We'll start our reading at verse 10, Romans 9, verse 10. Hear now the word of almighty God, inspired by his spirit, profitable for us. And not only this, but when Rebecca 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. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Thus far the reading of God's holy word, Romans nine, verses 10 through 15, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your most sacred word. We pray that as we have read it together, that you might write it upon our hearts, that you might enable us to hear your word, and that you might give me wisdom as I preach your word, so that we may lay up these treasures in our hearts, that we might practice them in our lives, and that you may be glorified through and in us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. Our last time considering the book of Romans chapter nine, we looked at verses 11 through 13. We saw that sacred scripture has a twofold purpose of God in election, one of love, one of hatred, one of Jacob, one of Esau. We saw the duty of trembling at this sovereign God whose decree is ever executed, who knows of no mishaps as we humans do in our plans. We also saw the duty to rejoice as we who have been called by God having a duty likewise to make our calling and election sure that we must rejoice with trembling. Now then, verse 14, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. This phrase, what shall we say then in verse 14, this exact phrase is used as we saw in chapter four, verse one. Let's just turn back there very briefly. For one of Romans, what shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found? Now what Paul is doing under the inspiration of the spirit of God is he's made an argument in chapter three to prove that we are justified not by the works of law, but by the faith of Christ. He showed the impossibility for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that therefore there is only one method for both Jews and Gentiles by which they may be reconciled to God. So the question arises, was not Abraham our father justified by works, being a righteous man who obeyed God in all things? What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found? The question is, was he justified by works? The answer is, no, he was not. Look there at chapter six, verse one, the identical phrase. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? What you find is that this phrase, what shall we say then, is often the apostle taking an objection or an implied objection of his adversaries and giving an explanation to it. Now notice 6.1, God forbid, verse two, same answer, right? You think that I'm teaching because we're justified by faith alone without works, that therefore because God's grace abounds where sin abounds, therefore I can sin more so grace will abound even more. God forbid, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Chapter seven, verse seven. Next page over. What shall we say then, is the law sin? God forbid. Now, by the way, we'll look at this phrase in a moment, but this shows that he hates the objection. He has a gut instinct from the spirit of God to spew out the objection. God forbid. The law is not sin. Chapter eight, verse 31. Next page over. What shall we say then to these things? God for us, who against us? So here we see drawing a conclusion. Here's the flow of my argument. What shall we say to these things, to the argument I've just made? Shall we rejoice? Shall we praise God? Shall we answer an objection? What is it that we should say then in light of what I've just said? God loved Jacob. God hated Esau. But they came from the same father and mother. They were born on the same day. They had all the same promises and privileges. They had the same sign of circumcision applied on the eighth day. God hated one and loved the other. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? He had two in the same exact place and yet he treated them so differently. Isn't that unjust? Isn't that unfair? Isn't that unrighteous? Shouldn't God have looked and said, well, Esau is going to practice evil Jacob's going to practice good. Esau's going to be an unbeliever. Jacob is going to be a believer. Therefore, I will choose Jacob. That would be fair, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? God's then not being unrighteous. You're in the same condition, but you, Jacob, made a difference in yourself, and you, Esau, made a difference in yourself. But what does the apostle say? Having done nothing good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of works, whether good or bad, but according to him that calleth God himself. seems unfair to the natural man, seems unrighteous. The carnal reason of man considers it unrighteous for God not to choose all in that same condition. Is this not the righteous gospel of some? God caused his son to die for everybody. God offers salvation to all men. Now, you make the choice, right? Isn't that fair? Isn't that just? He did everything he could, and now it's up to you. And if you get in, it'll be just because you believed and the other guy didn't. No. You see, this is the carnal mind of man who hears what the Apostle Paul says, who hears the Spirit of God reasoning concerning the love and hatred of God without respect to works. And it says, that's not fair. That's not right. That's unrighteous. Please open to Matthew chapter 20, page 984. We'll see an instance of this carnal reasoning. We'll read an extended section just to get the context, focusing in on the conclusion of this parable, starting at verse one. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is in householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. Okay, so he's out there at Home Depot, The sun has just risen, it's around seven o'clock. He's got a bunch of workers, get in the back of the pickup, takes them to the job site, and he agrees with them, I'm gonna pay you a certain amount. They agreed with the laborers one penny a day. That's how much a laborer would get in the ancient world. One penny per day. Imagine the inflation, right? One penny a day. He goes out again three hours later after the sun's risen three hours later. It's about 10 o'clock. Men standing idle in the marketplace. He says, go to my vineyard, but he doesn't agree on the wages, does he? Just go. I'll pay you whatever's right, he says. Goes out at the sixth hour. What time is that? About one o'clock, isn't it? One in the afternoon. And then he goes out again in the ninth hour. It's now four o'clock. He goes at the 11th hour. The sun's about to go down. He sees other men idle. He says, go, I'll give you whatever's right, verse seven. So when even was come, verse eight, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, call the laborers and give them their hire. Beginning from the last, that is those who are hired at the 11th hour, right before the sun went down, beginning from the last, even to the first, when were they hired? Right when the sun came up. Right? 11th hour, sun's about to go down. Right at the first hour, sun's just coming up. They've been working all day. And when they came that were hired about the 11th hour, they received every man, how much? A penny. What is that? That's the wage that he agreed with those who were hired at the beginning of the day, when the sun was just rising, I'll pay you a penny. Did he tell anybody else how much he'd pay them? No, he just said, whatever's right, that's what I'll pay you. Verse 10, but when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more. Let's do the math. Okay, they came at the 11th hour. They've been working for one hour, 12 hours in the day. They worked for an hour. They get a penny. How long have I been here? I got here around seven o'clock, eight. nine, 10, 11, 12, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, how much am I getting to get? 12 pennies, right? Or at least 10, you know, something big. Something big is coming my way, I am owed it. They supposed that they should receive more. And they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good men, this is unrighteous. That's the idea. Saying, these last have wrought but one hour and now has made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that as thine and go thy way. I will give unto the last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first and the first last. For many be called, but few chosen. Now, notice here. This isn't fair. I've been here 12 hours. This guy's been here one. You paid him the same that you're paying me. That's not right. What's the answer? Well, yeah, you're right. I probably should up your pay. You know, you have a point. You can tell me what to do with my things. Is that what he says? You know, after all, this is democracy. We gotta be fair. Everybody's gotta be squared away and nobody's feelings get hurt. Let me get out some extra pennies and pay you. No. What does he say? Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Did Jacob belong to God? Did Esau belong to God? Did the Israelites who rejected Christ and crucified him belong to God? Did the Gentiles left in the darkness of their sin for all those millennia, did they not belong to God? He had the right to do with them as he pleased, which we shall see God compares to potters and clay. Turn back to Romans nine if you would please. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. May genoita. May it never be. May this thought you're thinking never cross your minds. May you despise and abhor such a thought. Utterly reject it. I note then this doctrine. Justice is a natural attribute in God. Justice is a natural attribute in God. He is always himself. Did you know that? Man is created in the image of God, and God requires that man be righteous. Is he always what he ought to be? No. Is God always what he ought to be? Yes. He is not able to improve and get better. He is not able to get worse. He can't change. Unchangeable, immutable, we say. He has no shadow cast by turning as if somehow he could improve himself. No. He is justice itself. The heathens actually had a glimmer of this and they would worship a goddess called Dike, justice. Why? Because they understood that's a divine attribute. It's immutable. Justice is always the same and God is always just. And what Paul is going to prove is that God does no wrong, neither to Jacob nor to Esau. And he's going to start with Jacob. To the elect or to the reprobate, he does no wrong. Justice is a natural attribute in God. And the godly instinct as the apostle gives it here, to such a foolish question as this, is there unrighteousness with God is hatred and violent rejection. May it never be. God forbid. Perish the thought. As we shall see, God has appointed the end, and he has appointed the means to the end. And Esau gets exactly what he deserves. Jacob gets a free gift. But if you get exactly what you deserve, or if you get a free gift, what unrighteousness has been committed? None. Let us learn to restrain carnal reasoning. Let us recognize that God's will is the sole rule of justice. There's only one rule of justice. It is God's will. What has he said will come to pass? What has he decreed to come to pass? Those are perfectly just in both instances. No injustice is done to Jacob, for he deserves nothing. No injustice done to the vessels of wrath, because they are fitted to destruction. They deserve to be destroyed. Their own sins bring them to ruin, as we shall see. Now notice verse 15. For he saith to Moses, here he's going to prove his point, there's no unrighteousness with God. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. He saith to Moses. Now it's interesting, when we read the Bible, it is God speaking, and the Bible recognizes this. When it quotes the other scriptures, it's going to say, it is written, or God said, or thus saith the Lord, or things like that. God is introduced as saying something to Moses, but you can read it, and we will in Exodus in a moment. God is speaking in the scriptures. And this scripture to Moses proves something, that God is above all rule. Nobody tells God what to do. He is sovereign, He is supreme. And that He has the right of particular persons to be chosen by Him. This is the truth enunciated by God speaking to Moses, that He has a sovereign right to do whatever He will with His own. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now this first part of the phrase, as I will have compassion later in the verse, I will have mercy is a future indicative. In other words, it's telling us what God will do. I will do this or I will do that. I will have mercy, I will have compassion. It's telling you God's intention is I'm going to do these things. But notice the second part, I will have mercy on whom, and this is an extremely important phrase. It's in the accusative case. It means they will be the recipients of my action when I act. And it means whomsoever. Whomsoever I will, he says. Whomsoever I choose to show mercy to, I will infallibly do it. Now, the last part of the phrase, I will have mercy, is in the subjunctive mood. And in the Greek, you have the indicative, which tells you the speaker thinks this is actually the case. The subjunctive is one degree removed. It can be a condition or a purpose, can tell you the reason for a thing, or it can tell you that this person has the sovereign disposition of the condition. And that's what it does here. God has a sovereign disposition and on whomsoever he delights to show mercy, he will do it. Whomsoever I will, he told Moses, not whomsoever will. Not you people, whoever you want me to show mercy to, I'll show mercy. No. Whomsoever I will, God says, they will be the recipients of my future showing of mercy. Whomever I determine, whatever person I choose to be the object of my demonstration of mercy, I will do it, he says. God's will then, the soul rule for the demonstration of his mercy. And he'll draw the parallel. Whomsoever he will, he has compassion, and whomsoever he will, he hardeneth. It's his choice. It's at his disposal. He does precisely as he will on the objects that he chooses. And we'll consider that God willing in due time. And he says, I will have compassion. Again, future indicative. This is something that I will do, God says. I will have compassion. Compassion comes, interestingly enough, from the word oh in Greek. To oh someone means you hear them cry out in misery and you're moved with compassion toward them. Is God moved with that compassion on all? No. Whomsoever I will, he says, I will hear their cry of misery and I will be moved with compassion toward whomever I choose. God will not be moved from outside of himself. He will be moved from within. This is why we say God does not have passions. Because he's not moved, passion means to suffer something from outside. Emotion means the same thing. X is outside of you, motio is motion. Emotion means I'm moved from outside. And we humans, yes, we are emotional beings, are we not? Is God an emotional being? No. He's not moved by what is outside of him, he's moved solely by his own mind and will. On whomsoever I will have compassion, he says. Again, on whom is accusative. It tells you who is the object of the action. The action is God showing compassion. Who is it that he will have compassion on? Whomsoever he will. These and these only shall be the objects of God's sovereign, determining, unilateral, unmoved motion toward the vessels of mercy. Unilateral means you have one side and only. Bilateral means you have two sides. Trilateral means you have three sides. Laterus is the side. Unilateral means there's only one side acting here. Who elects? Who calls? Who chooses? Who has compassion? Who has mercy? One side only, God Himself. Please open to Exodus chapter 33, where the Apostle is quoting from. Exodus 33, page 100 of your Pew Bibles. Starting at verse 16. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken. For thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Here's Moses. God says, Moses, you've asked me about this entire nation, but I'm going to tell you something, Moses. I have grace on you. I have favor for you. I have known thee by name, and my compassion will run exactly to the objects that I choose, Moses. Namely, to him. To whom did God proclaim his name? All the Israelites? No, just one. Whomever he chose, namely Moses himself. Please turn over to Ephesians chapter one concerning this same concept. Ephesians chapter one. We'll start at verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. "'in whom we have redemption through his blood, "'the forgiveness of sins, "'according to the riches of his grace, "'wherein he hath abounded toward us "'in all wisdom and prudence, "'having made known unto us the mystery of his will, "'according to his good pleasure, "'which he hath purposed in himself.'" Did you notice who's acting throughout all this passage? Who is it that does? Let's note. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. Who are the objects of the blessing? Us. You see that? On whomsoever I will, God has compassion. On whomsoever he will, he has mercy. Blessed be God. He's the one who blessed us. Now, when he blessed us, did he do it according to our goodness, our good works, our faith, our perseverance and faith? No, according as he hath chosen us in him after we came to the altar call and dedicated our life to the Lord and persevered in good works for 50 years until our death, right? Wrong. According as He hath chosen us in Him before in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, He laid the foundation before that occurred. God said, Mine, Whomsoever I will, I choose him. Before that happened, God did this. Having predestinated us, we did not predestinate ourselves. Now, you know, everyone believes in predestination, even those who deny it. Do you know what they believe in? Not divine predestination, human predestination. I will determine my fate beforehand by my will. That's predestination. Who is it that predestinated? And who was predestinated? Did we predestinate ourselves? Did we determine by an act of our will that our destiny would be glory forever? Not according to the apostles, if you can believe their witness inspired by the spirit of God, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good