When you come to Romans 9 and study here is what you need to

remember:
 Don’t abandon good Biblical hermeneutics in light of traditions
or how you feel about these things.
 These are deep things of God (How God saves man)
 These are hard things to grasp quickly therefore you have my
permission to wrestle with them as long as you need
 These are what causes one theological model to blow up and
another one to be built up
 Allow this doctrine to properly humble you before God
 The result of understanding should make us the most grace based
people on the face of the earth
The doctrine of election

Election is an act of God before creation in which He chooses

some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in
them, but only because of His sovereign good pleasure.
Scriptural Support for this definition:
 Matthew 11:25-27
 Matthew 13:10-17 also (Mark 4:10-13)
 John 6:37-40, 44, 65
 John 15:16
 John 5:20-21
 John 17:1-2, 6, 9, 24
 John 10:14-16, 24-30
 Acts 13:44-48
 Acts 18:9-11
 Romans 8:29-30
 Ephesians 1:3-6
 1 Peter 1:1-2
 1 Timothy 2:9
 Revelation 13:8
 Revelation 17:8
 Romans Chapters 9-11
Context for the argument in Romans 9:1-6

The Jews are saying as silent objectors;

“Hey Paul if we are the people of the covenant and come from the
seed of Abraham and we built the very temple of God then why is it
Paul that most of us don't believe your message and even more
bizarre how come the Gentiles who aren't his people, how come
they are come to Christ in large numbers.”

There is a basic argument that the apostle Paul is presenting in the

first 13 verses of Romans. Here is the apostle Paul's argument
“the word of God stands, it does not fail, because in God's sovereign
grace He has chosen to elect some and not others.”
 Romans 9:6-8
Elect
True Israel Non-Elect
True Children
Ethnic Israel
Children of promise
Abraham’ children
Children of flesh

Elect
Romans 9:9-12

The argument then moves to Abraham and Sarah

 Abraham had a child of the flesh which was Ishmael
 Abraham then had child of the promise which was Isaac

Then Paul strengthens the argument by using Isaac and Rebekah

 Twins were in the womb of Rebekah but before they were born
or done anything good or bad God elects Jacob and not Esau
Romans 9:9-12
What should capture your attention in verse 13 is not that God hated
Esau but that God could ever love someone like Jacob.
We are talking about the thrice holy God as described by Isaiah.
Who could wipe out mankind with his wrath and justice and no one
would be able to say a word.

Today we are so infected with a man centered theology that says in

essence that God is lucky to have us.

If you are experiencing the grace of God in your life it is because

before you were born God set His love upon you.

How many times did God have to say to Israel I didn't choose you
because you were large, and smart and powerful but I chose you
because I loved you. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
And now Paul knows that the objections are getting ready to come.

So look at verses 14 and 19.

When you have fellow Christians that argue against this doctrine
then you see that they are just like those who are arguing against
the apostle Paul.

If you are having the same objections that Paul is arguing against it
may be an indicator that you are on the wrong side of the argument.
Romans 9:14

Just when you have Paul declare the election of one over another then
you hear the objection “God is not just to do it this way" Everyone
deserves the same chance? Really…why?

 That kind of thinking calls into question the right of God to say
that all have sinned and deserve death.
 That calls into question the flood where God destroyed all but
Noah and his family.

Think about the 3 possible choices concerning eternity:

1. God can save no one and that would be His justice
2. God can save everyone and that would be His grace
3. God can save some and that is both His grace and justice being
displayed
In which of those choices do we most see His attributes in full
- God's justice
- God's wrath against sin
- God's mercy
- God's love
- God's grace

If God were to save everyone then we would not see His justice
(universal salvation)

If God were to condemn everyone then we would not see His grace
(universal condemnation)

So if God saves underserving sinners then we can see both.

(the doctrine of election)
Romans 9:15

And this is a cross reference from Exodus 33:18 which is God

telling Moses that He can demonstrate His glory without limitations.

In other words no thing or no man can put any restriction on God

and the way God chooses to do something.

My old way of thinking:

God is as sovereign in my life as I allow Him to be
That may play well in many churches and in the mind of Christians
but that is totally against what the Scriptures say.

And if you want the proper interpretation to verse 15 all you need do
is read the very next verse. Paul gives you what he means by what
he just wrote.
Romans 16: literal rendering
So, it is not of the one willing, or of the one striving or running,
BUT (contrast) the mercying God.
The central assertion of man centered religions is simply this:
Man's will is not enslaved by or to sin.
What holds together the religions of man are those that teach the
autonomy of the human will

The NT talks about the inability of man and the slavery of man to
sin and yet we take Biblical revelation and reverse it.

Illustration:
When you look closely at the lives of two men:
 One is a believer
 One is an unbeliever
If you examine them as to why one believes and the other doesn't
then you are looking in the wrong place.
Romans 17
What does this mean? Well, Pharaoh died in the Red Sea as God
poured the waters over him and his army.

Illustration:
Sovereignty of God examples:
Pharaoh and his army chasing after Moses and the people even after
all the plagues and they had gone.

