Is God Still Fair?

 

ROMANS 9:14-18 (VS 11)

 

SUBJECT: ROMANS/ISRAEL’S PAST

THEME: The entire redemptive economy of God rests upon the unchanging foundation of his nature and character. We can rest without any prospect of disappointment in his mercy, power, and faithfulness.

INTRODUCTION:

If God is fair in his dealings with the nation of Israel, then the rest of humanity can unreservedly entrust their eternal future with him.  However, if he was unfair in his dealings with Israel, then how can we as Gentile Christians even begin to rest in him for our own eternal destiny? Can God be trusted to be fair in all his dealing?

Once again verse 9:11 says, ^“(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)” points to the fact that God holds the right to behave like God. The choice is with him alone to reject the will, intentions, works, and goals of mere men that only his election purpose will prevail. Again, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand.” It is God that “calleth;” referring to his declaration, statement, word, promise, provision, and will. Please keep this fact uppermost in your mind as you work through this passage.

There are a few questions I want to answer from this passage:

1) Can God select Israel while rejecting Edom?

2) Was God fair to Pharaoh?    

3) Have the promises of God failed Israel? Can such promises fail in our case also?   

4) After looking at his record, can God still be trusted today?

 

MESSAGE:

I.               GOD’S CHARACTER IN QUESTION. 

A.    IS IT FAIR FOR GOD TO SELECT ONE AND REJECT ANOTHER?   VS 14-18 (GOD’S CHARACTER IS CONSISTENT WITH HIS PLAN)

Rom 9:14, What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

So, is it fair for God to reject one and receive another? How can God justify selecting between nations, Israel and Edom (Rom. 9:12-13)? God must be ‘unrighteous’ because he did this. Again, justice from a human perspective may have missed the fact that God’s actions were not unrighteous, inconsistent, or unfair…. God was behaving in a manner consistent with his great plan involving election (Rom. 9:11). Electing a person or a group of people is a divine prerogative. It is correct for God to select a person, a group, a nation, or a people for whatever purpose he deems necessary. Expect God the Creator to behave like God…to exercise God-size rights and justices. This would be totally wrong for us mere human beings, but this is the Creator acting like it. 

Paul here clearly and unreservedly rejects any idea of God being unfair (Rom. 9:14).  At the same time he does not even attempt to water down the reality that God is sovereign to make the truth more palatable to those who would question God’s character and object to his right to judge.  The facts of this passage are clear throughout Scripture.  God is never unfair no matter how many people accuse Him of such folly.  God is consistent in His character and His character is reflected in His redemptive economy—his plan.  He must redeem because of His compassion, and He must condemn because of His justice!

1. God Determined to Pardon Sinful Israel with Undeserved Grace.

Rom. 9:15-16, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

1. God will Have Mercy on Whom He Wills. It is entirely up to Him and he is govern by His nature and plan to show such mercy (Exo. 33:19). God made this truth about himself known to Moses explaining his delight in being merciful and compassionate.
2. God will Have Compassion on Whom He Wills. Once again God is determined to pardon a sinful people…Israel who like us did not deserve his mercy or compassion. It seems here that God exercised his unique prerogatives to stick with his plan and expose us to His rich character.
3. God’s actions reflect his proclivity toward his very merciful character and rejection of any human efforts, works, or achievements. It was not something that Jacob did or didn’t do. It was not a matter of that Esau did or didn’t achieve…. The reason God did it this way was to exclude their activities entirely and to showcase his merciful character and plan. Beloved, this is pure grace….

God is a merciful and compassionate God who desired to be merciful to Israel. Not because they were good or deserved it, but because they did not.  You can’t be merciful to someone that is deserving!  All men deserve Hell…if God only choose to save two people, He would have been merciful and just at the same time. He obviously opted differently!  It is not that God is unfair in condemning people, we condemned ourselves in sin and God was moved to save undeserving sinners because He is merciful! Beloved, a sovereign God sought to be merciful to us sinners, and this allows him to be consistent with his merciful and compassion nature and purpose!

