The riches of God’s glory
Romans 9:19-32
Key verse 9:23
Good morning. In chapter 8, Paul shouted “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”. “we are more than conquerors”. But when he began chapter 9, he said he was in great sorrow and unceasing anguish. Why? Because his own people Israel rejected Jesus that they are under the wrath of God. So he prayed for them with a shepherd heart, then God inspired him that not all Israel are true Jews. In the OT, Ishmael and Isaac were both Abraham’s physical descendants. But God considered only Isaac as his children because he was the children of the promise. Also Esau and Jacob were both Isaac’s sons. But God chose only Jacob as the children of God even before he had done anything good or bad. Furthermore, God told Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy”. Also in the opposite, God hardened Pharaoh to display his wrath. So in the first part of chapter 9, Paul concluded that “therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden”.
Then, someone might question him. In verse 19, it says “then, why does God still blame us? who is going to resist his will?”. Today’s passage is about the answer of this question. In his answer, Paul revealed three things about God and his calling. First, God’s absolute right to make anything for his purpose, second, God’s great patience even for the objects of his wrath, third, God’s rich glory to the Gentiles and the remnant of Israel. I pray through this message, God may reveal his glory to us that we may know about him and his calling.
First, God has the right to make people for special purposes as well as for common use. Look at verse 19. Paul said “one of you will ask me, then, why does God still blame us? who is going to resist his will?”. Someone argued that why did God blame Pharaoh? It was God who hardened Pharaoh. So it was God’s fault not Pharaoh’s fault. If God did not harden Pharaoh, he would listen to him. So in verse 20, Paul answered the question by starting rebuking the man. Verse 20 says “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?“ Paul said that you are just a human being. You are just what is formed. This is true. According to Genesis, we are just dust. We are very weak. No matter how people accomplish in this world, people die when they are infected by a coronavirus. Then, he mentioned one example of the potter and pottery to explain God’s right. Can we read verse 21? “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”. The potter has the right to make any potter for his needs. Using the same clay, he makes some pottery for special purpose (some very expensive pottery – you take them out on the dinner table only when you have very precious guests at your house) and some for common use ($5 regular dishes). It is totally up to him. In the same way, God has the right to make some people for special purpose and others for common use. He has the right make some for the objects of his wrath and some for the objects of his mercy. In the Bible, God made Moses as the objects of his mercy and Pharaoh as the objects of his wrath. Also God made so many unknown people for common use. In the same way, he has the right to make us either for the objects of his mercy or for the objects of his wrath. God also has the right to use us for special purposes or for common use. When we look around, God made someone very dramatic, change in their life and use them for special purpose. But also God made someone very ordinary [no dramatic life change but clam, still, faithful] for common use. The bottom line is that we cannot question God why you made me this way. Because God knows us best. Also he made us in his best way. Even if we may be loosing hairs, even though we may have hot-tempered, even though I live in a small state DE, even though we work for special campus mission, he has the right to make us in that way for his purpose. So if God made us for special purpose, we are thankful for that. If God made us for common use, we are also just thankful for that too. All we need to do is to accept God’s sovereign right in our life and to be thankful.
Second, God bore with great patience the objects of his wrath prepared in destruction. In verse 21, Paul said God is like the potter. However, there is one big difference between the potter and God. Let us read verse 22. “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?” In general, the potter is not patient. When he is not satisfied with the pottery, he does not wait, he just smashes the pottery on the ground. But, in verse 22, God is different. Even though he chose to show his wrath and make his power known, he bore with great patience the objects of his wrath. Take a notice of a word “great patience”. Patience itself is not easy, but God is greatly patient. In the Bible, we have heard about many characters of God: the love, the faithfulness, the light, but in this verse, Paul emphasized God’s great patience, especially even to the objects of his wrath. Once God chose to destroy the objects of his wrath, why did he wait so patiently? When we look at Genesis 6 about Noah’s flooding, God grieved and his heart was deeply troubled when he saw how the objects of his wrath did evils against him. Yet, how long was he patient with them? 100 years.
Also, in verse 29, there appear Sodom and Gomorrah. God chose the two cities to show his wrath and make his power known. Yet, God still showed his great patience upon them. In Genesis 18 and 19, God told Abraham that he came down to see if what people from Sodom have done is as bad as the outcry. God knew already how bad Sodom was. Yet, he himself came down to double check before he destroyed them. Also, when Abraham asked God not to destroy Sodom if there are fifty righteous people found in the city, 50 to 45, 40, 30, 20, 10, God was super patient. What about Pharaoh? Pharaoh was the objects of God’s wrath. God could destroy him from the beginning. Yet, God showed him his great patience. How many times did God send Moses to him? 10 times. Each time, God displayed his power and gave him a chance to repent. However, Pharaoh, people in Sodom and Gomorrah, people in Noah’s time, no one appreciated God’s great patience. No one repented. As a result, no one could say that that they never heard about God or God’s great patience. Paul said in Romans 2:4, “do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
God is still greatly patient with us. Romans 10:21 says “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” 2 Peter 3:9 says “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” In baseball, three strikes, then you are out. In college, in general, two fails in your major classes, you are out. But our God is different. He bears us with great patience. So let us not abuse God’s great patience. While he is still patient with us, let us repent and come to him.
