Dale Partridge - July 12, 2024


Romans 9_21-24： God’s Glory in Sin, Justice, and Mercy with Dale Partridge


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56 minutes

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137.51004

Word count

7,704

Sentence count

442

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12

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Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
00:00:00.000 Stand for the reading of God's Word, Romans chapter 9, verses 6 through 24.
00:00:09.880 Hear the word of the Lord.
00:00:13.820 But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from
00:00:19.380 Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring.
00:00:26.960 But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
00:00:30.000 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but
00:00:35.540 the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
00:00:40.200 For this is what the promise said, About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall
00:00:45.720 have a son.
00:00:47.460 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather
00:00:53.400 Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order
00:01:00.000 that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of his call.
00:01:07.980 She was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
00:01:16.140 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses,
00:01:23.300 I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
00:01:29.660 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
00:01:35.800 For the scripture says to Pharaoh,
00:01:39.000 For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you,
00:01:43.880 and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
00:01:47.800 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
00:01:53.620 You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault?
00:01:57.120 For who can resist his will?
00:01:58.980 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?
00:02:03.940 Will what is molded say to its molder?
00:02:07.020 Why have you made me like this?
00:02:08.840 Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?
00:02:17.440 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?
00:02:26.840 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy,
00:02:32.640 which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
00:02:36.240 Even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.
00:02:43.080 This is the word of the Lord.
00:02:45.920 Amen.
00:02:47.160 Well, keep your Bible open because we're going to be having heads down, heads up,
00:02:55.380 quite a bit today as we go through the scriptures. Now, over the past several weeks,
00:03:01.000 we have seen Paul's presentation of God's sovereignty over the salvation of his people.
00:03:07.920 That's what we've been looking at. In chapter 9, Paul anticipates three common, and I would even
00:03:13.720 say carnal, questions from those who are struggling with the doctrine of election. Is that you? I mean,
00:03:21.300 think about it for a second. Are you struggling with the doctrine of election? We grew up in an
00:03:26.280 America that has really kind of skipped over Romans 9 as a teaching on the doctrines of
00:03:34.820 grace or Calvinism or the sovereignty of God, whatever you want to call it. But do you struggle
00:03:40.020 with it? And if you do, this sermon, I think, will certainly help. Now, remember that we just came
00:03:45.320 off the heels of Romans chapter 8, which said that God causes all things to work together for good
00:03:50.880 for those who are called according to his purpose.
00:03:53.960 And so we have this kind of massive statement
00:03:57.060 of sovereignty over God's people.
00:04:00.640 And the first question that Paul anticipates
00:04:04.720 is a logical question.
00:04:05.720 Well, if God controls the salvation of his people,
00:04:08.440 then why did the vast majority of the Jews reject Christ?
00:04:12.380 That's gotta be what you're thinking
00:04:13.620 when you hear that God causes all things to work together.
00:04:16.800 Those whom he foreknew, he predestined.
00:04:18.200 Those whom he predestined, he called.
00:04:19.500 Those he called, he justified.
00:04:20.460 Those he justified, he glorified.
00:04:21.660 Well, what happened to the Jews?
00:04:24.180 Why aren't they saved?
00:04:26.080 The vast majority of the Jews rejected Christ.
00:04:28.660 To which Paul responded, because not all the Jews are elect.
00:04:34.540 He says, not all of Israel is Israel.
00:04:38.060 The word of God did not fail.
00:04:41.200 He provided two Old Testament examples.
00:04:42.980 We saw, we just read, Elder Trevor just read this through.
00:04:46.700 but the election of Isaac and not Ishmael
00:04:48.520 and the election of Jacob and not Esau.
00:04:53.380 And these elections were made prior to their birth
00:04:57.020 without any recollection to works that have been done
00:05:03.200 or foreseen works that would be done.
00:05:06.560 It's done before they're born.
00:05:10.040 Which led to question number two.
00:05:12.520 If election is not based on our works,
00:05:14.100 is God's election unjust?
00:05:18.940 Is it unjust for God to elect people
00:05:21.120 having no basis of their election from their own works?
00:05:29.340 To which Paul reminds his readers of God's sovereignty over humanity
00:05:32.460 by quoting the words of God to Moses.
00:05:36.040 I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy
00:05:38.420 and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
00:05:42.220 He goes on to show how God's election is connected to his will and that his will cannot be altered
00:05:51.020 by human will.
00:05:53.500 He gives an example of God's will controlling Pharaoh's will.
00:05:58.860 Pharaoh is the most willful individual in biblical history and God makes an example
00:06:05.800 of him showing him that God even controls his will.
00:06:12.220 Again, I've made the connection that if God said he only controlled ants, it would be
00:06:18.080 okay for us to say, well, he doesn't control superior beings like humans.
00:06:21.040 But when God says he controls kings and wars and weather, it's ridiculous for us to think
00:06:25.620 that he doesn't control our wills.
00:06:32.160 He concludes in chapter 9, verse 18, so then it depends, that is election, depends not
00:06:40.960 on human will or exertion free will is not a biblical idea you have a will it's just never
00:06:49.920 free it's either enslaved to sin and the flesh or it's enslaved to righteousness in christ
00:06:57.440 you have a will it's just not free to change its nature and affections from being loving sin
00:07:05.280 to loving christ christ needs to change your nature for you he needs to do the resurrection
00:07:11.440 he needs to make you going from blind to seen he needs to be the one that makes you
00:07:16.000 deaf to hearing this is the purpose of the miracles to show that god is the one that is required
00:07:23.920 to do the work to change the nature you're free to sin if you're a sinner and you're free to obey
00:07:30.720 if you're a Christian. What you're not free to do is change your nature. It says, so then
00:07:39.920 it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. So then he has mercy
00:07:44.920 on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. Now the carnal mind responds to
00:07:56.300 this with a question of injustice. Injustice. Essentially saying, if this is the case, how can
00:08:02.680 God still find fault? For who can resist the will of God? There it is. You want to look for the
00:08:08.800 doctrine of irresistible grace? Look down in your Bible. It's right there. Who can resist the word
00:08:12.920 or the will of God? You can't resist the will of God, which led to question number three.
