1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,680 Let's turn to Romans 9, verses 6-29. 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:12,920 The message we have today is not one for the marketplace, but rather it is one for the 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:19,240 assembly of God's people, for this is family truth that we are looking at. 4 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:29,160 Frankly, God has today been so humanized by some that it is difficult for us to accept 5 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:35,120 the doctrine that we are looking at, which is the sovereignty of God. 6 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:43,480 Unfortunately, there are many churches that probably, to be honest, should put a disclaimer 7 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:50,300 on their church bulletin board that would say something like, the God who is preached 8 00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:57,560 at this church, if found similar to the God of the Bible, please understand, is purely 9 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:06,520 coincidental, because the God that is proclaimed in so many churches today cannot be found 10 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:11,440 in the pages of the Word of God. 11 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:19,200 The God we are going to look at today is a God who is absolutely sovereign in what He 12 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,920 does. 13 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:27,880 The Apostle is a burdened man, as he writes the first five verses of this chapter, because 14 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:34,000 of the people of Israel, his kinsmen according to the flesh, who have rejected their Christ. 15 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,920 But he goes on to say, It is not as though the word of God has failed. 16 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:44,320 For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. 17 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:48,360 Neither are they all children, because they are Abraham's descendants. 18 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,040 But through Isaac your descendants will be named. 19 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:57,560 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children 20 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,640 of the promise are regarded as descendants. 21 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:08,120 For this is the word of promise, at that time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. 22 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:13,000 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also when she had conceived twins by one man, our 23 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:14,960 father Isaac. 24 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:20,040 For though the twins were not yet born and had not yet done anything good or bad, in 25 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:24,800 order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, 26 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:32,320 but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, the older will serve the younger. 27 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:38,760 Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. 28 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:40,560 What shall we say then? 29 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,280 There is no injustice with God, is there? 30 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,040 May it never be. 31 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:50,720 For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion 32 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,720 on whom I have compassion. 33 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:58,660 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who 34 00:02:58,660 --> 00:03:00,800 has mercy. 35 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,900 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate 36 00:03:05,900 --> 00:03:11,780 my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. 37 00:03:11,780 --> 00:03:17,900 So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. 38 00:03:17,900 --> 00:03:23,400 You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who resists his will? 39 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,960 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? 40 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,800 The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this? 41 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,260 Will it? 42 00:03:34,260 --> 00:03:40,400 Or does not the potter have right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel 43 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,280 for honor and another for common use? 44 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:49,200 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured 45 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:54,240 with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 46 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:59,700 And He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels 47 00:03:59,700 --> 00:04:07,560 of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He has also called, not 48 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:12,400 from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. 49 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:19,340 As He says also in Hosea, I will call those who are not My people My people, and her who 50 00:04:19,340 --> 00:04:22,480 was not beloved beloved. 51 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:27,420 And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, there 52 00:04:27,420 --> 00:04:31,360 shall they be called sons of the living God. 53 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:36,400 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel be as the 54 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:41,660 sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved. 55 00:04:41,660 --> 00:04:46,260 For the Lord will execute His word upon the earth thoroughly and quickly. 56 00:04:46,260 --> 00:04:53,460 And just as Isaiah foretold, except the Lord is sabioth had left us to us a posterity, 57 00:04:53,460 --> 00:04:59,440 we would have become as Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah. 58 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,640 Let's pray together. 59 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:09,320 Father, as we look at this passage of scripture today, as difficult as it is for our human 60 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:16,160 understanding, I pray that the Spirit of God would be our teacher so that we may understand 61 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:21,040 what You want to say to us and reveal to us of Yourself. 62 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,920 In Jesus' name, amen. 63 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:32,960 The main point that Paul is driving at in chapters 9, 10, and 11 is the fact that God 64 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:41,040 will yet fulfill His sovereign purpose for Israel. 