The Mystery of God’s Sovereignty

Romans - What’s Going on Here?

Pastor Nate Crew

10 August 2025

All right, go ahead and take a seat. Uh, today has been an interesting day thus far. We um in the last service uh the Lord was moving in a a unique way and he he didn't let me preach. I was uh fairly overwhelmed. I couldn't hardly talk. uh the weight of God's uh holiness and glory was pretty heavy and thick uh in the room and so we just surrendered to that. Um the altar was full before a sermon even started. Uh there was a lady who it was her first time here. She put her faith in Christ. Amen. Amen. uh and people were set free and encouraged and the Lord was moving so powerfully and uh it was it was a wonderful time and and uh I just want you to know that for two reasons. One is the Lord's about to wreck y'all. I don't know if he already has or not, but you better put your pants on. Get ready. Uh cuz I I told the Lord and I said this in the service. I absolutely refuse if you if you allow me to speak. And I I literally in the first service it was it was as clear as day to me. The Lord was like, "You need to get out of the way. Just you get out of the way. You go sit over there. You're in timeout, you know." And uh just watch what I could do, you know. So that felt very clear. Uh now I feel God's permission uh and leadership to actually preach this sermon. So I told the 9:00 they can watch it on YouTube later, I guess, cuz they didn't get it. I told the Lord, "Whatever you want, Lord. If you want to do that again, fine. Uh if you want me to preach the sermon, fine. I'll do whatever it is that you want. And I feel very compelled and led uh to preach this sermon. You know what's interesting about uh all of this is the sermon in Romans 9 is basically a summary is that God has the right to be God. Which means he can do what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, with who he wants. And we ought to be quiet and submit and listen. And there, especially in our day and age, is just a need to have a say, a need to have an opinion. I have rights. I have this or that. And we bring that energy to God as if we are peers discussing how things should go. as opposed to letting God be God and who he is. Me shutting my mouth and submitting to the revelation as revealed in the word of God. And I think part of what happened in the nine was God was going to be God that way. And part of what's happening now is God's going to be God. He's going to show us very particularly in the text. And and I think God is up to something in this way to confront some of our sensibilities and some of the way we might get offended at how God works or some of the ways we refuse to submit or obey. And God is going to press into your heart this morning and he's going to say, "I am God. You are not. Be quiet and respond to me. Stop arguing with me. Stop belittling my character. Stop acting like you and I are on the same page. that we need to come to some sort of compromise and agreement. You are not siblings. God is God. You are not. God said something we must obey. Now, that doesn't mean we toss out reason or logic. All of those things. Obviously, he's given us a brain. We're supposed to think things through. But sometimes in the Bible, we are so confronted with godness, who God really is, what he's really like, his freedom to do whatever he wants, regardless of what you think about it. And there comes a time for us to submit to say, God, you are God and I am not. And I'm going to be quiet and I'm going to shut my mouth and I'm going to listen and I'm going to obey and I'm going to trust. And I think that's what God is after. And I hope that you hear that this morning as we go through the text. So we're going to be in Romans chapter 9. So go ahead and open your Bible to Romans chapter 9. >> Let's go. Romans 9. It was funny with last because Romans 9 is uh if you know it, it's a very notorious notorious is the wrong word. A famous uh very debated. It's a difficult passage in some ways. Um, and a lot of people have been talking about it for thousands of years and haven't come to an agreement or a conclusion as to exactly what is clear about the passage. But so I needed extra time. I told the Lord, you know, okay, I'm going to try to do this the best I can. But I have a I have a block. So he didn't even let me preach at the last one. So we'll see if I can get it done in a in a little bit of time. The message is called the mystery of God's sovereignty. The mystery of God's sovereignty. And Romans 9 is a very particular confrontation with our so to speak independence or autonomy. It just obliterates that and it says no no no no. God is absolutely sovereign over all things. You know, I was thinking about how hard this can be to understand sometimes and uh I was thinking about my little daughter the other day. her she's one and she was at the fridge and she was trying to put something on the fridge that wasn't a magnet and she was getting so mad you know I forget what it was but it wasn't a magnet and she'd stick it there you know and it would fall down you know she gets so mad and I tried to switch it out but she's holding on to it like this this is going to work you know she doesn't understand any of the words I'm saying that it's not a magnet and she just keeps trying and it's not working and and uh you could see the frustration on her face and I I thought about so often uh trying to figure out God totally and completely is like us trying to stick things to a fridge without magnets. It's like it should work, it doesn't. I don't understand, you know, it's like the the the lack of understanding a one-year-old has about what should stick on a fridge and how magnetism works is about where we're at with how much we understand who God is and how he works. Okay, that's that's closer to the analogy of your understanding of God is like my one-year-old with a fridge. Okay, that's that's about where you're at. Okay, and that's about where I'm at. And God is infinite. You know what makes heaven so great is you have an eternity to explore the character of God. He's infinite. You know what will never happen? You figuring out everything that God is. Never. That's what makes heaven wonderful. Every day is a new experience. Say, "God is awesome. He's infinite. you will never exhaust his wonderfulness, you know, and so we got to bring that into this. Okay. So what I want to do is I just want to give you four kind of principles by which you should work with when you're working through scripture or trying to understand things that are difficult to understand or trying to bring this happens a lot. Two truths together that seem like they are anti but they're not. And I have to try to bring them together and to say there's some level at which this is impossible. So as we get to Romans nine I want to give you