God's Sovereign Choice
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Starting in this chapter and continuing through chapter 11 we see a slight shift in focus of this letter. We hear Paul’s answer to the Jewish objector who ask: Does the gospel, by promising salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews, mean that God has broken His promise to His earthly people, the Jews?
Paul’s answer covers Israel’s past in chapter 9, its present in chapter 10, and its future in chapter 11.
Today and next week we will be studying chapter 9. And this section contains a great emphasis on divine sovereignty and human responsibility. So please if you are struggling with any of these concept and have more questions please feel free to talk with me after the service.
Recap:
Recap:
As we wrapped up chapter 8 last week there were some very essential truths that we covered.
The Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, in our weakness, with groaning to deep for words. realizing that these groaning are beautiful, and God knows what they mean. Sometime the most spiritual prayer is that of a groan.
We covered predestination as well. Realizing that there are acts in which only God can accomplish:
Foreknowledge: God’s setting His love upon those who would be conformed to His Son’s image.
Predestination: God’s determining the destiny of those upon who He has set His love.
Calling: God’s effectual call from death to life those upon whom He has set His love.
Justification: God’s declaring as righteous those who have repented and believe.
Glorification: God’s fulfillment of His purpose- the making of fallen sinners into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, for eternity.
The question asked in:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
Is answered in:
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s love is our security. There will be many attempts to convince you that you have been separated from the love of God. Yet, nothing will. Nothing which appears to be good or appears to be evil can separate us from God’s love.
vv 1-2) Paul’s sorrow
vv 1-2) Paul’s sorrow
Romans 9 as we mentioned earlier is one of the key passages in the Bible on the sovereign election of God. The next chapter sets forth the balancing truth- the responsibility of man- with equal vigor.
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
There shouldn’t be any fear or confusing when we talk about the sovereignty of God. When we say that God is sovereign, we mean that He is in charge of the universe and that He can do as He pleases.
In saying that, however, we know that, because He is God, He will never do anything wrong, unjust or unrighteous. Therefore, to say that God is sovereign is merely to allow God to be God. We should not be afraid of this truth or apologize for it. It is a glorious truth and should cause us to worship.
In His sovereignty, God has elected or chosen certain individuals to belong to Himself. But the same Bible teaches God’s sovereign election also teaches human responsibility. While it is true that God elects people to salvation, it is also true that they must choose to be saved by a definite act of the will.
For example:
the divine side of salvation is seen in the words:
All that the Father gives me will come to me,
The human side is found in the words that follow:
John 6:37b (ESV)
and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
There should be great comfort and rejoicing, as believers, that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world!
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
D.L. Moody, one of America’s greatest evangelists and theologians, illustrated the two truths this way:
“When we come to the door of salvation, we see the invitation overhead, ‘Whosoever will may come.’ When we pass through, we look back and see the words, ‘Elect according to the foreknowledge of God’ above the door.
You see the truth of man’s responsibility faces people as they come to the door of salvation. The truth of sovereign election is a family truth for those who have already entered.
How can God choose individuals to belong to Himself and at the same time make a bona fide offer of salvation to all people everywhere? How can we reconcile these two truths? The fact is that we can’t.
To the human mind they are in conflict. But the Bible teaches both doctrines, and so we should believe them, content to know that the difficulty lies in our minds and not in God’s.
These truths are like two parallel lines that meet only in infinity.
Some have tried to reconcile sovereign election and human responsibility by saying that God foreknew who would trust the Savior and that those are the ones whom He elected to be saved. They base this on verse like:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
and:
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
The only problem with that ideology is that it overlooks the fact that God’s foreknowledge is determinative. It is not just that He knows in advance who will trust the Savior, but that He predetermines this result by drawing certain individuals to Himself.
Although God choose some men to be saved, He never chooses anyone to be damned. To put it another way, though the Bible teaches election, it never teaches divine reprobation. The objection is, “If God elects some to blessing, then He necessarily elects others to destruction.” But that is NOT TRUE!
The whole human race was doomed to destruction by its own sin and not by any arbitrary decree of God. If God allowed everyone to go to hell- and He could justly have done that- people would be getting exactly what they deserved. The question is, “Does the sovereign Lord have a right to stoop down and select a handful of otherwise-doomed people to be a bride for His Son?” The answer of course, is that He does.
So what it boils down to is this: if people are lost, it is because of their own sin and rebellion; if people are saved, it is because the sovereign grace of God.
To the man who is saved, the subject of God’s sovereign choice should be the cause of unceasing wonder. The believer looks around and sees people with better characters, better personalities, and better dispositions than his own, and asks, “Why did the Lord choose me?”
