God, the Merciful
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of September 11, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon and were bent on doing much more damage had things gone the way they had intended. Last Wednesday, St. Charles County came together to pay their respects to Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz. A couple of weeks ago, Hurricane Ida went through the U.S. doing billions of dollars in damage and killing dozens of people. And if one stops for a moment we may begin to wonder why these things are happening. And as Reformed folk, we may give the answer “For God’s Glory.” But as humans with finite understanding, those words may ring hollow or perhaps even wicked. But my hope is that by noon, you will see that these words are neither hollow nor wicked.
In these verses that we are reading this morning, we find Paul continuing to talk about God’s election of the believer. But if we can grasp this concept about something as huge as eternity, I think we can transfer the same understanding to the temporal. I see three concepts that the Christian needs to come to terms with in these verses. The first concept is Election and God’s Justice. The second concept is Election and God’s Mercy. The third concept is Election and God’s Glory.
Election and God’s Justice
Election and God’s Mercy
Election and God’s Glory
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Election and God’s Justice
Election and God’s Justice
The first concept that I see in these five verses deals with election and God’s justice. Paul wrote,
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
In the previous verses, Paul pointed out how God chose Isaac over Ishmael and then he chose Jacob over Esau. He even goes so far as to say that God loved Jacob but hated Esau, quoting Malachi. Now Malachi was referring to the nations, but Paul’s point was that the reason the nations were loved/hated was because of God’s love/hate for the individual. But that leads Paul to his anticipated question. He can see people’s brows furrow and the thoughts going on in their brains: That’s unjust of God, isn’t it? Or to put it another way: isn’t that wrong, unrighteous, wicked of God to do this? To which Paul unhesitatingly says, “By no means” as if to say, “Don’t even think such a thing!”
Why? Because God’s election took place in eternity past. Before any good or bad was done. Justice is the giving a person that which they deserve. If someone did something bad, a judge needs to be just and give them a punishment equal to the crime. If someone does something good, they ought to be rewarded in equal proportion to what they did. But election took place before any good or bad happened. While God has always been just, we could say that election is pre-justice because it is pre-action by humans. Being just is a state of being. Justice is an action taking place. If there is no action, then there is no response of justice and we have that which pre-justice. Once human action takes place, such as once Esau and Jacob were born and started sinning, or you and I start to act, then we suddenly have human action and need Divine action to intervene. Which is what we find in Romans 3:23-26
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Through election, and so pre-justice, God chose to intervene on behalf of those he loved. That intervention is what we call justification. He is still just, but he is the justifier as well. His election in eternity past actually calls for and allows for God to intervene being the justifier while also remaining just.
But we can take this concept and apply it to temporal matters, not just eternal. Let’s say you do everything right at work. You work hard and long hours. But you don’t get rewarded. In fact, someone who does not put in the time and effort that you do gets promoted. You feel an injustice has been done, and perhaps it has. But God who determined this in ages past is not unjust in bringing this about. The same could be said for those who are struggling with depression. You see others getting better; others whose medicines are having the right effect, but yours aren’t. Is this unjust of God? Not at all. As a church, we are small while other false-gospel teaching churches loom large. Is this unjust of God to bring this about? May it never be. These are all examples of how God, in his sovereignty, has chosen for things to be.
Now don’t be fatalistic and say, “What’s the point then? We can’t change anything.” We’ll come to that next week. But don’t allow that kind of thinking to take over.
Election and God’s Mercy
Election and God’s Mercy
We turn now to the second concept that we need to come to terms with. The first was election and God’s justice. Now we turn to the flip side of the coin and see election and God’s mercy. We see this in Romans 9:15-16
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Election does not have its foundation in justice but it does have its foundation in mercy. If you were to look at the context of the verse that Paul quoted you would find there that God had told Moses that Moses would take the people into the Promised Land, but because of their idolatry with the golden calf, he would not be going with them. Instead he would send a substitute. Moses then asked God who it would be and and to teach him his ways in order to find favor with God. And God’s response was that he would have mercy on whom he wills and show compassion on whom he wills. If you want to know God’s ways, accept that God’s mercy and compassion toward everyone is based on his own prerogative. Moses could not earn favor, nor could Israel. God, in the counsel of his own will, decided to have mercy/compassion upon Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau and it still goes on today. Election is grounded in God’s mercy.
