Salvation is God’s By Choice

Transcript

GRM 950
1/22/2006
Salvation Is God’s Choice
Romans 9:1-18
Gil Rugh


I want to continue the theme we were doing last week on the sovereignty of God. So if you turn in your Bibles to Romans 9, and if you’ve been around Indian Hills very long you know we will get back to Corinthians in the days ahead. And we’re going to resume our study of the Old Testament, too, but today and tonight I want to talk further about the whole are of the sovereignty of God. And I hope there won’t be too much repetition, but I think it is absolutely essential for us as God’s people to have a correct understanding of God’s sovereignty. I know of no doctrine in scripture that is more essential for our lives as God’s people than the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. If God is not totally sovereign and working His purposes in all that takes place in the world, what hope is there, what comfort and assurance is there. If God is not directing in the affairs of nations and in the activities of our lives personally, what confidence do we have? Are we just going from accident to accident? Is God just observing what is taking place and responding as He sees fit to what man is doing? Or is God sovereign?

I am saddened by the fact that often the doctrine of sovereignty is taken as something divisive. We were together with a group of pastors this week, and one of the pastors shared with us about a man that we know who has attended our meeting on occasion, now pastoring in another place. And he stood up and preached a sermon on God’s sovereignty, and the board met after the service and informed him he would no longer be pastor there. What is there that would offend people in the biblical truth of God’s sovereignty? But as we’ve already noted, this is a humbling doctrine. It means that God is God, period. And as God He is sovereign over all and working His purposes, period. And I am a created being under the authority of the sovereign God, responsible and accountable to Him and will some day be judged by Him.

The Apostle Paul deals with the subject of sovereignty in Romans 9-11. His focus on sovereignty is dealing particularly with the nation Israel. For the first 8 chapters of the book of Romans Paul has unfolded the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ—how God provided His righteous for fallen sinful human beings, so that they might become His children and now live lives of holiness. But this raises the question, what about Israel? How does Israel fit into all of this? Two thousand years, approximately, before Paul wrote God had chosen Abraham and entered into a covenant with Abraham that we call the Abrahamic Covenant. And it assured great blessings and ultimate salvation for the descendents of Abraham, and that they would own and possess the land of Israel, and on go the promises. The descendent of Abraham would reign in righteousness over the whole earth. They would not hurt or destroy throughout all the kingdom that He established. What about all the promises of God to Israel? What about Israel’s salvation? The Apostle Paul writes this letter to the Romans. He himself is a Jew. What about the Jews? Paul was a saved Jew, there are other saved Jews but they are a small minority. What about God’s plan and promises to the nation Israel?

That’s what Paul is going to be unfolding, and as he does this we see something of God’s sovereign work, not only with the nation Israel, but with other nations and with individuals. And here we have to deal with what Paul draws from the Old Testament—Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. So it’s a crucial section for understanding God’s sovereign work.

I want you to see it in context. There is always a danger as we study the Word of God that we want everything to be wrapped up in the nicest, neatest package. And so the danger is if we see any tension that we cannot resolve in our theology, we decide we will just abandon one and assume the other. For example, we have a division between Calvinists and Arminians. And the hyperCalvinisit, extreme Calvinist, exemplified by a spokesman in the 18th century. When someone suggested they ought to carry the gospel to other people in other places he said, young man, sit down. If God ever wants to save the heathen He’ll do it without your help or mine. That’s what we would call hyperCalvinism. God does it apart from man and it’s totally His sovereign work, and man is not in it. Some people say that’s not biblical, and it’s not. Then they go the other way and say well God can’t be sovereign, man must be free and it’s man’s choice. So you have hyperArminianism or open theism where it’s all man’s choices and God’s just up there watching to see what will happen next so He can adjust according to what man is doing. We pursue this study, I want to remind you again—I cannot resolve the tension in this area of biblical theology, theology of the Bible.