The truth of this doctrine should not be used by the unsaved for excusing their unbelief. They are unable to say, “If I’m not elect, there’s nothing I can do about it.” The only way they can ever know they are elect is by repenting of their sins and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
Also this truth should not be used by Christians to excuse evangelism. It is ridiculous when we hear, “If they are elect, they will be saved anyways.” Only God knows who the elect are. We are commanded to preach the gospel to all the world, for God’s offer of salvation is a genuine invitation to all people. People reject the gospel because of the hardness of their hearts, and not because God’s universal invitation is insincere.
The dangers to avoid with this subject are to hold only to one side of the truth.
To believe in God’s sovereign election and to deny that man has any responsible choice in the connection with his salvation. Or to overemphasize one truth at the expense of the other.
I believe the scriptural approach is to believe in God’s sovereign election and to believe with equal force in human responsibility. Only in this way can a person hold these doctrines in their proper biblical balance.
[1] Now lets get back to our text this morning. Romans 8 Paul left us at the mountaintop of glory.
Assuring us that nothing good or evil will ever separate us from the love of God! But now Paul has a pleading tone in verses 1 and 2.
This is likely a culmination of different things. One of the being the fact that the Jews would have thought of Paul as a traitor to their people.
You can see here and throughout Acts of his deep devotion to his people.
It isn’t good enough to be deeply moved for our people. We must be willing to speak truth.
[2] When Paul thinks of Israel’s glorious calling. A calling to point people to the true and living God. Yet to him sorrow and grief and ongoing because he considers a people who seem to be separated from God’s love.
Unbelieving Israel, who rejected God’s Messiah.
We are given a unique look at Paul’s heart for Israel here and the next few verses. This is something that really bothered Paul and it weighted heavy on his heart.
vv 3-5) The source of Paul’s sorrow
vv 3-5) The source of Paul’s sorrow
[3] Remember Paul is not uneducated he is brilliant and knows exactly what he is saying.
He has great love and sorrow for his people. He would be willing to be separated from Jesus if that could somehow allow his people to come to the saving knowledge of Christ.
We shouldn’t think that Paul is being a drama queen. After all he stated that what he was saying was truth in verse 1.
The weightiness of souls gave Paul great perspective. Lesser things didn’t trouble him because he was troubled by a great thing- the souls of people.
“Get love for the souls of men- then you will not be whining about a dead dog, or a sick cat, or about the timing of a family, and the little disturbances that John and Mary may make by their idle talk. You will be delivered from petty worries (I need not further describe them) if you are concerned about the souls of men… Get your soul full of a great grief, and your little griefs will be driven out.” -Spurgeon
Paul reflects the same sentiment that Moses had:
So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
Also Paul shows the heart of Christ too:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Family remember that these people that Paul dearly loves are also his worst enemies. They constantly harassed and persecuted him from town to town stirring up lies and violence against him. Yet he still loved them this passionately.
[4] Paul’s people are the Israelites, members of God’s chosen people.
God adopted that nation to be His son:
Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son,
Delivered His people out of Egypt:
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
He was a Father to Israel:
Deuteronomy 14:1a (ESV)
“You are the sons of the Lord your God.
“the glory” Depicted in any visual medium makes me weep. What we are talking about is the Shekinah or glory cloud symbolized God’s presence in their midst, guiding and protecting them.
It was with Israel, not with the Gentiles, that God made the covenants.
It was with Israel that He made the Covenant, promising them the land from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates (Gen. 15:18).
It was with Israel that He will yet ratify the New Covenant promising “the perpetuity, future conversion, and blessing of a repentant Israel. (Jer. 31:31-40).
It was to Israel that the law was given. They and they alone where its recipients.
The elaborate rituals and service of God connected with the tabernacle and the temple were given to Israel, as well as the priesthood.
And that is just a few of the promises God made with Israel. God made innumerable promises to Israel of protection, peace, and prosperity.
[5] Paul also considers the human legacy of being God’s chosen people. Israel not only gave us the great fathers of the OT, but Jesus Himself came from Israel too. This entire spiritual legacy makes Israel’s unbelief all the more problematic.
vv 6-9) Has God failed? No!
vv 6-9) Has God failed? No!
[6] Paul is now faces up to a serious theological problem. If God made promises to Israel as His chosen earthly people, how can this be rectified with Israel’s present rejection and with the Gentiles being brought into the place of blessing?
If God’s promises didn’t come through for Israel because they missed the Messiah. How do I know that He will come through for me?”
Paul insists that this does not indicate any breach of promise on God’s part. He goes on to show that God has always had a sovereign election process based upon promise and not just because you were born to a certain people group.
