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Amen. So this evening's sermon, I wanted to go through the book of Romans chapter number nine and basically explain a lot of what this chapter is teaching. Kind of go verse by verse here. And Romans chapter number nine is a little bit harder of a chapter to be understood. I would say it's probably one of the more difficult chapters to be understood in the Bible. And there's a lot of false doctrine that is taught in the book of Romans chapter number nine, in Romans and specifically in chapter number nine. And instead of just combating all of that false doctrine, I felt like maybe it'd be better to just actually teach what it means and kind of what we're looking at here, so that we can better understand it. It says in verse number one, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. Now, this is a pretty serious thing that the apostle Paul's bringing up in verses one and two. He truly wants all of those from his kindred, the Israelites to be saved. And we can see here, he says that he has great heaviness and continual sorrow. So the fact that the Israelites are not being saved, the fact that they don't want to hear the gospel actually makes him feel sorry. It makes him feel bad, you know, and it should grieve us that people are dying today and they're going to hell, that there's people that they don't want to get saved. They're not hearing the gospel. They're not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, when you actually understand what hell is like, it should cause us to have a great desire to see people saved, to want to pull them out of the fire and to love people. And truly, you don't have love for people if you aren't warning them from the dangers of hell. You don't care if they just go to hell. And the apostle Paul, you know, he sees a lot of the contradiction of his own people. He realizes they're the ones that killed the Lord Jesus Christ, but he's not mad at them. He wants them to get saved. He wants them to, you know, accept the gospel. It says in verse number three, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Now verse three is an extreme statement. You actually see the Moses say something very similar in the book of Exodus. He tells the Lord to blot them out of his book if he doesn't allow the children of Israel to enter into the promised land. And to be honest, like obviously these guys, you know, when we're reading in the text, they must have truly meant that it's hard for me to imagine myself actually believing that for myself. I mean, to say that I would go to hell for other people is a pretty strong statement. You know, it's hard to imagine someone having that much love and that much care, but didn't he start out by saying, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not my conscience also bearing witness in the Holy ghost. And it's recorded in the Bible. He wants to somehow actually meant this. He says, Hey, I'm willing to actually just be accursed from Christ. If my whole nation could just accept the gospel, he's just that grieved about it. He's that upset about it. He wants them to be saved. And he's talking about the nation of Israel as a whole. Okay. He's not, he's not just isolating it to one person. He's just saying these people, he says in verse four, who are Israelites to him pertain at the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is overall God blessed forever. Amen. So in verses three through five, he's saying that the nation of Israel, the Israelites are the one in whom the whole Bible has basically been written for up to this point. I mean, they, they're the ones that are, the adoption pertains to now, what does the word pertain mean? It means it belongs something that belongs. It's saying, Hey, all of these things belong to these Israelites. You know, all the glory, they're the ones that are the apple of God's eye. They're the ones that God has set up. They're a special chosen people. You know that he's, they're the people that God made covenants with and made special, you know, promises unto. He's the one that gave them the law. Who else got the law from God directly from his hand? You know, literally God wrote on stones of tablet and gave it to Moses and gave it to these people. I mean, they're the ones that are getting the direct benefit of God, right? He even gets the, they get to do the service of God. They're the only ones that have the tabernacle and they get to come in and offer the sacrifices and to serve the Lord and to, you know, you have to come to Jerusalem in order to serve God. I mean, they're the ones that have it all. They have all the promises and they have all the fathers, all the fathers of the faith are Israelites. It's not, it's not somebody else. It's father Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the 12 patriarchs. And it's the 12 tribes. It's, it's, it's all them. And he's saying, Hey, this is the one who Christ even came for. When Christ came to Christ, go and preach to the heathen. Did he go and preach to the four nations? He go preach in Egypt? No, he came specifically for the lost tribes of Israel. He came unto Israel. It's all been a focus of Israel. And he's saying, man, I wish I could be a curse just so they could get what was all of this. The whole purpose of Christ coming was for them. He says in verse six, Not as though the word of God had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. So what he's trying to explain here is he's saying Israel as a nation is not accepting Christ. They're not accepting, you know, basically what the law and the promises and the covenants and everything was driving towards, which was believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's basically saying, well, what would be the point if it was all given to all these people and then they just reject it? Right? I mean, if you give Israel everything, if they're the only ones that had the fathers and they're the only ones that had the law and they're the only ones that had the promises and they're the only ones that had the covenant and then Christ only came to them and then they rejected it. It's like, what's the point? That's why he has the verse six. He says, well, wait a minute. They're not all Israel, which are of Israel though, that we have to understand that it's not just something physical here. There's something different. And notice Israel here has two different definitions in the same sentence. What does he mean in the first Israel? They're not all Israel, okay, spiritually, which are of Israel physically. That's what that verse means. He's saying, hey, there is a difference between a spiritual Israel, the true Israel, and those that are the descendants of Israel, the man, Jacob, the 12 patriarchs. So he's making a distinction there. And he's telling us what that distinction is in verse seven. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, meaning they're the physical descendants, are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Why? That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. So the apostle Paul, he wants all the children of Israel to be saved because they're the ones that were supposed to get saved. They're supposed to be the Israel, but they rejected it. And the apostle Paul's helping us understand that in reality, he understands now it wasn't about anything physical. It was always about the spiritual. The true Israel, the true descendants, the two children of God are those that have believed, those that have accepted things by faith. It was about faith. That was the whole point. Okay, it says in verse number nine, for this is the word of promise. So these things came by promise and it would be of none effect if it was all by the flesh. Keep your finger here and go back to chapter four. Just look at chapter four for a moment and look at verse 13. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore, it is a faith that it might be by grace. To the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. So what he's saying here is that being a child of God, being a child of Abraham was never because of the law. The law actually came way after Abraham. It was always by faith and that's why it was given by a promise. What is a promise? It's not something that's happening now. It's something that's going to happen in the future. And so they're expecting something and because they believe in that, because they have faith in that, that's what makes them a child. Just like Isaac. Isaac was promised unto Abraham several years before he actually became his child. Several, you know, I think it's like 20 years basically from the time he's promised until the time he actually is born, until the time that he actually comes and he is his child. The Lord constantly gave him prophecy of, hey, you know, you're going to have this seed and it's going to have lots of, you know, descendants and it's going to be a great mighty nation and, you know, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed through this seed. And so he had that promise to keep attaching himself to and he believed God. He just didn't know exactly what that was going to look like. Okay, go back and look back at verse number eight. It says in verse number eight again, verse nine, for this is the word of promise. Okay, go if you would to Hebrews chapter number nine, Hebrews chapter number nine for a moment. And I want to look at something else quickly. So we notice that we're the children of promise, just like Abraham was a child of, he was a man of faith and because Isaac was the child of promise, that's what we are like. We're children of the promise. It says in Hebrews chapter number nine, verse number eight, chapter nine, verse number eight, the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiness of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present and which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, for if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive notice this, the promise of eternal inheritance. So notice when we believe in Jesus Christ, what is it that we're really believing? We're believing that he's going to redeem us, that one day we'll be resurrected with him. And we're going to receive the promise of what inheritance that we're going to inherit with him, that we're the children of God. And we're going to inherit those same kind of promises. Now, obviously, you know what that takes faith. We're not going to see that you're going to see that later in the future after you die or if Christ comes in the clouds, then we caught up together with him, and then we'll see it in the future. But it's not something that we can see physically right now. It's something that we believe in. That's what makes us children of the promise. When we get saved, we're putting our faith in God's promise to redeem us, his promise to save us. Now, obviously, when you believe you're saved from your sins, but that transaction hasn't completely happened in the sense that our bodies haven't been fully redeemed. There's still going to be a day in which our bodies are going to come out of the grave and we're going to put on that incorruption. So that's another aspect of the salvation that hasn't technically happened yet, but we know it's going to happen. Why? Because we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. What's that promise? That he's going to redeem us. That he's going to redeem the purchased possession. We have been purchased by God. He put the earnest down, but there's going to be a point in time when our bodies are fully resurrected and restored, and that's what we're going to inherit with God. We'll be as him. We'll be as Christ, okay? Go back to Romans chapter number nine. Even in Galatians, for sake of time, I'm not going to go there, but it says that we're the children of God according to the promise, okay? Now, let's look at verse number nine again. Let's read a little bit further. Verse number nine says, for this is the word of promise, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, as we get a little bit further into this text, it's going to get a little more difficult to maybe understand exactly what is being said. So, we're going to slow down and kind of break it down a little bit. But what was the point of verse nine? He says, for this is the word of promise. So, we're talking about a promise, okay? And who's the first illustration? It's Isaac. Isaac is that first illustration, and let's understand this. Let's go to Genesis chapter 21. We're going to actually go to these people in the Bible and get a little bit stronger understanding of why it's using these people as an illustration. Now, Isaac is born after Ishmael, and God gives a lot of information about both of them in Genesis. It says in Genesis 21, look at verse 12, and God said unto Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman, and all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now, isn't that what it told us in Romans, in Isaac shall thy seed be called? And it says in verse 13, and also of the son of the bondwoman, will I make a, notice this, nation, because he is thy seed. So, we're talking about verse 13, Ishmael. Now, when we're talking about Ishmael, what is he saying about him? He's going to make him a nation, right? When it's talking about Isaac, again, what it's talking about is a nation. It's talking about a group of people. How do we start Romans chapter number nine? We started with the Apostle Paul saying he wished he was a curse for who? The nation of Israel, right? He's talking about a nation, and the Apostle Paul is now telling us, hey, that nation, those children of God, are actually in Isaac. It's the Isaac that's the true nation. It's the Isaac that's really the true Israel. It's not about a person. It's about the nation. That's the concepts that we're really trying to drive in and understand here, okay? Look at chapter 18 and look at verse number nine. Chapter 18, verse number