A Declaration of Sovereign Mercy – Part 1

where we have resumed our study
of this great book and by way of reminder, we come into that
section. We have dealt with sin, that opening section of
the book of Romans. We dealt with the gospel and
of the issue of salvation. We looked even at the great section
on sanctification, which culminates at the end of chapter eight.
And by way of reminder, we have entered into a new major section. And that of the sovereignty of
God. And it is no light subject. It
is no subjects to be treated lightly or considered lightly.
These are the deep things of God. And we’ve already begun
to examine some of these things. What Paul begins is essentially
reminding his readers that he did have a passion for his countrymen. He did have a love and a concern
for them. wasn’t callous and cold. And
in verse one, he says, I’m telling the truth in Christ. I am not
lying. My conscience bearing me witness
in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief
in my heart. Perhaps there was a report or
a rumor or slanderous characterization of Paul that now that he had
found Christ, he didn’t love or care for the Jews any longer. Well, Paul goes on to say that
that just isn’t the case. So much so that he could wish
himself accursed for the sake of his brethren. Unless anybody
mistake who he’s talking about, he courses through their history
and all the privileges that had been bestowed on them. But Paul goes on to explain,
as we have been studying for the last couple of weeks, that
God’s plan didn’t get derailed. God didn’t lose control of his
plan. And the fact that so many Jews
did not come to Christ and place their faith in him did not undermine
God’s plan. It didn’t alter God’s plan. It
was part of God’s plan. What Paul begins to do is tell
us that Israel is not as grand and sweeping a term as Certainly,
the Israelites thought it to be. They believed that just by
virtue of being born a Jew, they would be saved. Paul says, no,
there is an election within the election that Israel was indeed
set aside as God’s chosen people. And yet within that, there is
election. And Paul uses that concept of
election or particular choice to articulate some very difficult
things. And that’s where we’ve been the
last couple of days or weeks, Lord’s days anyway. And he takes
us back and he says, it’s not as though the word of God has
failed there in verse six. You can’t look at the situation
with Israel and conclude that God lost control and that his
plan, as good as it was because it did not come to fruition as
men saw it. It must have failed. Paul, we
looked at three arguments that he provided. He gave us the argument
of Israel. They’re not all Israel that have descended from Israel.
Even Ishmael, God’s or Abraham’s first son, Ishmael was not blessed
and is a very clear indicator that not all who descended from
Israel are Israel, are the Israel that God has in mind. He uses another argument in verse
seven, the argument of Isaac, and he points to the fact that
Isaac was the one that was to be blessed. We saw in verse eight
and following the argument of promise that even Jacob and Esau,
that story that really for us didn’t have much meaning
until we began to look at it in context. But Jacob was to
be blessed even before he was ever born. God had promised him
a blessing. God had selected or elected Jacob
even before either of them had done anything good or bad. And so that whole idea of election
is woven through there. God chose Israel. God chose Isaac. God chose Jacob. There is, without
a doubt, that idea of election coursing through that section. And the obvious, obvious to all of us, because
I think in our humanness, we hear about election and we immediately
think, That’s not fair. And that’s what Paul wants to
speak to. In the passage that follows.
If you would, so that we may take it in context, if you will
go back to. Verse six. Let’s take that. In context with what follows. Where Paul writes, but it is
not as though the word of God has failed, so they are not all
Israel. who are descended from Israel, neither are they all
children because they are Abraham’s descendants. But through Isaac,
your descendants will be named. That is, it is not the children
of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the
promise are regarded as descendants for this is a word of promise.
At this time, I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived twins
by one man, our father Isaac, for though the twins were not
yet born and had not done anything good or bad. In order that God’s
purpose, according to his grace, pardon me, according to his choice,
might stand not because of works, but because of him who calls.