God is absolutely, totally sovereign. Nothing ever happens outside His sovereign plan. Now that does not mean He causes sin and rebellion within that plan, but even sin has been included in that plan. Furthermore, man is completely accountable and responsible to God, and God desires man’s salvation. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. God commands all everywhere to repent. It’s absolutely essential because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. There is a tension. People want to say well if he’s sovereign, man can’t be responsible and accountable. And if man is responsible and accountable God can’t be totally sovereign. I have to resolve what I can resolve and what I cannot resolve will be left to God to deal with. So keep that in mind.

Notice how Romans 9 begins, and I want you to see this balance and keep it in mind then as we move into the details of chapter 9. Chapter 9 begins, I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying. Paul has a burden about this. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I, myself, were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. I’m a Jew. Oh that Israel was saved. If my being condemned in hell would bring about the salvation of Israel, it would be worth it. Every day I feel a sorrow in my heart and the grief that Israel is unsaved.

Now Paul is going to go on and write about God’s sovereignty in saving some within Israel. It does not change his passion for the salvation of Israel. He doesn’t sit back and say, I am relieved of all concern. I’m just comforted to know whatever God wants to do, God will do. So I’m waiting to see. No, I have sorrow, I have grief. They are lost. What could I do for their salvation?

Look at chapter 10 verse 1. This is after he talks about God’s sovereignty and lays the groundwork. He says in verse 1, brethren my heart’s desire, my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. …Paul…..pray. You just talked about the sovereignty of God and Him working His purposes and He has mercy on whom He has mercy, He hardens whom He hardens. Why are you so burdened to pray for their salvation? But he is. So you see something of the tension that is there that we have to live with. It is God’s sovereign work that I must passionately long for and desire and pray for the salvation of the lost and be so burdened for them that no sacrifice would be too great, because the Son of God gave the greatest sacrifice of all for the salvation of sinners.

So come back to chapter 9 and I want to walk through part of this chapter with you. The answer that Paul is going to set down, what about the salvation of the nation Israel. I mean that’s an issue even today. You understand that what is going on in the Middle East today and among the rest of the nations of the world, including the United States of America, is related to God’s sovereign promises to the nation Israel and bringing about their fulfillment. The first 5 verses of chapter 9 Paul talked about all that God promised to Israel, the Israelites. Verse 4, it’s to the Israelites that belongs the adoption of sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, the promises. They are the ones that have the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then the 12 patriarchs that God reaffirmed His promises and covenantal assurances to. Jesus Christ Himself was an Israelite, coming in fulfillment of the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament.

But note the first part of verse 6, and if you don’t have it underlined in your Bible you should, but it is not as though the Word of God has failed. Understand, whatever confusion, whatever tension seems to be there, it is not as though the Word of God has failed. It might seem as you stand there and look that God hasn’t done what He promised He would do. That can’t happen. And Paul is going to further elaborate and explain what God’s promises entailed. And let me summarize it for you—God never promised He would save every Jew. God has not ever promised that the whole nation would be saved down through time. There will come a climax when all Israel will be saved, and we won’t get to that in chapter 11. But as Paul writes this, the fact that most of Israel is lost, even as he writes the letter to the Romans, it’s consistent with the plan of God. So it is not as though the Word of God has failed.

And now he’s going to go on to explain, so you have that for. And the explanation is, God is sovereign and it’s His purposes which are being worked, not man’s. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. They are not Israel, truly the Israel in whom all the promises, covenants and so on of verse 4 will be realized. They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. It’s a play on words here. They are not Israel. Part of the nation receiving the covenant promises who are descended from Israel. Now descended from Israel. What one of the fathers, the patriarchs in the Old Testament was given the name Israel? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and God gave Jacob the name Israel, changed His name to Israel. So what Paul is saying, not everyone who is a physical descendent of Jacob, who has the name Israel, is part of the nation Israel in whom all the covenant promises will be fulfilled. There are people who are physical descendents of Jacob in whom God never intended to fulfill those covenant promises. Nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendents. Now note, he’s not saying Jacob’s descendents have been replaced by Gentiles, Abraham’s descendents have been replaced by Gentiles. He’s saying not all are children because they are Abraham’s descendents. They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. The line was narrowed.