four things. You should write these down because it'll help you in all your reading of the Bible or your understanding of God or when you wrestle with God as to what what he says or how he works in the world. Number one, okay, we have enough clarity to deal with some mystery. I use this phrase all the time. If you've been around me any enough time or ask me questions that I can't answer, this I say we have enough clarity to deal with some mystery. A phrase I use a lot is I start at the cross and I work backwards. So instead of starting with a particular text or starting with my circumstances which can be confusing. How is God working all this out? Man, I don't even know. How would I know? Uh how how can people have been studying this passage for 2,000 years and they haven't come to an agreement? Okay. Like you think me right now is going to figure this out. No. So how do I handle some of these things that are a little bit more mysterious and difficult? And I say, "Hey, look, I have enough clarity to accept some mystery." Which means that the things I need to know are absolutely crystal clear. Jesus came as a man. He was seen. He lived on the earth. He died on a real cross. He rose from the dead. There is an empty tomb and thousands of years of testimony and real witnesses. And all of these things are true. And he told me if I believe and trust in him, then I can be saved. So the gospel that I am a sinner, the world is broken. God made the world perfect. We broke it. Jesus came into the world to fix the world. He lived. He died. He rose again. So out of all these truths, I know a lot of things. I know that God knows what he's doing. I know that God loves me. I know that God is for me. I know that sin is really bad, but God is really good. And when I misunderstand maybe something about the scriptures or when I have some struggles to put it all together, instead of tying my brain into knots trying to figure it all out, I can let it go and say, "Listen, what I need to know at the very basic, I know the gospel is totally, absolutely, unambiguously, crystal clear." And I can bank my whole relationship with God on that information. So I have enough clarity. God has revealed so much. So many things in the scriptures are super plain. They're not hard to understand. So much about God is very obvious. And so I have enough clarity to deal with some mystery. And this is helpful because some of you have rejected God because of the mysterious. And you're the assumption in that is that if I could just figure out everything that God knows, then I would choose to trust him. How ridiculous of a thing is that to say there will always be mystery. Always. Always. You can't get rid of that. No, I'm not smart enough. You're not smart enough. Okay. So, start at the cross. So, if you're confused about how God is working in your life, let me make it simple. Start at the cross and work backwards. Okay. Does it look like God loves me? I don't know. Does God love me? Look at the cross. Yes. Does it look like God knows what he's doing? I don't know. Did God know what he was doing when everyone else was confused with what he was doing? Yes. Okay. So, this is how this is how I navigate so much in my life that's hard for me. Okay. So, you have enough clarity to deal with mystery. Start at the crossroad backwards. Number two, very simple one. If you knew everything about God, then that would make you God. Okay? So, stop it. Okay? Stop rejecting God because you don't know everything about God. Stop uh creating so much anxiety and worry or or tying your brain into knots because you don't know everything about God. Okay? If you knew everything about God, that would make you God. Is anybody here God? No. Okay. Are you ever going to know everything about God? No. This is obvious. All right. So, logic is not enough. You have to accept human limitations and the Holy Spirit will breathe on things and make things so clear to you. But this is just life, man. You'll you'll never know everything God knows. Come on. How dumb how that's just ridiculous thing to think. All right? But it's hard to accept in our everyday life. So that's number two. If you knew everything about God, you'd be God. Number three, okay? We must build a worldview from divine revelation, not personal opinion. And you know what happens in our life is we treat my opinion and God's divine revelation as if they are equals. And these two things must find a compromise. Oh, you do this all the time. So do I. My opinion, you know, of of human sexuality and God's opinion of what sexual what sexual ethics are. Oh, these things are equal. We got to come to a compromise. God, your stuff is kind of outdated and dumb and old and bigoted, but mine is revealed. I'm full of wisdom and understanding. I know how people should use their bodies. So, you and I must come to some sort of agreement. No, no, no, no, no, no. God reveals what's true and your opinion must submit to his revelation. You are not equals with God. Stop acting like what you think matters in terms of what God has revealed. How prideful we are to bring our opinions to the table and ask God to make a compromise or reject God's revelation because I have a different opinion. Oh, come on. We cannot live this way. God is God. He's allowed to do what he wants when he wants, how he wants, and to reveal what he wants, and to think what he wants. And our only option is to say, "I'm not God." And so I submit to God's divine revelation, which is why he gave us a book with words so that we can know it, trust it, and live by it. >> Come on, think about how often in your life you're struggling because you're living according to your opinion, or you're trying to match your opinion with God's revelation. And most of your opinions probably need to be thrown in the trash. Stop trying to hold on to them. If it confronts with what God has said, go with what God has said and throw your opinion in the trash. You've been alive for 15 years, 25 years, 50 years, and God made the whole world. >> Come on. This drives me nuts cuz I do it myself. Who am I to argue with God? Who do I think I am? How smart do I think I am? What kind of rights do I think I have to tell God it should be different? He should act different. He should do things different. He should have different commands. He should believe different things about the world. He should let me do things I want. D. And I hold my opinion as if it was equal to God's divine revelation. And I'm telling you, a ton of your struggle in life is you are continually living by your opinions. And you will not submit to God's revelation. And it causes chaos cuz you don't know what you're doing. How would you know how to live? Why do you think you know how to live? How crazy is this idea that you think you know based off your experience how life should go, what's right