God's Right to Choose

Text: Romans 9:15-18

Last week we saw that great gifts of Grace that God gave to the nation of Israel.

Adoption - He pulled them from the Ur of the Chaldeas in a man named Abram.

Glory - He lifted Abram above all others on the earth.

Covenants - He made a covenant with Abram that did not have Abram as even an active participant, but that God was going to extend to them his unmerited grace.

Law - The law was given as a gift to teach us our need for the Messiah.

Service of God - Imagine a exchange system whereby the works of a man become the glory of a holy and divine being.

Promises - God had given wonderful promises to Israel and they were not experiencing them now. But they were a part of their heritage.

This was written for us to gain an understanding of God’s Sovereignty. This Sovereignty is mean to remind us that God is God and that there is no one that can judge him.

In fact he asks the question in verse 14.

“Is there unrighteousness in God?”

Now in verse 15 Paul uses a very difficult argument. Hard because our preconceived ideas about God don’t like it. He starts with an agreeable notion.

God chose Moses to use him.

God chose Pharaoh to use him to.

Consider the facts:

God determined to pardon a sinful people like Israel.

God determined to punish a sinful Pharaoh with punishment’s he deserved.

How is this fair?

Romans 9:19 KJV 1900

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

Here is God’s answer - “who are you to tell God to give an account for himself.

God answers to no one.

God doesn’t take your judgement

God doesn’t change because you disagree.

Is God then Righteous? - YES he is. Because Righteousness is not found in your estimation or mine. This may explain to us why were are such rotten measures of righteousness.

Consider the Potter

Does the Potter get to determine what the clay becomes? - Yes.

This is the same way God sees the nations. 21-22

Romans 9:21–22 KJV 1900

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

Note that verse 22 is reference to his long-suffering with the nation of Israel that he would have been justified in destroying generations before.

Does the Potter get to direct what the nation does? - Yes

In other words does God get to control the nation as well as the individuals in his creation.

Romans 9:23–24 KJV 1900

And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

23-24 God is justified to give righteousness to the sinners who have received the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Who he calls vessels of Mercy.

Hosea called it… 25-26

Hosea 2:23 KJV 1900

And I will sow her unto me in the earth; And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; And they shall say, Thou art my God.

Hosea 1:10 KJV 1900

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Isaiah called it…27-30

Isaiah 10:22–23 KJV 1900

For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, Yet a remnant of them shall return: The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, In the midst of all the land.

Out of all the millions of Jews only a remnant would be saved.

Isaiah 1:9 KJV 1900

Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, We should have been as Sodom, And we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Only God’s grace could hold up that remnant.

The conclusion of Chapter 9 delivers us to this understanding that. Faith in Christ is the method by which God is dividing the vessels of Honor and Dishonor.

David Guzik in his study on this text came to 8 questions that are dealt with in chapter 9. I think it valuable that we hear these when dealing with such a hard text.

1. Has God failed with His plan regarding Israel?

- No; God has not failed His children of promise (6–9)

2. Does God’s choice of one over another make God unrighteous? (14–16)

3. Does God’s right to choose relieve man of responsibility? (19–21)

4. Doesn’t God have the right to glorify Himself as He sees fit? (22–24)

Guzik, D. (2013). Romans (Ro 9:6–29). Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik.