In his sermon, Steve Hopkins tackles the complex and age-old theological dilemma of the problem of evil, particularly its origin and existence. He acknowledges that while theologians have long debated where evil comes from, no definitive answer has been found in Scripture. The sermon emphasizes that while the origin of evil remains a mystery, its existence serves a divine purpose. According to Hopkins, God permits evil to manifest His wrath and demonstrate His power, as well as to highlight the glory and mercy bestowed upon the 'vessels of mercy.' The sermon draws a contrast between believers and atheists, noting that atheists face a greater dilemma in defining goodness without God as an ultimate standard. Citing theologians like R.C. Sproul, Hopkins underscores that both good and evil are intertwined, and their existence points to a divine order. Furthermore, the sermon reassures believers of their salvation, asserting that those who come to Jesus will not be cast out, as God's grace and mercy are extended to them. This understanding should lead believers to live a life of praise and thanksgiving, recognizing themselves as vessels of mercy prepared for glory by God's election and grace.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. Let's stand for the reading of the Word of the Lord as we return to Romans chapter 9. We'll pick up with verse 22 through 24. Let's read together the word of the Lord, verses 22 through 24, Romans 9.

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, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." Let's pray. Father, give the Spirit, O God, once again to open our hearts and our understanding as we open your word for we ask it in Jesus name. Amen. Let's be seated. Theologians have wrestled with the problem of evil for centuries.

Where did it come from? Where did evil come from? We see Augustine back in the fifth century wrestling with the issue and every serious Theologian since then we know what evil is Right. We know what evil is we could define evil. It's it's not good.

It's ungodliness it's Unrighteousness its opposition to God. It's rebellion against God. It's disobedience to God, But we don't know where it came from. There's no theologian that I know of who's ever been able to really give a sufficient answer from Scripture. We don't know where evil came from.

We don't know the source of evil. We don't know the origin of evil. We know that an angel became bad, right, and rebelled against God and drew the third part of the stars of heaven and was violently cast down after he led myriads of angels in revolt against God. Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall. We know that these things happen, but we don't know how evil made its entrance into a world that was created good by God.

We don't have a sufficient answer from Scripture for that. We know that Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and we have the narrative of the fall, but we don't know how our first parents who were made good would even be inclined to disobey. I was talking about this with a friend over lunch a couple of days ago who's Roman Catholic, and he spit out the perfect Roman Catholic you know response he said free will it's free will okay I said yes but but the ability to freely choose evil doesn't answer the question of where evil came from. Even the desire to do evil is evil. R.C.

Sproul responds to those who quote focus on some dimension of free will to answer the question. He says the the simple presence of free will is not enough to explain the origin of evil. Inasmuch as we still must ask how a good being would be inclined freely to choose evil. And quote, the inclination for the will to act in an immoral manner is already a signal of sin. Close quote.

So again, no theologian that I know of in history has ever been able to sufficiently answer the question from Scripture, where did evil come from? And of course, many believers revel in this. They revel in the fact that Christians don't have an answer for this. They say, Christians don't have an explanation for the origin of evil. But the dilemma of the atheist and the unbeliever is more challenging because for there to be evil there must first be the existence of good.

Before, let me quote Dr. Sproul again. He writes, the pagan has a problem that is twice as difficult. Before one can even have a problem of evil, one must first have an antecedent existence of good. Those who complain about the problem of evil know also, now also, have the problem of defining the existence of the good.

Without God, there is no ultimate standard of good." So where do pagan and the pagan and the unbeliever go from here when they are put in this dilemma? They can't answer where either good or evil comes from. They're caught on the horns of a dilemma. If evil exists, then good must exist. And if good and evil exist, like the Bible says, then will The dominoes just begin to fall and strike one another until they all fall down and their whole system collapses.

So what do they do? They have to run, they have to retreat. And the only place the unbeliever can run or retreat is to deny the existence of both good and evil. Well, there is no good and there is no evil. Neither one.

In my favorite clip of R.C. Sproul, I've laughed at this so many times, he's sitting on this panel of pastors and theologians, and he's taking questions off the cuff from the audience. Now, he would do that sitting there. He's got oxygen going through tubes and everything, and they'll just stand up and hit him with a question. He has no idea what they're—and he just answers it off the cuff.

