God’s Sovereign Selective Love

Transcript

GR 2241
06/07/2020
God’s Sovereign Selective Love
Romans 9:14-18
Gil Rugh

Let’s have a word of prayer. Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings. Lord, we are blessed to live in this country. We’ve experienced Your grace in so many ways. And that grace has been responded to with rebellion and disobedience, but You have been patient, merciful and we appreciate that. We appreciate the opportunity we have, to bear testimony to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to teach Your word, to gather as believers. Lord, we’re reminded that we need to take advantage of every opportunity in these days as we move closer and closer to the coming of our Lord. And Lord, to the wrapping up of all that You have prophesied. And to that time, ultimately when Christ will rule with absolute righteousness over all creation. Lord, we look into an important portion of Your word. Your people Israel, the nation that is upon Your heart, the apple of Your eye. Pray that we will get clarity in our understanding. And be reminded again, of You sovereignly working all things, even in these days of confusion. Israel is the nation at the center of what You’re doing. So, bless our time together. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

We’re going to look into Romans chapter 9. And as we keep reminding ourselves, it’s crucial to understand God’s dealing with man, to understand the condition of man. We started out in Romans with a major portion of the first 3 chapters demonstrating that every person is a sinner. All Gentiles, all Jews, there are no exceptions. And to remind ourselves of that, because when we get into a chapter like chapter 9, we’re talking about the doctrine of God’s sovereign election. Making a choice among people. Sometimes it becomes an emotional issue rather than a carefully examined biblical issue where the foundation has been laid. But if we don’t continue to keep that foundation underneath us, then we get out here and confusion and emotions take over.

God is not dealing with neutral people, there are none. He’s not dealing with poor innocent people. He’s dealing with rebellious, hardened, depraved, already condemned sinners. So, we come to chapter 9. We won’t get there tonight, but that’s the people, the clay that He’s working with. We get into mind somewhere, we, not that I mean me, I just say those who claim to be believers, bible believers, and many who are, and I was confused on this early in my Christian life. And I appreciated the patience of men who taught me and pressed me to go back to the scripture and examine this, examine that. We think, would God do that to innocent people? People who haven’t had a chance. Wait a minute, we need to go back and see them as God says they are.

We talked earlier today, and we’ve seen it in Romans, God has absolute sovereignty over His creation. Unquestionable authority. He can’t be questioned. That’s where we’re going to come in chapter 9. He can dispose of fallen sinful creatures in any way that is consistent with His holy, righteous character. We always have that confidence. He never will do anything that conflicts with His character. Now, be careful, we learn of the character, the attributes of God, from the word. He reveals it. We sometimes project our thinking, at one degree or another, that can be corrupted by sin, and then we create our theology about God from what we think. And what we think is irrelevant. He is sovereign.

In Romans 9, verses 6-13, which we have looked at, Paul has begun to explain that Israel’s lost condition is consistent with God’s sovereign plan. It was never God’s intention to save every physical descendent of Abraham. Not only was it not His intention to save every physical descendent of Abraham, it was not His intention to every physical descendant of Abraham who is in the line of the physical promise, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. God made clear that He is carrying out His purpose, and there is a selection that has been in place from the beginning. That was shown when He selected Isaac over Ishmael in verses 6 and 7. Verse 8, “…it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise...” But then we have to take that another step further. We say, yes, because that couldn’t be the promised child, because the promised child would come from Abraham and his wife Sarah. So, he takes it down another step. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then Jacob and Esau, and they are twins. They’re in the line, the physical line to whom the promise is given. They have the same father, the same mother, they’re conceived with one act of conception. And then on top of it, God selects the younger one! We say, well boy, it’s like He’s pressing this down on us. Yes! He is sovereign! That’s the point of this section.

Remember the verses we looked at this morning. That’s what’s going on here. We need to understand, God is sovereign, but He’s functioning consistently with His righteous character. Even when, in verse 13 where he quotes from Malachi 1 and says, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” And that’s consistent with the character of God, to hate depraved, sinful, godless people. That’s consistent with His holy, righteous character. You say, was Jacob any less sinful, depraved and unrighteous? NO! But keep in mind now, and this is where he’s going to develop this, God can do what He chooses, as long as it’s consistent with His character. We’ve already established in the opening sections of Romans, that all are sinful. And the wages of sin is death. So, if God chose to send everyone to hell, He would be consistent with His righteous character.

