A Peek Behind The Curtain of God’s Sovereignty
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Sermon Title: A Peek Behind The Curtain of God’s Sovereignty
Scripture: Romans 9:19-24
Occasion: The Lord’s Day
Date: January 21, 2023
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Scripture Transitions Sermon Title|Quotes |Emphasis
PRAY
Ephesians 1:2 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
I have been waiting for months on the edge of my seat to close out Romans 9.
For the last few years, I have been itching to preach these verses.
You might ask why that is?
It might not be for the reason you think!
The reason I have longed to preach these verses is because God used these verses many years ago to reveal Himself to me.
These verses truly changed the trajectory of my life, my walk with Christ, and the ministry entrusted to me.
*Example of being in the parking lot talking about these verses and being face with God’s sovereignty. I went home and studied Romans 9-11 until the pages fell off!
Let us not forget, Romans 12 is coming!
These verses are not merely for theological ascent, but God in His mercy , He desires to reveal Himself to us in order that He would change us and make us a people who aim above all things to glorify Him.
A sovereign glory that fuels our hope and provides comfort and security to our fears.
Glory is what God is after, and this is what He desires for us.
That our lives would be about one thing: Not our glory BUT HIS.
Psalm 115:1 (ESV)
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
I’m not sure you can have this kind of pursuit in life without studying these verses.
The usual two ways you stumble upon verses like these:
You either are struck with tragedy and have big questions like “How can God bee good and send people to Hell”, “How can God be good and sovereign if evil exists in the world.”
Or You are searching to really know the Lord, His true nature and character. You always end up at Romans 9.
No matter where you find yourself today, the Lord by His grace, provides for us “A Peak Behind The Curtain of God’s Sovereignty”, which is the title of my sermon.
God’s aim here is, one, to anchor us in His character in order that our lives would make less of us and much of Him and His great glory.
And two, to give us an unshakeable hope and security in God’s sovereignty.
CATCH US UP
This whole section of Romans, 9-11, is Paul’s way of answering the objections of His jewish friends.
Why do I say that?
Because up until Romans 9, Paul has drilled down the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
And what He does in Romans 8 is ends with crescendo of sorts, that sounds the trumpets to all in Christ.
And Paul says boldy, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, if you trust in this gospel of justification, then nothing can separate you from God’s love.
Nothing,
Romans 8:35–39 (ESV)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So all those who are in Christ, say “Yes and Amen”, BUT, there is a BIG BUT here, Paul’s Jewish kinsmen in the flesh, those who are descendants of Abraham, like Paul, who says in Romans 11:1
Romans 11:1 (ESV)
……For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
They have a lot of objections to this gospel of justification and the so called assurance that comes with it.
Why would they have objections, you might ask?
Well, because in their minds, what they hear paul saying is two-fold:
God has rejected us and has replaced us with the gentiles.
Why should we trust in the gospel of justification and believe that it brings with it assurance of salvation, WHEN it seems that God has given up us.
2.How can we believe in the gospel when Israel as a whole has seemingly rejected it’s “Messiah.”
So, Paul understands these objections, and was faced with it at every turn in the early Church.
So He spends the next 3 chapters explaining to His Jewish friends How God has not changed, How God is consistent, and How His Word, His promises, have not failed.
He spends 3 chapters anchoring us in God’s sovereignty, so that when we get to Romans 12, we burst out in praise and with a life of sacrificial service to the King.
In Romans 9:1-5, Paul opens up His heart and pleads with His jewish friends to come to christ, even if it were possible, at the expense of His own soul.
Then He makes the clarification in vv4-5, that to Israel belongs adoption, glory, covenants, giving of the law, worship and the promises.
But He adds a very important line at the end of verse 5, and says Romans 9:5
Romans 9:5 (ESV)
…… from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
The best thing that has ever come out of Israel, that has been given to Israel, is the Messiah, who is the Lord over all.
