This morning we come to another passage in Romans that is particularly difficult. But, unlike Rom. 7, chapter 9 isn’t difficult to understand. It’s just difficult to take. In order to understand what Paul is saying, we are going to need to read all of Romans 9. Let’s read Rom. 9 together. From this passage I want you to understand three points: The Problem with the Promise, the Purpose of God in Election, and the Potter and the Clay.
First, let’s consider the problem with the promise in verses 1 – 5. At this point in the book, Paul turns his attention to a very serious problem. For the next three chapters, Paul is going to work out a problem that any good Jew might raise at what he has already said. Remember, Paul has just finished telling us that we can have hope in suffering because God keeps his promises. God foreknew us, predestined us, called us, justified us, and will glorify us. And, he loves us no matter what happens to us in this life. Now, a Jewish believer who is reading through the Book of Romans might hit pause at this point and wonder, “Now wait a minute, Paul! I came to faith in Jesus even though the rest of my family rejected him. In fact, much of the persecution you are encouraging us to endure is coming to us by the hands of my own family and friends in the Jewish community. How can I trust that God will keep his promises when it doesn’t seem like he did that with the Jews?” This is the pain that you feel in the words of Paul in verses 1-3. He says that he has great anguish and sorrow because his own kin have rejected the promised Messiah. In fact, he would even be willing to be accursed (to be condemned to Hell) for the sake of his kinsmen.
This is a real problem for everyone, Jew and Gentile, because it seems as though God did not keep his promises. Paul says, in verses 4-5, that they are descendants of Jacob (Israelites). They were the original adopted sons of God. They experienced the glory of God in his deliverance from Egypt, in fire and smoke, in his countless victories. They had the covenants of God that promised blessings and victory. They had the Law and the proper order of worship in the tabernacle and temple. And, most importantly of all, they had the promises of God. God had promised them that he would bring the whole world to worship him through them. He had promised that he would restore them after their exile. He had promised that he would give them a new heart and a new covenant. Now, all of that had happened in Jesus. God was reaching the world through the message of the Gospel. The Gentiles were coming into the covenant. Jesus had risen again to overcome the curse of Adam. And yet, most Jews rejected him. So, has God failed?
To that question, Paul begins to work out an answer that takes us through the rest of Chapters 9-11. The first part of that answer takes us to my second point: God’s Purpose of Election. In verses 6-18, he answers this question by reminding us of a theme that runs through the OT: God’s electing purposes in Israel. He starts by answering this hard question with a simple response in verse 6: “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” He explains further in verse 8: “it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” In other words, there have always been those who were descended from Abraham, been circumcised on the 8th day, followed every dot and tiddle of the Law, but whom God rejected as true Israelites.
To show this, Paul turns to two familiar examples from the Old Testament. First, in verse 9, he reminds us of the story of Ishmael and Isaac. Remember that God promised Abraham and Sarah that he would give them a son. But, they had some challenges to that promise: Sarah was barren and Abraham was old. After waiting around 10 years for God to fulfill his promise, Sarah got the idea to give her slave girl, Hagar, to Abraham so that he could have a son from her. Yet, God rejected Ishmael and continued to promise that they would have a natural born son. They ultimately did, some 25 years after the promise was first made, in their son, Isaac. Now, according to human wisdom, there was no reason for God to reject Ishmael. He was “from Abraham”, so he could technically fulfill the promise. And, by all accounts, he was a strapping young man who had a great deal of potential. But, we might be tempted to think, “OK, it’s obvious that God rejected Ishmael because of Abraham’s sin, so that makes sense.” To that thought, Paul turns to another example of God’s election.
In verse 10-13, he gives us the example of Esau and Jacob. Esau and Jacob were twins from the same woman, Rebekah. So, we can’t say that God rejected Esau and chose Jacob because of something that their parents did. And, just in case we are tempted to think that God chose Jacob over Esau because of something he saw in Jacob, Paul adds, in verse 11, “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad – in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls…” Understand what Paul is saying. God didn’t choose Jacob and reject Esau because he saw potential in Jacob. He didn’t choose Jacob because he saw his future. God chose Jacob for his own purposes, not according to works.
To that fact, we may ask the same question Paul raises in verse 14: In choosing one person and rejecting another before they are born or do anything to prove themselves, does that mean that God is unjust or unfair? Paul’s answer is emphatic – “By no means!” Now, every human has some spiritual baggage that keeps us from understanding Paul’s broader answer. It’s common for people to assume that our default destination in life is Heaven. We assume that every human being is destined for heaven, and if anyone goes to Hell it’s because they messed it up. We assume that people are basically good and it is their environment that turns them to evil. But, as we’ve already seen in the book of Romans, that’s not the case at all. Our default destination isn’t heaven – “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (3:23) Our default destination is Hell. We are under the curse of Adam and doomed to die (5:12). We don’t deserve Heaven because we are basically good. No, the wages of sin is death (6:23).