And this girl stands up and she takes the microphone from the moderator and she says, sir, I have a relative who claims that there's no such thing as evil in the world. And she says, how do I answer him? Dr. Sproul says, steal his wallet. Of course, verse 11, steal his wallet.

I mean, it was just so fast. It was just like that fast. Steal his wallet. It's easy for us, says Sproul, to deny the existence of evil until we ourselves are the victims of someone's wicked actions." Close quote. But why do I go here at all with the passage just before us?

Why all of this? I went here, I went there because though we cannot explain the entrance of evil into the universe, we do know from Scripture that God permitted the entrance of evil into the universe for His good purposes. And in the passage before us we see that part of his purpose for permitting the entrance of evil into the universe and subsequently the fall of man was, one, to show his wrath and to make his power known. To demonstrate his power and justice in the condemnation and punishment of the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, whom he bore patiently with throughout their lives of sin and rebellion and two that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory so we we don't know where evil comes from. We don't know the origin of evil.

But we do know that God, in His wisdom, His infinite wisdom, and His infinite knowledge, His omniscience, He allows, he permits evil to enter into the world, even though he hasn't told us this hidden thing of where it came from, what the origin or source of the evil is. He permits it to come into the world for his good purposes, to show his wrath and to make his power known against sin and to make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he afford prepared under glory. The power of God displayed at the creation of the universe will on the day of judgment be gloriously displayed in the condemnation and punishment of the enemies of God." That's what's coming. We don't know where sin or where evil came from, but we know where it's going. Proverbs 16, 4 says, The Lord made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The Lord made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil. The Lord made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil. A note in my Bible commentary, RHB Bible commentary, says on this passage, all of God's creations serve his will and are for his glory. The day of calamity or evil refers to judgment day. God rules even over the wicked and he will glorify himself through them in his justice.

Close quote, He will. And what we looked at in our previous section on Romans 9 is that he has the right to, right? He's the potter, we're the clay. He can make from the same lump vessels for honor and vessels for dishonor. He has the right to do it.

He's the potter, we're just the clay, and no one has the right to challenge him or answer him, answer against him or question him. On that day, that day of calamity, God will glorify Himself through them in justice, gloriously displaying in His just condemnation and punishment of its enemies. And on that same day, the riches of God's glory will be on display. Here's where it really connects with us, with those who believe. On that same day, on the day of judgment, the riches of God's glory will be on display, the riches of His glory in the salvation of undeserving sinners.

Sinners who only deserved wrath, but sinners who God in His grace and mercy determined to make vessels of His mercy, objects of His grace and mercy before the world began, prepared for glory before the world began. When the books are all opened, and they will be, and the ledger of the sins of every man is unveiled before the whole of creation, God will be glorified in the condemnation and eternal destruction of the reprobate, of his enemies. On that day, all accounts payable will come due. And all of the rebellion and rejection and unbelief and sexual immorality and blasphemies and hatred of God along with every other secret thing, the scripture tells us, will be exposed for all the world to see. And God will be glorified when he casts the wicked headlong into hell.

We don't know where evil came from but we know where it's going. God will be glorified in the just punishment of the wicked as they are cast headlong into hell. But on that same day again God will be glorified as he makes known the riches of his grace and mercy. Oh, the riches of the grace and the mercies of God. It's going to be so amazing on that day when God displays it before all the world, they deserve this, but because of my grace and mercy extended to them and in sending my Son to die for them, who willingly went and suffered and died for them, because of my great grace and mercy.

Though they deserved this, they got Him and they got heaven and they have life everlasting and they have the forgiveness of sins forever and ever and ever. On that day, God will be glorified as he makes known the riches of his grace and mercy upon the undeserving objects of his mercy, who merited only wrath on account of their sins and rebellion against him, but whom he redeemed in the salvation of their souls to the praise of the glory of his grace. Remember, brothers and sisters, that every one of us in this meeting house, along with every person that's ever lived or will ever live, belong to that same lump. Remember going through that, that same lump of fallen humanity in Adam? It's that same mass of corrupted humanity that descended from Adam?

Every one of us deserves to incur the just penalty for our sin. Does everyone know that? We all deserve to incur the eternal punishment for our sins. How great is this? How wonderful is this?

