Is There Unrighteousness With God?

Temple Baptist Church - 9-30-2018

Romans 9:14-22

Introduction:

A.  With each of these sermons, I need to reiterate the context.  National!  It is easy to look at these verses and interpret them as “stand alone verses,” and not take them in context.  Keeping the context consistent, we rightly divide the Word of Truth.

1.  In the first message, we saw Paul’s Burden for the Nation of Israel.  Verses 1-4.

2.  We the second message, we saw God’s Special Blessings upon the National of Israel.  Verses 4-5.

3.  In the second message, we also saw God’s selection of the Nation of Israel through the fathers, Abraham-Isaac-Jacob, and the rejection of the two first born sons: Ishmael, the son of Abraham, and Esau, the son of Isaac.  God chose Isaac and Jacob through foreknowledge of what these men would ultimately be. 

B.  Notice the Progression of Selection.

1.  Abraham had two sons by different mothers: Hagar and Sarah.  Ishmael was the son of Abraham’s flesh and Isaac was the son of God’s Promise.  God chose the younger over the elder.

2.  Isaac had two sons by the same mother:  Esau and Jacob.  Through foreknowledge of the choices of the sons, Esau would Despise the Birthright while Jacob would Desire the Birthright, God chose the younger over the elder. 

3.  Jacob had 12 sons and became the Father of the Nation of Israel, God’s Elect Nation.

a)  Isaac, the seed through which the Promised Seed, Jesus Christ, would come.

b)  Jacob, though a supplanter, would become a man who desired the blessings of God.

C.  The context has not changed as it continues to deal with the Elect Nation of Israel.

D.  Tonight, we will look at some people mentioned in the text as they are keys to special Protection and Promises given to the Nation of Israel.

1.  God has providentially protected the Nation of Israel.  Isaiah 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

2.  God has given special promises to the Nation of Israel.  Ephesians 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

1.  Verse 14.  God is not unrighteous!  Why would the Holy Spirit even ask such a thing?  Because some casual readers may think like the Calvinists, that God is some hateful, unrighteous Creator who makes some people live in hell for all eternity just because He can.  GOD IS NOT UNRIGHTEOUS!  Calvinism teaches that God is unrighteous, hateful, unloving, and a respecter of persons.  That is not the God of the Bible!

2.  Now, in our text for tonight, we will look at three more individuals.  Moses, Pharaoh, and the Potter.

3.  Verse 15.  Why is Moses mentioned in this chapter?  Because of the statement that follows: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” To fully understand what God meant when speaking this to Moses, you have to read the context in Exodus 33:12-19.

Exodus 33:12-19  And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.  (13)  Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.  (14)  And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.  (15)  And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.  (16)  For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.  (17)  And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.  (18)  And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.  (19)  And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.  (God’s mercy was to the Nation of Israel.  Though they were not a perfect people, God had selected them as His nation and separated them from all other nations.  The statement quoted in Hebrews, if properly interpreted, is meant for Israel as a nation.  A peculiar people.  It is not meant to be for an individual.)

4.  Verse 16.  God’s mercy to nations is not to those who do the best or most, it is to the nation of God’s choosing.  God’s sovereign will in the selection of a nation for His own was His choice to make.

5.  Verse 17-18.  Now we find another individual, though not named.  Pharaoh was a name like Emperor that was given to the man sitting upon the throne of Egypt.  As goes the Pharaoh, so goes Egypt.  Now for a little history.

1.  Joseph was sold into bondage but ascended to the second most powerful man in Egypt.

2.  Jacob, called Israel, and family came to Egypt to live during the great famine.

3.  Joseph was 17 when he arrived in Egypt and 110 when he died.  Quickly, after the death of Joseph, a new Pharaoh came to power who feared the Nation of Israel and put the nation in bondage.

Exodus 1:7-8  And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.  (8)  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

4.  The Nation of Israel remained in Egypt 430 years with close to 350 years in extreme bondage.

5.  The Nation cried out because of the cruelty of their taskmasters (the nation of Egypt) and God send a deliverer, Moses.

Deuteronomy 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

6.  Nothing says that Pharaoh was reprobate from his birth, but like the other Pharaohs who kept Israel in bondage, he was a hardened man who hated Israel and Israel’s God.  God raised him up to sit upon the throne because he would not let the Nation of Israel go.  God took the heart of a hardened, wicked, God denying, Israel hating man and finalized the hardening process.

7.  This was done so that God could show His power in Protection and Promise.  God brought them out so that He could bring them into the Promised Land.

8.  Mercy upon Israel and hardening and judgement upon Egypt.

6.  Verses 19-23.  Now, off to the Potter’s House.

1.  Verse 20.  “The thing formed” is not an individual person for a nation.  “The thing formed” is now asking “him that formed it” a question, “Why hast thou made me thus?” 

2.  Verse 21.  Israel became marred upon the wheel.  Israel may have been God’s chosen people, but down through the ages they had rebelled against God, hardening their hearts against Him. He therefore had no choice but to direct His wrath against them.  An honored vessel turned into a vessel of dishonor.

Jeremiah 18:1-10  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,  (2)  Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.  (3)  Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.  (4)  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.  (5)  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,  (6)  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.  (7)  At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;  (8)  If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.  (9)  And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;  (10)  If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.  (Israel would not yield to the work of God and was marred in His hand.  They have paid dearly for their rebellion.  One day, God’s Elect Nation of Israel will once again be wrought on God’s wheel as a glorious, obedient nation again.)

3.  We all have heard the song that says that He didn’t throw the clay away.  The proper interpretation is not to the individual, it is to the House of Israel!  In these verses, God is showing the setting aside of the marred vessel of Israel because of their national rejection of the Messiah (Israel still rejects Jesus Christ), while calling out a Gentile Bride.  Then, when God is ready, He will make a new vessel of the Nation of Israel.