Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.highlandparkbaptist.net/sermons/96893/the-problem-of-evil/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] We began looking at the biblical term of predestination or predestined. [0:19] If you weren't here last time, I would strongly suggest you pick up a copy of last week's! Because this is just a continuation and it will make a lot more sense. [0:29] If you read that, in the very simplest terms, we said that predestination means that God determined beforehand where we would spend our destiny. [0:41] Pre means before. Destiny is destination. What's our destination? God made a choice. He chose some individuals to be saved. Others, He chose to pass over and allow them to follow the consequences of their sins. [0:59] And I don't pretend for one moment that that's an easy statement. I came to that kicking and screaming. If you haven't come to that quite yet, it's time to kick and scream. [1:12] But it's there. And we need to explore it further. I said the last time that we would look at a couple of problem topics. Well, we're going to look at one, as it turns out, related to the doctrine of predestination. [1:29] And the one we're going to examine tonight is this. God's sovereignty, and we understand what that means, don't we? He's absolutely sovereign over all things. And the problem of evil. [1:43] How can they coexist? How can God be sovereign, and yet there's evil in the world? And we know that evil exists in this world on a massive scale. [1:56] Just a massive scale. The pastor was talking to me before the class this evening about, you know, reading true detective novels and books. And he said, some of that, you know, I just can't hardly take it. [2:08] I said, you ought to go into the scene. Some of them that I've been in. And I told him about a few of them. But there's evil, and it's massive. [2:20] And it leads to a very difficult question. How can evil coexist with a God who is both holy and sovereign? And this has been, for generations, a profound question for both theologians and philosophers. [2:44] They've pondered that. They've argued over it. They've written about it. And it leads to some troubling questions. And I could have listed a hundred of them. I think I listed three or four. If God is totally righteous, and He is, how could He create a universe where evil is present? [3:05] If all things come from God, does evil also come from God? Did evil enter the world against God's sovereign will? And if it did, how can God be absolutely sovereign? [3:17] These are what the theologians and philosophers have argued about for a long time. And they're troubling questions. Some may be beyond our ability to answer them. [3:29] They're certainly beyond my ability. And if any of you have struggled with such concepts, rest easy. Theologians and philosophers have struggled with them, and still do. [3:41] They come up with various solutions. But there's never been one, all-satisfying, all-encompassing answer to those above questions. [3:55] There just haven't been. But one of the most common answers we hear is that man's free will introduce sin and evil into the world. [4:07] Therefore, man is the author of sin. This is one of the solutions put forth. That's certainly a way to let God off the hook, as far as any blame. [4:20] But even if there is some truth in this, we're still left with the perplexing problem of God's sovereignty being trumped by man's freedom to choose. [4:33] So you see the predicament that we can conjure up in our own heads. There's all kind of paths we can go down here. So rather than ponder what we don't know, let's examine what we do know. [4:49] And by the way, that's good advice for anything. We know that Adam was created with a free will. And let me say this, and I'll probably come back to this. [5:00] It's not the free will that we talk about having. Because our free will is encompassed within a sin nature. [5:12] Adam didn't have a sin nature. He had the freedom to choose. And it was a whole different animal than what we have today. We also know that when he was given a choice, Adam chose the path of sin and disobedience. [5:32] Now, we have to remember, and we all know this, it was not God who committed sin. That's an impossibility. It was man. But that fact does not totally satisfy the problem of sin. [5:48] Where did Adam receive even the slightest inclination to sin? If in his DNA Adam had the desire to sin, does that not create a problem for us that our Creator would create something or someone with that propensity? [6:11] So we can string together all kinds of questions. On the other hand, if Adam was created without any desire to sin, then where did that desire originate? Where did it come from? Now, one simple solution put forth by many is the argument that sin came from the serpent. [6:30] I kind of like the argument that it came from the serpent and his wife, Adam's wife Eve. Blaming Eve, though, I found out will get married men in a lot of trouble at home. [6:45] And I have some experience with that. I know that's a shock to all of you. But it is fairly common to put all the blame on Satan. But that too is fraught with some danger signs. [7:01] If the sin was totally Satan's, then man is still innocent and the atonement of Christ was unnecessary. If all the sin is Satan's, then why the atonement? [7:15] And do you see how we can journey quickly out onto the thin ice? And it's not only thin ice, but it's August in Oklahoma. [7:26] So, you know, we're up to our next. Adam and Eve were created good. They had a free will. [7:37] It was a free will that no human after them has experienced down to this day. When we speak of the free will and our first parents, it is different from the freedom of choices we have today. [7:52] But it would seem that a simple explanation for sin is that our original