Twisted Scripture | Romans 9 | Greg Boyd

good Marnie Woodland Hills good morning Padre sinners or good afternoon or good evening or whenever you're listening it's it's good to be together and the house of God and worship me together I love I love that worship band I love the diversity I love singing in different languages different styles I it is just a more pure slice of the kingdom the more diversity you have because it anticipates that time when every tribe and every tongue will gather on the throne and be worshipping God in their own language and culture and the more we can do that now the better it is even if you're just going better gather like a Gloria dos okay like a Gloria does make a joyful noise unto the Lord who cares you know if you think you're thinking about Jesus it's worship or maybe you're just worshiping in time you soon hellos but it's it's good either way it's good either way how many you were woken up at 3:00 in the morning with us loud shrill noise on your phone saying there's a flood coming that was pleasant wasn't it ouch isn't great great way to get a nice day back I just watched this movie that involved a family in a house fire so when noise went off which I don't think I've ever heard before I thought it was a fire alarm so I'm like you know you can't delirious is like fire fire fire so he goes no no it's a flood it flattened oh good I'll put out the fire Hey how do you go back to sleep after you thought your house is on fire you know your drums all pumped up it's just if someone knows a way to get off that line I'd appreciate it cuz I don't think my dear house is in any danger of getting out in the flood hey oh thanks last week to Brianna wasn't she fantastic she was just she's wild sees this while that we are so blessed to have all these young folks coming here because the vision that we we preach here and it's just an honor to mentor them and and so I give them opportunities we doing a gift and growing in a gift and it's that's the future of the kingdom revolution folks and we want to be pouring into it and we're so we're really blessed to be having folks like that around here so here's the thing about a month ago or so I we finished a series on rescuing revelation and we were looking at all the different passages book revelation other passages that are usually used by people to think it refers to the end of time and we tried to show that those passages often have a different meaning one of them was this passage about one being taken and one left behind which throughout the evangelical world is almost always taken to refer to the rapture which is the belief that Jesus is going to literally come back on clouds and literally suction people up into the air and then take them away and then those are left behind will go through the tribulation period the mark of the beast so unlike a fire or whatever it's not going to be pleasant a lot of people that live with a lot of fear around that now what I did in that series was trying to show that in Thor is if you put that passage in its original context it can't possibly mean that you look at an inter original context in Luke 17 for example Jesus says one will be taken and one would be left behind and then the disciples say where will they be taken and Jesus answers where the vultures circle their the dead bodies lie it's clear that the one taken wasn't the fortunate one who went up to the clouds is an unfortunate one who got killed and what Jesus is referring to here is ruthlessness up not to the end of time not to the second coming at the end of time he's referring to this siege of Jerusalem on the part of the Romans that was going to take place between 66 and 70 AD there's a lot of rebellion going on among the Jews so the Romans wanted to clamp down on this they did it brutally I mean that's how they the whole postural manner the piece of Rome was carried out by terrorism and so what would happen is for a period of four years the Romans would sometimes just invade a Jewish village and randomly take people who would be in the field they'd take one leave one behind who would be in bed they'd take one leave one behind and they took these random people out on the hilltop where everyone could see and they'd crucify him there and it was rose way of saying listen you mess with us and this is what happens with your loved ones they terrorize people into compliance and then they bury these poor folks in an unmarked grave there's a mass grave which was which was so dishonouring to Jewish people so they want to try to go and recover their loved ones who got killed and the only way they could find out what these mass graves were was guess what by looking where the vultures are circling that's where the dead bodies would be in this open ass grave so it's not a fortunate thing it doesn't refer the end of history refers to this is under being taken was not a blessed thing it was an unfortunate thing a lot of people I mean I had dozens of people come up after the service and it just blew their minds because they grew up on this I mean the whole Left Behind series is based on the Miss reading of that one taken one left behind they're gonna make a Hollywood movie next year starting okay Dan Nicolas Cage it's all based on this most understanding of one take it one left behind somebody right Halle wouldn't tell him you guys are screwed up you're basing a whole movie on a misreading of the passage but see it's what happens is people just assume they know what it means and it gets smokin all over the place a lot of people live in a lot of fear of this because they thought they're gonna be left behind and the kids gonna be left behind and it was so liberating to find out what this verse really has to do with that kind of asking the question what other things might be commonly thought out there that are based on a misunderstanding of passages passages that aren't ready in context and we decided to do a series on this we're calling a twisted scripture some of you older folks you like that huh well it's a little bit of a play on that metal band in the 80s Twisted Sister we're not good a good donor well actually it's not based on that I just see a commonality there twisted Scripture Christmas forever there's no relationship between the two ignore what I just said but it's about Scripture thanks gotten twisted not necessarily intentionally a lot of times is unintentional but it's what people assume that a passage means which of you look into it more carefully and put it in context it doesn't mean that at all sometimes it means the opposite all right we wanted to start off with a bang it is the passage that I think is the single most misunderstood passage in the Bible it's the passage I get the most questions about I've spoken on this about a year and a half ago I