When God spoke to Abraham He said but through Isaac your descendents will be named, Genesis 21:12. Now remember, Abraham and Sarah had received the promises of God, but there was a tension that they were having a hard time living with. They are getting older and older and older and they have no children. How can God bless you, bless your descendents that are like the sand of the sea, give them the physical land of Israel and beyond as their inheritance, and you don’t have any kids. So they’re going to resolve the tension. Remember we talked about you have to live with some tension. They couldn’t understand how it would work together, how it could be worked out. So Plan B, we have to help God out. So Sarah suggests, and this is foreign to us, but it was not foreign in the times in which they lived, that her servant girl, Hagar, would conceive a son through Abraham and that son would be considered the heir in the home. Didn’t work out. And you’re familiar with the story, but God’s promises haven’t changed. He says, no. Your descendents and those who received the promises will come through your son, Isaac. So you see God didn’t intent to fulfill his promises to Abraham just in Abraham’s physical descendents. It was a special line of physical descendents.

And so verse 8, that is, it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise are regarded as descendents. Now note that. Some people take this verse and say, see God is done with Israel. The promises don’t center in the fleshly descendents. That’s not what is said, read the next verse. This is the word of promise. At this time I will come and Sarah will have a son. So it’s not enough to be just the physical descendent of Abraham, you have to be physical descendent in the line of promise. Not saying it won’t be fulfilled in the physical descendents of Abraham, it will not be fulfilled to every descendent of Abraham. And you’re aware, in Genesis 25 Abraham had other children through his second wife, Keturah. But the promises aren’t fulfilled to any of them, either. Just through Isaac.

Now someone might say Hagar doesn’t count, she was an Egyptian woman, servant. So naturally it had to be the child that came through Abraham and Sarah, so the next example from the Old Testament. Not only this, verse 10, there was Rebekah also. When she had conceived twins by one man, one woman, one man, twins. These are children by Isaac, Abraham, Isaac. Now Isaac’s going to have twin sons through his wife, Rebekah. Though the twins were not yet born, had not done anything good or bad so that God’s purpose according to His choice. And we noted in our previous study, according to election, might stand. Not because of works but because of Him who calls. And we noted this couldn’t refer to just God’s foreknowledge, knowing ahead of time, because even if it were something he knew ahead of time, he would basing his decision on what? What they would do. That’s the whole argument of verse 11—it doesn’t have anything to do with their actions. It’s not based on their works or what God saw they would do, but on His sovereign choice.

It was said to her, the older will serve the younger. Now you see God’s purpose here is being revealed. Not only did I select Abraham from out of all the people on the face of the earth and His descendents, I limited it. Why? Because God did it, it was His choice to do it. It would be Abraham through Isaac, then Isaac would have twins so they would share the promise and split it. No. God says I sovereignly choose one and I’m going to reverse the procedure. Instead of the oldest receiving the promise, I’m going to give it to the younger. Why? Well the book of Hebrews tells us that Esau was a godless man, a profane man. The problem was, verse 11 says that didn’t have anything to do with God’s choice. As we’ll see, both Jacob and Esau were sinners, vile and lost before God. There is a difference in Jacob because God chose Jacob, and thus brought about a change in him. The older will serve the younger.

