(# 342) Romans 9 - God Wants Vessels of Wrath to Choose to Be Vessels of Mercy

Class Outline:

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Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Turn off your electronic devices and put them away…they are not welcome here.  Let this be a place where you aren’t distracted by the world.

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries we worship the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We call Him Lord because He is 100% God.  We call Him Jesus Christ because He is 100% true humanity just like you and me.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Wants Vessels of Wrath to Choose to Be Vessels of Mercy

 

Are you a vessel of wrath?  Or are you a vessel of mercy?

 

God the Father has a simple plan for His creatures.  We all start on equal footing… condemned.  It was not God the Father’s will that things be this way. God the Son created Adam and Eve as perfect creatures.  They sinned.  The sin of the federal head of the human race, Adam, was passed on to all mankind. 

 

In omniscience, a part of His essence by which God knows all that is knowable, He anticipated this happening and knew His creatures would be helpless to get out of the predicament.  So God the Son, volunteered to take on task of paying for the sins of all mankind, to restore the possibility that all creatures could choose a relationship with God.  The Cross changed everything.

 

What’s your choice?  Are you a vessel of wrath?  Or are you a vessel of mercy?  In today’s lesson we’ll be reminded of God’s simple plan, and we’ll see how unbelieving man responds to God’s merciful approach to His creatures.  Welcome to a place where you can learn the true issues of how to live for all eternity in a relationship with God as a vessel of mercy.

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

FIRST

Lauren Dagle

 

Let’s begin our lesson by opening our hearts and our ears to the truth of the Word of our all-powerful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as we listen to Lauren Dagle’s recommendation about where to keep God in our hearts…FIRST.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, human beings disappoint us…they are so unfaithful and so unstable and so unloving and so confused…but You are not…and we thank you for the instability of Your creatures because through it we see the rest we have in Your stable, gracious, forgiving and loving arms…

 

Strengthen us Father…solidify our resolve in the face of the ups and downs of this life…and as we hear lies about You from the kingdom of death, help us to KNOW through Your Word the truth about the victory You planned for us in eternity past…a victory that is becoming clearly visible in our hearts day by day…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...

Amen.

 

We begin with few announcements…

 

BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Next Deacon’s Meeting

January 28, 2017

7:30A -9:30A

 

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The Next Lord’s Supper Celebration

February 12, 2017

 

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Visit the Vets

February 19, 2017

1:45PM-3:00PM

 

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Homecoming for the Non-Resident Congregation

April 22-23, 2017

 

Book your flights now!  Hotel information is on the website.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Heather Luttermoser

January 27, 2017

 

PRAYERS

Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group

ON FACEBOOK

 

Join me in prayer directed at all the intercessions and all the petitions of the

people visiting the Barah Ministries Prayer Request Group.  Please take time to pray for each other.

 

ONE LESSON EXPERIMENT

Begins Today

 

YOU BELONG AT BARAH MINISTRIES!

We’re looking for 20 Families

Help Us Build a Church

 

Let 2017 be the year when we grow our church…and we grow our church by inviting people to come.

 

JUNE MURPHY’S MUSIC

A Message From Maya Mahtani

 

Here’s a message from a person who made a comment about last week’s Facebook lesson…the song, Father I’m Yours…

 

A MESSAGE FROM MAYA MAHTANI

 

Amen...to the lovely message from the mouth of the Father, Almighty God.  Tears came to my eyes, because I know I am his child, most loved and most cherished.

 

A MESSAGE FROM MAYA MAHTANI

 

The message and the song touched my heart so deeply, that I felt as though I was in the very presence of His grace, being loved and cuddled in his holy arms.  I feel very light and holy, so pure in my thoughts, and words and deeds. Amen again and again.

 

Thank you June Murphy for your wonderful ministry that is touching the hearts of people all around the world.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Wants Vessels of Wrath to Choose to Be Vessels of Mercy

 

We continue our study of Romans, Chapter 9. 

 

Here’s what we know so far.  God chose a nation, Israel…and a people… The Jewish Race, as is His Sovereign right, and promised them four hundred and ninety years as His evangelism agency on earth.  He made this and other promises to them through the father of the Jewish Race, Abraham.  He made this and other promises to them through the father of the nation Israel, Moses.  In Exodus, Chapter 32, Verses 7 to 10, the Lord makes clear to us what has happened to The Jewish Race…

 

EXODUS 32:7

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.”|

 

EXODUS 32:8

“They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”

 

EXODUS 32:9

The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.”