It was said to her, the older will serve the younger. Just
as it is written Jacob I have loved but Esau I hated. What should we say. There is no injustice with God
is there. May it never be. 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 does not
depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God
who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh
for this very purpose, I raised you up to demonstrate my power
in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout all
the earth. So then he has mercy on whom
he desires and he hardens whom he desires. You will say to me
then why does he still find fault for who resists his will. On
the contrary who are you a man who answers back to God the thing
molded will not say to the molder why did you make me like this
will it. Or does not the potter have a
right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for
honorable use and another for common use. What if God. Although willing to demonstrate
his wrath and to make his power known endured with much patience
vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. And he did so in
order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon
vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory. Even us whom he called. Not from
among the Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles. And
he says also in Hosea, I will call those who were not my people,
my people. And her who was not beloved,
beloved. And it shall be that in the place
where it was said to them, you are not my people. There they
shall be called the sons of the living God. And Isaiah cries
out concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel
be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved
for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth thoroughly
and quickly. And just as Isaiah foretold,
except the Lord of Sabbath had left us to us a posterity. We
would have become a Sodom. And would have resembled Gomorrah. Difficult words, difficult words
for Christians, difficult words for pastors with which to wrestle,
but they’re God’s words and it’s God’s testimony to us. And in
light of verses 6 through 13, where many would raise an eyebrow
at God’s fairness, Paul wants to deal with it. There are a
lot of people who have tried to slip out of verses 14 through
29. They are pointed words, they
are extremely difficult words, and they have been really bandied
about and misused and abused throughout church history. I appreciated one pastor’s characterization,
he provided a helpful and short list of some of the ways that
people have tried to slip out of these verses and explain them
away. One view said that the apostle is really dealing really
with the problem, not of individual salvation, but of nations. In
other words, that makes it OK that if God chose for his purpose,
one nation is over against another nation. In other words, it’s
palatable to us that God chose Israel. But the moment that we
say that God set his love, his electing love upon particular
individuals, that makes us uncomfortable. Another explained it away by
suggesting that what is being discussed here is not election
in any way to salvation, but election to a position, to privilege,
to some kind of honor, as if God had put Israel on a pedestal. A third way that it’s explained
away is that the way that God has chosen to save people, justification
by faith, is over against works. That that was his choice, that
he could have allowed people to work their way into heaven,
but he didn’t. He chose instead this method of justification.
Well, we know that to be true. That’s not at all what’s in focus
here in this passage. Not in its entirety. The fourth
idea that people have that they tried to explain this passage
away is that God chose Isaac rather than Ishmael and Jacob
rather than Esau and Israel over against the Gentiles, because
in his foreknowledge he saw what kind of people they would become.
Now, you know that to be true. That is one of the most popular
arguments, that God saw in us some kind of human potential.
And boy, I can’t wait to get him on my team. It’s just silly. Just silly. We were sinners. Nothing but sinners. We brought
nothing to the table. God had nothing to work with
us. And so there’s a fifth. What’s
taking place here? What’s Paul wrestling with? What
is he talking about? He’s dealing with the whole question
of how an individual becomes a believer. That clearly is the
transition in verses six through 13. There is nothing about position
or privilege or the theocracy is concerned about individuals,
people becoming believers. And as we see in verses six through
13, God in his own sovereign plan chooses some and rejects
others, and that makes us uncomfortable. And in a sense, it should. These verses 6-13 contain Paul’s
argument that God and His faithfulness to His people cannot possibly
be judged by the extent in which the Jewish people responded to
the Gospel. You can’t judge God. You can’t
judge God’s plan. And Paul begins to set about
vindicating God’s faithfulness to His promises. That God’s promise,
God’s plan is intact. This was His plan all along. And God is carrying out His great
purpose of salvation by means of election. That is the testimony
of verses 6-13. And then here in verse 14, Paul
turns a corner. And he brings up another objection.
