Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter
9 as we continue our study through Paul’s letter to the church
in
They thought it was to all the Jews and thus, since they
rejected the Messiah, God failed. Absolutely not! That is not
what Paul is saying here. Remember what Paul said in Romans 9:6,
“For they are not all
And that is a problem for many as they look at a situation and come to the wrong conclusion. Let me explain with this story. We are told:
This
happened a while ago in
John
Bradford, a
The storm
was so strong he could
hardly see a few feet ahead of him.
Suddenly, he
saw a car slowly coming towards him and stop. John, desperate
for shelter and without thinking about it, got into the car and
closed the door . . . only to realize there was nobody behind
the wheel and the engine wasn’t on!!
The car started
moving slowly. John looked at the road ahead and saw a curve approaching.
Scared, he started to pray, begging for his life.
Then, just
before the car hit the curve, a hand appeared through the window
and turned the wheel. John, paralyzed with terror, watched as
the hand repeatedly came through the window, but never touched
or harmed him.
Shortly thereafter
John saw the lights of a pub appear down the road. So, gathering
strength, he jumped out of the car and ran to the pub.
Wet and out
of breath, he rushed inside and started telling everybody about
the horrible experience he had just had.
A silence enveloped
the pub when everybody realized he was crying
and . . . wasn’t drunk.
Suddenly the
door opened and two other people walked in from the stormy night.
They, like John, were also soaked and out of breath.
Looking around,
and seeing John Bradford sobbing at the bar, one said to the other
. . . ‘Look Paddy . . . there’s that crazy idiot that
got in the car while we were pushin’ it.’
-
Source Unknown
I think you can see what I mean. And here in Romans chapter
9, the next question, the next wrong concept of God and who He
is Paul is going to answer. You see, if this is all true then
is God unfair, is God unrighteous? And in Romans 9:14-29 Paul
is going to deal with this issue of the righteousness of God and
try to clear things up for his readers and for us. So with that
said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 9, starting in
verse 14 and see what the Lord has for us as we continue our study
through this letter.
Here is another question that Paul is going to answer,
a question that his readers in
Ever since the fall, human beings have been trying to blame God for his actions or (which is almost the same thing) to call him to account. Adam did it in the Garden of Eden, saying, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Gen. 3:12). The people of Malachi’s day, at the very end of the Old Testament period, were doing the same thing, asking God: “How have you loved us? . . . How have we shown contempt for your name? . . . How have we defiled you? . . . How do we rob you? . . . What have we said against you?” (Mal. 1:2, 6-7, 3:8, 13). They “wearied the Lord” with their words (2:17), yet were demanding that god give them an explanation for his actions.
It
is the same today. In most discussions about spiritual things,
our contemporaries are asking God to leave heaven, come down to
earth, stand before the bar of our justice, and give an account
of himself according to our small standards. C. S. Lewis even
wrote an article about this characteristic, which he called “God
in the Dock.”
“If God is good, how could he let my mother die?”
“What about cancer? Why doesn’t God do something about it?”
“It’s not my fault. I would have done better if only God had given me a nicer disposition, more energy, kinder parents, better looks, a more advanced education, or something else.”
We have all heard those accusations. But in no area of theology is the demand that God justify himself more insistent or accompanied by more shrill accusations of injustice than in regard to the predestination . . . Even if we can be convinced that God does operate in this way, which most are not, we nevertheless scream out fiercely that it is not right for him to be selective.
- James Montgomery Boice, Romans Volume 3, pp. 1067-1068
Again, an important topic for us to look at, is God unfair? Does God send some people to Heaven and some people to Hell based on His sovereignty, His choice? I hope we can answer that for you, as we look closer at these verses this morning. As we have done in our study of Romans we will break these verses down and see what we can glean out of them.
As you look at what Paul has said, it does seem that God is unfair, that He is not just. Folk’s, let me say this, if you come to a portion of Scripture that contradicts what other parts of the Scripture say, you need to dig deeper. You see, the Bible tells us that God is not unfair, He is not unrighteous and thus, Paul tells us that the answer to the question of God being unrighteous is that it is plain foolishness! In fact, the Greek word for “Certainly not!” or “God forbid” is MEE, (may) and it is an absolute denial of something and here it is the absolute denial that God is unfair, that He is unrighteous!
