Romans 9:19–24Scripture
Turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 9. We are nearing the end of Romans chapter 9, and it's been wonderful, it's been encouraging, and it's been challenging.
But the reason for the challenge doesn't have to do with our intellect. It has to do with the fact that God's ways are higher than our ways, and sometimes we just submit our ways to his. Some of you, like many of us, and I think all of us at some place or another, in some fashion or another, have desired to know the answer to the question why. And God does labor with us in that, and I think he works with us in that, and I think that Paul, even here in chapter 9, multiple times answers the same question, and the question is, why? If God does this, then why? And Paul uses multiple examples, one of which is, he starts in Genesis as an example, and he gives an example of Esau and Jacob. Then he moves on, because they ask why again, and he gives another example of how predestination or election works, God choosing some, how he fashions some for destruction and some for mercy. Then he goes on and he gives an example, another Old Testament example, he moves from Genesis and then he moves into Exodus, and then he gives an example of Pharaoh. And then in the text, actually it's the text next week, we see him give an example from a prophet, and we read about Hosea, and he gives another example. So we see here, then, we see Old Testament examples of how, why, and how election works, and then we see prophetic examples of how election works. In other words, he is answering the question why by giving examples from the Old Testament and from the New Testament. And then they ask why again, and today we get to a place, and I think this is the heart of the Lord,
Point 1There comes a time to stop asking why
Where we no longer, where God no longer labors with us in the why, but God really corrects us for continuing to ask why when he has given an answer repeatedly and the answer is not good enough. How many of you have children, or have had children? We love the fact that they ask why, but how many of you know there is a line? To the wise: I need you to clean up your room.
Why? I can say that with that tone because that's the way I used to say it. Why? And then we give an answer. Well, because we have someone coming over this weekend and we need to make sure the house is clean, and somebody, we're going to show people your room, and we want... But why? And then we give another answer. How many of you know that no one really knows where the line is, but eventually it's not okay to ask why anymore. That is where we have arrived in the text today. If we turn to Romans chapter 9 and we look at verses 19 through 24, we can read the last why, and I believe we get the heart of God through the mouth or hand, because he's writing, the letters of Paul here. Here's what it says: You will say to me then, if this is so, if God chooses, if God determines, if God decides who's saved, then you will say to me, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" If this is his doing, how can we be held liable for our sin if God fashioned me for destruction? That's the question. "For who can resist his will?" But who are you? Now this is Paul's response to the last why. There's a bunch of whys. Paul's been giving answers to the whys. He's been using stories to give answers to the whys. Now this why crossed the line, because you've asked too many whys. Here's Paul's response, and I think we hear the heart of God: "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?" He didn't say that in the first several whys. This why, which is the same why that they've been asking over and over in Romans 9, sets them off. This seems disproportionate, and it seems like, well, shouldn't Paul just calm down a little bit? I mean, people genuinely want to know why, and basically he says, who do you think you are to ask him why again? Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? "Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy?" Notice here, this is not an answer. Notice here, this is somewhat conjecture, because Paul doesn't even fully know the why. He is saying, what if? In other words, I don't even fully know, and I have, listen, I have illuminating, revelatory information that other people aren't working with, because God picked me to do this, and even I don't fully know, but what if? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? I love this. This is fantastic. He doesn't even answer the question. So there are many of us today who have questions. We have had questions in Romans, and that's okay. This is such a challenging thing to begin to try to embrace, a God who does things way beyond the way we do things. And it is natural, then, because we are wrapped in this natural body, there is, although we are set free from sin and death, there are still remnants of sin in our flesh. Paul spoke about that recently, that we still stumble into things, we are still affected by sin, and that causes us to begin to measure and evaluate the character of God based on the character of men. So it's not shocking, then, that we're frustrated with how he functions, because we think we could do it better. Yet the entire gospel says you're messed up and everything you do is broken. So then when we evaluate God, we reevaluate his character and his nature through a broken lens because we're broken. So it's okay to have questions.