65 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:50,120 And that even though that people as a nation have been set aside in judgment, yet God will 66 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:56,940 fulfill to them what He has purposed for them. 67 00:05:56,940 --> 00:06:04,120 In the outline in your worship folder today, you will see three main points. 68 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:10,280 If you get nothing else out of this message today except those three sentences, and you 69 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:19,040 begin to understand what they mean, then you will have gained something very important. 70 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:26,080 We're dealing here with the matter of Israel's past, her election of God. 71 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,680 For God chose Israel as a nation for Himself. 72 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:35,840 And there are three truths about that that are revealed to us in our text. 73 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:41,820 In verses 6-9, we see that election is not based on ancestry. 74 00:06:41,820 --> 00:06:50,440 In verses 10-13, we are given to understand that election is not based on merit. 75 00:06:50,440 --> 00:07:00,380 And then in verses 14-29, that election is based on God's grace and is according to 76 00:07:00,380 --> 00:07:03,800 His own purpose. 77 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:11,760 Think with me in these early verses about this truth that election is not based on ancestry. 78 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:20,000 Notice in verse 6, the apostle tells us that even though Israel has failed God, God has 79 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,080 not failed Israel. 80 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:28,880 He says, it is not as though the purpose of God or the word of God or the decree of God 81 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,560 has failed. 82 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:39,580 And that word failed means to fall out of place, like some of you fell out of bed this 83 00:07:39,580 --> 00:07:41,880 morning perhaps. 84 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:48,480 It's a word that's used over in Acts chapter 27 verse 17 of the ship that was driven from 85 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,480 its course by the winds and the storm. 86 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:59,760 He's saying here that even though Israel had rejected God's word and her Messiah, 87 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:07,600 Jesus, nonetheless, God's purpose for Israel had not gone off course. 88 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,040 God's purpose for Israel is still on course. 89 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,320 It has not failed. 90 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:19,120 But then he goes on to say, they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. 91 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,880 Israel, you'll recall, is another name for Jacob. 92 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:30,520 And he tells us here that even though there were some, there were many actually, who had 93 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:38,880 descended from Israel physically, they were not all true Israelites spiritually. 94 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:46,000 There is a distinction here between those who are physically related to their ancestor, 95 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:59,960 Jacob or Israel, and those who are his spiritual children as well as his physical children. 96 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:03,960 The same was true in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. 97 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:12,200 You may recall in the Gospel of John that the Pharisees came to him and argued with 98 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:21,720 him and tried to trap him in some way to prove that he was blaspheming as he claimed that 99 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:26,800 he was the I Am, Jehovah God come in the flesh. 100 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:32,960 And in the middle of that conversation in John chapter 8, Jesus said to them, now listen 101 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:41,680 who he's talking to, the Pharisees, descendants of Jacob or Israel, very religious men, strong 102 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:49,360 men in the religion of the Jews, he says to them, you are not of your father Abraham, 103 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:56,080 but you are of your father the devil. 104 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:04,480 Actually Dale Carnegie had not been around in those days because Jesus forthrightly said 105 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:12,880 to them, you are not the sons of your human ancestor Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, but you are 106 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:20,160 actually spiritually the sons of the devil because you refuse to accept me and to acknowledge 107 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:21,160 who I am. 108 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:26,600 So you see even in Jesus' ministry he drew a line of distinction between those who were 109 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:33,040 the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and those who were their spiritual 110 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:38,960 descendants because of obedience and faith in the promises of God. 111 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:47,280 No Israelite could claim to be one of God's chosen, one of God's elect just because he 112 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:52,000 was a physical descendant of the patriarchs. 113 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,320 And that's important. 114 00:10:55,320 --> 00:11:02,800 God's elective purpose for Israel, you see, is therefore not nullified just because the 115 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:10,400 physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob rejected God's word. 116 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:16,000 Even though the majority of the physical descendants of the patriarchs ultimately rejected their 117 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:22,960 Christ, it did not nullify God's word to them, to the nation. 118 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:28,360 For even then a remnant would be saved and someday God is going to restore the nation 119 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:29,360 of Israel. 120 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,120 Now what kind of an application can we draw here for ourselves? 121 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,400 Let me just draw one and it's this. 122 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:45,440 That even today salvation has nothing to do with one's physical ancestry or bloodline. 123 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,400 As somebody has said, God has no grandchildren. 124 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:54,040 You may come from a godly line of Christians. 