That God blessed the Lord, oh my soul, that God who knows all things before he created mankind, knew that mankind would fall, and in view of the fall, determined to redeem a number from among the mass of fallen clay. He determined to do that, to Make from that same lump of fallen mankind vessels of mercy prepared for glory. Our minds can't really get wrapped around it. We can't really wrap our minds around it. It's too wonderful.

It's too great. It's too awesome. It's too amazing that God would do this. That He would make vessels of mercy from the same lump of fallen mankind, prepare them for glory, and leave, while He leaves others, to their just punishment that they also deserve. Remember Paul has been reasoning with his readers about God's electing grace and mercy.

That's been the context here. That the purpose of God according to election might stand, verse 11, that he will have mercy upon you and he will have mercy, verse 15, that the salvation of souls is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Over and over again, he's been talking about election and mercy and predestination and what God has done for his people and what he did for us before the world began. We all came from the same lump, from the same mass of fallen humanity and Adam, but God who is rich in mercy did not leave us all in the state in which we were born, but for the great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, he made us alive and quickened us together with Christ." Again a note in my Bible commentary says, even as, quote, a potter can make of one lump of clay vessels for different uses. Even so, God can make from one lump, as it were, a fall of mankind, some vessels to demonstrate his power and justice in their condemnation and other vessels of mercy to display his mercy in their salvation.

Close quote and praise God he did in eternity past God in view of the fall, knowing that sin would enter into the universe and that Adam would fall and carry the whole of mankind with him, determined to save some. It's too wonderful. He determined to save some that he might make known the riches of his glory. Oh how glorified God is gonna be on that day when my sins, your sins, and the sins of all those who have put their trust in Jesus are projected on that big projector in the sky, so to speak. And all the world sees everything that we thought and everything that we ever said and everything that we ever did.

All the world sees it and God receives His great grace and mercy. Though they were great sinners, my son Jesus is a great Savior and he went into the world and he took flesh and he died for their sins and he satisfied the penalty that was due them and they've been and and I have redeemed them I've redeemed them I've purchased them oh the great riches of His glory that will be manifested on that day. He determined to save some, that He might make known the riches of His glory upon them. And if you're a believer here this afternoon, that means you. That means you.

Very simple. That means you. That's what God did for you in sending His Son to die for you. In God's mercy, on account of his amazing grace, he made you a vessel of mercy prepared for glory before the world began. Before the world began.

Now someone might say how do I know if I'm a vessel of mercy, one of those vessels of mercy prepared for glory? How can I be sure that I'm among the elect? What word of confidence do I have to help me in my times of doubt or fear? Or maybe you say I live in doubts and fears. How can I know?

How can I be assured that I'm a child of God? One of my favorite sentences from the lips of Jesus is from John 6 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Whoever comes to me, Jesus said, I will in no wise cast out.

John Bunyan, I wish I had brought it, he has this just long list of things and he just says, you know, when this happens in my life and doubts, all these different types of doubts, he says, I will no wise cast you out. I will no wise cast out. Here's a man who struggled with doubts. One of the greatest Christian writers of, I think, pastors of all time. And he struggled with doubts and fears.

And he kept coming back to this verse, he who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out." Brothers and sisters, no one will stand before God on the day of judgment and be put to shame for their sins who have come to Jesus. No one. He who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. No one is able to pluck you out of God's hands. Jesus doesn't reject men, men reject Jesus.

You know, the believer isn't sitting there in the pew or whatever going, I just reject Jesus. I refuse to repent of my sins. I have no love for Him in my heart. I can't wait to get out of this building. No, no.

The unbeliever and the reprobate can't wait to get out of here and their minds are somewhere else right now if there's any of that here. But the believer is humbled before God and they know their sin and they see their sin and humbled for it. They're sensitive to the sin in their lives and they have sadness for it and sorrow for it and they they found at some point in their life that the only place they could go was to Jesus that's the only place I can go is to Jesus and they've come to Jesus and He will never cast them out. He will never cast you out. Jesus said, come unto me all you who are heavy laden that is burdened with sin and guilt, and I will give you rest.

I will give you rest. These are promises that cannot be refuted, it cannot be destroyed or undone. You know, have you come to Jesus? Fear not. Have you come to Jesus?

Fear not. He will not cast you away. He will not cast you away. Of course, the accounts are seemingly endless of those who will not come to Jesus. Jesus said to the religious people of his day, you will not come to me that you may have life.

