It's been about a year and a half since we studied 1 Samuel 15. So when I mention that chapter, you'd certainly be forgiven if you don't immediately recall what it's about. In short, it's the account of God sending Saul, who was the king, to destroy the Amalekites, all of them, male, female, the youngest to the oldest, all of them. even their livestock. And it's one of those chapters in the Bible, one of those passages that causes a lot of consternation, even for Christians. And it provides plenty of fodder to raise the ire of unbelievers, who inevitably say something like this, if that's what God's like, if that's the morality of your God, I can't worship Him. And when believers hear that kind of objection, we should be thoughtful and careful in addressing them. We should be tender toward people who have especially tender hearts. But here's what we can't do. We can't say, well, I see your point, and then go off on a tangent trying to explain to an unbeliever that God isn't really that bad. And if you'll just look more closely at him, Mr. Unbeliever, I think you'll find that God can possibly live up to your high moral expectations. Again, we do need to be able to answer those objections. But it can't be by allowing the fallen, finite, morally corrupt creature to think he can stand in judgment over the eternal and infinite and holy God. Uh-uh. Because the reason a person says, I can't worship that God, I can't worship that kind of God, has almost nothing to do with what God did to the Amalekites. It's that they love their sin. And their sin is their worship offering to the God of self. And they have no intention of giving up their worship to self-God to worship the God of the Bible. It's sad. It's eternally disastrous for them. But biblically, it's frustratingly simple. But what do you make of a professing believer who takes a similar tack, only not in regard to something like the Amalekites, but in regard to the doctrines of God's sovereignty and salvation. That's an important question, because with the rise and interest of Calvinism over the past 15 years or so, there's also been a rise in militant Arminianism. They want to assert man has a free will to choose God. He must have the moral ability to decide to believe the gospel. He must, he must, he must. And while I wholeheartedly disagree with that, what's more troubling are pronouncements that are being made that sound something like this. If the God of Calvinism is true, and I can't worship that God. Roger Olson is a popular conference speaker, a seminary professor, and a militant Arminian. About eight or nine years ago he wrote a book entitled Against Calvinism, this is the title, Against Calvinism, Rescuing God's Reputation from Radical Reform Theology. In his book he writes, listen to this, If it were revealed to me in a way that I can no doubt doubt that God is as Calvinism claims, I would not worship him. And then he goes on to say, I lose no sleep over it. And just so you know, he's written countless blogs over the last ten years to make it crystal clear that is exactly what he means. Here's the thing, if someone says to you, I disagree with you, in the way you interpret the Bible. That's one thing. If they say, if you reveal to me there are truths about God that I find uncomfortable, therefore I want nothing to do with that God, that's a whole different animal. How would you respond to that person? What would you say to them? At some point I'd probably say, who do you think you are, you puny little man? Who do you think you are? talking back to your creator like that. If that's how he's revealed himself, deal with it! Now you might be thinking, well Pastor Bird, that sounds a little harsh. But I actually have it on good authority, really good authority, that that's just how the Apostle Paul would respond. So let's seek the Lord's face in prayer, and then we'll get to work. Father, We gather before Your throne of majesty and acknowledge that You are our Creator. You're infinite. We can only know You as You've revealed Yourself to us. Help us submit to that. You, O God, create all things good and work evil. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around the prophet Isaiah when he writes those things. But we must bow before your majesty. And so we pray for your spirit to give us that measure of humility that enables us to say you are God. And we're not. Now teach us, O God. Teach us powerful, important truths from your word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please open up your copy of God's Word to Romans 9. We're going to read verse 6. Romans 9, verse 6. And then we're going to jump down and read verses 14 through 21. Verse six, this is God's true word. But it's not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they're not all Israel who are of Israel. Verse 14. What should we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that my name may be declared in all the earth. Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. You'll say to me then, why does he still find fault for whose resisted his will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will a thing formed say to him who formed it, why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? That's where we're going to end this morning, and may the Lord bless the proclamation of His Word. Dearest congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 9 is stunningly clear in regard to God's sovereignty and salvation. One of the drums I keep beating is that The problem that exists for those who want to emphasize man's free will and man's ability to initiate a saving choice of God is that these verses in Romans 9 are stunningly clear. And we don't want to miss that Paul's grounding his own divinely inspired word in the divinely inspired word of the Old Testament. That's why we keep getting these phrases, this is the word of promise, or as it's written, or as the Lord says to Moses, what the scripture says to Pharaoh. Next week, we'll see how Paul quotes extensively from Hosea and Isaiah and the Psalms. You see, the apostle knows what he's teaching. Stripes is something that's a hard pill to swallow. Man is simply not the autonomous creature he likes to think he is. He's been alluding to this throughout the epistle. It really isn't something that just sprung up in chapter 9. If you go back to the first chapter, Paul said those who suppress the truth, unrighteousness, and unrighteousness will eventually be given over to a depraved mind. And in that state, Paul goes on to tell us in Romans 3, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none who understands. There's none who seeks after God. Paul's putting up a neon light. Fallen man has a numbness about his sinful nature in regard to God. They don't have the innate power to overcome that sinful nature. In Romans 5 we're told that sin reigns. and the unbeliever. In Romans 6 we're told that sin has dominion in the life of an unbeliever. In Romans 6 we're told that sin enslaves the unbeliever. In Romans 7 we're told fallen man is inseparably married to sin. In Romans 8 we're told the carnal mind is by necessity at enmity with God. You see, if you've been following along with Paul's logic, then Romans 9 fits in and makes perfect sense. If God didn't sovereignly dispense mercy to us, if He didn't radically change our natures, there would be no salvation. Period. Salvation has to be grounded in God's sovereign will to save, not our willingness to be saved. That's where we left off on our last Lord's Day. Verses 16 and 17. So then, it's not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh for this very purpose, I've raised you up, that I may show my power in you. that my name may be declared in all the earth. Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills and whom he wills he pardons. Now don't miss this. One of Paul's arguments about the impact of sin up to this point in Romans 9 is that it enslaves. It keeps you in bondage. That sin has shackles on the human heart that no man has power to break. And so to explain the power of God in salvation, the apostle takes us back to the Exodus account. historical example of God freeing those in bondage and destroying the shackles of those who were enslaved. It's an important picture for us. Israel in Egypt had no power to save themselves. Paul's using that to remind us that man's will is in and of itself in an unbreakable bondage to sin. Let me just insert something here. Well, if you can remember our study in Exodus, one of the things that you learn is that the Israelites were incessant complainers. But you know what they never said? God was unfair in the way he treated Pharaoh. He didn't give Pharaoh a fair shake. Said no Israelite ever. And yet when people cry foul at the doctrines of grace, that God has to sovereignly save, what they're basically saying is, God did not give my fallen nature a fair shake. If God didn't do something miraculous in your life, you'd still be in spiritual Egypt. That's the imagery. And the apostle points us back to Egypt and to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart and the reason God did what he did. Well, let's unpack this. First off, if you go back and read from Exodus 4 to Exodus 14, you'd find there are a total of 13 references to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Ten of those, to include the very first time it's mentioned, is God hardening Pharaoh's heart, and three times, His feral hardening isn't hard. I mention that because we can't simply say God allowed Pharaoh to sin and leave it at that. It's more than that. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I've raised you up. In other words, what God was doing in and through Pharaoh, He intended to happen. planned it to happen that way. And to accomplish the great redemption of Israel out of the land of bondage, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now, as we've been working through Romans 9, I've defined a few important theological terms and ideas that flow from this text. One of those is the doctrine of double predestination. That is, there's two sides to God's eternal decree. He decrees to save the elect, and he decrees not to save the reprobate. Both of those flow from God's sovereign will. But there's another doctrine that we need to address, and it's the doctrine equal ultimacy. The doctrine of equal ultimacy. Here's what we're getting at. Does God have the same level of intentionality in saving the elect as he does in condemning the reprobate? And it's that purpose, that determination. Symmetrical. Or said a bit differently, does God's power to save run perfectly parallel to his power to reprobate. Those who say God's intentionality to save and reprobate are exactly the same who believe in the doctrine of equal ultimacy. That's a view held by hyper-Calvinists and other denominations that have affinity to hyper-Calvinists like the Protestant Reformed Church. And that's not some kind of criticism. They would say, yeah, we do. But I don't believe, let me rephrase it, I'm convinced, it's not the orthodox reform view, it isn't what's taught in the Westminster standards or the canons of Dort. As I said, the historic reform view is that both election and reprobation both flow from God's sovereign