nine. He says, and they said unto them, where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, behold in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life, and though Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, after I have waxed old, shall I have pleasure? My Lord being old also. And the Lord said in Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of assurity bear a child which am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed, I will return to thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laugh not, for she was afraid. And he said, nay, but thou didst laugh. So the Lord appears unto Abraham. He says unto Sarah that she's going to have a child, and she's very old. She's about 89 when she has Isaac, and Abraham is 99, okay? So that is pretty old, all right? And she's saying, I'm well past the normal childbearing years, you know, I'm going to laugh because this doesn't even make any sense. How could I have a child? But why? Because he's a child of promise. And notice he's in the latter portion of their years. And what, again, what is Isaac representing? He's representing a spiritual nation, okay? Is that nation of the flesh? No, it's a nation of the promise. It's a nation of the promise that's being given unto him. Look at verse 18. Seeing that Abraham shall surely become, notice this, a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. So what's constantly promised to Abraham is a nation, a nation, a nation. Where is he getting that nation? It's from Isaac, because Isaac is going to be a great nation. And then, in fact, all the nations are going to be blessed in him, picturing what? The heathen and the Gentiles getting in on the deal. They're somehow going to be blessed by this nation, aren't they? Now go back to chapter 21 and look at verse number 1. We're kind of dancing around here a little bit, but I just want to prove the fact that we're talking about nations here. Chapter 21 verse 1. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. So we actually have Isaac being born. And, you know, one thing that we could look at, and again, you know, this isn't real definitive because we're looking at it through a shadow or a type, but Isaac doesn't come into the picture in normal childbearing years, right? It takes a really long time, but notice he comes at the set time. Now think about the Gentiles. Think about the heathen. They don't get in the picture of God until what? Until later in the picture, don't they? Until the last days. But it happens at a what? Set time after Christ is preached. Then the gospel is spread forth. And that's who Isaac is picturing. Isaac is picturing the spiritual remnant of Christians, whereas Ishmael is picturing who they don't want to picture, the Jews. Ishmael is the Jews. If we go to Galatians chapter number five, we'll see it say that of Hagar, okay, is the Jews, the spiritual Jews, those that are in Jerusalem, and that Isaac is in fact the Christians. Isaac is those that are getting saved. And so we kind of get these pictures. But again, it's looking at it from a perspective of a group of people, mind you, not a particular person. We're looking at this as a collective, okay, as a nation, as it were. Now obviously, we have a spiritual nation in the New Testament. I'm not going to go into a deep exhortation there, but go to Romans chapter number four, Romans chapter number four. And this picture, wait, wait, before we go there, one other thing I want to say is when we have this picture of Isaac, okay, notice the wording that we have in Genesis 21. And the Lord visited Sarah. Now how did Jesus Christ, how was he born? Oh yeah, the Holy Ghost came upon her, didn't he? And then what does it say? And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken, for Sarah conceived. Notice it's bringing up the Lord and Sarah and then conception. Now we know that Abraham is the father of Isaac, okay, but the way it's worded is to help point us to who? Jesus Christ, the fact that he was born of the Holy Ghost, that he's the son of God, and that's how she got the child was from the Lord. Now go, if you went to Romans four, go back to Romans and look at chapter number four again and look at verse number 13. The Bible says in Romans chapter four verse 13, for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are the law be yours, faith is made void and the promise made of in effect, because the law work of wrath for where no law is there is no transgression. So we have again, we're reading this, we see that the promise was not given to Abraham or to his seed, Isaac, okay, through the law. Now that seed, Isaac is really representative of Jesus Christ. That's who the true heir is. That's who the true seed is. Galatians three makes that very clear, but Isaac is just kind of a shadow word for Jesus Christ. Just like David is going to picture Christ a lot of times in the Bible, Isaac is going to picture Christ in a lot of places in the Bible. In verse 16 it says, therefore it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not that only to the law, but that also which is the faith of Abraham is the father of us all. Now think about that sentence for a second. Abraham was the father of us all. Who is he writing to? The Romans. He's saying, hey, Abraham's, he's the father of us all. Why? Because we're talking spiritually, aren't we? He says, as it is written, I have made the father of, notice this, of many nations before him whom he believed, even God who quickened the dead and called those things which be not as though they were, who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when he's about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform and therefore was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, what's important here is that we see how did Abraham get saved? God preached him the gospel. God told him about the coming seed, that how he's going to be blessed and how the other nations are going to be blessed. And we see in chapter number four, what is that blessedness? What does it say in verse number six? Even as David also described, and notice this, the blessedness of the man unto God imputed righteousness without works. So what we're saying being blessed, what does that mean? It means that God is going to consider you righteous without your works. That means you're saved. That means you're going to heaven. So when he's saying, Hey, I'm going to bless you, he's talking about him going to heaven. He was preaching him the gospel. And what did Abraham do? He believed God. And then what does it say in verse number 22? It was there and therefore was imputed to him for righteousness. Now what do we do? Oh yeah, we believe the gospel. We believe in that promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what's imputed to us? Righteousness, not by our account, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his mercy, he saved us, is what the Bible says. And I like how it's worded here because it says Abraham