God’s sovereign choice
Romans 9:1-18
Key verse 9:18
Good morning. Thank God for teaching us about the love of God through the gospel in chapter 8 for the last three weeks. What do you remember most from chapter 8? No condemnation in Jesus, The Spirit, the love of God, Jesus is interceding for us, … in Today’s passage, Paul was greatly troubled. Including himself, some Jews believed Jesus that they found true freedom from the power of sin, justification and glorification. Also when Paul preached the gospel to the Gentiles, they accepted the gospel that they became the children of God. On the contrary, the majority of the Jews still rejected Jesus. Yet, they thought they were right. They even hated Paul when Paul invited them to Jesus. When Paul thought about them, he was in great sorrow. How could the chosen people reject the Messiah Jesus? How could they refuse the gospel? Then, God inspired him and taught him the secret of God’s election. So in chapter 9 through 11, he explained God’s sovereign choice through using the examples in the OT. You may have some questions about God’s choice, but be patient until we finish chapter 11. Today, we are going to cover the first part of chapter 9: how our salvation comes from God’s promise, his call, and his mercy.
- Paul’s great sorrow
In chapter 8, Paul shouted who shall separate us from the love of Christ? We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. But when he thought about his fellow Israelites, he was very sad. Let’s read verse 2 and 3. ” I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race” His own race, Jews, rejected the Messiah Jesus. Paul himself in the past rejected Jesus too. But once he met Jesus, he found that there is no condemnation for him in Christ Jesus. He tasted God’s forgiveness and his amazing grace. He thought “This is so good”. He eagerly shared the good news to other fellow Jews but they did not like what Paul said and even hated him. What should Paul do for them? Should Paul give them up since they decided to reject the gospel? In his great sorrow and unceasing anguish, he prayed to God that he would be cursed and cut off from Jesus if the Jews could be saved. Wow! This is the attitude of those who experienced the forgiveness of God. This is also the attitude of those who are the children of God. This is also the heart of Jesus toward sinners: compassionate heart toward sinners. On the cross, Jesus prayed for those who crucified him: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. I pray we may learn the heart of Jesus and pray for people like Paul.
Look at verse verses 4 and 5. Paul mentioned how much Israel had privileges. According to these two verses, the Jews was not originally God’s children. But by his grace, they were adopted to God’s sons. Exodus 4:22 Then Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son. They also saw the divine glory of God: how God sent plagues in Egypt, how God opened the Red Sea. They also had the covenants with God. Especially, among so many nations, only they received the law of God. They had the temple worship. God dwelt among them. God also promised them to send the Messiah through their lines. Furthermore, they had the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). Lastly, they were the human ancestry of the Messiah Jesus. What privileges they had! They seemed to be the first people who welcome the Messiah. However, in reality, when the Messiah Jesus came, they did not welcome him. Not only they did not accept him but also they crucified him on the cross. Yet, they did not think they were wrong. They considered themselves as God’s chosen people. They thought they could have the righteous of God through observing the law.
Like the Jews, America was built by Pilgrims. They fled from persecution. When they came to the US, they built churches and schools to build up a city on the hill. God has blessed this country. In America, every corner there is church. Even at UD, there are many Christian student clubs on campus. Through TV or radios, you can hear the preaching. America is truly blessed. However, the problem is that this nation is getting secular. Less people are going to worship God. Less college students accept the gospel. When we share the gospel, students say “I am fine” and they are very proud. While we enjoy the word of God, while we shout “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”, outside so many people do not know about the grace of God. What kind of attitude should we have toward them? Like Paul, we should have the heart of Jesus: the shepherd heart for them, the compassionate heart for them. Mostly, like Paul, we should pray for their salvation.
