Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? (20) Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (21) Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? (22) What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: (23) And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, (24) Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (25) As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. (26) And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. (27) Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: (28) For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. (29) And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah. (30) What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. (31) But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. (32) Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; (33) As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
The doctrine is here supposed to be taken as granted. God's sovereignty shall no longer be disputed, saith the daring sinner. Be it so, if it must be so. But why doth he yet find fault? Here's impudence to the full. Here's practical contempt of God, worse, if possible, than even denying his very Being! But in what a beautiful way and manner hath the Apostle taken the question, and answered it. How conclusive and satisfactory is the similitude of the Potter and the clay, in relation to forming vessels of what shape, figure, form, or usefulness he pleaseth. And who ever ventured to call in question the Potter's power, or the Potter's wisdom, when exercising his pleasure, in making one vessel to honor, and another to dishonor? There is however this difference (and to which the figure could not reach), between the Almighty Potter in his ordinations, and the earthy Potter in his. The vessel and the clay are both the Lord's own, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; all are his by creation, first forming the clay, and then man out of it. So that had God, when he made man from the earth, made any other creature instead of man, there would have been no injustice done! for the earth, and the man made out of the earth, were both equally the Lord's. But this could not be the case with the earthy potter. The clay he made his vessels from was already made to his hands, and not his. And his formings could be no other than clay, however one vessel might be designed for honor, and another for dishonor, Isaiah 64:8; Jer 18:1-6; 2 Timothy 2:20-21
Reader! I detain you over these verses, and over this doctrine altogether, only to make one or two observations from the whole. And, first, I beg you to remember that God's sovereignty stands just where it did from everlasting, after all that hath been said of it, or written against it. God is not accountable to his creatures for his conduct. It is enough to know that God cannot do wrong. He is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. His sovereignty is one of his distinguishing attributes. And that sovereignty is founded in perfect rectitude. Let the pride and arrogancy of men or devils cavil at it, the answer is the same, My counsel (saith Jehovah) shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, Isaiah 46:10
Secondly, It is one among the many precious signs of grace in the heart, when the mind and affections are brought over to the conviction, not only that God's sovereignty distinguisheth his Almighty character, but that all the Lord appoints is right. A child of God, when seeing anything which appears to him mysterious in the divine administration, concludes, that it is his defect, and not the Lord's, which renders it so. I was dumb, (said one of old, under some sharp exercise), I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it, Psalms 39:9. All must be right, and all cannot but be finally well, for it is the Lord's doing. This is a blessed frame of mind, when we not only bend to the Lord's appointment, but bend with holy faith and satisfaction. I cannot discover God's path, but I am sure that God's ways are right. His sovereignty is my security.
Thirdly, When we behold the great mass of men rejecting the sovereignty of God with the scriptures of God in their hand, and having all the advantages of the ordinances of the Gospel, we awfully discover how far our nature must be sunk in rejecting the counsel of God against their own souls. The very truths of God, when brought before such a character, only serve to discover yet more and more his natural enmity to God, and the aversion he hath to God's gracious decrees by Christ. On the other hand, where the heart is brought to the unceasing acknowledgment of the divine Sovereignty, there a conviction accompanies it of being taught of God. Paul had no sooner God's Son revealed in him, than immediately he conferred not with flesh and blood, Galatians 1:15-16. And Paul here gives his unqualified belief to the purpose of God according to election, verse 11 (Romans 9:11).
I must not dismiss this subject, before that I have first called the attention of the Reader to that sweet and precious conclusion Paul makes, from the doctrine of election, in the inducing holiness of life and godliness. The Apostle, speaking of the properties of distinguishing grace, saith, that except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrah. The Prophet, before the Apostle, had many ages before declared, that the remnant of Jacob, that is, the seed of Christ, should be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as showers upon the grass, Micah 5:7. And thus the Church of Christ is in every age distinguished. For while the earth, in the unawakened nature of Adam, is like the dry barren heath of the desert, which knoweth not when good cometh, the droppings of grace upon the heritage of God makes it flourish and blossom as the rose. And it is the Church which preserves the world from instantly perishing. If all the Lord's family were gathered out, as Lot and his household were, from the cities of the plain, destruction would soon follow, Genesis 19:23-24. So that the doctrine of election is the very doctrine of godliness. The Lord preserveth the world for the Church's sake. And the holiness of the Church in Christ, is the sole cause wherefore the world standeth. The same day in which Noah entered into the ark, the flood came and destroyed the world by water, Genesis 7:16-17. The same hour in which Lot went out of Sodom, the Lord rained down fire from heaven and destroyed them all, Genesis 19:22. Oh! how sure is it, that the earth oweth its present continuance to the lives of the faithful in the land. And how very sure also, that the doctrine of election is a doctrine according to godliness. As he who hath called his people is holy, so are they holy in all conversation and godliness. Reader! may the Lord give a gracious apprehension of these things, that we may both give diligence to make our calling and election sure. For, (saith the Apostle), if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:10-11.