So, if anyone does receive the promise of God - if anyone does receive heaven - it is strictly based on God’s mercy alone. Eph. 2:8-9 says that we are saved by grace, which is a gift of God that excludes boasting. Understand, no one will stand before God in heaven and brag that he got there because he did something right. No one will say, “well, I guess I made it because I gave all that money to the church.” No one will say, “I guess I made it because I trusted in God when no one else would.” No! The only claim you will hear in heaven is, “I am here by the mercy and grace of God!”
To illustrate this fact, Paul gives both a positive and negative example from the same story. In verse 15, he quotes from Exodus 33, where Moses asks to see God’s face. God puts him in the cleft of a rock and passes by him, allowing him to see the back of his glory. As God passes Moses, he says the words we have here: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” In other words, when God reveals himself to a person, it is an act of mercy. God doesn’t have to reveal himself. He didn’t owe Moses an audience. And God wasn’t forced to save you, either. Every saving action God takes towards us is an act of mercy, not obligation.
On the flip side of that truth, Paul reminds us of Pharaoh. Remember, God sent Moses to Pharaoh to demand the release of his people, and nine times Pharaoh resisted, even though God brought terrible plagues on Egypt. It was only after the 10th plague of the death angel that he gave in, and even then he changed his mind and pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea. Paul reminds us with this story of something that God told Moses from the very beginning. God would use Pharaoh’s stubbornness to bring glory to himself. He would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not relent, even to the point of drowning in the Red Sea while the Israelites crossed on dry ground.
To this, we might have one final objection, which brings me to my last point: the Potter and the Clay. In verses 19-29, Paul imagines another question we might ask: “If God’s mercy is not up to human will, how can he find fault with those who reject him?” At face value, Paul’s answer doesn’t seem all that helpful, but we can’t miss the details. He answers with the analogy of a potter and his clay. In verse 21, he asks, “does a potter not have the right to make from a lump of clay one vessel that is meant for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” So, imagine that a potter has a single lump of clay, and he takes the clay and out of it forms this beautiful vase that he puts on the mantle at home. Then, he takes that same lump and from it forms a toilet. Does the toilet have any right to ask, “why have you made me this way?” Does the vase?
In a similar way, Paul says in verse 22 that God “endures with patience” those who are prepared for destruction so that he might show off his glory through those to whom he shows mercy. Here is where we have to catch the nuance of Paul’s wording. He doesn’t say that God makes people for destruction, as if God delights in making people just so he can send them to Hell. He says that he “endures” them. The Greek word there is “phero”, which means to carry or to bear with. God doesn’t have to direct people in sin, he only has to leave them in it. God didn’t have to make Pharaoh stubborn, he was already there. Yet, God uses that sinfulness and stubbornness to further his purposes. However, with those who receive God’s mercy, the wording is different. There he says that we were “prepared beforehand for glory.” The word “prepared beforehand” means to fit or fashion in advance.
Now, I don’t want you to miss the beauty and the conviction of this passage. So, to close, let’s read verses 30-32. First, I want you to understand that your salvation is not based on your ancestry or obedience to some moral code. Paul says that the Jews pursued righteousness through the law and have stumbled over the stumbling block of Jesus because they did not seek righteousness through faith in him. Friend, you need to understand that your mamma and daddy cannot save you. Your family may trace its lineage back to the founding of this church, but your lineage cannot save you. You may have served in this church for 50 years, given faithfully, been here every Sunday, but your obedience cannot save you. Only the mercy of God can save you. Only faith in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection will save you. Won’t you turn to him in faith today?
Second, I want you to understand just how beautiful God’s mercy is. Most of us in this room are Gentiles (not Jews). That means that, if we were able to trace our lineage back 8000 years to the times of Abraham, our ancestors were busy worshiping some pagan god, carrying out false worship, without the Law of God, not knowing his glory. But now, churches across the world are full of Gentile believers from tribes and nations that were once set against God. Why? Because of the mercy of God. And you too were once set against God. You were once a part of that mass of humanity that is fit for destruction. But, the grace of God shown in your heart through the Gospel and you trusted in him for salvation. So, your salvation is not based on what you’ve done or anything good that God saw in you, but purely on the mercy of God to save you. May we rest purely in the grace of God in Jesus Christ as we leave this place today.
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