00:08:17.140 Question number three, which we will be focusing on some today. How is it just for God to condemn
00:08:24.280 someone for not having repentance or faith or unbelief or hardening if it's
00:08:31.720 according to his will if God hardens an individual how can God still find fault
00:08:38.020 if God controls the will of men and women as he did with Esau and he did
00:08:43.420 with Ishmael and he did with Pharaoh and causes or prevents them to coming from
00:08:49.240 him for repentance how can we still find or how can God still find fault on those individuals
00:08:58.040 and as I mentioned last week this might have been the most blasphemous question in the entire new
00:09:02.040 testament maybe the entire bible because it presupposes that humanity deserves mercy
00:09:07.960 when in reality all we deserve is wrath
00:09:11.720 and to this Paul answered with what I called a checkmate response he says who are you who are
00:09:26.840 you oh man who are you to reply against God will the thing form say to that which formed it
00:09:34.240 why have you made me like this it's intended to be a statement of absurdity
00:09:40.420 We saw how this question mirrored the narrative of Job.
00:09:47.000 Job demanded an explanation for his suffering.
00:09:51.060 God did not provide an answer.
00:09:52.840 Instead, God asked Job 77 other questions.
00:09:58.600 And he did that to highlight Job's smallness,
00:10:02.700 his creatureliness, his clayness, his finitude.
00:10:07.500 And after Job was made aware of his limits, he responds to God by saying, I am foul.
00:10:17.240 How can I reply to you?
00:10:19.420 Again, it's a very similar statement, right?
00:10:22.860 It says right here, you know, who are you to reply against God?
00:10:26.260 And Job says, how can I reply to you?
00:10:28.680 How can I reply to you?
00:10:30.780 So this absence of a response from God for how he has chosen the elect
00:10:36.740 and he's not chosen others is the only certain answer that we receive in this text.
00:10:46.260 Ultimately, it's not a question for us to ask.
00:10:49.120 It's one of those elements of black door theology.
00:10:53.700 How does the Trinity work?
00:10:55.260 Well, here's the black door that you can't enter.
00:10:57.000 How does the hypostatic union work?
00:11:00.020 Well, here's the black door that you cannot open.
00:11:03.980 What is the secret will of God?
00:11:07.040 Here is the black door that you cannot open.
00:11:14.220 Ultimately, these types of questions put God into our court,
00:11:19.560 and it disorders the relationship between the creature and the creator.
00:11:23.760 this is why Paul says
00:11:26.600 well what does molded say to its molder
00:11:28.720 why have you made me like this
00:11:30.780 has not the potter
00:11:33.160 had the right over the clay
00:11:34.600 to make out of one lump
00:11:35.600 a vessel for dishonorable use
00:11:37.520 and another for honorable use
00:11:39.360 it reminds me of Deuteronomy 29 29
00:11:43.560 it says
00:11:44.160 the secret things belong
00:11:46.360 to the Lord our God
00:11:47.840 but the things that are revealed
00:11:50.220 belong to us
00:11:51.920 and to our children forever
00:11:53.940 There are things that we just don't have access to.
00:11:57.620 They have not been revealed to us.
00:12:00.940 God does not reveal the reasons or conditions for his electing grace.
00:12:05.520 Why did he elect that person and not that person?
00:12:07.780 We don't know.
00:12:08.480 That's why it's called unconditional election.
00:12:11.280 There is no conditions by which we know and no conditions by which we fulfill that we
00:12:17.160 are elected to sovereign grace.
00:12:19.020 just as he does not explain why a family may experience a stillborn
00:12:24.960 or a mother dies at 36.
00:12:29.880 There is no answer for those things.
00:12:32.820 If you were in those situations, you would be like,
00:12:35.400 Job, Lord, give me an answer, and he would give you 77 questions.
00:12:42.060 And you'd realize your clayness.
00:12:49.020 All we know is that according to Ephesians 1.11, God says that he works all things according
00:12:55.560 to the counsel of his will.
00:12:57.640 All things.
00:13:00.120 I don't know how you get around that, not including everything, but all things according
00:13:06.680 to the counsel of his will.
00:13:08.400 We know that God is good and he's holy and he's just.
00:13:12.840 We know that God loves mercy and kindness and is compassionate to his people.
00:13:17.000 We know that we are sinners and we do not deserve anything besides hell and wrath.
00:13:23.700 Now today, we're going to deal with a second dimension of this third question.
00:13:31.060 Why does he still find fault?
00:13:33.620 Why does he still find fault?
00:13:34.760 Now the one, this question can quickly snowball into theological scholasticism, okay?
00:13:44.520 I felt like I was turning into Jonathan Edwards while I was studying this week
00:13:50.020 because my brain was feeling like it was going to explode
00:13:53.880 with all the discussion around this particular verse.
00:13:57.720 This question, why does he still find fault,
00:14:00.500 is connected to hundreds of other really big questions.
00:14:07.040 If I could narrow it down,
00:14:09.640 and I believe kind of the most prominent charges
00:14:12.360 that the apostle is attempting to vindicate here
00:14:15.060 are questions like this.
00:14:17.140 Is this way of divine election wrong?
00:14:21.600 Is God unjust to act this way?
00:14:24.360 Is it wrong for him to show mercy and harden others?