Just as it is written. This gets a little harder. Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Now it’s true, sometimes when the Bible talks about hating someone it means to love them less, the comparison. Compared to your love to this person, anything else is hate. You are to hate your father and mother and love the Lord your God. We say you’re also to respect and honor and there’s a place for loving your parents. But in comparison to your love for God, you must be willing to abandon your parents, let them go. Your commitment is totally and completely to Him. However, that’s not always true with the word hate. In the contrast here and the way it’s played out, I think it’s clear—hate means hate. We sometimes recoil at the idea that God hates anyone, so we try to help God out of a dilemma by saying what? God loves the sinner but hates the sin. It is true, God hates sin, but it is also true God hates sinners. I don’t like to hear that. Doesn’t it sort of grate on your ears and you say, I don’t like to say it. If I sit here and say everyone of you unredeemed sinners is the object of God’s hatred. I don’t think you need to say that, that’s not a kind thing to say. But here Paul says, and what he is doing is drawing from Malachi 1:2—Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. Some say well He’s talking about the nations that come from these two men. He has chosen to love Israel, but not to love Edom. And that’s true, particularly in the context of Malachi 1:2-5 he’s talking about the Edomites and the Israelites. But as the context will make clear as we go on here, it also involves the individuals. We’re going to talk about Pharaoh as an individual that is the object of God’s hatred, and thus God’s hardening. We’ll see others as we move through the section.

So what God is saying here, He chooses some and doesn’t choose others. Now the next verse will have to deal with the question, there is no injustice with God, is there? In other words, isn’t the first question that comes to your mind when it says God hates one person and loves the other, that’s not fair, that’s not just? That’s the very question that will come up. What shall we say then, there is no injustice with God, is there? Is this fair for God to love Jacob and hate Esau? Well keep in mind we jumped in here in chapter 9. If we had started in the beginning of the book of Romans, the first 3 chapters would have emphasized what? That everyone is a sinner. Just back up to chapter 3 verse 9, we have already charged, Romans 3:9, that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. There is none righteous, not even one. Verse 11, there is none who seeks for God. Verse 12, there is none who does good, there is not even one. I mean it’s as clear as can be.

So the fact that we should read when we come to chapter 9 and be reminded that God hates Esau, that’s not a surprise. God hates sinners as well as sin. In fact, you know what you could do to get rid of all sin in the world? Get rid of all people. Trees don’t sin, rocks don’t sin, butterflies don’t sin. Now the creation has been impacted and affected by sin, but where did Jesus say sin comes from? Matthew 7, out of the heart of man proceed all sorts of evil things—adulteries, fornications, lies, on it goes. Sin comes from the rebellion of personal beings against the living God. So we need to be careful about disassociating sin as though sin is something that happens out here and sometimes people bump into it and get a little bit of dirt on themselves. Sin is present because people are sinners and do sinful things. So we want to watch out for saying God hates sin but He loves the sinner. Now there is a paradox here, another point of tension. God hates the sinner. But you know what? God also loves the sinner. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Jesus said to love your enemies, and sinners are the enemies of God. He loves them. In fact, Romans 5:8 says this is the great demonstration of love in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, us sinners. Not for my sin, for me. Who or what is going to be sentenced to hell, sin or sinners? God doesn’t say I’m going to put all fornication, all lies, all stealing, all cheating in hell. No, I’m going to put liars in hell, murderers in hell, adulterers in hell, fornicators in hell. Sinners are going to hell because God hates them and is bringing judgment on them. Yet He has provided salvation for them and He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said his ministry was we beg you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God. Do it today. Today is the day of salvation. Turn from your sin, cast yourself on the mercy of God, believing that Christ died for you. Don’t go to hell, don’t continue to fight against God, don’t continue to be His enemy. In love He provided a way for you to be forgiven. That’s what He did for His enemies, but He hates sinners.

Turn back to the Old Testament, we have to take a moment on this. I realize it can be misunderstood, but you understand the love of God is also misunderstood. You go to the average sinner and ask them, do you think God love you? Yes. Do you think God hates you? No. God wouldn’t hate anyone. There is more misunderstanding about God hating people than there is God loving people. Now they don’t understand what the love of God means, but we say I want to be careful about talking about God hating sinners, people could misunderstand. You better be careful about talking about God’s love in that context, because all kinds of people assume they’re going to get to go to heaven because God loves everyone. They need to understand, dear soul, do you know God hates you and He hates you so much He’s going to condemn you to an eternal hell. And you deserve it. But it is almost beyond conception—as much as God hates you and as great as His wrath is toward you, He provided a Savior to bear the brunt of His wrath and to provide a way for you to be forgiven and be cleansed and go to heaven, become His child. Isn’t that amazing?