He forecasts it. And he sees his hold of it. He
doesn’t flee from it or run from it. Another objection that could
be levied at God, not only had his plan not failed, but nor
is God unjust in the exercise of this election. As one pastor
said, he is arguing that his doctrine of justification is
not in contradiction of the Old Testament. He’s saying that the
Jews of his day were in error in seeing themselves as the only
people acceptable before God. That God always works out his
methods by way of election. At this point, he shows that
the Jews cannot argue that Paul is wrong because of his view
that God, his view accepted, pardon me, that God would be
unjust. And that is essentially where
we pick up in verse 14. Where Paul says, what shall we
say then? This is kind of a device that
Paul would use with regularity in the Book of Romans. You’ve
heard this from me before. The Book of Romans is one big,
long running reasoning with believers about the gospel. It is one big, long running argument. And repeatedly, Paul draws, he
uses this device to draw a conclusion and pose a hypothetical hypothetical
conclusion. He says it in Romans 3, 5 and
4, 1 and 6, 1 and 7, 7 and numerous other places. And what Paul does
when he uses this formula is when he recognizes that one of
these false ideas, one of these faulty conclusions is possible,
he brings this up as a formula. What should we say then? And here he says, what should
we say then? There is no injustice with God. Is there? He brings it up and we have to
acknowledge that we’ve all thought it. We have to think, you know,
well, there was nothing good in me, but why me? Even if it’s
a noble thought, we have to entertain that thought. We have to wrestle
with that thought. Most of us, though, take the
opposite approach, especially before salvation, we take the
opposite approach and say, well, that’s not fair. Paul says it, I mean, he comes
out with it plainly, there’s no injustice with God, is there?
Could we possibly indict God on charges of unfairness? Paul anticipates this, it’s human
nature. And he basically begins the process
of highlighting and showing to us that there’s not an inconsistency
here. There’s not unfairness in God’s
dealings with people. God wasn’t unfair with Israel.
God wasn’t unfair with Abraham. God wasn’t unfair towards Esau. These words, they were used. This is courtroom language. Can
we indict God? Can we really say that God’s
justice system is faulty? That God himself is unjust? James Boyce, whose commentary,
The Saints, gave me at Christmas. Excellent words. He said, ever
since the fall, human beings have been trying to blame God
for his actions or call him into account. The very nature of sin
is wanting to be in God’s place and what better way to do that
than to question him or to find some way that we can. Charge
him or indict him. We must begin by confessing that
God is God and that he therefore has the right and is just in
his actions, even though we may not understand what he’s doing.
That’s our starting place. If there were injustice in God,
the universe would fly apart. We’re just saying that. Essentially,
we sang that same thought that God is God. He goes on and says
all human beings deserve hell, not heaven. What they deserve
is condemnation, the justice of God, if it were to operate
without any regard to other factors, could do nothing other than send
every human being to hell. The point that voice is making
is be very careful. Be very careful about questioning
God’s justness. Be very careful about questioning
God’s justice system. Be very careful. Stop at every
opportunity before you ever raise your eyebrows and wonder whether
God himself has been fair. We do it all the time. We do
it all the time. What happens when you have a
bad week? First it starts with something small and then the
wheels begin to fall off the bus, right? And within a very
short span, we’re wondering, you know, I have been serving
you faithfully. I have been a Christian now.
We begin to recite back to God, as if He needs a reminder, right?
Who we are and what we’ve done. How we have honored Him in our
lives. How dare you let the wheels fall
off my bus. We question God’s justice system
all the time. No more so than in the doctrine
of salvation. Paul says, should we charge God
with injustice? The fact that God chooses some
does not make God to be unjust, because ultimately, Paul will
go on to say it flows from his mercy and the nature of mercy. Another pastor, a more contemporary
pastor, characterized it in these In this fashion, he said, this
accusation of. God’s injustice has been raised
throughout the history of the church, and it is still heard
today when God’s election is proclaimed. In light of human
wisdom and standards, especially in democratic societies where
all people are considered, pardon me, considered equal before the
law, the ideas of election and predestination are repulsive
and unacceptable. How dare you suggest that someone
else, even God, holds my destiny? For Paul, the whole thought is
absolutely unthinkable. He can barely articulate it.