00:14:30.240 Now, the real questions are actually under those questions
00:14:35.040 because when you start to study it,
00:14:37.200 within about 40 minutes, you start to realize,
00:14:39.520 oh, wow, these are questions that are connected to deeper questions.
00:14:43.420 And those questions are like, if God is sovereign,
00:14:47.560 why did he even create a world where sin exists?
00:14:53.060 Where fault and wrath are even a category and why redemption is even necessary.
00:14:57.080 If God is so good, why did he create this fallen place?
00:15:02.700 You basically get to the root question is,
00:15:04.580 why does a good God create or allow or permit,
00:15:09.840 whatever language you want to use,
00:15:11.700 a world that has evil in it?
00:15:16.280 And Paul offers a response that I believe answers
00:15:18.920 all of these questions in some degree.
00:15:21.620 He says in verse 22 to 24,
00:15:24.580 what if God, desiring to show his wrath
00:15:27.480 and to make his power known,
00:15:28.920 has endured with much patience
00:15:30.260 the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
00:15:33.400 So let's just stop there for a second.
00:15:35.960 Okay, first, you got to look at the text.
00:15:40.420 Your Bible translates this as a question.
00:15:43.700 In the Greek, it is not a question.
00:15:45.520 In fact, there's no ending even to this sentence.
00:15:50.860 There's been several theologians that are frustrated that this is translated as a question.
00:15:55.680 It doesn't say what if in the Greek.
00:15:58.040 It just says if.
00:15:59.780 A, Epsilon Iota.
00:16:02.060 That's all it says.
00:16:03.140 If.
00:16:05.160 It's more like,
00:16:07.400 if God desired to elect this way,
00:16:11.080 is it unjust?
00:16:12.840 That's more the phrasing.
00:16:14.280 It's more of an emphatic or rhetorical statement
00:16:17.300 and less of like a hypothetical.
00:16:20.040 Like, what if God,
00:16:21.360 that's not the tense that's being used there.
00:16:26.100 But to answer why God has chosen
00:16:28.680 to redeem through election.
00:16:31.480 and still find fault why does he save some and not all why did he create a
00:16:40.720 world at a system of redemption where he saves some and not all because he wants
00:16:47.300 to show his wrath he wants to show his wrath and why does he want to show his
00:16:55.060 wrath because his wrath is a part of who he is. Wrath is a part of who God is. And we live in a
00:17:08.380 time where the love of God has become the sole focus of much of the church's preaching, and the
00:17:13.940 wrath of God has just been kind of pushed under the table. Remember, the good news is good because
00:17:20.420 the bad news is bad. You preach a gospel without the bad news and all you have is a gospel
00:17:26.320 that lays flat. The bad news is what makes the good news so good. We avoid the full nature
00:17:35.860 of God by focusing only on his more palatable aspects in the church today because ignoring
00:17:42.320 his justice, his holiness, his vengeance, his wrath, his fury allows people to minimize
00:17:47.520 the severity of their own sin.
00:17:50.560 That's why we don't talk about those things. 0.96
00:17:53.080 Why are there churches that are filled with people that claim to be gay 0.91
00:17:58.320 or people that are pro-choice or people that sleep with their boyfriend 0.93
00:18:06.820 and girlfriend?
00:18:08.520 Because we don't talk about the other dimension of God.
00:18:12.020 We have a one-dimensional view of God.
00:18:15.040 It's the same with Jesus.
00:18:15.800 I wrote a book called The Manliness of Christ.
00:18:17.520 because we spent I don't know how many decades
00:18:21.180 talking about gentle Jesus
00:18:22.640 and nobody was willing to talk about
00:18:25.260 the intense, resolved, courageous elements of Jesus.
00:18:31.120 We had effeminate Jesus.
00:18:34.920 And what happened to our churches?
00:18:36.460 They were filled with women.
00:18:38.360 And where'd the men go?
00:18:39.480 They disappeared.
00:18:41.840 But when you view Jesus according to scripture
00:18:44.280 and you see that Jesus is the most masculine man
00:18:46.860 that ever walked the earth, well, then you get the men.
00:18:50.820 Then you get the men.
00:18:53.960 What we have to see is that proclaiming God's wrath
00:18:56.820 is equally vital to his nature,
00:18:58.520 and therefore it's a crucial point to understanding the gospel.
00:19:02.020 You cannot understand the gospel without understanding God's wrath.
00:19:04.580 You'll never be grateful for the salvation that you have.
00:19:10.080 In other words, the love of God can only be fully understood
00:19:13.440 against the backdrop of the wrath of God.
00:19:16.860 The mercy of God can only be fully understood against the backdrop of the justice of God.
00:19:27.240 Those things need to be at the foundation.
00:19:29.360 Why do we teach our children the law?
00:19:32.080 It's to show them that they can't keep it and that they're sinners and they need a savior.
00:19:36.780 They need to see the standards.
00:19:38.880 They need to see the justice.
00:19:41.160 They need to see the righteousness of God.
00:19:49.480 Understanding God's wrath is the only way to understanding the gospel.
00:19:53.500 It really, truly is.
00:19:55.460 And we've had too many pastors stand up there and go,
00:19:58.580 God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
00:20:02.980 I grew up in that Christianity.
00:20:06.700 In fact, I would say the majority of our churches in Prescott
00:20:09.940 it's still preached that Christianity.
00:20:12.200 It's soft Christianity light,
00:20:15.280 and it produces false converts everywhere.
00:20:19.260 Steve Lawson, I always say his quote,
00:20:20.760 the only thing worse than not having the assurance of salvation
00:20:23.520 is having the false assurance of salvation.
00:20:26.780 Having the sense that you're saved and not being saved.
00:20:31.700 That's America.
00:20:33.680 America is filled with people who have an intellectual gospel.
00:20:38.940 They can recite it to you.
00:20:41.600 They believe that God loves them.