Look in Psalm 5. We’re looking at the fact that God hates sinners, as well as sin. Psalm 5:4, you are not a God that takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. Now note this, you hate all who do iniquity. Not just, you hate all iniquity. You hate all the people doing iniquity. And when God hates someone, they are doomed to destruction. You destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. He doesn’t just abhor bloodshed and deceit, He abhors the one who commits bloodshed and deceit. So you see God does hate sinners. It’s a serious matter.

Look over in Psalm 11:4, the Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. He sees everything. And He is testing them, examining them. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked. Now note this, and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Doesn’t just say and He hates violence, He hates the one who love violence. He hates the sinner.

Turn over to Proverbs, just after the book of Psalms. Proverbs 6:12, he’s talking about a worthless person, a wicked man, someone you can’t trust, someone who tells you one thing and does another. Verse 16, there are six things which the Lord hates, yes seven which are an abomination to Him. And you’ll note here, you go between the action and the person. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spread strife among the brothers. I mean when God talks about hating sin, He’s talking about hating the one who does sin. The lying tongue. Verse 19, the false witness, the one who spread strife. I hate these people and I hate what they do.

Turn over to Malachi, just one more example. Toward the back of your Bible, the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi 1:2, the end of the verse. This is what we just read, Paul quoted. Malachi 1:2 the last statement, yet I have loved Jacob, verse 3, but I have hated Esau. And the evidence is I brought judgment on Esau but I didn’t bring the same kind of judgment on Jacob. The Edomites have experienced the devastating judgment but Israel survives its judgments because God loves them. You need to go to chapter 2 for what we’re talking about now. He’s talking about the matter of divorce. You know certain things become commonplace and we think they become acceptable. It ought to be disturbing to us all that the divorce rate in the professing evangelical church is the same or worse than it is in the general populace of the world. We sometimes think since everybody does it, God changed His mind. Verse 14, this is the situation in Israel. Yet you say, for what reason? Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But no one who has done so has a remnant of the Spirit. Jump to the end of the verse, take heed, then, to your spirit and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. For I hate divorce. You said see God hates the sin. I hate divorce says the Lord, the God of Israel and him who covers his garment with wrong, says the Lord of Hosts. So take heed to your spirits so you do not deal treacherously. I hate the sin and I hate the sinner. That’s the scripture. We’re sharing the gospel with those that God hates. His wrath is directed towards them, they will be condemned to experience the fullness of His wrath, unmixed with mercy and the cup of His anger, Romans 14 says, if they do not bow and receive His forgiveness through faith in Christ. Serious matter. We want to create this god who is some big comfortable grandfather that just overlooks all the flaws and all the failures, and He understands and He loves us all. Biblical view is, He hates sinners.

Now come back to Romans. Does this mean there is injustice with God? Verse 14, there is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. There is our ???????, such a though is inconceivable. That’s not one of the possible answers. It may be the first thing to come to our mind, if God loves one and hates the other there must be injustice with God. You can’t forget something. In the last hour I wrote it down on the board—we have to remember we’re dealing with sinners. We’re not dealing with innocent people, sinners. Sinners will need mercy, compassion, grace. When you get here to Romans 9:13, the fact that God would hate Esau—well sure He would, he’s a sinner. The Old Testament tells me God hates sinners. The amazing thing is God loved Jacob. How are you going to explain that?

