Does God create some people simply so He can pass everlasting judgment on them? Today, R.C. Sproul teaches on a passage he considered to be one of the most difficult texts in all of Scripture. Get R.C. Sproul’s book Hard Sayings, plus lifetime digital access to his four teaching series on the hard sayings of the Bible, the prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles, for your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3648/hard-sayings Meet Today’s Teacher: R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was known for his ability to winsomely and clearly communicate deep, practical truths from God’s Word. He was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
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In his famous book, The Bondage of the Will, Luther makes this comment, "'Mere human reason can never comprehend how God is good and merciful, and therefore you make to yourself a God of your own fancy, who hardens nobody, condemns nobody, and pities everybody.'" That's an interesting statement that Luther makes there.
The God that we want to believe in is a God who not only is sometimes merciful, but who is always merciful and who never condemns anybody and never hardens anybody.
You and I are made in the image of God, but it does seem that due to our fallenness, sinful man seeks to create a God in his own image, a God of our own fancy, to quote Martin Luther. You're listening to the Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind as we conclude a week-long study of some of the hard sayings of the Bible.
Our task is not to create an idol, a version of God that we like or prefer, but instead to submit to what the one true God has revealed about Himself in Scripture. And that's one reason why we must be very careful when we come to hard sayings in the pages of Scripture, handling and interpreting them with care. Throughout his ministry, R.C. Sproul didn't shy away from these hard sayings.
And in fact, he recorded four teaching series covering the hard sayings of the prophets, of Jesus, of the apostles, and the Bible. Well, today is the last day to request access to these four series when you give a donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. And when you do, we'll send you Dr. Sproul's companion hardcover book outlining and explaining these hard sayings.
Don't forget that this offer also ends at midnight. The final hard saying that we'll consider this week is from the Apostle Paul. And R.C. Sproul says it's perhaps one of the most difficult texts in the Bible to interpret. Here's Dr. Sproul in Romans chapter 9.
We come to the conclusion now of our brief series on the hard sayings of the Bible, and I think what I've done here is saved the worst till last. That is, the passage that I want to look at today I think is one of the most difficult texts in all of Scripture to deal with, if not the most difficult, and it's found in Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter 9.
We remember that in chapter 9, Paul deals with the election of Jacob and the passing over of Esau. And in verse 14 of this chapter, he raises this question, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy on. and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you. and that My name may be declared in all the earth. Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens."
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