Let's start our lesson by reading in Romans 9 -
 

ROMANS 9:15-21 - For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. Thou will say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will? 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? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
 

I have always said I believed in predestination ever since I was saved in January 1962.
 

But I never really went much further than that - really just to acknowledge predestination - as more or less just an extension of election, acknowledging God ordered the events of salvation for His own purpose. But only to where God chose those who would believe and just left it at that. I never really gave it much thought.
 

It was not until around 1980 when my older brother who got quite involved in digging into the roots of our family history uncovered a couple of unusual incidences in our past history that got me wondering at just how much God does orders one's life.
 

I do not have time to relate these events here, but if you wish to know more of these events I go into quite a bit of detail in a book I wrote titled - " The Sovereignty of God". You can find that on my web site using URL - http://www.davidshortt.org
 

Suffice to say here that there are three occasions my brother unearthed in our family history that showed clearly the hand of God in my pre-history that made very sure I had a history at all. They involved my great-grand-parents on both sides of my family. It shows how God does preserves- or protects - His plans including His elect even before they are born.
 

These three incidents that happened are very unusual and it was the unusual that came about that preserved my grandparent's linkage to me.
 

If it had not happened the way it did, those who were before me would have died before they had children that continued the next link that continued the link to me, so the link would have been severed, cutting off my or my discendents births..
 

Therefore I would not have been born since my grandparents would have died childless - or married another spouse, which would not have produced me.
 

But God knew He had an elect - an elect that would be a descendent of these people in question. A person He had chosen before the foundation of the world to be saved coming from these people - but had not been born yet - let alone saved. Therefore He preserved those links.
 

God in His wisdom drew into His plan some mighty strange events that preserved His unborn elect - despite the fact it looked for awhile that my link would be cut off. These events preserved His unborn elect, and here I am just as God had ordained. Those events could not have happened just by coincidence - especially happening to both sides of the family.
 

But just how far does God go in predestination. Is absolute predestination a fact? Was every detail of life worked out at His determinate counsel?

From what I read in the Bible I would have to say yes - that is so. Just stop and think of the detail, the number of incedents God would have to protect us from in life to make sure what He wanted to come to pass did. Instead of altering the natural course of life that went against His own will, He simply wrote the course of life from start to finish. If not this, then we would have a God who would have to spend all His time making sure His elect was ok and jumping in to interfere when they are threatened. That doesn't sound much like a sovereign God does it? No - He ordered things - just like He ordered gravity to enforce His declaration that anything with weight would fall if released from a restraining hold. God set in motion gravity to enforce that law so He wouldn't have to step in to make sure it happens every time something is dropped. Can you imagine God zapping down to earth ever time something was dropped to enforce that decree? Foolish isn't it. No - at the same time He made the decree of objects falling when loosed from a restraining hold - He also created what we call gravity to enforce the decree. God does the same with His decrees concerning mankind and salvation, make a decree then sets in motion what is necessary to carry out that decree.
 

If God predestinated any events at all - the large events such as the crucifixion of our Lord - then He would have had to predestinate the small events as the time, by whom, both by Judas' betrayal, the Jewish leaders jealousy and the Roman connection, including the method of death penalty they used at that exact time. If that is true of that terrible incident then it is true of all incidents. The small incidents leading up to a larger event are ordained and controlled by God.
 

let's look at -- Romans 13:1-2 - Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
 
 
 

All power - political or any other kind is in the hand of God - were ordained by God. It also tells us here we are not to fight the powers God puts on this earth. It was put here for a reason.
 

Does this mean that people like Pharaoh in Moses' day was ordained of God to do as he did?
 

We just read in Romans 9 - our scripture reading - that that is exactly right. Him and others like Pilot who had Jesus put to death on the cross, and others like these in our modern age - Hitler for one. More on this later.
 

The crucifixion of Jesus was ordained of God to happen just as it did. If He hadn't gone to the cross there would be no salvation for anyone. Read that in:

MATTHEW 26:23-24 - And He answered and said, He that dippeth His hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The son of man goeth as it is written of Him; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.
 

Note a couple of great truths here. Jesus crucifixion was ordained by God - the whole event including who by - and yet those who carried it out would be held responsible - held accountable for their actions and punished!!
 

Let's look at a few more place where God's influence was felt. Where we see Him working behind the scene seeing to it that His will (or plans) are being carried out.
 