2. God Determined to Punish Sinful Pharaoh with Deserved Judgment.

Rom. 9:17, For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

1. An Example of God Exercising His Power to Judge instead of showing Mercy. We blame God for being unfair for judging Pharaoh and not giving him a chance to be saved.  But the truth of the matter is that none of us deserve a chance to be saved.  We were born deserving to go to Hell.  God in His sovereignty is consistent with His Character, He hates Sin and Will Punish it without mercy.  Pharaoh is a clear illustration of this truth!
2. God’s actions with Pharaoh demonstrates his capacity to judge deserving individuals. In fact, it is with an understanding that God can choose to be severe and punish mankind that we begin to appreciate his actions of compassion and mercy. We only begin to see his mercy if we understand that he can be severe also. This also demonstrates a real choice, a decision, a select and the real exercise of grace towards believers and a clear choice of judgment upon unbelievers on God’s behalf.
3. There is no suggestion here that the Egyptian monarch was doomed from the time of his birth. What happened was this. In adult life he proved to be wicked, cruel, and extremely stubborn. In spite of the most solemn warnings he kept hardening his heart. God could have destroyed him instantly, but He didn’t. Instead, God preserved him alive in order that He might display His power in him, and that through him God’s name might be known worldwide.^[1]
4. The Apostle Paul then presented his third illustration, the Egyptian Pharaoh of the Exodus. To him God said through Moses, I raised you up (i.e., brought you onto the scene of history) to display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth (cf. Ex. 9:16). God’s power (cf. Rom. 9:22) was demonstrated as He freed the Israelites from under Pharaoh’s hand. And other nations heard about it and were awed (Ex. 15:14–16; Josh. 2:10–11; 9:9; 1 Sam. 4:8). It is significant that Paul introduced this quotation with the words, For the Scripture says, for he equated the words of God with the words of Scripture. Paul concluded, God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy (cf. Rom. 9:15) and He hardens whom He wants to harden (“make stubborn”; cf. Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:27; 14:4, 8; cf. 14:17). Because of God’s choice, Pharaoh then hardened his own heart (Ex. 7:13–14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34–35). All this shows that God chooses and works sovereignly, but not arbitrarily. Yet Pharaoh was responsible for his actions.^[2] Rom. 9:18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

5. Some Would Claim That God Was Unfair in Hardening Pharaoh's Heart. It should be noted that on at least seven occasions in the book of Exodus we are told that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh (4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1,20, 27; 11:10). How are we to understand this? A partial (and only partial) answer may be found in the following observation:

ILLUSTRATION:  The manner in which a given object will react when confronted by an outside influence is wholly dependent upon the nature of that object. For example, imagine a winter scene and a frozen river. On either side is a bank of yellow clay. Suddenly the sun comes from behind the clouds and shines brightly down upon the river and the banks. What happens next? The reaction is this: The ice will melt but the clay will harden. Thus we see in nature the some outside, heavenly influence softening one object but hardening the other.  Thus the same sun that melts ice hardens clay.  The same sun that bleaches cloth tans the skin.  The same God who shows mercy to the brokenhearted also hardens the impenitent.  Grace rejected is grace denied.

6.  Furthermore, it Should Be Pointed out That on Four Occasions We Are Informed That Pharaoh Hardened His Own Heart (Exod. 7:22; 8:15, 19; 9:35). The word "hardeneth" in 9:18 (kabed) is translated "heavy" in Exodus 17:12; 18:18; Psalm 38:4; and Isaiah 1:4. Thus, God left his heart heavy with iniquities.