 

EXODUS 32:10

“Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them…and I will make of YOU (Moses) a great nation.”

 

God continued to be faithful to His promise through the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and was ready to wipe out this whole group and start over again with Moses...yet He had mercy at Moses’ request.

 

Paul began Romans, Chapter 9 by illuminating what has became of the nation Israel and The Jewish Race.  Not much has changed since the desert.  God gave them blessing after blessing, and they turned on Him.  Things are the same today.  We are that way.  How would anyone ever be able to explain why people, in the face of innumerable blessings, would turn on the SOURCE of the blessing?  If you want an explanation, one is always readily available right in your own family.  The Lord warns us in Matthew, Chapter 10, Verses 34 to 36…

 

MATTHEW 10:34

“Do not think that I (the Lord Jesus Christ) came to bring peace on the earth…I did not come to bring peace, but I came to bring a sword.”

 

MATTHEW 10:35

“For I (the Lord Jesus Christ) came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law…”

 

MATTHEW 10:36

“…and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.”

 

You see, like the nation Israel and The Jewish Race, left to our own devices we creatures ruin every blessing we are given.  Does that mean the Word of God is a failure?  Hardly!  For there are some creatures who are vessels of wrath, and there are some creatures who are vessels of mercy.  All of us, at some point in this life, will have to stand before a big mirror and face our total depravity.  When that moment comes, will you be convinced that you need someone to save you from this depravity, or will you walk away from the mirror and forget what you saw, convinced there is nothing wrong with you?  God leaves the choice up to you.  Are you a vessel of wrath?  Or are you a vessel of mercy? 

 

Your choice does not change God’s Sovereign plan.  God knows that all creatures reject Him at first…no creature is righteous, not even one.  God knows that no creature seeks a relationship with Him…not even one!  God knows that no one understands Him.  Yet God, in His Sovereignty, is unfazed by our flightiness…His plan for us is unchangeable. His plan boils down to this…reject a relationship with Christ…accept a relationship with Christ…your choice. 

 

Are you a vessel of wrath, one who rejects a relationship with Christ?  Or are you a vessel of mercy, one who accepts a relationship with Christ?  Like the nation Israel, and like The Jewish race, you have a choice concerning where you place yourself in this unchanging plan of God.  Israel and The Jewish Race chose to rebel, and the Lord chose to let them.  Romans, Chapter 9, Verses 14 to 18…

 

PASSAGE 3

 

ROMANS 9:14

What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!

 

That’s no fair! That’s the child’s lament.  Everything that doesn’t go a child’s way is considered unfair.  Is God unfair because He allows us to disobey?  Of course Israel and The Jewish Race are questioning God and questioning His plan and questioning His faithfulness to His promises.  Rebels always question the SOURCE, and they never stop questioning the SOURCE, because questioning the SOURCE is always easier that looking in the mirror.  What is God’s response?

ROMANS 9:15

For the Lord says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

 

God says, “My plan isn’t going to change because of how my creatures respond to it.”  He’s a better being than I am!

 

ROMANS 9:16

So then God’s plan does not depend on the man who wills (the one who

wants it) or the man who runs (the one who works for it), but God’s plan depends on the faithfulness of the God who has mercy.

 

God knows us…and He is not fazed by our unfaithfulness.  He’s a better being than I am!

 

ROMANS 9:17

For in the Scripture God says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”

 

ROMANS 9:18

So then God has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

 

God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart as if God need to manipulate someone so that His plan could work…God simply allowed Pharaoh’s choice of a hard, sinful, rebellious heart to manifest itself.  What was Pharaoh’s choice?  Exodus, Chapter 5, Verses 1 and 2…

 

EXODUS 5:1

And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”

 

EXODUS 5:2

But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”

 

No matter what the Lord did, Pharaoh would not listen.  Typical of rebels.

Let’s take a music break and we’ll learn more.

 

MUSIC BREAK

REVELATION SONG

Phillips, Craig & Dean

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

Let’s begin the next portion of our lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…we need and we value your financial support to continue the work of this ministry…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

SECOND TIMOTHY 2:15

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Wants Vessels of Wrath to Choose to Be Vessels of Mercy

 

Welcome back! 

 

Our God wants the nation Israel and The Jewish Race to change their minds about Him.  He wants them to choose to be vessels of His mercy instead of vessels of His wrath.  But rebels don’t listen.  Israel and The Jewish Race don’t trust their Messiah.  When someone doesn’t trust you, nothing you do is good enough, and that is certainly what shows up in the attitude of the nation Israel and The Jewish Race.