You see, if God was unfair, if He was not righteous, then that would contradict what the rest of the Scriptures are telling us. In I John 1:5 John tells us, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” And this is from The Amplified Bible, “And this is the message [the message of promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way].” So Paul wants to drive that point home that God is not unfair, He is not unrighteous.
As Barnhouse reminds us, “There is no unrighteousness with God. It is unthinkable that there should be injustice in God. The only possible injustice in God would be His failure to punish the sinner for his own sins and His promise to reward some through sheer grace. Grace is not injustice, for it comes to us through the cross of Christ. We shall find, as we continue, that all of man's objections are met and found empty. God assures us that He knows what He is doing . . .” (Barnhouse, Romans: Expositions of Bible Doctrines).
For those that believe God is unfair, you are wrong! You have a faulty concept of God. What many do is they picture God as a man with human emotions, human feelings, human motives and-so-on, and that is where they are going off course. God is infinite and we are finite! He knows all and we don’t! It is as A. W. Tozer wrote, “The church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low. So ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.” The bottom line is this, as I have said already, God is fair; He is perfect in all that He does, PERIOD! If you don’t believe this, then like Luther says, “Why, then should man complain that God acts unjustly, when this is impossible? Or, could it be possible that God is not God?” You see, that is the only other explanation. If what is going on is unfair, unjust, unrighteous, then God can’t be God and we know that is not true and thus, God is just, He is fair, He is righteous!
Now keep in mind that Paul is defending God’s right to choose who He wants to show mercy to and the idea here is that of Isaac and Jacob. Also, Paul is defending God’s right not to bless those who He chooses not to bless and the idea here is that of Ishmael and Esau. And we have seen in our studies in Genesis and here in Romans that God has chosen Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau and in both cases He chose the younger over the older. Now to show this is God’s right to do he will use the illustration of Moses and as we are going to see, this is not speaking of God choosing some for Heaven and some for Hell. God’s desire is that all will go to Heaven, all will enter in, everyone has that choice to receive that gift of Christ, but not all will choose. Thus, we see the idea of free will and predestination that we have talked about before. Let’s look at this example of Moses and see the point that Paul is making here.
Just a little background information regarding this situation leading up to this verse that Paul quotes out of Exodus 33:19. Prior to this event, Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Commandments of God. Down below, in charge of the people was his brother Aaron, the high, priest. And the people were becoming impatient, Moses was gone for some 40 days and they came to the conclusion that he might not come back. Thus, they convinced Aaron to make them a god to worship and he gathered all their gold and made the golden calf. Yes they made this calf to worship the true and living God by but God did not accept it, He did not approve of this type of worship and out of it, in His judgment against the children of Israel, 3,000 people were killed!
And Moses, seeing this he intercedes for the people before the Lord and basically tells the Lord that if these people are going to be wiped out and not enter in then take his name out of His book, blot him out! And the Lord’s reply is interesting. He said, “ . . . ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.’” Exodus 32:33. That is still true today, that apart from Christ man will die in His sins! And it is after this event, this trying experience that Moses went through that the Lord tells Moses, “ . . . ‘I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’” Exodus 33:19.
Now please note that the Lord does not say here, “I will send to Hell those whom I will send to Hell!” And yet, how many people believe that? There are many who feel that God chooses those who are bound for Heaven and those that are bound for Hell, He created people to go to Hell and there is nothing you can do to get out of it! What a warped concept of God! That is not the issue that Paul is dealing with here, not at all.
Keep in mind we are dealing with Israel’s past election and thus, what Paul is talking about is that God has chosen Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau for special blessings. It was through the Jews that the Messiah would come and has come! You see, this has nothing to do with salvation, each of them had to believe by faith in the promise of God, in the true and living God and that went for Ishmael and Esau as well as Isaac and Jacob! Yes, God did bless the nation but it was up to the individual to choose!
