So we're reading from Romans chapter 9 starting at verse 14 and that's on page 1136 in the Red Church Bible.
So starting in verse 14 of Romans chapter 9.
What shall we say then? Is God unjust? Not at all.
For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort but on God's mercy.
For the scripture says to Pharaoh, I raised you up for this very purpose.
That I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me, then why does God still blame us?
For who resists his will?
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it?
Why did you make me like this?
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay
some pottery for noble purpose and some for common use?
What if God, choosing to show his wrath, made his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath prepared for destruction?
What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?
Even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.
As he says in Hosea, I will call them my people who are not my people and I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one.
And it will happen that in the very place where it is said of them, you are not my people, they will be called sons of the living God.
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel.
Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.
It is just as Isaiah said previously,
Unless the Lord Almighty had left his descendants, we would have become like Sodom.
We would have been like Gomorrah.
Thanks.
Thanks very much, Nick.
Well, as we continue on in our studies, in our series through Romans,
I just want to draw your attention to something in the news sheet again and related to that.
It's the section at the bottom on the inside.
It has gotherefore.com.
Two resources to encourage you to check out.
There's a little book.
They're called a little black book series.
I have a hard copy here if you want to know what it's like.
And it's on the subject of predestination.
That's a big, big word.
But it's helping us to unpack what it means that God would choose us by his grace or set his grace upon us
and deals with the whole subject of our free will and God's work in our lives.
It's aimed at students.
So it's right for me.
So I hope you get what I mean by that.
So easy to understand for people like me.
And then the other one is Peace with God, which is a little study book as well,
which takes you through Romans.
So those are just resources that are available that might help you as we go through this section.
And also the previous talks from Romans 1 to 8 are also up online from previous times.
Well, let's ask for God's help as we pray.
Amen.
Father, your word is good.
It is truth to us.
And it is truth that changes our lives, not just now but for all eternity.
And we ask that by the power of your spirit, you would help us to grasp your word to us this morning,
this afternoon, that it will indeed change us,
that it will tune our hearts to your grace
and know what it is to live in response to your grace.
So please help us, Father, we pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, I want us to imagine for a moment that you're the parent of two children.
It's come to the stage in life where they're grown up
and you must sort out the family inheritance.
But here's the catch.
The law states that only one child can receive the inheritance.
Only one.
So who do you choose?
Which one will you put on the list?
Of course, whichever one you choose, it's going to seem very unfair and very unkind to the other one.
Well, that's the issue that is being raised here.
And I know it has been a matter of much talk for a lot of us over this past week.
But this is the subject that is being raised.
God, we are told, chooses who receives his salvation.
So look back at verse 11 of Romans 9.
Well, it says this,
Yet before the twins were born,
this was the twins, Isaac and Jacob,
before they were born,
or before they had done anything good or bad,
in order that God's purpose in election might stand,
or in order that God's purpose in choosing might stand,
not by works, but by him who calls.
She was told the older will serve the younger.
It's making it very clear that God made a choice.
He chose one and he rejected the other.
Now, to us, that seems very ungracious,
unloving, and unkind.
It doesn't seem to fit in with the God that we know
who loves to portray himself as the Lord,
the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger,
abounding in unfailing love and faithfulness.
We're struggling to put these two things together.
And in response,
what we find in this text
are two big questions that are raised.
But as we ask these two big questions,
as we answer them,
we discover that God is a gracious God.
In fact, his grace overflows to more and more people
than we could ever expect or imagine.
So what are these two questions?
Well, the first one comes in verse 14.
Question one, is God fair?
Look at verse 14.
What then shall we say?
Is God unjust?
Is God fair in choosing one and rejecting another?
Well, here's the answer.
Read on.
Not at all.
And he gives two examples to help us to understand that.
Firstly, we see it in God's mercy to Moses.
Look at verse 15.
For God says to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
Now, to understand that quote,
we need to go back to the story from where it comes from,
which is in Exodus chapter 34.
So you can keep your finger in Romans 9
and go back to Exodus 34.
And Exodus, you know,
tells us the amazing story
of God's rescue
of the people of Israel
who were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.
But as soon as God rescued them,
as soon as he brought them out of slavery
and was bringing them towards the promised land,
the people did something terrible.
They all turned their backs on God.
And when Moses was up Mount Sinai
receiving the law,
Aaron, the leader of them,
told all the people
to take off their gold earrings
to do something.
So look at Exodus chapter 32, it is.
Sorry, Exodus 32, verse 4.
Exodus 32, verse 4.
