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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the Bibleignmenistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Today’s message will help you to see how God works in the Christian’s life. as good as anything I think you’ll find. So I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans, the book of Romans and chapter 9. Romans and chapter 9. I brought many messages over the years from the book of Romans and I’ve even talked before about the potter and the clay. But this is more along the lines of the power of the potter, the power of the potter.

And if you follow me, I believe you’ll understand the Book of Romans better and you’ll also understand a little bit more about how God works in your personal life. It can help you. So here in the Book of Romans in chapter 9, there are some verses that seems to say that everything that happens is the will of God. And there are people that really believe that it doesn’t matter good, bad, or indifferent, everything is the will of God. And so I often wondered if those who do believe that, when they pay their insurance and they have a car accident, do they file a claim?

I mean, if it’s the will of God. But anyway, move right along. Look at verse 14. Verse 14, chapter 9 says, what shall we say then? Is their unrighteousness with God? Because isn’t it true that sometimes we judge what God does? That’s not fair. And God loves some people more than he loves others. And God blesses some people more than he blesses others. I mean, he gave somebody a million dollar, he didn’t give me a million. We’re always sitting in judgment on God, wondering why God does what he does or why he doesn’t stop, but he could have stopped if he’s in charge.

Look at all the bad things that going on in life that, well, if God so loved the whole world, why is he letting us go through all of this? Well, I’m glad you asked. So he makes a statement verse 15, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runeth but of God that showeth mercy.

For the scripture sayeth unto Pharaoh, even for the same purpose have I raised the yep that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the land. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou will say unto me then, why did he yet find fault? For who hath resisted as will. If God does everything He wants to do and you can’t do anything contrary to his will, then how did I violate the will of God?

If everything that I do, good, bad, or indifferent, was the will of God.” So he says here in verse 19, “…Thou will say unto me, Who hath or why doth he yet find fault, for who hath resisted his will, Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed, say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Have not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel in the honor and another vessel in the dishonor?

Wow, those are some very powerful verses. And it sometimes gives you the impression that whatever will be will be. And this is why sometimes there’s people who believe that God is already predetermined who he’s going to save. So they are going to go to heaven. And he’s already turned determined, you know, if he didn’t save him, then they have to go to hell. So it doesn’t matter if we witness it, we don’t witness because, you know, if they’re going to be saved, they’re going to be saved.

And if they’re lost, they’re already lost. And God already knows who’s going to heaven and he knows who’s going to hell. So what difference does it make? Eat, drink, and be married for tomorrow, we die it. A die. So this is why people have a problem with these verses. But I want to address this because sometime we look at the 19th and 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews and say, okay, that’s chapter 9, the past. Chapter 10 is the present.

Chapter 11 is the future. We can take those three chapters right out of the book of Romans and go from chapter 8 straight into chapter 12 and it flows perfectly. And it does. It’s amazing. But I believe chapter 9, 10, and 11 is in there for a reason. There’s a reason why it’s there, and I want to show that to you. Look at your notes there. The first point we want to make is the will of the potter. We need to know what is the will of the potter.

What is he trying to do? Before we get there, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah chapter 45 and look there in verse 9, verse 9, because this also hits the same subject, the power of the potter, the power of the maker, the creator of the world who has the right to do what he wants to do and he’s laid it down and says now this is how I’m going to work.

So in verse 9 this is on page 754 in the Bible. But in verse 9 says, woe unto him that striveth with his maker. Let the potchards strive with the potchards of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it? What make us thou, or thy wirt, he hath no hands. So why is God doing what he’s doing the way that God does it? And I was told the other day that that, you know, we talked about this, clay is clay.

You and I are made out of the clay, the dust of the earth. And I says, you know, a rose by any other name is still a rose. And a ranch meeting, a ranch is a ranch, I don’t give what you call it, a ranch is still a ranch. And a door is a door, unless it’s a jar. But anyway, we’ll move right along. The Bible says that God the Maker is able to take the clay and there’s a purpose on why God does what He does.