Case in point. Look at the Old Testament kings and how many of them were saved? In regards to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, I don’t think any were and many in the Southern Kingdom of Judah were not saved either. But they were Jews, right? Absolutely, but remember what Paul said in Romans 9:6, “ . . . For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.” In other words, each individual had to come to God by faith! Many think that just because God has chosen them for this special blessing they were saved, not at all! Nor does it mean that those that God had not chosen for a special blessing were not saved, they were automatically condemned to Hell!
But what about those 3,000 that were killed by the Lord after the golden calf incident, didn’t God chose them to be killed, predestined them for Hell? Absolutely not! Look at Exodus 32:25-26, “Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, ‘Whoever is on the Lord's side — come to me!’ And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.” In other words people had a choice to make here, an opportunity to escape judgment if they followed the Lord and if not then they would be judged. Isn’t that what salvation is all about, that we need to make a choice for the Lord, to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives? Absolutely it is. Thus, this example here with Moses has to do with a special blessing and God will bless those whom He wants to bless, for His purpose, but in regards to salvation, it is our free will to chose and if you refuse, then I guess you were not predestined for salvation!
“Now here it is,” says the Calvinist. “Salvation is not based on man’s will, it is not based on man at all.” In fact, salvation is totally apart from man and it is all based upon God, we are not even in the equation! I disagree with that line of reasoning because it goes contrary to what the Scriptures are teaching. And remember what I said, if we come to a passage of Scripture that seems to speak contrary to the rest of the Scripture, we need to dig further to see where we have the error because God does make any errors!
Then what is Paul talking about when he says that, “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” First of all, in regards to salvation, which I don’t think Paul is speaking of here, Paul is saying that only God is the source of salvation, we can’t save ourselves no matter how hard we try, we can only receive this gift by faith. Again, look at what the Scriptures tell us. In Joshua 24:14-15 we are told, “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Do you see that there is man’s choice to choose, that is speaking of our free will, so that is our will, to receive or reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Also, in John 1:12-13 we are told, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” In these verses we see predestination as it is the will of God and it is free will for us to choose and they go hand-in-hand! You see, there is no other source of salvation apart from God and the only way we can receive that gift is by faith! Now you can reject that saving mercy of God, He won’t force you to receive it and that again is free will on our part to choose. If it was only God’s part, then we would be forced to go to Heaven or to Hell, we would have no choice in the matter and thus, those that are with the Lord are not there out of love, but because He made them go! That is not the way the Lord works, He desires a love relationship with us!
But again, I think the focus for Paul here is the blessing and God will choose who He wants to bless and who He does not want to bless. None of us deserve His blessings but He shows His mercy upon us and blesses us just as He did Isaac and Jacob! God makes His rain to shine on the just and even on the unjust, He does it and all we can do is receive that blessing, there is nothing we can do to earn it!
Next Paul is going to give to us the example of Pharaoh and the hardening of his heart.
Here again we see people confused in what God is doing. They read this passage and see God raise up Pharaoh and hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that He could show Himself strong. Thus, for the Calvinist, it is God who hardens a person’s heart with unbelief and thus, it is God who sends them to Hell as He did here with Pharaoh! How sad to see God in that kind of light that God hardens a persons heart in unbelief and then sends him to Hell for not believing. That is not a fair God, that is not a righteous God and thus, that can’t be what Paul is talking about here!
Then what is going on here? Let me explain. In Exodus 7:13 we are told, “And Pharaoh's heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the LORD had said.” (See also Exodus 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, 9:7, 9:34). You see, Pharaoh made his heart firm, hard towards the will of God. Then what did God do for the Scriptures also say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? We are told in Exodus 9:12, “But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.” (See also Exodus 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:8). So which is it? The Hebrew word for “hardened” means “made firm.” So Pharaoh hardened his heart and God made firm what Pharaoh wanted, He gave to Pharaoh the desire of his own heart! Again, God shows mercy to all, but not all will receive it, they can harden their hearts to God, and God will make firm their decision.
