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Voddie Baucham - If God is Sovereign, Why Does He Still Find Fault · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This passage is not unique in that it contains another
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: question that Paul asks, but it is unique in that,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: unlike the other instances in Romans where Paul raises the
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  Speaker 1: questions of his opponents, here he does not give an answer.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Everywhere else, the question is raised, Paul answers the question,
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  Speaker 1: oftentimes he answers the question, then explains his answer, and
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  Speaker 1: then reiterates his answer. Here, the question is raised, and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Paul does not answer the question. In fact, he answers
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the question with a question. And the question that he
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  Speaker 1: asks in return is basically, who do you think you are?
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes that is a very appropriate response to certain kinds
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  Speaker 1: of questions. Who do you think you are? Join me
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: in Romans chapter 9, beginning at verse 19. You will
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: say to me then, why does he still find fault?
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  Speaker 1: For who can resist his will? But who are you,
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  Speaker 1: O man, or who do you think you are, O man,
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  Speaker 1: to answer back to God? Will what is molded say
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  Speaker 1: to its molder, why have you made me like this?
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  Speaker 1: Has the potter no right over the clay to make
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  Speaker 1: out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use
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  Speaker 1: and another for dishonorable use? What if God, notice that
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  Speaker 1: these are all questions, what if God, desiring to show
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  Speaker 1: his wrath and to make known his power, has endured
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  Speaker 1: with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in
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  Speaker 1: order to make known the riches of his glory for
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  Speaker 1: vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory,
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  Speaker 1: even us, whom he has called not from the Jews only,
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  Speaker 1: but also from the Gentiles. As indeed, he says in Hosea,
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  Speaker 1: Those who are not my people I will call my people,
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  Speaker 1: and her who.
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  Speaker 2: Was not beloved I will call beloved.
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  Speaker 1: And in the very place where it was said to them,
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  Speaker 1: You are not my people, there they will be called
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  Speaker 1: sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
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  Speaker 1: Though the number of the sons of Israel be as
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  Speaker 1: the sand of the sea, Only a remnant of them
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  Speaker 1: will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his
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  Speaker 1: sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And as
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts had not left
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  Speaker 1: us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become
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  Speaker 1: like Gomorrah. He doesn't answer the question. Now, he has
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  Speaker 1: already answered the question numerous times in Romans. But here,
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  Speaker 1: he doesn't answer directly this question. A couple of things
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  Speaker 1: I'd like for us to observe before we delve more
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  Speaker 1: deeply into this passage. Listen to this observation from Charles
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  Speaker 1: Hodge in his commentary on Romans.
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  Speaker 2: There would be no room.
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  Speaker 1: either for this objection or for that contained in the
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  Speaker 1: 14th verse, if Paul had merely said that God chooses
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  Speaker 1: those whom he foresees would repent and believe, or that
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  Speaker 1: the ground of distinction was in the different conduct of men.
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  Speaker 1: It is very evident, therefore, that he taught no such doctrine.
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  Speaker 1: How easy and obvious an answer to the charge of
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  Speaker 1: injustice would it have been to say God chooses one
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  Speaker 1: and rejects another according to their works? But teaching as
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  Speaker 1: he does the sovereignty of God in the selection of
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  Speaker 1: the subjects of his grace and of the objects of
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  Speaker 1: his wrath, declaring as he does so plainly that the
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  Speaker 1: destiny of men is determined by his sovereign pleasure, the objection,
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  Speaker 1: how can he yet find fault, is plausible and natural.
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  Speaker 1: Follow what Charles Hodge is saying here. There are people
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  Speaker 1: out there who argue. that the Apostle Paul teaches that
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  Speaker 1: God elects people based on his foreknowing who will choose him.
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  Speaker 1: That he looks down the corridor of time and determines
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  Speaker 1: who is going to believe and who is not going
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  Speaker 1: to believe, and then elects people based on that kind
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  Speaker 1: of foreknowledge. If that's what Paul was teaching, this question
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  Speaker 1: and the question in verse 14 would never and could
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  Speaker 1: never have been raised. But the fact that these questions
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  Speaker 1: are being raised of the Apostle Paul is evidence of
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  Speaker 1: the fact that Paul teaches that God is sovereign in
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  Speaker 1: election and it has absolutely nothing to do with man.
