Why Doesn't God Save Everyone? // Romans 9:14-24

Good morning, Two-City Church across all of our campuses. I want you guys to know that we worship and serve a sending God. The first missionary in the Bible is God, and part of the way that you can even understand the Bible itself, it's the written down record of the mission of God. And so we are serious about sending, that's why we're calling August Multiply Month. That's why last week I introduced you to Spencer and the Oaks Church, and this week to Preston Gammons and 1010 Church in Greenville, North Carolina. Now, why Greenville, North Carolina? Well, really at the end of the day, we let the planter pick, but as he did his research, he was looking around, and it looks like, as I've been talking to Preston, that Greenville, North Carolina, yes, there's a medical community there. Yes, there's of course ECU. You're not too far from the beach. What he said is, it feels a lot like, as we begin to talk, it feels a lot like Winston-Salem 10 years ago when we moved here. It's a growing area, and there's opportunity to come alongside a lot of great churches there and to plant a gospel-centered church. Here's what's interesting about Preston, okay? And same with Spencer,

and same with the guy you'll meet next week. He was, like all of you are, in the marketplace. And then about a year ago, made a transition. Imagine this, he has three kids. To leave the marketplace, to leave a career and a job that he loves, and to come on staff and go into full-time ministry, which by the way, I just think is one of the, it's not the, but it's one of the healthy signs of a church. In an unhealthy church, right, what happens? All of the staff leave the staff to go sell life insurance and do real estate, true? In a healthy church, people like you, and you, you're sitting there going, you know what? Is there a better way? Let me pray about it. Is there a better way for me to leverage my life for the Great Commission? So here's what we're doing, okay? I'm gonna do it this week, and then get ready. I'm gonna try to say it differently, but we're basically doing the same thing next week. We are inviting you, we're kind of a crazy church. We're asking you to leave our church, please, and to go with 1010 Church to Greenville, North Carolina. Here's what we need to do. We need to build a launch team, okay? Why do we call it a launch team? Because the hardest part of anything is launching it. They say when you put a rocket into space, okay?

I don't know anything about this, but when you put a rocket into space, to get it into space, you use about a swimming pool of gasoline or fuel about every few minutes. And once it's in space, it can go on the same thing that your Ford Expedition can go on. So the hardest thing is getting the church plant into orbit. If you're interested, or you know somebody in Greenville, North Carolina, or you've always thought about going back, or you could get your master's degree, and you could do it at ECU, text the word 10 to 39808, and Preston will follow up with you and get you all the information that you need. Also, again, a reminder, we're going to be having an interest meeting September 20th for all three of our church plants after the 11 o'clock service. And with that said, I would be remiss not to mention this before we start. We have some new guests with us today. Don't worry, I'm not going to make anyone stand. We're not going to do the way, you know, shake everyone's hand around here and tell us if you're new. But what we're doing is, this is Promotion Sunday, which means across all of our campuses, all of our sixth graders are in here for the first time. Can we welcome them? There we go. I see some proud parents and grandparents,

and they could have not come on a better Sunday than this one as we dive into the deepest, literally the deepest passage in the entire New Testament. So let's pray for them, let's pray for me, let's pray for Preston. Lord, it's a joy to send. The Apostle Paul, when talking about sending, said it was necessary to send Epaphroditus, but then he also said, I want to joyfully send Epaphroditus. I'm glad to do it. So would you create a church in which we, it hurts to send, but in which we are so grateful and glad to send people? Lord, would you prepare our hearts, and particularly the hearts of the new sixth graders in here, to receive your word? Lord, would we have the posture, if we are not to so much study the word as to be studied by it? Would you do that today? Would you give us eyes to see, and hearts and ears to hear? In Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you're new, you can open up to Romans 9, verse 14. If you're new, you'll always know what I'm preaching on next because it's just the next verse from the verse that I just left off on. And the reason that is, and this is important, okay, we got a lot to talk about today, I only have like 40 minutes left right now,