and wrong, and what decisions you should make. No way. That's why your life is a train wreck. But if you get rid of your opinion, maybe things would start going better for you. Come on. The world is full of opinions. And at least at least in the church, we should be weird and strange to be a people who do not bring in our opinions, but who submit and die to and get rid of and conform and change our opinions based on God's revelation. That's who we should be. The world's living according to their opinion. Look how well that's going for them. And maybe you're trying to live according to your opinion. And when my life is a mess, it's cuz I'm living according to my opinion. Always. Always. Just think about it. Every time you sin, it's cuz you think it's worth it. Your opinion. Okay, that was a whole sermon. There's no way we're making it through. Number four. >> Hey, hey, hey. I'm telling you, I am filled with the spirit right now. So, y'all better watch out. Y'all better watch out. I have no fear, man. I don't care what you think about me. The Lord has just anointed me. Y'all better get ready. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, you can get mad at me today. The Lord has given me something this morning. I don't care what. I'm here to please the Lord. And this is what he wants me to say. Okay. Number four, and this is more particular to our text. And just to help you, the Bible clearly teaches that God is sovereign. It's God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. So, just to help you with this, it's not an either or, but it's a both hand. Okay? So God is absolutely totally completely every moment, every day, everything sovereign over everything that happens in the whole world. And number two, man is completely responsible for his choices. You will be held accountable for your decisions. The Bible teaches both of these things. I describe them as parallel tracks that if you try to join them together, you're going to you're going to get tired. You know, these things cannot. Only in God's infinite wisdom can these two things coexist. And this is where we say, "Okay, I either keep my opinion that, well, if God's sovereign, I'm not responsible, or I submit to God's revelation that God is sovereign and I am responsible." That's a both and, not an eitheror. You don't have to choose between whether you have like a free will or whether God's in control of everything. You don't have to choose as to whether you have choices and whether your choices make a difference or whether God controls from day one to day to the end. They're both true. Why? Because the Bible teaches them both. It's your problem and my problem that we're humans and can't totally get it. But we receive God's divine revelation. God is sovereign and I am personally responsible. And these two things are both true. Okay. So now we're going to get to Romans. Lord Jesus. All right, I have seven different uh words to start with P to help guide our time in Romans. All right, it's passion, promise, purpose, prerogative, preference, and proposal. Okay, so number one, the first thing we're going to see is an unseasing passion. Romans 9. So we're starting with an unceasing passion. So Paul is beginning to explain. Remember, we just ended with Romans 8. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Okay. So Paul says, "Hey, look. I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. Listen to this. Boy, this has wrecked me. That I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." Why? Why are you so bothered, Paul? Because you get beat up all the time? No. 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 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. And maybe part of what's happening, I have been praying the Lord, I need this, a great sorrow and an unceasing anguish in my heart for people that are far from God. You know what I love about as we get into Romans chapter 9? This is not a theological question for Paul. This is a personal one. It's not theoretical. It's not theological. It's personal. He's saying, "Lord, Lord, it bothers me so much that your people have rejected you and if I could trade places with them, I would." Wow. Can you imagine? I I literally can't say that I would choose. And he knows it's not possible. You know, he God's got him. You can't lose your salvation. But he's speaking as such language. I love these people so much. I would take their punishment for them if they could be saved. Amen. I have an unceasing anguish just bothered. I mean, think about to this is to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Think about all the things you worried about this week and how many times was it the people's salvation? Think about all the things you kept you up at night. And how many times was it people that are far from God? Think about all the things you've carried anxiety about. And how many times was it people who need the Lord? How bother? You see what I'm saying? And I I was like, Lord, I'm not bothered enough. He look at this. It's unrelenting, unceasing. He's so bothered. And so, if you're here and you're in Christ, you need to make this a prayer for yourself this week that you that the Holy Spirit would bother you, that he'd keep you up at night, that you would pray, that you would live with an unceasing anguish and concern for people you know that are far from God. that it would not sit well with you that people die apart from Christ. May the Lord give us such a burden here at Citylight. May we be those kinds of people who do not stop at anything to make sure everyone possible hears the good news. May we be burdened for this, not to play church or make things as fun or poss, you know. No, no, no, no, no. We come to be conformed into the image of Christ, to be sent into the world so that more people might know him. And I ask you, how burdened or bothered are you by this? Here's one you can write down to think through. This is a theological way. Um, so you will think more clearly theologically when these truths matter more to you personally. The problem with so many of you trying to figure out God. This happened to me a lot in seminary where people argue about things and they don't do anything. And it drove me absolutely nuts. I said, "When we start a church, we're going to do stuff. you know, we're going to do stuff because they would argue about whether God is sovereign or man has free will, but they wouldn't go share the gospel to find out what happens. I'm like, why don't you just go try it? See what happens. Let's go test it. You know, let's go see. And this is true for so many of you. You argue, you pontificate, you think about these things, but they don't matter to you personally. So, you will never get a clear good understanding of how God works in the world until you care about how God works in the world. God's not