Do we see that in the New Testament? You bet we do and there are many passages related to this idea of man hardening his heart towards God and God making firm what they want. Thus, they can’t blame God for God is only making more firm that which they wanted in the first place!
Let me give you a few examples to show you what I mean. In II Thessalonians 2:9-12 Paul tells us, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Notice the progression here. We see that “they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” That was man’s part, they rejected Jesus Christ, they rejected the free gift of life, and thus, “for this reason” we are told, “God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” And God, in a sense, just made firm what man wanted all along! You see, there is no unrighteousness with God and thus, God does not send people to Hell, He just makes firm their position of wanting to go to Hell! It is as Jesus said in John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” If you love darkness rather than light then God will take the light that is in your heart and let you have as much darkness as you like. That does not make God unrighteous; all He is doing is giving to you what you desire!
You can also look at Romans 1:18-28 where it tells us that men “suppress the truth in righteousness” they reject God. Thus, Paul tells us that “God also gave them up” to all kinds of uncleanness, all kinds of vile passions, He “gave them over to a debased mind” and look at the world apart from God and this is exactly what you see! Then how can anyone get saved? Because God is very merciful and does not give us what we do deserve. He is patient, He is longsuffering, but there does come that point in individual lives where they pass that point of no return and they cannot be saved!
Let me explain. In Matthew chapter 12 we see Jesus speaking of the unpardonable sin. He says, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.” Matthew 12:31. What does that mean? It means that a person has rejected the work of the Holy Spirit, which is to bring people to Jesus. Thus, if you reject Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are committing blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and this is the only sin that will not be forgiven, the sin of rejecting the Savior, the only One who can forgive sins.
And there is that point of no return. Let’s face it;
before we were saved we turned our backs to what the Holy Spirit
was doing in our lives many, many times. God did not just shut
the door, but He was gracious and merciful, but like I said, for
some, they keep doing it and doing it and there is a point where
they can’t be saved. In John chapter 12 after the religious
leaders kept rejecting Jesus even though they saw the things that
He did, we are told, “But although He had done so many
signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word
of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: ‘Lord,
who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord
been revealed?’ Therefore they could not believe, because
Isaiah said again: ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened
their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they
should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should
heal them.’ These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory
and spoke of Him.” John 12:37-41.
You see, “they did not believe”
and then they had reached the point where, “they could
not believe.”
Let us not come to the wrong conclusion that God is unrighteous and He chooses some for Heaven and some for Hell. Man has a choice and it is God who responds to that choice of man. And God has every right to make firm that which we desire in the first place. And think about it. God’s desire is to work through a heart that is soft, that wants to do His will but if that person rejects the Lord, then the Lord will use that heart to do His will and they will be judged for it.
You see, that is what God was doing with Pharaoh. God did not work against Pharaoh’s will, but with his will, with his desires. God could have blessed Pharaoh if he was willing to obey the Lord, but he refused and God used his hard heart to accomplish His will and he was judged for it! And please understand that Pharaoh was not created for Hell, it does not say, “for this purpose I have created you.” But it does say, “for this purpose I have raised you up.” Pharaoh had choices to make; he was not just some pawn that God was moving around. And Pharaoh chooses not to obey the Lord and through that all God’s plans and purposes were still fulfilled! It is the same sun that melts the wax and hardens the clay, what are you? You see, it all depends on the condition of the heart. On each individual’s response to the grace of God and that light of God that has been given to them! Grace rejected is grace denied and you can’t blame God for that!
Again, the logical conclusion is that if it is all a matter of God’s sovereign will, then He can’t blame me for what I have done, it is just His will and thus, it is His fault! Yes, it is God’s sovereign will and it is also the choice we make. Judas couldn’t blame God for what He did to Jesus, selling Him out for money but God did use the choices that Judas made to fulfill His will and God does the same today for He knows the beginning from the end.
