God's Sovereignty in Salvation

Audio Player

If you were to ask me, ‘What’s the worst thing about being a Christian?’ I would say, ‘It’s knowing, as the Lord Jesus himself taught, that those who reject him to the end will go to hell.’ And as I say that I think of people close to me – as I’m sure you can. Which is very painful and leaves you asking, ‘Why do I believe while, at present anyway, they don’t?’ And once you understand that God is ultimately sovereign over these things, it ultimately leaves you asking, ‘Why does God only save some people but not all?’

Well that’s the issue we’re thrown into as we resume a series on Romans. So please would you turn to Romans 9. This time two years ago we covered chapters 1-3; last year, chapters 4-8; and this year we’re going to cover chapters 9-12. So look down to Romans 9:1-5, where we find Paul in similar pain. V1:

1I speak the truth in Christ – I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit – 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel. [After all,] Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

So why at this point in Romans does Paul write three chapters on the subject of Israel, the Jews? Well, there’s the emotional reason – his anguish that most of them were rejecting Jesus. He’s just written 8 chapters on the gospel – of how we can be saved from God’s judgement on our sin through his Son’s death on the cross – and Paul is reminded that many of those closest to him are rejecting it. (And if you’re not yet someone trusting in Christ, can I say: it gives Christians no pleasure to believe in hell – we feel this same anguish; but we believe in hell because Jesus taught it; and he only taught about it, and then died on the cross, to stop people going there.)

So there’s the emotional reason for turning to the subject of Israel, but also the intellectual one. Because Paul knew that if his fellow-Israelites rejected Christ to the end, then God would reject them on the day of judgement. And yet in the Old Testament (OT), God had said repeatedly to Israel, ‘I will be your God and you will be my people.’ So has God broken his word? Does the fact that most Jews since Jesus have rejected Jesus mean that God has been unfaithful? That’s the intellectual question: is God really trustworthy? Is his Word in the OT worth the paper it’s written on?

So my three headings this morning are three questions about God:


Firstly, IS GOD TRUSTWORTHY? (vv1-13)

In particular, has he broken his word to the people of Israel? Well, look on to verse 6, where Paul’s answer is ‘No’:

6It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. [Ie, in OT times, there was the nation of Israel, and you can think of that as the ‘outer circle’ – everyone descended from Israel (ie, Jacob), everyone who knew about the promises and privileges mentioned in vv3-5. But within the nation was an ‘Israel’ in a narrower sense, an ‘inner circle’ of those who actually responded to those privileges and promises with faith. Read on:] 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children [in the sense of spiritual children, sharing his faith]. On the contrary, [and this is God’s promise to Abraham about his son Isaac:] "It is through Isaac [as opposed to his other son] that your offspring will be reckoned." 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." [So it’s the same truth again: there was the ‘outer circle’ of Abraham’s physical descendents, and the ‘inner circle’ of his spiritual descendents, who shared his faith because God called them into relationship with himself – as he’d promised to do for some in each generation.] 10Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad – in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls – she was told, "The older will serve the younger." 13Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated [which is a Hebrew way of saying, ‘I chose one, not the other – it doesn’t literally mean, ‘God hated him.’].

So you get the picture. There was the ‘outer circle’ of the nation of Israel. And God privileged them with the things in vv3-5, but he never promised that all of them would ultimately be saved. But he did promise that in each generation there would be an ‘inner’ circle of believers as a result of his ‘call’, who would be saved, whom we will meet in heaven, if we ourselves are going there.

So, God’s word had never been that he would save every Israelite. So the fact that since Paul’s day most Jews have rejected Christ is desperately sad – but it doesn’t mean God has broken his word.

Now, one application for today is that salvation is not a birthright. In each generation, the Lord calls into relationship with him those he wants to. And the fact that I’m a believer doesn’t guarantee that my children will be. Having said that, there’s a verse in the book of Malachi where God says of believers’ marriages in Malachi 2.15:

He has made them one. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring.

