God's Mercy

Are you reformed? I get this question often. Folks, just call the church to ask me that question. Now, we need to be clear about what we mean by different terms. When somebody asks, are you reformed, what they're actually asking is, do you believe in predestination or election? That's what they mean by that. And while that actually isn't historically accurate for what reform means, that's how we use that word today. When somebody asks, are you reformed? They're asking, do you believe in election? Do you believe in predestination? So when people ask me this question, I've learned to be somewhat coy. I first redirect. Well, what do you think that means? So that I know what I'm affirming or denying. I find there's three different kinds of people who want to ask this question. The first person is the reformed. They want to make sure that you understand the doctrines of grace and election, and if you don't, you're going to. There's a certain thing we call the cage stage. Oftentimes, when someone first understands the doctrines of grace, they need to be put in a cage. Because the irony is, if you're claiming that by God's grace alone, you know anything alone, they want to go out and make sure they convince everybody of what they just learned. There's a bit of an irony there. The second person is the fellow who doesn't think it's important. You know, this kind of doctrine, this kind of difficult truth, it's just not for them. They want to make sure that they're not going to have to hear that. Those first two are dangerous. See, election, predestination, first, they're humbling. They're humbling. God's grace alone. By His mercy alone, I can do anything of any good which first and foremost is believing the very Word of God. The second one, as I hope you see from our passage, election is tied to God's glory. He reveals to us His plan of election. for His glory. It's part of our praise. To deny this truth is to deny the opportunity to see His glory. Now the third person who asks, and sadly it's only a small remnant who actually asks this this way, they want to make sure that whatever they hear is always focused on the mercy of God. It's by grace alone that we know anything. It's by grace alone we can sing His praise. It's by grace alone we know we're sinners and we know a Savior. This is how we must come to understand the doctrines of election and predestination. Yes, they are difficult. They're challenging. They're demanding. But they shape us. We can look to the Westminster and I appreciate how they summarize the doctrine of predestination. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care. that men, attending the will of God revealed in his word and yielding obedience thereunto, may from the certainty of their effectual vocation be assured of their eternal election. And let's parse this out. It needs to be handled especially because we're talking about the will of God as he's revealed it. This is something that needs to be held carefully because God has said, this is my will. It talks about the effectual call of God so that we have assurance of salvation. The article continues, so shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God. and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel. To understand the doctrines of grace rightly is to be humbled and to praise God. You know you get it when you're humbled and you only praise God. So we're looking at this difficult topic. We're going through Romans. We didn't just decide, hey, today's Election Sunday. We're going through Romans. We've taken a few weeks off, and we're in Romans 9. If you're new with us, we've been going through Romans, and I'll try to give a summary just because where we're at is so important for the placement of Romans 9 through 11. If you're using a Pew Bible, you can look at page 945. That's where we're gonna be today. 945. If you don't have a Bible, please take that with you. As you will hear, as God said, God has told us who He is and how to be saved and how we can live in Him. Page 945. We're going through Romans and Paul began by saying, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you. He's saying to the church, the church must hear the gospel. Paul is eager to preach the gospel to the church. He is not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God to save sinners. He then goes into the rest of Romans 1 to make sure that the rebellious pagan is without excuse. Those who live according to the flesh, who live according to their passions, rebelling against God, they're without excuse. They will be judged. Chapter two and the beginning of chapter three, he says the religious sinner is without excuse. Those who claim to have a moral standard, those who claim to even know the will of God and the word of God, they are without excuse if they think their obedience or the affirmation of God's word is what brings salvation. Then we come to that great declaration that I want to read, Romans 3, verses 21 through 26. He's declared all that excuse, the rebellious sinner, the religious sinner. Verse 21, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. There's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood. God satisfied His own wrath by pouring it out upon the Son to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time. so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. We unpacked this passage weeks ago. God is righteous. He punishes every sin rightly. He's righteous. And we're unrighteous. And the solution that God had was to send his son so that his righteous wrath would be satisfied by him who did not sin. suffering in our place. God is righteous and the one who declares us righteous. As we go into Romans 4, Abraham, the father of faith, we're starting to get into what Romans 9 