did it as part of a message but we thought we should go more deeply into it here this morning and I'm talking about Romans nine infamous Romans nine messes with a lot of people's head has for since the fourth century and so we're gonna take a close look at that it has to do with the question are we free or do we just appear to be free our things actually determined all right now to prime the pump I want to show a little video clip of one of the movies that is my favorite and a theological level it's the best theological movie on Providence that I know is out there was a sing a lot for Hollywood it's The Adjustment Bureau have you seen The Adjustment Bureau it's fantastic show it's really good a lot of levels great love story to thrillers and Theological it's very astute so here is the setup of this if you haven't seen the movie this character played by Matt Damon so you know it's gonna be a good movie can that demons in it and a character played by Emily but they fall deeply in love it's like love at first sight there's chemistry there they're destined to be together they're madly in love but these agents from The Adjustment Bureau keeps showing up and interfere with the relationship these agents are sort of angelic figures who are there to carry out the will of the Chairman who is God and their job is to adjust things to keep God's plan on track and apparently it's not God's plan to have this these two people fall in love they're supposed to you know not not be married in an earlier version it turns out they were to be forever and ever in love but that the plan got changed which already makes me like this movie it was different versions of this thing and if so the agents have to are in charge of the ripple effect so I love this in the probability functions that happen with every decision people make it's just brilliant but now Matt Damon is so is so clever and so fast and so hot that he can outsmart these agents and so he's finding a way to make this relationship happen even though the agents are trying to make it not happen and so the aim the agents go baby bump it up one higher and calling the big gun his name is Thompson he's like an archangel and he gets the job done he does whatever it takes to keep God's plan on track so the kidnapped Matt Damon put him in this warehouse and here is going to be Thompson and they have a very interesting discussion about freewill let's watch it frustrating isn't it my name is Thompson whatever happened to free will we actually tried freeware before after taking you from hunting and gathering to the height of the Roman Empire we step back to see how you do in your own gave us the dark ages for five centuries and to finally we decided we should come back in the chairmen thought that maybe we just needed to do a better job with teaching you how to ride a bike before taking the training moves off again so we gave you the race honest enlightened scientific revolution for six hundred years we taught you to control your impulses with reason then in 1910 we stepped back within 50 years you'd brought us world war 1 the depression fascism the Holocaust and cut it off by bringing the entire planet to the brink of destruction in the Cuban Missile Crisis at that point a decision was taken to step back in again before you did something that even we couldn't fix you don't have free will baby you have the appearance of free will you expect me to believe that I make decisions every day I have free will over which toothpaste you use or which beverage to order lunch but humanity just isn't mature enough to control the important things so you handle the important things well the last time I checked the world's a pretty screwed up place it's still here if we'd left things in your hands it wouldn't be alright you gotta go see this movie I've seen it several times it's it's very good so here's the thing I ignore the details about illa angels leaving us alone for 500 years and all that stuff cos God never leaves us alone he's always working the question is how does he work does he can work by coercion and control or through influence the question is do we have free will or just the appearance of free will which is released the question what kind of world did God create which leaves the question what kind of God is God this god of God adjust meticulously controls everything there's a guy to God who takes risks and gives it angels and you and beings freewill a lot hangs on this what we need to know is that there are many many many Christians throughout history at least since the 4th century up till today who believe that in fact we don't have free will not in the sense that we can affect what comes to pass they say we might be free in a sense that we can we're free if we can do what we want nothing hitter's us from doing what we want but God determines what we want which to me is the same freedom my dog has it's free to eat the bowl if it was a bowl of food if it wants I don't stop it but I would only call that significant freedom are we free to make decisions that impact the way things come to pass and and many Christians say no God determines everything everything's determined by God and the major passage that is used to buttress this view is Romans 9 so we're gonna take a closer look at Romans 9 now the section we're gonna read here Paulo sets this up by first talking about how God chose Jacob over Esau before they were had yet been born or done anything good or evil God just chose Jacob over Esau to work through Jacob instead of Esau I then Paul says this starting with verse 18 so God has mercy upon whoever he wills any heart the heart of whoever you wills think about that you will say to me then well why that he's still find fault broken resistors will of God is it hardening me what's that my fault he's the one who's doing it but who are you a man to answer back to God will what his molé to say to its Mulder why have you made me thus as the Potter no right over the clay to make out of the same love one vessel for beauty and another for menial use or the grid derogatory use ugly use what if God these are going to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience the vessels of Wrath made for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy the contrast is all-important he's going to show us wrath and the vessels that he makes for destruction in order to highlight the mercy he has on the vessels of Mercy aren't you glad I didn't destroy you I could have but I didn't and he's all more glorious for that reason these vessels of Mercy which he's prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles what's going on in this passage now in in this deterministic way of reading this this generally goes under the name of Calvinism though there are Calvinists who wouldn't hold strictly