works that we did, persevering in faith, no. the good pleasure of his will. He is not moved by objects outside of himself. And who's going to get the credit? Who's going to get the praise? Who's going to get the glory for our salvation? To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. You see, who is the actor? God and God alone. Who is it that shows mercy? God and God alone. On whom does he show mercy? On whomsoever he will. God purposed this in himself according to his good pleasure before the world began. I note then this doctrine. God's mercy is not moved by causes outside of himself. God's mercy, His compassion, His blessing, His choosing, His predestinating, His making accepted. He's not moved by anything outside of Himself. Now, an explanation of this, let's think of Jacob and Esau in their mother's womb. Not yet born, neither having developed those characteristics of manhood or childhood. No evil practices, no good practices. Two babies in the womb. Was their misery not equal? Fallen in Adam, dead in trespasses and sin. Was the mercy and compassion of God when he heard them cry, oh! Was he moved with compassion toward both? No, he was not. He was not moved by the external cry of each, the misery of each. They both were of one father, born of one mother, born in one day, heirs, so far as men knew, of one promise. In fact, Esau having the preference in the natural sphere of the inheritance. One household, free from any evil practices, no good practices, no habits, no characteristics. Before man's carnal reasoning, this seems a little unfair. Why run when the one cries out with compassion and shuts your ears to the other? That doesn't seem fair. As if the creatures deserve some good from the Lord. The love to Jacob was not because Jacob was inclined to faith. Because Jacob had more spiritual interests, would Jacob have faith? Yes. Would he be inclined to spiritual interests over temporal? Yes. Is that what moved God to love Jacob? No, it's the other way around. It's that God loved Jacob and therefore in predestinating him to adoption by Jesus Christ to himself, he gave him the gift of faith. Whatever is caused by predestination cannot be the cause of predestination. You see, God causes by his predestinating power men to believe. Can their faith then cause him to predestinate? No. The faith itself is the gift from God's predestination. The good works and faith of Jacob were themselves effects of the cause being predestination. Faith is granted freely to men by the predestinating will of God. Thomas Aquinas says the following, every benefit God bestows on man for his salvation is an effect of predestination. Predestination is the cause. God's decree is the cause. All the benefits men receive are effects from that cause. Therefore, none of those benefits can cause God to move toward us. In fact, this is just basic theology. God is not a creature. He's not moved by things outside of himself. Heathenism teaches us that God is a sort of demigreature, demigod. He's somewhere up there. And you can move those gods how? You can play on their pity. You can play on their avarice. You can play on their lust. You can get them to do what you want by seducing the gods or by propitiating the gods. You can kind of manipulate them and set them against each other and get your way. Is that how the true God is? No. God decrees and determines all things by his sovereign power. Even the faith of Jacob was determined by God's predestination. Therefore, Jacob's faith did not cause God to predestinate him. God has mercy on whomsoever he will, not on whatsoever man is willing. In exhortation then, are you an object of God's whomsoever I will? Then first, humble yourself in the dust. What did you do to distinguish yourself? What did you do to make yourself pretty and acceptable before God? Nothing. Humble yourself, see yourself, remember as Mephibosheth saw himself, dead dog, unclean, dead, worthless. And also, by the way, dead dogs stink, rotting carcasses stink. Humble yourself in the dust. You are a debtor to God's mercy alone. Mercy that is free in God, not bound by your supposed goodness. Oh, he's obliged to me. Look at all the good things I've done. This is the mind of the carnal reasoning of the men in the parable. He's bound to me. I started, said one penny. These guys got a penny for working an hour. I've worked 12 hours. I deserve more. You're bound to me, God. Well, I told you what I was gonna give you, he said. But the parable illustrates that attitude. God is bound to me. Do you remember the parable of the prodigal son? It's actually the two prodigal sons. One is the self-righteous older brother, and the other goes off and wastes his father's substance. Do you remember what the elder brother says when the prodigal returns home? You know what? I've been working in the sun all my life. How often did you throw me a party? I've been slaving for you out here in the sun all this time. You owe me something. You see, that's the attitude of the self-righteous. "'I deserve something at your hands, O God. "'Give me what I deserve.'" You know what he'll do if he gives us all what we deserve? Open up the ground, swallow us down into hell, and we will perish forever. That's if we get what we deserve. "'Are you an object of God's, whomsoever he will? "'Then rejoice,' I say, "'humble yourself in the dust.'" Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. God has called you according to his purpose. He will perfect that which concerneth you, Psalm 138, verse eight. And do you recall in the golden chain, whom God predestinated, he also called, and whom he called, he justified, and whom he justified, he also what? Glorified. It's as good as done. Why? Because he started it, he will complete it. He began it, he will perfect it. He started in eternity past, do you think he's going to fail halfway through? Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. He who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Rest in his power. Trust in his promises. Obey his precepts. Amen. Let's pray.