So believers’ marriages are a means by which God intends to raise up ‘godly offspring’. So we’re to bring up our children trusting that the Lord wants them to come to know him – to be ‘godly offspring’. So we’re to surround them with the teaching of his Word and the example of our walk with the Lord and our prayers – and trust God to reveal himself to them. And if you have children of any age who are not presently acknowledging the Lord, then (as with anyone else we’re spiritually concerned for), don’t lose heart by thinking, ‘Maybe they’re not one of the ones God has chosen to call.’ The time when we’ll know whom God has chosen is in heaven – and we’ll know simply by looking around us. This side of heaven, we ,i>don’t know, and however closed a person seems to the gospel, we must never say to ourselves, ‘Maybe they’re not one of the ones God’s chosen to call – so it’s no use praying or pointing them to Christ.’ Always keep praying and pointing people to Christ until you have no further chance to.

So Paul has answered objection no.1: the fact that most Jews since Jesus have rejected Jesus doesn’t mean God has broken his word – because he never promised to save them all. But that raises a deeper objection, which is my second question-heading:


Second, ISN’T GOD UNJUST TO SAVE SOME BUT NOT ALL? (vv14-18)

Look on to v14:

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

And to explain why not, Paul takes us back to the incident of the golden calf in Exodus. So, God has rescued the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh. He’s brought them to Mount Sinai and given them his law, so they know what being in relationship with him will involve. And then he says to them, ‘I will be your God; will you be my people?’ And they say, ‘We will.’ And yet almost immediately, they turn away, they make a golden calf to worship instead, and they get into all sorts of immorality. And God says to Moses in Exodus 32.10:

... leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.

Ie, what they deserved was immediate and total destruction. That would have been justice. And that’s the first thing to say to the question, ‘Isn’t God unjust to save some but not all?’ If it’s strict justice you’re after, that means God saving none. Justice for this world would mean God stepping in right now and excluding all of us to hell. Because justice is being given what we deserve. And according to the Bible, for my sinful nature and actions, both before I came to faith and since, I deserve hell. And so do you. And I wonder if you really believe that? Because that’s what Paul taught us back in chapters 1-3. And if we don’t believe that, we will struggle with everything else the Bible has to say. (And if you’re not yet someone trusting in Christ, as well as saying that it gives us no pleasure to believe in hell, can I also say: we believe ourselves to be as hell-deserving as anyone else. And if we give the impression of thinking we are better than other people, I apologise. Because we believe the only difference between us and you is that we’ve heard God’s call to turn and be forgiven – and accepted it; whereas you, so far, have only heard it.)

OK, back to the golden calf. Against the background of what justice says they deserve, Moses pleads with God for mercy and God says he won’t destroy them. But Moses wants assurance that God will be merciful, so he says to God, ‘Show me your glory’ – ie your innermost nature. And God replies with those words in v15. Look down to v15, quoting Exodus 33:18-19:

For [God] says to Moses,"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Now that might sound like God is saying, ‘I will have mercy if I decide to, but you can never be sure in advance whether I’ll decide to’ – which would make him arbitrary and unpredictable. But that’s not what it means. Because v15 is not about God’s decisions, it’s about his innermost nature. And he’s saying, ‘I will always have mercy simply because it’s my nature to – and not because of anything in you’ – not because you’re sorry for your past sin, not because you’re determined to try harder in future, not (as Islam says) because on balance your good deeds outweigh your bad.

So as a believer you might find yourself wondering, ‘How can I know God will have mercy on me – every time I come to him in prayer, with fresh sins to confess?’ Or if you’re not yet trusting in Christ, you may have been taken aback this morning to hear that you can only come into relationship with God if he calls you. And you might be wondering, ‘If I don’t know whether I’m one of the people he’s chosen to call, how can I know he’ll have mercy on me if I turn to him?’

Well the answer to both those questions lies in God’s nature. Imagine you’re in a cold room but there in the hearth is a blazing fire which you go near to, to get warm. The point is: it’s impossible to draw near to fire and not be warmed, because fire is warming, that’s its nature. And the only way you’ll stay cold is to refuse to come near it. And it’s like that with God: God is merciful, that’s his nature. (Which is why we say in the prayer of humble access in communion services, ‘You are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy’ – because that’s the only basis we can come to him on.) And just like it’s impossible to draw near to fire without being warmed, it’s impossible to draw near to God sincerely and not be shown mercy. And the only way you’ll stay unforgiven is to refuse to come to him, when in the gospel he is saying to you, ‘Come!’. That’s the assurance of God’s nature.