to this view and there are some we wouldn't identify with Calvinism who hold this view that God controls everything and there are plenty of people who don't think they believe God controls everything but they really do because when tragedy happens or something they say well you know God knows what he's doing God still on his throne got Providence right straight with crooked lying God's timing is always the right timing and eccentric said revealing that they thought God is behind that the tragedy and and this passage is the thing that's used to buttress this and on the deterministic reading it simply means this God is mercy on whoever he wants to have mercy and they're the folks who get to go to heaven and eternally share in bliss and God has his wrath on the vessels he makes for destruction and the other ones who go to hell and most of people hold this view hold that hell is eternal of conscious unending hopeless exquisite suffering forever and ever ever and God makes them for that very reason and he makes these two groups so then he'll turn to the group that he has mercy on and say aren't you glad I didn't do that to you praise me for my mercy and the folks here who ever made for Destruction might say well wait a minute why do you blame us we're just being the way you made us and God says shut up at your face who are you to reply back to me I'm the Potter you're the clay you've got no right to say anything to me although if they're saying anything to him he's the one making them say it to him so that kind of makes you wonder about things let's make sure wonder why he's gonna have to endure with much patience those vessels he's made for destruction if he just makes him for destruction why is that to be patient with it they're being exactly what the way he wanted them to be but nevertheless it means that folks everybody is destined to heaven or hell before they're ever born and he turned it before the worlds created God decided you're going to heaven you're going to hell you'll make for mercy you I make for Wrath you have eternal bliss you have eternal torture everyone's destined in fact we niz destined in this view everything is a perfect expression of God's plan both the good stuff and the bad stuff the glorious stuff in the nightmares so every every rape child is exactly as God planted every act of genocide the Holocaust everyone ever got gassed in the gas chamber everyone ever died an excruciating death and disease every baby that was born disfigured every every parent that spent the rest of their life in a nightmare of wounding where that was happening to the child I got kidnapped all of it is exactly according to plan and all of it is for God's glory he creates it all for his glory somehow it he some of it shows his mercy and some of it shows his wrath in his power now on the surface you can understand why people come to this conclusion though it's interesting that no one drew this conclusion for the first three centuries of church history no one was until st. Augusta came up with this interpretation that it became very influential and now it's hard for people to find a different interpretation but you can see how people come to this conclusion in fact I I came to this conclusion for several years while I was in seminary I simply couldn't figure out any other way of interpreting Romans 9 God must determine who goes to heaven who goes to hell and everything in between so what Scripture teaches I guess it's what I got to believe so I get why people sincere people come to this conclusion I even admire them because it's not an easy thing to believe and it shows their their trust in Scripture that they'll believe something which is I find so unpalatable but they believe it could be sincerely believed this is what the Bible teaches what I have never been able to understand is how people enjoy it because even I believe it I didn't enjoy it I mean the folks who hold this view there they would say oh gods are glorious he's all beautiful he is majesty he determines all things it's all for his glory even the people who suffer in hell it's all decreed for his glory and it's all together lovely and beautiful and I could never get in on that even when I believed it even when I believed it it struck me as frankly ugly and terrifying and you're not supposed to say that or even think that because it might mean that you're not one of God's elect maybe you're one of the reprobate the vessels of Wrath but I if I was honest with myself and with God it was ugly and I couldn't get in the joy of this you know at the time had two young children was just a newborn and I thought to myself for all I know for all I know those my purses babies that I love so dearly are created for the sole purpose of suffering endlessly and hopelessly in exquisite pain for all eternity for the glory of God and I am supposed to if I'm one of God's elect I'm supposed to say God you are all the more glorious for having decided to show forth your power and wrath on my two lovely children and eternity you go before they're ever born and now I feel bad for having brought them into existence you know I I'm the means I wish they're gonna suffer forever how do I say this beautiful glorious I never got that and I never got the joy of being one of God's elect either hey I'm in but my kids are out I takes away the joy a little bit or how do you have this assurance people say talk about this eternal security I didn't find any security in this because for all I know God has determined about right now I'm a believer right now I'm one of God's elected Lisa looked like one mana Gaza left but how do I know that in ten years God hasn't destined me to walk away from the faith give up on Jesus Christ become a total pagan people do that you know and if God is determining everything they do it because God determined them to do it and God determined it for them how many we didn't determine it for me it makes people look like they're electing boom they they end up seeing Agusta once worried about this fellow monk of his who was a monk up to the age of 74 and then younger it ran off with his young nun and he said I guess he wasn't one of God's like that after all but man you got your whole life up to 74 looking like one of God's elect and then you blow it and you blew it because God decreed that you would blow it so how do I know that God hasn't decreed that I'm gonna blow it I've no security at all there's no security this and that's what's destined for me well there's literally I mean this literally there's not a damn thing I can do about it he's I'm damned I mean what do you do okay so I couldn't get into this let's all glorious and all wonderful and that is I guess what led me to keep on searching I never was comfortable in this ID when Calvinists tell me that the reason