So it isn’t about human will. That we’ve already seen in Romans 8:7 and Romans 3:10-19 which rejects God. And it isn’t in human exertion, literally “running” (where we get our word “track” from). But is all about God’s mercy.
Now if we can see that with eternity, then surely we can bring that down to the temporal. Why is it that we as Americans have had religious freedom? It isn’t God’s justice, but God’s mercy that he planned from before time began. Why is it that Jacob and Esau plays itself out still today in which two or more siblings have the same upbringing, but one is a believer and the other is not? It is God’s mercy.
If you’re familiar with The Sound of Music, you’ll remember there’s a song that says, “Some where in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” Maria and the Captain have fallen in love, and they give credit to something they must have done in their past. I heard a teacher once say that Christians have that same mindset, whether some past good or bad that explains why things are the way they are in the present. But neither is necessarily true. Election and God’s mercy can teach us that God has mercy on anyone he wants, which means no sin and no good can affect God’s willful decision to have mercy upon us—that means for eternal life or temporal.
Election and God’s Glory
Election and God’s Glory
Which leads us to the last concept that we as Christians need to grapple with. The first was election and God’s justice. The second was election and God’s mercy. Finally, we have election and God’s glory. You see, salvation, while it is good for humanity, is not about humanity. It is about the glory of God. As long as we think it is mainly about us, we will never understand God’s election nor the gratitude that we should have for our own salvation. Paul wrote in Romans 9:17-18
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Again, if you look at the context you come to realize that in the midst of the plagues, God is telling Pharaoh through Moses, that God appointed and raise this man up for his purposes. Which means that the Hebrews were purposefully made slaves under God’s plan. They were mistreated under God’s purposes. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans 1:22-23
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
This is exemplified in ancient Egypt, but is done by everyone ever born. In fact, Egypt is often used as a symbol of man’s sinful nature. God told Pharaoh that he had a purpose for Pharaoh’s life—a glorious purpose. But the purpose was not to make much of Pharaoh, but to make much of himself. So that people everywhere would hear that Yahweh was the almighty God. The same is with each of us. It’s not the ooey gooey mushy purpose that people like to think about when discussing God’s purposes for his people. But the truth is that God is the greatest and mightiest being and so must be made much of; made more of than any other being including you and me. Thus, to do so, God in eternity past decided the end before the beginning and all that is in between. And Paul’s conclusion then is that if God has told Moses that he will be merciful on whomever he will to display his glory and told Pharaoh that he raised him up to harden his heart to display his glory, then he has mercy on whomever he will and hardens whomever he wills. This is all for God’s glory, God’s fame!
Now, our sin nature kicks back against that. But it is what the Spirit is working out inside of us and so we must grapple with this concept and let it take hold in our lives. If this is what God is about and how God works, then surely we must submit and live accordingly. Which means that your vocation, where ever you work is to be done to God’s glory and what happens in your vocation must be seen through the light of it bringing God glory even if it’s personally disappointing. The same goes for your marriage, your parenting, your personal self. The wrongs, the rights, the good and the bad, are God’s working out his glory in and around you. You were saved to bring God glory. And not in only being justified, but in being made holy as well, not just in sickness but health as well. After all, that is God’s purpose in election. The same can be said about this church. God placed this church body in this place to bring his glory to this neighborhood.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish with Romans 9:14-18, I hope we see how wrestling with God’s election can help us in more temporal areas of our lives. It helps us to understand God’s ways, even as Moses sought to do so long ago.
If you have not put your full trust in Jesus Christ for your eternity, this doctrine of election may sound bizarre and infuriating. But understand that if God did not intervene in eternity past, we all would be on a trajectory to hell. But Jesus said that if we come to him, he will in no way cast us out. He will receive each of us. He died because of our sins but he was raised to bring us into right standing with God.
If you have put your trust in Jesus, then understand that the lessons we’ve learned about God’s election also apply to all areas of our lives as they are under his sovereignty. It is not mainly about us; it is about his glory flooding the world. But that being said, let us not forget the promise that we receive that glory as well.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
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 those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
At this moment, God shares his glory with no one else. But when Christ returns, as co-heirs with Jesus, we receive that glory!