It's okay to wrestle to a certain point, and then there comes a place where you no longer have a right to continue to question God. That is the place we have arrived at in chapter 9. Now I know in a PC culture, in a culture where we do not want to offend, in a culture where we do not want to live in black and white but we want to perpetually live in the gray, this kind of language that I'm speaking about, that there comes a place where questioning is not permitted, is lost on us. We can consider this type of language unloving, uncaring, and unkind, but
The Bible does not. The Bible knows there is a time to say enough is enough.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:01
So the question, then, is, why? Why is enough? That's what we do, isn't it? That's what we do. Paul doesn't answer the question, he merely gives conjecture. It's possibly because he sees something in their heart that's broken. Listen to me today, I'm not singling out anyone, I'm singling out all of us, because we have things in our heart that are broken, and honestly, when God says something, there is something innate in us that wants to believe into the opposite. Aka the law, aka the tree in the garden, aka anything your mom and dad told you wanted to do the opposite. That is the way it is. But I love this, because let's look at this, and I've been trying to explain this in some small group settings and some personal conversations and some independent talks that we've had and some independent discussions that I've had with certain people, and I haven't really got it right. As a matter of fact, there was one particular meeting that I just kept saying this over and over and over again, and I've been saying it for weeks, looking forward to this moment, I've been waiting for this moment, I'm so excited for this moment, and it took probably 15 times, and finally somebody goes, "Oh, I get it." And I'm like, am I really that stupid that I cannot relay what I'm thinking here? So I'm going to try to do it again. I'm going to try to do it again. Let's look here. You will say to me then, since all of this, that God elects, that God fashions one for mercy and one for destruction, that God saves, that God chooses, man doesn't choose but God chooses, you will then say to me, "Why then does he still find fault?" This simple question is evidence that they're not wrestling with election like many of us wrestle with election. It is clear to them that God chooses. Yet for many of us today, the conversation is, well, God must have looked through the corridors of time and saw what we would choose ahead of time, and based on what we would choose, he chose us. Well, then why would this question ever happen? This question would never be asked if that's what Paul was saying, ever, because we would know why he finds fault in us: because we didn't choose him. Are you with me today? That's as easy as I could say it. So honestly, it brings a conclusion to the conversation whether or not God chooses. Listen, if you can read Romans chapter 9 and refute that God chooses, I question whether you're reading Romans chapter 9. It's clear, it is not in question. There would be no room for this objection, "Why does God still find fault?" Or the objection in verse 14, let's go to verse 14: "What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?"
Why would God be unjust if he looked through the corridors of time and saw what we would choose and then based the election on what we would choose? He would not be unjust. Why even ask the question? I'll tell you why you ask the question, because the first-century church got it. Why are we still having this conversation? Why? Paul speaks to the heart of this issue in here. There would be no room for this objection of 19 and the one of 14 if Paul were saying God chooses those he foresees would choose him and repent and believe. How easy would it have been for Paul to say God chooses people based on who he knows will choose him? Yet he never does that in the Bible, ever. But because he declares so plainly that God's sovereign pleasure determines the destiny of men, then and only then does the objection come up: well, then how can he find fault in us? This objection is not only plausible, it's natural. When you have the right understanding, the objection makes no sense. Here, if we determine our salvation and not God in his sovereignty, it makes no sense. Listen, if that's what Paul is teaching, then this question and the question of 14 would never and could never have been raised. But the simple fact that these questions have been raised indicates to us that Paul was clearly teaching that God is sovereign in election and it has absolutely nothing to do with man or man's choice. Let's look at a Scripture in 9: "He has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills." That's pretty straightforward. The doctrine of election and reprobation is clear. Write that down. There is what is referred to as the doctrine of reprobation. Let me explain to you what that is. You can write this down. It is this: certain persons will be excluded from the number of those being saved, and those same persons would instead experience his wrath rather than his mercy. Another way that people say it is, some will be passed over. Does that strike your memory from Exodus? That is the doctrine of reprobation. In other words, God passes over some because he chooses to pass over, and he does not show his mercy to them. The question ought not be, how could God save some and not others? The question we should be asking is, how could God save me? How could he?
Point 2Ask how God could save any of us
The question, how could God save some and not others, lets me know that you think people are good, and that's a problem, because there's no one that's good.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:03
You should know how ungood you are, to the measure that the question then becomes reframed by your knowledge of your brokenness, and you ask, how could he even save me at all?
Or a better question: why would God save any of us? That's the good question.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:28
That's a question with the right heart and understanding. Do you know the reason that question isn't asked? Listen to me, sometimes I can come across real hard, but this word here is hard, and so I'm going to try to soften the tone of my voice, but it will not soften the impact of the word. No matter how bubbly I am and lovey-dovey I am, the word just cuts straight to the quick. So just know that I do this in love, but the word just, it lands. Do you know why the reason we ask the question the wrong way? Because we think too much of ourselves, and that is at the heart of Paul's response: who do you think you are? And that is exactly what Paul speaks to here: who are you to question God? The answer is this: we think we are the center of the universe. None of you would say that in Bible study, nor would you whisper it to your neighbor, and here, but the reality is many of our questions are framed out of the motivation of our heart, and our heart, and especially in America, we think we are the center of the universe. Listen to what James Montgomery Boice says, that's a commentator, theologian, because I don't want you to think that there are not other people who believe this. I just throw in some names that maybe you don't even know, so it gives me some credibility, although the Bible should be credibility enough, right? James Montgomery Boice says, "But now the wicked resourcefulness of the human heart comes in. For if a person cannot deny God's sovereignty over human affairs, human destinies, or even God's right to save some and pass over others as God does, the person will at last then try to deny his or her own responsibility in the matter." That's good stuff. Some of you are like, can you write it down so I can contemplate on what he said? It's not fair, because I've read this 50 times to be able to go, that's good. And you're like, in other words, if God is sovereign, then I must not be guilty for anything I've done, and we will use God's sovereignty to create a permissive position for us to continue on in what we used to be. In other words, if I can't refute God's right to pass over some and elect who he chooses, then the next logical conclusion to alleviate this internal angst I have in my heart is to question God being just and to question whether I am even to be held accountable for my sin at all. When you speak about God's sovereignty and electing grace, this question will inevitably arise: why am I at fault for anything if God chooses? Then many who hold a biblical position regarding sovereign election, many of you like me, like many people who are scholars of the Word, the people who hold the biblical position regarding sovereign election, feel like then when someone disagrees with what is clear in the Word, they need to defend God's character. Well, Paul doesn't do that. He does not feel the need to defend God's character. He simply says, who do you think you are?
Now, he didn't do it the first time they asked the question. He labors with them. He gives Old Testament examples, he gives New Testament examples, he gives more current examples and past examples, and he honestly says to them, listen, you should have known it, because the Old Testament was given to you, speaking to the Jews. You should have known it when you read Genesis. You should have known it when you read Exodus. You should have known it when you heard from the prophets. You should have known it when I used all of those as an example. But you just continue to live in ignorance and you try to find fault with God. Who do you think you are? It's a problem. We spin round and round in circles trying to defend God so he doesn't look like a big bad meanie. It's a Southern word, I don't know that it's in the dictionary, but it should be: meany britches, meany pants. Not many pants, but meany pants. God must be mean. I want to defend him. But Paul looks people square in the face and says, who are you to question God? The reason we don't take Paul's approach is that our churches would be shut down the moment we don't cater to what people want. People walk. So then who are we worshiping? A church worshiping men, or are we worshiping God? And the reality is we live for the satisfaction of others more than we live for the satisfaction of God, and all of us are guilty of this, all of us.
The reality is, truth brings offense.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 25:38
Amen. It just does. It's offensive, man, it's offensive. Why can't we just all get along? Well, I mean, Jesus came to bring a sword, which is the truth, which is the Word, who he is, the Word. He came to divide and separate. I don't know where we get some of our longings in our heart, but I'm afraid it doesn't come from God.
We're so concerned about offending people that we do not preach truth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:29
Let's look at Paul's response
Point 3You are man; God is God
In light of the contrast. Here's the first contrast. Here's the first contrast. Paul is speaking to the people in their response, the last why. In other words, he's saying you are man and you are not God. That's his first response. He gives a contrast, he's given contrast to help them understand, to really, honestly, put them in their place: you're not God, you're man. Now when we read it, we read this: You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? But here's how the original Greek reads this, and I love this is beautiful. In Greek it is even more poignant, because there is a definite article thrown into the midst of this conversation, and that definite article changes and helps us understand what Paul is getting at, this contrast between us being man and him being God. And in other words, here's how it reads, many Greek scholars, here's how it reads: it throws in a definite article, and the definite article is "the," right? Check this out: "Who are you, O man, to answer back to the God?" Oh, I like that, because there are many of us today, and many under the sound of Paul's voice, who think they're God.
But there is only one God. You're not God, you're man. So who are you to answer back to the God? You are a man. He is the God.
There is one God, and he's not you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:45
Don't move past this point too quickly, because here is the part of our problem with the sovereignty of God, the part of the problem with the sovereignty of God that we have is that we want to tell God how he should function. The reason we wrestle with God's sovereignty is we think too much of ourselves and what we would do. Man, this shows, and I don't mean this in a derogatory fashion, it shows our ignorance, and it shows how much we just don't see God in all his splendor and majesty and love and beauty. We don't get it. Who are you to question God? We actually have the audacity to believe that it's God's duty to explain himself to each of us.
God owes you no explanation.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 30:07
We actually think so much of ourselves that we think little of God, and it affects our worship and it affects our praise, and it turns our hearts to platitudes and sayings on Instagram, and we forsake his Word for the words of men, because we would rather worship around golden calves that look like men than around God. We have sacrificed his Word on the altar of other people's words. We have been shaped by these things. Our theology has been shaped by these things, our perspective has been shaped by these things, and we have developed an appetite for the artificial to such a degree that when the real thing shows up, we don't have a taste for it, we despise it, and we spit it out of our mouth. The reality is, artificial doesn't save, and that which you have developed a flavor for will take you to death for all eternity. Be careful to not reject the true Word of God based on those who cater to what you want to hear.
Like, this is good, I'm dropping bombs in here. Listen to me, this is important today. This is important. If you read the New Testament and the Epistles and you hear how much they warn about false teachers and those that lead people astray, it is constant, it is habitual, it is regulatory, it is a practice that is constant for every church and every season and every time, and they only talked about people that were false teachers rising up in the midst of fellowships. Now false teachers are in everyone's home and ears and car and house all the time, from all corners of the earth. They are influencing you, and if ever there was a time to speak out against that which is false, that which caters to people's emotions to get a like, now is the season for that. And we have a duty to hold high this above the whims of men. But this doesn't get a following. You're like, oh, but Jesus got a following. Okay, so he performed miracles, they followed him. Then he preached the Word, then the thousands of people he fed left because it was a hard teaching. You with me today? And this cycle happened over and over again. Why? Because people wanted what they could get from God, and they did not value, they did not think or ascribe what he had to say with equal value to what they could get physically from him. It's the same today. Whether or not you're eating fish and bread, you are benefiting off Instagram posts that make you feel good, then you come to church and you read Romans 9 and you're like, whoa, pump the brakes up in here. That's good. Listen to this: our problem with the doctrine of election is not because Romans 9 is unclear. It's very clear. It's that we think it unkind.
Romans 9 is not confusing or cloudy in the slightest.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:00
You should not be confused. This is not confusing. The ultimate problem is, it's not what you would do, and that's dangerous.
That's a dangerous way to evaluate truth, because that puts you in the place of God, and who do you think you are to get there?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:10
That's what Paul's speaking to, and that is exactly what Paul goes to, the heart of the issue by asking, who do you think you are? Listen to this, Psalm 115, in case Romans 9 is not enough, and it's plenty enough. Psalm 115:3 says, "Our God," and this is from a poet, a writer, an artist, a feeler. Listen to what the feeler says, regardless of how it makes him feel. You with me?
"Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." Psalm 135:6: "Whatever the LORD pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps." Let me just stop here and say this. Well, bash Shawn. But Shawn, I got one for you. Here's one, it says that God desires that all men are saved. I got that one for you, gotcha. What also says that God desires for man to not bear false witness? Yet we see repeatedly that God, even though God has a desire, he does something different, because he will put a lie in the mouth of a prophet to move a nation. That's one example of hundreds. One of the Ten Commandments is "You shall not murder." What if his Son? Well, that's not murder. See, because you have to understand, you have to understand what God desires is not necessarily indicative of what he does. The way my wife puts it is this, and I've got to be very careful about this, but when God's desire comes against his purposes will reign and be supreme.