I don't believe in predestination is because I was predestined not to believe in predestination which you know he says if you were predestined he what you would see the beauty of it you see the joy of it and okay okay well then why are you arguing with me you know who could yet find fault you know don't blame me if I'm a heretic well the Nazi Oh God's fault he did creep me in this way so weird God decreed it to be this way if we're gonna try to change it doesn't make any sense to me but I kept on searching on it I was open to other interpretations it's always good to look for alternative interpretations and I came to the conclusion that Romans nine is we're gonna share now Romans nine not only does not support the deterministic view of God and of the world it actually I'm going to argue teaches the exact opposite all right so put on your thinking caps it's going to get intense and theological but that's how we like it around here right all right here we go I'm gonna make four points number one as I always say around here and I'll make this briefly cuz we piece on this a lot start and finish with Christ crucified whenever you're thinking about God or anything else that has to do with the kingdom so you start and finish with Christ crucified Jesus is the central absolute unqualified already enough guide he's not one revelation among others he's the revelation that sums up and completes all others that's why hebrews 1 says that that he is the one and only pervy he's the radiance of God's glory which means what God shines it looks like Jesus and he's the perfect expression of our they're the exact representation of God's very essence alright he expresses what God is like all the way down and so what Jesus reveals is that God is love as John says in first John 4:8 and love is defined by the cross this is the pervading expression of the kind of infinitely intense love that God is to the core of his being that's why Paul could say about the Corinthians 1st Corinthians 2:2 I I resolve to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified because we know Jesus Christ crucified you know all you need to know this is what looks like it says everything we need about God everything we need to know about ourselves and and so our job is and let the cross define God for us and interpret everything else through that lens jesus' all scripture bears witness to me and so for reading it right it should never contradict what we learn about God in in Jesus Christ and especially in the crucified Christ it's a rather point to the crucified Christ Paul allows the cross to redefine everything he knows about God so he says in first Corinthians for example chapter one he says to those who have a natural mind the pagans the cross is foolishness and weakness but to us it is the wisdom and the power of God verse 18 in verse 24 it is the wisdom and the power of God Paul sees the cross as the proven expression of how wise God is even though it looks foolish and how powerful God is even though it looks weak when God flexes his am impotent muscle it looks like him getting crucified for a race of rebels who could deserve it less out of love for these rebels in order to redeem these rebels that's what God's power looks like now this is the opposite of what humans have always attributed to God the kind of power we've always ascribed to the gods or to the God has always been the power of control because that's can power we lust after the power to impose your will on others that put the power to get your way power to crush rebelling in and so the gods have always been this super example of Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of power zoos kind of power just by some power I get my way and what Jesus what we were looking about God on the cross is that his power is the opposite one ways you know this is true there's no human being would come up with this we know what human beings do when we make out in our own image it looks like Zeus Jesus doesn't look like Zeus it looks the opposite of Zeus this is a guy who lays down his life first enemies and lets them crucify him out of love for them and that's his power this is how God rules this is how God defeats evil this is how God wins hearts that's not their coercion it's through the beauty of his influential humble servant love towards others now the deterministic reading of Romans 9 is like it's like Zeus power on steroids this is the kind of power humans have always ascribed to God but on steroids because your God determines every every everything it's coercive power I get my way and so people go to hell with us because I want them to go to hell if I have Iran then that's because I won't have my wrath on them to show forth my mercy and those vessels of mercy it's God imposing his will and everything but that is exactly the opposite of the kind of power we reveal God to be on the cross and that should already tell us flag for us something's off here something's missing keep on searching because all scripts are supposed to point to Christ not contradict Christ so already to tell us something's off here this isn't the God we see revealed in Jesus Christ secondly always pay attention to context almost all the errors that happen when people miss you scriptures because they don't read in context like the one taking one left behind the minute you read in context you see it can't mean the way what's taken to mean throttle evangelicalism pay attention to the context now if you look at the context of Romans 9 here's the thing ask the question why is Paul saying what he's saying why is he telling us what is the point he's trying to make what's the problem he's trying to solve is he in fact trying to teach us about how God individually saves or dams people is that his point well if you look at the context that's not at all the point go back to the beginning of Romans 9 you'll find this Paul starts by expressing his profound grief that his fellow Jews aren't believing in the Messiah there are some but the majority are rejecting Christ as the Messiah and so he's grieving over this and that raises this question in the Old Testament God promised to be the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob he promised me the God of Israel but if most of Israel's rejected Messiah he's no longer the god of those people so has God broken his promise to be the God of Israel all right that is the question that Paul is addressing throughout Romans 9 he begins the answer in verse 6 when he says this even though that most of the Jews have now rejected Christ of the Messiah it is not as though the Word of God had failed the promise of god to be the god of israel for it now many begins to answer it not all are descended from Israel but who are descended from Israel belong to Israel the true Israel and