The Complete Sovereignty of God
God is Sovereign in the Keeping of His word (Romans 9:1-9)
God is Sovereign in the salvation of His People (Romans 9:10-33)
Through God choosing man in election
Through man Believing God in faith
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Good Morning.
This morning I want to jump right into our text in Romans 9.
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Paul is going to address some important issues that some people, especially the Jews were wondering in regards to God’s will and ability to keep his promises.
So, let’s begin.
Romans 9:1-9
9 I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
Ok, let’s pause here a moment and pray.
I want you to notice in verse 6, Paul says, “It is not as though God’s word had failed.”
Now, we need to remember back to last week and our discussion of Chapter 8.
The title of last week’s message was the Promised blessings of those in Christ.
We learned that
Those in Christ will not be condemned
Those in Christ will not be forgotten during times of suffering on earth
Those in Christ will not be separated from Christ’s love ever
Those are some awesome promises. But promises are only as good as the ability and certainty that the one making them can keep them.
Can and will God keep his promises? Is God Sovereign?
Some of the Jews and maybe even the others were wondering how the Jews were fitting into this picture. Afterall they were the people God chose to be His people. Was He now rejecting them? If he rejected them, could he reject those in Christ?
These are some important issues that needed to be dealt with especially considering the amazing promises Paul spoke of in the previous chapter.
Well, Paul wants to assure everyone that God is able to and will keep his promises, that He is completely Sovereign, that is in full control of all things.
And in the passage we just read, we see that
God is Sovereign in the Keeping of His Word
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Paul tells us in verse 6 that God’s word had not failed.
Then if God’s word had not failed, if God was sovereign, then what was up with the Jews?
Well, Paul tells them first that they were wrong in thinking it was just by their bloodline that made them Abraham’s children, part of the chosen people.
Look at Romans 9:8 - “it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”
Now, this is not a new teaching and it is not new to Paul’s letter either.
John the Baptist
We see John the Baptist say something similar in
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Luke 3:7-8 - John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
Real children of Abraham are not necessarily by blood, but by faith that produces fruit.
Jesus Christ
Jesus also confirmed that just being a blood relation to Abraham did not make a person a child of Abraham in a covenant sense.
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John 8:39-41
39 "Abraham is our father," they (the Jews) answered.
"If you were Abraham’s children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the things your own father does."
Jesus is saying that those who act in the faith of Abraham are his children. All others are children of the devil, whether they are blood relatives or not.
Paul
Paul said the same thing earlier in Romans.
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Romans 4:16
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring — not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
So, Paul is saying here, again, that God did not fail to keep his word to Abraham’s children, but these promises were made to the true children of Abraham, of which there would be a remnant of those of Jewish Heritage.
So God’s word did not fail in the past nor will it fail in the future.
God is sovereign and completely able to keep his word and his promises.
But Paul goes on to confirm that God is not only Sovereignly able to keep His word, but
God is Sovereign in the Salvation of His People
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Look with me at the rest of Chapter 9
Romans 9:10-33
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad — in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls — she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ’Why did you make me like this?’" 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:
"I will call them ’my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ’my loved one’ who is not my loved one,"
26 and,
"It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
’You are not my people,’
they will be called ’sons of the living God.’"
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
"Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality."
29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:
"Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah."
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33 As it is written:
"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
Now we see a couple of things in these verses.
Salvation by Faith?
In these last couple of verses I just read, Paul talks about a Righteousness that comes by faith, not by pursuing it through works or good deeds and says finally at the end, that “the one who trusts in him (in Jesus Christ) will never be put to shame.”
So here he talks about a person trusting and believing in Christ for salvation by faith.
Salvation by Election?
In some of the previous verses, however, it talks about salvation not being based on works or desire or anything else, but only on Him who calls or Salvation by Election, by God’s own choosing.
So which is it or are these 2 things really incompatible, with it having to be one or the other?
Well, I will tell you that I believe them both to be entirely and completely true, that God is in complete control of the salvation of His people and that salvation is entirely a work of God, and I believe that Salvation is by faith and that God’s creation have been given real responsibilities which they will be held accountable for in regards to believing in Christ.
