December 14, 2008

God Is Sovereign Over Mercy

“What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 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. For the Scripture says to 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. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed [it], "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? [What] if God, wanting to show [His] wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, [even] us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:14-24 NKJV)

The question answered here is, “Is God unrighteous because He chooses of His own will on whom He will show mercy? The answer, while hard to hear, is clear. He is not unrighteous because He is sovereign over His creation, and has the right to make it whatever he chooses. Using the illustration of a potter, He removes any arguments. If you throw a pot, you may make it for whatever use you desire. No one would question that right, and God will not be questioned either.

The Jews presumed they had some standing before God because they were Jews. However, the promise was to Abraham and his seed. Who are the seed of Abraham? “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16 NKJV)

“Therefore [it is] of faith that [it might be] according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:16 NKJV)

My friends seek mercy from the Lord. If you believe you stand because you were born in America, have Christian parents, or some other pedigree, you stand on slippery ground. God has mercy on whom He wills, and you should know this, He resists the proud. Amen.