but I'm gonna try to. We practice here something called expositional preaching, okay, which the root word, I know you're like, that's a boring word, but it's Sunday and we're gonna learn some new words together. Expository or expositional, what's the root word? Expose, okay? So my job is just to expose what the Bible says. Now, there's different ways to preach. Some people do topical preaching. I'm not making fun of that, okay? Topical preaching is verse with verse, okay? So a lot of you grew up or you've been to topical preaching churches, and they're like, we're doing a series on marriage, and then they go to like six different passages to talk about marriage or parenting or, you know, finances or habits or whatever. Expositional preaching is not verse with verse. Expositional preaching is verse by verse, okay? Here's a good way to think about expositional preaching. Get ready for this. It's the opposite of your algorithm. What is your algorithm, right? You know, don't act like you're not on social media. Your algorithm is like designed for you to give you exactly what you're going to like. You know, you start watching certain reels or your spouse sends you certain reels, you start seeing the same things, right? During the political season, you see everybody that you agree with and nobody that you don't disagree with. You get what I'm saying? Expositional preaching is, here's why we practice it.

We think it is the healthiest diet for a church. Because we cannot treat the Bible like a salad bar. I know how some of you are. Extra croutons, extra ranch, no beets, no shredded carrots, okay? We can't do that. We just got to say, okay, whatever the Bible says, we're going to say it. And that's okay. Look, for the younger people, okay? My job is to be Ron Burgundy. Do you remember Ron Burgundy? Don't act like you haven't seen that movie either, okay? Ron Burgundy, they trick him because he just can't help himself. He reads everything that's on the teleprompter. That's me with the Bible. I just can't help myself, okay? And here's what's going to happen. When we talk about difficult topics, you're going to have two options. I'll just tell you what they are, okay? You can decide what you're going to do. Whenever the Bible confronts you, you can either edit the Bible or change your mind and heart. That's it. And unfortunately, and I won't call them out by name, but there are denominations and there are networks and there are seminaries that just said, it's just too hard to change my mind. It's just too hard to repent and change my heart. And so instead, I'm going to change the Bible. Today, what I'm going to do is I'm going to read us the deepest section of Scripture, I think, that exists in the New Testament for sure. And just so you know, I waited 10 years to preach Romans, okay?

I can't remember. I calculated it. I've preached fully through like 27 books of the Bible and lots of the New Testament. And I basically just, I don't mean this in a patronizing, demeaning way, I just knew the church was not going to be ready in the first few years. It's just like, we're not ready to study Romans because basically, we're not ready for Romans 9. So today, I'm going to just read it to you and then I'm going to expose it, what it says, and then we're going to call to respond to that, okay? So let's do this together. Romans 9, verses 14 to 24. Some of you have never read this before, you kind of read it over and you go, that was kind of strange, and you guys kept reading, okay? Let me try to unpack this. What shall we say then? What? In light of the doctrine of election, which I'll restate in a second. But basically, Paul's like, what should we say then in light of Jacob I loved and Esau I hated? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Well, that should shock you. God decides who he'll be merciful to and who he'll have compassion on. Okay, but that's not even the most shocking part. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on... Nope, it doesn't say on you. Nope, doesn't say on faith. Nope, doesn't say on belief.

But on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, it's going to get more intense, for this very purpose I've raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. And Paul says, so then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. Okay, it gets more intense. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? In other words, I mean, what are we supposed to do? For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? Okay, we still haven't got to the deepest part yet. Here it is. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory? Even us, whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. Okay. Paul is basically saying this. People love... love to judge God for God judging people, right? Don't we love that? We love, the world loves to judge God for judging people. I'll show you this, right? Have you ever had anybody, maybe you said this at times, it's okay.

But like, here's a classic American kind of idea when they start to hear about the God of the Bible. They say something like this. I could never believe in a God that, and then they just fill in the blank. I could never believe in a God that allows suffering. I could never believe in a God that sends people to hell. I could never believe in a God that is sovereign with all of the horrible things that happened in the world, which I've told you this before. And this is like, they've psychologically proved this. People view God as a bigger, smarter version of them who basically agrees with them. And then the God of the Bible shows up. It's like, whoa, he's bigger and better and more different than we could have imagined, okay? So I'm gonna try my best to take us somewhere today, but I need to go back first to verse 11. So we read verses 14 to 24. Just go up to 11. It's important. You gotta see this. This isn't Kyle's idea, okay? Here, throw this up here. Romans 9 verse 11. This is what Paul is spending the rest of the chapter defending. Though they were not yet born, this was Jacob and Esau, and had done nothing either good or bad. So not based on anything they did.