I do not believe these 2 aspects of salvation are mutually exclusive, because they are both taught in Scripture. Now, I will confess that it is difficult for our human minds to wrap around this completely, but we are going to give this an attempt this morning.
First let’s discuss and understand that
God is Sovereign in the salvation of His People
…Through God choosing man in Election
(Romans 9:10-29)
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Now in verses 10-12, Paul says that the choosing of Jacob instead of Esau was based solely on God’s sovereign choice, not on anything good or bad they had done.
Now we get a little uncomfortable when we read the Scripture Paul quotes that says, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Is God really hating Esau just because He chooses to?
First we need to understand that yes, God chose Jacob to fulfill His promises to Abraham based only on His will.
But the quote regarding loving Jacob and hating Esau is not something that is found in Genesis. God did not tell Rebekah that I will hate one of your children. He said the older will serve the younger and the quote of loving Jacob and hating Esau is found at the very end of the Old Testament in Malachi 1 and is in regard to the nations that came from Jacob and Esau, not them particularly as individuals. It is in a prophecy particularly to Israel talking about how God has shown his mercy and love to them over and above other nations not based on anything they have deserved, and how they have not even recognized it.
It is not a quote about God really hating someone, but more about God emphasizing His mercy toward a particular people.
This is where we have got to realize who God is.
God is a God that is motivated by showing people mercy.
Romans 9:14-16
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14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
God doesn’t say in this quote that I will have mercy on who I want and I will be wicked to who I want. It is about mercy and God showing mercy and compassion. God’s desire in His Sovereignty is to show mercy and compassion.
What about Pharaoh?
Well what about what he says in regards to Pharaoh, about hardening his heart?
Well, God did harden his heart, but Pharaoh also hardened his own heart. In the Old Testament, we see Pharaoh hardening his heart and then God hardening his heart.
Well, if God is fully in control, couldn’t he have softened Pharaoh’s heart?
Yes, absolutely. And God chose not to.
Understanding Eternity
This is where we have to understand election in the context of Eternity.
We, as part of God’s creation are subject to time. Things happen over time. We cannot comprehend things without time.
No time for God
God, however, stands outside of time. Time is an invention of His that came along with creation. There is a time before creation, that we call eternity past. Try to think about that for very long and it will jumble your mind, because we are not designed with unlimited comprehension. We have been created to understand things within time.
Now, for God, standing outside of time, He says everything in the eternal present. He knows the beginning and the end because He has created this world and universe knowing the beginning and the end and creating the one universe that would bring Him the most glory. How do I know that?
For the Glory of God
God’s purpose in creation is to glorify Himself and Him being God would be able to do that to the utmost.
Now, being outside of time, God not only acts based on foreknowledge, but His foreknowledge is according to His actions.
One biblical commentator, Norman Geilser, speaks of God “knowingly determining and determinately knowing from all eternity everything that happens.” (Geisler, Chosen but Free, 3rd Edition, p. 145).
Now it is in comprehending this that we find thing difficult.
God acts based upon knowledge and His knowledge is based upon His actions, what He is going to do, all at the same time.
So in creating a world in which he sees the beginning and the end and which he has created people in His image, with a will and an intellect, He has necessarily decided in advance who will be saved and who will not, just by the very fact that He created everything knowing the end.
So, when He says about Pharaoh, “I raised you up for this very purpose…” it is true that God created a world in which he knew and created pharaoh that his responses would be just as they were with a hard heart.
So we might respond to this with, “Well, if God created me this way, then why does He blame me?”
Do you ever hear anyone say that?
God gave me these desires so it is not my fault if I act on them.
Paul anticipates this response and basically says,
Who are you to question God? God is able to do whatever He pleases. If God is a God of grace and mercy, how can people understand His grace and mercy if there are those whom He does not show grace and mercy to?
Is God unjust in showing mercy to some who do not deserve mercy while others who do not deserve mercy do not receive His mercy?