Are you with me? I desire my kids, I never want my kids to have to be disciplined or spanked or put in timeout or grounded, but although I don't desire to have to do that, I will do it when it becomes necessary, because it's right. Are you with me today? Why don't you go do some research of God doing things opposite than what he desires. Be very careful that you don't cherry-pick a Scripture out and apply it to one situation and not the rest of the Bible. This is why we preach the whole counsel of God. We don't cherry-pick the counsel of God that makes us feel good, that backs up what we want, because we want to be God. Are you with me today? All right, that kind of answer to a genuine question is not very pastoral. Paul's saying, who do you think you are? Why would Paul talk like this? Actually, a lot of pastors would probably be chastised. People would create a mutiny against him for being unkind, ungracious, unloving. They would question his lovingness and they would boot him from the church. Why would Paul talk to people like this? This is not what a pastor does. Not very pastoral. I mean, that's ungodly, right?
Point 4God answers Job out of the whirlwind
Well, turn with me to Job, since you asked. I love it. Job and his friends, let me give you some context. Job 38. Job and his friends are trying to figure things out. They're having theological conversations around Job's chaotic life. They are trying to make sense of it. You have some of them going, "Trust God, he's just..." Oh, notice, if you go back to 36 and 37, you'll see some of them talking about the justness of God in the midst of chaos, in the midst of pain, in the midst of struggle, that he is still just. That sounds really good, right? That's somebody who's trying to help a friend in a desperate time. Then Job just kind of goes off on God, begins to question him and do this kind of questioning thing. Job is kind of rebuked, but then let's check this out, he's rebuked by God in 38 for doing this. Job comes to a place where he forgets himself for a moment. How many of you have ever forgot yourself for a moment because you just, you're just so overwhelmed, you just forget yourself and you start losing your mind on God? I like the only one person, right, only one person, none of you have had any hardship in your life. Like you just lose yourself. Job lost himself, it was just so much. Then let's read 38, I'm going to read the whole thing. I'm going to read the whole thing. You're like, well my goodness, I invited a friend today, you're just going to read all of chapter 38? Yeah, I'm going to read all of chapter 38, because the Word saves, not my word saves. Listen to God's response to Job when he's having a bad attitude and questioning him. Listen to what God does. And like, this was the whole same type of thing, he allows questioning to a degree and then he comes at you. So if you think Paul's being unjust and that this isn't godly and this isn't what God would do, let's look at what God would do when people have asked why too much.
Listen what he would do then. "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind." It wasn't a gentle, peaceful breeze. It was... You best recognize.
"And said: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements, surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no further, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'? Have you commanded the morning since your days began?" In other words, he didn't do it one time. He's constantly commanding the sun to rise. And what my buddy Jeff Compton says, the goldilocks system.
This is not by happenstance. This is by divine design.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 42:03
Who are you to question how God makes the earth spin in perfect axis, in perfect speed around the sun, to where we will not burn up or be destroyed? Who does that? And who could understand the design of it? Only God can understand that. "Have you commanded this type of thing?" Verse 13: "that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea?" I love this. That's deep, that's deep. You wouldn't even survive there, you couldn't even see it, and if you could, if someone would explain it, you wouldn't understand it, because you cannot understand that which you have not been at fully. "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?" That means God's done that. That's cool, that's really cool. "Have you entered, have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all of this." Job, tell me about it. Tell me how much you know. Tell me what gives you the right to question me. "Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?" Oh, that's beautiful. "You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail," that's cool, "which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land?" This is the prevenient grace of God, even for those who are built for destruction. But that prevenient grace will one day be lifted and they will suffer an eternal hell. Are you with me today? "To satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass? Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? We're almost done. "From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together? Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help and wander about for lack of food?" Who are you to question me?
He looks Job in the face and he questions his arrogance. If Paul's answer bothers you here, it might be you think too much of yourself.