I mean, he's right there looking at them. They're the super religious guys of his day. They're honored by everybody in the church of their day. You know, everybody's elevated them. Oh, those are the holy guys or whatever.

You will not come to me that you will have life. Prostitutes are coming to him. Tax collectors are coming to him. People who know that they're sinners. Remember what Jesus said, you know, he who has been forgiven much loves much.

They love much. They love much. I've been forgiven a lot, therefore I love you Lord. I love you Lord so much because you've forgiven me so much. But he looks to the super religious dudes of his day and he says, you will not come to me that you may have life.

And they're not going, oh yeah, we're coming to you Jesus. Oh, we're just running to you. Please forgive us. No, they want him dead. You see the difference.

You see the difference those who show contempt for God and the gospel are proud and aren't sensitive to the sin of their lives refuse to repent refuse to trust in Jesus they don't want to live for Him, they refuse to come, their eternal destruction is on their own heads. Because the door is wide open. The door is wide open and the call of the gospel to repent and believe on Jesus and be saved is universal. Is universal. There's not a person on the face of the earth who hearing the gospel, if they come to Jesus in faith, simple, the simple faith of a child will not be saved by him.

Charles Spurgeon in one of his sermons wrote, there is not a sinner now living who can bear testimony that he has come to Christ and that Christ has cast him out. None. There's not a soul in hell that with all the fully developed sin of that dreadful place dares even in blasphemy to say, I came to Jesus and he cast me out. No, there's not a soul in hell who came to Jesus and he cast them out. They're out there if they came to Jesus.

And he goes on, nor shall there ever live in the universe one soul, how ever guilty and defiled, that shall not be able to truthfully say, I came to him, but he shut up his heart of compassion against me and cast me out. No, everyone who comes to Jesus, he will in no wise cast out. Come to Jesus and live. Come to Jesus and live. I asked the question at the end of our last session to every one of us who are in Christ who have been drawn by the Father to faith in His Son who have come to Christ how then should we live?

We'll close with this. How then should we live? How should the understanding of what God has done for us cause us to live? This understanding that we're among the vessels of God's mercy who were prepared before the foundations of the world for glory. When we come to understand this, How then should we live?

How should that cause us to live in the world day by day knowing this understanding the wonder of it all? How should it cause us to live? How should it cause you personally to live? In the remaining fleeting hours and days of your uncertain and my uncertain life on this earth. Praise and thanksgiving for God's amazing grace should always be on our lips and if not on our lips, on our minds.

Oh, that we would praise and thank him continually for his amazing grace that saved wretches like us. We who have trusted Christ, who have come to Jesus in simple faith, taking him at his words, are children of God, recipients of God's grace, vessels of God's mercy whom Christ died for and rose for and ascended for. And we have an eternity secured for us in the presence of God. We read it earlier, Reserve for us by the power of God, not by our own power. He saves us, He keeps us saved.

We shall be saved. I'll end with this from John Flavel. Many many weeks ago I quoted this. Let those who have full tables, heavy purses, full of money, rich lands, but no Christ, be rather the objects of your pity than your envy. They're to be pitied.

The richest men and women of the world are to be pitied if they have Everything the world can offer but they don't have Christ You have Jesus You have Jesus and if you have Jesus you have everything you have everything. Solid joys and lasting pleasures, none but Zion's children know. Let's pray. Father, We thank you God for plucking your people from the hoard of fallen humanity, stampeding in the opposite direction from you, headlong to eternal destruction. We thank you God for extracting us from the corrupt mass of clay from which all mankind was formed, and for making us, oh God, vessels of mercy prepared for glory.

And we thank you, God, that in time you drew us to your Son and caused us to come to Jesus and saved our undeserving souls. Thank You, God. We praise You now as we will be praising You forever. We praise You, God, for the grace and the mercy that You've shown us in saving sinners like us, in determining to save us, Writing it into the record before it ever happened long before the world was even created we praise and thank you God. We can't Comprehend these things that we know their truth from your word and we thank you for them.

Thank you for the salvation we have in your son. Suffered and died for our sins and rose again the third day. Thank you God. And Father, as we approach the Lord's table, we may you fill our hearts, O God, with praise and thankfulness For sending your Son to live for us and to die for us and to rise for us for justifying us And giving us life eternal through him for it's in his name. We pray these things amen you