is actually going to get focused upon here. Not everyone who's a descendant of Abraham is a child of Abraham. It's the children of faith. It's not being part of a lineage. It's not being part of the circumcised. It's not being part of an ethnic group. It's by faith that you receive the promises of Abraham. Chapter 5 begins, therefore, since we have been justified, we have peace. Romans 5 is about reconciliation. Romans 6 is about our freedom from sin. Romans 7 is about our freedom from the law. And Romans 8 is this glorious passage about how God loves us. It begins with no condemnation. no defeat, and ends with no separation from his love. And this brings us to the important placement of Romans 9. You see, that glorious declaration, there's no separation from God's love, Paul's writing to a church that's divided Jews and Gentiles. He's writing to bring peace to these two groups, so they're one in Christ. And they know enough, the Gentiles, and of course the Jews, they would know, If you're telling me nothing separates me from the love of God, well, what separated the Jews? How assured can I be that nothing will separate me from the love of God? If we can look back and see, well, not all the Jews are loved. Not all the Jews have been saved. Some have been cut off. We see the importance of Romans 9 because the point that Paul is going to make in verse 6 of Romans 9, the Word of God has not failed. He has saved those whom he decided to save. His love has not failed. This is why we have great assurance that in Romans 8 we know that nothing will separate us from the love of God. The second important part of the placement is Romans 1-8 can really be the theology. Romans 12-15 is the practical application. 9-11 is that key hinge where he has to give an answer. What about the Jew-Gentile exchange and change that's happened? 9-11 is where he's explaining in more detail so that the Jews and the Gentiles who have been saved will now be united. It's very important for where we are. Now, many of us love chapter 12. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God. We love to think about what it means to be a living sacrifice, to do what is good and acceptable and perfect, but notice Paul is appealing to them based upon the mercies of God. Chapters nine through 11 are the immediate precedent here. It's what he's referring back to. The mercies of God, that's the theme of 9 through 11. He refers to mercy of God more than 10 times in chapters 9 through 11. We can't get to being living sacrifices until we get the mercies of God. See, every problem that Paul wants to address to the Church of Rome, it has to first be resolved by making sure everyone understands what mercy is. Every problem Jefferson Park faces, The problem of not getting mercy. Every problem in the church comes down to a God problem. Thinking we deserve something we do not have. Thinking that we have, we should have something we don't have. We're not thankful, we don't honor God. That's the nation of sin. So here we're looking at mercy so that we can begin this transition and say, all right, what is the church life supposed to look like in 12 through 15? So this is important. Let's look at what's in your bulletin, your outline. God's mercy is glorious because it is successful and sovereign. We'll see here verses 1 through 8, 9 through 18, and 19 through 29, God's successful mercy, God's sovereign mercy, God's glorious mercy. And again, I want you to see the succession there, the progression. This is about God's glory. This is the end goal of this great declaration of God's electing sovereign mercy. It's His glory. Here, Romans 9, 1 through 29. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offsprings. For this is what the promise said. About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that the God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I hated. 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. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, oh man? 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 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 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. Even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles, as indeed he says in Hosea, those who are not my people I will call my people. And her who is not beloved I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there will be called sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And as Isaiah predicted, If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. Will you pray with me? Father, these are weighty words because they are about your glory. These words challenge us in making us rethink how sovereign we pretend to be. They challenge us in thinking about what our rights are and what our freedoms are. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to bow down and say, God, you are the one who is sovereign. You are the one who has the right to be worshiped. You are truly free to do as you will. And we are thankful that you freely chose to send your son to live the life we refused to live. To die the death we deserve to die. To suffer for the sins that we have committed so that we can be declared righteous when we're so unrighteous. We praise you, the God of mercy. We ask for your mercy to help us understand. We ask for your mercy to help us praise you, change our hearts. We pray for the mercy. to humbly hear you, believe you, trust you, and praise you. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. God's successful mercy. Notice as Paul is transitioning how personally he speaks. He wants to make sure you understand how sincerely he loves his people. I speak the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience bears me witness. He then goes on to my great sorrow, my unceasing anguish. Paul has a heavy heart for his people, the Israelites, who have not believed, who have rejected Christ. Look at verse 3. I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ. I wish that the most precious thing that's been given to me would be taken away if only they could enjoy it. This is a loving leader of his people. He loves his people. You see, this is what Christian leadership looks like in Scripture. This was Moses' prayer on the mountain. When God said, I'm going to wipe out my people, Moses said, no, God, wipe me out. Save your people, because they are connected to your glory. When Jesus came, he said, I will be accursed for your people. This is what leaders do. They lay down their lives for others. This is what Christian leadership looks like. He has a love for his people, and if he could, he would be accursed, but this is the power of God. This is the plan of God. He doesn't have that option. God has sent the only one who can lay down and be accursed for his people, and it's Jesus Christ. And if they will not believe in Christ, they will be accursed. Paul is declaring his great love for his kinsmen, knowing this is his desire, but only one has been accursed for God's people. Notice what he says here too, that for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. This is important because as we just read in Romans 12, he calls the churches brothers. Here they're brothers according to the flesh. Those other brothers according to the spirit. We just read in Romans 8 a few weeks ago, that spirit of adoption makes us all brothers and sisters. There's two different kinds of brothers in Paul's mind here. There's brothers according to the flesh, born of certain parents, the ethnic Israelites. Then there's the kinsmen according to the Spirit, born from above, adopted by the Father in Christ the Spirit. He goes on to call them those Israelites. They are the Israelites. And notice all the blessings. These aren't that different than what we just talked about in Romans 8. Adoption, glory, covenant, law, worship, promises, patriarchs, the Christ. God had made all these promises and said these people, the Israelites, they specifically should receive all these blessings. But they're cursed and cut off from Christ. This calls as a conundrum. How is it that God made promises to a specific people, and yet those people do not have those promises? In Romans 1-8, we have been given so many promises, we have to answer this question. Is God faithful? That's why Paul makes it very clear in verse 6. It is not as though the Word of God has failed. He always accomplishes what He intends to accomplish. He always keeps His promise. His Word, it's effective. Again, this is important because we have to ask, is God going to hold me fast? Will anything separate me from the love of God? And Paul's going to make it very clear, nothing separates me from the love of God, but if you're asking a question about how God related to Israelites, well, you have to be asking the right questions to get the right understanding. Look at verse six. You see, not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. Not all of those who are from Israel are Israel. He has those two different different categories. There's ethnic Israel, and part of ethnic Israel is a very small group of people. It's called true Israel. There's the physical descendants, and then there's the remnant, those who are the promised people, those who believe. Again, we go back to Romans 4, the true children of Abraham They believe. We could go to John 8, and the Israelites, they kept telling Jesus, no, Abraham's our father. No, Abraham's our father. No, Abraham's our father. And Jesus says, no, the devil's your father, because you seek to kill the one Abraham believed in, and that is me. The children of Abraham are children of faith. Those promises, the adoption, the glory, the worship, that's not for all the physical descendants. It's for those specific promised people who are marked by faith. Let's say it in a very different way that's much more pointed. You are not a child of promise because you share blood with your parents. You are a child of promise only in as much as you share in the blood of Jesus Christ. You are not entitled to any blessing or any promise because of your parents or your grandparents of any kinsmen. The only blessing and promises you receive from God are when you believe in Jesus and you get to become a partaker of the blood of Christ, who suffered for you, who bled for you so that your transgressions are washed away, so that you are now counted as righteous. The promises are ours in Christ, not our lineage. This needs to challenge us in the way we think of our children. Acts 2 says these promises are for you and your children and those who are far off. And I think the controlling declaration, all who God calls. Among you who are here that God is calling, among your children that God is calling, among those who are far off whom God is calling, these promises are for them if they believe in Jesus as Peter just preached. We need to be careful in giving children in the church assurance of salvation too early. We don't want to hold them back from faith. We want to encourage faith. Over and over again, I'm counseling young men and young women who were baptized at a very early age and they're not sure they actually did believe at that time. By giving children assurance when they're agreeing with their parents, we actually could be giving them a ticket to hell because they think they're okay. This is something we have to be careful how we think about this. Yes, we want to encourage faith. Yes, we want to say, believe in Christ because He's the only way of salvation. But we need to be careful in how quickly we want to say, you're