What should we say then? There’s no injustice with God,
is there? May it never be. Another one of Paul’s devices,
Meganoita. No way. It can’t possibly be
that King James has it. God forbid. Can’t happen. The thought that God is unjust
is so utterly intolerable for the Apostle Paul that he dismisses
it with the strongest terms as quickly as he can. He says it
as emphatically as possible here. Paul, he’s almost horrified. The words come out. He’s almost
horrified at the mere suggestion that somebody could think to
charge God with injustice. It’s unthinkable to him. Because God himself is the measure
of what is righteous. God himself is justice. God himself is goodness. God
has no capability of any unrighteous deed or any degree of injustice. Some of our favorite words from. Jeremiah, you’ll know them. Thus says the Lord. Let not a
wise man boast of his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast
of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his
riches. But let him who boasts, boast of this, that he knows
and understands Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness,
justice, and righteousness on earth. For I delight in these
things.” Our God is a completely other being. He’s not like us. He’s not like us at all. He is
the standard of what is just and right and good and pure and
holy. And Paul says, let me give you
an example, let me give you some justification for this statement.
Should we say that God is unjust? May it never be, for he says
to Moses. I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. In other words, I mean, in the
simplest explanation, God says, you know, look, whenever I exercise
sovereign choice, whenever I say, you know what? I’ll take that
one as over against that one. Or I’ll take these as over against
those. Whenever God does that, he’s
doing exactly what he told Moses he was going to do. Exactly what
he’s done from the very beginning. He’s being God. I will have mercy
on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion. May I take you to the context of that great passage?
Exodus chapter 33. Here’s what’s going on. The people,
I mean, Israel had blown it in very short order. They had taken
a serious left turn, beginning to make idols out of gold and
deviating from God’s standards almost immediately. And Moses
goes before God and pleads on their behalf. And we pick it up in verse 12.
Then Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, bring up
this people, but you yourself have not let me know whom you
will send with me. Moreover, you have said, I’ve
known you by name and you have also found favor in my sight.
Now, therefore, I pray you. Moses is begging God. If I have
found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may
know you, that I may find favor in your sight. Consider, too,
that this nation is your people. It’s almost like he slips that
in at the end, isn’t it? Oh, by the way, could you have
mercy on Israel? And so God replies. God’s going
to reply to his appeal. God’s going to reassure Moses,
his servant, but he’s going to temper that reassurance by reminding
him who is God and how God being God functions. Look at verse
14. And he said, My presence shall
go with you and I will give you rest. Then he said to him, If
your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
For how then can it be known that I have found favor in your
sight, I and your people? It is not by your going with
us so that we, I and your people may be distinguished from all
other people that are on the face of the earth. The Lord said,
I will also do this thing of which you have spoken for you
have found favor in my sight and I have known you by name.
Then Moses said, I pray you show me your glory. And he said. I myself will make
all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of
the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious and show compassion on whom I show compassion.” In
other words, he answers Moses’ request. Be with us. Go with us in your full glory
wherever you go. And God says, yes, I’ll do that. But there’s one thing you must
know, Moses. Not all Israel will be saved. Not all of these people
will yield. Not all of these people will
come to know me as they ought. Not all of them will love me.
Not all of them will I love. I’m God. I will have compassion
on whom I have compassion. I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy. And that’s the case with all
humanity, isn’t it? If anybody ever is to be saved
in this world, it’s got to be God and it’s got to be mercy.
Otherwise, we put ourselves in this idea of deserving it. That maybe if I’m born into the
right family, maybe if I do the right things, maybe if I go to
the right church, Bible college, seminary, maybe if I do all these
things, maybe if I go about telling the gospel, Even if the gospel
hasn’t touched my own heart, maybe if I do, I can put God as owing me. It’s got to be mercy,
because there’s no way we could ever do anything to earn God’s
favor. No way. It has to be mercy. Otherwise, it’s based on what
we have done. Somehow we have obligated God. Mercy doesn’t have anything to
do with who we are, what we’ve done. It’s God being God. It’s God choosing to exercise
His mercy in our direction and we never deserve it. The moment you can say that you
deserve mercy, it’s no longer mercy and God’s no longer God. That’s the nature of mercy. God
chooses to show mercy on some. and not on others. As one said,
he does not have mercy upon all, only upon some. It is a mistake
to think that God has to be merciful to all. That’s universalism.
God is always wise. He is always true. He is always
holy, always powerful, always just. He’s not always merciful. He said it to Moses. In the case of Moses, he pointed
out that it’s due to the sovereign grace of God that he shows mercy
to anyone. What he begins to affirm is that
God being God has freedom to exercise that option to show
mercy to whomever he will. He’s not being unfair if he doesn’t
show mercy to anyone, because we’ve all already put ourselves
in an eternal predicament. This idea that God would be unjust is completely, completely faulty. Mercy, said one, represents the
desire to relieve suffering. There’s a difference between
mercy and compassion. Compassion is a It’s a tender
feeling for someone that’s in difficulty. It’s recognizing
that we too are of the same plight. We’ve experienced the same difficulties. You have compassion on people
all the time. But we don’t always show mercy. Mercy is the compassion
in action. Mercy is actually doing something
about it. God has compassion on everyone.
But he shows mercy only to some. Sometimes when we see a case
of suffering, we either have no means to respond or perhaps
our compassion is even incomplete. But mercy, mercy puts it all
into effect. Mercy immediately begins to do
what we can. So, the mercy of God is never
a matter of justice. But it’s completely due to God’s
mercy and grace. God shows mercy to whom He shows
mercy. It’s God being God and nothing
more. One deep commentator spoke about
the nature of mercy when he said the grace, if the grace of God
contemplates man is guilty before God. And therefore, in need of
forgiveness, the mercy of God contemplates him as one who is
bearing the consequences of sin. Do you get the understanding
here? Mercy is not just relieving the
misery of. Troubled individuals, someone
in need, That’s what we think of mercy. But God’s version of mercy is
not only relieving those that are troubled, but those who deserve
the opposite. He goes on to say, the mercy
of God contemplates God as one who is bearing the consequences
of sin, who is in pitiable condition, who therefore needs divine help.
It may be divined as the goodness or love of God shown to those
who are in misery or distress. Irrespective of their desserts.
In God’s mercy, he reveals himself as a compassionate God who pities
those who are in misery and ever ready to relieve their distresses,
even though. Even though they deserve the
opposite. That’s the nature of mercy. Paul wants to apply this mercy.
He’s telling us about it is a grand declaration of this great attribute
of God, this mercy. None of us who believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ would be here without it. But it’s not enough just for
Paul to proclaim it. He wants to apply it. He wants
to take this concept of mercy and lay it to our hearts. And
he does it in verse 16. And he comes up with this concluding
thought, so then. That’s Paul’s pattern is he’ll
stream out a bunch of data facts, if you will, reasoning, and then
he’ll draw a conclusion. So then. So then it does not
depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God. Who has mercy? This is a strange
thing. This doesn’t sound right to our
ears, we don’t we don’t even really know what to do with this.
It doesn’t depend on the man who wills or the man who runs.
It’s a good thing I don’t run at all. Even if someone’s chasing
me, what does it mean? Paul draws this conclusion, so
then he does it about eight times in the book of Romans. So then,
so then, so then. What is it? It? Does not depend
on the man who wills. Well, in the context, it can
only refer to mercy. Mercy does not depend on the
man who wills. You can’t desire mercy badly
enough. To force God to give it to you.
That’s what he says. It does not depend on the man
who wills. It isn’t dependent upon what
we would refer to as human volition, desire. The sinner, said one,
may desperately will that God would have mercy, but he cannot
force God. He cannot bring it about. What
about the man who runs? What is he talking about here? This idea of running is a pretty
popular idea with Paul. He uses it many times. In his
epistles, it contains the idea of moving, as one said, in the
path of right. So this is somebody who’s actually
not just walking the Christian, he’s running the Christian life,
he’s running, you know, the law, he’s he’s walking the straight
and narrow and he’s doing it so well, he’s picking up the
pace. It was used of foot races in a stadium, this word. refers
to exerting oneself to the limit of one’s powers in an attempt
to go forward. I mean, it’s running. I don’t
need a definition of running, do we? Paul uses it, as I said, numerous
occasions, just listen, jot these down, if you would, so you can
check them in your own time. He uses it in First Corinthians,
chapter nine, verse 24. Do you not know that those who
run all Run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize
run in such a way that you may win Now there isn’t a track team
or a you know Especially a Christian track
team that doesn’t cite that verse Run in such a way as to win the
race. That’s the metaphor Paul uses
Galatians 2.2. It was because of a revelation
that I went up. I submitted them to the gospel, which I preached
to the Gentiles, but I did so in private so that those who
are of reputation for fear that I might be running in vain. Now there’s a strenuous activity
directed towards a goal. We know what we want. Everything
in us is motivated toward that goal. At the end of Galatians,
he uses it again, same metaphor, you were running well. Who hindered you from obeying
the truth? How did you get so sidetracked? Uses it again in
Philippians 2, 16, that we are to be holding fast the word of
life. So then in the day of Christ, I will have reason to glory because
I did not run in vain or toil in vain. So this running when
Paul says. Here. that it does not depend on the
man who wills or the man who runs. He’s pointing to something
very specific. He’s pointing to our passionate
desire to live according to God, to please God. What he’s talking
about is trying to live according to a set of rules, even God’s
law, to live in such a way that we earn his mercy. That we can only live and walk
and run this path long enough. God owes me. That’s what he says. The bottom line, though, it isn’t
dependent upon what we do that prompts God’s grace. It isn’t
how we desire God’s mercy. It isn’t how we run through this
world. It’s God. One pastor said, it’s
not man’s choice or pursuit of God who initiates mercy for the
sinner. Salvation is never initiated
by human choice, nor is it merited by human effort. It always begins
in God’s sovereign, gracious and eternal will. Those who receive
God’s mercy receive it solely by His grace. Paul says it quite plainly. Doesn’t
matter how bad you desire it. Doesn’t matter how hard you work
for it. It’s God’s to bestow on whomever
he will. Look at the passage. Does not
depend on the man who wills or on the man who runs. But on God
who has mercy. Lloyd-Jones said it this way.
What decides. Whether a man is saved or lost.
Whether he is in the kingdom of God or outside. It is not
that he desires to be saved. Salvation depends not upon a
person’s works or activities. Our salvation is not the result
of our desiring it. Neither is it the result of anything
whatsoever we do about it. The fact that anybody ever received
mercy is entirely because of the character and nature of God. The real mystery is not that
everybody is not saved. But that anybody is saved. God owes nothing to anybody. And Paul proves it. With one
concluding statement this morning. He says this, it does not depend
on the man who wills nor on the man who runs, but on God who
has mercy for the scripture says to Pharaoh. For this very purpose, I raised
you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might
be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. Let me take you
to that context, if we could just briefly. Exodus, chapter
nine. In Exodus, chapter nine, we park
ourselves right in the middle of this incredible drama of these
plagues. It already had six plagues upon
Egypt, frogs and lice and I mean, what a despicable place this
would be to be. Blood, frogs, flies, disease,
boils. And there’s more coming. There
are more plagues coming, hail and locusts. and darkness, not
to mention the worst of all, the death of the firstborn in
Egypt. But it’s right in the middle
of this that we find this little phrase that Paul takes. Look
at verse 13 of chapter nine, Then the Lord said to Moses,
Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and
say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let my
people go so that they may serve me. For this time, I will send
all my plagues on you and your servants and your people so that
you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
God wants to be known. For if by now I had put forth
my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would
then have been cut off from the earth. God tells Pharaoh through
Moses, you know what? The only reason you’re standing
there breathing right now is because of my mercy. Because
I haven’t just cut you off. I could have blotted you out. But now, indeed, for this reason,
I have allowed you to remain in order to show you my power,
in order to proclaim my name through all the earth. Still,
you exalt yourself against my people by not letting them go. It’s God being God. God tells
Pharaoh, you know what? The only reason that you’re even
alive right now, I could have wiped you out with your entire
nation. But I raised you up. That word is used of God calling
up people on the various stage of life throughout history. God
had called up nations, God had called up Pharaoh to be king.
God had called up particular individuals throughout the history
for a particular purpose. God had a purpose in raising
them up. And what God tells Pharaoh is
that God’s plan was being essentially put into effect just through
propping him up, letting him take another day’s breath, letting
him witness more miracles of God, And it was both Pharaoh and his
hard heart and God and his hardening mercy. Pharaoh, said one, was a case
of concurrent phenomenon. Man was there, on the one hand,
willing, deliberately and most guiltily battling with right
and rightly bringing ruin upon his own head. It was Pharaoh. You could even say it was Pharaoh’s
fault. He did this to himself. And yet God was there, on the
other hand, making that man a monument, not of grace, but of judgment.