In order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, look, but you might think it would say, but because of faith. Nope. Not because of works, but because of him who calls. Okay. So we're gonna talk about in depth today, the puzzles and the problems of predestination. The enigma that is election, okay? So if you missed last week, let me just sum it up. And let me say this. This is important to understand. The doctrine of election is something that theologians and church practitioners call an open-handed issue. There are open-handed issues, and there are closed-handed issues in Christianity, right? An open-handed, let's start with the closed-handed. A closed-handed issue is, if you don't believe this, you're not a believer, you know? The Bible is the word of God. Jesus is the only way to salvation. We need to have conscious, saving faith in the person and work of Christ. There's two eternal destinations, heaven and hell, okay? There's like 10, 15, 20 things. It's like, if you don't believe these things, they're closed-handed, Christians have always believed them. If you don't believe them, you're not a believer. And then there are open-handed issues, okay? The details of the return of Christ, okay?

When it comes to the return of Christ, we are not on the planning committee. We are on the welcoming committee, okay? How a church should be ordered, okay? We have convictions about that, but biblical Christians can disagree. And election's one of those. It's an open-handed issue in which, this is important, okay? And this will actually show your maturity. Can you disagree without becoming disagreeable or divisive? Because basically, as soon as people understand the doctrine of election, they go through their cage stage. You've heard of this? The cage, it's like they become intoxicated with new information and we need to, we're gonna maybe buy a cage and put them in it, okay? Because you wanna protect them from everybody else in the church, okay? But here's how you can think about it. The doctrine of election, and you can, you decide which one you wanna believe based on scripture. There's two views on the doctrine of election. One says, you know what? God chose me because he saw that I was going to choose him. He saw that I was going to choose him. And I want you to know that that's probably what most Americans think. I'm talking Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Christians. Here's what they think.

Yeah, I know God chose me. I got all the verses and predestination just means that God chose me because he saw that I was gonna have faith in him. The other view is this. I chose God only because he first chose me. And the reason that I believe that one is I don't think you need to write Romans 9 if election means God chose me because I first chose him. You wouldn't then say God's unjust. You wouldn't ask that question. You wouldn't have any of the questions that Paul raises, okay? What I'm trying to say is you can be in this church, be a community group leader, be a vibrant part of this church, okay, if you believe the first one, okay, that God chose you because you first chose him. In fact, I believe you're wrong, but I also believe that God predestined you to be wrong, okay? So it's just, gotcha, okay? So, we're going to have fun together, okay? So, election is a big deal in the Bible. The word election is only used six times, but the word elect is used 20 times, and guess which person in the Bible uses the word elect the most? Jesus, okay? And then there's words like chose and chosen,

which is euphemisms in soft language for election. It's used 220 times. What's interesting is no one gets upset when you say, hey, God chose Abraham. No one's upset. Everyone's like, yeah, it makes sense. Did you know God chose David, even though he's the youngest and didn't choose anybody else and he's the king? God chose Noah, right? And God chose Esther. God chose the apostle Paul. It's just, we don't mind any of that, but when it gets personal, we do. So, I'm going to, here's, Paul deals with three arguments, okay, for both of you who take notes. Here's the three arguments, okay? It's, he takes an argument of, follow these, an argument of morality, an argument of ontology, and an argument of purpose. Let's take the argument of morality first, okay? So, let's go back to verse 14. Here's what he says. Verse 14 says this. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? It feels unjust for God to choose some, we'll get here in about 20 minutes, and actually, what actually feels more unjust

is for God not to choose a bunch of people. By no means, that's the strongest negative, may it never be. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion, so then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. Okay, let's talk about justice. So, you know, obviously there's been a conversation in our nation that's been kind of confusing for like 10 years about the word justice, social justice, all that stuff, okay? I don't have time to get into that. I wanna give you the biblical definition of justice, okay? Oh, this is interesting. The word justice and righteousness in English are two words, in Hebrew and in Greek, especially in Greek, it's one word, because what you think and what I think is like, justice has to do with systems, and righteousness has to do with like personal piety, and the Bible just puts those two together, okay? So, justice is giving every person what they're owed or what they deserve. That is justice. In fact, the entire court system, and everybody loves to watch a good court case, you know, a few good men, you know, Judge Judy went for 25 years, women love the true crime podcast, right, okay? All that stuff.