EXODUS 7:3 -5 - And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
 

God informed Moses before the events even started what His plans were to do with Pharaoh and Moses. How Pharaoh would react to Moses requests. He even told Moses why He was going to cause Pharaoh's heart to be hardened and refuse Moses requests.
 

First GOD said He would harden Pharaoh's heart - for a reason - and He then proceeded to do just that. We see that in the next few chapters as Moses deals with Pharaoh. He reacts just as God said He Himself would cause him to. Read these verses -
 
 
 

Exodus 9:16 -- Exodus 10:20 Exodus 10:1 -- Exodus 11:9 - (all say essentially the same thing) - But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go - s the Lord had said.
 

Remember God said before this all started that it would be Him who would be hardening Pharaoh's heart. I have often wondered if God had left poor Pharaoh alone if he might have let the people of Israel go the first time asked. After all they were a thorn in his side. But God wanted otherwise and under His influence things went as God decreed.
 

For other examples of how God unknown to anyone influences our lives - read --
 

Judges 14:4 - But his father and his mother knew not that IT WAS OF THE LORD that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
 

If you don't the background story here I will give a quick commentary. The above verse is about Samson. He had met a Philistine woman and wanted her to become his wife which was against the laws of Israel. Because of this the parents did not want to arrange a wedding between this Philistine woman and Samson. But Samson asked his parents to arrange a wedding anyway. So the parents relented and the marriage was arranged. This is where the above verse comes in. And note again - It was of the Lord - why? God was setting the Philistines up so He would have a reason to bring punishment down upon the Philistines!! That's not the way our human mind would like to think of God is it? But it is what the Bible is teaching!!
 

1 King 12:15 - Wherefore the king (Rehoboam) hearkened not unto the people; for THE CAUSE WAS FROM THE LORD, that He might perform His saying, which the Lord spake by Ahijah the Shillonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Another quick explanation of what is going on. King Rehoboam who is the son of King David has just taken over from King David at his death. The people of Israel has just asked the new king to ease up on the hard line rule King David had them under. King Rehoboam asked advise of the older elders that had been King David's advisers. King Rehoboam did not like their advise so went to his own peers, young men like himself. They give him what it turned out to be very bad advise. Advise which in the end turned eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel against King Rehoboam. And note very clear - - 'THE CAUSE WAS OF THE LORD". It was in God's decreed plan for it to happen this way. Why? Because God had disclosed earlier to Ahijah that there would be a breaking up of the kingdom of Israel. Is this is how He had planned to carry it out.
 

God does influence our lives. He has an ordained life for each of us which God sees to it that we live to that plan. And yes even people like Hitler is part of that plan. Today, as we look back over them black years in our world's history we can see how God used Hitler and the 2^nd world war to fulfill prophesy . As a result of those black years and the horrific way the Germans especially used the Jews, shortly after the war the Jews were able to get at least part of their homeland back - the land of Palestine. Remember the Jews ever since 70 AD did not have a land of their own. They had been scattered throughout every country in the world since that time and had got quite complacent in the countries they had settled into. They had no intention of going back to Palestine. But the war changed that. God had prophesied centuries ago that the Jews would return to their country - and in fact their return would signal the impending end of the Gentile era in the not too distant future. So in 1948 I believe it was Israel did get their own country back. All because of their treatment by the Germans - and to a lesser extent, the rest of the world. So once again we see God's hand in world events.
 

Unregenerate man does not like the idea of God ordaining the evil and cruelty of our life. But God says He is behind it. Let's read this in -
 

Proverbs 16:4 - The Lord hath made all things for Himself: yea, even THE WICKED for the day of evil.
 

Isaiah 45:7 - - I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
 

Why can't man just believe God's own testimony of Himself? It is hard for us who do understand and believe to understand why others can't, yet we know they can't without God imputed faith.
 

If a person cannot accept that God ordains everything for some purpose known only to Him, he should get well acquainted with our text verses of today. Especially Romans 9:19-21 - Let's read them -
 

Romans 9:19-21 - Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
 

If one still continues to have doubts with this truth when God writes in His own written account of His works, the Holy Bible, then that person should take a close look at their profession of faith. God promises in John chapter 10 that HIS Sheep hears Him, the wolves will not.
 

"Unbelief" is the opposite of "Believe in God". "Believe in God" means to trust Him no matter what He says or does - Trust that what He does is always right and that in the end everything will work out to our good and God's glory.
 

That is what the Bible means when it says to "believe in God" - or as the 1^st of the ten commandments puts it - trust God with all one's heart, soul, and mind. Do you?
 

Thank you and God bless