going to give you some divine revelation if you're dismissing obedience or if it's not personal to you. He doesn't give divine theological understanding to people who don't take these things personally. Why would he bless you with that? And so, it's to those who care like Paul that God gives divine understanding. So, if you're out here just trying to pass a theology test or argue or reject God based off theological or or or philosophical premises, it's it's always going to be that way because if it doesn't matter to you, then God won't reveal it to you. It's not how it works. And so, you must think it has to matter to you personally. Okay? So, you need to consider yourself what gives you burden. All right? So, the next thing is an unfailing promise. You have an unceasing passion, unfailing promise. Now, Romans 9:6. So, Paul said, he's talking about what he just read. And he says, "But it's not as though the word of God has failed." Stop. And I want you to understand, okay? The reason Romans 9, 10, and 11 exist is to help people understand that Romans 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 are true. Because what would happen? You see what he's saying? You got to understand writer's intent. Why is Paul writing Romans chapter 9? Is it to produce some theological great thing about God's sovereignty over the world? No, it's to answer a question. And the question would be, okay, look, if God, if remember Romans chapter 8, what God starts, he finishes, you know, those who be predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified, no one can be separated from the love of Christ. Yes, I'm so encouraged. And then Paul looks around and he says, "Look at all these people who are a part of God's people who are Israelites who are rejected and do not encounter the love of Christ." And so how can Romans 8 be true when all these people are rejecting him? So the the thing would come up say it's as if God can't accomplish what he set out to do. So the real question is can God do what he said? Does God's word prove true? Because Romans 8 says nothing can separate you. And now here I am looking at a bunch of people who had the law of God, the priest of God, they they had all the the Messiah came through their lineage. They all the things and these people are separated from God. So it's a question to say, well then God failed. God failed. He has not completed what he started. That's what Romans 9 is intended to answer. Has God failed? Can God keep his promises? A way you could say, I saw a commentary summarize it like this that Romans 9 is an Romans 9 through11 is an answer to Romans 1 through8. He goes, the question goes something like this. How can I be secure in God's love and salvation to me when it seems that Israel was once loved and saved but now rejected and cursed? So, will God also reject and curse me one day? You see what he's saying? If God loved Israel but now has rejected and cursed him, cursed them, but now he comes along and says, "Hey, nothing can separate you from the love of God. You are secure, then am I secure? How secure am I? Look at all these people that are now rejected by God." You see what I'm saying? That's why Romans 9 exists. It doesn't exist for you to sit around and think about uh whether Calvinism or Armenianism, all these theological words or whether God No, no, no, no. Romans chapter 9 is a definitive argument to prove Romans chapter 8 and is to basically make the point and show you through detail that God keeps his promises. That's why Romans 9 exists. So if you don't read it with that lens, you'll miss the whole point and you'll just sit around and argue about how sovereign God is or not. See, you see what I'm saying? So they say, "Has the word of God failed?" Paul's saying, "No, no, no, no, no." Okay, now he's given reasons. He says, okay, look, for not all who descended from Israel belong to Israel. Not all the children of Abraham because they are his offspring. He says, 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 offspring. For this is what the promise said, "About this time next year, I'll return and Sarah shall have a son." So Paul works backwards to the people of God. You have Isaac. You have Ishmael, Abraham, and Sarah. Abraham is not trusting God's promises. And so, he goes into his maid servant Hagar and b and she bursts Ishmamail. Ishmael is a son of the flesh, meaning it's a son produced by the normal means of the flesh according to Abraham's will. And then God says, "No, that's not how I do things." And then later, he tells Sarah, "Hey, you're going to have a son." And his name is Isaac. Isaac is the son of the promise that God works by promise not by flesh. Now this is important because the entire book of Romans has been explaining you are saved by grace not by works. So you are not saved according to your heritage, according to your ethnicity, according to your religious activity, according to your your proximity to religious things. You are not saved according to your tradition or according to your parents. God doesn't work that way. You are saved and as we're going to see only through trusting in Jesus as fulfilling the promise of God. God works by promise, not by flesh. You are not saved cuz you come to church. You are not saved because you're good to the poor. You are not saved because you're not as bad as someone else. You are not saved for any other reason on planet earth other than if you have repented from your sin and your opinion and put your trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus who fulfilled every promise God ever made. That is the only way by which a person comes into salvation which Romans is teaching. And now you see this has been what God has been saying the whole time. So that's what he's trying to help them understand. He's saying look, God is keeping his promises and the promises are working for those who received the promise. So those who are of the flesh, who are Israelites, have rejected God, but they never knew him. They were never a part of the promise. It's the same thing. You can come to church and not be a Christian. You can grow up in Israel and not be a true Israelite. And so he's saying just because those people have rejected him doesn't mean that God's promise has failed. As a matter of fact, they're a sign that it is proving true. God is keeping his promise to those who walk by the promise. To those who, as he says in Romans 1, live by faith. This has been true the whole time. So this is important for us to understand. All right? You can grow up in Israel and not be part of Israel. You can come to church and not be a Christian. You can go to a lighthouse, not be a Christian. You can have Christian parents and not be a Christian. You can hang around with Christians and not be a Christian. Okay. There was this um I don't know how many you