There are many ways to find joy in life, not all of them are good or lasting.  There are many ways to manufacture emotion towards God, not all of them are good or lasting.  Lasting joy is only found in Truth.  My hope is that the wellspring for our joy in God would be infinite, unleashed and grounded in the never-changing Truth from the Word of God.  I say this because everything in our culture tells us that we are the center of the universe.  It is the “truth” that has been pressed into us from as long as we can remember.  It is the root of sin to believe that we are greater than God and should be regarded as such, yet many Christians harbor one last piece of pride against God, that God is contingent upon them, instead of their being contingent upon God.  No one has to be “taught” to believe that their will, their “free will”, is ultimately self-determining.  They believe that because it appeals to their nature.  Mind you, this kind of “free will” that is autonomous and ultimately self-determining is found nowhere in the Bible, not a single verse.  We have a will, that is without dispute, but why we will, what we will is governed by an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God who will not submit His good purpose for His glory for anything, let alone the whims of sinful man.

That message was once extremely offending to me personally.  I was confronted with this doctrine by a teacher about 10 years ago.  At the time, I was discouraged because this was a man I had looked up to, I trusted, and now he was telling me things about God that disturbed me a great deal.  I thought he was crazy.  I spent the next months reading my Bible searching for ways to prove that what he was saying about God was wrong, and in the end I was undone by Romans 9.  It was the nail in the coffin to my desire for “free will” as most define it, but it was also the beginning of a love of God for who He is, and His supremacy in all things.  Why do I share all this?  2 reasons.  First is that for those of you who have an initial negative reaction to what I’m going to share, I want you to know that’s ok – but don’t allow your personal views to be the arbiter of Truth – trust the Word of God as Truth and search the scriptures as I did to settle the matter for yourself.  Second, because I want you to know that doctrine by itself is pointless.  We do not press new truths of God into our heart and mind just so we can be “right” in an intellectual debate amongst Christians – the very thought of that disgusts me and churns my stomach to think of it.  We know and hold fast to our doctrine because it is the root of true, everlasting joy in God.  We endeavor to know God for the joy that comes with Him.  We hold doctrine because it dictates how we live our lives – your peace in life, how you engage a fallen world day to day will be governed by your view of God, and specifically the joy that you find in Him.

So before I go into Romans 9, which will last a number of weeks, followed by Romans 10, and 11, which will last a number of more weeks, I want to share three passages that helped guide my understanding of what is written in Romans 9.  The first is Proverbs 16 (the entire chapter, but spefically 16:9) – “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” This is about as clear as you can be, that a man wills, but the Lord is sovereign over what happens in a way that what comes about is the will of God.  The second was the exchange between Joseph who had been sold into slavery by his brothers, and those same brothers who feared Joseph and God’s wrath for their wrongdoing.  Genesis 50:19-20 – “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?  As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”  This one was difficult for me at first – it is saying that God desired sin on the part of Joseph’s brothers, brought it about, but yet God was good, because His purpose in everything was for good.  In the story, for the provision of food (life) for Israel, but metaphorical as a picture of God’s purpose for salvation for His people.  So the brothers willed something, selling Joseph into slavery because of their jealousy, but they willed that something because God desired it to be for His purpose.  Finally, as a  good baptist kid growing up, I was familiar with Philippians 2:12 – which says “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”  No problem there, it’s telling me I should seek obedience to God.. the problem is the next verse which says “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work according to His good pleasure.”  I didn’t remember hearing many sermons on that part… My willing was God at work in me to will and work, according to His good pleasure.

So all of these and other verses weighed in my mind as I came into Romans 9.  These verses have now been commended to you as well.  The rest of my time in Romans 9, 10, and 11, I will not make any concessions on the Truth of God to make it more “palatable”.  Each of us must wrestle with the Truth that comes, knowing that God is greater, that in all things He is good, and the joy to be found is infinite, eternal joy.  I will cover a great many questions that accompany God’s sovereignty and faithfulness over the coming weeks, but we would never reach Romans 12 if I sought to answer them all.  My prayer is that God gives us all soft hearts, ready for the Molder to grow us in the knowledge of the Truth, and that He would continue to do so for years to come.  My exhortation and expectation is the same as the author of Hebrews 10:37-39 which says, “For in just a little while, he who is coming (Jesus) will come and will not delay; but my righteous one will live by faith.  And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”  But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”  We will not shrink back, but will press forward together in the coming weeks and months, entrusting ourselves to our God and the Holy Spirit that will guide us into all Truth.

Grace and Peace,

Adam