He took what they handed him
and made it into an idol
cast in the shape of a calf,
fashioning it with a tool.
Then they said,
These are the gods, O Israel,
who brought you out of Egypt.
How do you think God would respond to that?
Well, we're told in verse 9.
I have seen these people,
the Lord said to Moses.
And they're stiff-necked people.
They're stubborn and hard-hearted.
Now leave me alone
so that my anger may burn against them
and that I may destroy them.
But Moses prayed for the people in verse 11.
He prayed and he pleaded with God.
And as we read on the story,
we discover this is what happened.
Instead of everyone being punished,
the story goes on to tell us
that only 3,000 people were punished.
Now that's actually quite a small number
compared to the thousands upon thousands
of people who were released from slavery.
And so we read in Exodus 32, verse 14.
Then the Lord relented
and did not bring on his people
the disaster he had threatened.
So rather than be troubled about the fact
that God punished 3,000 people,
we should be standing back in amazement
that he actually had mercy on any of them.
And it's in this context that God says,
look at Exodus 33, verse 19.
Exodus 33, verse 19 we read,
And the Lord said,
I will cause all my goodness
to pass in front of you
and I will proclaim my name,
the Lord, in your presence.
And here's the quote,
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy
and I will have compassion
on whom I have compassion.
This is the God we're dealing with.
So go back to Romans chapter 9.
Chapter 9, verse 16.
It does not, therefore,
salvation does not, therefore,
depend on man's desire or effort,
but on God's mercy.
You see, everything Israel did
and desired to do,
their turning away from God,
their rebellious heart,
deserved God's judgment,
but God responded
with amazing mercy.
So he gives us the example
of his mercy to Moses
and the people of Israel.
But then he gives us another example,
God's justice to Pharaoh.
So, chapter 9 of Romans, verse 17,
he continues,
For the scripture says to Pharaoh,
I raised you up for this very purpose,
that I might display my power in you
and that my name might be proclaimed
in all the earth.
Again, we need to go back
and remember this story
back in Exodus 4 of Pharaoh.
Remember who Pharaoh was.
God had ordered Pharaoh,
the leader of the Egyptians,
who had been so brutal
to the Israelites,
enslaving them
and making them work
with little or nothing.
He told Pharaoh,
you are to let the people go,
but he wouldn't let them go.
And this is what we read
in Exodus chapter 4 and verse 21.
Exodus 4, verse 21.
The Lord said to Moses,
When you return to Egypt,
see that you perform before Pharaoh
all the wonders I have given you
the power to do.
But I will harden his heart
so that he will not let the people go.
God says,
I'll harden your heart.
Pharaoh, who was already hard-hearted,
who was a brutal dictator,
causing trouble to all of these people.
And God says,
I will harden your heart.
Make his hard heart even harder.
So rather than be troubled
with the fact that God
is hardening Pharaoh's heart,
we should see
that God's justice
was being done.
Pharaoh was only getting
what he actually deserved.
So go back to Romans 9 and verse 18.
Therefore,
God has mercy
on whom he wants to have mercy,
and he hardens
whom he wants to harden.
You see,
when we begin to start challenging God
and claiming that God
is being unfair,
we must remember
that this is trying to tell us
that all of us
are just like
the rebellious people of Israel.
We're just like
stubborn Pharaoh.
In each situation,
both Israel and Pharaoh,
both of them
deserved to be punished.
They both deserved
God's justice.
But incredibly,
God chose
to be merciful
to a whole bunch of people
who deserved the opposite.
So the question
we should be asking here is
not why does God choose
one and not the other,
but why does God bother
to choose somebody
like you or me?
Remember the opening illustration
that we had this morning
about the two parents
who must choose
which child
gets the inheritance.
Well, let me add
a little bit more
to that illustration.
Suppose both of the children
were very abusive
and angry
towards their parents.
What if they never cared
for their mum or dad,
never rang them up
to see how they were,
never visited them?
What if they were
constantly borrowing money
and taking
and never paying back?
The point is,
while the parents
must still choose,
neither of them
deserve the inheritance.
In fact,
they deserve
nothing.
But in their grace,
they will give it
to one.
Well, that's how it is
with us.
We don't
deserve
God's mercy.
In fact,
that he does
show mercy
to us
is an act
of incredible
grace.
So that's the answer
to question one.
Is God fair?
Well,
God
is
gracious.
The second question
is another great question.
Why does God
blame us?
Verse 19.
One of you
will say,
he predicts,
doesn't he?
