The Potter’s Right Over the Clay

Transcript

GRM 951
1/22/2006
The Potter’s Right over the Clay
Romans 9:19-11:36
Gil Rugh


We’re going back to the book of Romans. This discussion of God’s sovereignty has turned into a miniseries. First couple of messages we were looking at the matter generally in a variety of scriptures, and then these last two messages we’re focusing our attention primarily in Romans 9. Although we conclude the section I want to look at with you in our study together this evening, I want to jump ahead into chapters 10-11 and just pull some ideas that reflect on what Paul has been saying.

We’re dealing with the matter of sovereignty. I appreciate your responsiveness and openness to the Word on this area. It can be a difficult subject for people. In my first hour this morning we were talking about why is this such a difficult subject for people, and why does it bring out such strong emotion. Part of the problem comes, we do set our mind on something and we emotionally react against the idea that God would be totally sovereign, and He is making choices. And I think it’s important, there’s nothing wrong with our emotions being involved in these things. But we have to be careful that we sort them out carefully and biblically and that our decisions are made on the basis of what the Word of God says and be willing to consider carefully what the Word says and make any necessary adjustments.

I’ve noted there are tensions here that I do not believe are resolvable. And man is completely and totally responsible for his actions, he is accountable to God for his sin, and yet it is also true God is totally and completely sovereign and He controls all things and His sovereign plan includes everything and His plan for everything. And yet in no way is He the cause of sin or is He in any way responsible for man’s sinful actions. It’s not possible for God to sin or God to tempt others to sin. And so that balance and there are always going to be questions, what about this, what about this. And we’re reminded in Deuteronomy 29:29 that the secret things belong to God, and the revealed things belong to us. And we struggle to understand as fully and completely as we can what God has revealed in His Word, and realize that we will never come to a complete and final and perfect understanding, not in this life, and I know not in eternity. Now in eternity I won’t have near the questions I have now, many things will be resolved. And in eternity my thinking will not be tainted by sin. But nonetheless I will never exhaust the knowledge of a living God—He is infinite and my finite mind cannot grasp that. I mean I think that after 100 million years I will know Him so well that I will know everything that really is worth knowing. But you can’t talk that way about God. When I think of 100 million years from now, and having lived in God’s presence for the majority of that 100 million years, I will still have an inexhaustible subject before me—the knowledge of the infinite God. There will still be more to know about Him than I will ever be able to grasp and understand. That’s the marvel of our God. And yet He’s our heavenly Father, He takes an interest in us, He knows us, He plans all the details of His creation.

We’re in Romans 9. We’re talking about the nation Israel. What has happened with the nation Israel? How did they get off track? What is the future? Is God done with Israel? All the promises, all the prophecies have come to a screeching, grinding halt, they’re over, they’ve failed. Israel didn’t make it after all. All that Abraham thought was going to take place for his descendents, all that the prophets talked about for Israel—it was all an illusion because it’s going to be fulfilled in Israel. No, can’t be, there has to be another answer. We noted back in Romans 9:6, it is not as though the Word of God has failed. Everything God has said regarding Israel will be accomplished. And that’s where we went to Romans 11:1, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be. Verse 2, God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Verse 5, in the same way then there has come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. Or literally, a remnant according to the election of grace, election being on the basis of God’s grace. And that’s what Paul was talking about in Romans 9. The sovereign plan of God, it was never His intention to save every Jew down through history. So simply being born a physical Jew did not assure your salvation, being born a physical Jew who tried his best to keep the Mosaic law did not assure your salvation.

And so Paul has made the point and demonstrated it from the Old Testament scriptures that God has selectively chosen a line descending from Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob to fulfill the promises to Israel. So in no way are the promises to physical Israel set aside. You must understand the promises to physical Israel never included everyone who would be born into physical Israel. Now it would seem since Paul wrote this 2000 years ago, there oughtn’t to be the confusion about it that there is today. And yet there are many within the evangelical church who believe God is done with Israel and the church has replaced Israel, what is called replacement theology, covenant theology. No, God’s plan is being worked.

