Continuing our studies in this 9th chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans, let us read this evening from verse 18 to verse 24. From verse 18 to verse 24 in the 9th chapter of the epistle to the Romans. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, o men, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hast not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his mercy, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore, prepared unto glory even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? Now, last Friday evening we were dealing with the argument in the 17th verse where the apostle deals with the second case, which he puts forward to answer the objection that he had put before us in verse 14. There the objection was, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Because that is, that he has said, jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. He answers that, as we've seen by putting forward two cases, and the second case in order to demonstrate and to establish this principle, that God hated Esau while Jacob and Esau were still unborn in their mother's womb. He demonstrates that in terms of the case of Pharaoh. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Now, we considered the essence of that statement. We saw that it really means that God had produced Pharaoh or caused him to stand in history at that particular point and juncture in order that he might use him to his own honor and glory. We explained that it does not mean that God had created pharaoh in order that he might do that. But God, taking pharaoh as he was a sinner and an unbeliever, God hardened his heart for his own eternal purpose. And we ended by considering some of the ways in which God does harden the hearts of sinful, evil, unbelieving men. We took illustrations from the scripture to show this very thing. Well, then, having said all that, the apostle sums it up in verse 18. And in verse 18, I remind you again, he sums up his two cases. The case for saying that God can have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and secondly, that he will harden whom he will harden. So he just puts it as a general conclusion. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and equally whom he will he hardness. Now that means this, that God is free to carry out his own sovereign will in his own way and whenever he pleases and chooses. But you see, the teaching can be put like this. It's there implicit, really, in that 17th verse. God is overall and being almighty and all powerful and sovereign, he can even use evil to display his own glory. And what the apostle is really saying in that 17th verse is that God used pharaoh in that way in order to show his own glory. God hardened the heart of pharaoh. We established that point. It isn't that he merely allowed pharaoh to harden his own heart. The book of Exodus with the history tells us the two things. That God hardened the heart of pharaoh and that pharaoh hardened his own heart. And I explained to you how the two things were true. Now then, what the apostle is saying is this, not, of course, that God made pharaoh a sinner. That doesn't come into it at all. God took pharaoh as he was and aggravated and accentuated what he was in order to serve his own purpose. And what was the purpose? Well, it was, says the apostle, that he might show forth his power. He told Pharaoh that he was doing that. How did that happen? Well, you see, it happened in this way. Let's imagine that the first time Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh, asking him to allow the children of Israel to go and to go back to their own land. Let's imagine that the very first time they made the request that pharaoh had given in and had allowed them to go. Well, it probably would be something that would just be recorded in history as something that had taken place, but no more. But you see, that isn't the way in which it happened. The way in which it happened was this, that pharaoh refused. And because he refused, God worked a miracle in order to humble him. He refused again. And there was another miracle. And he refused again. And there was another miracle. You can read the accounts of all these in the book of Exodus for yourselves, and it's important that you should do so. Now, what the apostle here is saying is this, that God did that and did it in that way. He increased this obduracy and resistance and evil in pharaoh in order that through that he might give this tremendous signal demonstration of his power and of his lordship. Pharaoh, of course, was a great dictator, a mighty emperor with great armies, one of the world conquerors of that time. But you see, he's utterly humble, humbled to such an extent that at last, against his will entirely, he has to give in and to allow the children of IsrAel to go. So what the apostle is saying is this, that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh in order that through that, and in that way he might do this thing for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee. And he did show it. You remember that up to a point the magicians of Egypt could reproduce the miracles that were worked by Moses and Aaron and their rod. But a point came when they couldn't. And thus all human greatness and human self confidence was humbled to the dust and even the might and the