How often are things made for certain purposes but end up being used for other purposes as well? You see it all the time. Right now online there are articles just touting this sort of thing. They'll try sensationalism by saying stuff like- "Hey, did you know you can use this for this too?! How old were you when you realized this?" We love when we are told that something which specifically tells us what its purpose is also has many other uses, it makes us feel as if we are getting more than our money's worth out of that product. However, there are times when we use things not as they are intended and as a result, bad things happen because we didn't listen and do as we were told. Sometimes this even results in death, doesn't it? We are told not to use open flame around a gasoline container and if we choose to do so then we didn't listen and as a result bad things happen. We are told not to overload a power strip, we do so and as a result bad things can happen. We are told that somethings have specific uses and to use them otherwise could result in injury or death. We can either choose to believe those warnings or ignore them and take our chances. Did the manufacture ever design that product to maim, injury, or kill someone? No, emphatically, no! Yet, lo and behold, people will still go ahead and use things improperly even when they know better, they just do. Is it the manufacturer's fault if they use it improperly and are hurt as a result? No, not if the manufacturer has given them specific instructions on how something should be used and they ignore those instructions.
Why is it any different with God?
God designed us for His purposes and then allowed us to choose whether we want to live for His purposes or not to live for them. When we choose not to live for God's purposes- anything can happen. We can still be a part of His plans based on our choice. God is not to blame for our choices and yet so many people believe otherwise. They cry out that their power of choice be taken away, they yearn to be puppets not people and believe somehow that as puppets they'd be the same as they are now, only happier. What folly we possess that we believe we know better than our Creator!
God help up to live according to His purpose, only according to His purpose, His design, His plans, His way for us - all through Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR! Now and forever! Amen!
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Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 9
"Accepted in the Beloved" Romans 9:19-33
19 Thou wilt then say 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 long-suffering 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 Osee, 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 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Tho 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 Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. 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 stumbling-stone; 33 as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offense; and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Replying against God. This is a very common thing, and its commonness has caused most people to lose sight of its wickedness.
The man who begins indignantly to ask, "Why does God do so and so?" or to say, "I can't see the justice in such a course," as though he were especially and personally affronted, makes it impossible for himself to understand even that which a mortal may comprehend of God. It is very foolish and wicked to blame him because we are not equal to him in wisdom. The only way to come to the knowledge of the little that may be understood of God is to settle it once for all that he is just and merciful, and that everything he does is for the good of his creatures. Reverence, and not clamorous questioning, becomes a creature in the presence of the infinite God. "Be still, and know that I am God." Ps. 46:10.
The Potter and His Vessels. The one who thinks himself competent to criticize the Lord thinks that he has a sure case against him in verses 21-24 of this chapter. "Surely," says he, "this text teaches us that God has made some men to be saved, and others to be destroyed."
Most certainly we find nothing of the kind!
There is a vast difference between what the text actually says, and what men imagine that it says.
The potter has power over the clay, and so the Creator has power over his creatures, of natural and unquestionable right. Consider the figure: the potter has power over the clay to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor. Very true; but who in the world ever heard of a potter who busied himself making vessels for the sole purpose of destroying them? He makes vessels of different kinds for various purposes, but they are all intended for use, and not for destruction. So God never made anyone for the purpose of destroying him.
God's Long-suffering. The fact that God does not plan the destruction of any one is shown in that he hesitates long before allowing any to suffer the destruction which their own evil deeds have justly earned. He "endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." They fitted themselves for destruction after their hardness, by treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath. Rom. 2:5. Note that God endured with much long-suffering these "vessels of wrath." Now we are to "account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation." 2 Peter 3:15. He "is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Vs. 9. The fact, therefore, that God endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath, even after they were fitted to destruction, shows that he longed for their salvation, and would give them every possible chance for it.
"Whom He Hath Called." God's long-suffering is also for the purpose of making known the riches of his glory "on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory." And who are these? "Even us, whom he hath called." And who are they who are called? Are they of some particular nation? "Not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." The entire chapter is a vindication of God's choice of men even before their birth, as illustrated in the case of Jacob; and this verse shows that the choosing of Jacob did not mean that God had special privileges for the Jewish nation, but that he bestows his favors impartially on Jews and Gentiles alike, if they will accept them.
God's People. This is still further shown by verses 25, 26: "As he saith also in Osee [Hosea 1:9, 10], I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. 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." God visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. The apostle Peter described this visit in these words: "God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." And further, "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." Acts 15:7-11.
And so "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." Rom. 10:12.
The Remnant. "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." Therefore "at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Rom. 11:5. No matter how many there may be who can trace their genealogy to Jacob according to the flesh, it is only they who are willing subjects of the grace of God who will be saved. There is positively no chance for boasting save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gentiles Ahead. The Jews professed to keep the law, but did not; the Gentiles were not associated with the law, yet they met its requirements. Now, if the reader will recall Romans 2:25-29, he will see that real circumcision consists (and always did consist) in keeping the law. Therefore since the Gentiles by their faith kept the law, and the Jews through their lack of faith did not keep it, it appears that they had changed places; the Gentiles were really "Jews," and the Jews by nature were the same as the heathen.
Missing the Mark. The Jews followed after the law of righteousness, but did not attain to it. Why not? "Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law." How forcefully this sets forth that of which the entire Epistle is a demonstration, namely, that faith does not clear one from its transgression, but that by faith alone can the law be kept!
The Jews are not blamed for following after the law of righteousness, but for not following after it in the right way. It is not by works, but by faith, that the works which the law requires can be attained. That is to say that bad works can not produce good works; good can not come of evil. There is no discount upon good works. They are the most necessary things in the world. They are the result of the keeping of the law by faith. But there can not by any possibility be good works without faith; for "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Rom. 14:23.
The Stumbling-Stone. Do not fail to connect the last part of this chapter with the first part. Remember that the beginning presents Israel according to the flesh as accursed from Christ. To them pertained, among other things, the giving of the law, but they came miserably short of it. Why? "For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone." What stumbling-stone? Christ. They were in the very same condition that so many people are to-day, they would not believe that the promises of God to Israel were wholly and solely in Christ. They thought, as many professed Christians now do, that God honored them for their own sake, without any regard to Christ. Christ is the stumbling-stone over which all stumble who regard the promises to Israel as made to a certain earthly nation, to the exclusion of all others.
A Sure Foundation. Strange to say, that very stumbling-stone is a stepping-stone, and a sure foundation. That over which some fall, is the means of lifting up and building up others. "The ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein." Hosea 14:9. Christ is a rock of offense to those who disbelieve, but a sure foundation to those who have faith. He is "the Holy One of Israel," "the King of Israel," "the Shepherd of Israel," and at the same time the fold, and the door into the fold. Without him there could be no such thing as a nation of Israel.
Those who think to claim an inheritance in Israel because of their birth and without respect to Christ, will be ashamed at the last because whosoever comes not in at the door, the same will be proved to be "a thief and a robber." But "whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame," because his faith will show him to be Abraham's seed, and thus an heir of God according to the promise.
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