decree, but there isn't symmetry in the way God exercises those decrees. Now, I want to try to make this a little clearer than mud, so I want to pick up on illustration that I used last week. We read from Ephesians 2, if you can remember from last week, and it describes two completely different realities. There's a reality of those who are dead. dead in their trespasses and sin. And there's the reality of those who are made alive together with Christ Jesus. In the first reality, there are those who are by nature children of wrath. And in the other reality, there are those who are the children of God raised up with Christ. And God's got to perform a miracle of regeneration to translate us from one reality to the next. And I used the illustration of a closet to help us address the charge last week that's sometimes leveled at Calvinists, that we believe people don't make choices, that people are a little more than robots or automatons. And I want to use this illustration to also help us understand the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and it makes sense of this doctrine of equal ultimacy. So bear with me, some of this is a repeat. Every one of us got up this morning and went to our closet to make choices about what we would wear to church. You probably had all kinds of choices in your closet to choose from. So you picked the pants you want, the shirt you want, the socks you want, the shoes you wanted to wear to church, and here you are wearing them. You made choices. But all these choices were necessarily made in your closet. And your choices were limited to your closet. You couldn't choose clothes from a different closet in a different house. That's your reality. When God converts us, He makes us spiritually alive, and we're put in a brand new closet. In this new closet, we can make all sorts of new choices. In the old closet, you could only choose to not believe, you could choose to be unrighteous, you could choose to run further and faster and further from God. In the new closet, you can choose faith, you can choose righteousness, can choose to draw nearer and nearer and nearer to God. We can definitely make choices, but they're limited to our reality. Now let me apply this to Pharaoh and this whole matter of equal ultimacy. People are all born in the same closet. It's a closet of unbelief. That's the closet Pharaoh was born into, just like all of humanity after Adam. But before the foundation of the world, God determined he would move some from the closet of unbelief to the closet of belief. Now stick with me. God had to miraculously translate us from the closet of unbelief to the closet of faith. In both instances, looking at both closets, it's God's eternal decree. But he does not work in the same way in leaving some in the closet of unbelief as he does in moving others to the closet of belief. The two actions in history are not equally ultimate. God has to do something to show mercy. He doesn't have to do anything to pass you by. and lead you to justice. I do hope you're tracking with me and sort of keeping up with this illustration because now I want to take it even a step further. The fact that God leaves some in a particular closet or places others in a different closet. In other words, the fact that He leaves some in unbelief and brings others to belief, doesn't mean he doesn't still work. For example, in the new closet, as a believer, we make choices, to be sure, but that doesn't mean God stops working sovereignly. In that new closet, he works to strengthen the new man, to grow our faith. He's working in that new closet. And in the other closet, God can still work as well. He can harden if he so pleases, just as he does in the case The point is, God doesn't force Pharaoh into that closet. He simply confirms and reinforces and influences and exasperates Pharaoh to live out his unbelief. Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills, he hardens. Now one of the questions that might come to mind is, you sort of contemplate this, and this is a legitimate question, is why does God work salvation in this way? It's a legitimate question, because Paul answers it. For this very purpose I raise you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth. God saves the way he does. God did what he did to Pharaoh and Egypt to put his power and glory and majesty on display and to magnify the renown and wonder of his name. Remember the ten plagues? God was showing his supremacy over Egypt's false gods, and Pharaoh was godlike to the Egyptians, and so the true and living God crushed him, and crushed him in a spectacular way. And God did this to put his power and glory on display for the whole world to see. And here's the thing, it was not only a powerful display of God's majesty in judgment, it was profoundly evangelistic. We know that, right? Because some 40 years after God destroyed Pharaoh in Egypt, the Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land, and Joshua sent two spies to Jericho, and the spies there encountered Rahab. And this harlot Rahab hid these two men and then said to them, we've heard what Yahweh did to Egypt, and I know that he's God. In other words, the power and majesty and supremacy of God in judgment were instrumental in bringing Rahab the harlot to faith, and it's a noteworthy faith, because she's not only mentioned in the earthly lineage of Jesus, she's recounted in Hebrews 11 as having a faith worth emulating. By faith, Rahab saw the majesty and power of God to judge, and she knew that God had the power and grace to save, and she believed. I can't help but think if contemporary Armenian evangelicals