Third, God made the riches of his glory through adopting the Gentiles as his people and leaving the remnant among Israel. Look at verse 23. Let us read verse 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”. Based on this verse, we can see why God bore with great patience the objects of his wrath. It is to reveal the riches of his glory to the objects of his mercy. Who are the objects of his mercy here? In verse 24, Paul said “even us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles”. Whoever God called, either from the Jews or from the Gentiles, they are the objects of his mercy. Here there is the glory of God. In the OT, who were the objects of God’s mercy? Only the Jews. 99.99% of the Jews but maybe in a very rare case, 0.1%, some Gentiles like Ruth were considered as God’s people. But in the NT, through the gospel, now even the Gentiles (not just 1% but whoever is called by God) can become the people of God. And from verse 25, Paul said this one did not just happen in the NT times. But rather, it was already prophesied in the OT. Let’s look at verse 25 and 26. “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, and, In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.“ Hosea lived in B.C. 8 century ago. So from Paul’s time (early church), it was 800 years difference. Even 800 years ago, God already promised that he would call the Gentiles his own people by his mercy. Back then, only the Jews were considered as God’s people. The Gentiles were the objects of God’s wrath. But when Israel was unfaithful to God, God warned them that they would be no more God’s people. When we look at Hosea 1, God told him to name his three children: Jezreel (scatter), Lo-Ruhamah (not my loved), and Lo-ammi (not my people). And at that same time, God said he would call the Gentiles as his people and his loved one. This promise was fulfilled through Jesus. Whoever believes in Jesus, even when the Gentiles believed Jesus by faith, God gave them a right to be the children of God. They became God’s people. In this way, God revealed the riches of his glory.
By nature, I was the objects of his wrath. I did not care about God at all. Even in college, I rejected bible study invitation many times. God could destroy me when I hardened against him. But God bore me with great patience. He gave me another chance over and over. He wait and waited. Then, through injuring my left foot, God humbled me and helped me accept the gospel. He revealed the riches of his glory in me. I never knew that God called me as the objects of his mercy in advance for his glory. Some UBF people told me that they had thought I would stay in UBF at most 3 or 6 months. They might think I was the objects of God’s wrath. But through God’s great patience, I became God’s people. Praise God.
Now look at verse 27–29. “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 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“. In Isaiah’s time, Israel was prosperous. It says the number of Israel was like the sand by the sea. But, he said “only the remnant will be saved”. This is very strange. The remnant means not many. How can only the remnant be saved among numerous people? What happened to them? In Isaiah’s time, Israel did not live a life of glorifying God. God blessed them as numerous as the sand to live as kingdom of priest and a holy nation. But when they did not live up to their calling, their hearts became hardened. God did not harden them. They hardened hearts themselves. Yet, God was greatly patient with them. God sent them Isaiah and other prophets to repent. But they refused God’s warning. So in the end, God made Assyria and Babylon (at that time, rising superpower nations) destroy Israel. In this way, God revealed his power and his glory in Israel. But at the same time, God revealed another glory: He did not allow Israel completely wiped out like Sodom and Gomorrah. Rather, God left the remnant for Israel. Jesus came through the line of the remnant later.
The history of Israel is a warning to us too. Today, the number of Christians are numerous like the sand by the sea. According to a web site, today the number of Christian is about 2.4 billion. But according to today’s passage, not every Christian is true God’s people. Also only the remnant, the true Christian, will be saved. This is scary. How can I be sure that I belong to the remnant?
It is up to God whether we belong to the objects of his wrath or the objects of his mercy. But one thing shows who is righteous in God’s sight? Look at verse 30. It says. “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;” also verse 33 says “and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
According to these two verses, in God’s sight, the righteous (the people of God) is the one who believes in Jesus and lives by faith. The problem of the Jews did not live by faith. They lived by the works of the law. That is why the stumbled, meaning they failed to have the righteousness of God. So how must we live? Live by faith.
As conclusion, today, we learned how God has the right to make us for the objects of his wrath or the objects of his mercy. Also God bore the objects of his wrath with great patience. Lastly, God displayed his rich glory through calling the Gentiles as his people when they accepted Jesus by faith. I pray while God is greatly patient with us, let us repent and live a life of glorifying God by faith.
Verse 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