Remember, we remind ourselves of the angels. In Hebrews 2, we’re told God did not even provide salvation for the fallen angels. Their one act of sin condemned them forever to hell. Christ did not become an angel, Hebrews 2. There’s no place for angels who sinned to be saved. That settled it, it was done for eternity. That’s consistent with God’s character. Now we think, well, it seems harsh! Well, He is perfectly holy, we’re not! He’s perfectly righteous, we are not! We still see through somewhat blurred glasses. And then again, I have to be careful of my emotions. I say, well, yes, that is consistent with His character. I come to the scriptures to find out about God, not to evaluate whether God is like I think He should be, or doing what I think He should do, or what I think I would do. And we noted, God doesn’t distinguish between the sin and the sinner.

You often find some of the nicest people, when you present them the gospel, can reveal things about their character you didn’t expect. We could probably all give examples, but we won’t. We’re down here, the last statement raises the question, and Paul knows where the thinking goes. He’s human like we are. So, he just said, in verse 12, “‘…The older will serve the younger.’” And that doesn’t have anything to do with their works. God didn’t take anything unique in Jacob’s character into consideration over Esau’s, because they are both sinful beings, born in sin, justly deserving of hell. The whole point is, you understand, it’s God’s sovereignty. That’s the point of verse 11.

Now we have the two quotes from the Old Testament, “‘The older will serve the younger.’” Well, wait, it’s normal that the older would get the double blessing and be the priority. No, God said it’s going to be the younger. Then he puts it even stronger, “‘…Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” Verse 14, “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there?” That’s the very thing we naturally, humanly, come up with. And you note that next statement, “…May it never be!” King James said, God forbid! But the word God, does not appear. “…May it never be!” More of an accurate translation. The idea is, such a thought is inconceivable. We can rule that out, because that would be inconsistent with God’s character. There’s not injustice, unrighteousness with God, is there? Absolutely not! So, whatever solution we come to, as we read these, Jacob I’ve love, Esau I hated, we know it’s not unrighteous with God to declare that.

He’s going to walk us along and unfold that God’s personal, sovereign, electing love, is going to be on those He chooses to put it on. The great mystery in this, and it helps me in my thinking when I put it this way, the mystery is not why He hated Esau. The mystery is why He loved Jacob. Why does He love any sinner? Why does He put His love on any fallen, rebellious sinner? He didn’t do that with angels who sinned. And they were created and served in His very presence. But He didn’t put His love on those who sinned. And it wasn’t, well, they kept sinning over time. There was one act of rebellion, led by Lucifer, that’s it. So, he’s going to explain how this is consistent with God’s justice. That’s what he’s doing and it’s going to get a little more challenging yet, because he’s going to say, and we’ll pick up with verse 15, “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” You see what he says here, you cannot go back any further.

The point is, God is not obligated to any fallen sinner. What is the definition of the word, mercy? It’s something undeserved. Well, then we can’t talk about any of us deserving God’s mercy. Defined, mercy is something given to someone who has not earned it. You get your paycheck at the end of the week, and you worked hard, and you poured your heart into it. And you did the best job you could and at the end of the week, I’m going to show you mercy, here’s a check for the hours you worked. You say, that’s not mercy! But if you were sick and didn’t work, didn’t have any plan that covered that, and your boss says, I’m going to pay you anyway. That was mercy. You didn’t earn it. You didn’t do anything to deserve it. He chose to do it. So, that’s the point. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.

Come back to Exodus 33. That’s when God said this to Moses. This is not new material. You note, we are going back to the Old Testament because chapters 9, 10 and 11 are primarily dealing with Israel. Paul uses the Old Testament scriptures to show that what he is saying about Israel, is consistent from the beginning. We come to Exodus 33 and Moses intercedes for the nation Israel. Down in verse 12, “Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’” You see, Moses is writing this, God, You’ve done things for me, and made promises to me, You’ve known me by name. That’s a way of saying, God put His special attention, His special love on me. Obviously, He knows the name of everyone, He knows the hairs on our head. Obviously, He knows our name, but to say, You know my name is to show you’re personal, you’re special. You’ve been singled out by Him. And You’ve told me I’ve found favor in Your sight.