He gives more than a nudge to his jewish friends, by telling them all that God has given to them pales in comparison to the gift of Jesus the Messiah who has come to save them. Who they have rejected and are still rejecting.
in Verse 6 He makes a vital statement:
Romans 9:6 (ESV)
But it is not as though the word of God has failed.
Just because Israel is temporarily in unbelief as a whole in the Messiah, doesn not mean that God’s promises to them have failed.
Then Paul proceeds to back up this argument in the proceeding verses.
God has always chosen a remnant for himself.
Shows that through Isaacs Children.
Through Rebekah and Sarah.
And of course through Jacob and Esua.
The point is simply this:
Not all physical Jews throughout history were spiritual Jews.
Not all circumcised Jews had circumcised hearts.
So he begins too make his case by looking back to the OT.
He doesn't interpret the OT through the NT lens, but he interpret the NT through the OT lens.
Why? Because He wants the reader to see the consistency of God.
God has not changed His operation mid-stream.
God has not flipped the script on salvation.
He has been doing what He is doing from the start of creation.
But of course this brings with it more objections that Paul has to answer.
From the surface it seems as if God is unjust in doings.
It seems as if God is picking some and not picking others because He is a big narcissistic bully in the sky picking whom He wants to be on His team.
So Paul reminds us in Romans 9:14-15
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
What this all boils down to up until this point is God’s mercy.
Through the example of Pharaoh, and Jacob, and Esau, and Abraham, and Moses, He brings home the point in Romans 9:18 and says,
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
This section is a matter of glorying in God’s mercy.
That’s why when we finally make it out on the other end of Romans 11 and cross state lines into Romans 12 we hear Paul say,
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
God’s mercy is driving this section of scripture.
WHY?
So that we might be a merciful people.
It’s hard to be a merciful person if you have not yet understood the depth, and width, and height, of God’s everlasting and unrelenting mercy.
Pastor Dashawn cousins who preached this Romans 9:14-18 in November, provided us a helpful pithy statement, that will help us digest big truths like these.
This statement will also help us today.
Pastor Dashawn said,
“In the midst of the unknown, we should trust what he has shown because He is God alone.” -Pastor Dashawn Cousins
Hopefully you are semi-caught up to where we find ourselves today in Romans 9:19.
So the objection shifts in romans 9:14 from questioning God’s faithfulness to His promises to questioning the integrity of God’s character.
vv14-18, Paul deals with those who think He is unjust in the way He shows mercy to some and hardens others.
But this persistent objector continues to search for a way to prove that God is an unjust, unrighteous, unwise, God.
The objector is attempting to put God on trial, as we so often do.
So what does Paul have to do? Well, He has to put and end to the madness, and provide the objector with a REALITY CHECK!
Point 1: We need a Reality Check if we are placing God on trial
The objector says in Romans 9:19
Romans 9:19 (ESV)
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
Other translations say it this way:
NLT
“Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”
AMP
9 “Why does He still blame me [for sinning]? For who [including myself] has [ever] resisted His will and purpose?”
MSG
“So how can God blame us for anything since he’s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?”
Have you ever had that question?
OF COURSE YOU HAVE! You are in good company!
This is the most common question asked when we are searching to understand the sovereignty of God.
It brings me great comfort to know I wasn’t the only one to ever ask this question.
Now the question is today, How does God answer that question?
You may have gone to YouTube to look for the answer.
You may have gone to your favorite theologian/pastor to get that question answered, but how does the Holy Spirit answer that question?!
Romans 9:20 (ESV)
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?
Friends, we are so far below God that we have neither the wisdom nor the right to question our Creator, says the Holy Spirit.
The right biblical framework for that question should look more like the Davids framework in Psalm 8:3-4:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
The fact that you are mindful of little old me is enough! Let alone that you care for me.
That’s the right framework or approach to God.
This is reminiscent of Job of course.
This is God’s own approach to Job when Job questions why God has put him through such suffering.