Well, here's what's interesting. There's two types of justice. I'm simplifying things. There is what's called retributive justice and restorative justice. And retributive justice is, it's why the whole court cases exist. In retributive justice, it's like, who did something wrong, and what they owe is to be punished. And then in the court case, usually, it's not always like this, but usually you're also going, and is there somebody who's innocent? Was there somebody who was a victim? And what could the state do to try to restore what was lost? Give them healing, give them hope, give them financial compensation, because you're trying to figure out, how do I give each person what to do? Sometimes it's something restorative, sometimes it's something negative or retributive, okay? So then Paul goes, guys, is God unjust? Is there injustice in God, is God unjust? Here's the thing. Paul says, no, by no means, may never be, because here's what I want you to think about. This has been really helpful for me. So when it comes to how we act,

there is just things we do, and there are unjust things we do. God doesn't have the category of unjust things he does. In fact, the Bible says, Romans says, that in the gospel, we see the righteousness or the justice of God. Here's God's categories, not just and unjust. It's justice and grace. So here's how it works, okay, with salvation. Election is just the beginning of salvation. Election is salvation from eternity past. That's another way to think about it. He's saying, some people get grace. When it comes to dealing with God, some people get grace and some people get justice, but nobody gets injustice. Which leads to the question, is this fair? And it's like, my father-in-law, when his kids were young and they would say, when my wife was young and her brother and sisters were young, they used to say, that's not fair. And my father-in-law, who's a good old southerner, said, fair? Fair's where you bring your pigs in the fall. And Margie says, she didn't really get that until she was like 18. She's like, oh yeah. Why is dad talking about the fair and the pigs? Basically, life's. It's not fair.

God's not fair. And if you want God...you don't want God to be fair because if God is fair, then everybody just gets what they deserve and nobody gets grace. And the only reason, by the way, Christians get grace is because Jesus was punished and that was God's justice at the cross. So the first thing he says is...and then he goes, if you remember this, I'm trying to show you all this. So last week, we talked about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Esau. And Paul goes, let me give you another famous person to talk about, Moses. So let's go to this story, Moses, okay? So he says this, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Now, by the way, think about this. When it comes to salvation, God had three options, as far as I can see it. God could save everybody. And we're going to talk about it in the end, why didn't God save everybody? Because you probably think that's what you would do, right? You'd save everybody. Well, it's like people teach today what's called universalism. It's a lie that, you know...and the average American believes in universalism, right? Hey, everybody's going to...if you believe in heaven, everybody's going there. Well, what do you have to do to go there? Don't worry about it, you just have to die. So you just die and then everyone goes to heaven. We don't believe that. Well, then you think about it this way. Yeah, God could have saved everybody or God could have saved no one. Now, no one really is excited about the whole idea that God would save nobody, right?

No one's starting a church plant, you know, first damned of Corinth or something. I don't know. You know what I'm saying? I don't...no one's...come on, no one will believe and everybody you tell won't believe and no one's going to heaven. Let's start...who's on the launch team? You know, we're not doing that. But here's what's interesting. That's what happened to the demons. So it's not that far off. And if you think about it, it's like if you know the story of the demons, none of the demons had a chance to repent and experience the grace of God. So if you wanted an example of, man, what would it be like if nobody could receive the grace of God? It would be what happened to the demons. And then there's another option, which is some are saved and some are not. And then you go, well, why does that happen? And Paul goes, let me tell you the story of...I just read it to you. Let me tell you the story of Moses. See, here's the thing. I'll tell this real quickly. Moses has these two super famous encounters with God. You remember the first one, right? The burning bush, and God appears to him in a bush that's burning but not consumed. And he takes, you know, take your sandals off, takes his sandals off. And God's like, hey, I want, you know, I'm going to free my people from Pharaoh. And he's like, that's awesome. And he's like, and I'm going to, you know, and I'm going to confront him. That's awesome. And my people are going to be set free to worship me.