- God’s sovereign choice
Paul was wondering how God’s chosen people, Israel, could reject the gospel Jesus. In his great sorrow, he prayed to God: “God, I do not understand. Why they do not believe Jesus?” Then, God inspired him that he found a great mystery of God’s election. Let’s read verse 6. “It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” In the OT, God said to the Jews that they would be his people and God their God. Since the majority of the Jews rejected Jesus, it seems God’s word had failed. But that is not true. God’s word still stands. Because not every descendant from Israel is Israel. To support this truth in details, Paul used three examples: Isaac’s case, Jacob’s case, Moses and Pharaoh’s case. Before we touch this, I want to remind you of how Paul used Abraham’s case in the OT to explain that we become righteous only by faith. In Romans 4, Paul said we are justified by faith. Then, many Jews attacked him that he was wrong. So, Paul showed them how Abraham became righteous when he believed God, Chapter 4:3 says “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”. In the same approach, now, Paul used three cases to explain God’s sovereign choice.
First, Isaac’s case. Look at verses 6-8. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. But in verse 7, God said “only through Isaac, Abraham’s offspring will be reckoned”. Why did God say this way? When did he speak this? In Genesis 21, Abraham hosted a party for Isaac. Ishmael was very jealous of Isaac that he teased him. Somehow, Sarah, saw this and told Abraham to send Ishmael away. While Abraham was greatly troubled, God appeared and told him “listen to her, it is through only Isaac, your offspring will be reckoned”. Through this, God revealed who would be the children of God; not by physical descendants but by his promise. Can we read verse 8 and 9? “In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” As we see in verse 8 and 9, God promised Abraham and Sarah that at the appointed time, Sarah would have a son. When God said this, what was their situation? Abraham’s body was as good as dead. Sarah was barren and the age of her childbirth passed. Humanly speaking, it was impossible for them to have a baby. But as God promised and when they believed God’s promise, God did a miracle in the old couple. Sarah had a son Isaac. Isaac was born as the fruit of God’s promise. He became the children of God. What does this teach us? We became the children of God by his promise. We are not a Jew. We are the Gentiles. By physical descent, we cannot be the children of God. However, in the Bible, God promised that in John 3:16 “whoever believes him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “repent, the kingdom of God is near”. As God promised, when we believed Jesus, we became the children of God. John 1:12,13 say “Yet to all who received Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”
This God’s promise alone teaches an important lesson to young people who were born in Christians parents. As all the Jews born from Jewish parents do not mean that they become the children of God naturally, so all people born from the Christian family do not mean that they become the children of God automatically. Each person needs to believe the promise of God: to accept Jesus individually, then, God gives us the right to become his children.
Second, Jacob’s case. Look at verse 10. Paul now turned to second example: Jacob’s case. Rebekah was conceived by Isaac. This case is different from the first case. Some argue that the reason Isaac was chosen as Abraham’s children is because Ishmael’s mother was a slave and not a Jew. In an old traditional Jewish law, they followed matrilineal descent resolution, meaning if a mother is a Jew, her children are Jews, but if mom is not a Jew, her children is not a Jew. However, this argument is not correct. Look at Esau and Jacob. They had one father and one mother, both Jews. Nevertheless, God elected only Jacob. Why?
Let’s read verse 11 and 12. “Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger. Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” It was before the twins were born. It was before Esau and Jacob had done anything good or bad. But at that time, God said “the older will serve the younger”, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”. This seemed unfair. Why did God say this way? Back to verse 12, God did this to reveal his purpose in his election. Then, what is God’s purpose? It says “not by works but by him who calls”. In other words, God wanted to teach that the children of God does not depend on the works but on his election. Every 4 year, we have presidential election. Presidential candidates have their own good resume of works. But it is our own choice, it is our own decision to elect someone as president of the US. Similarly, it is God who elects for who is going to be his children. Let’s think about Jacob’s life. In his life, there was no the law to work. He deceived his father and his brother. Even at his uncle Laban’s house, he lived for him. He was not seeking God. He seemed not to deserve God’s choice. Yet, God elected Jacob over Esau. He chose Jacob to love. He chose him to become his children. What does this teach us? Our salvation does not come from our good deeds or the works of the law, but from God who calls us in his sovereign choice. Who are we? We are like Jacob who cared about only ourselves. We are like Esau who did not care about spiritual blessings. Humanly speaking, there are many better nice, able people in the world. Yet, God elected us to be his children. He chose us even before we were born, even before we had done anything good or bad. Praise God who elected us to become his children.