As good bible studiers, we know the answer—Satan wants to prove Job only loves God for what he receives from him, not for who he is himself, and so God has allowed Satan to test Job (Job 1:8–12).
God could choose to let Job in on this spiritual dimension—instead, he challenges Job’s right even to ask (Job 38–41).
God gives Job a reality Check in Job 38:1-4,
NLT
2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? -Job 38:2
3 Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. -Job 38:3
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Job 38:4
In other words, God says to job, “Who is Job (US), a man, to question or to answer back to his Creator? “
A Pastor (Tim Keller) once said:
We must beware of standing in judgment over God, rather than remembering he is judge over us; and must most of all beware of re-creating God in a way that is more pleasant or palatable, rather than acknowledging that he is our Creator. He is the divine Potter; we are human clay (Romans 9:21).
God answers his objectors with a question: Who do you think you are?
The answer from God regarding His sovereign election, is silence.
If the objector was making a false assumption, Paul would have corrected it.
But it’s not a false assumption.
God does choose who will be saved, God does choose those to be hardened.
If that were a false assumption, he would have corrected it, but he doesn't correct it.
He says, "who do you think you are to ask a question like that. Here is my answer: Be quite!, and don't ask that question. Don't you dare impugn the character of God."
(Example of my children telling Jessica and I what to do with our money)
It is true that God chooses.
Why does God show His mercy to some and harden others?
It is undeniable that that is a difficult question.
Believe me it is a difficult question.
It is a very difficult...I mean, I've asked that question for years.
How can God send people to an eternal hell when He's the one that chose the saved?
It's a hard question.
And you know what the answer to that question is? Be quite!
You don't ask that question.
You don’t have the right to ask that question because you are not the owner of all that exists.
Genesis 18:25 (ESV)
Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
So Paul gives us a reality check.
Wake up and smell the coffee, and remember that you are talking to almighty God, the creator of all that exists.
Paul doesn't stop there, but now, He gives as a peak behind the curtain of God’s sovereignty.
Just a peak!
Point 2: A Peak behind the curtain of God’s sovereignty
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
Steven Lawson says this about these verses:
It is very appropriate that all of mankind is pictured as clay, one lump of clay, because clay is dirty, clay is filthy, clay is marred, it is filled with many flaws.
And that is what humanity is in its total depravity.
Because of the fall of Adam, the entire human race has been plunged into sin, and so the analogy of clay is very appropriate.
I totally agree!
Paul backs up His argument be referencing two very important OT scriptures, Isaiah 64:6-8 which says,
Isaiah 64:6–8 (ESV)
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
And Jeremiah 18:1-11 (little longer for context..by the way speaking to ISRAEL!)
Jeremiah 18:1–11 (ESV)
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”
So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel.
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Then the word of the Lord came to me:
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,
and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,
and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.
Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’
What did Israel do?
“But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’
God has the sovereign right to do as He pleases with His owns creation.
Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
This is exactly what is being communicated here in Romans 9:21
Romans 9:21 (ESV)
Has the potter no RIGHT over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
This word “right” is a Greek word (exousia) that means “supreme authority over others.”
It means the power of choice.
It means liberty to do as one pleases.
In fact, it is translated in Matthew 28:18
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
And so, it is synonymous with supreme authority or the familiar word, “sovereignty.”
That is what this word “right” means.
Romans 9:21 (ESV)
Has the potter no [sovereignty] over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
And it is the same thought that we saw earlier in verse 11 that from the same womb God can make one twin to be the object of His love and God can make the other twin to be the object of His hatred, all from the same womb.
And here the idea is the same; from the same lump of clay, God can sort it out and separate it with different purposes for the different objects that He makes.
And so, God is like a potter who possesses and exercises uncontested authority over one lump of clay, which is humanity.
And as Steven Lawsons said, mankind is like clay, dirty, flawed, filthy, marred, and each individual is like a vessel.
