Subject: “Does not the potter have power over the clay?” Romans 9:21
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”
20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonou r?
Romans 9:19-21
YET ANOTHER PROFOUND ASPECT OF GOD REVEALED
1. This aspect of God may be called “Divine sovereignty”
2. The mercy of God is profound and difficult to comprehend
3. The Sovereignty of God is even harder to fathom
OBJECTIONS TO GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
1. “Why does He still find fault?”
a) Why does God find fault with Man?
b) Man did not come about by himself
2. “For who has resisted His will?”
a) The Will of God is all-powerful
b) No one can resist and thwart His will
3. On the surface
a) These questions seem valid
b) God cannot blame Man if he is sinful
c) God did not make Man invulnerable to sin
4. But this line of reasoning is incorrect
a) Man is made in the image of God
b) He is capable of overcoming sin
c) God’s word to Cain
6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Genesis 4:6-7
i) Why was Cain angry?
ii) If he did well, he would be accepted too
iii) Sin lies at the door
iv) Sin’s desire is to overwhelm the man
v) Cain needs to rule over sin!
5. The example of the Lord Jesus Christ
a) The Word became flesh (John 1:14)
b) He humbled Himself fully (Philippians 2)
c) He overcame sin, the world, flesh and the Devil
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
Romans 9:20-21
1. A quote from Isaiah 29
15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
16 Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
Isaiah 29:15-16
a) Arrogance of Israel
b) Defiance of the sinful
2. The Correct response
8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
9 Do not be furious, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!
Isaiah 64:8-9
a) Humility
b) Prayerful plea
3. God’s sovereignty Potter and Clay Imagery
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.