Third, Moses and Pharaoh’s case. So far, Paul said God chose Isaac through his promise. God also chose Jacob even before he was born. Then, someone might say “God is unjust. He is not fair”. Paul knew it. So he questioned in verse 14, “what then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all”. Then, verse 15 through 17, he used Moses and Pharaoh’s case to prove that God is just. First, Let’s read 15 and 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. It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.“ This verse comes from Exodus 33. We need to know the background why God spoke this. In the book of Exodus 33, what happened? While Moses was at the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments from God, at the foothill, Israel made a golden calf, the idol, that they worshiped, danced, and had a party before the idol. God was very angry that he wanted to destroy all of Israel. But when Moses cried out for them, God relented his anger. But he said to Moses that he would not be with Israel anymore. Then, Moses cried out to God again. Then, God said to him “I will do what you asked. But I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion”. What does this mean? It means that at that time, every single Jew deserved God’s punishment. Yet, among all of them, God decided to show his mercy and his compassion on some. Historically, later Joshua, Caleb, and all the Jews under 20 years old, technically they were also destined to die in the desert, but God had his mercy on them. Because of his compassion, they were able to enter the promised land. In the same way, today all of people on earth deserve the wrath of God. We all are sinners. We all have rebelled against God. Romans 3 says there is no one who is righteous not even one. However, among billions of people, God had mercy on us. He had compassion upon us. He elected us, called us, justified us, and glorified us in Christ Jesus. He blessed us to become his children.
Look at verse 17. Now turn to Pharaoh’s case. Can we read verse 17? “For 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..” This verse 17 is one of most controversial verses in the Bible. Who is Pharaoh? He was president in Egypt: He is like today Joe Biden in America or Xi Jinping in China or Vladimir Putin in Russia. Verse 17 says God raised Pharaoh. God blessed him and his nation. Egypt, as a superpower nation, had great economy and military. Why did God raise him up? It is to display the power of God that God’s name might be proclaimed in all the earth. In Exodus, God sent plagues in Egypt and later killed every first-born son including Pharaoh’s house. Also God opened the Red Sea for Israel to walk like a dry land. When Pharaoh and his mighty armies pursued Israel, God made them all drowned in the Red Sea. In this way, God displayed his mighty power over Pharaoh. As a result, all people on earth heard about the name of God.
What is Paul’ conclusion here? Look at verse 18. Let us read it together. “therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden”. His conclusion is that our salvation is up to God. In his sovereignty, God chooses someone to shows his mercy and he chooses someone to harden to show his power. This shows once again, our salvation comes from God’s sovereign choice. I grew up in atheist family. I did know about God at all. But when I was in college, God had mercy upon us. He sent my friend to lead me to UBF Church. He knew I was thirsty spiritually that he blessed me to accept Jesus as my living water welling up to eternal life. More than that, he called me the disciple of Jesus to live a life of imitating Jesus in Korea and America. Who am I? I am selfish, arrogant, and proud. God should have hardened me, yet, he showed his compassion.
As a conclusion, today we learned two things: one is Paul was in great sorrow for his people Israel. This is the heart of Jesus for sinners. I pray we may learn the heart of Jesus and pray for those who harden their hearts. Another one is that Paul used the OT to prove that we become the children of God not by physical descent or the works of the law or human desire, but by the promise of God, God’s election, and his mercy and compassion. Praise God who showed his mercy and his compassion in spite of our sins.
Key verse 18: therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden