Rejected grace is denied grace

"Rejected grace is denied grace" - Romans 9:16-22 The final destiny of men or "nations" does not rest in the strength of their will or in the power of their forces, but in the mercy of God.

I. Paul says that "it does not depend on him who wills."

A. But from God who has mercy.

1. What happens is that man's "willing" and his "running" are not the factors (circumstance = (time, place) that surrounds a person or thing that influences (illness, etc.) primordial (very important to you) and determining (decides something important); salvation is the Lord's.

2. Our being does not have the capacity to ask or sue God: Morgan says: Neither wanting on our part, nor running, can provide us with the salvation we need, nor enable us to enter into the "blessings" that this salvation provides... By ourselves we will not have to want our salvation "nor will we make any effort" to achieve it. "Everything" in human salvation comes from God.

3. God's sovereignty is seen not only in showing mercy to some, but in hardening others.

4. Example the "Pharaoh".

5. There is no suggestion here that the Egyptian monarch was predetermined from the time of his birth.

6. What happened is this: in his adult life he proved to be evil, cruel, and extremely obstinate.

7. Despite the most solemn warnings, he persisted in hardening his heart.

8. God could have destroyed him on the spot, but He didn't.

9. Instead, God kept him alive so that He could exhibit His "power" in him and so that, through him, God's name would be 'known' throughout the earth.

10. (V. 18) Pharaoh hardened his heart "again and again" and after each of these times, God "additionally" hardened (adds, adds) Pharaoh's heart as judgment against him.

11. The same God who shows mercy to the contrite of heart also hardens the unrepentant.

12. "Grace rejected is grace denied."

13. God has the right to show "mercy" to whomever He chooses and to harden whomever "He wants."

14. But because He is God, He never acts with injustice.

15. (V. 19) Paul’s insistence on God's right to do what pleases Him most arouses (provoke, cause, promote) the objection (reason, argument, against an opinion) that, in such a case, he should not hurl "reproaches" at anyone, for who has ever successfully resisted His design?

16. For the thinker: For the objector (opposing a reason against something), "man" is an "impotent" "pawn" on the daytime chessboard.

17. Nothing he can do or say will change his luck.

18. (V. 20) But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?

19. The apostle first rebukes the insolence of any creature who dares to find fault "with his Creator."

20. Finite "man," burdened with sin, ignorance, and weakness, "is not in a position to debate with God" or to "call into question wisdom" or "righteousness of His ways."

21. (V. 21) The potter and the clay to raise up, defend the sovereignty of God.

22. "The potter" enters his workshop one day and sees on the ground a pile of clay (mud) formless.

23. He picks up a handful of clay and puts it on the lathe and shapes a "beautiful glass."

24. Does he have the right to do this?

25. The potter, naturally, is God.

26. "The mud" is the sinful and lost humanity.

27. If the "potter" left her alone, she would all be sent to hell.

28. The human being himself is condemned by his own obstinacy and disbelief.

29. (V. 22) The vessels of wrath are those whose sins put them under the wrath of God.

30. They are "prepared for destruction" by their own sin, disobedience, and rebellion and not by any arbitrary decree (whim) of God. Amen.