saw this video. was this little league guy and some of y'all might see that saw this yesterday. His team was like about to get beat and the pitcher was super nervous and the bases were loaded and so like things were not looking good and they catch him on audio. He goes up to the pitcher and instead of saying anything about the game, he tells him a dad joke which was really funny and just like he doesn't address the situation at all. He tells him the joke and he walks away. And the joke he goes up to his pitcher, this poor kid, you know, he's like 11 years old, all this pressure, a poor kid. And he goes, "Did you know a koala is not a bear?" And he goes, "It's a marupial." And then he says, "Do you know why a koala is not a bear?" "Because it doesn't have the qualifications." I thought that was pretty funny. And then he literally just walked away. It was like, he didn't say nothing about the bases being loaded or about to lose this game. He just told him the joke and he left, you know. And they had this whole interview with him. But I thought that actually came to mind, you know. uh a person that comes to church is not could not be a Christian could possibly not be a Christian why they don't have the qualifications the qualifications are not to be a person come to church be religious grow up in a religious family d the qualifications of coming of knowing God is coming to faith in Christ that's it there's one qualification belief in Jesus so God works by the promise this is the point he's making he's already said this in Romans chapter 2 and 3 I don't know if you remember but at the end of chapter do remember he says a Jew like a real Jew meaning a real person in the people of God he says it's not one externally through circumcision it's one internally through the circumcision of the heart so he's making this point over and over again that you are not saved by your works and you are not part of the people of God because your flesh is okay so we got to keep going so he uses another example Romans uh he uh verse 10 he says okay so you got that one example but also Rebecca had conceived an a child by one woman so this is Isaac's wife Rebecca conceives children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though, so this is uh Jacob and Esau. He says, "Though they were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad." So nothing they had done nothing yet. This is about to bother you. In order that 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, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. Now, he explicitly makes the point that this is not about their works. Meaning that God didn't look into the future and see Jacob and Esau and then choose one or the other based off how they live their life. This was before that God had a purpose. God chose Jacob. Why did he do that? Cuz he can do what he wants. Okay. So, God rejects the older brother, Esau. He accepts the younger brother, Jacob, which is why yield back then. No way. That's crazy. And now the analogy continues. God is rejecting the older brother, the Jewish people, and he's accepting the younger brother, the Gentiles. This is bothering them. They say, "How could God do that?" God can do what? What he wants. Okay. So the rejection of the Jewish people, the ethnically fleshly Jewish people at the time was God's means by which he opened the door for the Gentiles, which is according to God's promise in Abraham that Gentiles would be included. And the way you could say this now to write this down is that God's sovereign freedom is used with infinite wisdom. God is free to do what he wants, how he wants, when he wants. But he does that with infinite wisdom. He's no dummy. He knows exactly what he's doing. And so God acts with absolute wisdom to choose who he wants and to fulfill his purposes on earth. Now, this is important. Remember, he's making this point over and over again. He's not choosing based off merit, works, order of birth, country of origin, tradition of family, life practices. He is not choosing based off any of these things. He's choosing because he chooses and he has the absolute freedom to do that. Now, this is important because it's the only way grace works. It's the only way. And so, imagine being able to, so to speak, hold God hostage by by limiting his freedom by saying, "Well, because I am Jewish or because I am physically Jewish or because I am circumcised or because I go to church or was raised in a Christian family, you must treat me some type of way." But God says, "No, no, no. No one can hold God hostage that he must respond to them in a favorable way. That's not how it works. You can't say, "Well, I've been good." This is how a lot of people think about going to heaven. I've been good, so God therefore must respond to my goodness with favorable actions towards me. That, so to speak, I can hold God hostage by my behavior. Or I'm Jewish, so I can hold God hostage to his promises to Abraham. so I can live how I want, but I'm Jewish, so God has to treat me a certain way. Or I was raised in a Christian home. I've been around Christian things, and so God must treat me in such a way. You see what I'm saying? So if God acts towards you or me based off anything you do or any merit you have or any place you grew up or any way you lived your life, if God responds to you favorably because of your ethnicity, your country of origin, the way you lived your life, the tradition of your family, your religious practices, if God responds to you according to those things, salvation is no longer by grace. It's by works. See, the only way salvation works by grace if it is if it doesn't include your works at all. So, I want you to see these two connected dots, okay? The necessary truth behind grace is God's sovereign mercy. So if you really appreciate God's grace, which I hope you do, the thing that allows him to give grace is his sovereign ability to do what he wants when he wants with who he wants, not according to anything that they did or bring to the table. And if God has to respond according to your anything, and if he's not free to do whatever he wants, however he wants, with who he wants, then he can't, then salvation is not by grace anymore. So you see how these two truths work together. Now, salvation by grace according to the promise, not by the flesh, according to my works or anything else I bring to the table. And so you see, he's making this thing. God is working out his promise. Okay, so the next thing, an unstoppable purpose. So look, I love how Paul writes because he's assuming the argument. He knows what you're thinking. So he says, "What shall we say then? Is there any injustice on God's part? God chose Jacob. He rejected Esau before any one of them did anything. That's not fair. That's my opinion. That's not fair." He says, "Is God unjust?" Good question. But Paul