parents had a total free will and they chose to sin. And that would seem to absolve God of any blame for sin entering into the world. [8:07] And we know God is not responsible for sin entering into the world in the sense that He commanded it, ordered it, or committed it. God is incapable of sinning. [8:19] The argument goes like this. Adam had the ability to sin and he had the ability not to sin. They were equally in balance in his life. [8:32] Adam, when given a choice, chose to sin. Adam chose to sin. But that still leaves us with perplexing problems. Why did Adam choose to sin? [8:46] Before someone can commit an act of sin, they must have the desire to do so. And that desire rears its ugly head in my life all too often. [8:59] But you've got to have a desire to sin. And the Bible makes it very clear that sinful actions flow from sinful desires. [9:14] We sin in this day and since the Garden of Eden, we sin because we're sinners. And we're not going to spend a lot of time this evening on the sin nature. [9:27] We'll do that in some future lesson. But now we're encompassed within a sin nature. And that's going to be an interesting study. But we sin because we're sinners. [9:39] That's absolutely and abundantly clear. We were born with a sin nature. We are fallen creatures. And fallen creatures sin. [9:50] But Adam and Eve, when they were created, were not fallen. Neither did they have a sin nature as we know it today. They got one along the way, but they didn't start out with it. [10:05] The sin nature we possess today is a product of the fall in the Garden of Eden. And by fall, I'm not talking about autumn. I'm talking about when they fell. The wellhead of humanity was poisoned in the Garden. [10:22] And everything that has flowed from that wellhead since has been tainted with sin. Everything. So let me state the problem clearly. [10:34] Adam and Eve were good creatures. They had a free will. They lived in a perfect environment. They even walked with God in the garden in the cool of the evening. [10:50] Boy, wouldn't that be neat to do? And by the way, Adam was walking with the second person of the Trinity, appearing in his pre-incarnate state in what theologians called a theophany. [11:04] I've also seen it as Christophany. So why, when they had all this going for them, did they choose to sin? Well, the answer is very simple, but it is profound. [11:19] It is absolutely profound. We don't know. So quit reading books by some philosopher that says, I know. [11:29] He doesn't know. He doesn't know. I don't know. And neither does any other human that ever lived or ever will live until Jesus returns. [11:40] I will say to you married men, don't ever say to your wife, well, I wish I'd been there instead of Adam. It would have been a lot better. Because your wife will say what mine did, we'd be in a lot worse shape than we are if you had been there. [11:52] That was her explanation. Do you believe she would say that, Lee? Yeah, you can. We simply do not know why they chose to sin and enter into disobedience to their Maker. [12:07] Adam had received very clear warnings from God as to the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit. [12:19] Adam was with his wife when the sin occurred. I say that because I used to say jokingly, Adam was in the next county on an agriculture project. [12:31] When he came back, he saw what Eve had done. And then my wife brought up the fact that it says, Adam who was with her, and he should have stopped her. [12:43] He should have stopped her. She said, whoa, God told us not to do this, and you're not going to do this. He should have done that. And his failure to intervene, and quite honestly, his failure to protect his wife from the influence of the serpent, was so horrific that it has ever since been labeled as Adam's sin. [13:08] You never read about Eve's sin. It's Adam's sin. In fact, I've read where Eve was... What's the word I'm looking for here? [13:18] Satan deceived her. But Adam, he made a clear choice. He made a very clear choice. So we have culpability on the part of Adam, on the part of Eve, and on the part of the serpent. [13:34] But one thing we do know is that God had no culpability in this sin. God is never the author of sin. [13:45] But we are talking about the sovereignty of God and the problem of sin. And because God is sovereign, we also know that he foreordains everything, either causing it to happen, or permitting it to happen. [14:04] And we've already studied those truths. We must therefore conclude, though with a very shallow understanding, that God must have foreordained or permitted the entrance of sin into the world of man. [14:23] That in no way says that God forced our parents to sin. He didn't do that. And God certainly did not impose evil on his creatures. [14:36] In God's wisdom, he allowed or permitted it to happen for his purpose. For his purpose. Now, whatever transpired, God remained sovereign, and God is therefore still God. [14:54] His involvement in sin is an act... Let me say that again, because I put a wrong pronoun in there. Our involvement in sin is an act of unrighteousness. [15:09] And let me quickly add this. The fact that God permitted us to sin in no way absolves us from our responsibilities for our sin as we stand before Him in judgment. [15:23] We are not absolved... Humanity is not absolved from sin. So how does all this play out as it pertains to the salvation of God's creatures? Remember, we are fallen creatures living in a fallen world. [15:40] We live even as believers with unredeemed flesh. Paul talks about the war going on inside him. I mean, read Romans 6 and 7. [15:51] It just will rip your guts apart. Because that's a Christian man having to deal with the sin problem. But never read 7 of Romans without at least going to the first part of 8. [16:06] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You