not all are children of Abraham because they are as descendants so here's what Paul is going to argue throughout Romans 9 God is faithful in his promise to Israel to be the God of Israel forever because the true Israel poll argue has never been about just your ethnicity as many jews thought or your compliance with the law as other jews thought we're workouts people because we're jews or we're guys feel because we keep the law so well as opposed to those pagans paul says no the true Israel has always been about those who had the faith of Abraham those are the true children of Abraham those are the true Israelites and so God is faithful as long as there are people who are simply having faith in its character trusting in his covenants or promises regardless what ethnicity they they have regardless of whether they know about the law or not it's about faith that's the true Israel and so Paul later on we'll talk about the Gentiles being incorporated in the true Israel in Chapter eleven yet we're made honorary Jews as it were because we're part we share the faith of Abraham and that's what makes us spiritual descendants of Abraham that's why Paul in Galatians six calls the church the true Israel of God that's the Israel that God's always been offer after so God is faithful to his promise and everything Paul says in Romans nine is said with a view towards that question God is faithful and how is he faithful well what is it to be a true Israelite that's what it is dressing here and when you read Romans nine in that light you'll find it elicits a very different meanings and if you're reading it with the question who is how does God save and Damned individuals that's a question we're reading into the passage instead of reading out of the passage all right third thing is this whenever you find a challenging portion of Scripture or a complex argument you find this in Paul of several times you can get kind of convoluted sometimes it's important to look for places where the author summarizes their own thought where they draw their own conclusion because if you look at the point that they drew from their argument that will help you understand how they got there through that argument but if if the conclusion that they draw from your argument is different from the interpretation you're giving up their argument it means that you're reading it wrongly now fortunately in Romans nine Paul gives us a really good summary of the point he's making throughout that whole chapter if the Calvinists were right in interpreting this in a deterministic way we would think Paul would some of this stop by saying this so what shall we say then God decides he's gonna mercy on Psalm have his wrath on others no one can reply back to him because he's God and that's the end of the story some are safe to Maidan and gas frogadier's to determine who those are that should be the kind of summer we'd expect but that's not the summary that Paul gives us here's what he says and he sums it all up this is what shall we say then well here's the conclusion the Gentiles who did not pursue pursue righteousness which simply means being rightly related with God they didn't pursue righteousness they have attained it that is they've attained the righteousness that comes through faith they trust in God but Israel the ethnic Israel who pursued righteousness which is based on the law they did not succeed in fulfilling the law why because they did not pursue it through faith but as if it were based on works this is the point that Paul is making throughout Romans 9 and notice it answers the question that he raised back in in in verse 6 is God faithful how was he faithful yes he is faithful because the true Israelite is the one who has faith and surprising to all the juices of the fact that the Gentiles who are believing in the Messiah they've attained right related this with God because they they've never thought about basing their stance with God on their ethnicity or on how good they keep the law they know though that the rank centers so they come humbly come to the Messiah and have faith but those ethnic Jews who were trusting in the law were we're God's people because we're Jews him because we give the law well they'd find themselves on the outside and that's why they rejected Messiah is because they don't think they need a messiah and and so notice this Paul summarizes his argument by appealing to the free decisions of people he doesn't appeal to what God arbitrarily does he appeals to the free decisions of people the Gentiles chose to believe through faith the Jews chose to stand in their ethnicity and their law abides and therefore they find themselves on the outside and so any interpretation of Romans 9 that that undermines free will has got to be wrong because Paul's own summary of his argument emphasizes free will in fact if you put it in a broader context of 9 through 11 and it's all one unit chapters 9 10 and 11 you'll find Paul emphasizing free will all over the place he's always talking about choices that people may intend he portrays God is frustrated because people are making choices against him so for example in verse 21 of chapter 10 he quotes Isaiah 65 where the Lord says all day long I've stretched out my hands to this disobedient and contrary people Oh in God's pleading with his disobedient contrary people will you come to me have faith in me stop trusting in your sacrifices and you in your law and and just trust in me in my coveted the promises he's frustrated his hearts broken ask the question how can a God who's frustrated it's hearts broken because people are stubborn and contrary be the God who determined that the people would be stubborn in contrary think about this can you imagine God going in there my people come to me don't be stubborn in contrary oh yeah that's right I'm the new major stubborn in contrary still won't you come to me I wants to come to me oh yeah I wanted you to not come to me that's why I made you not come to me but I wants to come to me we've got a seriously conflicted God here folks I thought his right hand doesn't know his left hand do it yeah it's and you could call that a mystery if you want but you could call something else if you wanted to III to me any God who was pleading with people to come to him it's not a guy who's controlling people because he was controlling people he'd get what he wants at least in that passage what he wants his people to come to him no I'm the reading of Romans 9 he wants half the people or more not to come to him good luck putting those two together Paul a emphasized free will in different ways as well he says for example that the Jews were hardened because of their unbelief chapter 11 verse 20 he says that they're broken off because of their unbelief now notice this he doesn't say he never