Verse 13, “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight.” Well, he already has it. But he says, I want to live consistently with that favor. I want to know more about You, to be more. What I need to be is a man that is pleasing to You. And he tells him down there. Verse 14, “And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.’” I wouldn’t want to go on without You. You see there’s no self-confidence, arrogance in Moses. He’s one of the meekest men on the face of the earth, remember that. I came out here, boy I’m special. No! Seeing something of God’s grace shown to him, doesn’t produce pride. It produces humility and acknowledgment of my dependence on You. The people You’ve selected. Moses doesn’t single himself out as better than the other Israelites, even though they are such a burden to him and to God in that sense.

Verse 17, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor...’” Here we go, you see these are the words: favor, mercy, grace, kindness, love. “‘…for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.’” Here it comes again. I set you apart for Myself. Of course, He knows names, but you’re special. “Then Moses said, ‘I pray You, show me Your glory!’ And He said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you…’” Here we go again. “‘…and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’”

Paul quotes this, takes it back to Moses. Moses was an object of God’s selecting love, selecting favor. That’s where the quote comes from that we have in verse 15 of Romans 9. And God says you can’t see My face. No man can and live. He passes by and you wonder, what is this? God is not a human being, yet He passes by. He covers it in the cleft of the rock and passes by, then He removes His hand and Moses sees the back parts of God. And I guess the significance is, he can’t withstand the fullness as a man, of the display of God’s glory. It would consume him. He couldn’t live, is what God says. “‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!’” As we talked earlier today, we lose perspective on the greatness and magnificence of God, who has shown His grace to us, even when we’re saved. Here Moses, unique in a sense because he spoke to God face-to-face, but in another sense, he could not endure the full face of God’s presence. He wouldn’t live. He’d be consumed. You see God’s selection there. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will show compassion on whom I will have compassion. That settles it. God is free to show mercy, now again, on whom He chooses to show mercy. We’re dealing with sinners. It’s not an obligation. I’m repeating myself purposely.

Come back to Romans 9. Look at verse 16, “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” It’s not a combination of me doing all I can and God joining with me. It’s the same thing he said back in verse 11, in the middle of the verse, “…so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls...” That’s saying the same thing. It wasn’t on them making an effort. God could see the desire in their heart to come to Him. God could see something in Jacob, and he had a tender heart toward God, but Esau didn’t. We ignore scripture when we come up with those kinds of solutions. We decide we don’t like what it says, so I’m going to put my hand over that.

It’s like one of my professors, John Cawood, who preached here. He was using a bible and it was sort of all used up. He opened it up one day and the page fell out. He says, oh well, I always had a problem with that page anyway. And that’s a little bit of how sometimes we handle the scripture. We read into it. Well, we know Jacob turned out okay, and Esau didn’t. We just ignore what we didn’t think we wanted to accept. That’s why it’s important we fix our mind. I come to scripture to submit and I may struggle with it. Paul knows that. He asked the question, and this seems like you could charge God with unrighteousness, injustice. That’s not a possibility! So, I can rule out some possibilities. That doesn’t give me an answer. He’s walking through the explanation in verse 16. “So then It does not depend on the man who wills…” Because we’re all fallen, sinful, rebellious people, set in our rejection against God. It will take mercy.

The Arminian solution is that God shows mercy to everyone, so there’s enough grace shown to everyone that they could believe. Well, then it wasn’t God’s choice. It was man’s choice. We’re really, back to the same spot. We just moved it on another step. We’re still, everybody is free making their own choice, and some make a better choice than others. So, you see we’ve just moved it a step. Well, of course, sinners left to themselves. But God doesn’t leave them to themselves. He shows mercy to everyone. That’s not what it says. It says “‘…I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” You can’t cover that up by saying, well, there’s the general provision of mercy. There’s a general provision of compassion. Now men are free to choose. Then it would be their choice. So, verse 16 needs to be crossed out too. We could go through here and say, well, if you’re going to hold that view, cross that verse out.