00:20:45.960 And they have never actually been broken over their own sin.
00:20:49.860 They've never actually appreciated the work of the Savior.
00:20:53.260 They actually never had the moment where they feared hell
00:20:56.900 and laid and pounced upon the cross.
00:21:01.780 Now, by God's grace, some of us were raised in Christian homes,
00:21:05.340 and that happened to us at an early age.
00:21:07.540 I mean, Jonathan Edwards says that salvation is sometimes like a lightning bolt
00:21:12.840 and others like a sunset.
00:21:18.020 So I don't want to project a need for a particular testimony on an individual,
00:21:21.660 but we do live in a time where we have tried to persuade people into the kingdom of God
00:21:27.940 instead of just being faithful and preaching the gospel,
00:21:33.560 preaching how the apostles preached.
00:21:37.540 Now, you may wonder why God allowed his good world to fall into sin.
00:21:42.000 Why?
00:21:42.440 Why did God, after saying, and it is good, allow his good world to fall into sin?
00:21:52.100 The answer is that sin allows God to demonstrate the fullness of his character.
00:22:00.180 This is high theology, guys.
00:22:02.120 Really.
00:22:03.040 Hopefully, this answers a lot of questions for you.
00:22:06.280 The answer is that sin allows God to demonstrate the fullness of his character,
00:22:09.860 his wrath, his justice, his vengeance, his righteousness.
00:22:13.060 Without a world that included sin, those elements of God would not be seen.
00:22:19.620 For those of you who have heard my teaching on glory,
00:22:23.160 you know that glory is found where identity meets activity.
00:22:28.840 When you see something operating as it was designed to do or as it should,
00:22:35.280 It's glorious.
00:22:37.220 When you see a woman that's pregnant and a loving marriage, it's glorious because she
00:22:43.600 is operating, her identity and her activity are aligned.
00:22:48.240 Glory.
00:22:52.620 Now, because God's identity includes his wrath, a world with sin allows his identity to be
00:23:00.840 seen through his activity of wrath.
00:23:05.280 One theologian said, God cannot have attributes that do not have functions in the world.
00:23:12.500 Think about that.
00:23:14.020 God cannot have attributes that do not have functions.
00:23:19.400 A world without sin leaves God with attributes without function.
00:23:26.920 For God to be glorious, his identity must be fully expressed through his actions.
00:23:32.360 And what I mean by that is that a world with sin, a world with sin, brings about more of
00:23:41.320 God's glory than a world without sin.
00:23:45.060 Shocker, okay?
00:23:47.600 A world with sin brings about more glory for God than a world without sin.
00:23:56.760 In 2010, at the National Ligonier Conference, R.C. Sproul once said, quote,
00:24:00.820 evil is not good, but it's good that there is evil.
00:24:08.400 I remember when I first heard that, I go, oof.
00:24:12.780 John MacArthur made a similar statement at the same conference.
00:24:16.120 He said, is God made more glorious because evil exists,
00:24:20.300 or is he made less glorious because evil exists?
00:24:23.400 The answer is unequivocally more glorious.
00:24:26.260 That is, our highest praises of God are because of what he has done to overcome evil.
00:24:36.280 Think about that.
00:24:39.840 Think about your highest praises have been in the moments that you realize how sinful you are, were.
00:24:52.500 and that God has paid the price
00:24:57.060 through the death of his son.
00:25:00.900 So yes, this plan of redemption
00:25:04.420 that includes a good world
00:25:06.120 that has fallen into sin
00:25:07.660 and a good God who has mercy on some
00:25:09.940 and demonstrates his wrath
00:25:11.560 and justice upon others
00:25:13.380 is the means to radiate
00:25:16.160 the fullness of God's glory.
00:25:18.400 The purpose of the world,
00:25:20.820 of the universe,
00:25:21.700 is God's glory.
00:25:27.720 That is the purpose of all things,
00:25:29.560 that God may get the glory.
00:25:32.700 I could teach an entire sermon on that concept.
00:25:37.500 Ultimately, sin is necessary
00:25:39.040 to show God's character against evil.
00:25:42.420 Election is necessary
00:25:43.760 to show God's mercy and justice.
00:25:46.340 There's no other way to do it.
00:25:49.920 There's not a better way to do it.
00:25:51.700 we have an all-wise and all-perfect and all-powerful God.
00:25:54.920 Do you think he would figure out if there was a better way
00:25:57.080 to show these attributes of his character?
00:26:00.420 No, he knows.
00:26:03.680 The world we have, the world with rape and murder,
00:26:08.660 the world with wars and tragedies and tsunamis,
00:26:15.660 this world is not God creating some...
00:26:20.400 it's not God responding to the accidental chaos of the world. We know that the wind
00:26:28.100 and waters obey him. No, this world that we have is the world that God created perfectly.
00:26:36.960 There is no other world that could have been better. We can't imagine, I wish God would have
00:26:42.460 created a different world. No, God is all perfect and all wise and all holy. If there was another
00:26:48.320 world that he could have created that is better than this world then he's not
00:26:52.080 God this world we have is the world that gives God the most glory and gives us
00:27:00.620 the ability to have the highest worship this world with your cancer diagnosis
00:27:07.640 and your job loss and your chronic illness and the difficulty that goes on
00:27:17.360 in our culture, in Pride Month, this world, God actually created this world intentionally.
