The Choice Of Israel Is In The Sovereign Purpose Of God Series

(32) The Choice of Israel is in the Sovereign Purpose of God

Romans 9:14-24

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!

15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”

18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”

20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,

24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Introduction

So far, the argument has established God’s sovereign right to exercise the privileges of the gospel to whomsoever and on whatever terms He pleases, natural conditions and human merit being ruled out. Accordingly, if the Jews refused the gospel God’s decision to reject them and offer salvation to the Gentiles was unchallengeable. The Jew might object to this—that to make no distinction between Jew and Gentile in regard to merit or the lack of it, would be inconsistent with Divine righteousness. To this Paul answers that God’s sovereignty in these matters was (1) stated, (2) illustrated, in the Old Testament.

In this part of the Bible that emphasizes the sovereignty of God, we see Paul sorrowing, praying, and worshiping. He did not feel that God’s sovereignty in any way destroyed man’s responsibility. The God who ordains the ending (saving the lost) also ordains the means to the end, the prayers, and witness of His people. They go together.

God is not obligated to save anybody, for all deserve to be condemned. Even Israel was chosen only because of His grace and love [1](Deut. 7:6–8). Therefore, nobody can criticize God or say He is unfair. That He is merciful to sinners should make us rejoice!

Israel’s rejection of Christ did not ruin God’s plan, for He went to the Gentiles [2](Acts 15:14) who gladly received the good news. However, God has a remnant among the Jews [3](Rom. 9:27–29), and believing Jews and Gentiles are one in the church [4](Eph. 2:11–22). His mercy endures forever!

God’s Part and Our Part Charles Spurgeon was asked how he reconciled divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and he replied, “I never try to reconcile friends.” Augustine said that we must pray as though it all depended on God and work as though it all depended on us. That biblical balance makes for blessing.

____________________________introduction notes________________________________

[1]Deut. 7:6-8 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt".

[2](Acts 15:14) "Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name."

[3](Rom. 9:27–29) "Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,The remnant will be saved. For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

[4](Eph. 2:11–22) "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."