And I know I would be
asking the same question
and you're probably
asking this question too.
Verse 19.
One of you will say to me,
then why does God
still blame us?
For who resists
his will?
If God makes
the choice,
then why does God
still blame us
if we don't follow him?
And if God
made Pharaoh's
heart hard,
then is it not
unfair to blame
Pharaoh for being
hard-hearted?
It's a great
question,
but look at the
answer.
Verse 20.
But who
are you,
O man
or woman,
to talk
back to God?
He's saying to us,
let's get some
perspective here.
God
he's the creator,
he's the sustainer
of the entire
universe in which
we live.
He's existed
from before
time began.
He holds
everything together
in his hands,
bringing about
the stars
and the moon
and the sun
and the tides
and everything
he controls.
And he's going
to rule for
all eternity.
We're not
dealing with
some kind of
small person
here.
We,
on the other
hand,
are just
a tiny
part of
his creation.
We live
at most
for about
80 years
and then
we die.
So he
says in
verse 20,
so who
are you
to be
talking
back
to God?
Shall
what is
formed say
to him
who formed
it,
why did
you make
me like
this?
Does
not the
potter
have the
right to
make out
of the
same lump
of clay
some pottery
for noble
purposes
and some
for common
use?
Who are we?
Who am I
and who are you
to tell God
how he should
rule the
universe?
Who are we
to decide
who God
has mercy
on?
Who are we
to decide
who we
shouldn't
have mercy
on?
You see,
to be
challenging
God and
questioning
God like
this is
basically
an attempt
on our
part
to push
God off
his throne
and say
you don't
know how
to work
this world
I know
better than
you.
But that's
not the
full answer.
You see,
while God
doesn't answer
every single
question we
have,
he wants
us to see
in the midst
of all of
our questions
how gracious
he is.
And we
see this
in two
ways.
First,
God is
slow
to anger.
Look at
verse 22.
Follow
carefully
verse 22.
What if
God,
choosing to
show his
wrath,
his anger
and make
his power
known,
bore with
great patience
the objects
of his wrath
prepared
for destruction?
God
has a
right
to bring
his justice
and judgment.
But the
fact is,
and the
point is
here,
that God
delays
his justice.
Look at what
it says in
verse 22.
He bore
with great
patience.
God is
slow to
bring his
judgment
so that he
might demonstrate
his kindness
and his
grace.
He wants
to make
his saving
power known
to the
nations and
to all
people.
That is
why he
is bearing
with great
patience.
Go back
to Romans
chapter 2
and verse
4.
Romans
chapter 2
verse 4.
He's already
raised this
same issue.
Romans
chapter 2
and verse
4.
Talking
about God's
delay in
his patience
and the
purpose for
it.
He says,
do you
show contempt
for the
riches of
his kindness,
tolerance and
patience,
not realising
that God's
kindness leads
you towards
repentance?
repentance.
You see,
God doesn't
delight in
the death
of anyone.
He's not
willing that
anybody should
perish.
In other
words,
judgment
doesn't come
naturally to
God.
He seeks
to put it
off.
He wants
it to be
the last
thing that
he has
to do.
On the
other hand,
God in the
meantime is
longing to
save and
he wants
us to
grasp how
gracious he
is.
Romans 9
verse 23.
What if he
did this?
What if he
was so
patient?
What if he
did this to
make the
riches of
his glory
known to
the objects
of his
mercy whom
he prepared
in advance
for glory?
God
delays his
judgment so
that he
might display
his salvation.
salvation.
It's like
God places
his two
hands before
us and
in one
hand is
written the
words
justice
and on
the other
hand is
written the
word
riches.
And God
has opened
up the
hand of
riches to
us and
he has
invited us
to come
and see
his grace
and his
compassion.
He wants
us to
taste and
see how
good he
is and
on the
other hand
he keeps
his hand
of justice
closed.
But a
day is
going to
come when
the
riches,
the hand
of his
riches will
be closed
up and
the hand
of judgment
will be
opened.
He is
slow to
anger.
God
delays his
judgment with
great patience
so that he
might display
his grace
and his
salvation to
the nations.
God is
slow to
anger.
And
second,
God is
rich in
love.
God's
riches in
his patience
and in his
grace have
been made
known.
Look at
verse 24.
He's saying
there, not
just to the
Jews, not
just to
those who
had a
privileged
upbringing,
but also
to the
Gentiles, to
people from
other nations
who never
even heard
of God.
Look at
verse 25.
As he
says in
Hosea, I
will call
them my
people who
are not
my people.