The people of Egypt showing favor toward the Israelites to let them
be plundered.
How can you explain that from a logical perspective?
Think about Pharaoh for a minute. Even before Moses shows up
before Pharaoh God tells Moses that He was going to harden his
heart.

And if you look back at each event regarding the plagues you can see
that if Pharaoh had any common sense he would have told the people
of Israel to leave.

But God was hardening the heart (sovereignty) and Pharaoh was
hardening his heart (human responsibility) so that God's greater
purpose could be seen and known.

And that greater purpose was to demonstrate through the death of

Pharaoh and his army the demonstration of God's glory.
Think if you had been Pharaoh. There have been 10 significant
plagues and it ends with the death of my own first born. I am not
going to pursue these people because I can see that I can't win.

Did you know that each one of the plagues was purposeful to
demonstrate God's power over that particular Egyptian god?

What was the last thing that God did in this part of the story?
- The death of all the first borns
- What was established from this? Answer - Passover

This was to become the greatest word picture in the OT that would
point the people of God toward the cross.
(Side note)
Rahab declares that they heard of the God by the demonstration of
His power:
Josh. 2:8 ¶ Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the
roof,
Josh. 2:9 and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you
the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the
inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.
Josh. 2:10 “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of
the
Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did
to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to
Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

Josh. 2:11 “When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage
remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your
God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
God organizes within His sovereign plan a hardening of Pharaoh's
heart and then finally brings judgment and execution on him at the
Red Sea.

And someone cries out that it is not fair!

If God strikes Pharaoh dead as He did Herod in Acts 17 no one would
say anything because Pharaoh is a sinner.

God destroys Pharaoh for the purpose of His glory!

So check your head and your heart right now even as this text is being
unfolded and revealed.

We push back so hard because we say God does not have the right to
do this. We are so filled with our man centered thinking that we can
not accept the plain teaching of God's own word. Or we don't teach
these
God has the absolute sovereign right to do over His creation anything
that He pleases. Isn't that what it means for God to be sovereign?
Then why are we always coming along to try and condition that
sovereignty in order to make it more appealing to us.

For example: God is as sovereign as man allows Him to be.

Verses 16 and 18 provide the commentary for verses 15 and 17

In verse 18 it says:
As a restatement and reemphasis He mercies whom He wills and He
hardens whom He wills
And here we go in verse 19 with the next big objection that always
come about in some way, shape or form when God's sovereignty in
election is taught.

Genesis 20 in which God keeps Abimelech from sinning.

Unfortunately for many today in the church they haven't read nor
studied from the OT and therefore the very foundation of election is
not present in their theology.

God takes kings that He sends against Israel by the principle of

hardening their hearts in order that they could be destroyed.

Read Psalm 33 - God's purpose is never frustrated

The conclusion of verse 19 to many today are where we are facing a
great mystery.
But yet again if we will simply follow the flow of the argument from
the apostle Paul we can learn much.

Verse 20
Look at the point he is making in verse 20.
What is Paul's answer to the election of God? (context)
It is not one that we like.
James 4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like
tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and
then vanishes away.

God does judge and find fault in Pharaoh just like He did Joseph's
older brothers. What they did in deceiving their father and to their
brother was heartless, cruel and evil. But after daddy dies the
brothers come before Joseph. And the only conclusion that the
brothers can come up with as to why Joseph has not buried them in
the sands of Egypt is because daddy was still alive. But now that he
is dead, now Joseph is going to exact proper revenge for what they
did to him.
Genesis 50:20 - the response of Joseph says "you indeed meant this
for evil but God meant it for good."
Isaiah 10:12-15 - The people of Assyria are destroying the people of
God and then God punishes them because of their attitude of the
heart. They did it for evil and yet God does it for good.
Acts 4:27 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against
Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
Acts 4:28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to
occur.

Everyone of these people had different motivations from a heart that

was evil when it came to sending Jesus to the cross.
And if you struggle and don't understand the why then all you need to
is look at God's theme throughout the entire Bible and it will give you
the answer.

God does it this way because it glorifies the greatness of His name!

The cross of Christ is primarily about the glory of God.

Romans 9:20
The apostle Paul explains what he means as he talks about man
talking back to God.

Pots, Pans and Dishes do not say to the one who makes them "why
did you make me like this?"
The potter has the supreme right to form that pot, or that dish, or that
pan in anyway that he wants and this is the place that man screams
NONO-NO!!!

Verse 21 - Illustration: the potter takes a lump of clay and forms a

waste can or a bed pan. And then from another lump of clay he
forms a vase.
Verse 22 - Paul continues to explain and show us that God is giving
to us all His attributes not just part of them. And if you want to keep
this in context what vessel did he just tell us about that he used to
demonstrate His wrath.
The answer is Pharaoh.

If you look at the cross and all you see is the love of God then you
are not seeing all of the cross. This text does not talk about the love
of God but rather the wrath of God.
For many years Pharaoh walked in his idolatry and hate for God.
And God endured that for a greater purpose.

Verse 23 - vessels of mercy for His glory

God is making known the entirety of His nature through His wrath
on vessels of destruction and through His mercy on vessels of
mercy.
The greatest pride destroying realization we can grasp from
Scripture is that we will stand before God based on His grace.