says that the reason they don't believe is because they were hardened which is what the deterministic interpretation of Romans 9 tells us he hardened em so they wouldn't bleed so he could have wrath on them no he heard them because of their unbelief he didn't cause them to not believe his heart big wasn't the ground of their unbelief rather he's responding to their choice not to believe by hardening them now the heartening thing remember is not about individual salvation or damnation don't read that into the passage like the hardening thing is we'll see you in a moment is this God's choice to fashion a people in a certain direction based on the decisions they make given that you're going to be this kind of a person I have to form you in this way and the hardening isn't about damnation in fact if you read Romans 11 carefully the hardening is it expresses God's wrath because it means there's judgment but even that is done out of love God does it for the purpose of with the hope at least that people will turn to him and will learn their consequences of their decision and will turn to him and so Paul in Romans 11 he says yeah God's hearting the Jews but he's doing it in order to teach them that it's in their best interest to turn towards him and and he wants to have mercy on them in fact Paul ends Romans 11 by expressing a great confidence that all the Jews in the end are going to come back to the Lord and we can spend a long time talking about what that means but here obviously Paul doesn't see the hardening as a permanent thing or is a hateful thing it's done out of love for the purposes of redemption in fact God's judgments are always ultimately for the purpose of redemption that's the kind of guy he is okay so the emphasis on free will here something's off with the deterministic reading when it contradicts everything else Paul says in 9 at 10 and 11 then the fourth point down is this Paul talks about this one lump of clay and that comes from the Old Testament that's an Old Testament analogy and so it's so important look at the context of Old Testament analogies when a New Testament author uses them in the deterministic reading they think they know what the one clump is about so a dead mindless lump of clay and so God unilaterally decides people on the left you are my favorite you will have eternal heaven people on my right you will be suffer exquisite torture forever and ever and people on my left aren't you glad that I'm not doing it to you praise me for my mercy and that's what the analogy means and supposed to be good and glorious now if I came downstairs when my son was seven he's playing with clay figurines and he's doing this worse of me because I didn't destroy you the way I destroyed them for being the way that I made them I would take him to a psychiatrist very quickly me frankly because there's something missing here there's a moral dimension it's like my son is really into this worship me I could destroy whoever I want it's like okay we got to take care of something but somehow when you tribute that to God is supposed to be good and glorious so wonderful and majestic and beautiful that's the part I did I never could get see if you put that analogy here's the thing when New Testament authors use analogies from the Old Testament don't assume you know what they mean go back and look in testament to see what they mean because the author's always presuppose that meaning when they apply it in the president they may have height in a new way but it's a twist on that old meaning and if you look at what the lump of clay and algae means in the Old Testament it means the opposite of the meaning that the Calvinist attribute to it in Romans 9 so they look at the only time it's ever flushed out ever discussed it's Jeremiah 18 and here's what you find God had made a decree to to Israel that judgment was coming he's warning them you guys are pushing me away with your sin and rebellion I'm gonna give you what you want if you're not careful here and I'm gonna back out in a minute God backs out Babylon comes in he's gonna ransack them so he's saying judgment it's coming and some of the Jews became fatalistic Oh God decreed it uh judge must coming there's nothing we can do we're doomed so God says no don't go there don't think that and then he tells Jeremiah to give them this prophecies he says the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will let you hear my words so I went down to the potter's house and there he was working at his wheel taking a pottery and the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the Potters hand so he reworked it into another vessel as it seemed good for the Potter to do notice this right from the get-go the point of the analogy is not the power of the powder to determine what the clay becomes rather it's about the Potters wise flexibility in working with the clay and responding to what the clay is I've talked to some sculptors who tell me that sculpting is not just about imposing your idea on the clay you've got to work with the clay because the clay incense has a mind of its own here the powder was fascinating one kind of a vessel and the clay wasn't cooperating it got spoiled so the powder being wise and flexible and responsive he then fashioned a different kind of vessel that now conformed to the kind of clay he was working with it's about the flexibility of the Potter and the wisdom of the Potter and then the Lord says this to Israel says so o house of Israel can I do with you as this Potter has done says the Lord behold like the clay in the Potters hand so are you in my hand o house of Israel if at any time I mean notice here you're clear my hand he doesn't say therefore I can make you make out of you anything what if I want to make your damnable vessels of Wrath I can do that nobody says if at anytime I declare concerning a nation or came anytime which means every prophecy gods get gives is subject to this condition if at anytime I declare about a nation or Kingdom that I will pluck it up and tear down and destroy it judgment is coming if that nation consider which I've spoken turns from its evil I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it the word evil there in Hebrews the word raah it doesn't mean moral evil God never does moral evil but he was planning on leaving them and that would bring distress in judgment that's what that word evil it can mean distress or tribulation he's fashioning tribulation against them but if you will turn I will turn why cuz I'm the Potter and you're the clay and I can do anything I want so I can change my mind whenever I want so just because I said it's going to happen doesn't mean it's gonna happen no the reason I said it what's going to happen but so it wouldn't happen I told you judgments coming so that you defend so