125 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:59,880 Your mother and father may be wonderful believers in Jesus Christ, but dear friend, that does 126 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:04,600 not automatically make you a Christian. 127 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:09,560 That does not mean you are saved just because your parents are saved. 128 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:17,040 It is a personal matter between you and God and whether you will trust Jesus Christ for 129 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:23,540 yourself as your own savior from your personal sin. 130 00:12:23,540 --> 00:12:30,160 Just as the election is not based upon ancestry when it comes to Israel, so it's true today 131 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:33,760 with Christians. 132 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:38,400 Now there may be some who would say, what illustration of this is there? 133 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,440 Well he gives us one. 134 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:50,040 He brings us back in the Old Testament to the story of Abraham and his two boys. 135 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:56,520 He says, God said to Abraham, through Isaac your descendants will be named. 136 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,080 In other words, it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but 137 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:01,620 the children of the promise. 138 00:13:01,620 --> 00:13:02,720 What promise? 139 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,780 Verse 9, Sarah shall have a son. 140 00:13:06,780 --> 00:13:09,080 Remember the case of Abraham. 141 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,440 Got to be an old man, no boys. 142 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:19,880 That was a terrible position for an oriental to be in. 143 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:27,640 And yet God had said to Abraham, through your seed I am going to bring blessing to the earth. 144 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:31,240 Abraham believed that promise, but still there was no seed. 145 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:38,840 At one point he succumbed to the suggestion of his wife Sarah and took her handmaiden, 146 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,960 Hagar as a concubine. 147 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:47,640 And as a result of that union with Hagar, his son was born, his first born, and his 148 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:49,680 name was what? 149 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:53,000 Ishmael, Ishmael. 150 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:59,640 By all rights, as we think of it, Ishmael should have been his main inheritor. 151 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:04,600 Ishmael should have had the right of the first born. 152 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,780 And yet God said no. 153 00:14:08,780 --> 00:14:12,640 This boy was born by your own effort, Abraham. 154 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,240 He is a child of your flesh. 155 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:23,320 The child that's going to inherit the promise is the child who will come to you by a miracle. 156 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:31,600 So God waited, he delayed until Sarah was dead in her womb for sure and Abraham himself 157 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:33,840 was impotent. 158 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:39,800 And then God said, I'm going to come back and visit Sarah and she is going to have a 159 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,520 son. 160 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:47,500 God gave her the power to conceive and gave Abraham the power to join with her and they 161 00:14:47,500 --> 00:14:51,360 produced out of their love another son. 162 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:53,560 And that son was whom? 163 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:54,920 Isaac. 164 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:58,800 And Isaac was the son of promise. 165 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:05,560 This was the son who was born miraculously because both of them were too old. 166 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:15,320 Now get this, Ishmael was just as much a son of Abraham as was Isaac. 167 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:21,600 But God said, I choose Isaac. 168 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,640 And he overlooked Ishmael and set him aside. 169 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:28,800 God gave him blessing, read about it in Genesis. 170 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:35,680 But God said as far as his purpose was concerned for redemption, he was choosing Isaac. 171 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:44,080 It was through the son of the promise that his purpose would be fulfilled. 172 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:49,240 Now there were people who might say, well, of course Isaac was chosen. 173 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:54,320 After all, his mother was Sarah and she was a free woman. 174 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,600 Ishmael's mother was a slave. 175 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,520 That's why God chose Isaac. 176 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:04,640 Now to show that that is not true, let's proceed to the next point. 177 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:11,880 And that is God's choice did not depend upon merit. 178 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,900 You see there's the subtle implication in that statement that somehow Isaac had inherent 179 00:16:16,900 --> 00:16:20,960 worth because he was born of a free woman. 180 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:25,940 So to prove that was not the case, the apostle brings before us another illustration. 181 00:16:25,940 --> 00:16:34,500 This time is the illustration of Isaac and his wife, Rebecca. 182 00:16:34,500 --> 00:16:42,800 She was pregnant with two children, twins. 183 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:51,600 Before they were born, as it says in verse 11, before they had done good or bad, before 184 00:16:51,600 --> 00:17:00,080 there was any personal merit involved, God selected one of those boys and overlooked 185 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:01,200 the other. 186 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:08,480 In this case, he chose Jacob and overlooked Esau. 187 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:14,880 Now remember, these two have the same mother and father. 188 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:18,220 Isaac and Ishmael had the same father but two different mothers. 189 00:17:18,220 --> 00:17:21,900 This time we have the same mother, same father, two boys. 190 00:17:21,900 --> 00:17:24,400 They're not born yet. 191 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,460 No good or bad inherent in them. 192 00:17:27,460 --> 00:17:33,460 And God simply looks down and says, I will choose this one. 193 00:17:33,460 --> 00:17:39,600 And he said the older is going to serve the younger one, which was just the opposite is 194 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:40,960 what you would expect. 