00:27:27.660 Intentionally. And he works and causes all things to work together for good for those who are called
00:27:35.520 according to his purpose. I'm not going to pretend like I can understand the reality,
00:27:42.880 the interconnectedness between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. I'm not going to pretend
00:27:47.240 that I understand the mysteries of why God created the world this way but we
00:27:52.480 have to realize that according to God's character of being perfect and all wise
00:27:55.460 that the world we have is the world that gives God the most glory now it says in
00:28:07.440 the second half of verse 22 if you look down with me it says has endured with
00:28:11.620 much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction okay i'm going to just read that
00:28:18.420 first part of it too just so we have it together um what if god desiring to show his wrath and to
00:28:24.660 make his power known has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction okay
00:28:32.740 First, there is a real category of humanity who are vessels of wrath prepared,
00:28:40.600 or your translation might say fitted, for destruction.
00:28:45.320 That's a real category of humanity.
00:28:48.560 Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.
00:28:54.700 Now, Proverbs 16, 4 says,
00:28:56.660 The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
00:29:02.740 I've often wondered how God can endure such blasphemy. 0.87
00:29:07.680 I watch these ridiculously wicked individuals at pride events mocking Christ.
00:29:20.460 And I've wondered how can he allow such evil to continue? 0.84
00:29:26.540 like how does he not immediately cast down these people how does he allow the
00:29:35.360 rapist and the murderer to continue to live and laugh and eat and the answer
00:29:43.280 is he endures them for his own glory he endures them for his own glory in other 0.96
00:29:51.440 words the wicked vessels who the Potter has made for dishonorable use are not
00:29:55.340 without purpose. What does it say? Proverbs 16, 4. I'm going to read it again. The Lord has made
00:30:00.440 everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. We don't have a world where
00:30:07.100 there is something in it that does not have a divine purpose. The ants have a purpose. The
00:30:13.160 flower petals have a purpose. The weather has a purpose. The grass has a purpose. Your job has a
00:30:21.340 purpose, the hair on our heads have purpose, and the wicked have purpose. Now, there are three
00:30:31.340 purposes being fulfilled in this discussion here, and I want you to follow along with me. First,
00:30:37.440 first, in the enduring of these vessels of dishonorable use, in the enduring, the first
00:30:44.100 purpose, that God is demonstrating his character to his people. He's demonstrating his character
00:30:49.200 to his people in the endurance in the patience he is demonstrating his character to his people
00:30:59.440 psalm 145 says that the lord is gracious and merciful slow to anger slow
00:31:07.760 to anger i don't know about you but i can look at one of these
00:31:11.600 pride events and i go wow god is slow to anger
00:31:19.200 In James 1.19, the apostle calls us to imitate this divine character.
00:31:24.820 He says, Beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow
00:31:29.280 to anger.
00:31:32.820 That's difficult.
00:31:34.900 One, I like to talk, and two, is that it's difficult to be slow to anger against the
00:31:41.940 wickedness of this world.
00:31:44.240 I think about the incredible patience that Christ had against his enemies on the cross
00:31:51.100 slow to anger you want to look at that look at the cross watch him as he's getting mocked as
00:31:58.440 he's getting spit on as he's getting nails driven into his hands and feet and what does he do
00:32:03.700 father forgive them for they know not what they do slow to anger God's glory is actually shown
00:32:12.440 in his enduring these vessels of wrath.
00:32:18.360 Okay, the second purpose.
00:32:20.760 Second purpose for why God endures these vessels of destruction
00:32:31.100 or dishonorable use or vessels of wrath.
00:32:33.000 Second purpose is God will demonstrate his justice even to them,
00:32:40.080 to the vessels of wrath.
00:32:41.560 He'll demonstrate it in such a way that even the wicked will praise them in their own death sentence.
00:32:49.800 When the end comes and they stand before the Lord,
00:32:52.880 they will actually be praising God for the justice served upon them
00:32:58.120 because they will know all and understand all.
00:33:03.200 God is building up a story that gives him glory.
00:33:11.560 In other words, the first purpose is to show the saints his patience.
00:33:16.160 The second purpose is to show sinners his patience.
00:33:20.760 The first purpose, we get to see, man, oh, the Lord is slow to anger.
00:33:25.040 I cannot believe he's not smiting these individuals.
00:33:27.500 The second is for the sinner who's going to be condemned.
00:33:30.880 I can't believe the Lord let us live. 1.00
00:33:34.720 We deserve to die. 0.99
00:33:35.940 so when the wicked seemingly thrive in earthly affairs do not see this as an injustice see it 0.99
00:33:46.380 also I should say not merely as an injustice see it also as a glorious patience that will end
00:33:55.400 in glorious condemnation glorious condemnation we are going to witness the wrath of God in a
00:34:02.900 glorious way. We will agree
00:34:05.000 with it.
00:34:09.460 The vengeance and the fury
00:34:10.960 of the Lord will not be withheld
00:34:12.860 forever.
00:34:14.800 Now the third purpose, the third
00:34:17.000 purpose is found
00:34:18.740 in the next verse, in verse
00:34:20.700 23. It's why he has
00:34:22.980 endured with much patience the vessels of
00:34:24.880 wrath prepared for destruction. It tells us, if you
00:34:26.860 read with me,
00:34:28.880 in order that, purpose clause,
00:34:30.820 right, we're smart Bible interpreters, in order
00:34:32.840 that, or in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he
00:34:43.420 has prepared beforehand for glory.
00:34:49.340 Why does God endure these vessels of wrath prepared beforehand for destruction?
00:34:56.620 In order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy.
00:35:00.540 I almost don't need to preach on it.
00:35:02.840 But I'm going to.
00:35:05.480 God has made these vessels of dishonor and wrath
00:35:09.120 and endures them as a means to offer perspective,
00:35:14.600 perspective to his own people.
00:35:19.420 The vessels of mercy.
00:35:21.500 And he did this with the Jews.
00:35:24.500 You know, he elected some Jews, not all Israel are of Israel.
00:35:28.040 And he also is now doing this in the gospel age
00:35:30.240 with the entire world, with the Gentiles.
00:35:31.940 We see this in verse 24, even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.