I will
call her
my loved
one who
is not
my loved
one.
Do you
see how
far his
grace is
reaching out?
These are
people and
nations who
didn't have
the same
privileges as
the people
of Israel.
They were
considered
outsiders,
nobodies,
enemies of
God.
You turned
your back
on them,
but yet
God in
his grace
and because
of his
riches,
he says
to them,
verse 25,
I will
call these
people,
these outsiders,
these nobodies,
these enemies,
these people,
my people.
I will
call them
my loved
one.
my grace
is so
great that
I will
welcome
them in,
I will
include
them,
I will
draw them
in so
that they
can
experience
the wonder
of my
love.
You all
know Rocky
Bay,
and you
know the
stream in
Rocky Bay.
Well,
when our
kids were
younger,
we used
to try
and block
up that
dam,
or block
up that
stream,
try and
hold the
water
back,
but the
inevitable
was always
going to
happen.
At some
point,
somewhere on
that man-made
dam,
it would
break,
and as
you try
to shovel
sand and
try to
block it
back up,
then it
would break
somewhere
else,
and eventually
the whole
dam would
collapse,
and a
big stream
of water
would come
flowing
through.
Well,
that's like
the riches
of God's
love.
love,
it
overflows
to more
and more
people.
You cannot
hold back
the grace
of God,
and God
is telling
us through
this that
while people
like Pharaoh
may not
have known
God's
mercy,
many of
his
descendants
will.
While
Esau,
tracking back
in Romans
9,
may not
know God's
compassion,
many of
his
descendants
will.
While
Ishmael
may not
know
God's
love,
many of
his
descendants
will.
That's the
point of
verse 26.
It will
happen that
in that
very place
where it
was said
to them,
you are
not my
people,
they will
be called
sons of
the living
God.
God's
mercy and
compassion
flows to
more and
more people
than we
could ever
think or
imagine.
We may
find many
things about
God very
difficult and
very hard,
but one
thing is
certain,
God is
incredibly
gracious.
You see,
if it were
not for
God's
grace to
us,
none of
us would
experience
his salvation.
Look at
verse 29,
the same
point is
being made
in verses
27 and
28.
Let's read
just verse
29.
It is
just as
Isaiah
said
previously,
unless the
Lord Almighty
had left
us descendants,
we would
have become
like Sodom,
we would
have become
like Gomorrah.
You remember
those two
great big
cities in
the Old
Testament?
Cities that
had experienced
God's just
and fair
judgment because
of their
rebellion and
their behaviour?
And what
happened to
the people
of those
cities is
what should
have happened
to the
people of
Israel.
However,
because of
God's
intervention,
because of
God's
grace,
it didn't
happen,
verse 29,
unless the
Lord Almighty
had left
us descendants.
If it
wasn't for
him intervening
into our
lives,
then we
would have
been like
the rest
of them.
It's only
because of
God's grace
that any
of them
were saved
at all.
I know
that Romans
9 has
raised lots
of questions.
I know
I've had
conversations
with some
of you.
I have
the same
questions
going on
in my
own mind.
But when
we question
God's
fairness,
when we
start to
blame God
as if he's
got it
wrong,
what we
actually
discover
is that
God is
actually being
incredibly
fair.
We don't
deserve
what we
get.
We deserve
to be
judged and
yet he
doesn't do
that for
us.
What is
amazing is
that God
not only
shows grace
and mercy
to some
people,
God
shows grace
and mercy
to people
like you
and me.
He shows
it to people
like you
and me.
And as
we'll discover
as we read
on,
he gives
us that
grace so
that we
might begin
to share
that same
grace with
other people
who have
not yet
heard the
amazing wonder
of God's
love.
It's only
by grace
that we
are who
we are.
God is
good and
God is
gracious.
Let's
pray.
let's
just
reflect
on what
we've
just been
thinking
through.
If God
was fair
then we
would be
judged.
God
but yet
in his
kindness
his grace
and compassion
he has
shown us
his love
his mercy
and his
kindness.
thank you
father that
you do
not treat
us as
our sins
deserve.
Thank you
that your
grace
overflows
to people
like us.
We thank
you for
what you
have done
and we
praise you
in Jesus
name.
Amen.
we're
going to
sing a
couple of
songs in
response.
The first
one is
only by
grace can
we enter
only by
grace can
we stand.
It celebrates
God's
amazing grace
to us.
in the
next
one that
we'll
rage
,
Amen.
that's
next Bill
create
Vine to
Mary,
Amen.