“So then It does not depend on the man who wills…” It didn’t come from my decision. “…or the man who runs…” It wasn’t my doing. “…but on God who has mercy. Well if He shows mercy to everyone that would mean that everyone is going to be saved. This is saving mercy.” That’s the one who gets chosen. Upon one whom He shows His favor, whom He calls by name. I’m emphasizing this because this is where I was stuck and John Cawood, who I mentioned, was the man who just said, Gil, take these verses. Now I want you to go through this book. I want you to mark down every verse. Finally, I went in one day and I said, you know what? I give up! I yield! I can’t defend my position anymore. You have to come to that. If I’m not biblical, I have to give up. I can’t say, well, I just think I’m right. Well, I can’t go there.

In verse 17, he’s going to give examples. “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh...” You see now he’s taking us back again to Israel’s early history. “…the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up...” Note the sovereignty of God here as He appoints rulers. We saw that He does that according to the working of His plan. Satan has a certain authority, but it’s God using even the sinful activity of Satan, in appointing rulers that He appoints, that He has ultimate authority in this. That’s why incidentally since we talked about this in our service this morning, that the very beginning of the presidency of this first President, remember what some of the leaders of our government said? “Now the resistance begins.” Which is another way of saying, now we will display more of our rebellion against God because who appointed the man? We say, well, you’re making him awful special. No! God says He appoints all the rulers. So, we say we’re going to persist. Is it any wonder, we see problems multiply, disobedience grow? But that’s just a sideline.

“‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’” We’re going to say more about Pharaoh in a moment when we get a little further down into the next verse. But come back to Daniel. Daniel’s not mentioned here but this goes along with what we’re saying. Daniel, chapter 4. I just want to include these verses then we’ll go back in connection with the next verse and look at Pharaoh more in depth. This is Nebuchadnezzar and we’ve gone through the opening chapters. Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He had his dream interpretation, but come to chapter 4, verse 1. “Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, men of every language...” And he says now as king of the earth, I mean he’s the ruling empire, “‘May your peace abound! It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.’”

How his attitude changed. “‘How great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion is from generation to generation.’” Boy, he learned a lot the hard way, but he learned. And then he tells you what happened. He reiterates, but we don’t have time to read that. Come down to verse 17. “‘This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the holy ones…’” We see angels’ function between God and humans in carrying out God’s will here as we looked at earlier today. “‘…in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.’”

He makes the decision. It’s often a decision that we are surprised by. He keeps repeating this. Over at the end of verse 25, you may have these marked from previous times of study. “‘…until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.’” What he’s telling there, I went crazy. I lived like a wild animal. I lived like an ox. I ate grass. That put me in my place. Is this not mighty Babylon that I have built by my might, my wisdom? What a great, powerful, sovereign man I am! And He put my nose down to eat grass for seven years. That tells you who’s in charge. He learned the lesson. And He said I had to do that until I would recognize the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind. He bestows it on whomever He wishes. The end of verse 26, “‘…your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules.’”

Now He doesn’t do that with every earthly ruler, but He did with Nebuchadnezzar and it’s recorded in scripture, so we realize. That’s why in Romans 13, Paul talks about it is rebellion against God to rebel against the rulers that He appoints. And He does what He wills. You come down to verse 32, the end of the verse, “‘…the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and He bestows it on whomever He wishes.’” Down to the end of verse 34, “‘…I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing…’” Remember, the nations are not even like a speck of dust on the scale as we looked in Isaiah? “‘…but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

Verse 37, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways are just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” Boy! Nebuchadnezzar learned a lot, fast. And sometimes Christians, as they profess to be believers for years and years, part of bible believing churches, haven’t learned this truth. God is sovereign and He rules and it’s according to His will. He does what He decides to do and Nebuchadnezzar, nobody can question Him. Nobody could dare say, what have You done? As though He might not have done the right thing. What do you mean, what have I done? I have done what I have chosen to do. Nebuchadnezzar learned if you don’t want your nose stuck in the grass and live like an ox, you better learn that. I mean, why does it take us so long? I need to come to scripture and bow before it.

Come back to Romans 9. God raised up Pharaoh. God is sovereign. All the lines of Pharaoh and some of you in Old Testament studies and background studies have studied some of the Pharaohs to see all that goes on and the rulers. God raises up the rulers and they are there for His purpose, for His time. That doesn’t mean they are godly men. Not at all. Remember Nebuchadnezzar was the one who wanted to burn Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego before God humbled him. He’s not a nice man. You read about the Assyrians when they conquered. You see the archaeology and the pictures. You can get them in books. You know the captives, they’ve got a hook in their nose or in their lip, and they’re being strung along like animals. You trip and fall. You know what that does? That hurts because you tear the end of your nose off, you tear your lip out. These are not nice people, but God raised him up for His purpose to carry out His will. Verse 17, “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’” Pharaoh will be a godless rebel to the end, but God raised him up so that his open rebellion would bring glory to God.