00:35:38.400 This isn't talking just about Israel.
00:35:40.440 It's talking about the whole world.
00:35:42.620 Now, again, we have the apostle introducing another category of humanity.
00:35:47.000 We have first category is vessels of wrath.
00:35:50.520 That's a category of humanity.
00:35:53.380 There's another category, vessels of mercy.
00:35:58.100 Vessels of mercy.
00:36:00.200 Now, the purpose of the wicked is that in their sinfulness,
00:36:04.060 in their coming judgment,
00:36:06.740 the redeemed might see the greatness of their own salvation.
00:36:11.340 I don't know about you,
00:36:12.540 but I have certainly watched the wickedness of the world
00:36:16.360 and realized that could have been me.
00:36:21.460 Oh, Lord, I can't believe you saved me from that.
00:36:25.760 You look back at your own past and the things that you enjoyed
00:36:28.560 and the affections that you had for the world,
00:36:30.960 the stuff that you loved,
00:36:33.140 the sins that you committed,
00:36:36.060 and you look and you go, oh Lord.
00:36:40.100 And you watch somebody else live the life
00:36:42.560 that you once lived before you were saved,
00:36:44.500 and you go, what a great salvation this is.
00:36:49.780 What a great salvation this is.
00:36:52.020 Robert Haldane, mid-1800s, commented on this verse.
00:36:55.820 He says, quote,
00:36:56.540 quote, the awful ruin of the wicked is necessary for the full display of the riches of divine
00:37:01.680 mercy upon the saving elect, end quote.
00:37:05.300 In a sense, the vessels of wrath become these visual memorials that are in the world of
00:37:13.220 what we have been saved from, the dominion of sin and death and the coming of judgment.
00:37:20.740 You get to look at them and you go, oh, such were some of you.
00:37:26.540 That was me.
00:37:30.480 We actually see, and I'm going to talk about that verse,
00:37:33.480 we see Paul using the wicked as a visual memorial
00:37:36.900 to offer perspective to the elect in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11.
00:37:42.100 You don't have to follow along.
00:37:43.260 I'll just read it here.
00:37:43.780 It says,
00:37:44.420 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
00:37:48.260 Do not be deceived.
00:37:50.100 Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, 0.99
00:37:54.680 nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor 1.00
00:38:02.360 swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God such were some of you but you were 0.99
00:38:10.640 washed but you were sanctified but you were justified in the name of the Lord
00:38:18.020 Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God and when you really grasp the
00:38:24.420 magnitude of what's going on in the gospel when you can grasp the mechanics
00:38:29.400 of the gospel you can read verses like that I don't care how strong you are and
00:38:34.200 tear up such were some of you
00:38:40.700 Now, I want to make a point that's really subtle.
00:38:50.120 And I almost passed over this, but I think it's important.
00:38:56.200 It's a slight distinction.
00:38:58.740 And I want you to do a little bit of Bible study with me.
00:39:00.620 Open up your Bibles and look at verse 22.
00:39:04.100 Look at verse 22.
00:39:06.600 In verse 22, it says,
00:39:08.440 the vessels of wrath were prepared for destruction.
00:39:14.940 Maybe your Bible, if you're over the age of 50, says fitted.
00:39:19.040 Okay, if you've had a Bible for a long time.
00:39:21.020 Most of the newer translations are prepared for destruction.
00:39:26.680 And here in verse 23, it says that the vessels of mercy
00:39:31.040 he has prepared beforehand for glory.
00:39:38.440 Okay, so you can see the distinctions.
00:39:40.620 They're not prepared the same way.
00:39:44.580 In your Bible, both phrases are translated as prepared,
00:39:48.040 but in the Greek, they are two totally different words.
00:39:52.000 Totally different words.
00:39:54.040 I took enough Greek to understand what's going on.
00:39:56.340 I'm not a Greek scholar.
00:39:58.340 But we often make translations that read well
00:40:05.080 rather than being explicitly accurate to the text for expositors.
00:40:10.900 So they expect, as a translator, to have expositors, pastors like myself,
00:40:16.220 to know the Greek so that they can do the exposition on their own.
00:40:19.420 They're trying to make the best translation they can
00:40:22.560 that's the most readable and most true to the text.
00:40:26.960 And there's all types of moments that if you don't know the Greek,
00:40:30.480 you kind of miss the nuances.
00:40:32.620 And I think this is one of those nuances that's very important.
00:40:35.080 the vast majority of your Bible is really accurate, by the way. I've translated Greek
00:40:41.440 to English, and you don't want my translations, okay? They're not good, all right? But the
00:40:46.880 translators at the ESV and the NASB, they're great translators, so you can trust your Bible.
00:40:51.720 I'm not saying that you can't trust it. There's every now and then you just get a passage of
00:40:54.780 scripture and you go, ooh, that's different. I didn't realize that. And so here's my interpretation
00:41:03.940 of what I think is being stated in this subtle emphasis, okay?
00:41:08.640 I believe the apostle is laying the emphasis
00:41:11.100 of the cause of the vessels of wrath, in verse 22,
00:41:15.300 on the sinner, on the sinner,
00:41:19.060 while he is laying the emphasis of the cause
00:41:21.620 of the vessels of mercy on the predestination of God.
00:41:28.000 Okay, follow along with me.
00:41:30.020 Again, we see that the first is merely prepared for destruction
00:41:34.460 and does not specify that God is the agent of that preparation.
00:41:41.760 It doesn't say that.
00:41:43.660 God is not in the active position there.
00:41:46.520 He's in the passive position there.
00:41:49.700 It doesn't even say God's involved in that, actually,
00:41:52.840 though we know earlier it says that He hardens some,
00:41:55.160 and the context of this passage would say that He does create vessels for dishonorable use.
00:41:59.120 So there is all types of theological realities here.