So we go on, is there injustice with God when He loves one and hates the other? If He’s going to love one, doesn’t He have to love all? If He’s going to hate one, doesn’t He have to hate all? Verse 15 and verse 17 as well answer that question with two quotes from the Old Testament. Verse 15, quoting for Exodus 33:19, for He says to Moses (God says to Moses) I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Context in Exodus 13, Moses has asked God, show me your glory. God says I’m going to do it, I’m going to let you see more of my glory than I’ve revealed to others. But in that context He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. I’m going to do this in response to your request, but you note, you don’t earn it. I was listening to a preacher this morning while I was having breakfast so I could get indigestion with my breakfast. And he was talking about your works guarantee God’s blessings on your children and your grandchildren. And when you do a good work you’re storing up an obligation on God’s part to bless you. Moses had been faithful up to this point in Exodus 33, he asked God to show him His glory. You know what God first tells Moses? You don’t deserve anything. I’m going to show you my glory but it’s not because you deserve it more than someone else, or someone else deserves it less than you deserve it. I have mercy on whom I choose to have mercy, I have compassion on whom I choose to have compassion.

We say, that’s not fair. In other words you deserve mercy, you deserve grace, you deserve compassion. Then is means nothing, it’s by our works, right? Some people are better than others and they deserve mercy. No. The point is, Moses is just as much a sinner as anyone on the face of the earth. It is only the intervention of God’s grace that has brought Moses to this point and he is still dealt with on the basis of mercy. Sinners deserve condemnation. We looked at a previous study at the angels who sinned. Did God ever show mercy to one angel who sinned? No. Did He ever provide opportunity for forgiveness for one of the angels who sinned? No. Is He obligated to show mercy to them, it’s not fair that He doesn’t. No, it’s His mercy to dispense. He is obligated to deal in justice with sinful beings, He is not obligated to show mercy to sinful beings.

So first answer, summarize verse 16—so then it does not depend on the man who wills or on the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. That’s saying the same thing that He said back in verse 11, though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand. Not because of works, but because of Him who calls. Verse 16, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Can a man by his best efforts merit God’s salvation? We evangelicals are clear on this, right? If you don’t believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, you’re not a saved person. Why do we struggle, then, at the outworking of this? You can’t earn salvation, you can’t merit salvation. Therefore if you are saved, it’s an act of God’s grace on an individual who didn’t deserve it and should have gone to hell if he got what he deserved. And the amazing thing in the Bible is not that multitudes of people are going to hell and want to, but the amazing thing is that anybody is going to heaven, and those people didn’t want to either. You say nobody wants to go to hell. No, they only want to go to heaven on their own terms—if they can be God’s equal and have a say on how it’s done. I will go to church, I will be baptized, I will be a religious person, I will be a good father and husband. And if I can’t get to heaven on that, then forget it, I’ll go to hell. Wait a minute, there’s not room in the universe or universes for more than one God. And God says He won’t give His glory to another. So I guess you’re going to hell. Now you can humble yourself and say, God, you’re right. I am a sinner, I am undeserving, it’s right that your wrath should be directed toward me because I deserve to be punished. I’m a sinner. But I recognize your Son stood in my place, died on the cross for me so that if I would respond to your love and place my faith in Him I would be forgiven. Why doesn’t everybody do that? Because we’re all sinners. You know what? You wouldn’t have done it and I wouldn’t have done it if God didn’t intervene in mercy in a special way in my life. Why doesn’t He intervene in everybody’s life in a special way? I don’t know. He’s God and I’m not. And as I shared with you in the previous study, in hundred trillion years I won’t have all the answers to all the questions. You understand that, because He’ll still be God and I’ll still be a created being and I’ll still be learning about Him, because He is infinite and I’m finite. And I can’t think about that too long because I get a headache, so I take an aspirin and go on to other things.

Look at the second answer, verse 17. That’s the answer of mercy, what about those who don’t get mercy, those that He hates. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you, that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. Who was Pharaoh? Pharaoh is a title, like President. This was Pharaoh who? Who knows? Unless you’ve just studied it recently you probably can’t tell. Well that was Pharaoh so-and-so. Yes, he served from such-and-such to such-and-such. I don’t know, he was Pharaoh, whoever was the Pharaoh, that was he. Whose name gets glorified here? And why did Pharaoh sit on the throne of Egypt at that point in time? God says for this purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate my power, to have my name proclaimed throughout the whole earth. That’s why you’re here.

