God is Good!
ROMANS: THE ROAD NOW TAKEN • Sermon • Submitted
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· 17 viewsSermon 26 in Book of Romans series.
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What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!
You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?”
INTRO—
So…God is GREAT. Ok, but is God good? This is the question Paul takes up in the section of Romans 9 we’re looking at today.
IS GOD JUST? (Romans 9.14-18)
A different focus from what we considered last week regarding these verses…[“Is God ABLE to be just?”]
The Short Answer = YES!
When it looks like God is unjust, the problem is our understanding of mercy and wrath, not His actions.
Perfect Mercy & Wrath are IMPARTIAL. (Romans 9.16)
He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘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.”
And now, may the terror of the Lord be on you. Watch what you do, for there is no injustice or partiality or taking bribes with the Lord our God.”
…& Deuteronomy 10.17; 16.19
TODAY—When it comes to sin and salvation…God created mankind with free will/responsibility. When Adam & Eve sinned, they plunged all their posterity into condemnation and the bondage of the will to sin. Everyone who is born is justly under the condemnation of sin and guilt (because our actions prove our disposition). God has chosen to redeem…and only some out of all the condemned will be saved…HIS MERCY IS MORE!
IS GOD FAIR? (Romans 9.19-29)
The Short Answer = YES!
When it looks like God is unfair, the problem is our distorted image of God, & us, not His actions. [from John Stott’s commentary on Romans]
God is the Craftsman (Potter/Artist/Author) [Romans 9.20-21]
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
God Reveals He Alone is God [Romans 9.22-24]
God — display His wrath & make known the riches of His glory
The Lord has prepared everything for his purpose— even the wicked for the day of disaster.
For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
God Calls His People from Everywhere[Romans 9.25-29]
Paul appropriates Hosea’s illustration...
I will sow her in the land for myself, and I will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah; I will say to Lo-ammi: You are my people, and he will say, “You are my God.”
Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not my people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.
…& Isaiah’s statement of God’s plan and Israel.
Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice overflows. For throughout the land the Lord God of Armies is carrying out a destruction that was decreed.
If the Lord of Armies had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would resemble Gomorrah.
A remnant is guaranteed!
Today—This understanding of God and of salvation still holds…God is the Artist/Author of salvation; only God can set the requirements of and fulfill them regarding salvation; God’s salvation has & will include people from tribes all over the Earth!
CONCL—
We can’t just make the statements, “God is good…all the time, and all the time…God is good,” only when we feel like things are going our way or when we like what we see, read, hear, (etc.).
And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