That’s all that Paul points to here. Is that it was God propping
him up for a moment. And only out of his mercy. God does this, God did it with
the Chaldeans. Remember in Habakkuk? I’m raising
up the Chaldeans. They’re going to do my work.
I mean, we have a moment. Turn to Jeremiah, Chapter 25.
One fascinating passage. In Jeremiah, Chapter 25, God
does exactly what he is talking about he does with Pharaoh. Listen to what he does here with
a guy named Nebuchadnezzar in verse eight. Therefore, the Lord
of hosts. Therefore, thus says the Lord
of hosts, because you have not obeyed my words, he’s talking
to his people. Behold, I will send and take
all the families of the north, declares the Lord. And I will
send to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant. Well, in what sense was Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon, a servant of God. He didn’t love God. He didn’t
love his law. He wasn’t one of God’s chosen
people. He’s a chosen servant in the
hand of God. Watch this fascinating process
unfold. I will send Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, my servant. I will bring them against the
land and against its inhabitants, against all these nations round
about. I will utterly destroy them and
make them a horror and a hissing and an everlasting desolation.”
What a delightful scene. Thank you, Nebuchadnezzar, for
your service to humanity. Moreover, I will take from them
the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones
and the light of the lamp. This whole land will be a desolation
and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon
70 years. He’s bringing judgment upon God’s
people. With the very enemies of God. Watch what happens, then it will
be. When 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon
and that nation, declares the Lord. You say, well, that’s not. Don’t say it. That’s what we want to say, that’s
not fair. That’s in our humanness, we want to say, well, that’s
not right. That’s God being God. Nebuchadnezzar
and his entire nation were just willing participants. They, just
like Pharaoh, were willfully eager and willfully sinful to
bring down this judgment on their neighbors. God just let them
do what they were going to do. And God is God all the time. God issues a similar threat In
the book of Thessalonians, the close of the book of Thessalonians.
Second Thessalonians, rather. If you have just turned their
quickly second Thessalonians, chapter two. Talking about the devil and his
active work in the world in the last days, and he says in verse
seven, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he. who now restrains will do so
until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will
be revealed whom the Lord will slay with a breath of his mouth
and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. That is the one
whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all
power and signs and wonders, with all the deception of wickedness
for those who perish because they did not receive the love
of the truth so as to be saved. Satan is unleashed. Satan is
absolutely bound by God and will be put back as soon as God says. For this reason, God will send
upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what
is false.” What is that? That’s God being God. That’s
the flip side of His mercy. There are some who will have
been lavished God’s mercy. They will come to know the Lord
Jesus Christ. They will repent. They will spend
eternity in heaven. And yet there’s others. When God is God. His mercy is not always shown. His mercy is not shown to everyone.
And for this reason, God will send upon them a diluting influence
so that they will believe what is false. Why? In order that
they may all be judged who did not believe the truth, but took
pleasure in wickedness. It’s both. Pharaoh hardened his heart and
God hardened it for him. It’s a fascinating passage, this
passage we find ourselves in. One of the fascinating features
of it in verse 17. Is when God says, for this very
purpose, I raised you up to demonstrate my power for Paul, power has
everything to do with the gospel. Remember, that’s how this epistle
started. It’s the power of God, the gospel, the power of God
for salvation. If the Lord has pierced your
heart this morning, if the Lord has shown you the severe condition
in which you stand, God shows mercy. God has shown mercy by
sending his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You can’t barge into
heaven But there is mercy available for you if you place your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of you young people have
sat here for months, if not years. You hear Christ talked about
all the time. Some of you, even of years, have
been here listening to things month after month, year after
year. May God grant you mercy. Let’s pray. Gracious, our merciful
God, we know that You do not save
all. Our plea is that You have mercy
with any in this room who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ.
May today they bow their knee in faith and place their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One who can save. It’s in
Jesus’ name that we pray.