okay now. Strive towards faith. Parents, there's something glorious about the doctrine of election that we need to gather from this passage as well. There's two truths we have to hear. Our children are not going to believe the gospel because we're good parents. Our children aren't going to reject the gospel because we failed as parents. We're not that powerful. So we beat ourselves up constantly because we think if only I were a better parent, my child would believe. Well, no, you've never been given that option. You've never been given that power, that rest in the merciful, loving God who saved you. Trust Him. Don't beat yourself up. We also think, if I just do this right, then they'll all grow up as good Christian boys and girls, and that's trusting yourself too much. That's believing you have a power that God has not given you. So Mom, Dad, this is freeing. Yes, train up your children, but know that you're not going to mess them up if God wants to call them. It's His mercy that saves them. That's never been changed. It's always God's mercy. Now, I want to couple this with a very clear truth. Our children have a great advantage by being part of the church. Yes, it's the mercy of God alone that will save them, but there's a great advantage. Children, there's a great advantage of being raised in a Christian home. There's a great advantage of being in a Christian church because being part of a church means you get to see all different kinds of people affirming what your parents are teaching. Every age. This is why presence is important. We're teaching our children constantly what is important by where we're present. But they're also coming and they're hearing what mom and dad teach me. These people also believe. And they're very different than mom and dad. Some are older, some are younger. That's why if those of you missed the testimony of Nate Bullard Wednesday night, you missed a great declaration because it was the power of this community, the church, and the love that finally drew him to Christ. God used, according to his mercy, this body as he's done many others. There's a beautiful power that God uses, the means, as church. It's all kinds of folks proclaiming that one message. Children, as Pastor Sam challenged you last week, be afraid of the danger of sitting here week after week. I look out and my heart breaks because many of you look bored. And you know what I want to tell you? God's not bored with you. God's not boring. You're looking for excitement, you're looking for glory. There's nothing that's gonna satisfy you in this life except Jesus Christ. Do not presume upon His grace. I had so many friends in high school and college that kept saying, I'll do the Christian thing later. No, right now I'm gonna live my life when I have kids. They don't do the Christian thing. You're presuming upon God's grace. If he's not worthy of your worship today, he never will be. Repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Let's look at the meat of our passage. Paul gives a for. He's beginning to give more of an explanation of this great declaration that there's Israel, but the true Israel, that's who God is committed to, the promised people of faith. God's sovereign mercy, beginning in verse nine. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall give a son. Now, he's referring back to Abraham and the original promised son, Isaac. Remember, this is right after Abraham, because of his lack of faith, went to Egypt. While in Egypt, got a servant girl, Hagar, Because he and his wife still didn't trust God enough, he decides to lie with Hagar and have a child apart from God's promise. And the key here is Ishmael, the child of Abraham and Hagar, is a descendant of Abraham, but is not a child of the promise. Being a physical descendant of Abraham does not mean you have a right to the promise. See, this is where we get mercy all wrong. It's not a right or else it wouldn't be mercy. We're Americans, most of us. We have rights. You don't have a right to speak to God and demand of him. Mercy is what he gives us that we don't deserve. This declaration, this four, he's saying even the first child was only a son of promise because God brought about a great miracle. Sarah, who was barren, had a baby. Esau, I mean Ishmael, the physical descendant, he's not a child of promise. Now, the Israelites, they may actually look back at verse 9 and they may think, yeah, but you're comparing Ishmael and Hagar and Isaac and Sarah. We know that was the true line. We've got to be part of the promise because we're part of the true line. Verse 10. Not only so, but when Rebecca had conceived children by the one man, Isaac, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of work, but because of him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger, and as it is written, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. There's no denying that these two children had the same father, the same mother, they're twins, they were in the womb at the same time. And God chose the one that he culturally wasn't supposed to choose, the younger. There are three things we can take from this particular passage. First, verse 11, Jacob was chosen before either had done anything good or bad. We sometimes don't like that God might have elected us from eternity past. But this is good news. God chose Jacob. If God was going to have to wait to see what kind of person Jacob would be, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have chosen him. Jacob's a scoundrel. All the patriarchs are. God does this all the time. He's always choosing some rotten rascals, including you and me. This is the beauty of his mercy. Whatever goes into that equation that God had in His mind as to who He chose, what we know it does not include is how