power of pharaoh himself, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. And it was. Of course, you read these historical books, and you'll find that when the children of Israel were passing through various countries, and when they arrived in the land of Canaan, the people there began to tremble. They said, these people have arrived whom were delivered by their God out of the bondage in the captivity of Egypt. This is the mighty God that crushed Pharaoh and his hosts and his chariots in the Red Sea. And they were all trembling. Thus, you see, by hardening Pharaoh's heart, by increasing his resistance, God was able to give this tremendous display of his almighty power. It became known, he says, throughout all the earth. And here it is in the scripture, and it has been known ever since throughout the world, wherever this history is known amongst men. Well, now, though, there is the statement which the apostle makes, that God in his sovereign greatness and glory can even use an evil men like Pharaoh, and can harden his heart in order that through that and by means of that, his glory and his power and his name may be declared throughout all the earth. So he sums it up, you see, in verse 18, by saying, therefore he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy. He saves those whom he chooses to save. But at the same time, and equally so, he hardens those whom he chooses to harden, people like Pharaoh and all who belong to that company. And he is free in his sovereign power and glory to do that. Very well. Now then, having said that, you see, he goes on to verse 19, and here he raises an objection. Now you will remember that in our subdivision of this matter a few weeks ago, I indicated that verses 19 to 24 constitute a new section a subsection of the main argument. It's a GenEral argument. Now we must carry all this in our minds. The GenEral argument of the whole chapter and of chapters ten and eleven. In addition is this. The apostle having stated so clearly in chapter eight that God's got a great eternal purpose and that nothing can frustrate it, the assurance which every Christian should have about his ultimate glorification is an absolute one. Nothing, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, et cetera, et cetera, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's absolute. But wait a minute, says somebody. What about the case of the Jews? God gave promises to them, but look at them. They're outside the kingdom. They're rejecting the gospel. Hasn't God's word fallen down? Or as it's the translation here in the authorized in verse six, not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, he says, that isn't the case at all. So here now he is showing how though the Jews at that moment were outside the kingdom and were the most bitter opponents of the christian faith, the purpose of God is still sure. It's still going on. And the great argument is this, that not all are Israel who are of Israel. That's the fundamental proposition. They are not all Israel which are of Israel. Israel is a special spiritual people inside the visible Israel. These are the seed, not your Ishmaels, but your Isaacs, not your Esos, your jacobs. And all this is something that God works out by his great process of election. There it is in verse eleven, that the purpose of God, according to election, the purpose of God, which is carried out by the principle of selection, might stand, and it will stand, and it'll never fail. Very well, he says. That's the way in which God is doing this. And then, as I say, he puts up the objection in verse 14, and he's dealt with it in two cases. But having dealt with it in that way, here again, you see, arises another objection. And it's this, as I'm saying, that introduces a further subsection in this main general argument. Very well. The objection is something like this. Why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Now the apostle puts up that objection, which being translated, can be put in this form. Who can resist or stand up against and continue to stand up against the will of God? The answer is, nobody. Very well, then. Why does God save some and punish arrows? Is it fair? Is it right, as God ultimately cannot be resisted? As no one can go on doing that. Well, then, is it right? Is it fair? Is it just on God's part to punish unbelief and to give salvation to those who do believe? Now here, of course, we are face to face with the common argument, the one most frequently brought against the whole doctrine of election and predestination. And that is the thing with which the apostle deals here. Now let's notice some general points. Let me make some general comments as we come to look at this most important matter. The first thing, the first comment which I make is this. This objection is, of course, a proof that our exposition of the previous passages is the right one, and that Paul is teaching in the previous passages that God, and God alone determines the salvation of every man. A man is saved because God has chosen him to salvation. He shows mercy to whom he will show mercy, and whom he wills. He heartens Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated, and that remember before either of them was born. That's what he's been telling us. It is entirely of God. It is entirely of him that calleth not of works, but of him that