195 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:46,000 Esau was born first and Jacob was born second. 196 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,720 And yet God said, I choose the second born, not the first born. 197 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:57,200 Now why did God do that? 198 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:04,160 Because God wanted to underscore to them and to all of us that his purpose, as it says 199 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:16,120 in verse 11, does not depend upon the merit, get this, of the people who are involved. 200 00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:23,480 If it did, then the people who are involved might fail and then God's purpose would fail. 201 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:29,340 So God says, I am going to make my choice, my purpose, depend upon nothing except my 202 00:18:29,340 --> 00:18:33,460 choice and my purpose. 203 00:18:33,460 --> 00:18:37,680 It has nothing to do with the merit of the people involved. 204 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:42,280 When God chose Israel to be his people, it wasn't because there was something special 205 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:43,280 about them. 206 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,560 It was simply that God chose them. 207 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:52,280 Illustrated here in Jacob and Esau. 208 00:18:52,280 --> 00:19:00,600 God says he did this in order, verse 11, that his purpose according to choice might stand. 209 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:02,820 That is that it might remain. 210 00:19:02,820 --> 00:19:03,820 And it still does today. 211 00:19:03,820 --> 00:19:07,640 And you see that is Paul's point here. 212 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:17,640 Even though there were some of God's chosen people in that broad sense of the term, descendants 213 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:27,720 physically from Jacob, who had rejected his word and his purpose, it did not at all change 214 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,600 what he had purposed. 215 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:35,880 Because what he had chosen to do didn't depend upon them, but only upon him. 216 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,640 You see that is the point that Paul is pointing out. 217 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:44,800 Verse 13, just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. 218 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,960 That seems like a very harsh verse, doesn't it? 219 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:55,840 It's probably a Hebrew idiom, which means something like this. 220 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,480 I have preferred Jacob over Esau. 221 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:07,680 In other words, God said I choose Jacob I am overlooking, I am disregarding Esau for 222 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:13,680 my purposes. 223 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:15,520 What does that mean to us today? 224 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:23,160 Well, it means just as God's purpose then did not depend upon the merit of those involved, 225 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:29,280 so today God's elective purpose, his salvation, does not depend upon the merit of the people 226 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:30,280 involved. 227 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:37,600 Now frankly, that runs counter to a lot of what you hear from so-called Christian pulpits 228 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:39,720 these days. 229 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:44,440 How many times have you been to a funeral, for example, of a man who was godless and 230 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:51,600 wicked, who gave no evidence at all of God's saving work in his life, and yet there at 231 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:57,140 his funeral the preacher stands up and says, Joe was a wonderful man. 232 00:20:57,140 --> 00:21:04,360 He was a good husband and father, and he belonged to this lodge, and he gave for that purpose, 233 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:07,080 and he helped our community. 234 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,800 He was a wonderful man. 235 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:17,920 The implication is because of all of that, God certainly will be pleased to receive him 236 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:18,920 into heaven. 237 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:26,000 There is some kind of merit here, you see, that will impress God and obligate God to 238 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:31,880 say, well, Joe, I mean after all the preacher said, how can I turn you away? 239 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,140 You see, that is humanism. 240 00:21:35,140 --> 00:21:36,960 That is humanistic Christianity. 241 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:40,440 It's not biblical Christianity. 242 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:49,760 God's salvation does not depend one wit upon the worth or the merit of the person 243 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:54,420 involved. 244 00:21:54,420 --> 00:22:01,600 God can save the moral person and the completely immoral person alike, because whether he is 245 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:09,120 moral or immoral is not what makes the difference. 246 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:15,880 Now let's go on to the third statement we have on our outline, kind of pull it together. 247 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:23,520 If God's elective purpose does not depend upon ancestry, physical relationship, or upon 248 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:29,880 merit, what one has done, then what does it depend upon? 249 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:44,880 The answer is that God's elective purposes depend solely upon his grace and his own purpose, 250 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,920 period. 251 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:54,520 Verses 14 through 29 deal with that statement, and we're going to divide those verses into 252 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:56,940 two parts. 253 00:22:56,940 --> 00:22:59,160 There are two questions that help us do this. 254 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,040 In verse 14 there's a question, verse 19 there's a question. 255 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:08,960 Follow me, please, put your thinking caps on, allow the Spirit of God to show you what 256 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:11,400 is here. 257 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:18,040 This is astounding truth that we're going to see. 258 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:27,760 After saying, Jacob I love, but Esau I disregarded, the word of God says, what shall we say then? 259 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:32,120 There is no injustice with God as there may it never be. 260 00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:37,440 Or let's rephrase that question as some people today would ask it. 261 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:46,680 Isn't God unjust in selecting one but overlooking another? 