good or bad we are. That equation does not have in it how good or how bad we are. It's just mercy. Second, the older will serve the younger. The firstborn in this culture was more than just being the oldest and biggest and the bossiest. A lot ruined the firstborn. A majority of the inheritance went to the firstborn. More rights, more responsibilities. So God takes the second and chooses him over the one who culturally should have been chosen. This demonstrates that God is selective. The one who everyone would have said has the rights as the firstborn, God chose the younger one. So we see here so far, God doesn't choose it based upon what our right in society would be. He doesn't choose it based upon how good we are. Verse 13 takes us to a very provocative declaration. Jacob, I have loved. Esau, I have hated. Now this is loaded for some of us because of that love-hate language. So let's just back up and think about how these words are used biblically. These, we oftentimes connect with an emotion. Biblically, these words love and hate, they're choices. To love is a choice, to hate is a choice. They're not emotion bound. They're choices. Now, we feel the emotion of anger and therefore we choose to hate. We feel attracted and therefore we choose to love. But the point is this, if you hate, you're choosing to hate. If you love, you are choosing to love. That is the way the language of scripture works. He says, I chose Jacob. I did not choose Esau. That's what he's declaring here. He's chosen Jacob. He did not choose Esau. This is why nothing separates us from the love of God. It has nothing to do with us. That's good news. That's the beauty of the gospel. Sometimes my wife, I say I love you and she'll ask, why do you love me? And what I'm supposed to do there is explain all the great things about her that I don't like. That's what he wants when I love him so much. Do you know the greatest love you can receive? I love you regardless of anything about me. The greatest love you will receive is from the person who says, I love you no matter What you do, that's what God says. Despite you, in light of your sin, in light of your hatred, in light of your rebellion, in light of how unloved you are, I love you. That's the power of the gospel. That's why nothing separates you from the love of God, because that has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with Christ, and that God loved him. and he sent him to be nailed to the cross, whom he loved, so that the love he had for Christ can now be shared with us. That's why nothing separates us from him. Let's look at verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? Well, of course not. By no means. Now this again is getting to a fairness question. We think God needs to be equitable. Now, in our society, I think this is what we mean by fairness. I deserve to get what he got, but if you give me a little extra, I won't tell him. We want at least as good as the other guy got. And what the argument would be, the fellow who would be saying this, because Paul knows our hearts. We would say, well, how can God call anybody to judgment? Well, he's already answered that in one through three. We've all rejected God. We've never honored Him. We've never thanked Him. We all deserve judgment. We all deserve His wrath. But He chose to have mercy on some in Christ. You see, friends, God's sovereign choice of sinners, as the Westminster said earlier, it's assuring. You see, as I see myself in light of Scripture, I know I've never been good enough and never will be good enough for God to love me for me. God's sovereign election is assuring because I know I would never be good enough. I also know I will never muster up enough desire to worship God apart from His grace. I will never have the ability to call upon His name if not for grace. This is the beauty of God's election is it gives you assurance. So we should praise God that our assurance is found in His power to show mercy, not in my power to seek it. Our assurance is found in His power to show mercy, not in our power to seek it. Our assurance is found in His ability to keep us, not our ability to keep ourselves away from idols. Our assurance is not found in our ability to keep ourselves from idols, but in His power to keep us. Assurance is found in the work of Christ, not how well I receive it. Praise God for His mercy, it does not fail. Now, Paul has just given the great human conundrum, right? This is election, this is predestination. All peoples at all times have wrestled with these kinds of ideas, but we're wrestling it very specifically. And I want you to look at verse 15. He gives an answer. We know this because of four. Paul's going to give an answer to this great conundrum. How can God be just and only select some? Look down. Notice what he says. First three words. For he says. We actually don't have to read any further. God has spoken. God's spoken. This is glorious. If you actually look at what he says, he doesn't really give an answer in the next, what follows in what he says. It really restates the problem. He has mercy on me. He chooses to have mercy and has compassion on me. He has compassion. That sounds like it's restating the problem, but Paul is saying, no, this is the solution. Because this is who God says he is, and this is what God says he does. Now, the particular section he's quoting here is loaded. We read from Exodus 34 earlier, but this is Exodus 33. And this is right after Moses said, God, let me see your glory. And God says, you can't see my face, but my hind parts, I will let you see. And then he says, this is my name. I will have mercy upon him. I will have mercy. I'll show compassion to whom I show compassion. That's his name. God has tied this declaration to his very identity. This is