Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
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--Romans 9:14-18
So in the previous study entitled "Is God Reliable" we discussed God's sovereignty and His faithfulness to the Jewish nation. In this study we are going to discuss God's sovereignty in relation to His righteousness. God chose Israel and not Edom. God chose Jacob and not Esau. God chose Isaac and not Ishmael. God chose Israel and not another nation. Choosing one over another seems unfair to us. Lots of us accuse God of unfairness...if He chose Israel then He condemned Edom. If He chose Jacob then He condemned Esau. Paul starts off verse 14 with "Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!" God because He is holy cannot commit an unrighteous act.
Romans 1:16-17 says this: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
God's righteousness is revealed in the gospel. The death of Christ, revealed God's righteousness by punishing sin. The resurrection of Jesus revealed His righteousness by making salvation available to the believing sinner. God can forgive sins and still be holy because He became the just and the justifier through the death of Jesus, His Son, on the cross. The righteousness from the gospel is one from faith.
In the Old Testament righteousness was by works of the law but it was soon apparent that no one could keep the law or meet the demands of a holy God. Salvation cannot come by obedience to the law. The law brings a curse...it demands obedience to all. If you break one, you're done. The law shows us our need for a Savior and our guilt before God. The gospels says "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." This verse is mentioned in Habukuk and in three New Testament books. Romans explains “the just” and tells how the sinner can be justified before God. Galatians explains how the just “shall live”; and Hebrews discusses “by faith” (see Heb10:38).Warren Wiersbe says this: The Law says, "Do and live!" but grace says, "Believe and live!"
Really, God would be justified in wiping us all out. We all deserve condemnation. When you really begin to draw close to God, you begin to wonder how God can love any of us! I have heard it said that if God acted only on His righteousness nobody would ever be saved. Truly, it is only by God's mercy that we are all not consumed.
Look at verse 15and 16:
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.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
Who are we to say that He cannot show mercy or compassion to whomever He pleases. No one can condemn God for the way He extends His mercy...why...because He is righteous. We are all sinners...if left to ourselves, we would perish. The reference to Exodus 33 in verse 15 deals with Israel's idolatry (the golden calf incident) while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the law. All deserved condemnation and death but God killed only 3000. Justice is getting what we deserved...mercy is not getting what we deserve and grace is unmerited favor...getting what we absolutely do not deserve. Our destiny rests upon the mercies of God. We can't reach up to Him...He needs to reach down to us.
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.”[ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens--Romans 9:14-18
Now Paul quotes Exodus 9:16 using Pharaoh as an illustration. God shows compassion and mercy to Moses and Israel and condemnation to Pharaoh and Egypt. Moses was a Jew and Pharaoh was an Egyptian. Both men were sinners...murderers even! Both experienced or saw the same plagues and felt the power of God. Yet Moses was saved and Pharaoh was lost. Why? Because God is sovereign and acts according to His own will and purposes. He raised up Moses to show mercy on His people and deliver Israel, and He raised up Pharaoh to show His glory and power.
Think about it though...God gave Pharaoh all kinds of opportunities to repent...Moses heart was soft toward the things of God...Pharaoh resisted and hardened his heart until the Lord cemented him in his decision. The fault did not lay with God but with Pharaoh. People all face trials. Sometimes those trials will lead them straight into the arms of Christ and in His grace He saves them. Others react to adversity by cataloging and holding onto offenses and griefs and allowing their hearts to be filled with bitterness. They harden their own hearts toward the things of God by the decisions they make on a moment by moment basis. The bottom line is if we are saved it is because of His grace...if we die in our sins we have no one to blame but ourselves.
OUCH!
Love
Mom