Isn’t it amazing though how man loves to blame God for the things that happen in their lives? James Montgomery Boice made these comments regarding this issue. He wrote:
The human heart
is a deceitful but very resourceful thing, and two ways it expresses
these characteristics are by dismissing God, on the one hand,
or blaming him, on the other.
Quite a few years ago, my wife and I had a neighbor who seemed to have no interest in God. She had very little morality, was unfaithful to her husband and often boasted about it, explaining to me on one occasion how she was able to squeeze some of her affairs into her lunch hour. But then one day she discovered that her husband was having an affair, too, and she was devastated. The marriage ended in divorce. This woman came to me when she found out about her husband’s affair because I was a pastor, probably the only one she knew. She had not been thinking of God before this, but now she abruptly brought God into the picture.
“Why is God doing this to me?” was her question. She considered God to be terribly unfair.
- James Montgomery Boice, Romans Volume 3, p. 1099
Here’s the thing. We are not puppets being manipulated by God. We have a free will to choose. If we were puppets then it is true, God could not hold us accountable for what we are doing because He is pulling the strings. But that is not the case. God has never forced anyone to love Him nor has He forced anyone to hate Him, man has a free will and Paul is going to illustrate this for us now.
Paul starts out by saying that how arrogant it is for sinful man to come against a holy and righteous God and say that He is unfair. How can we say that God’s justice, His ways, His wisdom is somehow evil or wrong? In other words, with our evil hearts we cannot judge the creator God but we can look at who He is and come to the conclusion that He is fair, He is righteous, there is no darkness in Him at all. Any other conclusion would be foolish and it would be wrong!
Now verse 21 does trouble some people as Paul illustrates for us the idea that God is the potter and we are the clay and he tells us that God has the power to make some clay into vessels of honor and some vessels for dishonor. That does not seem fair, that does not seem right. It seems like God is sending some to Heaven and some to Hell, and He does the choosing. Again, what have I said? If we are reading something that seems to contradict what the rest of the Scriptures are saying, dig deeper and you will find the answer!
First of all who is Paul speaking of here in Romans chapters 9-11? He is speaking of the Jewish people and thus, the illustration that Paul is using here comes out of Jeremiah chapter 18. Now does this illustration speak of God sending some to Heaven and some to Hell? Let’s read what Jeremiah has to say staring in verse 1 of Jeremiah chapter 18, “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ‘Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.’ Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the Lord. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’” Jeremiah 18:1-6.
As you read this it does sound like God is doing what He wants and specifically here the Jews have no choice in the matter, and thus, does God make some vessels for honor and some for dishonor? If the chapter ended at verse 6 in Jeremiah you may come to that conclusion but it doesn’t. Look at what we are told starting in verse 7, “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.”’ And they said, ‘That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.’” Jeremiah 18:7-12.
Do you see that it is man’s free will to do what is right and if you do then you are a vessel of honor and if you don’t you are a vessel of dishonor before God. Paul makes that same point in II Timothy 2:20-22, “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
Do you see that? You can choose what you want to do, that
is your free will but depending on what you choose to do, it will
either make you a vessel of honor or one of dishonor. God does
not predestine anyone to Hell; you go there because you choose
to go there by rejecting Jesus. In regards to this issue of being
predestined to Hell, Dr. Barnhouse tells us:
“Calvin was very guilty at this point. He attempted to deduce from this passage what has come to be called ‘double predestination.’ The Bible nowhere announces the predestination of the lost. It would seem that Calvin and others have drawn an inference in purely human logic. They would hold that the choice of Jacob implies the reprobation of Esau. Both these brothers were born in sin; they both had the nature of Adam. They both grew up in sin. They both were children of wrath, disobedient by nature. If there had been any merit in these two sons, God would have been unjust in not rewarding that merit. The choice of one deserving man over another deserving man would have been favoritism. When we see that the two were equally undeserving, the whole picture becomes different. Everything that is said in the entire Bible about the nature of fallen man may be said – must be said – about both Jacob and Esau. God determined, for causes that are to be found in Himself and have not been revealed to us, to show favor to Jacob.”