Some are made for very fashionable use, and others are made for very dishonorable use.
But the analogy is quite simple:
A potter makes choices.
Clay has no part in it.
So this boils down to right.
God alone has the right to do as He pleases.
He has the ability to do what He wants according to His perfect wisdom.
A potter can make fine china or it can make a trash can, He has the right to create and use that vessel for His own good and sovereign purposes.
Now I don't believe, and you must listen carefully to this:
I do not believe that God claims the right to create sinful, damnable creatures in order to punish them.
I do not believe that the Bible teaches that God creates occupants for hell.
I believe the Bible very clearly says out of the Lord Himself that hell was created for the devil and his angels.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
God is not claiming the right to create damnable creatures in order to damn them, but He is claiming His right to deal with creatures who are sinful already as He wills.
He pardons or punishes as He sees fit. He doesn't make men sinners but He chooses the disposition of men who are sinners.
God is not responsible that men are sinners.
Scripture makes that very clear. And if you have forgotten, you need to reread James 1:13,
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
God doesn't create evil.
Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV)
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong,
When God made everything, He made everything, looked at it and said it is what? It's good.
But God reserves the right to do with already sinful creatures that which His own will desires.
(Example from Tom Pennington)
Now Paul then concludes with verses to apply this analogy.
Follow very carefully, very, very strategic portion of scripture here.
Romans 9:22(ESV)
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
Paul says that while God is the author of our salvation, we are the authors of our damnation.
Notice that Paul says here that God “endured with much patience vessels of wrath .”
This shows that evil people are not made evil by God.
He bears with them.
He never gives anyone quite what they deserve.
He is unjust to no one.
And then Paul adds that these vessels of wrath are “prepared for destruction”—but he doesn’t say by whom.
Contrast this with verse 23, where it says clearly of the objects of God’s mercy that Romans 9:23
Romans 9:23 (ESV)
which he has prepared [them] beforehand for glory—
By implication, it appears that the vessels of wrath are prepared for destruction by themselves.
This is not God’s doing, but ours.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
There should be nothing more terrifying than the idea of God giving us up to ourselves.
So many have misunderstood this passage, understandably. But we want to try and get it right here today.
The verses starts of asking.. What if God... What if God exercising His divine choice in sovereign authority makes some vessels of mercy while others are made vessels of wrath?
What if?
It's like saying, "So what if God did that."
What right do you have?
By the way, it isn't even a sentence.
It's an unfinished sentence in the Greek.
What if? It's an open-ended question.
Well what if God wanted to make some unto salvation, some unto wrath?
What if? God's God.
You don't have any right to question God.
Does God have a right to display His wrath? Does He?
Does God have a right to display His holy justice?
Does that bring Him glory?
Is God's glory on display when He reacts in anger? Yes.
Is God's glory on display when He reacts in wrath? Yes.
Is God's glory on display when He reacts in holy judgment? Yes.
Because that's as much an element of God's character as the other elements.
Is God's glory on display when He demonstrates His mercy? Yes.
When He demonstrates His grace? Yes.
When He demonstrates His compassion? Yes.
Is He any less God on either side? No.
And if He is fully God then He will be revealed as God and to be revealed as God there must be some wherein His grace is revealed and some wherein His judgment is revealed.
So, He has the right to display His gracious mercy and His holy justice.
What if?
Look back at verse 22.
What if? Now watch this,
Romans 9:22 (ESV)
What if God, desiring to show his wrath …
by desiring he means, not what we think, "Well, I'm desiring to do it."
No, wishing to do it, wanting strongly to do it, greatly desiring to do it.
God wants to show His wrath.
Now mark this, people, this will answer an awful lot of questions for you.
God wants to display His wrath. Why?
Answer:
Because He wants to reveal Himself and that is part of Himself.