And as Paul said in chapter 11, there is now down to this point a remnant. And so God is still dealing with Israel, and that’s true down to today. There are some Jewish believers and they become part of the church God is dealing with. But they are also the testimonies to God’s faithfulness to the nation Israel that He is keeping the spiritual line alive. And they are a reminder that ultimately God will fulfill His promises to the nation.

So back in chapter 9. We’ve talked about some hard things. Jacob I loved and Esau I’ve hated, and we have seen God hates sinners. And yet He has sovereignly chosen to select from among fallen, sinful human beings some to come to the salvation that He has provided in His Son, to bestow His special redeeming love on them. That will be true for Jews, that is true for Gentiles. And dealing with fallen, sinful human beings, God has seen fit to harden some and yet to act in special, saving grace to soften some and bring them to His salvation. Now keep in mind, we are dealing with sinful people, and if you just keep that one fact in your mind and don’t lose your grasp of it, it will take away a lot of the confusion. We’re not dealing with innocent people, we’re not dealing with people who deserve a break, so to speak, who deserve mercy in some kind of way. There are no such people, there have never been any such people, not from Adam on down, there has been no one who deserved grace, deserved mercy. Jesus Christ who was without sin, He didn’t need mercy because He had no sin to be dealt with. Every other person born in the human race has been a sinner and been justly condemned. So we’re talking about God’s work there. That’s where he is continuing now, as we pick up in verse 19. We saw God’s hardening work is simply a matter of God turning man over to his own sinful desires, allowing him to do as he desires to do. Not making him do something that he doesn’t want to do. But the hardening judgment of God is turning man over to his sinful desires is a frightful thing. And thus come under greater condemnation.

Now in verse 18 he said He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires, Romans 9:18. The natural question out of that is you will say to me then, why does He still find fault? For who resists His will? Remember the statement in verse 13, Jacob I have loved and Esau have I hated. Verse 14, the question, what shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? I mean that doesn’t sound fair. No, it’s not possible there could be injustice with God. Well you say He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires. Your question will then be, why does He still find fault? For who resists His will? I mean why can He blame me? I’m only doing His will, what He determined would happen, and therefore it’s not my responsibility. Who resists His will? Almost to the Muslim fatalism—Allah wills it. I mean God wills it, what are you going to do? I mean He’s absolutely sovereign. All right, I agree. But then why does He blame me? What can I do but do His will? And you have to be careful here. We’re living in a tension. I’ve had believers in this church come to see me and say you know I have come to the conclusion it has to be that it was God’s will for me to sin. Because His will includes everything, and it was good that came out of my sin. You say wait a minute, that’s perverted thinking, that’s not biblical thinking. Sometimes our logic seems good, but it’s not biblical.

So he’s going to deal with this question, why does He still find fault? For who resists His will? Now let me note something before we move on, since foreknowledge gets injected into the discussion of God’s sovereignty. If God were making His decision on the basis of foreknowledge, as is sometimes understood where God simply looked ahead in the future to see what would happen and then responded accordingly, both these questions would be irrelevant. Because to the first one in verses 13-14, Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated, He saw that Esau would be a profane man, if He just was using foreknowledge as sometimes defined. And the same in verse 18, if He hardens whom He desires, who resists His will? We’d say well He’s hardening those who He sees will reject Him. So foreknowledge would be no answer at all, as sometimes defined as God simply looking ahead in the future to see what would happen. These questions would be nonexistent, because He is really responding to man’s actions. When the whole point of the chapter is He’s not just responding to man’s actions, He is dealing with man according to His will.

I think verse 19 is a logical and good question, why does He still find fault? Who resists His will? And then Paul puts me in my place. On the contrary, who are you oh man, who answers back to God? And the contrast here is between man and God. Who are you, oh man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it? Does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use. First thing we have to grasp as we answer this question is, keep in mind who you are, and keep in mind what your proper place is when you are addressing God. Now that doesn’t mean I can’t search and say, Lord, I don’t understand this. Help me, give me understanding as I search your Word on this. But I cannot question God from the standpoint of challenging Him, telling Him, look, nobody resists your will so it’s not my fault. Can’t hold me accountable, all I did was what you wanted done. In the first place, remember your place. No matter what the answer to this question is, you were never in a place as a created being as just a man to challenge God, to answer back to God. And we all understand this. Our children, something is done, something has happened, we tell them something and if they say I don’t understand, could you explain it to me more fully. There’s a proper way to…. But they can’t come back at us and challenge us. What do you tell them? Wait a minute, I’m the parent here, not you. And I realize a lot of parents today don’t do that, they think oh my they didn’t like it, I’ll have to think of something else. But generally we can understand that.

So what’s the answer? Well, God is sovereignly working, and we won’t understand everything anymore than the clay understands everything that the potter is doing. So we’re back to this tension. Some things I’m just going to know, but I never will understand fully or completely. And I’m willing to trust God with what I don’t understand. Now that does not become an excuse for not searching the scripture, and with the best of the ability and resources God’s given me to dig through the scripture to handle it accurately so that I might be approved by God, as Paul wrote to Timothy. We have to be careful. The fact that I won’t understand everything doesn’t mean, well, it doesn’t matter. When I get to glory I’ll know more. No, I am responsible to be diligent to show myself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed. And I should be ashamed if I don’t understand what I should understand. But by the same token, some things I’ll just have to say, God is sovereign, and I am man and He is God.

So keep in perspective your attitude, is what Paul tells them here. All right, the thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it? And he’s moving into this analogy of the potter and the clay. Verse 21, for does not the potter have right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use. I clipped out an article, really it’s a couple of pages out of a commentary on Romans, written by a man who has written commentaries on a large number of the New Testament books. And he is since deceased, but his commentaries continue to be reprinted. Let me read you what he said and how he handles it.

The question is how can God possibly blame the men who have rejected Him. Surely the fault is not theirs at all, but God’s. Paul’s answer is blunt, almost to the point of crudity. He says that no man has any right to argue with God. When a potter makes a vessel it cannot talk back to him, he has absolute power over it. Out of the one lump of clay he can make one vessel for an honorable use and purpose, and another for a menial purpose. And the clay has nothing to do with it, it has no right whatever to protest. In point of fact Paul took this picture from Jeremiah (we’ll go there in a moment). There are two things to be said about this analogy. (What he said is okay up to this point.) #1, it is a bad analogy. One of the great New Testament commentators has said that this is one of the very few passages which we wish Paul had not written. There is a difference between a human being and a lump of clay. A human being is a person, a lump of clay is a thing. Maybe you can do what you like with a thing, but you cannot do what you like with a person. Clay does not desire to answer back, does not desire to question, cannot think and feel, cannot be bewildered and tortured. If someone has inexplicably suffered some tremendous sorrow, it will not help much to tell him he has no right to complain because God can do what He likes. That is the mark of a tyrant, not of a loving Father. It is the basic fact of the gospel that God does not treat men as a potter treats a lump of clay, He treats them as a loving father treats his child.

In other words, Paul is wrong, and what the Bible says in Jeremiah about God being the potter is wrong. We say, that’s pretty brazen, isn’t it. I mean we sometimes say, how do people handle this? Well some people just say, I don’t believe it. That’s his first point, the analogy of the potter and the clay is just a bad analogy. It’s one of those things we wish Paul had never written.

And #2, but when we have said that we must remember one thing—it was out of anguish of heart that Paul wrote this passage. I mean he was emotionally distraught because the Jews weren’t saved. So we don’t want to be too harsh on him. He just wasn’t thinking straight when he wrote this. But you have to say his argument is not good. This is William Barclay, considered perhaps the greatest New Testament Greek scholar of his day. No understanding of the true message of the Bible, of biblical salvation. Sad, sad. He died a universalist, believing that ultimately all men would be saved. And yet he could sit and plumb the depths of the Greek language of the New Testament and never understand truly the message. Strange man.