262 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,320 That isn't fair. 263 00:23:51,320 --> 00:24:00,160 How can God be just and choose this one and reject that one? 264 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:08,960 Rabbinic Judaism in that day, like humanistic theology of our day, says this, God is merciful 265 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,760 to those who deserve it. 266 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:15,000 Doesn't that sound nice? 267 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,880 God helps those that help themselves. 268 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:22,280 Merciful theology, isn't it? 269 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:24,240 God is merciful to those who deserve it. 270 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,040 Now you think about that statement a minute. 271 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:34,760 It is a self-contradictory statement because you see mercy means that there's no reason 272 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,960 for it to be extended, it just is. 273 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:42,080 A person doesn't deserve it, that's what makes it mercy. 274 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,480 You follow me? 275 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:50,480 The only true mercy is free mercy. 276 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:53,420 It has no strings attached. 277 00:24:53,420 --> 00:24:59,640 It is not given because one is related to another or because one has done something. 278 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:04,360 It's simply given, period. 279 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:12,800 This is illustrated for us in two men from the Old Testament, Moses and Pharaoh. 280 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:18,780 God said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom 281 00:25:18,780 --> 00:25:20,840 I have compassion. 282 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,800 So then it doesn't depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who 283 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,080 has mercy. 284 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:34,080 You look at the context of that verse from Exodus 33, 19, which is quoted in verse 15 285 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:42,200 here, and you find that this occurs in a time of conversation between Moses and God. 286 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,520 This happened after the people have worshiped the golden calf. 287 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:52,120 In the midst of a conversation about all of that, Moses blurts out, oh God, show me your 288 00:25:52,120 --> 00:25:56,280 glory. 289 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:04,400 God says Moses, I'm paraphrasing, God said, Moses, I can't do that lest you die, though 290 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:12,920 partially I can show you my glory, but Moses, listen to me, I have mercy on whom I have 291 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,440 mercy and I have compassion on whom I have compassion. 292 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,060 You know what he meant by that? 293 00:26:18,060 --> 00:26:24,320 God was saying, Moses, I'm going to answer your request in part as much as I can, but 294 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:30,080 it's not because of what you've done or who you are. 295 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:36,240 I am going to do it just because I'm merciful upon you and I'm compassionate toward you. 296 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:37,240 That's the reason. 297 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:43,040 And that's why Paul goes on to say in verse 16 what he does. 298 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:44,880 It doesn't depend upon the man who wills it. 299 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:50,720 You see, Moses wanted to see the glory of God or the man who runs, who makes an effort. 300 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:56,680 Moses would deserve it if anybody could deserve it. 301 00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:01,920 He was a good man, a faithful deliverer of his people. 302 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,640 But it didn't depend upon either of those things. 303 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,920 It was simply the fact that God is a merciful God. 304 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,880 Now, we can understand that. 305 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:10,880 That's not too hard. 306 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:11,880 Now we come to Pharaoh. 307 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,200 It gets tougher. 308 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,340 Don't give up yet. 309 00:27:17,340 --> 00:27:24,940 The scripture says to Pharaoh, for this purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in 310 00:27:24,940 --> 00:27:30,100 you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. 311 00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:36,800 God said to Pharaoh, I have raised you up like an actor on the stage. 312 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:44,400 And the reason I have done that is that I might show my power in you and that my name 313 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,840 might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. 314 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:55,200 And then it says in verse 18, so then he has mercy on whom he desires. 315 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:56,920 That's Moses. 316 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,880 But he hardens whom he desires. 317 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:02,800 And that's Pharaoh. 318 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:08,560 You see, God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. 319 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:16,640 If you go back to the book of Exodus, it gives you a little insight into how that it was 320 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:25,560 accomplished because ten times in those early chapters of Exodus, it says, and Pharaoh hardened 321 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:29,920 his heart. 322 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,980 Here it says God hardened his heart. 323 00:28:31,980 --> 00:28:32,980 What happened? 324 00:28:32,980 --> 00:28:33,980 Both did. 325 00:28:33,980 --> 00:28:38,440 Pharaoh hardened his heart against what God told him to do and God hardened his heart 326 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,040 in response to it. 327 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:44,820 Pharaoh hardened his heart again when Moses came and God hardened his heart again. 328 00:28:44,820 --> 00:28:48,960 It was a reciprocal kind of thing, you see. 329 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:54,880 But the truth is that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. 