Verse 18, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” Oh, I wish he hadn’t said the last part of that. “…He has mercy on who He desires…” But you know what the other side of not having mercy is? It’s hardening. You know how He hardens them? By exposing them to truth that they continue to reject. That’s what he’s talking about here. He hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He has mercy on whom He has mercy. He hardens whom He chooses to harden. Works in the same realm. It’s God’s decision. He has mercy on whom He chooses to have mercy. He hardens those He chooses to harden. We’ll take the time to come back to Pharaoh, back in Exodus, the second book of the bible. Come back to Exodus chapter 4. We’re going to see repeatedly where it is said, and you know all these miracles Moses does in the presence of Pharaoh, was not to soften his heart. It was to harden his heart. We want to be sure we have the context of what Paul is writing, so that we don’t rewrite it to fit more our own thinking. Look at Exodus chapter 4, verse 21. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart...’” We’ll read the other side of this after we look through these passages, so don’t get ahead of me. But you know what God says here, “I will harden.” Moses hasn’t even gotten to Pharaoh yet. He’s going to go there, he’s going to do miracles, but God says, what? They’re not going to change Pharaoh’s heart, because I’m going to harden his heart.

Look at chapter 7, and you’ll have to go back and read the context, or we will not get through everything. Verse two, “‘You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.’” This is the word of God. You have to let the children of Israel leave. “‘But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.’” God had an intention. If Pharaoh responded to the first sign, God couldn’t have displayed His power again and again and again, that even the pagan nation later will speak of the God of Israel as the One who did those mighty miracles in Egypt. “‘…I will harden Pharaoh’s heart…’” Come to chapter 9, verse 11, “The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians as well as on the Egyptians. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.”

Chapter 10, verse 1, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them…” Servants of Pharaoh are getting weary, and at the end of verse 7 they tell Pharaoh, “‘…Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?’” Come down to verse 20, “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart...” Down to verse 27, “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart...” Chapter 11, verse 10 the middle of the verse, “…yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart...” Come over to chapter 14, verse 4, where God says, “‘Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart…I will be honored through Pharaoh...’” This is what it’s all about. God is jealous for His own glory. He is working for that. In verse 8, “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh…” How many times does He have to say it? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine times if I counted correctly. We get the point.

Now it’s true, Pharaoh hardened his heart. Come back to chapter 7, look at verse 13. “Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened…” And in that, you could say that he hardened his own heart. The heart of Pharaoh was hardened. Was it God who hardened it here? It could have been Pharaoh hardening his own heart, so we’ll allow that to go to a decision of Pharaoh. That’s usually the way it’s taken. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, he did that. It doesn’t say directly that God did it. Come over to chapter 8, verse 32. “But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also…” That would indicate the previous one should be taken of Pharaoh too. Then in chapter 9, verse 34 “…he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” So, on those occasions Pharaoh hardened his heart. It goes both ways.

God didn’t make Pharaoh do what Pharaoh didn’t want to do. It will take the merciful intervention of God to soften a heart, so it does anything but harden, but reject. And as added light is given, added responsibility comes, and we have to keep everything in context. God is dealing with fallen, sinful people. And you know what happens? As He gives light, it makes man more upset. Go share the gospel. Well, maybe you can’t do it now. Act like a rioter, then go share the gospel. You go talk to someone. I want to tell you the truth. I want to tell you what God has to say. He says you are a sinner as I am a sinner. And you walk through the gospel. They say, oh, I’m so glad you told me that. Most likely they’ll say, I would appreciate it if you’d leave. I’m not open to hear that. If you’re a university student, raise your hand in class and say, we’ve been talking about psychological issues and problems that people face and depression and unhappiness and I’d like to share with you what God says the real problem is. See what kind of response you get. There is a hardening that goes on, and exposure to truth hardens. That does not mean God causes people to sin.

