all relying on the power and the direction of God.

And so here this morning, are we willing to say, lord, you are the potter, I am the clay.

I want to be used by you.

I don't want to fight against you.

I don't want to have inconsistencies in my heart so that I can't be used for your honor, but used for dishonor.

I don't want people to see my life as a cautionary tale of how a pastor can turn away from the word of God.

You know, you know, God can use unfaithful pastors for his glory.

You say what?

How could he do that?

Well, one, we could see a lot of examples of how men and women have fallen into sin.

And we can be warned against all those difficulties.

We can see God working through unfaithful people, and we can see God working through faithful people.

So what I would say is this, yes, God can use my bad decisions for his good.

God can use my failures for his purpose.

But all the more reason why I need to be aware and say, lord, I don't want my bad decisions to bring you glory.

I want my good decisions to bring you glory.

And good decisions are essentially just aligning ourselves with his decisions for our life.

And I encourage you to think about that.

Love relationship with God.

Love relationship is something that's amazing.

Some of you have been in relationships that aren't based in love.

Maybe they're based on something else.

But, but when it comes to a love relationship with God, it's, it's reciprocal, it's.

It's back and forth.

There's communication, there's growth there, there's displays of love, there's displays of kindness, there's displays of faithfulness.

And folks, when you understand your relationship with God that way, there's so much more joy to serve Him.

There's so much more passion when it comes to what I'm doing for him, when it comes to service, when it comes to the kingdom, when it comes to my ministry, when it comes to my Bible study, when it comes to my prayer time.

And I would encourage you to think about it that way.

It's not that we have to do these things to keep God's love, but it's that we want to do these things because of what God has done for us.

And that's a beautiful picture of understanding our relationship with Christ.

And so I'm going to ask you to stand with me, every head bowed, every head closed, as the music plays here.

This morning, I know we talked about a lot of information, and I no doubt understand that there's probably some things that there's still questions about.

Romans, chapter nine is a difficult passage.

Even Peter says that, that Paul's writings are difficult to comprehend sometimes.

But what I will say is this, folks.

I know that when the Word of God is presented that there is a lesson to be learned, that there is power in the truth of Scripture.

And so here this morning, I don't know what God spoke to you about, but what I will say is this.

For me, the biggest lesson that I needed to hear from this passage is that as the clay, as the creation, I have no right to question God and what he is doing in my life.

I have no right to question whether or not God is going to use me this way or this way in Middletown, Delaware, or in another place.

We don't have a right to question Him.

All we have the right to do is to willingly be molded by him and follow him and have the joy of being a vessel of honor for the cause of our kingdom, the cause of our Savior.

And so here this morning, maybe that's something for you.

Maybe it's just a submission.

Maybe it's a repentant heart.

Maybe it's turning to him in revival.

Maybe it's just saying, lord, I surrender to you.

I surrender the struggle.

I surrender my job.

I surrender my family.

I surrender my ministry to you so that you can mold me and use me for your work and not my own.

And so here this morning, I encourage you to think about that.

If you need Jesus Christ as Savior, if you have any questions, if you have any doubts, if you have any thoughts about whether or not you're saved or you're good enough or you've worked your way to heaven.

Folks, this morning, the Bible says that none of us can work our way.

It's only by faith.

And so this morning I'd love to show you or share with you what the Bible says about coming to faith in Jesus Christ to know what it means to have everlasting life, to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

So Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

Thank you so much for the wonderful word that you've blessed us with here this morning.

We thank you and we love you working individuals here today that might need to turn to you.

We ask all these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads.

I hear this morning.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro at middletown baptist church.com if you've enjoyed this podcast.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.