always want to get to chapter 8 when you're doing that. So how does this play out for fallen creatures in a fallen world? [16:21] If our salvation is totally dependent upon us, and God is sitting in heaven as a spectator, wringing His hands, hoping that someone will get saved, we are in the deep end of the pool with no hope of rescue. [16:40] So let's consider the issue of salvation in relation to our sovereign God in a fallen world. We have some options which I shamelessly have stolen from some theologians that I actually trust. [16:58] God could decide to provide no opportunity for anyone to be saved. He's not going to save anybody. He would have that right. [17:09] He's God. God could provide an opportunity for all to be saved. Opportunity. God could intervene directly and ensure that salvation of all people. [17:25] Or God could intervene directly and ensure the salvation of some people. These are choices. And regardless of one's position on all of this, the true Christian of any denomination if it's a true believer does not hold to that first view that God decided not to provide salvation for anyone. [17:53] God is in the business of saving people. And if you get a copy of the lesson tonight and you read that, I left out the negative word, no. It looks like I'm saying God's not saved. [18:03] I don't mean that God doesn't save. He clearly does. Reformed theology teaches that based upon predestination, option number four is the answer. [18:14] Not everybody subscribes to that. Probably most of the church does not. But that God intervened directly to ensure the salvation of some people. I like to put it this way. [18:24] When Jesus was on the cross, we were on His mind. I'm working on a song with that. You know. But it's true. [18:35] I mean, did Jesus' sacrifice merely make salvation possible for everyone while saving no one or did it actually save some people? [18:51] And I hold to that. I hold to that. That option, four, teaches that God actively intervenes in the lives of His elect creatures to ensure their salvation. [19:04] And in that model, God receives all the credit and all the glory. I had an interesting discussion with a good friend of mine, former member of our church now in another denomination. [19:16] And he can't buy any of this. And I'll just say his name is Bill and he's gone back to Arkansas. So that's pretty clear. I said, Bill, when you get to heaven, how much credit are you going to give God for your salvation? [19:31] He said, well, all of it. I said, why? You just told me all the things you did to get yourself saved. Why are you giving him part of it but don't give him all of it? Well, no, I have to give him all. [19:42] I said, I'm okay. God receives all the credit and all the glory. Others are given sufficient evidence to be saved if they want to be but without God's intervention they don't want to. [19:58] You know, Paul said in Romans that men are without excuse. I mean, go out tonight and look up and you know somebody's been at work. You know, the heavens themselves declare the glory of God. [20:13] It's always sad when I read of scientists like the late Dr. Carl Sagan who taught us a lot about astronomy but he lost God in the beauty of his heaven that he created and so many of those guys have. [20:30] Without God's intervention no man will even want Christ much less choose him as their Lord and Savior. But there is the rub and the problem. [20:43] The non-reformed view of predestination is that every fallen person has the full capacity to choose Christ. Mankind is never viewed as so fallen that it takes an intervention of God as John Calvin believed and Luther and others. [21:03] This non-reformed view pictures man as casting the final ballot as to his ultimate destiny so many in the in the non-reformed world would pick option two. [21:18] God provides an opportunity for all to be saved and then he sits back and he waits. But it is at that very point that both the reform and non-reformed views have a common problem. [21:34] If God does ensure the salvation of some people why does he not ensure the salvation of all people? Why didn't God just save everyone? And let me tell you I've heard that a lot over the years. [21:50] I think I used to ask that question. I've heard it in here on Sunday mornings going back years and years. And so let me take this in parts. And one question is does God have the power to save everyone if he chose to do so? [22:09] And the only answer that we can give to that regardless of our perspective is certainly certainly he can. He's the omnipotent God. [22:23] God would not be sovereign if he did not have the power to save or even save everyone. But having that power why didn't he use it to ensure the salvation of all people? [22:36] And again I think the first and probably best answer is well we don't know. That was God's choice. God is God. He can choose to do what he pleases. [22:48] A lot of people don't like that and they challenge it. In the ninth chapter of Romans someone presented Paul with this dilemma and he provided a perfect Holy Spirit inspired answer. [22:59] Who are you old man to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder why have you made me like this? [23:09] Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and for another and another for dishonorable use? He's the potter. [23:21] We're the clay. I mean that's just simple. He's the potter. We're the clay. But often I've had people ask me why didn't God just save everyone? [23:34] And I've got a standard answer to all that. That's an inappropriate question. The more appropriate question is why did God choose to save any of us? [23:48] Why did he save Tom Holland? Some of you know me pretty well. You're probably asking that too. I ask it all the time. Why did he save any of us? [24:02] He was under no obligation to do so. And remember