And so I want you to go back to the book of Romans and while you’re going there you look at little letter A there. The will of the potter is to give the clay the power to perform. You see there’s things that God wants from us and He’s the potter, we’re the clay. So he wants to give to the clay the power to perform because how do I perform the will of God? So God has to have the will of the potter because if he shapes me in any way, forms me, it must be for a purpose.

So I need to know what is the purpose that God had in mind. True transformation cannot be the results of natural means. In other words, there’s the things in this world, but you see, once you trust Christ to save it, you are a spiritual individual. So you are transformed by spiritual means and it’s not the natural things. So that means that God’s going to use some spiritual things to accomplish His purpose in spiritual things. So we are all just hunks of clay.

And some clay is shaped different than others. And some of these young fellows sitting down here on the front row, now right now they’re at that stage where they don’t like girls. But a little bit later they’re going to start liking girls. And they’re going to see that the clay is shaped differently. But they need to remember that as you get older, even that hourglass figure, all the the sand will go to the bottom. There’s more there than meets the eye.

But you and I need to understand that there’s the potter and he has a will for the clay. That’s you and me. We’re the clay and he’s going to shape us. Remember when God made the first man? He formed him from the dust of the ground and breathed into his noss of the breath of life and man became a living soul, God had a purpose. So with every one of us God has a purpose. Understand, and I want you to see this, look in Romans in chapter 3, because 9, 10, and 11 deals with the nation of Israel, but he’s letting us know that the problems with the Gentiles is the Gentiles are hardened clay.

And then he talks about the Jewish people’s, and even though he gave them the word of God and they had an advantagediskReleased they were hardened. And Clay, Luke, what he says in verse 1, chapter 3, what advantage then half the Jew or what prophet is there of circumcision? Much every way chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. So God has given to them the divine word. And then as you’ll notice in your note. notes there that God also has giveninished to us something else.

You see the clay has to be shaped and molded. So whenever you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, when you believe that when Christ died he died for you and you trusted himriticalDEFkefebted then he has taken you as a piece of clay and you’ve put you on this little pot Adinidawheel He wants to make something out of you. You are a child of God. That just gives you the new birth. That puts you in the potter’s hands by choice.

And that’s the thing that God wants to apply in order to make it you know, in the potter’s hands. us that he gives to us the word of God. And if the clay will receive the word, he also makes a statement. And I want you to see this. Look in the book of Romans in chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse884 says, for as many and are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And this is an This is an understanding that only those who are theasures of God can be led by the spirit of God.

So it is the Holy Spirit that leads His children. A lot of God’s children will be led and some of them will not be. But the Spirit can only lead and guide His children. So you are a hunk of clay. You have a physical body and God wants to accomplish something in your life. So he implies though. You can recognize the Word and the Holy Spirit to the clay and you’re the one that as a child of God can be receptive.

You can let the Word of God marinate in the clay. This is why he says study the Word of God and yield to the Holy Spirit soSword it can shape and form the clay. If you reject. Agric You will not let the Holy Spirit lead you according to the word of the Lord of God, then you will be a a piece of clay that will be hard677Fal.820. And God may.”,” break the clay and they are going to break the clay and they are going to break the clay and they are going to break the .

And the Holy Spirit lead you according to the word of God, then you will be a piece So this is why this is WRITE how, so%” So look there inCertain distingu You notice that I have performed as one risen from the requ fixme from the dead. You. 883 Sounders You see the Lordmedi I creator mmol the one who saved us in took us into into into into into into intoicularly ce us to live and perform as has been mmolURRENT been ingovtrackparser from the435 You say, well that, that’s impossible.

Yeah, I know. There you go. It’s impossible. And hepointers also let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. All right, let’s just look there in chapter six. Notice what he says in verse one. He says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin? That grace may answer would be no. So God does not want his children to continue living in In verse two, God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

So God wants you and I to live as someone who has come back from the dead. Now we’re supposed to live this miraculous. DragonMagazine as though we’ve never sinned. So that’s going to be pretty rough. How in the The world is a challenge God supposed to be able to perform the will of God. How can the clay fulfill? The will of the potter. So God is going to tell us how he’s going to do that. This is the purpose of chapter nine and chapter 10 and chapter 11 because it deals with this subject of the potter who has the power over the clay.