was dead, like his dead kind of his body and Sarah's dead, right? But what do we, we're dead in trespasses and sins, but notice a dead man can still have faith, can't he? Put that in your, you know, Calvinist pipe and smoke it. So, Hey, a dead man can still have faith and he can still be saved and he can still go to heaven. Why? Cause we're all dead in trespasses and sins, but whenever you believe you become saved and you're a child of God. Those who went to Hebrews chapter 11 now go to Hebrews chapter number 11. So we've been talking about the nation. We've been talking about that seed of Isaac and it was all about the promise. Wasn't it? It was all about the salvation that was going to come through Jesus Christ. Look at Hebrews chapter number 11. Let's get a little more picture of Abraham's faith here and verse number 17. By faith, Abraham, when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up notices his only begotten son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received and notice this in a figure. Now we've been talking about the birth of Isaac, but here we're talking about the trial of Abraham offering his only begotten son, which is an interesting wording since he had other sons. Okay. But it's what picturing who Jesus Christ. And he said, Isaac was what a figure. And we have to understand that in the old Testament, Isaac is a figure of Jesus Christ, but not just Christ. It's also a figure of the nation of saved believers. Go if you would back to Genesis chapter 17. So when you study this, you can very clearly see that Isaac has a lot of different things that he's pointing to. He's pointing to Jesus Christ. He's also pointing to the spiritual nation of believers and Jacob and Esau is no different because that's who were brought up. Wasn't it? It was first brought up. That was Isaac. Then it was also brought up who Jacob and Esau are brought up in Romans chapter number nine as another example of what promise. Another example of faith. Okay. Look at Genesis chapter 17 verse number four. As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee. It says in verse number six, and I will make the exceeding fruitful and I will make nations of thee and King shall come out of thee and I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee. So Abraham, what is the promise here? These are going to be made of nations, right? Look at verse 16 and I will bless her and give thee a son also of her. Yeah, I'll bless her and she shall be a mother of, notice this, nations. Kings of people shall be of her. So again, she's going to be a mother of nations. Look at verse 19. And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shalt call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael I have heard thee, behold I blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. 12 princes shall he beget and I'll make him a great nation. So Isaac is a nation. Ishmael is a nation. Now go to Genesis 25. All right. I wanted to hammer that in a little bit of the nation concept. Look at chapter 25 verse 20. And this is a Bible study. So we're going through and we're studying the Bible. Okay. Look at verse 20. He says this. And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethel, the Syrian of Patanarim, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated of him and Rebekah's wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her. And she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire the Lord. And the Lord said in her, two nations are in thy womb and two manner of people shall be separated from my bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people. And the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in a room. Now was there literal nations in her womb? No, it was two babies. Okay. That's crystal clear from the context. But notice Esau and Jacob picture what? Two nations. So when we study the Old Testament, we have to understand is a lot of the pictures here that are being illustrated are a lot bigger than just the person itself and the stories themselves. I'm going to preach. I don't have time to preach this because there's just too much good information, but I'm going to preach a sermon on Sunday about Jacob and Esau, because when you read the stories about them, they're really confusing, but they actually picture everything that we've been talking about when you understand that we're talking about nations. And specifically, we're talking about the difference between spiritual nation and the flesh nation. The fleshly Israel versus what? The spiritual Israel. And notice there's a struggle, which is the same struggle you get when you get saved. You know, when you get saved, you have that war between what? The flesh and the spirit. And we see that struggle within our womb between what? The spiritual and the physical. And there's always this struggle in many different areas throughout the Bible. The physical Israel hates the spiritual Israel. There's enmity between them. There's constant conflict. And when you get saved, there's no difference. Your flesh wars against that spiritual man. Now, go if you would to go back to Romans chapter 9, okay? And let's understand these verses that we just kind of went through. I wanted to help you understand that we're talking about nations. And why would the book of Genesis constantly bring up nations? It's so we can understand Romans chapter number 9, okay? Look at verses number 9 again. For this is the word of what? Promise. At this time will I come and Sarah shall have a what? Son. Now, what is the son referencing a spiritual nation of Isaac, okay? And not only this. So there's not just one picture of this. There was another picture. But when Rebekah also conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, it says, let's skip 11 because it's a parenthetical statement. It was said under the elder shall serve the younger as is written Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. So when he says, I love Jacob and I hate Esau, whom is he talking about? He's talking about nations. And specifically, who is Jacob represented of? The spiritual nation of Israel. Who is Esau representing? The physical nation of Esau. And the Bible is saying that God is hates the physical nation of Israel. He loves the spiritual nation of Israel. And you can't be both because if you're spiritual, then that's what you're considered. If you're only physical, then that's what you're considered. And so this division here is not talking about a person. God's not saying I hated Esau as a person and I love Jacob as a person because frankly speaking, God seems to do good on both of them. And it even says that the elder shall serve the younger. Now, when we study our Bibles, it's very clear that the children of Israel are dominant over the nation of Edom. Edom is Esau, okay? So we see that fulfilled in a physical sense and we have to understand about the Bible is oftentimes there's a carnal fulfillment and there's a spiritual fulfillment. Sometimes