Title: The Sovereign Work of God
Romans 74
God's sovereign work
Romans 9:13-18
INTRODUCTION: Paul's testimony about the choices of Isaac and Jacob has raised some questions for the Jews. One is, if human salvation is entirely by God's predestination, what is the benefit of Abraham's fleshly descendants? It is that God did not do unrighteousness. Regarding this, Paul said, “What then shall we say? Is there any unrighteousness with God?
1. Is there any injustice in God?
(1) Paul took a firm stand on this matter. “Is there any injustice in God?” he said. Just because God's sovereign sovereignty works in the work of saving humans, and because such sovereignty of God ignores human understanding and will, it cannot be considered that God is injustice.
This view is not that there is no unrighteousness in God, but that if you insist like Paul did, you will ultimately make God unrighteous. In his argument that Paul develops here, he testifies that God's predestination and election issues, such as human choice and abandonment, do not belong to us humans, but to God alone. Regarding this, Paul quoted from Exodus 33:19, saying, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and whom I will have mercy on, I will have compassion.”
(2) Paul said that the choice of those who are to be saved is “not by a willer, not by a runner, but by a merciful God.” The desired grown-up word is a symbol of human free will. This does not mean that there are people who really want to be saved by God's grace. There is no human being who wants to come to salvation by accepting Jesus Christ on their own. Jesus said, “No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). For man, free will for God's salvation is impossible. The reason is that human beings have already become enemies with God through sin, and their spiritual relationship with God has been completely cut off.
The next thing to say that it's not from a runner means human effort. Human beings try to do good deeds in order to gain life, or asceticism to cast off moral good or sin. But it has nothing to do with God's salvation. These things have nothing to do with God's righteousness because they are trying to gain salvation through their own righteousness. It is through God's righteousness that man can become righteous, not through man's running effort. In this regard, Paul speaks of the righteousness that the Jews sought to attain. He said, “Because they did not know the righteousness of God, and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). If we understand the Word of God with the right knowledge of fearing God, we will come to understand that God's predestination and election belong only to God's sovereign work.
2. When seen by Pharaoh
Paul used the case of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, as an example to demonstrate God's sovereign work in human salvation. He quoted the words of Exodus 9:16 in verse 17.
(2) The phrase that Pharaoh was built for this purpose refers to the incident where God hardened Pharaoh's heart and brought calamity upon the land of Egypt. As promised to Abraham, God sent Moses to Pharaoh to bring Israel out of slavery in Egypt and bring them into the land of Canaan. God gave this Moses the power of God to perform miracles before Pharaoh.
With this power, Moses brought ten plagues before Pharaoh. Of course, God could have caused Pharaoh to send Israel to Canaan with just one disaster. But God did not do that. He hardened Pharaoh's heart until he sent all ten plagues, so that he could receive them all. This could be too merciless to the very king. It can be cruel to the Egyptians. But God did it for His providence. The providence was “that through you I might show my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” God has done it.
(4) Paul concludes, saying, “Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wills, and hardens whom he wills.” He knew that Pharaoh's toughness was due to his free will and decision, but it was God who did it. Why did God do that? It is a mystery that belongs to God, and it is an inherent sovereign power that only God has for His glory.
Conclusion: We have something to be clear about here. It is the fact that we humans cannot and cannot infringe upon the authority that belongs to God. Even with this one fact that God chose sinners like us in Christ before the foundation of the world, but to give them all the spiritual blessings that are reserved in heaven, even if we have this one fact, we will be thrilled for the rest of our lives, give thanks for the rest of our lives, and praise that grace for the rest of our lives. Keeping this fact in mind, I hope that you will become God's people worthy of God's call.