The entrance of sin, now listen carefully, into the world — and here's a theological answer for you to a lot of questions — the entrance of sin into the world was necessary so that God could manifest His wrath and His judgment and His holy anger and His vengeance and His justice, because that is as much an element of God's nature as any other thing in His nature.
People say, "Why did God allow sin?”
God allowed sin in order that He might display His holy wrath.
No sin, no wrath, no revelation of the fullness of the glory of God.
So when you wonder why God patiently allowed sin, I believe it's answered here in Romans 9:22
Let me ask you two questions:
Why do we think God’s judgment is bad when we believe that he is good?
What is it about God‘s judgment that we struggle with most?
I'm not fully going to confess to you that I'm real comfortable with all of this in my human mind, but I'm sure clear what it says.
And the rest I hold by faith.
So God sovereignly allowed and endured sin for the purpose of revealing His holy wrath in its judgment and its punishment.
And of course this judgment put God’s power on full display.
We see this in the book of revelation don’t we?
And God displays His power in judgment, doesn't He?
And we see people collected at the Great White Throne and God has the power to bring them out of the graves and to bring them before His tribunal and send them into the Lake of Fire forever. That's power.
And we see this power so clearly with the death and resurrection Jesus.
God’s holy anger, his holy wrath is taken out on his only begotten son for our sin.
At the Cross we see the clearest display of God‘s, perfect wrath and his perfect power.
On the cross, God puts on display his perfect wrath by dealing with sin, and he puts on display his perfect power by overcoming it.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV)
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Romans 1:16 (ESV)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
It’s at the cross we see God’s power triumphing over ever foe.
At the cross we see Jesus crushing the serpents head.
Get this..sin has provided God a way to be displayed.
His holy wrath is displayed, His tremendous power is displayed two ways:
1. As He demonstrates His ability to judge evil
2. and His ability to redeem from evil.
So sin provides a means for God to be glorified.
And isn't that the reason for everything?
Is there any other reason for anything than for God to be glorified?
See, we think the reason for everything is for us to be happy.
That's not the reason.
God’s glory is the reason for all things, beloved.
Which leads me to my final point as I close.
Point 3: God’s Goal in all His doings is to put His glory on display
in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
Paul says that God is showing “the riches of his glory” by having mercy on some and passing over others.
This is the heart of the mystery.
Somehow, if God had mercy on all or condemned all, we would not see his glory.
I don’t think Paul is giving us much more than a hint here, but it is a very suggestive hint.
For the biggest question is: If God could save everyone, why doesn’t he?
And here Paul seems to say that God’s chosen course (to save some and leave others to themselves) will in the end be more fit to show forth God’s glory than any other scheme we can imagine.
This may seem strange to us, but that is the point—we are not God, and cannot know everything or decide what is best (v 20—Paul will return to this idea in 11:33–36).
In summary, in election God comes in, softens our hearts and makes us good.
In hardening, God simply passes over and lets people have the way they have chosen.
In John Stott’s words:
“If … anybody is lost, the blame is theirs, but if anybody is saved, the credit is God’s. This antinomy contains a mystery which our present knowledge cannot solve; but it is consistent with Scripture, history, and experience.”
D. James Kennedy offers a very helpful illustration that I want to close our time:
“Here are five people who are planning to hold up a bank. They are friends of mine.
I find out about it and I plead with them. I beg them not to do it.
Finally they push me out of the way and they start out.
I tackle one of the men and wrestle him to the ground. The others go ahead, rob the bank, a guard is killed, they are captured, convicted, sentenced …
The one man who was not involved in the robbery goes free.
Now I ask you this question: Whose fault was it that the other men died?…
Now this other man who is walking around free—can he say, “Because my heart is so good, I am a free man”?
The only reason that he is free is because of me; because I restrained him.
So those who go to hell have no one to blame but themselves.
Those who go to heaven have no one to praise but Jesus Christ.
Thus we see that salvation is all of grace from its beginning to its end.”
ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2015), 68–69.
What will it be for you today, friend?
PRAY