Come back to the New Testament and come to 2 Corinthians, chapter 2. I’ve shared this. This is the passage, if I was going to pick one that would be my favorite passage, and perhaps had the greatest influence on me as I began my ministry. 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” We’re giving off the aroma as we go out, we’re giving off the knowledge of Christ. That’s like the sacrificial aroma of the sacrifice offered that arose. God’s people were pleasing Him, honoring Him, doing what was acceptable to Him. So, as we go out and make Christ known, that is like a fragrance to God. “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing...” Note that. It is the fragrance that is pleasing to God, not the result. And that’s my responsibility.

I want a life that is pleasing to God. Give off the fragrance. Well, I’ve tried it, but people aren’t saved. Well, the fragrance isn’t people getting saved. The fragrance is giving off the knowledge of Christ. Isn’t that what he says? He “…manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing…” Both are present participles. People are in the process of being saved, the work of salvation that begins at faith and it’s a work of God now molding and shaping us until He brings it to completion in glorification. And there are people, every unbeliever you talk to, is perishing. Not all will perish. Even in the future, he is in the process of perishing. Every step takes him a step closer. Perishing, that’s where he’s going.

He asks, “…who is adequate for these things?” You understand we are dealing with eternal matters. Every time I share the gospel with someone it is “…an aroma from death to death…”in verse 16. There’s the hardening. Every time Pharaoh got exposed to the truth of God, a manifestation of His power, His glory, he did not bow in faith, his heart was hardened. That was his decision. The only thing that would change it, would be if God intervened and overruled in his heart to turn him. That’s mercy. We are an aroma from death to death. That’s the hard thing. Talk to people and I realize, if you don’t believe this, and if they don’t believe it, they are worse off than they were, when we started. The person that sits in a bible teaching church, it can be hardening, but we never know. I want to be careful here. Just because they were exposed to the truth, doesn’t mean they’ll never get saved. So, don’t read into this more because God’s grace works in different ways.

I shared about my cousin; he’s passed away just about a month ago. He and I were at an old-fashioned camp meeting. We both went forward. We had talked about the gospel, and we were young people. My mother had been saved and we were going to holiness camp meetings. We both went down, went to the altar, prayed, I was really saved. He wasn’t. He said, I could hardly keep from laughing. But twenty years later he got saved. So, it’s not like, oh boy, he got hardened, he got hardened. Well, the Lord was working. It’s like Nebuchadnezzar. He could throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the furnace. God could rescue them. He’s still not saved. That didn’t mean anybody’s still hardened after that, is lost for good. So, want to be careful we don’t read here. I don’t control the future, God does.

A person may have heard the Word of God a thousand times. I shared the gospel with an elderly lady in my student pastorate. She was ninety. I went to a nursing home where she’s dying. Somebody had asked me to share the gospel. I shared the gospel and she said, oh I’m a sinner! Pastor, I am a sinner! So, I talked to her and she prayed. Oh pastor, you have to tell people not to wait until they’re ninety to get saved. God is gracious. She gets saved on her deathbed at ninety. How many times had she heard? I don’t know. So, I don’t want you to misunderstand and say, well I shared the gospel. They said no. They’re harder than they ever were. Well, God works in mysterious ways. I’m looking at you all. He’s worked in mysterious ways and you’re looking at me, same thought.

“…And who is adequate for these things?” Note the key here. “For we are not like the many...” That’s the tragedy. “…we are not like the many…” The hoi polloi is the Greek word, meaning ‘the many’. We carry that into where sometimes you hear it in English, the hoi polloi, the masses, the many. “…peddling the word of God...” Acting as hucksters with the word, they’re making adjustments with the Word to make it more saleable. Like people that diluted the wine, so they could make more profit. That’s the idea. These are people, not that are just pagan idol worshipers, who are using the word of God, and they’re peddling it. They alter it, they change it to make it more interesting, more appealing. “…but as from sincerity…” a purity of motive, “but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” That’s the thing.

Every time you share the gospel, God is the observer. I’m more concerned with pleasing Him than I am with the person that’s listening. I want to demonstrate the concern, the love for that lost person that God has shown when He had His Son die, but I don’t know what God will do. I’ll go and say, God only You can do something in a heart. Only You can change a heart, but I have a responsibility. And when you share the truth, something’s always happening. Now there may be a hardening that goes on before God brings a softening. I don’t know. I expect to meet people in heaven that I shared the gospel with that rejected it when I shared with them. And I expect I won’t meet people in heaven that indicated they did respond but their life indicated they never did. That was just a superficial response like when my cousin and I went forward at an altar call. This is what’s going on though. Every time the Word is shared, something is happening. It may be a hardening that may be permanent like Pharaoh. It may be a hardening like Nebuchadnezzar that will bring him crushing to the bottom, but God’s purpose will be done, and He’s behind it all. When all is said and done, anybody who is saved is a result of God’s mercy.