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  Speaker 1: He has mercy on whom he will have mercy and
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  Speaker 1: he hardens whom he will harden. Doctrine of election and
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  Speaker 1: reprobation has been clear here. Remember, reprobation is the idea
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  Speaker 1: of God passing over some and electing others. It is
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  Speaker 1: not as though God has to make people sinful. Man
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  Speaker 1: is born in sin. Every human being on planet Earth
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  Speaker 1: born with a sinful nature, which by the way, and
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  Speaker 1: we've said this before and I'll probably say it again,
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  Speaker 1: This is why the virgin birth is not something that
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  Speaker 1: we can give up on. Because it is the virgin
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  Speaker 1: birth that separates Christ from original sin. So those out
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  Speaker 1: there who argue, well, it doesn't really matter all of
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  Speaker 1: the technical stuff, as long.
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  Speaker 2: As you just believe in Jesus. No, if you believe.
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  Speaker 1: That Jesus was not virgin born, then you believe that
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  Speaker 1: Jesus had a sin nature. And if you believe that
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  Speaker 1: Jesus had a sin nature, then you must also believe
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  Speaker 1: that his death would not be sufficient to cover the
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  Speaker 1: sins of other sinners because he would have had to
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  Speaker 1: pay for his own sin and therefore have been unable
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  Speaker 1: to pay for yours. The virgin birth matters. Doctrine matters.
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  Speaker 1: And so man is born in sin. Man is shaped
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  Speaker 1: in iniquity. And the doctrine of reprobation is simply this.
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  Speaker 1: God passes over some and elects others for salvation.
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  Speaker 2: And our question ought not be, how.
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  Speaker 1: Dare God save some and not others? Our question ought
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  Speaker 1: instead to be, How could God.
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  Speaker 2: Save me?
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  Speaker 1: Why would God save any of us? But the reason
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  Speaker 1: we don't ask that question is because we think too
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  Speaker 1: much of ourselves. And that's right where Paul goes. Who
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  Speaker 1: do you think you are? And the answer is, we
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  Speaker 1: think we're the center of the universe.
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  Speaker 2: That's the answer.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to this from James Montgomery Boyce.
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  Speaker 2: He puts an even finer point on the matter.
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  Speaker 1: But now the wicked resourcefulness of the human heart comes in.
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  Speaker 1: For if a person cannot deny God's sovereignty over human
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  Speaker 1: affairs and human destinies, or even God's right to save
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  Speaker 1: some and pass over others as God does, the person
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  Speaker 1: will at last try to deny his or her own
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  Speaker 1: responsibility in the matter.
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  Speaker 2: If I can't get at this angle.
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  Speaker 1: And attack the sovereignty of God, if I cannot attack
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  Speaker 1: God's right to pass.
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  Speaker 2: Over some and to save others.
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  Speaker 1: and I have to acknowledge God's sovereignty, then the next
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  Speaker 1: way for me to alleviate this pressure that is upon me,
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  Speaker 1: because I don't want to acknowledge the sovereignty of God,
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  Speaker 1: the next way for me to alleviate that pressure is
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  Speaker 1: to question God's justice and to question my own responsibility
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  Speaker 1: or accountability for my sin.
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  Speaker 2: Therein lies this question.
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  Speaker 1: That Paul faces, and that you and I will face
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  Speaker 1: as we talk to people about the doctrines of grace.
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  Speaker 1: If you talk to people about the doctrine of God's
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  Speaker 1: sovereign electing grace, this question is going to arise. But
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  Speaker 1: here's the pressure that you feel when the question arises.
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  Speaker 1: The pressure that you feel is to defend God.
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  Speaker 2: If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. Ouch.
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  Speaker 1: Because people are basically saying that God's a big meanie
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  Speaker 1: and He's not fair. And we feel like we have
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  Speaker 1: to defend God. So we go round and round and
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  Speaker 1: round trying to defend God. so that God doesn't look
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  Speaker 1: to them as a big meanie. Whereas Paul looks him
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  Speaker 1: square in the face and says, who do you think
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  Speaker 1: you are?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, but I could never do that. Why? Why?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I could never do that because the person wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: be satisfied with that response. And the Lord knows I
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  Speaker 1: live for the satisfaction of other people. Oh, I could
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  Speaker 1: never say that because if I said that, then the
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  Speaker 1: person might harden their heart and God might not be
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  Speaker 1: able to save them. Let me see if I get
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  Speaker 1: this straight. If you are pressing the point of God's
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  Speaker 1: sovereign election in salvation, and somebody gets offended by you
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  Speaker 1: pressing the point of God's sovereign election in salvation, then
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  Speaker 1: you're afraid that somehow God won't be able to sovereignly
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  Speaker 1: elect them because you offended them. That dog won't hunt.
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  Speaker 1: Paul's response is important. And he is not merely trying
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  Speaker 1: to be offensive. Let's examine his response more carefully. His
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  Speaker 1: response is all about contrast. The first contrast, you.
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  Speaker 2: Are man and not God. Newsflash. Look with me if
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  Speaker 2: you will.
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  Speaker 1: There in verse 19. You will say to me then,
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  Speaker 1: who can resist his will? But who are you, O man,
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  Speaker 1: to answer back to God? Now, in the Greek, this
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  Speaker 1: is even more poignant. Because in the Greek, there is
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  Speaker 1: a definite article here. And so, basically, he's saying, who
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  Speaker 1: are you, man, to answer back to not just God,
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  Speaker 1: but the God.
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  Speaker 2: You are a man. He is the God. There is
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  Speaker 2: but one God. And He's not you. Who are you
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  Speaker 2: to answer back to God? Don't move past that too quickly.
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  Speaker 1: Because here's part of our problem with sovereignty of God
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  Speaker 1: and election. Part of our problem with the sovereignty of
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  Speaker 1: God and election is that we think too much of ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: I would say we think too much of mankind, but
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  Speaker 1: that's really not the case. I don't think too much
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  Speaker 1: of mankind. I just think too.
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  Speaker 2: Much of me. I think more of myself than I
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  Speaker 2: do of anyone else.
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  Speaker 1: And it's really not a problem for me that God
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  Speaker 1: has not explained Himself to you. It's a problem that
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  Speaker 1: He hasn't explained Himself to me.
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  Speaker 2: Can I get a witness? The problem is I think
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  Speaker 2: too much of me.
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  Speaker 1: And I think God owes it to me to explain
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  Speaker 1: Himself at every step. And even beyond that, I think
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  Speaker 1: God owes it to me to explain to my satisfaction
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  Speaker 1: at every.
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  Speaker 2: Step what it is that He does.
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  Speaker 1: And even beyond that, I think God owes it to
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  Speaker 1: me to explain to.
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  Speaker 2: My satisfaction everything that He does.
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  Speaker 1: And if I don't like it, it's incumbent upon Him
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  Speaker 1: to fix it so that I do. That's what I
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  Speaker 1: think of me. And more correctly, that's how little I
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  Speaker 1: think of God. That's what you think of you. And
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  Speaker 1: that's how little you think of God. You know, our
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  Speaker 1: problem with the doctrine of election is not that Romans
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  Speaker 1: 9 is unclear.
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  Speaker 2: It's that we think it unkind.
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  Speaker 1: Our problem with the doctrine of election is not that
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  Speaker 1: Romans 9 is somehow confusing or cloudy. The problem is
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  Speaker 1: it's not what you would do. That's our problem. And
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  Speaker 1: that is why Paul goes to the heart of the
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  Speaker 1: issue in asking, in essence, who do you think you are?
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  Speaker 1: You are a man. He is the God of the universe.
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  Speaker 1: There is a distance between you that is unfathomable. He
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  Speaker 1: is independent and unmade. You are created. God is immutable.
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  Speaker 1: And you are ever-changing. God is eternal, and you are temporal.
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  Speaker 1: God is omnipotent, and you are frail and weak. God
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  Speaker 1: is omnipresent, and you are finite. God is holy, and
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  Speaker 1: you are sinful, and you dare question God. Who do
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  Speaker 1: you think you are?