our salvation was dependent upon the willingness of God the Father to sacrifice his dear son the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. [24:18] Go and get arrested by the Jews who whip up on you. Turn you over to the Romans who whip up on you even worse. And then the cruel horrible experience of death on the cross to atone for our sins. [24:35] And I'm being real honest here. I mean I've got sons. I love you guys but I don't leave you that much. I'm sorry. I'll sacrifice my life but I'm not going to sacrifice my boys. [24:49] I've often wondered why God just didn't start over. You know? He says down with Jesus and the Holy Spirit three persons of the Trinity and said hey you know what? [25:02] I'm going to get rid of Adam and Eve. They blew it. I'm going to bring in another pair of humans that won't go down the path of disobedience and people would argue that well you can't do that because that would foster criticism of God for originally creating a defective pair of humans. [25:19] Well no it wouldn't foster that. We would never have known. We would never have known. He could have easily erased the memory of Adam and Eve. [25:33] I mean that's my solution and that's why I'm not God. One of many reasons I might add. We know that God saves people. [25:44] We know that God saves some people. Paul said I've come that some people might get saved. God used Paul in that way. And we also know that some people and we could probably we can say there are more people reject the evidence of the reality of God and they wind up in hell. [26:08] And one argument I've actually heard this is that God is too much of a gentleman to impose His will on people and violate their free will. Well he violated mine thank God because I didn't have anything going for me when I came to the Lord. [26:24] I've got a beautiful picture I'm going to copy that one of these it's in color it's bright light Apostle Paul is on the ground his horse has fallen on him one of his assistants is trying to get him out from me the horse Paul is already blinded by this light and it says I was on the way to Damascus to kill Christians but I decided to exercise my free will and get saved. [26:51] it's a beautiful picture but one argument says well God's too much of a gentleman that brings no comfort to someone already in hell I can almost hear people crying out from the abyss saying why didn't you impose your will on me why didn't you coerce me into believing I believe everyone and anyone in hell would gladly sacrifice their free will for a second chance at eternal life with God so why didn't God save everyone and again I say well we really don't know but I do know this if God is pleased to save some people and pass over others leaving them in their sins there's nothing wrong with that because God never does anything wrong God is under no obligation to save anyone and the fact that he would save even one person is a testimony to his marvelous grace and mercy additionally the fact that God does save some sinners in no way obligates him to save all of humanity the word of God makes it abundantly clear that God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy but the attack upon reformed theology intensifies at this point the human cry which by the way [28:29] I've heard many times is that such a system as this would be colossally unfair and boy I hear charges of this often this is just not fair it's unfair well that leads to even further problem what do people mean by the use of the word fair and by the word by the way the word God doesn't have anything to say about fairness it does use the word fair as to complexion but it's silent on that but it opens up some other problems what do we mean by the use of the word fair and remember those accusing God of being unfair are like we made of dirt and leveling an accusation at the most high God and creator of everything is dirt going to cry out and say you're not fair I don't think so when men say [29:32] God is not fair let me tell you what they're really saying he's not equal he doesn't give us equal treatment is not God required by the so called fairness doctrine which doesn't exist to treat every human equally the short answer to that is no he's not required to do that the longer answer is no God does not treat God does not treat all men equally now God is impartial God is not a respecter of persons but look think of this God appeared to Moses in the burning bush he never appeared to Pharaoh in the burning bush Pharaoh could argue well that was unfair God gave tremendous blessings to [30:34] Israel that he withheld from Egypt and all the nations around there the ites remember the Hittites and the Jebusites and the all the ites God appeared to Paul on the Damascus road he never appeared to the high priest of Israel that sent Paul on his mission but he appears to Paul and we could go on forever with these comparisons the fact that God has simply not treated every human being in history the same way this in no way violates God's impartiality or the fact he's not a respecter of persons but let me eliminate the word fair and equal from our vocabulary for a moment I'm going to put in another word let's put in the word just it does not seem just to a lot of people for God to choose some to receive grace and mercy while others do not receive these twin blessings now there is a general grace the worst of sinners worst rejecter of Christ in the world that's alive today is breathing [31:49] God's air drinking God's water eating food provided him by God so in that sense you know it reigns on the just and the unjust we understand that that's called general grace we're talking about specific grace here but let me ask a tantalizing question what is the opposite of justice well in the world of man where we live the opposite of justice is injustice I mean those that's clear you got justice