So, isn’t God unjust to save some but not all? No – because strict justice would mean saving none. It’s actually God having mercy that’s unjust – in the sense of not giving people what they deserve. You see, we struggle with the thought of hell and how that can be just, because we’re rightly, emotionally affected by the plight of our fellow-sinners – as Paul was. But the Bible says we should actually struggle with the thought of mercy and how that can be just. How can it be just for God to forgive our sins, to let us off the judgement they deserve? And the answer is: only through the cross, that horrendous price of just mercy. And the thing is, if you’re one of the some who have received mercy, you can’t then claim it as a right for all. It’s like if David in his mercy gave me £20 after the service, that doesn’t mean I can say to David, ‘You ought to give everyone else £20.’ Mercy isn’t like that.

But Paul has more to say on this hard truth that God saves some but not all. Because it could leave us thinking that God doesn’t really mind whether people are saved or judged – that his heart is equally in either outcome. But that’s not true – which is the point of v17. Earlier in Exodus, we read that Pharaoh hardened his heart when God told him to let the Israelites go. And after six of the resulting judgement-plagues, God says to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:15:

By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.

And then come the words quoted in v17, quoting Exodus 9.16:

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "[But] I raised you up for this very purpose: that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Ie, God’s ultimate purpose, what his heart was really in, was not bringing judgement on Pharaoh – or he’d have done it sooner. No, his ultimate purpose, what his heart was really in, was to display his saving power so that his ‘name’ – ie, his saving nature – would become known. That’s the emphasis here: that God wants to save people rather than judge them; that’s his heart, that’s what he longs for for you if you’re not yet a believer, and for those around you if you are. His justice does mean he has to judge people if they won’t turn to him and be forgiven. – but that’s not what his heart is in.

So look on to v18, where Paul sums up this second heading:

Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

I said we read in Exodus that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. But there are also verses which say that God hardened his heart – ie, that God progressively gave him over to his own sinfulness. And that is what Paul means in v18 by the word ‘harden’. You see, people often misunderstand v18, because they think the starting point in salvation is a human race that’s completely neutral and open to God, and that God comes along and causes some of them turn to him for mercy but causes others to harden their otherwise soft hearts against him (which would be unjust). But that’s not the true picture. Because the starting point in salvation isn’t a human race that’s neutral and open to God, but one that, since the fall, is rebellious and closed. And God didn’t cause that – as Paul’s already explained back in Romans 5, Adam’s rebellion did, and dragged us all in with him. So God starts with rebels. And when he has mercy on someone, it means he intervenes in their lives to forgive them and turn them round. Whereas when he hardens someone, it’s not the mirror image of that, it doesn’t mean he ‘intervenes’ to ‘make them’ closed to him. It means, as with Pharaoh, that he progressively gives them over to their own sinfulness. It’s not intervention, it’s non-intervention – leaving them in the rebellious course they’re already willingly pursuing.

So never think of God’s mercy and hardening as mirror images, equal and opposite – they’re not. Mercy is God intervening to forgive and turn round rebels in a way they don’t deserve. Whereas hardening is God leaving rebels in their rebellion – and ultimately to reap the judgement they do deserve. And either way, God is not unjust.

But Paul imagines someone still saying, ‘Yes he is,’ which brings us to my third and final question-heading:


Third, ISN’T GOD UNJUST TO CONDEMN REBELLION IF IT’S PART OF HIS PLAN? (vv19-24)

Look down to v19:

One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?

Eg, why does God still condemn Pharaoh? After all, by hardening his heart, Pharaoh was actually contributing to God’s plan, because it needed a Pharaoh refusing to let the people go, so that God could display his saving power in rescuing them. It’s a bit like asking, ‘Why does God still condemn Judas Iscariot or Pontius Pilate?’