had sent spies into Jordan before Rahab would have been able to say a thing, they would have felt the need to rescue God's reputation. God was a gentleman. He didn't want to force Pharaoh to do something he didn't really want to do. Pharaoh had free will. That's why this whole sad mess unfolded. No. No. God heard this heart, and recognized that, and it brought her to a saving relationship with God. And by the way, those who use that language, God would not violate a person's free will because he's a gentleman. They don't believe it. They do not believe it. They can say it, they can confess it, but they don't believe it. You know how I know? I prayed with them. Nobody has ever prayed, oh God in heaven, I want Aunt Gertrude to be saved. Do anything, just don't violate her will. They never prayed that way. What did they say? Change her heart, break her will, do whatever you gotta do to save her. They don't believe it when they're on their knees. They believe in God's sovereignty. The apostles decimated that kind of thinking. that exalts man's will. But he's still got to deal with another objection. Look at verses 19 and 20. You'll say to me then, why does he still find fault for who's resisted his will? But indeed, old man, who are you to reply against God? Well, the thing formed. Say to him who formed it, why have you made me like this? And you read this and it becomes clear. Paul has taken off the kid gloves. And it's important for us to sort of step back and understand there's a transition in the way Paul's making his argument. If you glance back at verse 6, his first correction was really just gentle. And it was somewhat theological. It's not as though the word of God is taken into effect, for they're not all Israel who are Israel. In other words, he understands that God's people would have legitimate questions about the sovereignty of God, having emphasized at the end of chapter 8 that a genuine believer cannot be separated from God's love. It's not wrong to ask the question, what about Israel? That is not a bad question. And this is helpful because it gives us some parameters in dealing with the objections that we sometimes face to the gospel, the kinds of questions that believers can honestly have. Something I've said many times, when believers get converted, they don't immediately have the Westminster Shorter Catechism or the Heidelberg Catechism imprinted in their mind, and it doesn't happen. They actually have questions, and we should be patient and thoughtful in our answers. It's absolutely true. The old Puritan who said, you know, every single person who comes to faith walks under the gate that has a big banner over it that says, whosoever will. And then we walk through the gate and we look back and it says, chosen before the foundation of the world. We walk through that gate. We all walk through that gate. But then we learn about God and we submit to who He is and His sovereignty. So there's a place to be really patient and long-suffering with people. You can tell he's starting to get a little firmer in his response. In verse 14 he says, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness in God's servant God? Now notice the pronoun there in verse 14. What shall we say? He's saying, you know, I could have had that same question myself. He's acknowledging this is the kind of question that could emerge from Christians. He just wants to emphasize. Ask the question, but don't think you get to impugn God's justice. And then when he gets to verse 19, he has a whole different tone. And he uses a different pronoun. Look at that, you will say to me, now here, it's no longer we, it's you, and that's actually singular. It's as if Paul's pointing his apostolic finger at a person saying, you will say to me? Why does he still find fault for who's resisted his will? Merendito man, who are you to reply against God? You see, there's a point when you're sharing the gospel, when you're having theological conversations, when a person's no longer asking questions because they want to understand, they're asking questions because they don't like the answer. In short, they're saying, God's not enough like me to be comfortable. And so Paul unleashes on her, right? Will the thing formed Who formed it? Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay? From the same love to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? And here the Apostle is drawing from a number of references in the Old Testament. Isaiah 29, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 64, and Jeremiah 18. And Paul is saying this. as a gospel minister who wants people to understand the Word of God. You don't get to redefine God based on your human ideas. You have to accept God for how He reveals Himself. He's the Creator. You're not. He's the Potter. You're the clay. He's infinite. You're finite. He's holy. You're sinful. He's all powerful. You're impotent. Who are you to talk back to God? I was listening to Sinclair Ferguson a few weeks ago, and he made a really helpful comment. He said, The Apostle Paul had something desperately needed in our day, a gospel spine, a gospel backbone. He actually believed what the Bible says about God, and he expected God's people to believe what the Bible says about God. Well, I'm gonna wrap up with a wonderful quote from James Boyce, he writes, if what you've heard has made sense to you, if you know that God does not owe you anything, that you've actually spurned what good he's shown you, and you actually deserve from him his judgment, then this is your comfort. God's already using his word, to bring about the needed transformation of your