calleth verse eleven. Now this objection, I say, proves to the hilt that that is what the apostle is saying. I have to repeat this because you know that, as I've reminded you, there are people who try to get out of this difficulty by saying, oh, of course. No problem there at all. What it really means is that God being omniscient and seeing all the end from the beginning, he knows that certain people are going to believe when they hear the gospel. So he chooses them because he knows they're going to believe. He knows the others are not going to believe, and therefore he hardens them. But you see, it cannot mean that. And it can't mean that for this reason that nobody would take any objection to that. Everybody'd say, quite right too. Here are two men sitting in the same seat. They hear the same gospel. One believes and is saved. The other doesn't believe and is lost. All right. Quite fair. They both had the same chance. One decided to believe, one decided not to. Nobody'd have any complaint at all. There'd be no objection to deal with. Everybody'd feel, that's perfectly just. That's perfectly fair. But people object to the teaching of the apostle. They say, why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? So you see, this objection does surely prove beyond any doubt whatsoever that the apostle has been teaching that salvation is entirely the result of the sovereign will and election. Of God and nothing to do with us at all, not any merit in us, not our belief, not our faith, not our anything. It is entirely and only of God who called it proves that. Secondly, my second comment is this, that there is nothing new in this objection to this doctrine. This isn't a 20th century objection. They were objecting to the same doctrine in the first century. They've been objecting to it ever since. It's got nothing to do with modern learning, modern knowledge, modern science, nothing at all. Let's get rid of that. We're not being clever nor modern when we argue against this. People have always done it. Thirdly, we cannot but comment on the honesty and the thoroughness of the great apostle. He raises the problem. He puts it before us. Before you ever thought of this objection, he's put it into your mouth. I say this in order that we may thank God for the scriptures. There is nothing that men can ever think of, but that it's already been dealt with and answered here. The trouble with people who argue against christian doctrine is that they don't know their bibles. If they only knew their bibles, they'd say, much less most. Indeed, all of what they say has already been answered. The apostle has already dealt with it. His honesty is thoroughness. The scriptures are truly marvellous. This is the word of God. And then my fourth general point is this, of course, to reject this doctrine of his is not to reject the teaching of the apostle Paul, but it is to reject what is plainly and clearly taught in the scriptures, which is a most solemn and serious matter. I reminded you in passing last Friday night that people are so liable to say, but that's only Paul. That's only Paul's opinion. But you mustn't say that this man's an inspired apostle. You've got to accept all his teaching. If you really believe in the inspiration of the word of God, if you agree with Peter that what Paul writes is scripture, many things in it, he says, hard to be understood. I agree. But remember, he calls it the scripture. Let's be careful, my friends. You are not disagreeing with the apostle Paul. Very well. Now then, there are some general comments. Well, then, what is the problem? What is the problem that the apostle raises here and puts before us? Well, the common way to put it is this. How can we reconcile the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man? Doesn't this teaching of the apostle seem to be doing away with man's responsibility? Is there any way of reconciling the sovereignty of God and human responsibility? Others, of course, have put it in a very blunt and bold way by saying this, that this teaching of the apostle is nothing but sheer fatalism. He is teaching nothing but a doctrine of necessity, that man is just, as it were, a machine, or that he's so bound by some rigid deterministic fate that what happens to him happens of necessity. It's fatalism or necessity. Very well, there's the problem. There's the case. Now then, let's proceed to observe the way in which the great apostle deals with it. Now this is most important. There is no need for me to say that the passage we are looking at is a most important one. It's a classic statement. It's one oh about which men have argued and debated throughout the centuries. But it's most important for this reason it seems to me that it clears up many peculiar popular misconceptions and prejudices if we only pay attention to what it says. This passage shows us how far we can go in this matter of understanding God's ways. It shows us how far we are meant to go, and we need to be shown that. It does show us, I say, how far we can go, but it shows us the sign which says no further. And at the same time I think I should be able to show you that it does teach us the relationship of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, giving equal weight to birth. And of course, as we go on to the end of the chapter and come on to chapter ten, we shall see the