But don’t forget this. The Bible is not teaching only that God has a will, but that man has a will. Look there in your Bible. the book of Romans in chapter six. Romans chapter six, and notice what he says in verse 13. Now look at your notes and they have the will of the clay. How do you perform the perfect will of God when you don’t know how to perform? I don’t know how to change me. See, you may have trusted Christ to save you.

They’d give you eternal life. You’re now a child of God. But God wants to do something in your life. He wants to change you into something. But what is it? What does this potter want to mold me into an image of what? What am I supposed to do? Or what am I supposed to be? And so you see there to perform, you must yield. Look in chapter 6 of Romans and verse 13. Verse 13 He says, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness.

Understand. But yield yourself unto God. You’ll notice this word here, yield, that’s your choice. It means you have a will. God did not destroy your will. So there is the will of the potter, and there is the will of the clay. God will not violate your will. God as the potter wants to shape the clay into his will according to your will. If you rebel against the Word and rebel against the Holy Spirit, then you cannot be shaped or fashioned, formed or transformed by the renewing of your mind.

It’s impossible. So God tells us how He’s going to do what He is going to do. Now, I put it there in bold, so I want you to look at it. Yielding reveals it is the clay that makes the choice. So how does God work? Now, He goes to and explains the problem because every one of us wants to know How do I perform? So I’m glad you asked that question. Look in verse 18 of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7 verse 18 says, for I know that in that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me.

In other words, man has a will. You see that’s mentioned in verse 15, 16 and 17, where he says, for that which I do, I allow allow not. For what I would, that’s his choice, it’s a will. That do I not. But what I hate, you have the will, the hate, but not do. See, it’s your will. God did not destroy the will of the clay, which many people teach that man has no will and God imputes his will upon a person against their will and it doesn’t matter.

But notice in verse 17, now that in his numeral eye that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me. I have the will I want to fulfill the will of the potter. I want the potter to use me, to shape me, to mold me, to make me into the pattern that thou hast planned. Remember years ago I read a little poem to y’all where I quoted her something.

When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and He shows His plan for me, the plan of my life had He had His way and I see. How I checked Him here and I checked Him there and I would not yield my will, though He would have me rich. And I stand there poor, poor of all but His grace. while memory runs like a haunted dream down the past, I cannot retrace. Lord of the years that are left for me, I give them into thy hand to take me, mow me, make me into the pattern that thou hast planned.

So there is the will of man that you can choose, yes, I want the will of God for my life. And by doing so, you can be some clay that God can shape shape and mold. And if you harden your heart against the will of God, then you’ll be a piece of clay that God will set aside and not be able to use. Because, see, he can’t shape or form you against your will. So does man have a will?

As you read here, you’ll find out, yes, man has a will. Does God have a will? Yes, God has a will. So how is God going to do all of this? How can man find fault with God for doing what God wants to do? God says, I did it this way because I’m not going to take and go against a person’s will. You can yield or not yield. But why tell us to yield if it’s really, I don’t have a choice one way or the other.

Evidently, we do have choices. We can choose one way or the other. So he says in the last part of verse 18, very important. He says, for to will is present with me, but, and see those words, how to perform. How do I perform as a piece of clay? The will of God. So God has the power to shape the clay, so the clay can perform the will of God. This is why he says, study, to show thyself approved unto God, a work that need not to be shamed, so that he can perform the will of God.

scriptures given by inspiration of God, that the man of God can be thoroughly furnished unto every good work so that he can perform. Do the work God wants him to do. But that’s why God gave us his word. And this is why you’ll find out God uses some people and not other people, because some people will yield and some people will not yield. That’s the person’s choice. Now look at number three there in your notes. Potter presents his perfect plan to the clay.