what God says. This is who God says he is. That's why this is an answer. Verse 16 is simply a conclusion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion. But on God, who has mercy? It doesn't depend upon us. Praise God, it depends upon Him who has mercy. We continue to look at verse 16. It only depends on Him. It does not depend on us. Verse 17, for the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Remember back in Exodus during the plagues, Pharaoh hardened his heart, his heart was hardened, God hardened his heart. We had to look at that and see what's happening there. Pharaoh does have responsibility for his sin, but God is sovereign over the heart. God has made it clear in Exodus, he is sovereign over the heart. He removed the grace that Pharaoh needed to repent so that Pharaoh would continue to pursue him, so that Pharaoh would be destroyed in the Red Sea, so that all the nations would wonder, what kind of God is this? So the Israelites, when they show up to Rahab, she's already heard of Yahweh and is prepared to receive Him as her God and Savior. God's purpose is His glory for all people. Let's look at some application from this section. First, how glorious is it that we have God's Word? He says. God says. God speaks. And we know Him. This is where God is speaking. We can know God. And more than that, it's actually amazing, we can see His entire plan That's what Romans 9 is doing. We can see his plan from the very beginning. He's been driving all of history to Jesus. He has been in charge of every part of history leading to our salvation, our being able to hear the Word, our being able to receive it by mercy. The Word of God. Oh, how we take this for granted. The mercy we have in having the Word of God, the mercy we have in being able to read it and understand it, the mercy we have in being able to constantly pursue God and a greater knowledge of Him. I ask you, has your God gotten bigger lately? That's what reading the Bible is supposed to do. We get smaller, God gets bigger. If your God is the same size, he's a God made after your own image. God keeps getting bigger as we hear what he has to say. He's more worthy of worship. We're less worthy of what we think is our worship. Second, not only are God's words completely trustworthy, we need to pursue them in it. It's to be used as a sword. Here's the beautiful declaration of God electing mercy. You don't have to convince anybody of the gospel truth. You actually can't convince anybody of the gospel truth. All you can do is be faithful and trust God to use his word to save those who hear it. That's the beauty of evangelism. That's why you become a bold evangelist. You believe that the gospel is the power of God to save sinners, and that he will save whomever he wills, when he wants to save them, with that gospel truth. I know many of you had difficult gospel conversations over Christmas break. Sorry, Christmas break. I'm still thinking like a college student at 37. Trust God. Be faithful. Be bold. Trust God. The way we use this word is important in our discipleship. We can't rely upon wisdom to build this church. Our wisdom. We can't rely upon what we think is what we've always done, or what we should be doing, or the next new phase, or the next new trend. God's word together. Everyone's submitting to this together. boldly declaring and echoing what God has said together. That's what discipleship looks like. Please go to the Sunday school class on discipleship before the worship service. We are going to have to learn how to use this word to build one another up. Third, it's really helpful for our election. I have so many conversations with people. I don't know if I'm saved. Half this church wrestles with assurance, so be of good courage. You're not alone. And a lot of people ask, how do I know I'm elect? I've got two answers for you. How do you know you're elect? One, are you willing to reject Jesus? If you can say, I can't reject Jesus, then there's a reason to think there's good assurance that you're elect because you can't reject Jesus. You're not ready to deny him. Secondly, and it has to go along with it, I am actively seeking his mercy to believe. It's not about a past decision you made a long time ago and you don't think about anymore. Assurance. of God's sovereign mercy is actively pursuing Christ by his mercy. Fourth, some people will think, well, if God's this sovereign, I should just sit back and wait and see what he does. You're denying what he said. Work out your salvation. Pursue righteousness, pursue worship, pursue glory. It takes our effort trusting his mercy to be effective. Three, God's glorious mercy. Our last point, God's glorious mercy. What will you say to me then? Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? This again is getting to the fairness question Well, notice what Paul says. He cuts straight to the point. Who are you? That's kind of belittling, isn't it? When somebody comes up and says something to you, who do you think you are? What is it your place to be asking this kind of question? God and Paul here, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he's making sure we understand, oh man, that's all of us. Who are you to answer back to God? Who do you think you are? We want this equal treatment, we want this free gift, but we don't see that we don't have the right to ask these questions. Now, let me also assure you of this. God's not intimidated by our questions. There are answers to our questions. God actually encourages us to cry out, how long, oh Lord? Read the Psalms. He encourages us to cry out, but we have to realize there's a certain reverence that takes place. Who are you? Who are you? God's blessing, they're the free blessings we need and we need to seek his mercy to receive them. Look