Well, one answer to that is: that although God uses sinful actions to further his plan, the fact that they further his plan doesn’t make them any less sinful and deserving of judgement: he can both use someone’s sin to further his plan, and then judge them for their sin. That’s one answer to v19. But it’s not the answer Paul gives here. Look again at vv19-21:

19One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" [Answer:] 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? [Eg, the right to save a sinner called Moses for one purpose, and to harden a sinner called Pharaoh for another purpose?]

Now what’s Paul saying in v20? Are we just being bludgeoned into silence? Is he saying, ‘You must never question God – whenever you have an intellectual difficulty with God, just suppress it’? No, he can’t be saying that – because the Psalms are full of examples of questioning God in an acceptable way. And the book of Job is all about Job questioning God – in fact v20 is a loose quotation from Job. What Paul’s saying is that we’re not to answer back critically of God. We’re not to sit in judgement on God, as if we were more just and merciful and morally sensitive than he is. Instead, as Job ultimately did, we’re to humble ourselves, and accept that although the Bible allows us to understand God up to a point, beyond that point we simply have to trust that he’s being wise and just and merciful, and submit to his plan.

So, let’s end with vv22-24. The question you finally get down to in all this is, ‘Why would God plan that only some would be saved? Why a plan that at the end of the day includes hell? And vv22-24 come as close as any in the Bible to answering that. Look at v22:

22What if God, choosing [the word is actually willing, or planning – What if God, planning] to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath [like Pharaoh] – prepared for destruction? 23What if he did this [and here comes the ultimate purpose of it all:] to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy [like Moses and like believers in Christ today], whom he prepared in advance for glory – 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

It’s not an answer that solves all problems and begs no further intellectual questions – there are no such answers. It simply tells us God’s ultimate purpose for this universe. It’s there in v23. It’s ‘to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy.’, It’s that a group of people would ultimately come to realise the sheer mercy and amazing grace that is God’s innermost nature and crowning glory. And as I understand it, these verses are saying: that (in v23) is not possible without what is in v22 – without the plan including other people who don’t turn to God for mercy and ultimately face his judgement. Only then will those who do receive mercy fully, deeply, profoundly appreciate what mercy really is, and spend eternity knowing that God could have left them to rebel to the end, just like others; and marvelling that he didn’t. Marvelling that he sent his Son to die and rise for them, and then turn them round.

What if that’s God’s plan for this universe? If it is, then whatever unanswered and unanswerable questions it leaves us with, the only wise thing to do is to submit to that plan – to receive his mercy and then do all we can to make it known to others.

It never helps to say at the start of a sermon that the passage is a hard one – it’s a recipe for defeat before you’ve even begun. But now I’ve finished I can safely say it is a hard one – because we’ve been trying to understand the very heart of God and his plan with minds that are both finite and fallen. So can I encourage you, not just this week, but for the rest of this series, to get the transcript or the mp3 or audio of the sermon and go over it again? Can I also encourage you for the rest of this series, if you possibly can, to read the passage over before you come – and to pray for the preacher’s preparation midweek (praying for us on Sunday is too late!). And if you’d like to read something alongside this sermon series, I’ve recommended the book, Dust To Destiny: Reading Romans Today, David Seccombe, Aquila Press (available through The Good Book Company).

And finally, if you’ve found these things hard in the sense that you don’t want to believe them, you wish they weren’t there in the Bible, let me remind you of something C.S.Lewis said: ‘It’s those things in the Bible which at first we least wish to accept where the great discoveries lie – they are the opportunities to come to know God as he really is, rather than God as we would like him to be.


Further reading
On the passage:
Dust To Destiny: Reading Romans Today, David Seccombe, Aquila Press (available through The Good Book Company).If you have New Bible Commentary, 3rd Edition, Douglas Moo’s section on Romans, in particular chapters 9-11, is excellent (and brief!)
On God’s sovereignty in salvation: for a single chapter, in A Call To Spiritual Reformation, Don Carson, IVP, chapter 9 ‘A Sovereign and Personal God’ is an excellent introduction. For a book, Evangelism And The Sovereignty Of God, Jim Packer, IVP.

Back to top