Go to chapter 9 of the book of Romans. Chapter 9 is the past of Israel, chapter 10, the present time of Israel. And chapter 11 is about Israel’s future. But under chapter 9 we have God chooses the clay. God chooses the clay. So God reached down upon this world and he chose a hunk of clay and he’s going to make something out of this clay. And the clay says all that he asked us to do, we will do. So the will of the clay was yes.

And so that’s why as a nation they promised God they would do the will of the Father. And so he gave them the Word, took them into the land, and he promised blessings, and then they rebelled against God. They wouldn’t listen to what God’s Word had to say, what the prophets had to say. They didn’t listen to the warnings that Moses had given them in chapter 18 of the book of Deuteronomy and so forth, and they rebelled against the Lord.

They hardened themselves, and so God took them out of the land. So there was a time when Israel was young and he could shape him a little bit and mold him a little bit, put him into the land like he had promised, and then Israel hardened himself. And so God set him aside. And that’s why you find that the Lord says, looking verse 6 of chapter 9, though not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect as though the Word of God has no effect.

There are some people, individuals that did believe. But as a nation, the clay hardened itself. And so because it hardened himself, God set them aside. So when you get to chapter 10, in this present time in which we live, Israel did not submit themselves unto the righteousness that God sent. You see, that’s why he made this statement in verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. But Israel wouldn’t believe that. And that’s why he makes the statement in the verse three, looking in verse three, for they be an ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness.

See those words have not submitted. When you will not submit your will to God and will not believe the gospel that God gave that a man can be saved by grace and grace alone, you harden yourself against that truth. But then you’re going to have to find a substitute, something else to believe beside the truth. Does God tell us that salvation, good in heaven, is by grace alone. That’s the best news that anybody’s ever heard in their whole life.

But if you don’t believe that, you’re going to have to believe that you’re saved by your works. It’s either grace or it’s works. It’s either free or you You gotta earn it. And if it’s grace, well that makes you happy. How many of you know you’re going to heaven when you die? Let me see you hand. Okay, put it down. I mean, no, you’re gonna hell. No, no, no, no. See, aren’t you happy you’re going to heaven because you know you’re going to heaven because you know it doesn’t depend on you?

Because grace does that. But if you’re saved by your works, well, you’ll have to wait till you die to find out if you’re good enough. So God says it’s not by your works. But people are going to do that anyway. So there’s a lot of people who have hardened themselves against the truth of God. Israel had done just that. They went about establishing their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God. So as a nation God took that hardened clay and set them aside.

Now is God wrong for doing this? No. It’s because their will clashed with the will of God. You see, God has already decided to work with any clay that will yield to him, but he will not do it against your will. So as you yield to the Lord, God is able to shape your life, and he’ll work in your life, and you’ll see the hand of God in your life, and you’ll love what you see and how God can move.

Harden yourself against the will of God, and you’ll see your heavenly Father, He’s gonna chase in you, and you’re not gonna like the result. But remember this, that’s because the clay rebelled against the will of the potter. It’s not the potter’s fault. It’s not God’s fault. God is the God of all the earth and shall not the God of all the earth do right. Who can find anything wrong with the way God does things? So as a child of God, you can either yield to the will of God and God will bless you and reward you when you get to heaven and use you in a great way.

or God may have to chasing you, set you aside, and you’ll waste your life. Now don’t blame that on God. God will use every piece of clay that wants to be used, and God will take you and make something out of you and do what you cannot do yourself. Now in chapter 11, we have the clay one of these days is gonna be softened. Jesus Christ is going to come back in power and great glory and they will see the Savior.

And each one of the nation of Israel they will be born as in a day and they’re going to trust the Lord. And they will be grafted back into the original root which was Christ Himself. So you see Israel, oh yes, God put that piece of clay. And then they hardened themselves and God set it aside. The church is not Israel. That’s a different piece of clay. And so one day God’s going to come back. And you’re going to take that little hungry clay of Israel and go make them into the greatest nation the world has ever seen.

Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy.

There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771, and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Man. The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you, and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold.

Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.