He's like, this is so awesome. And God's like, and I want you to do this. And he goes, this is not awesome. Do you remember that? And finally, God talks him into it, you know, and he's like, all right, I'll do this. But you got to, my brother Aaron's got to help me and all this stuff. And then he says, God, real quick, I almost forgot. He said, it's going to be a little awkward if I get a Pharaoh and I don't have the name of God. He's like, so, and up until this point, we don't know God's name. And we've already gone through the whole book of Genesis. We don't know God's name. And in Exodus, he says, God, what's your name? And God says, I am who I am. Which is, he's like, can you, is there a nickname? I am who I am. It's like, you just, and here's what God's saying. I am the self-defining, self-existing God. Nobody defines me except for me. We've been trying to define God for all of human history. But then, what's interesting is the second one is what he's referencing here. But I want to tell you the first one because they have a similar pattern. I am who I am. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. So, Moses is frustrated because it's hard leading people, right? And they're grumbling and all this kind of stuff in the wilderness. And so, he goes up on the mountain and he prays to God. It's a really, I'll tell you exactly what he says. He says, please, which is interesting because that word's not in the Bible a lot.

And it's not in prayers a lot. He says, please, show me your glory. Which is like, I want to see what makes you God. I want to see the best part of you. I'm speaking with human language. And God says, okay, I'm going to have to hide you in this rock, right? And all this, and he passes by him and he says, I will declare to you my name. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I have compassion, which basically God says, at the center of being God is I get to do whatever I want to do. Isn't that kind of the definition of being God? And he says, I get to have mercy on whoever I want to have mercy, and I get to have compassion on whoever I want to have compassion. But this, look at this, it leads him to ask this question. Look here. He says, for the scripture says to Pharaoh, so in verse 17. He moves on, but same thing. For this purpose, I've 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. See, part of what it's talking about is the absolute sovereignty of God. Let me try to explain this. When people break up the sovereignty of God, that's that God's in control of every detail and everything in life. Theologians break up God's sovereignty into two spheres, government, meaning his rule and reign over, you know, natural disasters and everything that happens, details of life, and his grace. And what I found is that actually most Christians don't have a problem with God

being sovereign in his government. Now, sometimes, you know, you have to look back in the rearview mirror of your life and go, okay, that was really painful, but now I can see, you know, whether it's the massive events of human history or the details of your individual life, rarely do I meet a Christian that says, I don't think God's in control. But the same Christians who would say God's in control of his government often won't step over here and go, actually, yes, and God is also in control of who ultimately gets the grace to believe. Well, it gets a little bit more shocking to us because we're told about the story of Pharaoh. Remember who Pharaoh is? Pharaoh is like, you know, he's like, well, they called him the son of God in Egypt, and he was ruling and reigning over the people of Israel, and he was abusing them, and he was enslaving them for his own economic advantage. We'll be honest, we can't be too hard on Pharaoh, right? Because you don't know what you would do if you had what... Let me say this. The difference between you and me, us, and Pharaoh is usually resources. You know, you've tried to be a tyrannical king over your own little kingdom, and it hasn't worked very well. But if you had the opportunity to be like Pharaoh. Well, what happens here is I want to talk about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Because Paul goes, he has mercy on whomever he has mercy, and he hardens whoever he hardens. So let's talk about...so here's what I want you to know. Five times in the Exodus account, it just says, Pharaoh's heart was hard.

That's all it says. We don't know, did God harden it? Did Pharaoh harden it? Like, what happened? It just says, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, or Pharaoh's heart was hardened. There are five times, five or six times, where it says, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Now, that would be an interesting study for a community group or a DNA group because guess what? Guess when Pharaoh hardened his heart? He hardened his heart every time God gave relief and things started to go well. And he hardened his heart as soon as God said, okay, I'll remove the flies, you're right, I'll take away the darkness, I'll take away the frogs, he hardened his heart. It says one time, we don't know exactly what it is, but it says he sinned. I'm quoting Scripture here, Pharaoh sinned and hardened his heart. So does sin harden your heart? Absolutely. And then there's a weird kind of verse that says, later in the account, it says, Pharaoh's heart was hardened along with his servant's hearts. So there's a hardening. You know, some of you experienced this. You sent your kid off to school and they started hanging out with the wrong group and they came back and you're like, why is your heart so hard? Oh, you've been hanging out with other people who have hard hearts toward God and that's had an effect on you. But then there's another like five or six times, so it's kind of like five times it says like, you know, his heart was hardened, and like five or six times it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and then like five or six times it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart, which that's the scary part.

But let me encourage you, I mean, it's still scary and it should scare us. But God didn't harden, if you read the order matters, God didn't harden Pharaoh's heart till after Pharaoh already had hardened his own heart. Now, I looked up, now, obviously, I'm not a cardiologist, but I looked up because I was like, man, I wonder if there's a connection between our spiritual hearts, which is the seat and sum and center of who we are. I was like, I wonder if there's a connection between our spiritual hearts and our physical hearts. And I looked it up and I wasn't surprised that the number one killer in Americans is heart disease. So I kind of, you know, I did what you do, I got on Claude and your AI and I dove into all this. And I found out that the way that heart disease happens, doctors call it the hardening, literally, the hardening of the arteries. And it happens three ways. It happens by what you consume, and I thought that's exactly how our hearts get hard. It happens gradually, one meal at a time, for us, it's one decision at a time. And then the scariest part is, and the reason it's so... Deadly is it's painless until it's not. What does every guy say the week he has a heart attack, the week before he has a heart attack, and his wife's like, you doing okay? I feel great. That's what every guy says the week he has a heart attack. So we're told God has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and God hardens whoever he hardens. So now you can understand this. Look at this. So in light of that, here's the next question.

You will say to me then, I'm in verse 19, why does he still find fault, for who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Well, what does molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter knew right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another vessel for dishonorable use? By the way, we're moving from the argument of morality to the argument of what's called ontology, the nature of being. And so, by the way, it's not wrong to have questions for God. We see this in the Psalms. We can have questions for God, we just can't have lawsuits against God. I don't know if you ever heard of this guy. This guy, his name is Ernie Sanders, okay? Ernie, this is going to sound like I made this story up, I did not. Ernie Sanders was a state senator for the state of Nebraska. And he is the first person in American history to sue God. I'm not even kidding you. He brought a lawsuit against the Almighty for the Almighty allowing there to be storms, and hurricanes, and tornadoes. And so, literally, this, you can read about this. Some of you are looking at it right now in front of you, here we go. This is what I love about it. The judge threw the court case out because he said, the Almighty could not be delivered papers. Is that not just like a parable in and of itself? Okay, he's like, basically, you know, he goes, okay, so the guy, so what do we do now? I mean, God is God, what are we to do? And he basically says, who are you to ask God these questions?

Like, here's basically what Paul is saying that we need to hear, okay? This is going to be potentially the most shocking part of the message for some of you. Let's pause and prepare. You are not the center of the world. That's what you've been told your whole life, right? You're a snowflake, and here's a participation trophy, and unfortunately, you were the absolute center of your parents' lives, and you're... Right, look, I'm guilty of this too. First time I saw the show, the movie, have you ever seen the movie, The Truman Show, okay? I saw The Truman Show, and I promise you, this is my thought. I wonder if that's true about my life. And then I thought, that is the most arrogant thought I could possibly have, as if the entire world revolved around me, and everybody else was just playing a part in a story about me. And Paul goes, guys, you're not the center of the universe, God is. And actually, we don't even have... This is not the full answer, but this is part of the answer. We don't even have the rights or the wisdom to correctly question God, because as soon as we try to use reason, we're using the reason that God gave us. And so, we've got to kind of go, okay, what do we do in light of all of this information? In light of, let me read it one more time. But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Well, what does mortar say to its mortar? Why have you made me this way? Has the potter knew right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

See, do you remember the story of...I'll do this real quick. There's a story in the Old Testament called Job. Some of you, if you don't know your Bible story, while you open it up, you're like, it's a sign, I need a job. Well, you probably do, but the book is called Job. And in the book, this guy is suffering immensely, and he asks God a bunch of questions. And then, at the end, God appears to him and basically says, who darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? And he asked him a bunch of questions, like, were you there? You know, can you put a ring in the Leviathan's nose? And did you set the sun up? And do you know where I hide the hail? And all that kind of stuff. And at the end, Job says, basically, I repent in dust and ashes. I have asked things of which I do not understand and of things that are too wonderful for me. But there's one more level of this I want to show you. So, here's where it all goes. Look at verse 22. What if God...and you tell me how you would interpret. I don't know how else to interpret this verse. What if God, desiring to show his wrath, so God wants his anger to be manifested? By the way, that is basically the entire book of Revelation, is the manifestation of... wrath of God. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches

of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? Okay, so Paul talks about vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. So I'm gonna give you another big word, okay? So we talked about election, which can sound like a scary word, here's another word that's kind of sounds scary, reprobation. So, I don't know, if you wanna sound smart at a dinner party, just use that word, but then you're not gonna wanna describe what it means, okay, so don't use it. Reprobation is the language of God passing over people and not choosing them. That's the theological category for it. See, let me read the verse slowly and show you how this shows up. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath? Now, look at this, it's important. Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. So God doesn't prepare them, they prepare themselves for destruction, they get what is just. In order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, look at this, different language, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. So in God choosing, in the election, God is active. In reprobation, God is passive, passing over people. So now we have to ask kind of, I think, the deepest question, okay, and then we'll close with the time together.