330 00:28:54,880 --> 00:29:01,200 God raised him up so that he might do one thing and that was glorify himself. 331 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,200 Did God do that? 332 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,200 Yes. 333 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:11,200 As Psalm 76, 10 says, the wrath of man shall praise thee. 334 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:19,080 Pharaoh was filled with wrath and anger toward God and rejected his word and refused to acknowledge 335 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,720 him. 336 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:28,880 And as a result of that, over a period of months, God poured out plagues upon Egypt like 337 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:33,800 have never been seen since and only can be compared to what is going to happen someday 338 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:38,400 in the tribulation period on the whole world. 339 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:44,920 God displayed his power because of Pharaoh's hardness. 340 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:50,640 And furthermore, as that power was displayed, God's reputation began to spread throughout 341 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:52,760 all the nations. 342 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:58,640 So by the time the Israelites got up to Canaan, they said, oh, you're the people whose God 343 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,920 delivered them down in Egypt. 344 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:10,640 You see, God's glory had spread because of what happened in Pharaoh's case. 345 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:15,840 What verse 18 says is that God is selectively merciful. 346 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:20,800 He has mercy on those whom he chooses to have mercy and he hardens others whom he chooses 347 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,240 to harden. 348 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,280 That's tough, isn't it? 349 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:30,840 We don't like to think of God in those terms because our humanistic reasoning says that 350 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:32,760 isn't right. 351 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,560 But that's what God says he does. 352 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:40,800 You say, why doesn't God show mercy on everybody? 353 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,000 I don't know the answer to that. 354 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,680 God doesn't tell us the answer to that. 355 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:52,560 The best stab at an answer I could make is this, that if God showed mercy on everybody, 356 00:30:52,560 --> 00:31:02,400 there would be no way for him to display his holiness, his righteousness, and his judgment. 357 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:06,480 And so he has mercy on whom he will, he hardens whom he will. 358 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:11,360 And that brings us to the second question, a question you might have in your mind, verse 359 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:12,360 19. 360 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:16,880 Why does he still find fault? 361 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,080 Who resists his will? 362 00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:26,680 In other words, how then can such a sovereign God as this find fault? 363 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:31,240 For who can resist him? 364 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:36,560 Paul does not directly answer that question, but he does give a threefold reply. 365 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:40,380 Verses 19 to 21, it's a follow-up question. 366 00:31:40,380 --> 00:31:50,760 Verses 22 to 24, an enlightening statement, and verses 25 to 29, a fulfilled prophecy. 367 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:57,100 The first part of his answer is actually a question in itself. 368 00:31:57,100 --> 00:32:07,080 And it says this in verse 20, on the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? 369 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:14,440 He says, who do you think you are to question what God does? 370 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:20,640 If God chooses to show mercy in this case and chooses to harden this man, who are you 371 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:25,040 to say, God, what are you doing? 372 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:32,960 For after all, you are but the clay, and God is the potter. 373 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:38,400 He is the one who molds, you're the thing molded. 374 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:43,400 He has the authority and the right to do what he wants to do. 375 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,320 He is God. 376 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,440 Look at verse 21. 377 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,680 Does not the potter have the right over the clay? 378 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:57,560 To make from the same lump one vessel for honor, another for common use? 379 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,040 Of course he does. 380 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:05,240 I've never been a potter, most of the time I'm grateful for that. 381 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:11,840 But my brother took pottery as a course in college. 382 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:17,140 And I remember seeing some of the works of art, shall we call them, that he produced 383 00:33:17,140 --> 00:33:18,800 in that course. 384 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,820 And I remember for a time being a little envious about the fact that he was able to get that 385 00:33:22,820 --> 00:33:27,840 clay out there on the wheel as it turned and fashioned it and do what he wanted to with 386 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:29,500 it. 387 00:33:29,500 --> 00:33:35,440 A potter can have a piece of clay before him and take part of it and make a beautiful piece 388 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,880 of pottery to sit on the shelf for people to admire. 389 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:46,240 And he can take the other half of the same piece of clay and make a pot out of it if 390 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:47,240 he wants to. 391 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:49,800 That's what he's saying here. 392 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:53,420 Just for common, ordinary use. 393 00:33:53,420 --> 00:33:54,420 Who can question him? 394 00:33:54,420 --> 00:33:57,480 Is the clay going to say, hey, I want to be something else? 395 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,120 Of course not. 396 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,160 Now man isn't just clay. 397 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:09,040 Man has a will which is stubborn and resistant and rebellious against God. 398 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:14,720 But what are you saying here that God has the right to do what he wants to? 399 00:34:14,720 --> 00:34:20,600 Now the historical example is Pharaoh and Moses. 