But that’s not one of the options. I mean we believe that the Word of God is the Word of God and it is true and it is authoritative, so we approach it that way. I just wanted you to have an example of a man we would call a liberal, who is comfortable just setting aside what the Bible says.

All right, we are down to the issue of the potter and the clay. And we want to go back to the Old Testament. Go back to Isaiah 29, right about in the middle of you Old Testament. We’re just going to pick up to see that God uses this analogy of the potter and the clay several times. So this wouldn’t have been something new to Jews familiar with the Old Testament. Isaiah 29:15, woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord and whose deeds are done in a dark place. And they say, who sees us or who knows? In other words, here we’re talking about Israelites, Isaiah is a prophet writing here, and some of the Jews thought they got away with things and God wasn’t seeing them. You turn things around. Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to his maker He did not make me, or what is formed say to Him who formed it, He has no understanding. What makes you think you know more than God? What makes you think you are smarter than God? What makes you think you could hide anything from the one who made you? He is the potter, you are the clay, in the analogy.

Turn over to Isaiah 45:9, woe to the one who quarrels with his maker, an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth. Will the clay say to the potter, what are you doing, or the thing you are making say he has no hands. I mean you understand you’re just an earthenware vessel among all the earthenware vessels of the earth. I mean He’s the potter, you’re the clay. The clay can’t argue with the potter. You can see why this becomes offensive to a man like Barclay, doesn’t like it. I mean that God would speak with such authority and such absoluteness and let man be left to view himself as nothing but a lump of clay. Of course not, we’re more important that. That’s what we’re dealing with—man is the clay, God is the potter. And yet man constantly forgets it. Woe to the one who quarrels with his maker, woe to the clay that tries to fight against the potter.

Isaiah 64. We talked about all being sinners and in verse 6 that well-known verse, for all of us have become like one who is unclean. All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. All of us wither like a leaf and our iniquities like the wind take us away. Verse 8, but now oh Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you our potter, and all of us are the work of your hand. Then he asks for mercy. You are absolutely sovereign, you can deal with us and dispose of us as you see fit. Then he asks for mercy.

Turn over to Jeremiah, just after Isaiah, just this one more passage. Jeremiah 18:1, the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise and go down to the potter’s house and there I will announce my words to you. Then I went down to the potter’s house and there he was making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. You see the potter is sovereign over the clay, he’s doing something with the clay. It’s not turning out like he wants, he adjusts what he does with the clay.

Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, can I not, oh house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does, declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hands, so are you in my hand, oh house of Israel. You understand, I am totally sovereign over you and I am totally sovereign over all the other nations. That’s where he goes on, one moment I might speak concerning a nation, concerning a kingdom to uproot, pull down, destroy and so on. He’s the potter. What He says about Israel here has to do with His dealings with all creation. He is the potter, we are the clay.

So come back to Romans 9. This is not a new analogy. In explaining what happens to Israel he draws on the Old Testament. And you’ll note down through the rest of chapter 9 you see all of those capitalized verses, which indicate they are being quoted from the Old Testament, so that Israel could understand what is the working of God in this matter. So verse 21 is not “new theology” or “new revelation.” It is reminding them what God had reminded them of hundreds of years ago by the prophets. Does not the potter, verse 21, have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump. Now note that, I have it underlined in my Bible, from the same lump, from the same lump. What is the lump? It is fallen, sinful humanity. And from the same lump of sinful humanity He can make one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use. Can not God dispose of sinful men according to His will? Yes He can. We keep coming back to the angels, but I do that because I want to remind you and don’t want you to lose sight that God is not obligated to provide salvation for anyone. He is not obligated to save anyone. When the angels sinned, He said, that’s it. He will spend eternity in hell, period, done, no provision in any way for forgiveness. How do we know? Hebrews 2, Jesus Christ did not take upon Himself the nature of angels to die for angels. There was never a Savior provided. God is not obligated to save sinful beings.

So here you have the same lump. Keep that in mind. The distinction is not between the people. They are all sinners. The distinction is in what God chooses to do with the sinners, and that’s His sovereign right as the potter over the clay. This is the great difficulty in the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. It offends my pride, it’s as Barclay wrote, I don’t like to have human beings called lumps of clay. That’s not what we are. It is what we are, in spite of what he said, because God says it’s what we are. So from the same lump He makes one vessel for honorable use, another for common use or dishonorable use. Elaborate that. What if God willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. What is He doing here? He is willing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known. So all humanity will ultimately fulfill God’s purposes, all humanity, corrupted and depraved by its sin, will serve God’s purposes. A portion of corrupted, fallen humanity will be used for God to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known. And He endures them with much patience, those that have been fitted for destruction. You say wait a minute, it’s not their fault then. No, don’t lost track. What is he dealing with here? A single lump. Now here is the potter and he’s working the clay. And I never did, but I’ve seen it on TV, the potter’s wheel. So you take the clay and you what? He breaks off the clay into two parts and he sets one piece of that same lump of clay here and then he begins to mold and shape. And he takes the time and patience and here he ends up with a vessel that’s going to be used for common use, it’s going to be a wastebasket. Then he takes another that’s going to be a beautiful vase, setting at the center of the table. Same piece of clay. He made one for dishonor and one for honor.

What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known, He could have done that immediately, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. And He did so. Why did He delay judgment for the vessels of wrath. Why didn’t He just mete it out immediately? Verse 23, He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory. So God is patiently enduring the vessels doomed to destruction because He is in the process of fitting some vessels for glory. That’s it. If they were all going to be doomed to destruction, it could have been immediate and over. But He is working a plan of redemption. Not because this portion of the clay is better or more deserving than the other, because we have the same lump—fallen, sinful, depraved humanity.

You’ll note in verse 22, wrath and destruction go together. Willing to demonstrate His wrath. He endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Vessels of wrath, the objects of His wrath, they are prepared for destruction. He endured with patience the vessels of wrath, to make known the riches of His glory, verse 23, upon the vessels of mercy. God’s patience is rejected by fallen, sinful man. You say well where is man in this? Man, God is patiently putting up with, patiently enduring His opposition, His hatred.

Go back to Romans 1, and this description of sinful beings in verses 28-32 at the end of Romans 1. You’ll note in verse 30, the second item in that list, haters of God. That’s the kind of people we’re dealing with in this lump of clay. They are haters of God, but God is dealing with them patiently. Jump down to Romans 2:4, or do you think lightly, now note this, of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance. Remember He’s enduring with patience the vessels prepared for destruction, so that you might show mercy on the vessels prepared beforehand for glory. But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. It’s your fault.

Again in chapter 2 he’s dealing with Israel, and why would you reject the living God. Why would you scorn His patience? Why do you have family members with whom you have shared the gospel again and again and they despise the patience of God in putting up with them and demonstrating His kindness in giving them another day to breathe and live, another opportunity to turn from their sin and receive the forgiveness that He provided through the death of His own Son. Verse 4 talked about the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience. People don’t know that this kindness of God is what leads them to repentance. They just take it as a fact that everything is okay because God doesn’t immediately intervene and sometimes they’ll do flagrant things like, well, God can strike me dead if that’s truly the way it is. But He doesn’t. I’m saying, go ahead, Lord, do it, do it. But He doesn’t He’s demonstrating patience and kindness.

But with your stubborn and unrepentant heart you’re storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, in Revelation, of the righteous judgment of God. And we as God’s people need to be careful—Israel somewhere lost their perspective and somehow though sin was okay and there wouldn’t be the kind of wrathful judgment. Now we find people in the church find it hard to hear this kind of doctrine. But it’s true, this is what God is doing. He’s patiently dealing with men.

Turn over to Revelation 14. I referred to this verse in previous study, but I want you to see it. It is an awful description of a coming hell to which sinful men and women will be confined and condemned, along with the devil and his angels. In particularly here he’s selected out unregenerate people in the coming 7-year tribulation. But what is true for them will be true of all, because in Revelation 20 all unredeemed are sentenced to the same hell. Verse 10, unredeemed people out of the tribulation will drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Now note this, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger. The picture there is an awesome picture. You think of the infinite love of God, you also have to understand He’s a God of infinite anger and infinite wrath, immeasurable love and immeasurable anger. And when it comes to sentencing men to hell, there will be no mercy to be mixed in. Full strength anger. Men ought to be terrified of the living God. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living. This is a frightening concept that you should have to bear the full brunt of the infinite anger of the infinite God. No wonder people don’t want to think about hell, don’t want to hear about hell, don’t want to talk about hell. And look at the description here. He will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The devil doesn’t rule over hell, God rules over hell. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. And then we go on to talk about the perseverance of the saints. What a contrast, what a contrast. Even those who suffer martyrdom and so on, verse 13, there is coming rest for them. But what does the one rejecting the kindness of God, the love of God, the patience of God—nothing but judgment.

Come back to Romans 9. This verse does not say God created evil. This section picks up with God dealing with those who are fallen, corrupted in their sin. Again you have to go back and work your way through the first 3 chapters of Romans. That’s an established fact. We have the same lump of clay from which you will have a vessel of dishonor, doomed to wrath and destruction, and a vessel of honor prepared for glory. Same lump of clay. I’m repeating myself repeatedly, but as soon as you start thinking about innocent people who don’t have a chance, and it’s not fair, you’ve lost the biblical account. And no wonder people then get all emotionally worked up. They’re not careful to listen to what God says. He’s dealing with the same lump here. You keep that in mind. Those we described in Revelation 14 going to that awful hell, you’re just like them, I’m just like them apart from the redeeming grace of God. I don’t deserve better. It’s the sovereign work of the potter to make from sinful humanity what He chooses to do. Why? I have no idea in the ultimate sense. I can give some reasons God says for what He is doing this, but ultimately, remember, the choice centered in Himself, the counsel of His own will. Why didn’t He provide salvation for angels, to demonstrate His grace in salvation in angels? You know the angels look at the church, they are the observers of the church, the book of Ephesians tells us, because they are seeing unfolded the work of redemption. They are observers of redemption, they have never experienced redemption. Because the angels who will enjoy heaven for eternity never sinned and so never needed forgiveness. And the angels who enjoyed heaven but sinned have no future but hell. But here we have God working His purposes.

So the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, remember, not saying God took innocent people and prepared them for destruction. He took sinful people and molded them for His purposes that they would be an evidence of His wrath, His hatred of sin, His righteous judgment upon sin. Have to go to one more verse—Proverbs 16. Again, this is not new theology, it’s developed theology but it was in the Old Testament. Proverbs 16:4, the Lord has made everything for its own purpose. Some would have it, He made everything for His own purpose. Even the wicked for the day of evil. What we’re elaborating on here, He has taken the vessels of wrath and instead of bringing them under immediate judgment He is patiently putting up with them. And in that time He offers them salvation. Turn from your sin and be forgiven, as we talked about in our previous study.

Verse 23, He is patiently putting up with the vessels of wrath to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy. So verse 22 talked about vessels of wrath, verse 23 talked about vessels of mercy. You ought to have them both underlined, because you’re talking about the same lump of clay. From one comes a vessel of wrath, to that same lump you make a vessel of mercy. The distinction is not in the clay, the distinction is in the sovereign purpose of the potter. And that’s His right. The clay never gets to choose. We’re dealing with sinful humanity here, they made their choice but God has chosen to bring salvation.

The vessels of mercy were prepared for glory, prepared beforehand for glory. Now you’ll note, these are vessels of mercy, not vessels that were better. No discussion here about trying to sort out the better clay to make a better vessel—same lump. The analogy is so blatantly simple that it does offend a commentator like Barclay. He can’t get away from the directness of it. But it’s a vessel of mercy. In other words this portion of the clay did not deserve to be a vessel of honor. Now it’s clearly established the vessels of wrath are getting what they deserve—judgment. But those that are made vessels of honor, they’re vessels of mercy because they are not getting what they deserve. They are getting mercy. And their ultimate end will be glory. Can you get any different? Instead of wrath, mercy; instead of destruction, glory. Remarkable that God could take those that hated Him, those who rejected Him, those who wanted nothing to do with Him, and still reach down and determine to sovereignly draw some of those to Himself.

Turn over to Ephesians 2:2, and this context, we’ve talked about this in our previous study. Verse 1, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we all, too, formerly lived in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. We were all part of the same lump of clay. That’s why it’s so ugly for those who have experienced redeeming grace to be proud or arrogant, self-righteous. We were by nature children of wrath as the rest. We were all part of that same sinful lump of clay. But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, mercy, grace, mercy, grace. He raised us up with Him, seated us with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Now note this, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. You know what? That’s why we say, through all eternity we will be trophies of God’s grace. The unredeemed will demonstrate His wrath, will be a demonstration of His wrath, His anger, His hatred of sin and the sinner. And we will be trophies of His grace.

That in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us. You get the idea as the Spirit directs Paul you almost……..what words do you bring in here? I mean you talk about verse 4, God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us. I mean His mercy, His great mercy, His great love, His rich mercy. And now we have to talk about the surpassing riches, verse 7, of His grace. And not just enough to talk about the surpassing riches of His grace, you have to talk about the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness. I mean the overwhelming, amazing truth in scripture is that fallen, sinful, hell-deserving people are going to heaven. That’s the amazing thing. Somehow we get twisted in our thinking and think the amazing thing is, can people go to hell. And the whole picture in the Bible is, God wants trophies of grace so that in a hundred billion years He can point to Gil Rugh and say, there can be no doubt on a God of grace. Look who’s here. He’s here. Can’t point to Gabriel and do that because Gabriel never experienced that saving grace. But I did, you did. And that’s what he says—so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Just that piling up of words and we’ve seen them in Romans 9 already. The mercy, the grace, the compassion, the kindness. I mean what do you say when you’re talking about God taking a lump of clay, sinful humanity, and making out of that a vessel of mercy.

So why hasn’t God intervened in judgment? You know sometimes we say oh I wish God would intervene to bring it all to an end. But aren’t there some people in your family, extended family, people you work with you’d like to see get saved. Yeah. In one sense I’d like to see the Lord delay a little longer because He is patiently waiting. The Lord is not slow about His promises as some men count slowness, but He is patient, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance, Peter wrote. What’s He doing? These are days of salvation.

Turn over to Romans 10, let me just pull a couple of passages out for you and we’ll wrap this up. Romans 10 talks about how you become a vessel of mercy. It’s the sovereign work of God through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. So we are saved by grace through faith. Israel had faith, they just didn’t have faith in the Savior. But they had faith in their own works, they had faith in their own righteousness, and that was the end of chapter 9. But the message of salvation is for all who will respond. Romans 10:9, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. And verse 11 promises that whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. He had said that in the last statement in chapter 9, whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. He never fails. If you believe in Jesus Christ you will be saved, guaranteed. The sovereign God who rules over all has guaranteed it.

So verse 13, whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how they will hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they’re sent? So then, verse 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. You see where the emphasis is. People have to hear the gospel and then they are called to believe the gospel that they hear. If they don’t, they are accountable before God, they are storing up wrath. Those who don’t hear are still accountable because they’ve rejected the revelation God’s given through creation. That’s chapter 1 of Romans. Every mouth is stopped, everyone has become accountable, guilty, end of chapter 3. But where do we go in chapter 10? Well I guess it’s ??????????????? The gospel must be carried to the lost and they must be encouraged to call upon the name of the Lord. And whoever does, they won’t be disappointed.