So verse 18, if you didn’t get the point. It’s like if you didn’t get it the first time back in verse 12, the older will serve the younger, okay that’s soft enough, I’ll think about it. Take it with the follow-up, verse 13, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. Now is it clear? Verse 15, I show mercy on whom I want, I show compassion on whom I want. What about the others, then, that He doesn’t show mercy and compassion to? Verse 17, I raised you up to demonstrate my power. Why would God bring people into the world that were not going to be saved? To demonstrate my power, that my name might be proclaimed. So then He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires. Doesn’t say He has mercy on whom He will and He has less mercy on others. Let’s make it as clear as we can, He hardens whom He will.

Now just who is God dealing with? Poor, innocent people that don’t have a chance. Nope, wrong, you flunked. How does Romans start out, the first three chapters. Are we dealing with poor, innocent people? What do we read at the conclusion of chapter 3? There is none righteous, no not one; there is not any who do good, not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Who was God dealing with? Sinners. What do sinners deserve? Condemnation, wrath, judgment. What did He do with the angels who sinned? Condemned them to hell for eternity, period, no change. What did the demons say to Christ when He confronted them and they spoke to Him as He walked the earth? Have you come to save us? No, they said have you come to torment us before the time? We only have one destiny. We are doomed to hell, but it’s not time. They know there is no salvation coming their way. So God takes sinners and does… Well He hardens them, that means He's responsible for their sin. No.

Back up to Romans chapter 1 and we’ll have to finish on this point. We’ll pick up tonight. Man of his own volition, his own will………. Remember I’ve shared with you, anyone who wants to be saved can be saved right now. Come unto me all you who labor and are heavyladen and I will give you rest, Jesus said. Call upon the name of the Lord and you’ll be saved. Believe that the Son of God came to this earth and suffered and died on a cross to pay the penalty for your sin. Believe it now and you’ll be saved. Oh I can’t, I think God has hardened me. Why don’t you let God do His work and you do what He commands you to do. God commands all everywhere to repent. Why don’t you obey God? This is the will of God, that you believe in His Son whom He sent, I John tells us. Why don’t you do the will of God? Why won’t you obey His command to believe? You don’t want to. Anyone who wants to can be saved.

So God then takes those who reject Him and continue to rebel against Him and refuse His love, and placed them under judgment. Here’s an example in Romans 1. What did God do? They rejected the truth that God revealed to them, so verse 24, God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity. Because verse 25, they exchanged the truth of God for a lie. And verse 26, for this reason God gave them over to degrading passions. Verse 28, they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind. When God hardens, He just allows man and gives man over to what he wants to do. And that further hardens him. You cannot stay as you are. Not one person sitting here this morning will walk out of this auditorium the way they walked in, not one. You say well I didn’t even pay attention, I didn’t hear one word you said, so take that. Maybe so, but you know what you did? You further steeled yourself and set your mind opposed to the truth so that it would not get in.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in II Corinthians 2:16 and says we give off the knowledge of Christ everywhere we go. And you know what happens with that? We are a savor or life to life and death to death. Some people by the mercy and grace of God hear this truth and respond and it’s a message of life. But some people hear it and don’t and they are further confirmed and hardened in their lost condition. When Pharaoh did not respond to the truth, it hardened him and God in His sovereign work decided not to intervene with special mercy to soften him. He’s not obligated. But Pharaoh made his choice, made the choice he wanted to make, made it repeatedly. So God turned him over to the sin he wanted. He won’t be able to stand before God and say oh I wanted to do it differently, I just couldn’t. No, you did what you want.