says, "By no means. No way." Now, what does he do? He actually doesn't give a philosophical answer. He gives a biblical one. So he references Exodus 33:19. For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." Get this. Boy, this drives you nuts. So it does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. You know, no way. No way. No way. I was a part of this, baby. No, he says, "Look, look back. God chooses to have mercy on whoever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants." Verse 17, for the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I 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. So they say, "Hey, that's not fair, Paul." Paul doesn't say, "Oh, yeah, good point." He says, "Let me give you another Bible reference." And I want to help you think this through, actually, and you can write this one down. It's just so it actually is very logical. So God's control of his purpose is what guarantees he can keep his promise. So God has an unstoppable purpose for the world, for your life. And his ability to intervene or to orchestrate all things according to his purpose is the only thing that guarantees his ability to keep his promise. Because if things for one second don't go according to his purpose, then he cannot guarantee his promise. So if God loosens control or his divine authority or sovereignty over all things at all times, then what he cannot do at that point is guarantee he can keep his promises to you. But the point of the scripture is God can keep his promises. And the reasoning is that God will fulfill his purposes. His purpose is unstoppable. His purpose in Pharaoh's life, his purpose in the Israelit's life who were set free, his purpose is unstoppable. And I this is very important because he uses mercy to make his point and this will help you. It helped me. So why does he use this example? You should ask why is this Paul's example of God working in the world to do what he wants how he wants and to save however he wants. And he uses the word mercy. God has mercy on whoever he wants and he hardens whoever he wants. Now what is mercy? That's a good thing to answer. What is mercy then? What is what does it mean for God to give me mercy? Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. So if I get mercy, I don't get what I deserve. The punishment that is due to me for my crime, I don't get. Which means if I don't get mercy, what do I get? Now what's the negative? I get what I >> deserve. So if God doesn't give me mercy and I get what I deserve, is God being unfair? No. You see how this works? So, is God unfair to not bestow mercy on some? No. Why? Because they're getting what they deserve. You say, "That bothers me." Yeah. Now, it should also make you cry every stinking day that God has chosen to be merciful to you. Come on now. Some of y'all are unappreciative of your salvation cuz you think you had something to do with it. >> So you don't weep, man. You don't come down and kneel. You don't praise the Lord. You don't sing in your room. You don't share about Jesus. Why? Cuz you're not unbelievably amazed that God would be merciful to you when he's not merciful to someone else. Why me? Come on. This gets at the root of it to say, "God, you Why would you choose me? I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it." And when you really believe that, you say, "God chose me because he chose me and he loves me because he loves me and he gave me mercy instead of giving me what I deserve." Then the only response out of my heart is, "Thank you. Thank you." You're so Some of us can be so ungrateful cuz we don't get this. You're not moved by God showing you mercy because you think you're entitled to it. This is the problem that we have is that we think God owes us anything. We are sinners. And I know you don't like to hear this, but God owes you and me nothing but wrath. That is the only thing he's obligated to give us as a just judge who who who overwhelms and destroys all evil from the earth. You and I included as participants in the evil. God is good. God is infinitely wise. He is just. Nobody will get away with anything which is really good news until it comes to you. You love that truth until it applies to you. Me, too. It's the what I thought of today was it's like kids who are mad they can't get two scoops and are ungrateful for one. It's like, you know what? You had a right to no ice cream. That's what your right, my right, your right was no ice cream. Now I have brought you to the ice cream store and I'm buying you a scoop of ice cream which you did not deserve but which I have chosen to give you because I love you as my child. And then now you begrudge me for not giving you two. How often are we like this with God? Lord, I need two scoops, please. You know, I need the salvation and the healing. I won't love you unless you do. You know, I need two scoops, please. Three scoops, please. Four scoops, please. And we get ungrateful that we're in the ice cream shop at all. You don't deserve to get any ice cream. I don't deserve any ice cream. But God loves to give it to you. So, we think we are entitled to mercy, which makes us misunderstand and be mad at God for how he decides to divvy it up. But we're not owed mercy. Now, this is where he says it's interesting. He uses the the Pharaoh example because in the Exodus account, we hear we see two things. Pharaoh hardens his heart and God hardens Pharaoh's heart. I This is helpful to understanding how this works because Pharaoh has an active role. His choices matter. And God, this is the same thing as Romans 1. Romans 1 tells us that people decide to run away from God and eventually it says God takes his hand off and lets them go towards their own conclusions. So the same thing with Pharaoh. Pharaoh has a heart that is obstinate to God. Instead of God giving him mercy, God allows Pharaoh's heart to continue being obstinate. This is Pharaoh's choice. Pharaoh wants to be obstinate to God. And so God allows Pharaoh to be obstinate. And then God joins Pharaoh in his obstinence. And so Pharaoh hardens his heart. God comes along and says, "I'll give you what you want." Pharaoh hardens his heart. God comes along. I'll give you I'll harden it. We're joining in this together. And so, Pharaoh is totally completely responsible even though God is involved in the process. Uh James 1 is helpful to this in terms of your sin struggles. He says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God." This is where your logic goes way off to say, "Well, if God is sovereign, then this must be from him." That's not true. James 1, I'm not tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his what does it say? Own desire. So if I go into sin or rebel against God, it's cuz that's what I wanted to do. And if God chooses to judge me according to my crime, so be it. He's he's