Yes, God is the potter and we are the clay but we can resist what God desires to do in our lives, that is free will. And Paul is going to pick up on this idea of man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty. Let’s read on.
God is patient, He is longsuffering otherwise we would all be toast! In fact, when you look at the wickedness of people today, don’t you wonder why God’s judgment hasn’t fallen upon us? It is because He is patient and longsuffering, desiring all to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! Now keep in mind that Paul is still picturing Pharaoh, a vessel of dishonor, not because God predestined him to destruction, but he chose to go down that path, he hardened his heart to the will of God! But Paul tells us that God, “prepared [Pharaoh] for destruction.” In the English that is how it comes across but not in the Greek. You see, the Greek word for, “prepared” is in the middle voice, making it a reflexive voice. In other words, this verse should read that Pharaoh “prepared himself for destruction.” And please take note that God is waiting patiently for them to turn to Him, that is the mercy of God and the grace of God that is extended to all men and as they keep hardening their hearts to it there will come a day when they reach that point of no return and they can’t be saved!
You see, God prepares men for glory but man prepares himself for destruction by their own sinful practices and their rejection of Jesus as their Lord and Savior! Notice the contrast between the two. Those who surrender to the Master Potter, to Jesus, we will shine as examples of God’s mercy, the world will see the power of God to rescue sinful man from the miry pit they are in.
The Jews felt they were vessels of honor and the Gentiles, they were created to fuel the fires of Hell, they were vessels of dishonor. But Paul is saying that not only are believing Jews saved but also believing Gentiles! God does not prepare vessels of destruction, but He does prepare vessels of mercy and glory. It is as C. R. Erdman said: “God’s sovereignty is never exercised in condemning men who ought to be saved, but rather it has resulted in the salvation of men who ought to be lost.”
To prove his point to the Jews that salvation of the Gentiles was not just an afterthought on the part of God, a New Testament idea, he quotes out of the book of Hosea, an Old Testament prophet who spoke of the Gentiles being saved!
Here again Paul is speaking of not all Israel being Israel or that even though the Jews were like the sand in the sea in numbers, only a remnant would be saved, only those who came to the Lord by faith and not by the works of the Law! Most of the nation would suffer God’s judgment because of unbelief.
You see, Paul wants to make sure that the Jews understand that God is not done with them, He has not forsaken them, that there is a remnant of Jews who will be saved, and Paul quotes out of Isaiah to prove his point, another Old Testament prophet. If God had forsaken them, if He was done with them, they would be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah was when God judged them, completely wiping them out and God’s Word would have failed, and our hope as well as the hope of the Jews would be gone, but of course that did not happen, the Jews are still around and they are back in the land of Israel today! Yes God did judge His people but He always has a faithful remnant that will be saved! It is as Bruce said: “But if only a remnant will survive, at least a remnant will survive, and constitute the hope of restoration.” And so, Israel’s unbelief, therefore, is not inconsistent with God’s revelation through His prophets. They predicted it, stretching all the way from their own day to the day of Messiah.
As I close this morning, we have finished this first section that deals with ISRAEL’S PAST ELECTION and next time we will pick up on ISRAEL’S PRESENT REJECTION that Paul focuses on in Romans 9:30 through chapter 10. Let me leave you with this as I close this morning. A. W. Tozer attempts to reconcile God’s sovereignty and man's freewill as he wrote:
An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. On board the liner are scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port. Both freedom and sovereignty are present here, and they do not contradict. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history.
- A. W. Tozer
We may not fully understand it, but may we believe it and act upon it. God does not send anyone to Hell; you choose to go there. But He does choose us to go to Heaven, that is those who choose to go there. It is man’s free will and God’s sovereignty and for Israel, only those who come to God by faith are true Israel and the rest will be vessels of dishonor, set apart for God’s judgment, but it is their choice just as it is ours! Yes, God birthed the nation of Israel, but they are not all Israel as we have seen. Where are you at this morning? Are you truly a child of God or are you just a Christian by name and not by the new birth? Come to Him and see that you are a vessel of honor chosen by God before the foundations of the world!