Justice would argue that no one should receive mercy.
We have already established back in Chapter 3 that there is no one who is deserving of grace and mercy. We have all turned away from God and deserve judgment.
But God, because of His love, extends His grace and mercy to some to help us realize what grace and mercy are really like.
How does he extend His grace and mercy?
Through faith in Jesus Christ.
This is where God’s word teaches that not only is God sovereign in the salvation of His people through God choosing man in election from the standpoint of God’s perspective in eternity, but that also
God is Sovereign in the salvation of His People
…Through Man believing God in Faith
From the standpoint of man in time
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He tells us clearly in Verse 30 that we obtain righteousness through faith, through believing God. He says in verse 33 that “the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
Not only in this chapter does God confirm through Paul that we need to believe in faith, but throughout the Bible.
Romans 10:9
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9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. NIV
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. NIV
To the Philippian jailer, who asks Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31)
God, in His sovereignty, has chosen to extend Mercy and Grace to those who believe in Jesus Christ. He has brought into creation a world in which he has not only known who would be saved and who would not, but by the very fact that He stands outside of time, has determined it by creating it, shows that He is sovereign and completely able to keep His word and that His word to us will never fail. This is not mutually exclusive to man having a real will from God’s perspective, although from our won perspective within time, it is difficult to comprehend.
And I am sure there are some here (all?) who will struggle with believing that both of these are true.
Let me try and give an analogy that may help a little.
DVR
Pretty much the only way I watch TV anymore is with a DVR. It allows me to fast forward through commercials and see what I want in less time.
Now if something is that is recorded live, the outcome is assured because it is already over from my point of view but it doesn’t make the decisions that occur within that time any less real or the choices that are made in that time, any less relevant.
In this life and world we are in, we are subject to time and things are happening in time from where we are positioned. Decisions we make are real and have real consequences and effects. We can believe that, because we are told throughout God’s word that this is true.
To say that if I can’t completely understand how this works, so I will not trust a God who won’t allow me to understand it, is foolish whether you believe it or not.
Isaiah tells us in
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Isaiah 55:8-9 - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God operates beyond our ability to comprehend some things completely. God’s thoughts are exponentially beyond our own thoughts.
It is in Romans 9 through 11 that Paul is largely addressing the Jews and the situation with the Jews.
At the end of this section, Paul ends with
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Romans 11:33-34
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord?
We do not know the mind of the Lord, nor can we completely comprehend all of His wisdom and judgments.
We can know of His complete sovereignty and believe it and trust by faith the way of salvation through Jesus Christ and respond in that faith as His word tells us.
It is our own pride that hinders us from believing God and trusting in Christ.
If time
I do believe that the time will come when each of us will realize the reality of who God is and we will recognize the fullness of our own lack of wisdom, and the fullness of our own depravity.
Just like Isaiah did when he saw the Lord.
Isaiah 6:5
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
Just like Job when he did not understand all that was happening to Him and he was questioning God’s integrity, God responded by speaking to Job and saying
Job 38:1-7
2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
For 2 chapters (Job 38-39) God questions Job and exposes him for the man he is and not God. He did not create all things. He does not know all things. God acts in complete wisdom out of His perfect goodness and perfect justice. God goes on in
Job 40:8-14
8 "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? 9 Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? 10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. 11 Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, 12 look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand. 13 Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. 14 Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
Salvation is completely in God’s hands and he offers it in grace and mercy to those who will receive Him, to those who believe in the name of His one and only Son.
You can be assured that you are saved by God when you receive Him and trust in Him
Romans 9:33 – “the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
Romans 10:9 - if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
We can trust a completely Sovereign God to keep his promises and be among the elect of God.
Won’t you trust him this morning?
If you will be among His elect, receive Him as you confess your belief.
Let’s pray.
Let’s close worshiping Him as we sing The Stand this morning.
This is a great song that speaks of God’s sovereignty in creation and eternity and our response to Him.
Respond to the Lord for the His awesome sovereignty and mercy and grace through which He provides salvation to all who will believe.
Let’s worship.