there's a double spiritual fulfillment. Sometimes there's a lot of different layers to the onion that you can keep pulling off. And truly the Bible has many, many layers. We're trying to get down and understand and cover a lot of these layers, okay? So what is verse 11 then? For the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of him that calleth. Now, what this verse is saying is it's saying that ultimately God chose whatever he wants to. It wasn't based on man's decision. It was based on God's decision of whom he was going to choose. But we understand that God decided he wanted to choose the spiritual nation over that physical nation. It wasn't anything that the man decided in the context of whom God is deciding. What is that telling me? That's telling me that ultimately God is deciding things, okay? Ultimately God is making his choices, meaning that he has the ultimate will. It's not like I get to decide what I'm going to do. God is going to decide what he's going to do, okay? And we're going to understand these verses when we get down here a little bit later of how that makes sense. But basically God gets to decide if he wants to love Esau or if he wants to love Jacob or whoever, okay? God gets to decide anything and everything that he wants to do, okay? He has his own will, right? It says in verse 14, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God, God forbid? Now, why is this verse important? Because the question is, well, if God's just making whatever decision he wants, then that doesn't seem fair. That doesn't seem right. Why is God picking one over another? And Calvinists love this chapter, okay? And I'm going to explain why Calvinism is wrong in this chapter. But one thing we do have to understand is that God does technically have the right to make whatever decisions he wants, doesn't he? And the question would be asked, if God is making these decisions, is there somehow some kind of unrighteousness in this decision making that he's making? And the answer is no. The answer is absolutely no. He is not unrighteous. Now, a Calvinistic interpretation of these verses, it makes God very unrighteous. It makes God a very wicked God when they come to the conclusions that they come to. But when we understand the full of this chapter, and give me a little bit of time to get there, we're going to understand that even though God has the ultimate choices in the decisions, he's not unrighteous in any decisions that he makes, okay? He says in verse 15, for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Verse 16, so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Again, this is letting us understand that God decides whom he's going to give mercy to, and whom he's not going to give mercy to. What does that mean? Look, there's nothing that I can do that's going to force God to give me mercy. There's nothing I can do that's going to force God to give me grace. It's his decision. Now, I usually use an example of parents and children, right? Can your children just demand grace and mercy from you? You better be, you know, when they break your rules, when they do something wrong, can they just look at you and say, you deserve to give me grace, you have to give me grace, I deserve it. It's like, that's not how it works. As a parent, you get to decide when you're going to determine to give grace to one child, or mercy to another child, and oftentimes it's dependent upon what they do, isn't it? If a child seems really sorry for the actions, it seems like they actually learn from the experience, they actually are not going to try and make that same mistake, you might say, hey, I'll give you some mercy on this. When it seems like they didn't get it, when it seems like they're still going to keep making that mistake, then you want to come down on them with a hammer really hard. You want to come down like a ton of bricks on them and crush that rebellious spirit so as they won't keep making that mistake. The Bible's just telling us, hey, God gets to decide whom he's going to show mercy on and whom he's going to harden. So if physical Israel decides to reject the Messiah and decides not to believe in him, God has every right to decide, you know what, I'm just going to harden you guys then. And he has the same right to decide, you know what, these rebellious, wicked, God-hating heathen that are worshiping devils, I want to just have mercy on those guys. And doesn't God have the right to decide whom he's going to have mercy on, who's going to have grace on? He's the one in charge. You say, well, I think that's unfair because we're the ones that had the fathers, and we're the ones that had the tabernacle, and we're the ones that did the service of God, and we're the ones that everything, why are you showing mercy? It's kind of like the parable of the two sons, right, the prodigal son. And doesn't the older son get really mad that the dad decides to have a lot of grace and mercy on the younger son when he comes back? That's what it's trying to tell us here. It's trying to tell us here that, look, God ultimately gets to decide how much mercy, how much grace he's going to give unto people. You have another parable in the Bible where men go out and they work in the field, they're hired, okay? Some men work a lot less than others, and they all get paid the same rate. And it's saying, look, God can decide whatever the heck he wants to do with his money. He gets to decide whatever he's going to do with his grace, whatever his mercy. And if you study the Bible, you'll understand the people that get the most grace and the most mercy from God are the humble, are the lowly, are the righteous, are those that are doing good. But ultimately, God gets to decide who he's going to give mercy to, who he's going to harden, and it's according to what? His will, what he wants to be accomplished. That's why it says in verse number 17, for the scriptures say, then the Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. So with Pharaoh, he didn't get mercy, he got hardened. Why did he get hardened? Well, he kept rejecting the Lord, didn't he? He kept hating on the Lord and he despised the Lord, so God decided to harden him to such an extreme that he would never let the children of Israel go. What was the point of that? To show how wrathful God truly is. Because here's the thing, you can't picture hell on this earth. We don't know how bad it truly is, so God will often give us pictures of his wrath just so we have a concept of how mighty God truly is. I mean, the fact that he takes the firstborn is just an extreme consequence to the actions of Pharaoh to show how wrathful and how serious he truly is. Hell is a real place, my friend. And in Romans chapter 1, it tells us what his wrath is like. It's really bad. I don't want that kind of wrath, okay? He's a wrathful God. It says in verse 18, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will hardeneth? Thou wilt say then unto me, Why do thee yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Okay. Now, again, this is funny because this is a question from a gains, this is a question from somebody that doesn't even, like a troll, okay? This is not a question from God or Paul. This is Paul addressing a question from a troll. And literally, this is like the mantra of Calvinists. Calvinists are like, well, who can resist his will? And it's like, you're the troll in Romans chapter number 9. You're the guy bringing up the stupid question because they're basically saying, well, if God gets to just pick everything, then I guess that just means, you know, there's no free will because who's going to resist his will, huh? But then what's the response right after that? Nay. He's like, no, you're wrong. Stupid. Okay. But oh man, who art thou the repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel in honor and another in dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory and the vessels of mercy, which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Again, what is the context of Romans chapter nine? The nation of Israel, the physical nation, them being rejected and who's being received, the spiritual nation, the Gentiles are being received. He's writing to the Romans, my friend. Okay. And that's been the consistent context. That's what we have the pictures of Isaac and Esau and Jacob. So who's he really trying to talk about showing mercy on and hardening? He's talking about hardening the Jews and he's talking about having mercy on the Gentiles. That's the whole context. And they're saying like, well, this isn't fair. And you know, who can resist as well and whatever. But notice it says in verse 22, the vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction. What is fitted? Something that's fit is suitable, proper, appropriate. Meaning what? That he's not just taking things and destroying them because it sounds fun. He's taking things that should be destroyed and destroying those. He's saying things that are fitted. Look, the Bible talks about in second Peter, things that are made to be taken and destroyed. Now think about this. I'm going to go shooting out. I go shooting somewhere, right? I might take something with me like a target. And you know what the goal that target is? To be destroyed, to be shot at and destroyed. And you know, if I made it, if I fashioned it, the purpose and the goal was for that to be destroyed. Now, here's the thing that we have to understand though, is when God makes his creations, he does not make them to rebel against him. Okay. Go if you went to Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel 28. Now the Bible in Jeremiah chapter one says that God formed Jeremiah in his womb. He knew him. He was, he was ordained to be a prophet of the nations before he's ever born. Why, why is God saying that? Well, here's the thing. God has made every single person on purpose. Meaning what? Every single one of your physical attributes, who your parents are, everything about your speech, your eyes, everything about you was formed on purpose for what? God's glory. God has made every single person with a purpose, with a plan in mind. And some people, they get really upset about what God has given them. I wish I was taller. I wish I was smarter. I wish I was a little bit more handsome. I wish I had, you know, I wish I was more athletic. I wish I could sing better. I wish, whatever it is, people are constantly upset with whatever physical characteristics God has given them. You know, God made you on purpose. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. And you're made on, with a very specific thing in mind. And honestly, being made very beautiful is not all that it's cracked up to be. The Bible says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. You know, if I think about myself, if I had been a little bit taller and maybe a little bit better looking and a little bit faster and a little bit more athletic, maybe I would have, you know, and I could have been like the star quarterback in high school, right? You know what I know about myself? I'd probably be a very prideful, arrogant person. I probably would have chased a lot more vanity in my life. I probably would have gone after things that weren't that important. I mean, if I had, if I had the skill of one of these professional athletes, I don't think that I'm any different than them. I probably would choose to go down a very similar path. And so sometimes we think of, you know, oh, if I was more attractive and I had more of these things, it would just be so much of a better life, would it? Because the Bible says favor is deceitful and beauty is vain. You know, people that are very attractive and people that have a lot of just natural favor, a lot of that's lies. People treat them well and they don't even like them. They're lying to them. It's deceitful. And as soon as things change, they drop them like a bad habit. Think of celebrities. Celebrities are dropped in like a bad habit all the time. Why? Because they don't have any more need for them. They're just used like a whore. And having beauty and having these things is not all that it's cracked up to be. I bet Pharaoh was probably a pretty good looking guy. He's probably pretty strong. He's pretty smart, but you know what? It didn't work out for him. Because of his pride of his heart, because he rejected the Lord, God ended up destroying him. And even the devil himself is a glorious creation. Okay. Look at Ezekiel 28. Look at verse 12. Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and say in him, thus saith the Lord God, thou seals up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou has been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering. The sardius topaz and the diamond, the barrel, the onyx and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and the carbuncle, the gold, the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was repaired in thee and the day that thou was created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou has walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. That was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. God made the devil perfect. And in fact, he was a sum of beauty, but you know what? That was a downfall, wasn't it? He got lifted up with pride because of how beautiful he was. And he wanted to be like the most high and it brought him down. Now we have to understand about who the God of the Bible is, is God did not make the devil wanting him to be bad. He made the devil to serve him. He made the devil to be good, but the devil decided on his own to reject the Lord and to despise the Lord and went against what the Lord had created him to do. But God understanding who the devil is, he gave him a lot of the attributes he had on purpose to still serve his will. The beauty is given on purpose. And so because God has foreknowledge, of course, when he's creating certain, you know, people and things, he understands what they're