judgment wouldn't come oh this isn't a deterministic thing don't go fatalistic on me here no I'm flexible I'm responsive I'll fashion you according to the kind of clay you are and I just want you to be pliable clay so don't be stubborn because I don't have to keep on fasting this in the direction of judgment no turn and I'll turn change your mind I'll change my mind the futures not faded for you no it's open D I'm flexible with this respond to me and then he ends by saying this he is right behold I am shaping distress evil against you in devising a plan against you there's judgment coming that's why I told you this so return every one of you from his evil way and amend your ways and your doings so this judgment will not come you see guys the point of the Potter clay analogy isn't I can do whatever I want on the Potter you're a safe Derwin he'll know it's bashing this he wants to form vessels of mercy but if it gets spoiled he's got no choice but to fashion a holiday in a direction of judgment but even that he does for the ultimate purpose of teaching us so that we'll come back to him but he has no choice but to go in that direction and so if someone's finding themselves going in that direction as the Jews were at this time it's not because God wants them to go in that direction this is because he's a wise Potter who always responds appropriately to the clay that he has the point of the Potter clay analogy is not about how God determines everything so how God doesn't determine everything but how God is flexible and responsive and infinitely wise in the way that he deals with you in beings and Paul is telling the Jews this here he's saying God has mercy on him wherever he wants and got hard zoom ever he wants but that's not a unilateral thing where God just determines out of one what well I'm gonna have these guys have mercy and I'm gonna have these guys heart rather what he's saying is God has mercy on whoever he wants and the ones he wants to mercy on are those who will simply have faith they're the true Israelites and you get the ones that God will hard are those who won't have faith that's why Paul always says you were your hardened because of your unbelief and that's surprising to the Jews because they think it was all based on ethnicity or the law we keep it we're Jews and we keep the law and Paul's saying no God does it doesn't owe you anything for that no he's looking for is heart trust the faith of Abraham like the Gentiles have and if you will just turn now you're in the process of being hardened and you can't say to him why have you made me thus because you know that he's infinitely wise so if he's hurting you it's your own fault you won't believe but if you'll just turn to him he'll fashioned you into a vessel of mercy just as he's doing with the Gentiles he's a flexible God or responsive God not a coercive God and see that looks exactly like the kind of guy that's revealed in Jesus Christ now you can be a sail Romans 9 actually points to the revelation of God in Christ so the bottom line folks is this God is not this coercive deity this puppeteer Dini this it is clay making Gd makes this little gumbies we just have to say and do everything that he determines to be done he's certain that the God who causes people to not believe causes people to be rebellious causes people to go crazy causes people to commit murder he's not the god who's being causing shaping the disasters and the earthquakes the mudslides and child kidnappings of the disease and the rapings and the pillaging and the Holocaust and the genocides and all the rest God doesn't do that kind of stuff the devil does that kind of stuff he was do the kind of stuff but God always looks like Jesus Christ on the cross he's always the guy who's on the side of life he comes that we might have life and have it abundantly he comes that express his character which is always about washing the feet of disciples he knows would betray him coming under us to breathe life into a sacrificing himself for us and his power always looks like the cross his essence is the cross so everything God does is expresses that and so the way he rules is up by this Zeus power by the power of Calvary and the way that he governs is by the power of Calvary and the way that he wins the worlds by the power of Calvary and the way he transforms us is by the beauty of the power of Calvary and the way that he feasts the devil and defeats all evil eventually is through the beautiful power of Calvary it's the opposite of the kind of power we've always attributed to the gods now this is a God who surprises everybody by showing up as the crucified Messiah and he wins us by the beauty of his love saying come to me his hands are outstretched even right now you're hearing you're not a believer you haven't surrendered him you got to know that his hands are outstretched towards you and he's saying come to me return to me I created you for this person purpose I want to make you a vessel of mercy I'm not a best-of destruction turn to me put your trust in me and let's start this relationship and what it means for us folks is that there isn't a person who's going to hear this message this weekend or person has ever been born that was burnt faded yeah there's a lot of things about us that we don't choose obviously most things about us we don't choose but that doesn't mean that we're faded certainly not in our eternal destiny I have met so many people who think they are faded fatalism is I think one of the worst demonic diseases that's ever infected the human mind and you find it for all world religions throughout history and it was a tragedy when it infected Christianity his fatalism completely dehumanizes us now we are just puppets nothing we can do about it que sera sera whatever will be will be totally disempowers us to media decision-makers which is the whole point if of things and people maybe lose their child or they lose a loved one or they get in a car wreck and are crippled or some tragedy happens and they think God has it in for them I've heard that so god I'm not one of the special ins I'm not one of the chosen ones I'm I'm ji do about it he's just faded me he's I'm going to hell I'm just God hates me it's a lie a lie out of the pit of hell and I rebuke it in Jesus name it is a lie complete lie it is alive as every variation on it like I can't help it this is just who I am it's my genes it's my parents it's my grandparents it was this or that or the other thing and we just give up our say-so on stuff lies out of the pit of hell that stuff can influence us but it doesn't determine us look at life can throw a lot of crap your way in the devil throws a lot of crap away people can throw out half your way we live in a warzone and it can be brutal and can be tragic it can be sad and but