You’re in Corinthians, come back to Ephesians. The book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 4. We’ve memorized these and He’s told us what we were. We “…formerly walked…” here, so don’t think we are the better that He chose. Verse 4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace…” You see what we’ve had so far? Mercy, love, grace. “…you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places…so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship...” That’s it. It says what it is.

Come back to the book of Isaiah, chapter 6. You see how these concepts of our salvation go together? We talk about total depravity. Total depravity does not mean man is as bad as he could be. We see that. There’s God’s common grace that restrains the outbreak of lawlessness, but as God removes that restraining grace, we see countries, nations dissolve into turmoil. Lawlessness that makes them almost unlivable, in parts of the world, countries. I think of places like Lebanon and then it comes to other countries and you can see it spread. We’re going ultimately to the manifestation of man’s lawlessness and rebellion against God. Look at chapter 6, verse 8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” He’s had the vision of the glory of the Lord at the first part of chapter 6. “‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’” And then when we get to the gospel of John and John tells us that Isaiah wrote that when he saw the glory of Christ. So, you see something of the preincarnate Christ here. Verse 9, God said to Isaiah, “‘Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand. Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.’”

Israel has passed the time of the more immediate opportunity. God is going to restore Israel. The book of Isaiah has much of that. But that immediate opportunity is no longer there. The prophets come now to announce judgment. So, the presenting of the truth, they won’t understand it. I’m not going to open their ears. I’m not going to give them the ability to perceive it. Their ears dull, their eyes dim, because I don’t intend them to see. Why? Because they’ve passed that point. That’s why it’s always a danger. You know, will I have another time? Like Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, ‘today is the day of salvation.’ God kept calling Israel back, but they won’t come back. Now His intention is that they won’t come back. Now His eternal plan has always been there, but you see the stubbornness. Now what it is and the balance.

God is not obligated to open sinful hearts. He’s not obligated to show mercy to anyone. That’s why we will be trophies, we read this in Ephesians, of His grace in the ages to come. When you and I are in heaven, we’ll be testimonies that God is a God of grace and mercy. And there will be those in hell that will be testimonies that He is the God of holiness, justice, and righteousness. Do I say, or ask, why should they be in hell? No! The question is why will you be in heaven? You know, we get turned around. We forget what we were. That’s why Ephesians 2 started out, “We were by nature children of wrath...” We were children of the devil. We were rebellious in every way. Our heart was just as godless and wicked as anybody’s. We’ll be trophies of grace. The thing that we as believers struggle with is to accept the biblical evaluation. Man is as sinful as God says he is. That’s why we have so much trouble with theology and it gets confusing. We just want to work it out differently because they’re good people. And humanly speaking, as we just look at the veneer, they are.

I’ve had people I appreciate, that they’ve been kind to me, but they’re lost; and I realize they’re lost because they don’t want to submit to God. I’ve shared the gospel and you can tell. We can talk about anything and everything but not that. Whose fault is it? God’s fault! He should soften their heart. Wait a minute. I don’t tell God what to do. “I will have mercy on who I will have mercy. I will have compassion on those I will have compassion.” That gives me hope as well. I pray for my kids. I pray for my grandkids. Now I’ve got great grandkids to pray for. I’ve turned that all over to Marilyn. It’s too much. But they’re all sinners. It’ll take God’s grace to save them, but that’s my hope. I don’t have any confidence in their wretched condition that they’ll make the right choice. But I encourage them to believe but I’m praying that God, only You can work in their heart. But at the same time, I tell them you must believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. God, only You can touch that heart. It is so stubborn, so closed, so hard they can hear it and hear it and hear it and hear it. Lord, make them as miserable, make life as difficult, do whatever that’s necessary. You know them, what will You have to do to humble them. That’s my desire. If He doesn’t, in eternity I will know He did what’s right, consistent with His character, and He showed mercy, and we will be trophies of grace for all eternity.