at verse 20. Who are you? See, it's all about us as humans knowing our place. Much of life is just knowing your place. So let me give you some examples that may help us understand this. Students, If you're a student, look at me. You should not talk back to your teachers. You're welcome teachers. Students should not talk back to their teachers. Children should not disrespect or disobey their parents. Children, look at me. Know your place. You should not disrespect or disobey your parents. Citizens are supposed to honor the officials God has placed over them. Employees are supposed to work for their employer. No one is supposed to go outside of the authority structures. God graciously gives every human an authority structure. And this is the problem we've had all along. We want to throw off every single one of these because we want to be God autonomous. Notice how Paul uses the analogy. It's not a boss to an employee or a parent to child. That's too similar. He uses a craftsman to a piece of clay. Not on the same playing field of dignity and honor. No, God created us out of clay. He breathed life into us. He shows us his love for us in the way he gave life to that dirt. And God takes each of us and forms us for his purpose. And the clay, being completely submissive to the sovereign hands of the master craftsman, doesn't look up and say, well, I don't think you're doing this right. I think you could do better if you would just listen to me. I think I would make a better plate than an ashtray. Would you please change your design and your form and your purpose for me? We laugh, but that's what we do to God. God, I like that person's gifts more than my gifts. I would like to have their gifts. God, I really think you could have designed me, and if you just did this for me, then I would really worship you. These other people, I don't understand why you let them have that particular privilege and opportunity. We do this to God. Now, verse 22 really starts getting into the focus here that I want to end with. What if God, desiring to show. Verse 23, in order to make known. God is showing something and making known something from his election. What is it? It's his glory. Verse 23, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy. See, this is the sad irony of Christians who don't like the doctrines of election is that God has given us the revelation of those doctrines so that we will see more of his glory, so that we will see how dependent we are on his mercy. Yes, they're difficult. Yes, they challenge every preconceived idea we had of ourselves and of God, but they're about his glory. This is why God has said it. Now some people are gonna say, why is God all about his glory? What kind of God is this that he's all about his glory? Somebody who asks that question, you're about your glory. If you're not about God's glory, you think your glory is greater than God's glory. What greater glory is God going to be about other than his own? Yes, of course, God is righteous. His purposes are righteous. He is about the greatest thing and it is His glory and He's inviting us. He's saving us so that we can see His glory. Friends, election is a marvelous invitation to know and be marveled by and to be delighted in the glory of God. See, we are too busy wanting people to look at our glory that we miss seeing His. Look at my glorious marriage. Look at my glorious children. Look at my glorious job. Look at my glorious success. Look at my glory, you fill in the blank. While we're saying this, God is saying, come and look at the real glory. While we're striving for everyone to see our glory, we're missing the opportunity to see God's glory. That is the challenge. We're too preoccupied with our glory. We're missing the real glory. Verses 25 through 29 give us three Old Testament quotes. In Hosea, we were no people, but God says, you'll be my people. Isaiah, the many sons of Israel, but there's only a remnant who will be saved. Isaiah 29, this one will sting a little bit. If not for God's grace, you'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah. Those despicable, disgusting, destroyed peoples. If not for God's grace, we would be like Sodom. We would be like Gomorrah. See, Romans 9 is headed towards 12 through 15 where God's going to give us some real practical ways we're supposed to be His church. And if we don't get mercy, if we don't get mercy that we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah if not for the mercy of God, we're not going to be able to be that church. You see, something that's very important here is Mercy is why we're all members. Mercy is why we're supposed to be actively committed. Mercy is why you look around and you think, I don't belong here, neither does anybody else, but praise God for his mercy that calls us all here to be built up into that glorious body that will exalt the head so that we all can see his glory together. It's an invitation. It's the beauty of election. actually an invitation into His glory. Let me conclude by reading again that Westminster Confession of Faith that I think summarizes it so well. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care that men, attending the will of God revealed in His Word and yielding obedience thereunto, May from the certainty of their effectual calling be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God, and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel. Will you pray with me? Father, may you give us the mercy that we need to submit to your word, to find assurance in your power to do whatever you want, to know that whatever you want to do is good and better than what we want. May it end with the praise and reverence and admiration of you that you deserve. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.