 

So is God unfair because Israel and The Jewish Race have turned on Him?

That’s what those who don’t know God, and that’s what those who don’t trust God would say.  They’d say God is unfair for choosing Isaac over Ishmael.  They’d say God is unfair for choosing Jacob over Esau.  They’d say God is unfair for having vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath.  They’d say God is unfair for not hardening the hearts of some, and for hardening the hearts of others.  They’d say God is unfair for electing some and not electing others.  As in Romans, Chapter 9, Verses 19 to 21, they’d say…

 

PASSAGE 4

 

ROMANS 9:19

You will say to me then, “Why does God still find fault? For who resists His will?”

 

They’d say God is unfair for honoring the choice of those who don’t want a relationship with Him.  They’d ask, “Why is God making us responsible for our choices when He is the one who owns the game?”  Paul has a quick response…

 

ROMANS 9:20

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?

 

It is God’s Sovereign right as Creator of the universe…the sole Creator with no help from anyone, to institute any government that He sees fit.

 

ROMANS 9:21

Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

 

Those who don’t trust God ignore that God is true to His own character.  They ignore God’s justice…His righteousness…and His unconditional love.  They ignore it that God keeps His word in all matters, especially in the matter of His warnings concerning the consequences of unbelief.  Because God has will, and because God is powerful enough to do as He pleases, does not make Him unfair.  Romans, Chapter 9, Verses 22 to 24…

 

PASSAGE 5

 

ROMANS 9:22

What if God, although willing (and able) to demonstrate His wrath and to

make His power known, instead endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

 

ROMANS 9:23

And what if He did so to make known His glorious riches, lavished upon vessels of mercy…vessels He prepared beforehand for glory…

 

ROMANS 9:24

…even us (as believers in Christ), whom He also called (inviting us to the privilege of mercy), not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

 

If God chose no one for salvation, it would be fair.   Yet God doesn’t handle salvation this way…God demonstrates His mercy, even to those who reject it.  He is a whosoever God.

 

Imagine that someone gives you a gift, and you complain about the gift or the giver…you start talking about what the gift should have been or how the gift should have been done…how if you were doing things it would have been different…but you have never created anything in your life.

 

Imagine you’re a lump of clay…and you say to the potter, “I want to receive mercy.”  The potter fashions you into a vessel of mercy, not only because you asked, but because that is what the potter has decided to do for all who ask…not in a sentimental way…in a whosoever way.

 

So it is with God.  God says, “I am going to make a bunch of lumps of clay, and they will all be in the same condition at the start.  Some will ask me for mercy, and in advance I have decided how I will mold them…into vessels of mercy.  Some will not ask me for mercy, and I have decided in advance how I will mold them…into vessels of wrath.  So if you ask me for mercy, I’ll save you.  If you don’t ask me for mercy, you have chosen wrath for yourself.  In John, Chapter 3, Verse 36, the Lord Himself says…

 

JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life (the resurrection life) right at that moment…but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life, but the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

So for vessels of mercy…glory.  They will see God.

 

 

For vessels of wrath…destruction.  They will not live with God.

 

 

God endures with patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.  That’s referred to in the bible as “longsuffering” … God keeps the window of opportunity open as long as possible for the rebels to be saved…but at a point, physical death,  He says, “Okay, enough is enough.”  He accepts the fate the unbeliever has chosen for himself.

 

Are you a vessel of wrath?  Or are you a vessel of mercy?  You’d be wise to choose the vessel of mercy route.  Let’s close with Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 4 to 7…

 

EPHESIANS 2:4

But God the Father, being rich in mercy, because of His great unconditional love with which He loved us…

 

EPHESIANS 2:5

…even when we were (spiritually) dead in our transgressions (as sinners), made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…

 

EPHESIANS 2:6

…and raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places because we are in union with Christ Jesus…

 

EPHESIANS 2:7

…so that in the ages to come God the Father might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward those of us in union with Christ Jesus.

 

God will display His kindness…and God will display His wrath…although that is clearly not His preference…a fact that the nation Israel and The Jewish Race forgotten. God has not forgotten them or us.

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

ACTS 16:30

“…the jailer asked (Paul and Silas), “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

ROMANS 10:10

…for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

 

SECOND PETER 3:9

The Lord is not slow about His promise of salvation, as some accuse Him of, but instead He is patient toward you unbelievers, not wishing for any to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all to come to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

LUKE 19:10

“For the Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

 

CLOSING SONG

DEMONSTRATED LOVE

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

 

www.barahministries.com