400 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:25,040 You see, God has the right to make a Moses and a right to make a Pharaoh if he wants 401 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:26,040 to. 402 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,960 And to choose who's going to be which. 403 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:33,200 And from each of them, God is going to be glorified. 404 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:39,160 As we've seen, God was glorified in Moses because of the redemption that he brought 405 00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,440 to the people of Israel. 406 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:47,680 God was glorified through Pharaoh because of the judgment that was poured out in that 407 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:49,840 case. 408 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:54,360 In both cases, God is glorified as God. 409 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:59,200 So don't be alarmed when Madeline Murray O'Hare gets on the television and blasphemes 410 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:03,160 God and says nasty things about God. 411 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,320 Don't think for a minute that God is up in heaven wringing his hands saying, what am 412 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,840 I going to do with Madeline? 413 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:13,440 My friend, God is God. 414 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:18,320 And Madeline Murray O'Hare and all the other atheists who tried to blaspheme God and deny 415 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:24,600 God in the ultimate are actually only bringing glory to God. 416 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:32,440 Ultimately, all of their attacks against God will be used to exalt God, just as was true 417 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,880 with Pharaoh. 418 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,360 Now he goes on to give an enlightening statement which helps us a little bit. 419 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:47,320 He says, what if God endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 420 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:52,240 The thing that I see here, the statement that helps me and enlightens me is this, that God 421 00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:53,920 is patient with sinners. 422 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,360 God was patient with Pharaoh. 423 00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:02,880 For many months, God allowed Pharaoh to reject before the tenth and final plague came. 424 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,320 God was patient with him and the people of Egypt. 425 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:13,760 Nonetheless, they were vessels of wrath, common vessels, to go back to the illustration in 426 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:20,320 the previous verse, fit for God's wrath to be poured upon. 427 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:23,680 And he says that they were prepared for destruction. 428 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,120 I want you to notice something very important in that verse. 429 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:30,240 It does not say God prepared them for destruction. 430 00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:33,000 It says they were prepared for destruction. 431 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:34,000 What did? 432 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,520 Their own sin. 433 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:39,960 What was it that prepared Pharaoh for his judgment? 434 00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:45,040 It was his own rebellious spirit against God. 435 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:50,880 Now the application in Paul's day was for Israel. 436 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:59,840 Whereas 1,500 years before that, it was Moses and Pharaoh. 437 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:07,820 In his day, it was Israel, the physical descendants, and Israel, the spiritual descendants. 438 00:37:07,820 --> 00:37:12,560 And he's saying that there were those who were physically a part of Israel, physically 439 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:21,920 Jews, who were vessels of wrath, prepared by their own rejection of their Messiah for 440 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:30,000 their judgment, which came nationally in 70 AD. 441 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,080 God was patient with them, though. 442 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:34,720 God was patient with sinners. 443 00:37:34,720 --> 00:37:35,720 He still is today. 444 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:41,320 Now we can apply this today in a personal way. 445 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:51,280 For every person who has not received Jesus Christ is classified as a vessel of wrath. 446 00:37:51,280 --> 00:38:01,520 And throughout eternity to come, he will receive the wrath and the judgment of God, righteously 447 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:03,680 and justly. 448 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:09,120 And there is some way in which, although God is not delighted with that, the death of the 449 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,280 wicked does not please him. 450 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:19,680 He is nonetheless glorified in it because it exalts his holiness. 451 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:22,480 Now there's a contrast in verses 23 and 24. 452 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,920 He talks here about the vessels of mercy. 453 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:30,320 Here he's talking about Moses, the children of Israel on that day. 454 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:36,520 He's talking about true Israelites in his own day, those of Israel who had trusted their 455 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,800 Messiah. 456 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:43,120 And by way of application, he makes it clear he's talking also about those of us who are 457 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:45,920 called from the Gentiles. 458 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:51,440 He says God has beforehand, when? 459 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:57,800 Before the creation of the world, as we've seen in Romans 8, 28 to 30, prepared glory 460 00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:59,860 for us. 461 00:38:59,860 --> 00:39:03,120 He calls us vessels of mercy. 462 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:06,360 What did we do to deserve that? 463 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,640 Absolutely nothing. 464 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,880 Couldn't be more clear. 