Certainly, a difficult area of Scripture is found in Romans 9:14-18 where the judgment of God falls upon Pharaoh.  Some have mistaken God for hardening Pharaoh’s heart, but in reality he hardened his own heart several times over before God hardened it in judgment.  In both cases this hardening has to do with making the heart ‘hard,’ ‘heavy,’ and ‘firm.’  In Exodus chapter three God merely predicted how unlikely Pharaoh’s cooperation would be.  But, as the situation unfolded, it was Pharaoh who hardened his own heart during the rod-to-serpent miracle in Exodus 7:13-14.  Clearly this was before the ten plagues of divine wrath were unleashed on the nation. Even when the first five judgments were meted out it was the king of Egypt who hardened his own heart (7:22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7).  It was after the sixth plague that the Lord actually hardened Pharaoh’s heart (9:12).  Even if the Lord hardened his heart with the very first miracle, He would only be treating a sinner in the manner he deserves.  As sinners, none of us deserve an opportunity for forgiveness, nor a chance of mercy.  Sinners only deserve death and judgment, this is pure justice.  While it is justice that does not fit the human representation of fairness, it is never-the-less pure unadulterated righteous justice. God was already dealing mercifully and patiently with Pharaoh from the very beginning. He did not owe Pharaoh anything at all, except death.  

B.    WHAT ARE SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR US?

1. The Results of Witnessing these Two Extraordinary Truths Should Move Everyone’s to Fear the Awesome Power of the Wrath of God and Run to an All-Merciful God.  Jesus Christ voluntarily took our sin and guilt upon himself—he took the Father’s wrath for us…for me and you. Our Lord embraced every bit of God’s wrath so that we might be spared it and become recipients of God’s great bondless mercy instead! I think we should love the Lord Jesus forever for this! Every sinner should run to God’s mercy, compassion, forgiveness and redemption! The fact that all humanity is at the mercy of a holy God is not something to threat about either, because God is always righteous and fair in His dealings.  It would be far worse to be at the mercy of a fickle human being!

2. God Gave Us the Scriptures to Interpret from a God-Centered Perspective (2 Tim. 3:14-17; 2 Pet. 1:16-21). God’s fairness and righteousness is at the heart of this entire argument; we can learn a great deal about Him and His plan from this chapter alone! The written Word is the revelation of God and not primarily the origin, past, presence, and future of humanity. The Bible contains great history and science, but it is primarily focused on theology. In the Bible God disclosed himself to mankind through many different types of revelations (Heb. 1:1-3; Eph. 1:9-10). The focal point of every created thing is God in Jesus Christ. This encompasses our purpose of life, this is why we pray, this provides our reasons for ministry, and on we could go. A God-centered focus satisfies our ultimate need for purpose, meaning, and significance in life. This is the point of Scripture also. To view this universe from a man-centered perspective is backwards, we could miss the very intent of God giving us the written Word in the first place, and such miscarriages lies at the door of a humanistic philosophy…even though we presume to handle the holy Word. This we must never do, but we are correct in choosing a God-centered view of the universe instead. There is much that can be learned about humanity from the Bible, but the Scriptures are the revelation of God. Many Christians, preachers, cults, and heretics have made the mistake of emphasizing Bible ideas with a segment of society or with people in general at the heart of their argument. This is an error! God alone must be the focal point to get a correct conclusion about our responsibilities, obligations, and benefits. And certainly, much needs to be learned by those who dismiss God and humanity and exalt mere things or something else (Rom. 1:18-32)! No, Paul handles the anticipated objections and counter arguments soundly by embracing and perpetuating this God-centered focus of the Scriptures. We need the same persuasion today.

CONCLUSION:

The whole salvation program of God’s rest solidly upon the foundation of his permanent nature and character. We can confidently live without any fear of Him changing! God will exercise mercy, compassion, or judgment anytime he deems it appropriate. As our Creator he can do that! In the final analysis though he is all-powerful, he is also faithful to himself, his plan, and his character. He can be trusted!

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^[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1718.

^[2] John A. Witmer, “Romans,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 477.