00:42:03.700 But the second clearly states that God prepared them beforehand for glory.
00:42:10.360 In that section, in verse 23, God is active.
00:42:14.860 And so again, as you're doing Bible study, these are the subtle things that you want to take notice.
00:42:18.800 Now, why is this important?
00:42:20.320 In the act of election, we have included in that act reprobation.
00:42:27.460 When you choose one, you inadvertently don't choose the others, right?
00:42:34.060 So there's a sense when I choose a wife, I inadvertently do not choose all the other women available.
00:42:44.020 And so my point is that the emphasis of predestination in the Bible is not equal between the elect and the wicked.
00:42:54.460 there's not God's positive predestinating to the elect is not a parallel act with God's negative
00:43:06.120 predestinating of the wicked. Does that make sense? Is that God is not actually predestinating
00:43:13.900 the wicked with the same revealed force as he clearly has for the elect. There are so many
00:43:23.060 passages of scripture that speak to God predestining the elect. You cannot get around it.
00:43:28.660 It is a massive emphasis by frequency alone. There is very little to say that the same force
00:43:37.140 is being used in the negative predestinating to damnation. Now,
00:43:44.700 in election, and this is why I think it's important, why would God do this? Why would
00:43:51.640 God put an emphasis on one and not the other? Well, here's why. There is no human involvement
00:43:56.380 that justifies election. Okay? Therefore, the emphasis is on who? It's on God. We have nothing
00:44:03.260 involved in our election. So the emphasis can't be on us. It has to be on God. In reprobation,
00:44:10.680 human involvement is the central cause that justifies their reprobation.
00:44:16.780 Therefore, the emphasis is on man.
00:44:18.580 Does that make sense?
00:44:21.000 Why is the emphasis not on man and predestination?
00:44:23.720 Well, because you have nothing to do with it.
00:44:26.920 It's all God.
00:44:28.060 Therefore, the emphasis is on God.
00:44:29.960 Why is there less emphasis on God and more emphasis on man for the damnation of men?
00:44:35.720 Well, because we as sinners are the central cause of our own damnation in sin.
00:44:45.260 Now, this does not mean that God doesn't harden these unelected individuals.
00:44:50.480 God does harden these unelected individuals.
00:44:54.000 The scripture says that he hardens, or he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens
00:44:57.840 whom he desires.
00:44:58.640 What it does mean is that God didn't make them sinners.
00:45:07.040 Does that make sense?
00:45:09.040 Every theological discussion between the top theologians throughout the ages
00:45:14.660 has arrived at that point.
00:45:17.140 You cannot say that God is the cause of your sin.
00:45:24.480 God does not make them into sinners.
00:45:28.560 They made themselves into sinners.
00:45:30.200 That is the only emphasis that we get in Scripture.
00:45:33.820 Now, God may go further in hardening these sinners and demonstrate His wrath
00:45:37.960 as a way to demonstrate his mercy upon those who he did make saints.
00:45:44.260 But you can see, as I started off the sermon, the deep end of this pool goes very far.
00:45:51.780 And again, we don't get to just sit here and go, I understand.
00:45:55.920 I totally get the relationship between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
00:45:59.180 I'm the one that finally got it.
00:46:00.640 After all of these books throughout church history have been written,
00:46:03.360 trying to debunk that reality, we got it here at Kingsway.
00:46:07.160 No. No, it's extremely difficult. And you get to the point where you realize it's paradoxical.
00:46:13.500 It's unknown. It's mysterious. We get to know what is revealed. And then we get to sit there
00:46:18.640 like Job and go, I'm foul. I don't know. All I know is that you're good and you're just and that
00:46:25.460 you're going to do what is right. And thank you for that which you have revealed, that I understand
00:46:31.260 any of it. But then in the last verse, verse 24, the apostle brings it back home. And he
00:46:40.440 says, even us, even us, you could be reading this whole book. You're in Romans 9. You've
00:46:48.320 been sitting down for an hour and a half reading through this letter from Paul. And then he
00:46:52.360 finally lands here and he goes, even us, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews
00:46:58.980 only, but also from the Gentiles.
00:47:02.600 This isn't some ethereal, distant theological reality.
00:47:06.940 This is personal.
00:47:09.080 This is personal.
00:47:10.660 If you don't have a personal gospel, if you don't understand how it is actually connected
00:47:15.460 to you, you'll never appreciate the Savior.
00:47:18.640 Never.
00:47:21.700 Even you who have been called and believe in Christ.
00:47:24.860 If you believe in Christ, he's talking about you.
00:47:28.980 So why? Have you been elected? It's because you were, is it because you were intellectually
00:47:37.700 persuaded by the gospel? No. Romans 3.11 says no one understands. Is it because you were
00:47:47.920 pursuing Christ? No. Romans 3.11 says no one seeks for God. No, you were elected because
00:47:57.640 God saw that your redemption would bring him glory.
00:48:02.660 I often use this story.
00:48:04.480 You get to heaven, and you're standing there before the Lord,
00:48:07.600 and he says, why are you here?
00:48:09.720 And you go, well, I believed in Jesus Christ,
00:48:12.220 and his atoning work on the cross paid for my sins,
00:48:15.260 and his righteousness was given to me by faith.
00:48:17.380 He is the Lord.
00:48:20.600 And God goes, amen.
00:48:22.400 And he goes, why is John not here?
00:48:28.480 Your friend John, he heard the gospel too.
00:48:32.760 And John didn't believe, and I did.
00:48:38.520 Well, why did John not believe and you did?
00:48:42.500 No matter what you do, you get yourself into a boast.
00:48:45.940 I was smarter, I was wiser, I was more spiritually equipped,
00:48:50.260 whatever it may be.
00:48:51.080 No, the answer is, why are you here?