Just because a person is born into the nation of Israel does not mean that they are an heir to the promise. Within the nation of Israel, God has a true, believing remnant.
[7] Paul backs up his point, using Abraham as an example. Ishmael, for example, was a child of Abraham. But the line of promise came through Isaac, not through Ishmael.
But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
Jesus made this same distinction when talking with the unbelieving jews in John 8: 33-39. What it comes down to is they were physical descendants of Abraham, but they didn’t have Abraham’s faith and therefore they were not his spiritual children.
[8] The true Israel consists of those Jews who were selected by God and to those He made some specific promise.
There are clear examples of this sovereign election in the cases of Isaac and Jacob.
vv 10-13) Jacob and Esau
vv 10-13) Jacob and Esau
[10-11] Another case of God’s election is found in the case of Jacob.
There is a proclamation made before the children were born. This pronouncement could not, have had anything to do with deeds of either child.
It was entirely a matter of God’s choice, based on His own will and not on the character or accolades of either Jacob or Esau. It specifically states that it was not a choice based on their works.
[12] God’s decision was that the older would serve the younger. Esau would have a subservient place to Jacob.
The latter was chosen to earthly glory and privilege. Esau was the firstborn of the twin brothers and ordinarily would have had the honors and privileges associated with that position.
God’s selection passed him by and rested on Jacob.
[13]Paul quotes:
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
I would like to make two points from this verse. The first is on love and hate, and the second on Jacob and Esau.
1st “Love and hate” can be difficult for us to come to terms with. Within the context of our passage hate here clearly seems to mean something like, “loved less” or “favored less.”
When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
The thought that is being conveyed here is one of accepted and rejected more than our understanding of the terms loved and hated.
Now lets talk about Jacob and Esau on this second point.
In the context of the letter Paul isn’t focusing on Jacob and Esau individually. God is speaking of the two nations, Israel and Edom, of which Jacob and Esau were the heads. God marked out Israel as the nation to which He promised the Messiah and the messianic kingdom. Edom received no such promise. Instead, its mountains and heritage were laid waste for the jackals of the wilderness (Mal.1:3, Jer. 49:17-18, Ezek. 35:7-9).
This passage refers to earthly blessings, and not to eternal life. God’s hatred of Edom doesn’t mean that individual Edomites cannot be saved, any more than His love of Israel means that individual Jews don’t need to be saved.
It is important to note that Esau was an incredibly blessed man (Genesis 33:8-16, Genesis 36). He was just not the person God was going to use to bring about the covenant.
A woman once said to Charles Spurgeon, “I cannot understand why God should say that He hated Esau.” “That,” Spurgeon replied, “is not my difficulty, madam. My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob.”
You see our problem in considering the choices of God is to think that God chooses for arbitrary reasons, as if he goes, “eent-meeny-miny-moe.”
vv 14-16) God’s choice
vv 14-16) God’s choice
Is there injustice on God’s part? 100% NO! And Paul quote in verse 15. Where God explains His right to give mercy to whomever He pleases.
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
What is mercy? Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. God is never less than fair with anyone, but fully reserves the right to be more than fair with individuals as He see fit.
A perfect example of this is when Jesus spoke of this right of God in the parable of the landowner in Matthew 20:1-16. Paying the works the same amount, though some worked longer than others.
We will be in a very dangerous place if we regard God’s mercy towards us as our right. If God is obliged to show mercy, then it is not mercy- it is obligation. No one is ever unfair for not giving mercy.
God’s mercy is not given to us because of what we wish to do “human will” or because of what we actually do “human exertion,” but simply out of His desire to show mercy.
vv 17-18) The example of Pharoah
vv 17-18) The example of Pharoah
God allowed Pharoah in the days of Moses to rise to power so that God could show the strength of His judgement against Pharoah, and to glorify Himself.
Sometimes God will glorify Himself through showing mercy; sometimes God will glorify Himself through a man’s hardness.
Here is what didn’t happen to Pharaoh:
God persuaded an unwilling, kind-hearted Pharaoh to be hard towards God and Israel.
In Hardening the heart of Pharoah, God simply allowed Pharaoh’s heart to pursue its natural inclination.
We know that Pharaoh did harden his own heart, according to Exodus 7:13, 7:22, 8:15, 8:32, 9:7, 9:34). Then:
But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
You see the same sun that melts ice hardens clay. The same sun that bleaches cloth tans skin. The same God who shows mercy to the brokenhearted also hardens the impenitent.
Grace rejected is grace denied.
God has the right to show mercy to whoever He wishes, and to harden whomever He wishes. But because He is God, He never acts unjustly.
Next week we will look into the the ramifications of what we studied this morning.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.