emphasis mainly on man's responsibility. Here in this section we are dealing with. The great emphasis is on God's sovereignty. He emphasizes best the sovereignty of God, the responsibility of men. And then we shall see how these two great matters are dealt with by the apostle. Very well. What is his actual reply? Well, now, again, in order to clarify our thinking, let me subdivide his statement. Let me give you now a subdivision of verses 20 to 24. It's quite simple. The first subdivision is in the first part of verse 20. Naybato men, who art thou that repliest against God? That is a rebuke to the questioner. Then the second half of verse 20 and the whole of verse 21 are given to an explanation of the apostles assertion of God's sovereignty and entire freedom in what he does with fallen humanity as regards saving and cursing, showing wrath or hardening. Then verses 22 to 24 show us God's object and purpose in doing this. Verse 22 shows God's object and purpose in the manifestation of his wrath. Verses 23 and 24 show God's object and purpose in the manifestation of his mercy. Now, there it is, quite simply divided up. Here's the question. Why doth he yet find fault in view of the fact that nobody can go on resisting his will? Rebuke to the questioner an assertion of God's absolute freedom in his sovereignty, in showing mercy and in manifesting his wrath. And then, in order to help us, an explanation proffered with regard to his reason for showing the wrath and the cursing, and his reason also for showing the mercy and the compassion and bringing about the salvation. Very well. There's the analysis of the argument. Now, having done that, we can proceed to a detailed consideration. And here the main thing I think you will find is this, the absolute importance of observing the terms which the apostle uses. Half the trouble with this passage arises because people take the terms or the words at their face value without examining them, without discovering what they're really saying, and they go off at a tangent. Let's watch what the apostle says. Let's pay great attention to detail. Now, how does he do it? Well, I say the first thing he does is to rebuke the questioner and rebuke the question. Before he deals with the argument, he administers this rebuke. Nay, but, o men, who art thou that repliest against God? This is the most interesting and most important point. What is he rebuking here? Well, he is rebuking the spirit in which the question is put. That's what he is rebuking. And this is something that is always vital. We need to be reminded that in looking at and discussing a subject such as this, we are not just looking at a subject of abstract academic or theoretical philosophy. We are not just looking here into some human opinions or human thoughts or human argumentation. You don't approach a subject like this as you approach the subject of the common market, which is purely a matter of human opinion. We are in a different realm. That's virtually what he's saying. But watch the way in which he says this. Let's see how he brings out this element of rebuke. Nay, but he says, which means sure. Nay, sure. He expresses his surprise, his astonishment. And then notice this word repliest against God. Now, that word repliest is the most interesting one and the most important one. To reply means the word used, which is translated. Reply means to answer by contradicting. It means replying against. There is a prefix to the word which introduces this notion of against, so that it's actually a matter of contradicting. The authorities say that the word is used in order to indicate a spirit of contention. Now, that's the whole point. What the apostle is rebuking here is the spirit of contention. He's not rebuking a man who is in a genuine difficulty and who really wants light and wants help and wants understanding. The Bible never rebukes that. The Bible has never got anything to say against a genuine perplexity and difficulty. But what it is so very concerned about is the inquiry and the form in which it's made. You see, this is an objector who stands up to God, as it were, and who contradicts. Here is a man who is displaying a wrong spirit. Here is somebody who is immediately suggesting that God is unjust. Why doth he yet find fault? You see it in the question, and you hear it in the accent, don't you? The questioner says, this is all wrong, as nobody can stand up against God. Find what right, then has got to punish anybody? What right has got to harden any heart or to hate anybody or to send him to hell? The thing is unjust. Now then, that's the thing that the apostle is rebuking. So you see, my dear friends, as I've been trying to say every single Friday night we've been dealing with this great subject. Nothing is more important here than your spirit. That's the thing the apostle starts with, and it's absolutely essential and absolutely vital. We have no right to go on considering this matter at all unless our spirits are right. If we take up this attitude towards God, of contradicting him or imputing unworthiness to him, or suggesting that he's unjust already. Our spirit is wrong, and we cannot hope to be right in our understanding of the teaching anyway. Very well, though, notice the way in which the apostle administers the rebuke. Its most dramatic. It's most striking. Nay, but, o man, who art thou that repliest against God? You see the contrast, man? God, this tremendous and terrible contrast. Wait a moment, says the apostle, before I begin to consider what you have just said and the point of view which you've adopted. Let me just for a moment to remind you as to who you are. Before we come to consider the argument. Just wait a moment. Who are you? Who art thou, man? And you are standing up against and replying against and contradicting not me, not another man, but God. Oh, you see, this is what matters. This is always the cause of our trouble, isn't it, with the biblical truth we begin to speak before we stop to consider who we are and our right to speak. We take up the cudgels and we take up our position and we speak with feeling. God have mercy upon us. We don't realize what we are doing. The trouble with men, when he objects with violence to any teaching in the scripture is that he doesn't realize the truth about himself. Who art thou? Realize your smallness. Realize your insignificance. Realize your finite character. Realize your mortality. Realize your sinfulness. Realize your perversion. Realize the smallness of your mind and understanding. Who art thou, o men? Try and inculcate in yourself and develop the spirit of the psalmist in the 8th verse who looks at himself and says, what is men? That thou art mindful of him. That's the contrast. Who art thou? And the other men. What is men? Now that's the scripture speaking to two different men, to the self confident man who stands up full of his 20th century knowledge, the great philosopher who's examining God and his ways. Who art thou? But there's the humble believer looking up into the heavens, the work of God's hands, and who says, what is men? That thou art mindful of him, nor the son of men, that thou visited him. What a contrast. Well, here it is. The thing I say, the trouble with most of us in all our difficulties with biblical truth is that we don't know first the truth about ourselves. And then, of course, the second thing we're ignorant of is the truth about God. Who art thou? A man that repliest against God, his greatness and his glory and his eternity and his majesty. Well, now, of course, this is something that is emphasized everywhere in the Bible. Let me just give you some examples of it. There's no point in proceeding to the detailed argument. As the apostle says, until we are right about this, until your spirit is right, you can't discuss this, and it'll be wrong to discuss it with you. We've got to start with the apostlesters. Very well. Let me give you some illustrations. Take what we've already seen about the glory of God. You remember, we had it in the list of things here, the things that characterize the children of Israel, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the giving of the law. You remember in Exodus 19 God gave a manifestation of himself to the people. Why? Well, in order to put them in the right place and in the right position. As if God were saying, now, I gave you great signs before I brought you out of Egypt, but I know you and how ready you are to forget them and to think of yourselves as a nation self contained. I want you to realize who you are and who I am. Who have called you out of Egypt and who have taken you into Canaan. And he gave them a manifestation of his glory, the mount burning with fire, and so on. The glory and the object of that was to humble these people that they might walk obediently and quietly with their God. But that's only one of them. You see, before God did that to the whole nation. He'd done it to moses himself personally. And in ParTicULar. Let me give you the example in the illustration of this. It's the most important one. Even moses had to be put right on this. Go back to Exodus, chapter three, and let me read you the first five verses. Now, moses kept the flock of JETHRO, his father in law, the priest of MIDIAN. And he led the flock to the backside of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, even to horeb. And the angel of the lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he lOoked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Now LISTEN. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush is not burnt. The intellectual, modern scientist going to investigate the phenomenon. And when the lord saw that, he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. And he said, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet. For the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abram, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. You see the contrast, the readiness to investigate. But he's prohibited. Take off your shoes from off your feet. The placement on thou standest is holy ground. Stand back. You don't investigate this as a man. I, the Lord, am speaking to you. I am the God of thy father. Well, now, the same thing are to be done even with a man like Joshua, the successor of Moses. And you'll find that at the end of the fifth chapter of the book of Joshua, here is Joshua. At a critical moment. It came to pass, verse 13 of Joshua five. It came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said, nay, but as the captain of the host of the Lord have I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him, what saith my lord? Unto his servant. And the captain of the Lord's hearst