00:48:54.800 The only answer that you can offer God, why are you here?
00:48:59.180 Is because it pleased you to save me.
00:49:02.700 Because my redemption brought you glory.
00:49:05.600 I have no idea why, but my redemption brought you glory.
00:49:11.400 God doesn't save you for any of these reasons that we might project upon the scriptures.
00:49:17.100 There are many secondary and tertiary reasons why God saves a person, but the primary reason
00:49:25.020 why God saved you is that it pleased Him to save you.
00:49:28.380 It brought glory to His name to save you.
00:49:31.940 In the same way that the attributes of His justice and holiness and wrath are glorified
00:49:36.900 in these vessels of destruction, the attributes of His grace and love are glorified in these
00:49:42.020 vessels of mercy.
00:49:42.720 You see, Calvinism, the doctrines of grace, the sovereignty of God, whatever you want to call it, is not meant to make you prideful that God elected you.
00:49:55.020 It's meant to make you humble that God elected you.
00:50:00.380 You had nothing to do with it.
00:50:03.000 The Bible continuously tells you that you had no involvement.
00:50:06.000 Yes, you did choose Christ, but only after God first chose you and changed your affections.
00:50:12.720 Took the blinders off, made you hear, resurrected you from the dead.
00:50:18.500 It's pretty hard to say after all of that, it was me who did it.
00:50:24.580 And children, when you meet another kid at a park or at school, I'm talking to you kids.
00:50:36.840 And you meet these families that clearly don't serve the Lord.
00:50:40.980 my kids often ask other kids if they're Christians I love their boldness when
00:50:50.440 you look at these families that don't serve the Lord they don't go to church
00:50:55.940 their parents are divorced their their lives are difficult when you look at
00:51:04.100 them and you realize that God by his mercy has placed you among his people
00:51:10.980 you need to be grateful
00:51:13.080 that by your mere placement into a home
00:51:16.980 with gospel-loving parents
00:51:19.260 is such a mercy.
00:51:22.580 It's such a mercy.
00:51:24.860 I often remind my kids as we watch stuff
00:51:27.560 about different tribes or people in different countries
00:51:31.000 or Muslim nations or Hindu nations,
00:51:33.180 and I go, look, the Lord placed you in our home.
00:51:36.140 He intends to save you.
00:51:37.480 By God's grace, you weren't put there.
00:51:42.440 Yeah, the normative operation is that God saves in family lines.
00:51:47.260 The supernatural operation is that God randomly saves the Hindu kid
00:51:53.000 that had no possibility of hearing the gospel
00:51:56.300 unless God sent a missionary out there and a preacher
00:51:59.360 and he was one of his sheep and then he left the 99 to save the one.
00:52:02.380 And we don't want to rely on supernatural realities
00:52:07.240 for our children to be saved.
00:52:08.460 We want that God gave us children that we raise
00:52:12.260 and the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
00:52:13.800 That's the normative way that God saves.
00:52:16.440 So children, be so blessed that you are placed in the family
00:52:20.620 with the parents that you have.
00:52:23.900 For you could have been born in India,
00:52:26.940 in Islam, worshiping idols,
00:52:29.480 being traded in some sort of slavery.
00:52:32.380 And adults, when you look upon the brokenness of this world, it should anger you.
00:52:43.020 We need to have a righteous indignation, a frustration, that we might have some sort
00:52:47.300 of ambition to change the wickedness of this country.
00:52:55.000 It should compel us to proclaim the righteousness of the gospel, but what it has to do before
00:53:00.080 that is remind us of God's glory. It has to remind us of our election, that God is patient
00:53:08.460 with the wicked, that he is going to punish the wicked and he's actually letting them
00:53:14.380 go for our own benefit, that we might see what we've been saved from, that we might
00:53:19.080 not forget the magnitude of the gospel and the sin forgiven. I believe Colossians, and
00:53:25.300 I'll close with this, Colossians 3, 15 through 17,
00:53:28.580 tells us exactly how we ought to respond
00:53:32.940 to the idea that we have been elected.
00:53:38.300 It says, quote,
00:53:40.960 and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
00:53:46.100 to which indeed you are called in one body,
00:53:49.720 and be thankful, thankful.
00:53:53.960 It goes on, it says,
00:53:54.820 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
00:54:02.300 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
00:54:09.400 And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
00:54:17.320 giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
00:54:21.380 I think it's easy to live without thanking God enough.
00:54:28.820 And so, people, if you want to see your lives changed by the gospel,
00:54:37.120 it needs to start with recognizing the greatness of your own election,
00:54:41.880 your own salvation, your own redemption,
00:54:43.880 so that the gratitude becomes the motive for your obedience,
00:54:48.220 for your works, for your duty.
00:54:52.100 We don't want to just be out in the city doing things
00:54:54.620 and catechizing our kids without heart.
00:54:58.060 No, we want to constantly be looking at what happened,
00:55:02.580 that God saved us, and let that be the driver
00:55:05.940 and the fuel for our work in the kingdom.
00:55:09.200 Amen?
00:55:10.060 Amen.
00:55:10.660 Let's pray.
00:55:12.780 Father, we thank you.
00:55:15.960 We thank you, Lord.
00:55:18.660 Lord, there is not enough gratitude
00:55:20.580 that we can offer.
00:55:23.340 Lord, we ask that you would teach us and show us the magnitude of the gospel, Lord, that
00:55:27.280 it would cause a great deal of gratitude to overwhelm us on a regular basis, that it would
00:55:34.100 not fade, Lord, that for some reason you would give this church a supernatural degree of
00:55:39.720 gratitude, that it might fuel and turn this congregation into a force for the kingdom
00:55:50.300 of God in this city. We thank you for your son, Jesus, and your work on the cross. In Jesus' name, amen.