Lord, I swear there's no pain I know there's no danger In that bright world to which I go Welcome to this podcast from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. Faith Bible Church is a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching ministry dedicated to bringing the Good News of the Gospel to the whole world. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And now, for this week's message from Pastor Alan Battle. Today's scripture is taken from the Book of Romans, the ninth chapter, verses 14 through 18. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. This is the word of God. So most of us have raised kids or are raising kids. And I dare say that all of us were kids at some point. So we know a little bit about being a kid. And it's tough to be a kid. Parents are always making decisions that kids don't like. They don't let kids stay up as late as they want to stay up. They don't let them eat whatever they want to eat. And they don't let them watch whatever they want to watch on TV. And now they don't let them spend all their time on their computers and their phones. And in response to this, one of the most common things that you will hear coming out of the mouth of a child is, that's not fair. say that? Well, at this point in our study of the book of Romans, there are some of Paul's readers who are objecting to his teaching on unconditional election, and they're crying out the same thing. That's not fair! It's not fair that God chooses some and not others. In our previous passage, we left off with Romans 9.13, where God said about the twins, the sons of Isaac, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And it said that this choice that God made was not based on anything the boys had done. It was decided before they ever left the womb. I must admit, from a human perspective, it doesn't sound fair. But in our time together this morning, I want us to come to the place where we can transcend our limited human perception and begin to see this issue from God's perspective. First, I want us to see that God has the complete freedom and the right to save whoever he wants to save, and that he is just as right to leave others in their sin and their condemnation. So God's right to save some, and he's right to condemn others. So now, just as we've seen so many times in this book, Paul anticipates an objection to his teaching, and his opponents level this charge of unfairness toward God. So, Romans 9, 14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. So we're confronted with this question. Can God be unjust? And Paul answers again for the eighth time with this strong response, by no means. King James Version, God forbid. May it never be. It can't happen. So, I am not surprised when people react to God's sovereignty in election with the charge that's not fair. And that goes for Christians as well as non-Christians. It's a natural human response. And I don't blame them any more than I blame children who have the same reaction toward their parents' choices. But children grow up, and they gather information as they grow. And they learn to understand that their parents' choices were good choices. They become wiser to their ways. And the more we know about God, the more we learn to trust Him and the choices that He makes. One of the cardinal truths about God is that He is righteous. He is just. Both those words come from the same Greek word. It's one of the most important attributes of God, His righteousness. And that's why Paul has such a strong reaction against this charge. Throughout the whole Bible, God is portrayed as the standard of righteousness. Here's just a sampling of Psalms that bears this out. Psalm 48.10, As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Psalm 71.19, Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? And Psalm 119, 137, Righteous are you, O God, and right are your rules. And God doesn't just do things in righteousness and justice. He is righteousness and justice. Righteousness and justice are parts of his character. It's impossible for him to act against his character. And as the Lord told Malachi, he doesn't change. So to show his Jewish critics that this is nothing new, Paul cites two well-known examples from the Old Testament. Romans 9.15, he says, For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Now we could just use this as a proof text, we could move on, but that would not do this verse justice. Paul's Jewish hearers would have had a context for this. They would have known the circumstances surrounding this statement from Yahweh. When did God say this to Moses? He said it after the incident with the golden calf in Exodus 32. You remember this story, right? Moses was up on the mountain talking to God and receiving the Ten Commandments while the people waited below. And it took so long that they thought Moses wasn't coming back. Maybe God had killed him. So they grew restless and they insisted that Aaron give them a god to worship. Now they'd already been expressly forbidden back in chapter 20 not to make idols out of gold. But they lost their faith in God's spokesman, Moses, and they started looking for another way. So Aaron, he collected all their gold jewelry and he melted it down and he produced this golden calf. So, if that wasn't bad enough, the scripture says that they had a feast the next day, where they sacrificed to their new God. And it says, then they ate and drank and they played. That didn't mean touch football or lawn darts. Now the word played here, it's the same word that is used when Pharaoh saw Abraham playing with Sarah and realized that they were married. It's the same word that Potiphar's wife used when she falsely accused Joseph of trying to play with her. So what's actually happening in Exodus 32 is a full-blown drunken orgy. And what's God's response to this sin? He says to Moses in Exodus 32.10, Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you. God wanted to kill them all and start over with Moses. And from what we can determine from Exodus, there