you got injustice but that's not true when it comes to God the opposite of justice if there is an opposite is mercy and we're going to we're going to kind of graph this out we're going to graph this out in in his word the opposite of justice is mercy in his world I should say and again [32:49] I want to borrow from Dr. Sproul here we know that all men are guilty of sin in the sight of God all men out of the mass of guilty sinners God for his own purpose decided to give mercy to some of them well what do the others receive they receive justice this is my point in this and it's a major one nobody receives injustice nobody now I've got a big circle up here that looks more like an egg this is every human that ever lived they're all in here the whole gaggle of them and none of them could get out of that circle because of the sin problem [33:51] God has to bring us out and he does that and we'll get back to this in just a second but now we've got two circles a little bit better you've got justice and the normal thing would be to write injustice but that's not true it's mercy God deals with humanity in one of two ways through justice or through mercy nobody receives injustice from God the psalmist tells us in Psalm 89 14 that the very foundation of God's throne is righteousness and justice didn't say righteousness and fairness said righteousness and justice it is impossible for God to treat anyone with the slightest degree of injustice because [35:11] God cannot sin and that would be sin injustice is sin it is foreign to everything God stands for now this is a description of the manner in which God deals with humanity everyone in that big circle that has ever lived ever will live is guilty of sin in the eyes of God all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God there is none righteous not even one we can go on and on and on with those from this total mass of guilty humanity God selects or elects to dispense mercy to some but what do the rest receive they receive justice those being saved receive mercy and the unsaved receive justice and I've had people say this to me more than once I just gives me the willies I demand justice from God boys don't ever demand justice from God you might get it we don't want justice we don't want justice [36:18] I don't even want justice from Diane I sure don't want it from the omnipotent God who knows everything about me down to the subconscious every thought every motive every sin and again I say nobody gets injustice from God now we've got these two circles and we label it justice but the other is not labeled injustice you could say over there non-justice because mercy is non-justice see my point there it is non-justice we're not getting what we deserve we're getting a free gift now instead of you have that one large circle containing lost humanity we have these two circles people here are lost and people in those circles some are saved God took some of the lost and saved them so we see God giving justice to some and we see him granting mercy to others the fact that one person gets mercy does not demand that God give everyone mercy he is the one who reserves the right of executive clemency and let me say this [37:34] God did not look down the corridors of time we'll talk about this when we get to Romans 8 29 to the end of the chapter 28 actually to the end God did not look down and see something in each of us say boy I'm going to give those guys mercy they deserve that that's salvation by merit I don't care how slight it's still meritorious and salvation is never by merit it's unmerited undeserved unearned God didn't see some spark in us God looked at me he didn't see heat I've never told you guys what I was saved out of I don't want to get into that tonight I got saved when I was 30 married at 29 saved at 30 God is the one who gives grants executive clemency now this all flies in the face of many people including many [38:39] Christian people who think this method is fundamentally unfair back for that word so I'm going to do something tonight I'm going to give you an example I want to introduce you to two fictional characters tonight I had to come up with some names and even now I'm hoping I didn't name anybody in here I had nobody in mind here okay but I came up with Ted and Ben we got two guys Ted and Ben now these are fictional characters but let me tell you their life pattern has been repeated millions of times over the course of history I've dealt with a lot of Ted and Ben in my life in law enforcement starting in 1971 Ted and Ben were not good boys growing up and they got into a lot of trouble pretty early and that increased the older they got and by the time they reached their mid twenties they had a pretty healthy arrest record at the local police department had actually served some jail time in the county jail for some petty crimes and then they hit the big time after some planning and while on a mixture of alcohol and drugs [40:20] Ted and Ben broke into a house a nice home on the edge of town a local businessman lived there and it was rumored that he kept large sums of money on the premises they had only been in the house a few moments when they were confronted by a very angry homeowner coming out of his bedroom with a nine iron in his hand the boys pounced on him a knife was produced and the man was stabbed in the heart killing him instantly hearing a commotion his wife came out of the bedroom and was confronted with this horrible scene husband lying dead with some blood not a lot of blood when you're stabbed in the heart and he's lying dead at the feet of these two criminals she begins to scream and they pulled her back into the bedroom where she was violated she was then killed as the criminals begin to ransack the house they heard another sound and suddenly they're standing face to face to the couple's four-year-old daughter not wanting