Sermon Outline 5.18.25

Title: Shaped for Glory: Trusting the Potter with the Clay
Text: Romans 9:19–29
Theme: The Potter’s justice, patience, and mercy expose our pride and call us to worship, not protest.

I. When Clay Talks Back (Romans 9:19–21)
Main Idea: God's sovereignty silences our entitlement and demands reverence, not resistance.

• We Are the Formed, Not the Former – The Potter owes the clay nothing (Isaiah 29:16; Jeremiah 18:1–6).
• God Has the Right, Not the Obligation – The word “right” (exousia) implies complete creative authority.
• This Isn’t a Question of Justice, But of Jurisdiction – Job 38–42; Daniel 4:35: God doesn’t answer to us.

II. When Wrath Waits and Mercy Moves (Romans 9:22–24)
Main Idea: God's patience delays justice to magnify His glory in mercy.

• Wrath Reveals His Righteousness – God’s justice is not a divine flaw; it’s a divine attribute (Romans 1:18; Rev 6:16).
• Patience Reveals His Restraint – Pharaoh and 2 Peter 3:9 show God delays judgment to highlight grace.
• Mercy Reveals His Majesty – God doesn’t just spare; He prepares vessels for glory.

III. When God Calls the Outsiders Home (Romans 9:24–29)
Main Idea: God’s calling reaches both the forgotten Gentile and the faithful remnant—by mercy alone.
A. He Redeems the Rejected (vv. 25–26, Hosea)

• “Not My People” becomes “My People”; the unloved become the beloved (cf. Ephesians 2:12–13).
• Hosea’s scandalous marriage is a living parable of divine grace.

B. He Preserves the Remnant (vv. 27–29, Isaiah)

• Not all Israel is Israel—but God always saves a faithful remnant (Romans 11:5).
• Judgment is real, but mercy always leaves survivors.