465 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:19,800 Not because of who we are, not because of what we've done, but because it pleases him, 466 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:27,680 he sovereignly chooses to make you and you and you and you and you and you and you a 467 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,680 vessel of mercy. 468 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:36,280 Not because there was some merit in you, not because of who you're related to, but because 469 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:45,840 God sovereignly said that one and that one and that one, and then he overlooked the rest. 470 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:47,760 He emphasizes here God's sovereignty. 471 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,360 He doesn't talk much about man's responsibility. 472 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:56,640 We get to that in chapter 10 somewhat, but here he tells us what God is like. 473 00:39:56,640 --> 00:40:03,840 This is the Godward side of redemption. 474 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:11,080 Then in verses 25 through 29, and we won't look at this in detail, he simply says that 475 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:18,940 all of this has taken place in Israel's history according to what God himself foretold. 476 00:40:18,940 --> 00:40:26,440 That is, that the nation as a whole would reject, but that a remnant would receive their 477 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:34,800 Messiah and be saved, and that beyond that, Gentiles would be included in his purposes. 478 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:41,360 I do want us to look at verse 29, which says, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us 479 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:47,720 a posterity, we would have become as Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah. 480 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:51,960 We can technically hear about Israel, but it's true of all of us. 481 00:40:51,960 --> 00:41:03,280 My friend, if God did not show sovereign grace and mercy toward some, none would be saved. 482 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:14,560 You would not be saved if God had not sovereignly said, I choose you in Jesus Christ for myself. 483 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:20,880 Beyond that, we would reserve judgment that would be just as righteous as the judgment 484 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,080 that came on Sodom and upon Gomorrah. 485 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:28,720 In closing, let me give two applications. 486 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:35,600 Our salvation likewise is not based upon ancestry or works, but upon sovereign grace. 487 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:42,460 Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, 4, by grace, you've been saved. 488 00:41:42,460 --> 00:41:49,800 Lot of works, lest any man should boast. 489 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:55,780 You and I are saved by the free mercy and grace of God. 490 00:41:55,780 --> 00:42:02,240 God is not under obligation to save one person. 491 00:42:02,240 --> 00:42:12,040 The amazing truth is not that he overlooks some, but that he chooses any to be saved. 492 00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:18,400 And then as an extension of that, this application, that we worship a God who is able to accomplish 493 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,240 what he decrees. 494 00:42:21,240 --> 00:42:24,120 And we can humbly depend upon that. 495 00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:27,800 What God has said he will do for us, he will do. 496 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:31,600 And really that's Paul's point here. 497 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:32,760 That's Paul's point. 498 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:38,440 God has chosen us, he's predestined us, he's called us, he's justified us, he's glorified 499 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:39,440 us. 500 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:41,280 How do we know he's going to finish that? 501 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:45,560 Because what God says he's going to do, he does. 502 00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,760 He doesn't fail one bit. 503 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:52,880 Therefore you can stop worrying about your salvation. 504 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:59,660 If you've trusted Jesus Christ, you are secure in Jesus Christ. 505 00:42:59,660 --> 00:43:05,000 And furthermore you should quit complaining and just be still before God. 506 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,560 You say, well I don't understand what God's doing in my life. 507 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:11,080 Remember he's the potter, you're the clay. 508 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:15,720 You may not see what God is doing in this life. 509 00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:23,720 You may not know why some things happen to you that do, but remember who the potter is. 510 00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:29,760 As the psalmist says, be still and know that he's God. 511 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:35,540 Furthermore, having understood something of what God is like and his awesome sovereignty, 512 00:43:35,540 --> 00:43:38,520 my friend do not play games with God. 513 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:43,880 If today you feel in your heart a need for Jesus Christ, trust him today. 514 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,640 Do not reject and harden your heart. 515 00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:53,560 You gamble as it were with your own soul. 516 00:43:53,560 --> 00:44:00,680 If you are a Christian, is your life lined up with a God that's described like we've 517 00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:03,520 described God in this passage? 518 00:44:03,520 --> 00:44:09,240 Is your life what it ought to be in the light of who God is? 519 00:44:09,240 --> 00:44:16,320 I hope it is in accordance with his will that you're walking obediently. 520 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:24,120 If not, I call you today to bring your life into alignment with this sovereign God. 521 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:32,980 Heavenly Father, may we today be struck by the awesomeness of who you are. 522 00:44:32,980 --> 00:44:41,680 For some of us, that is a hard striking because we have understood from our background other 523 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:46,040 ideas that come out of humanism. 524 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:53,840 May we understand who you are as you have revealed yourself and worship you and love 525 00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:57,880 you and obey you. 526 00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:03,160 Of everything else, we praise you for your grace by which you have sovereignly chosen 527 00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:08,880 us to be a part of your family. 528 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:29,080 Would you sing with me?