were probably over two million people with Moses in the wilderness. But Moses interceded for them. He begged God not to wipe them out, and God relented. He showed them mercy. Then Moses took matters in his own hands and called the Levites to repent, and then punished their brothers with the sword." And we assume that they went after the ringleaders of this rebellion, but it says that 3,000 people fell in that day. Now that might sound like a lot of people to you, but 3,000 out of 2 million is slightly more than one hundredth of one percent. After that, God recommits to the covenant that he made with Israel to take them into the land of Milk and Honey. But Moses, he still wasn't sure that God's wrath wasn't going to fall. So again, he begs God to spare the people, and he says that if God won't do it, he doesn't want to live either. He says to God, if I truly have your favor, then show me your glory. So this is the context of this quote that we have in Romans. This is where God says to Moses that he will have mercy on who he will have mercy. And he did have mercy on them. He had mercy on over 99.99% of them. I'm sure the Jews who were making this accusation of unfairness toward God did not have any problem with this display of mercy. And they didn't have any problem with God choosing Isaac over Ishmael, and they didn't have any problem with God choosing Jacob over Esau, even though both of those guys were the firstborn, and by human standards, they should have been the chosen ones. Why isn't anybody crying, that's not fair, over those choices by God? But now that God has set the majority of the Jews aside for a time and let the Gentiles in, now they have a problem. Their problem is rooted in their misconception of the law. They keep wanting to base God's favor in works righteousness. They want to base God's favor in what they can do. And this is the point that Paul's been making over and over in the book of Romans. Salvation is not by works, it is by grace, through faith. That is, it's through his mercy. Here in verse 16, he reinforces that truth once again in the conclusion to this illustration from Exodus. It says in verse 16, So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. Not on human will or exertion. In every other religion in the world, salvation is based on human will and works. In the Quran, Allah is called the compassionate and the merciful. Yet, if you ask a Muslim if they're going to heaven, they'll say, I hope so, but I won't know until the Judgment Day when my good deeds are weighed against my bad deeds. Where is mercy there? Notice Paul doesn't give us any basis on which God grants his mercy. He just tells us what it's not based on. It's not based on anything people can do. Not on human will or exertion. But do not confuse the fact that the reason for God's choice is unknown with a false accusation that his choice is arbitrary and therefore unfair. just as a child doesn't have the capacity to understand his parents' choices, we often cannot understand God's choices. But we do know that his choices are righteous. And I want to point out one more thing about this accusation of unfairness. Remember I told you that some people believe that God's choice in election is based on his foreknowledge. He looks ahead into time and he sees who believe and those are the ones he chooses. But if that were the case, why would there be any objection about fairness? Why would somebody say that's not fair? It's because, Paul, that's not what Paul's teaching here. It's obvious that Paul's readers, they knew exactly what he was saying. God chooses people to be saved not based on anything they will do. So next we have an example of how God sometimes chooses not to extend his mercy. This example is also from Exodus. It's the example of Pharaoh. So Romans 19, 17. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So in the very first chapter of Exodus, we're told that a new king arose in Egypt. There was a change in regime. There was a new sheriff in town. And this Pharaoh did not know Joseph or care about the Jews. And it didn't just happen. This verse says God raised him up. We don't usually know why God puts people in power, but God has a purpose and plan for everything he does. Sometimes we understand why and sometimes we can't. God put Judas among the twelve for the purpose of delivering Jesus up to the authorities and ultimately to the cross. And one day he's going to raise up a person called the Antichrist in the last days in order to finally end the rebellion on earth and establish his kingdom. But most of the time we have no clue why he raises up rulers. Why did he raise up Hitler? Why did he raise up Stalin? Here's one that's always puzzled me since I teach church history. Why, at the time of the Reformation, did he raise up leaders in England and Scotland and the Netherlands and America who encouraged God's Word to be preached? And the result, the church grew like crazy. But in France, there were Protestants there too. There were lots of Christian leaders there. And he allowed virtually all the Protestant nobility to be murdered by the Catholics in one day, in the St. Bartholomew Day's massacre. And that ended the Reformation in France for good, never to be revived. I don't know. I don't know God's mind. I don't understand God's ways. But in the case of Pharaoh, we're told why in this verse. That God might show his power and that his name be proclaimed in all the earth. And that's what's happened. Both in that day and throughout history, God's power is demonstrated in the story of the Exodus. His name is proclaimed everywhere the scripture has gone since that day. And this isn't saying that God caused Pharaoh to be evil. It just says that he raised him up. He put him in that position of authority. He knew how Pharaoh would react. He knew that Pharaoh would harden his heart. And God simply confirmed him in his predisposition. So, why does it say then that God hardened Pharaoh's heart? Look at verse 18. So then, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. It's true that God told Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart. But if you read that whole narrative, you're going to see that it also says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. So again, we have this mystery of God's sovereignty versus man's free will. It's not as if God took an innocent man and then turned him evil. James tells us that God is not tempted by sin, neither does he tempt anyone with sin. What God does in the hardening process is that he confirms a person's choices and leaves them in their sin. Jesus talks about this in John 3.36. He says, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. The wrath is already there. All are born into sin and exercise their will to sin as soon as they reach an age when they can discern good from evil. So now Paul's opponents raise another objection. Verse 19. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? Now, this one is personally relevant to me. I used this same argument in order to reject God before I became a Christian. I would ask people, why did God create me with the desire for sex, drugs, and rock and roll? And then condemn me for it. I was mad at God. I said, that's not fair. Well, Paul had an answer for me here in verse 20. But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? You guys, God is our Maker. He's our Creator. We have no right to question Him, to question what He does. It's not as if He's just left us in the dark. He's given us His Word. He's given us everything we need for life and godliness. And we can spend a lifetime discovering who he is and his purposes for us in the world, and we'll never reach the bottom of that well. But anything beyond what he has revealed is beyond our capacity to understand. In that regard, we are like children. So he continues in verse 22, What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles." So he's actually withholding his wrath in order to demonstrate his mercy right now in this age. And this is one of those places in scripture where grammar becomes crucial in order to understand. Let me explain. In verse 22 it says that he endured the vessels prepared for destruction. But who prepared them for destruction? Most people assume that it's God that's doing the preparing. But that's not the case here. It does not say vessels of wrath that he prepared. It's in the passive tense. It says vessels of wrath that were prepared. They were prepared for wrath, not by God, but by themselves, from their own sin. And look at verse 23, and there's a contrast. The grammar is different. There it clearly says that God is the one who prepares the vessels of mercy. It says, He has prepared, not passive, a direct action by God. So God has nothing to do with the sinner's choice to sin, but he has everything to do with their calling to salvation. The scripture nowhere says that God called or predestined or elected anyone to damnation, only to salvation. It does say that all who sin are responsible for their sin. Even though Judas was raised up to betray Jesus, Jesus said this of him in Matthew 26-24, The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Nobody is going to be able to say the devil made me do it. The devil did enter Judas, and he will possess the Antichrist, yet they will both stand condemned for their own actions. So I said in the beginning of this that children learn to understand their parents' choices as they mature, and that you and I learn to trust God's choices as we get to know Him better. In Knowing God, J.I. Packer's great book on the attributes and character of God, he points out that wisdom is not found in understanding everything that God is doing. That's impossible. He says, wisdom comes from reverencing God and receiving his word. It comes by humbly sitting at his feet to learn. That's the opposite of screaming at God, that's not fair! It's the opposite of accusing God of injustice. It's the opposite of saying that God has made people to sin and then condemns them for it. Wisdom is found in accepting life as it comes. Because we know we can trust God without fully understanding His purposes for the things that are happening around us. Have you trusted Him with your life? Have you trusted Him to remove your sin and guilt through the death of His Son on the cross? If you're still trusting in your own works to save you, then you have not yet entered into that relationship where you can sit at His feet and learn from Him. If you haven't done that, I beg you to do that now. And Christian, have you surrendered your life to Him completely? When bad things happen, do you accuse Him of not being fair? Do you expect, like the Jews, to be rewarded for your good works? Those kind of tantrums rarely get kids anywhere, and they will certainly not get God to change His mind about His plan for you. So your best course for action is to take the attitude of Job when he said to his wife, shall we accept good from God and not trouble? Or as Psalm 33 5 says, the Lord loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of his unfailing love. We can trust him to be fair. Let's pray. thank you father that you have revealed yourself to us and in your majesty Lord and that we are in awe of who you are and we know that your ways are so much higher than our ways and that we cannot understand everything about you but Lord you've given us so much in Your Word that we might know You, that we might know You intimately and deeply. So Lord, we ask that You would continue to fill our hearts and minds with Your truth, that we might be able to accept the things that we can't understand and trust You for them. So we commit ourselves to You, in the holy name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you for listening to the preaching of God's Word from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. We hope that it has been an encouragement to you and that the Word of God will fill your hearts and minds as you walk through this world. 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