Come to chapter 11. Talking about this remnant and the remnant, verse 5. In the same way there has come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s election of grace. If it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it. The rest were hardened. You’ll note the contrast. Those who were chosen, the elect obtained it, the rest were hardened. God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not, ears to hear not, down to this very day. Paul says I understand the lostness of Israel, God has blinded their eyes. But we saw in chapter 10 he’s beseeching God to save them. But they have rejected revelation and God has hardened them, turned them over to their sin.

But God hasn’t permanently rejected the nation as a nation, there is a remnant down to that present day. Paul was part of it. There is a remnant to today. There are Jewish believers today, not large numbers, the majority of Israel has not believed, but there are some. There is a remnant. So those who were chosen obtained it, the rest did not. But they didn’t stumble so as to fall, did they, verse 11. That doesn’t mean that God is done with the nation as a nation, does it? May it never be.

Verse 25, I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed about this mystery, something that had not been revealed in the Old Testament. That a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Paul says this is a day of Gentile salvation, the church age. This is an opportunity for Gentiles. God’s work of salvation focuses on Gentiles today, but when that part of God’s program is brought to completion, all Israel will be saved. And with the rapture of the church we move into the 70th week of Daniel. God pours out His wrath on an unbelieving world and uses the events of that period to bring Israel to the point where, when that 7-year period concludes, they will be crying out, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, according to Zechariah’s prophecy. And there will be a national turning to Christ as the Messiah of Israel. And so the nation as a nation will experience God’s salvation. That doesn’t mean every Jew in the nation will be saved. The Bible speaks about judgment on unbelieving Jews at the Second Coming. It is in the context of the return of Christ from heaven as the quotes go on.

So verse 28, from the standpoint of the gospel they (the Jews) are enemies for your sake. From the standpoint of God’s election, God’s choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. I mean the promises God gave to the fathers have to be fulfilled. So He loves the Jews because He can’t go back on His word. For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. And how amazing it is, God has shut the Jews up under disobedience so that He might show mercy in salvation to the Gentiles and through His work of salvation in the Gentiles He’s also … to turn the Jews back to Himself.

And so you have to conclude, verse 33, oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways. Any wonder we struggle with this? I mean His judgments and His ways are unsearchable and unfathomable, and we’ve but scratched the surface. Who has known the mind of the Lord, who became His counselor? Who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever, amen. I mean that pretty well says it, doesn’t it. And we stand in awe of the sovereign plan of the sovereign God. We need to understand the unique day in which we live, the day of the fullness of the Gentiles.

And go back to chapter 10, as you think about tomorrow. Verse 12, there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How will they call on Him whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they be sent? So then faith comes with hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. We really believe this, we know that every lost person we come in contact with has to what? If they are ever to be saved they have to hear the gospel. So my role is to try to sort out who the elect are and who aren’t? No, my role is to present the gospel. And sinful man will reject the offer of the gospel unless God sovereignly intervenes in mercy and grace to turn their heart to Himself and bring them to faith in Christ. That’s His work. My work is what? To carry them the truth of salvation and tell them, call upon the name of the Lord, believe in Him. You won’t be disappointed, because He keeps His word. And whoever believes in Him will be saved.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for an amazing plan of redemption, for the nation Israel and for Gentiles. Thank you, Lord, for your plan today, this day of fullness of the Gentiles, where Jew and Gentile alike are joined together into the body of Christ but overwhelmingly the church is comprised of Gentiles as we have received your mercy, your grace, your kindness in salvation. Lord, may we rejoice and praise you, that we would not be arrogant against Israel because we realize it’s your grace that had been bestowed upon us undeserving Gentiles. And we rejoice to know that you are a God who keeps your word and fulfills your promises, and you will do exactly as you promised for your people, Israel. That gives us comfort and assurance to know you will do exactly for us as the church as you have promised to us. Thank you, Lord, that salvation is offered as a free gift to all. May we so rejoice in this truth that we be passionate in telling others that there is a Savior and if they believe in Him they will not be disappointed. We pray in His name, amen.