going to do. So the attributes that he gives them are on purpose. He's giving them these attributes for a reason. And us that are saved is no different. He gave us. Why can we look at God and say, Hey, you know, does the potter not have power over the clay? He gets to decide what we look at, look like and what he's going to make us and fashion us to do. If I were to create a story, if I were to create something, you know, and I'm thinking about the characters based on what they're going to do, I'm going to give them certain attributes. I'm gonna give them certain features and certain characteristics to fulfill what the purpose of the storyline. Okay. Go, if you would, back to Romans chapter number nine, go back to Romans chapter nine. Why did they pick Jacob? Because he picked Jacob. That's what the Bible clearly says. Why you pick him? Because he knew Jacob. He knew that Jacob was of the promise. He knew that Jacob was the spiritual seed and he wanted to pick them. He didn't want to pick who? The physical seed that rejected him. He didn't want to pick them. That's why he foreordained that it's going to be Jacob. That's why he foreordained Isaac. That's why he foreordained every single person in the Bible. If we think about Abraham, I'm not going to have you turn there, but look at Genesis chapter 18. He says about Abraham specifically that he knows that Abraham is going to raise his children after the commandments of the Lord. Why did he pick Abraham? Because he knew that he would offer Isaac upon the altar. Why did he pick Abraham? Because he knew that he was faithful. Why did he pick Judas? Because he knew he'd betray him. Why is it that God picks people to do certain tasks? He knows what they're going to do. That's why he's picking them. Now obviously the characteristics and the things that he gives them is to what? Accomplish his will. Okay. It says in verse number 20. Okay. Let's look at verse 20 again. Nay, but oh man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath thou the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor? What, if God willing to show his wrath and make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared in the glory? Even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, as he saith also in OC, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not my beloved. And it shall come to pass them the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. So what is he saying? He's saying, well, he endured a lot of long suffering the vessels of wrath. How long did he suffer the physical nation of Israel? A long time. And just after constant rejection, after constant rejection, after constant rejection, he finally does what? They're fitted under destruction. And that nation is going to be destroyed. It's going to be wiped away. And what's going to be replaced with that is the spiritual nation of Israel, the true Christians, okay? He's saying that place where they weren't even a people, that's where they're going to be the children of God. That's where he's going to show his mercy. Verse number 27, Isaiah also can cry concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. So he's saying, look, I'm going to destroy Israel. How did Paul start out? I want them to be saved. But he already realized they're going to be destroyed, doesn't he? Only a remnant is going to end up being saved. Verse 28, for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because the short work will the Lord make upon the earth. Now, here's the thing. Did the apostle Paul know that the Jews were going to be rejected and destroyed? Absolutely. But did he stop trying to get them saved? No. It says in verse 29, and as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been a Sodomah and been made like unto Gomorrah. Now, the contrast between Israel's Sodomah and Gomorrah, or as we refer to in the Old Testament, Sodom and Gomorrah, is the fact that when Sodom and Gomorrah got wiped off, they ceased to exist as a nation. There's a lot of nations in the Bible that don't exist. Go find me a Hittite and a Jebusite and a Sodomite. Well, there are, though. They're the spiritual descendants of their fathers, okay? They're not from the physical line because they were destroyed, okay? So, they're still spiritual Sodomites out there. They're a bad spirit. They're a familiar spirit. But what it's basically saying is that Israel's not going to technically be completely wiped out. A small remnant of them are going to be saved. The physical Israel's going to be saved. The apostle Paul was a Benjamite, okay? He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. So, there is Peter, Paul, John. I mean, disciples, they're obviously saved. There was a lot of Jews saved in Acts chapter number two. But it was a remnant considering how many were there. And they're going to come into a new nation. It says in verse 30, what shall we say then? And this is basically Calvinist. They read this chapter, and then they just stopped at verse 30. And you could kind of see how this is what they try to turn this chapter into. They say, well, since God knows the beginning from the end, He made us a certain way, then ultimately we have no free will. He's deciding everything for us. You know, that's their conclusion for this chapter. Even though it has nothing to do with any of that. We're talking about nations. We're talking about Israel being replaced with the spiritual Israel, okay? But what is the conclusion? What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained a righteousness. Even the righteousness, which is a faith, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, have not attained to the law of righteousness. So what's the conclusion? The Gentiles got saved, and physical Israel got rejected, okay? Now again, what's the Calvinist viewpoint towards this? Well, that's just because that's what God wanted. God just ultimately decreed that this was what's going to happen, and we have no free will. Because what's the five points of Calvinism? Tulip, number one point, total depravity, which all other arguments hinge upon. Point number one, total depravity defined by a Calvinist means no free will. It means you have no ability on your own in order to believe in Jesus to even be saved. They think that God just magically gives you the faith, and sometimes they'll reward it. You're generated before you even believe. You become born again before you believe. It's like, what in the world? It gets into weird heresy, and it's not right. It's not what the Bible teaches at all, okay? So here's the question. What was the conclusion? The conclusion was Gentiles got saved, and physical Israel got rejected, okay? And God was long suffering with what? The vessels of dishonor, and he has mercy on the vessels that he's going to give honor unto, okay? Why? Isn't that a good question? Because this is where the Calvinists just really need to learn what the Bible says. Verse 32, okay? Why? Just because God wanted to, right? That's what they wanted to say. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone, as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. So why is it that some people go to heaven and some people go to hell? It's because the ones that believe go to heaven, and the ones that didn't seek it by faith go to hell. Why did God do all these things? Faith. It's all about faith. God looked into the future. I don't know how it works because he's outside of time. Maybe he doesn't have to do anything. He just sees it all. He just knows it all. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, is what he says. I am the first and the last, okay? Obviously, everything's going to be accomplished to his will, but what is the will of God? That all men shall come to the knowledge of the truth. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all men should come into the truth, right? He wants everyone to be saved. He loved the whole world is what the Bible says. He tasted death for every man. He wants everyone to be saved, but he wanted those to be saved that would choose him. He wanted those that were going to be saved by faith. That was what his will was. His will was to make a creation and to give them the choice to believe in him by faith or to reject him. Knowing that information, knowing who's going to believe in him and not believe in him, caused him to create some vessels under what? Dishonor and some vessels under honor, didn't he? He gave us a lot of different attributes. He gave Pharaoh certain attributes. Why? Because he's going to be a vessel under dishonor. He gave Judah certain attributes because he's going to be a vessel under dishonor. He gave Abraham certain attributes. He's going to be a vessel under honor. And so we ought not question the attributes and the things that God gave us. Isn't that what it told us very clearly? Should we question the Potter over the clay? No, he has that choice. Should we question whom he has mercy and who he has, you know, these things on? No. But we see the nature of God was what? He wanted to save those that believed. And what's the next chapter? Oh yeah, it's called Romans chapter 10, which is all about what? Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and being saved. I never hear Calvinist touch Romans chapter 10 ever. They don't care about that chapter. They just want to twist nine out of context. They don't realize what is chapter nine? Physical Israel is rejected because they didn't seek it by faith. What's chapter 10 all about? How you need to seek it by faith. How you need to believe on him and get saved. Hey, it said the word was 90 even in my mouth. They could quote the Bible. They could quote the promises given to Isaac. They didn't believe him. And then what's chapter number 11? It's saying, well, did, did they all get rejected? No, there was a remnant. There was a remnant of Israel that full context of Romans chapter number nine, 10 and 11, the replacement of physical Israel with the spiritual Israel. Why? Because the physical Israel didn't have faith because they didn't believe in him. Now what's a few, I want to have a couple of quick takeaways. Number one takeaway that we can have from this is Calvinism is false, right? Number two, replacement theology is going to help us understand the Bible, isn't it? I mean, without it, you can't even understand it. That's why I'm going to preach a different sermon, but it's the same concepts here. We're going to talk about Esau and Jacob. The title of my sermon on Sunday is going to be Jacob supplanted. Okay. Esau. Now, if you look up the word supplant in the dictionary, you know what it says? To supersede and replace. Now, if you know anything about fancy theological terms, replacement, you have replacement theology, and then you have supersessionism. And you know what those means? It means that the physical Israel was replaced by spiritual Israel. Why? Because Jacob replaced Esau in a lot of ways. And there's a lot of great doctrine that we can learn from that, but it's important for us to understand that God created you to be a vessel and honor. Go to Ephesians chapter two. That's the last question on your return. It's maybe a little bit longer sermon, but I think it's great to fully understand this chapter. And when we start getting into some of the details of God ultimately deciding things according to his will, you can kind of see how, you know, the Calvinist kind of starts formulating some bad thoughts there. Okay. Okay. But then when we conclude the chapter, it's real clear, wait a minute, why did this happen? It was because of faith. And that's what they ultimately reject. They ultimately reject the fact that we have a condition to our salvation and that is our faith. And that's how God always, it makes way more sense. Why would God want a bunch of, you know, slaves to worship him? He doesn't. He wants people to accept the gift of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we get saved. Ephesians two, eight, nine, for by grace are you saved, notice this, through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It says in verse 10 though, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them before you and I were ever born before our parents were born before the world existed. God ordained you specifically to do a lot of good works, but notice the phrasing there that we should walk in them. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't walk in the good works that God has ordained them to do. And that's the sad reality that, you know, God is a God of hypotheticals. If you read the Bible, it's very clear. He has all kinds of hypotheticals. Hey, have you done this? I would have done this. And hey, if you know, the miracles were done inside and you know, all these places, they would have repented. He constantly is bringing up scenarios of how what you decide is going to make an impact in the future. If you decide to pray tonight, that's going to make a change in the world. If you decide to read your Bible, that's going to make a change in the world. If you come to church, that's going to make a change in the world. When you preach the truth, it's going to make a change in this world. Never look at your life as meaningless. God created you on purpose, exactly how you are to what? To walk in his good works ordained before the foundation of the world. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for giving us the great opportunity to be saved by faith. Thank you for you doing all the work and that we just get to receive the free gift of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to not only be saved, but also to serve you, to be the spiritual Israel today. I pray that we would continue the service of God to the best of our abilities and that whatever good works you've already ordained for us, that we would have the faith to walk in those good works. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's go to our last song for the evening. Psalm 6.