Divine Sovereignty and Human Hardening: Insights from Paul

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

So let’s be sure we have an understanding of this passage. I’m going to repeat some stuff because there are people who will mislead you. They don’t intend to mislead you, perhaps, but if you’re not sure of how this is being interpreted or what this passage really means, you can be misled and your faith can begin to fear, and that is not the nature of true faith. True faith is confident. True faith in Jesus Christ is sure of his grace and his blessing. It does not fear in the earthly sense of the word. So Paul says, you know, Paul is telling us that God has elected people and that he’s calling them at various and different times. and he’s having mercy on whom he will have mercy. That election is actually the action of God having mercy on people. But some people misunderstand that and say, well, then is there not unrighteousness with God when he chooses some and not others? Well, Paul is going to show, of course, that God chooses all people. But he calls different ones at different times. And he even hardens people for this whole purpose of ultimate salvation. For some people choose to resist God. In fact, let me put that more correctly. All people resist God. Romans 1.18 says that men and women suppress God. That is the act of hardening the heart. And so what does God do when that circumstance takes place? He hardens the heart all the more. By what means? By showing them love and mercy. Because when the hardened heart receives love and mercy when it’s not ready to receive it, That is, when the hardened heart is exposed to mercy, when it’s not ready to receive it, then it’s hardened all the more. But for what purpose? But not to damn, not condemn to eternal annihilation or hell, but rather to bring the person to an end of himself. That’s the same as God handing people over to the powers of sin in Romans 1, verses 24, 26, and 28. He gives them over to their idols, not to bring them to hell, but rather to bring them to an emptiness, a sense of frustration and an end of themselves, so that they may call out to God for mercy. So then some people, Paul imagines some people saying, well, who can resist his will then? And Paul says, who are you to talk to God in this way? In fact, the person that Paul is talking to, Paul imagines him saying, well, why have you, dear God, made me this way? And Paul does not fall for the common, what shall we say, get out, the common escape from that argument by saying, well, it’s we who choose hell or heaven, not God who decides to put us there. Well, no, Paul does not go with that argument. In fact, that argument is quite fallacious. Paul goes with the truth still that God is in control, that God is the initiator of all salvation. How do I know that? Because he says, “…shall not the potter do what it wants with the clay?” Oh my goodness, that clearly shows that Paul is maintaining God’s sovereignty throughout. You see, God is like a potter. He can do with us as a potter does with the clay, but not for saving some and killing others, not for predestining some to eternal life and some to eternal hell, not at all. That idea is not in the New Testament anywhere. What Paul is showing us here is that God takes each person where he is, whether he’s ready for grace or not. And how does God know that a person is ready for grace? When God has positioned that person to come to the end of himself, when that person has come to the end of himself, God then offers mercy to him and he’s ready to receive it. When another person is still proud, still suppressing God, still not ready for mercy, then God continues to work with his hardness, hardening him all the more, until he is ready. This is God’s way of working with different people at different times. So then comes this verse that we talked about yesterday, and I want to make more clear today. What if God… wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known, endures with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Well, that sounds scary if you misunderstand it. But let’s take it carefully and slowly. What if God, wanting to show his wrath— Well, why would God want to show his wrath? First of all, what is wrath? We’ve talked about this many times before. God is love, and God’s wrath is therefore motivated by love. So what is the motivation behind wrath? The motivation behind wrath is love. God loves the one he is being wrathful towards. Well, then what is wrath? Is it flogging the sinner until he can’t stand it and forcing him to obey? No, it’s not. It is respecting the sinner and giving the sinner exactly what he wants. That is Romans 1, verses 24, 26, and 28, giving them over to their idols. They suppress God. They don’t want him. So God says, okay, I will give you what you want. What do you want? I’d rather have an idol than you, God. So God gives that person an idol. For what purpose? To help that person to come to the end of his resources, because idols are lifeless, stupid, useless. They do not give what the person hopes they will, and so they disappoint. And God brings us all, ultimately, to the disappointing nature of this life. So what if God, Wanting to show his wrath, that is, wanting to bring this person to a place where he comes to the end of his resources, God knows that’s a very hard place to be in. And so it says, wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known, endures, that is, nevertheless, sort of thing, endures with much long-suffering. So in other words, he doesn’t show his wrath. He’d rather not reveal his wrath because he’d rather not give people over to the stupid things they choose. Rather, he wants to show his grace and mercy. So it says, what instead of showing his wrath, he endures with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath. What does vessels of wrath mean? Well, people who are full of God’s judgment, God’s handing them over. Just as people are full of mercy, vessels of mercy, they are like a cup full up with mercy, some people are like a cup full up of God’s wrath that is handing them over to what they choose. When we resist and hold out against God, God gives us what we choose, and he knows that it will be a terrible alternative to him. And so what purpose has that then? Well, verse 23, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. Oh, so now he introduces vessels of mercy in relation to vessels of wrath. What then is he saying here? He is showing the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy to the vessels of wrath. Do you see that? To whom is he showing all of this? He’s showing how wonderful The experience of knowing God is by the vessels of mercy. He’s showing that to the vessels of wrath. Now, how do we know that he’s showing it to the vessels of wrath and not just to the vessels of mercy? Well, we go to chapter 11. Verse 11, I say then, have they stumbled, that is Israel, that they should fall? Certainly not, but through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. So you see, the vessels of wrath in this instance are Israel, because they have rejected Christ. But what is God doing with those vessels of wrath? Well, he is provoking them to jealousy. By what means? By the blessings that come upon the Gentiles, that is, the vessels of mercy. That is what God is doing in relation to the potter making one piece of one destiny and the other of another destiny until the one is made jealous by the other. And if you’re not sure still, then look at chapter 11, verse 30 and 31. For as you were once disobedient to God, that is a vessel of wrath, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. Well, how does that come about? You receive mercy because Christ died for your sins, but how come it’s through their disobedience? Because Christ died as a result of their disobedience in refusing to believe in him and handing him over to the Romans. Even so, he says, these also who have now been disobedient, that is the Jewish people, that through the mercy shown you, that is the Gentiles, they also may obtain mercy. So they, the Jewish people, will get mercy. they will finally see that Christ is their Savior, precisely because you, the Gentile, received that mercy and were forgiven of all your sins and given the surety of eternal life. And the mercy that you received came about by their disobedience. How? Because their disobedience, the Jewish people’s disobedience, led them to hand Christ over to the Romans for crucifixion. And that crucifixion was the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Do you follow this now? It’s close reasoning. It’s a very close argument that Paul is following, but it is wonderful when you walk through it line by line. Well, actually, not even line by line, clause by clause, not even clause by clause, but phrase by phrase. So what if God, wanting to show his wrath, doesn’t do that? but rather endures with much long-suffering the vessel to wrath, prepared for destruction. Now, what about that? Who prepared them for destruction? Not God. They themselves. We all have prepared ourselves for destruction by suppressing God. But God is not going to let us have our own way. We commit spiritual suicide by not believing, and God will not let us have our own way. We have prepared ourselves for destruction, but God has another plan in mind. Look what verse 23 says, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory. So God, you see, prepares the vessels of mercy, and that will ultimately be all the world, for glory. We have prepared ourselves for destruction. Think of how opposite this is to our regular thinking. As unbelievers, we’re scared to death that God has prepared us for destruction, and we are trying to prepare ourselves for life. It is the very opposite. God has prepared us for life, and we have prepared ourselves for destruction, and God’s not going to let us have our own way. See you next time, then. Cheerio and God bless.