said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot. For the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. He's in the presence of the Lord. Very well. He's got to humble himself and take off his shoes. The ground is holy. The whole approach has got to be different. No longer an investigation. Are you for us or for the adversary? Humility, worship, reverence. Here it is, even with such men. Then go for your next example to the book of Job. Where the matter is put before us very clearly again in the last chapter in chapter 42. And this, of course, is particularly appropriate for this reason. Poor job. He was tried by terrible difficulties, and he couldn't understand it. He was a good man. He was a godly man. Yet he had all these calamities. And of course, the great book of Job tells us about his complaints, his arguments and disputations. Oh, that I might be able to state my case to him, says Job. He doesn't give me a chance. He is terrorizing me. If only I could stand up and state my case. He's gone on doing that, you remember. But now here we come to the end of the story in chapter 42. And God has spoken to Job in these previous chapters. Read them how God gives a manifestation of himself and his being and his glory. To job. He addresses him. He says, now I want you to realize the one to whom you've been speaking against, whom you've been bringing your complaints and trying to marshal your arguments. And then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideeth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful me for me, which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, and I will speak. I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Poor job. How he regrets what he'd said in the heat of the moment. And in the pain and the agony of his tribulation, his questioning of God. He's beginning to feel that God was not righteous and that God was not just. Oh, what a fool I've been he says, I was talking without realizing what I was saying. I was speaking in ignorance. That's what a man says when he realizes that he's addressing God. Who art thou? Men that repliest against God. But you see, the Bible is full of this sort of thing. You've got the same thing exactly in Isaiah six. You see, we are not dealing with the argument, are we, my friends? Any of you disappointed? Did you hope that at long last I was coming to it? No. Not until your spirit is right. Not until you are fit to hear the argument. Not until you've got rid of all self opinion and self reliance. Everything that can be regarded as opinionatedness. It's got to be vanished, disappeared. We are not fit to consider the doctrine until we get rid of it. There it is at the beginning, I say, of Isaiah six again, the vision that was given to him. You remember, it's in the first four verses. In the year that King Uziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. And then the seraphim and so on. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. That's the attitude. That's the right condition. Or go to ecclesiastes five two, and this is what you'll read. God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Never forget that. Who art thou, o men? God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. It's the same thing as you get, of course, in the Lord's prayer. Before you begin to make any requests of God, you start by realizing who he is before you begin to indulge in your sentimental, sloppy, modern notions about the love of God. You say, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And then, and only then, are you entitled to go on. Same thing. Yes. As the author of the epistle to the Hebrews. We must approach him with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. What is being rebuked, you see, is this which the apostle Paul puts in the epistle to the Colossians in chapter two and in verse 18. In these words, let no men beguile you of your reward. In a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind. And not knowing the head from which all the body, by joints and bends. Having nourishment ministered and knit together. Increases with the increase of God. What the apostle is rebuking is this sort of man who intrudes into things which he hasn't seen. Vainly puffed up in his fleshy mind. Why does he yet find fault as nobody can resist him? The fleshy mind brings its argument, and the apostle rebukes it immediately. Well, that's the first part of the rebuke. Just these words. Who art thou, o man that repliest against God? And then I must borrow what he goes on to say. It's in the next subsection, but I must bring it in here because it's a part of the rebuke. He goes on repeating it. Shall the thing formed. That's what you are. Shall the thing formed, say to him that formed it. You see the contrast, man, God, the thing formed. Interesting word, this. It's the word from which we get our present word, plastic. In all these things they make out of plastic material at the present time. That's the very word used there, the thing formed. Plasma. And this is what you are, says the apostle with your objection. You are only the thing formed, the plastic material. And God is the one who handles and who forms and who models the plastic material. And then to bring it right home to us, he goes on and uses this other comparison. Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump. The contrast is between man and God, the thing formed, and the one who forms a lump of clay and the puzzle. It's in that way that the apostle then rebukes the spirit in which this question is put. This man who arrogantly gets up and says. Well, then, in that case, God isn't fair. This is unjust. How can he do the two things at the same time? Thus this evil spirit is rebuked. Now, before I let you go tonight. In order that I may complete just this one point. Does somebody feel that the apostle's argument is unfair here? Do you feel that he's just brow beating you or trying to bludgeon you, that instead of dealing with your objection and your argument, he attacks you personally and talks about your spirit? Is it unfair? Well, the answer is that it isn't unfair. For this reason, the apostle, in what he has been saying in the previous verses. Has not just been putting forward his opinion. What he's been saying. Is this the scripture? Seth to Pharaoh. God. Seth to Pharaoh. It is God whom he's been quoting. So he points out to this clever objector. He says, look here you're not arguing against me. You are arguing against God. I haven't been putting before you, says the apostle. My own personal theories. In each instance, I have given you quotations from the scripture. I have quoted to you that God said, jacob, have I loved, but Esau, have I hated. I haven't said that about God. It's God himself who says it about himself. And in all my other illustrations, says the apostle, I have been giving you the word of scripture, which is the word of God. Very well, then, says the apostle, when you stand up like that and say, well, then, why doth he find fault? I just want you to realize that you're not criticizing me. You are criticizing the Almighty God. You're not querying a human opinion. You're not merely querying the teaching of some great theologian who has ever lived. That isn't what we're doing here. We have the plain teaching of this apostle. And the apostle is quoting the scriptures. He is quoting the word of God. He is divinely inspired on top of it. So that if you object to this teaching, you are not objecting to the teaching of any men. You are objecting to the teaching of God himself. Concerning God himself. Therefore, all the apostle wants us to realize is this. That we must be very careful in what we say. You mustn't start to speak about this subject until your attitude is right, until your spirit is right. Therefore, you need to be told at the very outset, who art thou, o man? Realize the truth about yourself. You are a bit of plastic material. You're nothing else. And you are standing up against this great, artificial. You are nothing but a man. He's God. You are on earth. He's inhibiting. Realize this truth about yourself. Before you go any further, remember that you're nothing but a bit of clay in comparison with God, and that he is the potter. Do we always approach the scriptures in that way? Do we always enter into discussions on this doctrine or any doctrine in that way? Very well. Let us, from henceforth, whenever we come across anything in the scripture that is difficult before we begin to express our opinions, remember the word of the apostle to you. Who are you? There's only one way to approach the scripture. It is to listen to the injunction that God gave to Moses and to Joshua. Take off the shoes from off your feet. The ground whereon you're standing is holy ground. When you discuss this or any item in the whole of this book, always remember that you are discussing the word of God, the revelation of God, and therefore God himself. You mustn't discuss this as you discuss anything else. You have your right to your opinion in every other respect, in every other matter. Not here. Here, you take off your shoes. You've got to become as a little child. You've got to humble yourself, and if you don't do so, you must of necessity be wrong in your opinion. It is only to the humble that God reveals the truth. Our Lord said, I thank thee, o Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Who art thou, o man, that replies against God? Make certain that our spirits are right, and then we can go on, God willing, next week to consider the detailed argument, as the apostle puts it, before us. Let us pray. O Lord our God, we come into thy holy presence as job of old, conscious of our folly and our sinfulness and our shame, confessing that many times we have expressed our thoughtless, hurried, arrogant opinions about thy most holy and blessed truth, and about thee, o God, forgive us that our attitude has been so sinful, so vile. Grant, as we pray thee by thy spirit ever to realize thy presence when we touch and handle thy word and its most sacred truth. Grant unto us that childlike, teachable spirit. Grant us to become fools according to the estimation of the world, that we may be made wise in a knowledge of thee and thy glorious purpose and thy neverlasting name. Lord, pardon us and forgive us. We therefore pray thee for everything that we have done or said or thought, amus, even this very night and in this very meeting. And now may the grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit abide and continue with us now, this night, throughout the remainder of this hour, short and certain earthly life and pilgrimage, and until we arrive safely in the glory saved by grace. Amen.