to be identified she was killed now realize this is fiction and you may be sitting like you know this is more than [41:53] I can absorb surely that wouldn't happen that very thing happened last year late last year in a state north of here except the four-year-old was actually 17 months old 17 months and it was a boy and he was killed now what these boys didn't know is this home had a great security system most of their actions were captured on film law enforcement responded but is in the county so they have to come from quite a ways and the alarm company had to notify them as they were coming out of the house splattered in blood and we call that blood splatter they're both arrested at gun point handcuffed and separated standard police practice they both individually confessed to the crime but put all of the blame on the other that's also very standard and in the eyes of the law it doesn't matter they're equally guilty but that's standard they both received a court appointed defense attorney which taxpayers paid tax money paid him he tried his very best to lie them out of the crime that's also standard but the evidence was overwhelming both were convicted both sentenced to death for this horrendous crime after 18 years of numerous appeals several times all the way to the [43:38] US Supreme Court and that's standard their sentence was affirmed and the boys were scheduled to die by lethal injection this is the night of their execution now there's something you need to know here from a legal standpoint the only people in America that can pardon a criminal is the president of the United States or the governor of that state when a person is pardoned by the president or the governor that neither of those individuals are under any obligation to explain their actions and their actions are not subject to appeal you can't appeal that in every death chamber there is a hotline direct to the governor or if it's a federal case there is a hotline direct for the president either can stop the process at the last moment and grant a stay for further evidence or a pardon now back to our story these boys are just moments from poison entering their veins they haven't pushed the button yet and an execution and the phone ranks the governor's phone and it was the governor the warden picks it up quickly everything comes to a stand still and the governor says [45:05] I've pardoned Ted now in reality he would commute his sentence probably life without parole but for our purposes I've pardoned Ted Ted's pardoned go forward with the execution of Ben I've not pardoned him Ted leaves Ben is executed now here's the question was that unfair to Ben was that unfair he got executed I heard something that's a good answer and I'm not trying to set you up for embarrassment but was it unfair and I'll tell you what the answer is and Wes has already said it it is never unfair to receive what you deserve it's never unfair to receive what you deserve whether from the state the federal government or God it's never unfair to receive what you deserve what about us what do we deserve what does the Bible say death and hell every human deserves that because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the fact that some of us do not get what we deserve is a testimony of [46:45] God's grace and mercy but it is not a testimony of unfairness others receive justice nothing unfair about justice getting what you deserve but the real question that we should ponder from time to time is why God has an inclination to be merciful to anyone no requirement on his part to be merciful yet we see the Lord freely dispensing mercy to those who do not deserve it and think and I've already alluded to this but think about how that applies to the apostle Paul he's on his way to Damascus to kill Christians and the Lord Jesus saves him the Lord saves him what should we do as hard as this may be to hear we need to get to the point in our walk where we can praise [47:46] God for his mercy and we can praise him for his justice because they are both equal traits of the living God part of his character these both flow from God his mercy and his justice when God grants mercy to someone he is doing nothing wrong when God executes justice on someone he's doing nothing wrong God can do those things let's close tonight with this scripture rolling around in your heads tonight when you go to bed right out of Romans chapter 9 starting in verse 10 when Rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather Isaac though they were not yet born and had done nothing good or bad in order that [48:48] God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls she was told the older will serve the younger that was unheard of in Jewish culture as it is written Jacob I loved but Esau I hated what shall we say then is there injustice on God's part by no means and I'm told that's a strong phrase in the original language let it never be don't ever accuse God of injustice for he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion so then it depends not on human will or exertion now what does that mean depends on the version you're reading but that is your will or your works you can't work your way to salvation and you can't will it it's God who has mercy for the scripture says to Pharaoh for this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth so then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills you will say to me then why does he still find fault for who can resist his will then Paul says who are you old man to answer back to [50:31] God well what is molded say to his molders why have you made me like this has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use another for dishonorable use what if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has called which he has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles but also Thank you.