The word sovereign means; he is a supreme ruler, He is the Absolute, Independent .monarch
With other religions you had polytheism, many Gods, such as the Greek they had Zeus, Medusa, Persius ect and they would have to consult one another, in decision making on the earth.
The Lord Jehovah can do what he wants when he wants, if he wants.
Deuteronomy 6 "hear oh Israel the Lord our God is one"
Grace is not grace without first understanding the sovereignty of God.
Ephesians 2:7-9 In many cases it is only verse 8 that is quoted, but you need to read verse 7 ……That in the ages to come HE might show his goodness, kindness and grace towards us. Grace is of god from God and Through God.
It is totally the work of God, this is sometimes confused, or as Paul says to the Galatians' church, we sometimes frustrate the grace of God, by trying to do it ourselves.
There are two schools in Christian thought….Armenian which was promoted by John Wesley. Or the Calvinistic thought
Armenian thought is that it is up to you, you must pray fast bring your body under, reach the world for Christ. The danger is you can start to feel responsible for unreached souls; you may even accredit your standing now in Christ to your own diligence, and hard work.
The Calvinistic is from John Calvin a 16th Century Reformer. It is Grace so why worry; the danger with this is that it can cause complacency.
In the epistles we come across word like Called and Calling, Elect and election.
Calling…
Kaleo.. To call by name, Divine invitation or Phoneo to invite
I Corinthians 1:26-28 it is God that does the calling
II Thessalonians 1:11
II Timothy 1:9
Have you ever thought why me! Or can any of you trace through your life and see that God had been calling you for a long time.
Hebrews 3:1
Philippians 3;4
Romans 11:29…needs to be explained
II Peter 1:10 we must make it certain
We were not searching for God but he was looking for us…Adam where art though.
It is a fallacy to believe that the whole world will be saved….no rather God has chosen a bride out of the world.
Jesus said you have not chosen me but I have chosen you.
Many are called but not everyone.
If you wanted everyone in your workplace to come to your wedding you would have an open invitation, but instead you choose your close friends, because everyone cannot fit.
It's your wedding so you chose
The Lord Jesus called Saul Acts 9:3-7

God draws us St John 6:44 & 12:32
Let's get into some meat Romans 9:9-16

Is God Partial?

This Kind of teaching puts a spanner in deciding your destiny; in fact this kind of language is used by witches, obeah, and stargazers. Tarot readers.
God is Sovereign, he is in charge and he rules, he makes the choices
Daniel 4:34-36
Nebuchadnezzar had to learn that The Lord is the true boss.
Look at the language that is used …the language used seems to suggest that God is very much involved and in charge
Romans 13;1 Ordained of God
Jude 1:4 ordained to destruction
Everyone has a part to play in this drama leading to the end of the world.

St John 17 it is good to read about those that were given to Jesus by the father.

The Lord added to the church Acts 2:47 God was very much involved in church growth.

Acts 16:14 whose heart the Lord opened …..God is very much involved.

Back to Romans 9:17-23
Who Hardened Pharaohs heart, and why would God do that, is it fair?

We need to spend time looking at these verses
Read Exodus 5:1-
Initially it is pharaoh that resists and hardens his own heart then the Lord says; if that is the way you are going to play the game I will harden it even more for my purpose.

II Thessalonians 2:10-12
Give gives delusions to those who already stiffen their necks against him.

God is sovereign and has not been dethroned, he intervenes as and when he pleases in the kingdom of men the "cosmos" Greek for the world system.

Let us not be presumptuous as James 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

It is not our will but his.