So, I want to summarize. In hardening, God is not making men do what they do not want to do. He is giving them over to their sinful desires. I have Romans 1 written here but we were there this morning, so we won’t go there. That repeated expression, man rejects God, “God gives them over, God gave them over,” that thrice repeated “God gave them over” in Romans 1. Man is born in sin and he wants to stay there. I mean, look at our country. Bibles are everywhere. I got on the internet for some things I’m doing, and you can get on there. The top ten, best-selling English version bibles. I mean they’re all over the place. They’re good money makers for publishers. Why aren’t people bowing? Why aren’t people getting saved? You can. The truth is there. They don’t want to! They don’t want to! Well, God should do something. He is. In mercy and grace, He is selectively choosing. Why? It centers in God Himself. There’s no further way back we can go.

I said one more passage but one more means one more after the one more. Ephesians 1, and I promise this is it. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world...” “…chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” I didn’t even get a chance. You know, it’s not even out there. The names are written, remember in Revelation, the Lamb’s book of life, before the foundation of the world. “He predestined us to adoption as sons...” “…He chose us…that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention...” I think they’ve softened that. You have in the margin, the literal translation, “good pleasure.” “…according to the good pleasure of His will...” That’s as far back as I can go.

Why did God choose those that He chose? It pleased Him to do it. Well, doesn’t He have to give us more of an answer? Do I have a right to challenge God? Does He owe me an explanation? Until I’m satisfied, it’s not good enough? To His good pleasure, “…to the praise of the glory of His grace...” I want My grace to be magnified, so I selected out from that worthless, helpless, hopeless bunch of hell-bound sinners, some upon whom I would pour out My grace. I made provision for them all and that just shows none of them want it. I went another step and selected some. Not because they were better than the others. I picked some of the worst. To the praise of My grace. Grace. Grace. And that’s where we receive the redemption. It’s to the praise of His glory. “…which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (His Son). Verse 6. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses...” You have to come to believe. “…according to the riches of His grace.” So, this is woven in here.

He doesn’t save anyone without their believing. I don’t sit back and say, and I’ve shared this. Well, I’m not elect, so I won’t be saved. You won’t be saved, because you refuse to believe the gospel. Oh, I can’t. Well, you don’t want to. Oh, I want to, but I can’t. If you want to, do it. God says, “Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Now just doing it is mockery and won’t save you. But if you’ll say, God as hard as it is for me to admit it, I am the sinner You say I am. I am guilty. I am unworthy. I am hell-deserving. To the best of my understanding, I want to put my faith in Christ and Him alone as my Savior. God says He’ll do what He promised. Call upon Me and you will be saved. You’re not going to turn this around and make it God’s fault that you’re going to hell. You’re going to hell by choice. You’re a sinner by birth. You’re a sinner by choice. That’s the point. Verse 11, “…having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.” “…the praise of His glory,” verse 6, the end of verse 12, and the end of verse 14, “…to the praise of His glory.” That’s what it’s all about. “I won’t give My glory to another.”

All the glory has to go to Him, and in that sense, I can say that God is the One who can be totally selfish. Although the word is too colored to use, but He does all things for His glory. And He is the One due to receive all the glory and all the honor. And He owes me no explanation. He tells me what’s recorded in the Word, so I learn of Him and I am responsible to learn and to live in light of it. But that does not give me the right to challenge Him, to disagree with Him. That doesn’t mean I don’t grow. I can say I don’t agree with the way you interpret this. That’s fine. We’re not all going to, but we have to be willing to be driven to the wall. And if we’re not biblical, we have to make the adjustment.

Let’s have a word of prayer, then you can talk to one another, from a little distance, and then be on your way home. Let’s pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your word. It is a great honor and privilege that we can come together at a time like this, whether present in the auditorium or in our homes, and have the Spirit of God teach us Your word. You are an awesome God, a sovereign God. We are here as testimonies of Your grace. We open Your word and have the Spirit open our eyes and our understanding to impress the riches of this treasure on our hearts and minds. And Lord, as we go out and face the week ahead of us, we are reminded that we are to live these truths, being a testimony of Your grace in our lives. May that be true wherever we are. May our testimony be strong. May You be pleased to use that testimony to bring others to Christ. We pray in His name. Amen.