heart. Now instead of trying to tell Him what He does is unjust, just wisely and rationally seek His mercy through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Where alone it may be found. That's where it brings us. If you've heard this, and you recognize that God is God and you're not, that He's holy and you're not. If you see these things, that's evidence that God's working. Seek His mercy through faith in Jesus Christ or alone it may be found. And here's the application. As God said to the prophet Hosea, I will call them my people. who were not My people, and her beloved who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, that they shall be called the sons of the living God." This God who works sovereignly has made this declaration to us. We were those who were not His people. And by sovereign mercy, dear ones, now we are his people. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And we pray that you give us humble hearts and a tender resolve to know it, to believe it, to receive it, to accept it. To not try to filter the word through our human categories, but by the power of the Spirit, to simply be amazed and in awe at your power and the wonder of your name. Grant us these things for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, as we prepare to come to the Lord's table this morning, Sorry, I didn't mean to chuckle, but I was thinking about going down to the table, and I looked over, and it occurs to me, I don't know if you notice the stairs are not where they usually are. They're usually there, and I was just thinking, wouldn't it be terrible if I walked over there and just fell? Then, in my mind, it occurred to me immediately that that would be God sovereignly working. So, but I've made note. He sovereignly enabled me to see that. As we prepare to come to the Lord's table, brothers and sisters, it's a table for those who have cast themselves on the mercy of God, who are trusting wholly in God's salvation as it's offered in the person and work. of the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's your hope, if that's what you're trusting in, this is a gospel celebration and a gospel meal intended for you. And as we prepare to come to it, as you know, dear ones, we usually confess what we believe using one of the great historic creeds. This morning we're back to the Apostles Creed. You can find that on page 851. 851. Christian, what do you believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Let me ask you to give your attention to the reading from Ephesians 1, verse 7. And I have a meditation from Thomas Doolittle. He was not a Westminster divine, he was only a teenager when they met, but he was one generation after them and is a very prominent Puritan. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1 verse 7, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Dr. Doolittle, I almost chuckle when I say that, Dr. Doolittle sought to work out the implications of Christ's blood in a celebration of the Lord's Supper. You can follow along in your bulletin as I read this. A believer should eye the blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper in manifold ways to best know and experience the wonderful grace as it communicates. Eye the blood of Christ in the sacrament as it is precious blood 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19 says, We were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. The dignity and excellency of Christ's person make it so exceedingly precious, being the blood of that person who was God as well as man. I the blood of Christ in this sacrament as its satisfying blood. The law of God was transgressed. The covenant of works was violated by us. The justice of God was wronged. And the sinner was indebted unto justice. I Christ's blood as the payment of our debt as shed for our good and in our stead. I the blood of Christ in this sacrament is justifying blood. It's that which makes you righteous in the sight of God, though you have no righteousness of your own. I the blood of Christ in this sacrament is pardoning blood. It's that by which you have the full, free, and everlasting pardon of all your sins. Through this blood of Christ we have redemption. That it's the forgiveness of sins. I, the blood of Christ, in this sacrament, as heart-purifying blood. Revelation 1 and 5 says, Who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. It was not only holy blood, but it was sanctifying blood. I, the blood of Christ, in this sacrament, as sin-mortifying blood. It saves your soul because it kills your sin. This blood will kill your pride, mortify your earthly mindedness, and subdue all your inordinate affections. Romans 6, 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. I, the blood of Christ, and the sacrament as quickening blood. It lays your sins sprawling within you and dying in your hearts, but it will give life unto your heart. John 6, 53, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. The blood of Christ is the life of all your graces. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you've given us this sign and seal of your glorious covenant of grace, a covenant you made with the Lord Jesus before the foundation of the world. a covenant to redeem a particular people, a covenant that would be ratified and effectuated by the shedding of the Lamb of God's own blood. And we pray, O God, as we come to this table and we take this cup and we eat this bread, we would be mindful of what you gave for us. And what we have is men and women who rest in Christ. Oh God, work. Work powerfully for the glory of your name. We ask through Jesus our Lord. Amen.