You are the creature, you are not the Creator.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 47:15
Get in your place. "Will what is molded say to its molder, 'why have you made me like this?'" Here's another comparison: you're the creature, you are not the Creator. He's putting people in their place for questioning God. He created you, not the other way around. First, you exist for God's purposes. There is the same problem we read about in Romans 1:18. Let's read that, and then I'm about to close, I'm almost done. I know it's a lot of Scripture, but it helps, right? It helps. Romans 1:18-23. This one rang my bell, right? It's good to be reminded of where we came from since we're in Romans 9. Romans 1, 18-23. I'm going to give you just five more seconds to find it. Romans 1:18 through 23: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." Come on now, listen to me, this is not confusing, guys. This is clear as day. Why do we suppress truth? "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power," everybody say power, "and his divine nature," everybody say nature, "have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God." You see why Paul has had enough? He's had enough because although they knew God, they deny him as God. They think they know better. "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,"
Matter of fact, they had a lot of things they wanted to say about him, and thanksgiving was not one of them, "but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images." Listen to this is it. "For images resembling mortal man." God reveals his character and he reveals his nature, and we were like, we don't like that, you should be more like us. God says, I do it this way, and we say, I don't like that, I want to exchange your nature, what you would do, for what I would do. Sound familiar? You know what Romans 1 is indicting, who the type of people it's indicting? Why is this in our Bible? Paul rebukes it because there are appropriate times for rebuke when this is the heart of a man or a woman. Verse 22: "Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man." In other words, I don't like the sovereignty of God, and my wisdom cannot reconcile this biblical truth, and I would never save someone and not others, so neither would God. But God owes you no answer. He has already given his answer. When you think yourself to be wise, you become a fool. If the truth is not enough for you, a few more closing statements and then I'm done.
Salvation is a gift, not a reward.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 52:19
You question God because you think you deserve an answer. I mentioned this earlier, so I'm not going to go into detail about it, but he gives Old Testament examples and then he gives prophetic examples, and he basically says to the Jews and to the church of Rome, he basically is saying, you should have got it when you were in the Old Testament and in the dark, that what you read about with Jacob and Esau and Pharaoh and all of that, you should have got it even though you were still in the dark and illumination had not yet happened by the Holy Spirit. You still should have got it, because you read about this and the Word was given to you so that you could get it even in the dark. But now we have people today who are no longer in the dark, we are in a New Testament era where the dark, listen, has experienced illumination, yet we still don't get it, right? So it isn't that the furniture in the house is different. The furniture has always been where the furniture is. It's just not easy to see it, but now through the Holy Spirit we have illumination, so now we see the furniture is in the same place, and we can actually see that the furniture is there.
We just don't like where God put the couch.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 53:47
So it's less about us being able to see clearly. We're seeing in the darkness, we see in light, we just don't like what we see in the light, and we think we could rearrange it and do it better. And this is a massive problem. It is the problem in the heart of the questions that come to Paul, and Paul has
Point 5Are you confused, or are you arrogant?
Had enough. He has enough of illumination not even helping at all, and he asks, why are you still questioning about this? And a couple things for us to think about right here. Here's a couple just questions, and I'm going to close, and I'm going to say this slowly and I'm going to pause, and I want you to think about it. Do you keep asking questions because you can't understand that you're a sinner in need of a Savior and that you desperately need to bow your knee in repentance? Do you just not see that you're a sinner? Do you just think you're good? Do you keep asking questions because you wonder whether this God who saved you is even worthy of your worship at all? Do you keep asking questions because you think God owes it to you to explain himself? Do you keep asking questions because you're confused, or do you have one... Do you ask questions because you're arrogant and you think you could do it better than God? Don't let this be lost on you. I'm not indicting any of us here, I'm asking a question.
Are you confused or are you arrogant?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 55:27
Why are you asking your questions? And you should evaluate yourself. All of us should, all of us should. That's what Paul's trying to help them do. Are you the type of person who likes to sit up asking theological questions because you really just like the sound of your voice, or do you ask questions because you are passionately in love with God and you want to know him more deeply so that you might worship him more deeply? Which one is it? You like to hear yourself talk and you think you're awesome and you like people that think you're smart, or do you really want to know God? Which one is it? Do you spend more time talking about what you believe about a matter than what God says about a matter? I named this sermon "Arrogant Self-Adulation," and although all of our questions do not spring up from this heart, many of our questions do.
You should run your questions across the litmus test of Paul's response and see which you are.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 56:56
That is our duty.
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