right to do that. But praise God, he decides to give mercy. But you see what I'm saying? Pharaoh's just going the trajectory that Pharaoh wants to go. And God doesn't intervene. He continues him along. Why? Well, because God had a purpose for Pharaoh's life. That God would be glorified and that the Exodus story would be told for generations. So God is using this whole thing for that. Okay, boy. 12:25. All right. All right. All right. We can do this. The next thing is an unquestionable prerogative. Okay. So he says, "You will say to me, why does he still find fault?" Good question. Who can resist his will? That's a good question. Paul's like, I'm writing this and he's imagining your response. Why would God hold me accountable for something? You know, how could he find fault with me if he does whatever he wants? I love this. Paul does not answer your question. Sorry. This would be nice to us if you know it would be helpful. We think it would be helpful. Apparently, it's not. Paul says, "But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God?" We don't like that either. How dare God talk to me like that? You know, I have rights. You have the right to go to hell. That's what you have. Come on now. I told you I'm going to say it like it is today. Y'all better watch out. Those are your rights, big fella. You know, I have rights. Yeah. You have sinners rights. He says, "How are you going to talk to God like that?" He says,"Well, what does molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter ride over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and one for dishonorable use?" What if God desiring to show his wrath? What a funny phrase. Oh boy, probably don't like that either. God desires to show his wrath. He's not out here just giving teddy bear hugs to everybody. Oh, God is my homeboy. He feels so good. I'm telling you, your view of God is distorted. But why does God love to show his wrath? Why? Cuz he hates evil. Do you do you like it when evil is appropriately punished? Of course you do. So God loves to be just and he loves to be merciful. And so he desires to make his power known. He's 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 before him for glory even us whom he has called not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles. So Paul says, "Hey, look, he doesn't give you a an answer. He re he gives you a rebuke and it's like a like a little Lego face talking back to you being like he put me on a different body, you know, I don't like these pants. You be like, "Bro, I'm in charge here. I'll put you wherever I want." You know, he's like, "Wait, you are like a little thing of clay. I'm sorry to ruin your sense of of uh worldly self-esteem. You should have a lot of self-esteem in the Lord, but apart from that, you should have none." Okay, this is uh you're you're like a little ball of clay, you know, a little ball of clay. Just a cute little ball of clay. And God can do with the clay what he wants. And God prepares some for one things and he prepares others for another. But I love I love this analogy cuz Okay, boy. Okay, we might have to sing like half a song. I got to probably got to keep preaching this. All right. All right. And plus the nine didn't get it at all. So I got to give I got to give it all for everybody here. Okay. So uh there's there's vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. Now that in English it's translated prepared in both cases. But in the New Testament it's written in Greek. I usually don't like to do Greek stuff but for this it's important that the word for prepared is not the same. So the the Greek word for prepared for wrath and the Greek word for prepared for mercy are different. And the difference is you could translate the first one as fitted. And that's important because he says vessels fitted for wrath like tailor fitted meaning that the preparation has been working together that there's been uh uh togetherness that uh I I act in a certain way that deserves wrath and I live in certain way to accumulate punishment and uh God tailor that suit according to my life. So God's working alongside of me as I'm rebelling against him and rejecting the gospel and he's fitting me for the justice that will come my way, which is why it'll be perfectly appropriate. So I'm being fitted. I'm not prepared beforehand. These are important words. Important words. So the mercy is pre-prepared. Meaning it's like I prepared you a meal and you can sit down and come eat it. It's something I did ahead of time for you that you had nothing to do with. So God gives mercy that's pre-prepared. Okay? But God gives wrath that is prepared and fitted according to your behavior in life. So you see how this works. See how fair and reasonable this is that for those who get mercy, it's apart from their work. So it has to be pre-prepared. God cooked the meal and he's giving it to you as a gift. But for those who get wrath, it's not something that's just pre-prepared like something they just have to receive and suck it up because it's tough lot for them. but is to say no, you have rejected God by your own choice and you have continued to live in rebellion to him and along the way your harding heart is getting hard and God is choosing not to show you mercy and to continue let your heart be hard and you're getting tailor fit for the wrath and for the punishment that you deserve based off the life that you lived. So there's no injustice there. The punishment each person receives apart from Christ will be directly tailor fit and fitted for the life they lived. And the mercy that some people receive is something that God has prepared beforehand. So you can say it this way, God's mercy is given apart from works, but his wrath according to our works. So we don't get saved by works, but we do get wrath by works. So God's mercy is given apart from my works. I can't earn or deserve it. God's wrath is giving according to my works. God working alongside of me to give me what I deserve. And so God is choosing to do this one way or the other in people's lives. Now, this is also helpful though because it answers other questions. So, you may be confused by one thing, but you're going to be helped by another thing. I'm going to show you. So, how many times have you thought in your head, why doesn't God do anything about this? Why does God let this evil thing happen? Why does God let that wickedness happen? Why does God just stand by and he lets that thing happen? And you get mad at God for that. But look at what he says here in the passage that it's God's mercy. Okay? He has endured. Verse 22, with much patience. He has endured with patience. He's letting people be evil to the degree that they want to be. And he's preparing the destruction they deserve, which is right. But the reason he's allowing that to continue, verse 23, is to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy. Meaning that there are still people in the world that God has intended to be merciful to that if he came down and ended everything right now, they wouldn't get the mercy he has planned for them. So it is God's merciful, kind, loving heart to keep saving people that keeps him from totally stomping out evil and wickedness now. And the reason he continues to let things go now to some degree according to our perception of things, he has made explicit is so that he can keep time going so that the people he's planned to give mercy to, he can give mercy to. So why does God let that happen? There's a hundred reasons I don't know. But there's one I do know is that he's still got people he's saving. He's still got grace he's given. He's still got mercy planned. He's still got a good work to do. And so he lets this whole thing continue so he can be kind and gracious to some. It's God's heart. Now the word prerogative is important. You know what prerogative is? I've been saying this whole time. God's got the prerogative to be God. God can do what he wants, how he wants, when he wants, with who he wants. Okay. Now, here's the final thing. An undeniable preference. So you have all that. But look, as he he says in Hosea, those are not my people. I will call my people. Her who is not beloved, I will call beloved. In the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people. They will be called sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. Though the number of sons of Israel be as a stand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved. The Lord will carry out his sentence upon earth fully and without delay. The Lord of hosts had not let us offspring. He would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. Look, God has an undeniable preference. A preference. A preference. Look, uh, 2 Peter 3:9 says this, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but he's being patient towards you." Get this, not wishing or desiring or wanting anyone to perish, but that everyone should come to repentance. You say, "How in the world does that work with his choosing of I don't know. Be quiet." You know what we do know? The revelation is God has a preference and his preference is that you would receive mercy. His preference is that you would be saved. His preference is that you would respond to the gospel. His preference is that you would become his child. His preference is that you would go from not being his people to being his people. God has a preference and he's giving you an opportunity and you can respond to God today. He wants you to be saved. He wants to be merciful to you. He doesn't wish that you would perish. And so that's why the last one's important. An unambiguous proposal. I had to steal from the next chapter because I can't preach all of Romans 9 without telling you Romans 10:10. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord over all, bestowing riches on all who call upon him. Verse 13, for everyone everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So you say all the God's sovereignty stuff, listen, you just need to understand right now, if you call upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved. You don't need to worry about whether you're chosen beforehand or not. God is giving you the opportunity today to call upon his name, to repent from your sin, to trust in Christ. He has a preference that you would receive his mercy. Everybody who's been a Christian for any time knows this, that in the moment of believing upon Jesus, it feels like I'm choosing him. And then when I look back, it becomes clear to me that he chose me. There is not a Christian in this room who would stand up here and say, "I'm so thankful that I chose God. Look at me. I made such a good decision. No, no. We weep and we cry. We say, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you that you chose me. I was a mess, man. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound. You saved a wretch like me." So, you already believe all this stuff by your testimony. And the scriptur is just telling you what you know inherently to be true. And you never would have chosen Jesus, but Jesus mercifully chose you. So, I want you to close your eyes now and respond to God. Maybe just come play quietly for a minute. [Music] I want you to consider right now whether you are right with God or whether you're living by opinion. And so, I want to open the altar. The prayer team, y'all can come down front. We we need to respond. We have a little bit of a short amount of time, but we need to respond to the Lord. There's two ways to respond. One is to confess and believe that Jesus is Lord. And so, I want to give you the opportunity to do that now, sitting right where you're at or watching online. You don't need anybody else, just you and the Lord. I want you to tell the Lord, "I repent from my sin. I call upon the name of Jesus. I believe and trust in his life, death, and resurrection to be saved." I'm going to give you 20 seconds. I want you to do that now. Today is the day. God has a preference and he wants to show you mercy. If you call on him, he will answer you. I want you to do that. Now, there are those of you in the room who know the Lord. Um, but you've been living by your opinion. And in this moment today, you need to be quiet and throw your opinions in the trash. And you need to submit and trust his divine revelation over your life. So, I want to open the altar for you to do that kind of business with God, to trust him, to submit, to obey, to believe. And so, as they play maybe just like, I don't know, half a chorus or something, I'm going to pray and we're going to open up a time uh to respond. But if you're here today and before we open our eyes and you say, "Today's the day I put my faith in Christ. I choose to submit and trust Jesus." I want you to raise your hand. Is there anybody here you say, "Today, I repent and believe." I see your hand. Is there any others? Today is the day. I I want to mark this moment with God. I would love to pray for you. You say, "Today is the day I choose to repent and believe the gospel." Thank you. Praise God. Let me pray. And if that's you, please come. Please, please, please come pray with one of us. Let us know. We'd love to help you. And so, let's go ahead and pray. God, we love you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for the truth of your word. I pray that we would submit not just to your revelation, but to your character, that you're worthy of being trusted. You proved that on the cross and that we would leave from here, Lord, not living according to our own opinion, but according to your revelation. We ask this in Jesus name. Everybody said, "Amen." Amen. All right. Respond to God urgently. Pray. Get what you need from the Lord right