don't draw any conclusions about God's character on the basis of that see fatalism mixes all the crap of the world up with God's character so he becomes the creator of crap I'm use that word to mention in the sermon but he's behind the whole thing and how do you trust a guy who does that you know dams your own kids are betrothed before they're ever born it undermines our trust in God no no if you want to know what God is like don't look at the world don't like it what your parents did don't like it your genes don't get anything other than Jesus Christ on the cross that's what God thinks about you that's what God thinks about you and his hands are out stress on the cross and they're all stressed to you right now I don't care what you've done who you've murdered who you gossiped about who you cheated on I don't care what you've done no give ands or buts his hands are outstretched to you and if you will simply turn to him and it admits of that that you need him then his death is for you he it's already for you but now he'll be applied to you you change and you change if you turn to our tombs you change everything you are not fated to go down this road that you think you're fated to go down no no God God created us not robots he created us to be kings and queens if that's what he wants to fashion out of us he created us with freedom and he created us with creativity and he creates with imagination and he loves that he loves it when the one thing I liked about The Adjustment Bureau is that God likes risk-takers people who think outside the box who are ready to go and do radical things even sometimes we do it as stupidly he admires the fact that we don't just sit in the middle of road and play it safe all the time no God creates a risky world where there's some things that really has taken what we do but he wants us us to choose so it's meaningful that we choose to use our freedom and our creativity and imagination to bring it into line with his will and now we become The Adjustment Bureau praise God we become the way that we steer God's will here on earth as in heaven he made us little versions of himself in a sense remain in the image of God and so we partner with him we're co-workers of the Bible says to bring about his will on earth as it is in heaven he wants to use us it will just be pliable be pliable clean his hands and that doesn't mean he takes away our individuality it means he enhances our individuality because now he'll use our individual uniqueness in a beautiful way that will show for us his mercy to bring goodness in a world where there's so much that's bad and bring Beauty into a world that is sometimes so very very ugly and they'll bring a glorious dream into a world that's to a large degree a nightmare and to bring bring the glory of God in the world that's in many ways just about it to bring light where there's darkness and hope where there's despair and peace where there's violence because the violence is everywhere and he wants to use us the true Israel all who simply trust in him to do that our jobs would be pliable and know that we men trust the character of the guy who wants to shape us into something beautiful and the most beautiful thing is that this powder is so wise is that into a power game look what I can do no he's wise in what he shapes and if we will just yield it to him every single thing that we have done he sometimes he could fashion something beautiful out of it even the worst of things that that we had things I should never happened done to us or that we did he fashions it he makes beauty out of dust we sometimes sing he makes something glorious out of something that's ignoble something beautiful or something is profoundly ugly something victorious out of out of our boast loser aspects of ourselves something redemptive out of something that seems so damnable if we surrendered to him become clean in his hands and we let him oldest and make us and now we're being vessels of Mercy all's it takes is saying yes I surrender stop trying to mold your own life do your own thing call your own shots surrender to him and watch and begin his beautiful artistic work read rightly this Romans 9 is a portrait of a beautiful master for sculptor whose character is altogether lovely and beautiful and wants to fashion all the other lovely beautiful things read wrongly it becomes a picture of that I think is just ugly terrifying and even monstrous and can very easily on - trust in the Creator so important to read it with a view on Christ read everything in context really look for the summaries that are there and when there's Old Testament analogies look at what they mean don't assume you know what it means investigate it read it into it praise God can we be the people who trust in God's beautiful character as we leave here and dig apply ball in his hands to be used by him to bring his kingdom in this world amen I would just stand I want to close in prayer and I ask the pro teams to come up here if you have any need whatsoever that could use prayer and pretty much every need you have could use prayer so why not come up here go and pray with these folks or if you're here this morning and you are not surrendered to Christ but you want to be maybe for the first time you heard of God is worth surrendering to come up here and just talk to these folks and they'd like to get you started on the kingdom walk all the father's we leave this place I pray we do it as a people who trust in your beautiful characters revealed on the cross give us eyes to see how all scripture points to you and the beauty of your self sacrificial love on the cross and as we leave here Holy Spirit will you make us pliable in the in the hands of the Holy Spirit to be increasingly made every day made into the image of Jesus Christ and use even our failures even our struggles even our falling down as material out of which you're going to show your beauty and your mercy we pledge ourselves to you as vessels of mercy in Jesus name and all of the vessels of Mercy said and then I go best you guys go love on the world

Channel: The Narrow Gate

Views: 70,066

Rating: 4.4167681 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Satan, Sin, God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Bible, Christian, The Gospel, Truth, Lord, Salvation, The Word, Preaching, Study, Sermon, The Father, Faith, Hope, Love, Apostle, Disciples, Heaven, Hell, Demons, Angels, Prophets, Saints, The Cross, Calvary, Crucified, Born Again, Scripture, Prophecy, Holy, Justification, Sanctification, Regeneration, Soul, Church, The Blood, Prayer, New Covenant, Grace, Christianity, Martyr, Pastor, Messiah, Savior, Atonement, PRAYER, repent, Greg Boyd, Romans 9

Id: akmIf4WIWs0

Length: 48min 16sec (2896 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 03 2014