So it sounds like there’s a tension here to be resolved, there’s a tension here not to be resolved. You’re not going to blame God for your sin, I’m not to blame God for what I did or didn’t do. I am accountable to Him. Every knee will bow and every single individual will give an account. God won’t give an account to me. I will walk before the throne of God and say you owe me some explanations. I will stand before Him and He will do the judging.

You say I don’t know if I like this. I don’t know if I do either. But you know what? Who has been the counsel of the Lord? Who has given Him advice? None of us, because God never counseled with the creation regarding what He would do. Now we do know the judge of all the earth will do right, He’s a perfectly just judge. So we need to understand God’s total sovereignty. That can give you as His child perfect peace and assurance in all the details of your life. It gives me the confidence to know that I have been cleansed and forgive all my sin, all my vileness. Not because I deserved it, not because God saw in me something that was better than someone else. That’s why Paul told Titus, you keep reminding them that they were just like those sinners that they can’t understand today. It’s just like them, doing the same kind of things. But God who is rich in mercy, full of compassion, great in His love intervened. Why you? Why me? I don’t know.

Well what about…………… I don’t know what to do here. What about my children? What if I have four children and two are elect and two are not? I don’t know, that’s not my job. I’m not God. …you try to step from your responsibility into God’s throne, confusion reigns. All I can say with my kids is they’re in God’s hands. My grandchildren, they’re in God’s hands. He will do what is right. They’re sinners. I know they’re sinners because I know their grandmother and their mother. I happen to know their grandmother’s and husband, too. He’s contributed more than his share. They’re all sinners, all I do is go before the throne and beseech God for what? Mercy. Just like Paul did for Israel, that my unceasing prayer is that they might be saved. That’s the passion of my heart, that they would be saved. And I beseech Him to save them. But what if they’re not chosen? I don’t know, that’s in God’s plan. I’m going to model Paul and beseech God for their salvation, do all I can to model for them the character of Christ in my life, to set a pattern for them that will show them the work of God in the life of a redeemed sinner, to share with them the truth of God, to bring them to be exposed to that truth at every opportunity. And then pray for them. I can’t resolve the tension by deciding God can’t be sovereign. I can’t resolve the tension by deciding I might as well not pray. I live with the tension knowing God is God, and He acts sovereignly. And that is the best way it could be. And besides, I am glad their destiny is in God’s hands, not mine. Ultimately He will show mercy, He will show compassion, and He will do it properly.

Some are here and they are like the Jews. They thought because they were the physical descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that would get them to heaven. Sadly some people sit here week after week and they think because they are here, they come with their family, they’re pretty good people, they’re going to make it. I pray every time, Lord, pierce the hardened hearts. Lord, open their blinded eyes to see. Show them the special mercy that will bring them to salvation. Because apart from that they’ll continue to keep their eyes closed, their heart hard, and proceed to destruction.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Lord, we are amazed that you would unveil yourself as you have, that we created beings, but redeemed by grace, should be privileged to know something of your sovereign working in the world and in our lives personally. Lord, that doesn’t mean we’ll be able to understand everything. We are still the creation of the living God. We are still the finite creation of the infinite God, created in your image and redeemed by your grace, made new in Christ. Thank you for the Spirit who enlightens our minds and our hearts to understand truth. Yet Lord may we never lost perspective. We don’t have complete understanding of all you do and all you’ve done and all you are going to do. But we want to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, may the understanding of something of your sovereignty be an encouragement and blessing to each of your children today, to know that you are sovereign and every detail of their lives is under your sovereign control. What a great comfort that is. Lord, may those who do not know you consider carefully how terrible it is to be the object of the hatred of the living God, be destined for His wrath, to consider how amazing it is that that God who hates them, destines them for wrath, loves them with such a love that He had His Son suffer and die so they could become the objects of His personal, infinite love for time and eternity. Lord, may we have a passion for the salvation of those who do not know the Savior, that we might pray for them and beg them to be reconciled to Christ. In whose name we pray, amen.