But we have to ask this question, why doesn't God just save everyone? Like, let's just, let's really ask that question together. I had this great lady come up to me after the 9 o'clock service on Sunday, we just had a very warm brother and sister in Christ conversation. And she said to me, she said, you know, you just taught that God chooses us before the foundation of the world, but then Pastor Donovan gets up at the end of the service and he reads the verse that says, God desires everyone to be saved. How does that work together? Well, think about this. Everybody, no matter what you believe about election, every Christian has to agree with this. God desires something that doesn't happen, right? So wherever you fall on the doctrine of election, you got to go, okay, God desires all people to be saved, but everybody's not saved. And then you have to go, well, then God, and this is what, this is kind of an order of theology thing. Oh, then God must desire something more than everybody being saved. And what does God desire more than everybody being saved? And do you know what the answer is for the average American Christian? My freedom. And Americans love that. They love it. They're like, yes, our freedoms are so important.

They're more important than God saving everybody. You having the freedom to choose is more important than God saving everybody. Kind of puts you at the center of it again, in my opinion. And also, I don't think it's what Paul says. What Paul says is, okay, God, not everybody is saved. And, but God desires everybody to be saved, but that doesn't happen. So what does God desire more than everybody being saved? The answer is, to show his glory, which just is worth thinking about for like three years. So, because here's what I think. It's like, if it's my freedom where everybody be saved, why don't you, I'd rather take away my freedom, please. It's like, is it really that important? It's like, no, there's something way more important to God than everybody being saved. And it's the full display of the greatness and glory of God on display. Because, listen, if Jonathan Edwards said this, he's, and many people believe he's the greatest mind America ever produced. Jonathan Edwards said, it doesn't really feel like you're saved unless somebody else was lost. And you really, basically, we will know at some point when we see the judgment of unbelievers, we will feel, those of us who are Christians, we will feel like, oh my goodness, I just saw what I was saved from.

And there are things about God that we could not know that he wants us to know if everybody was saved. We would never see His wrath. And there were things about God that we would not know if some of them were not saved, we would never see His mercy. See, what's interesting is on the other side of the Garden of Eden, on the other side of Adam and Eve and their sin, this can blow your mind too, we now get to know God better than Adam and Eve did. Adam and Eve only knew God as Creator and Father. They did not know Him as Judge. They did not know Him as Redeemer. They did not know Him as gracious and merciful. So, Paul ends in verse 24. Let's look here and we'll close. Paul says this, even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. What are we supposed to do with this doctrine? We are supposed to treasure it in our hearts. But it's not something that we're meant to share with a bunch of non-Christians. This, guys, this was written in the middle of a long letter to a church that is suffering. A non-Christian, but some of you have never heard these things and you've been a believer for 10 years and this is the first time you're like, I didn't even know Romans 9 was in my Bible and I just thought elect was just a nice word for Christian and you never thought of any of this. And that's, by the way, that happens to people all the time. They've been Christians for years and years and years and

then they have the theological birds and the bees talk and they realize how they were born again. Non-Christians do never need to ask the question, am I elect? They need to ask the question, do I love and believe in Jesus? You know, they say that when you get to heaven, it's a famous story, when you get to heaven, the door that you enter will say, whomsoever will believe in Jesus Christ. And then when you walk through the door, you turn around and it says on the other side, chosen from the foundation of the world. Guys, by the way, this is supposed to, I know, you have to think about it, you can't think about it for five minutes, okay? If you think about it for five minutes, it isn't going to affect you. If you think about these things, it's actually, it's used as a comfort to suffering Christians. It's used as an encouragement to people who are doubting. It's used to motivate people for evangelism. What we're going to see, you know, next week, come back, next week, the beginning of chapter 10, after Paul gives this deep doctrine of election, he goes, brothers, my prayer and heart's desire for them is that they would be saved. And then he spends all of chapter 10 basically talking about the need to send missionaries. So do not ever let this turn you into like fatalistic or deterministic. I love this quote, I'm going to put this on the screen. There's a quote by A.A. Hodges, okay? A.A. Hodges, he was a professor and he was teaching this doctrine and his students had a lot of questions about it. And so this is what he wrote about like, you know, some student asked him, well, does God know the day that I'm going to die? And he said, yeah, and then he says, well, what if I stop eating food?

And if I stop eating food and I die because I stop eating food, is that the reason that I was going to always die? Anyway, I know it sounds confusing, watch this. Here's what he says, A.A. Hodges says this, does God know the day you'll die? Yes. Has he appointed that day? Yes. Can you do anything to change that day? No. Then why do you eat? To live. What happens if you don't eat? You die. Then if you don't eat and die, then would that be the day that God appointed for you to die? And I love how he ends, quit asking stupid questions. Quit asking stupid questions and just eat. Eating is the preordained way God has appointed for living. You know, we started to talk about this in my community group this week, and community group, my summary of my community group was basically, almost everyone in there, I think everyone in there was like, yeah, I believe these things, but what do I do now? It's like, well, you do everything the Apostle Paul did, you pray, because God ordains the means, not just the end. God ordains praying. It's like, how does...God tells us to pray. It's like, how do you not know that the prayers that you're praying for your prodigal son are not the thing that God determined before the foundation of the world he wanted to use? And how do you not know?

I mean, Paul basically, you know, Paul suffered a lot, and no one notices this, but the Apostle Paul, in one of his letters, just quickly, he goes, I suffer everything for the sake of the elect. It's like, well, you might have just passed over that verse, but here's what he's basically saying. I know that there are people who are going to believe everywhere that I go, and everything that I do, I do for them, but I don't know who they are until I preach the gospel and they believe. And so here's what we're going to do. We're going to...guys, in a minute, like every week, the band is going to sing, and across all of our campuses, I want you to come forward. I want you to come forward to recommit to being on mission. I want you to hide these... truths in your heart. We're not ashamed of them, but we hide these truths in our heart and they're deep within us and we treasure them and then we get to work. And actually, if you really understand these truths, here's what you realize, the pressure is off, but the mission isn't off. But listen, I have a bigger concern in this room right now. Because notice how Paul said, even us. We gotta focus, I don't want you to think about anyone else right now, except for you for a second. Because here's what I wanna ask you, I wanna ask you, do you have a hard heart? Because Pharaoh's heart got hard over time. Do you know what Pharaoh's favorite word was? If you go back over the Exodus account,

the word that Pharaoh uses 10 different times is tomorrow. Nothing will harden your heart like saying tomorrow. Pharaoh said tomorrow 10 different times until today wasn't there anymore. And I wanna encourage you right now to not just say today, I want you to say now. Because listen, often before your heart gets hardened against God, it gets hardened against somebody else. The Bible says, do not let there be a root of bitterness among you. This happens in marriages, this happens between families, this happens with friendships, this happens at work. And if your heart is getting hard, if your heart is even a little bit hard towards somebody, I want you down at the altar when we start singing. If you have somebody in your life and you say, God, I see it, my son's heart is getting hardened. I want you to come and say, God, would you have mercy on him? God, would you not harden that heart? He's hardening it, God, would you not harden that heart, but would you have mercy? We are going to be the type of church that has this deep theology that just people, it would blow their minds if they knew it. But we are so gentle and so desperate for them to believe. Let's pray. Lord, across our campuses right now, Lord, if anybody's heart is hard, I pray they would walk forward and say,

God, I don't wanna have a hard heart. I don't wanna have a hard heart. There are hymns written, where great hymn writers write songs, God, don't harden our hearts. Lord, do not let hard hearts be in community groups or in marriages or in families or among nuclear families or families of origin, Lord, would you soften our hearts? Would we not say tomorrow, would we not even say today, would we say right now, Lord? And would you get us on mission, Lord? Would this have the effect it had on the Apostle Paul who did not retire and moved to a lake house, but went on mission because of all of the great truths of Romans 9, Lord? Would you build in us a church that is really centered in Chent, deep in your word, wide in your mission. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Please stand, please come forward.