Coffee Shop Chapel

Thank you Sue for those encouraging words!!

 

July 7

Romans 9:13-18, “ As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 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. 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. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”

We come to perhaps the two most difficult words in their context in Scripture to be understand, and you will find little agreement among the commentators on these words. The words are “hated” and “hardened.”

Many people are unhappy with the word “hate” and try to interpret in the sense of “less loving.” Charles Hodge makes several good arguments for the “less love” meaning of the word. MacArthur and others believe the verse refers to the offspring of Jacob and Esau, because Paul quotes Malachi 1:2-3 which was written over 1000 years after the birth of the twins. Two things can be said about the use of the word “hate:”

1. Even is the word “hate” should be understood to mean “less love,” this loving less is of a sufficiently negative nature to account for Esau’s being rejected by God, rather than being chosen, as Jacob was. This is the object of Paul’s quoting Malachi, to show how God chooses one and not another.

2. God’s hatred is of a different character than the hatred of sinful human beings. His is a holy hatred, and even we finite humans must understand that God’s hatred does imply disapproval.

No matter how we struggle with the word “hate” and with the doctrines of election and reprobation, two facts remain clear, first, Jacob was chosen to salvation, second, Esau was chosen to be passed over and thus perish.

Again, people are unhappy with the word “harden.” Using Exodus 8:32, “ And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.” and Exodus 9:34, “ And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” they say that Pharaoh hardened himself. The argument is that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart only in the sense that He allowed Pharaoh to harden it himself, or the God hardened Pharaoh judicially as a punishment for his prior unbelief or self-hardening.

There is no question that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, Scripture says it is so. But let’s look deeper into the passage:

1. There are many more verses that say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
2. In Exodus, the first references are to God hardening Pharaoh’s heart.
3. Even if Pharaoh’s self-hardening is given the strongest possible meaning, it is still in the category of “secondary causes” for which God always assumes primary responsibility.

There are times when we must let God be God. We do not understand the perfectly righteous and just mind of God. It is time the we quit trying to contain God within the bounds of our understanding. “Hate” and “Harden” are difficult words, yet words God chose to use in His Word to us. Though I do not understand them, I am compelled to believe them, even if they do not compute in my feeble brain.

I should like to close this devotional with MacArthur’s comparison of Moses and Pharaoh. “Moses was a Jew, whereas Pharaoh was a Gentile; but both of them were sinners. Both were murderers, and both witnessed God’s miracles. Yet Moses was redeemed and Pharaoh was not. God raised up Pharaoh in order to reveal His own glory and power, and God had mercy on Moses in order to use him to deliver His people Israel. Pharaoh was a ruler, whereas Moses’ people were slaves under Pharaoh. But Moses received God’s mercy and compassion, because that was God’s will. The Lord’s work is sovereign, and He acts entirely according to His own will to accomplish His own purposes. The issue was not the presumed rights of either men but rather the sovereign will of God.”

“The Exodus account of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh speaks ten times of God’s hardening that ruler’s heart. That same passage also informs us the Pharaoh hardened his own heart, confirming God’s act by his own. Such passages point up the humanly unreconcilable tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s will. Esau was rejected before he was born, and, also before he was born, Judas was appointed to betray Christ (Acts 1:16; John 6:70-71). Yet both men themselves chose to follow sin and unbelief.”

Again, I keep stressing, if you have been born again, thank God that He saw fit to choose and call you to salvation, for if you were uncalled, you would be justly on your way to hell as punishment for your sin. If you have not been born again, immediately call upon God to save you from your sins, based solely on what Christ did on the cross to pay for your sin. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice and MacArthur.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

Sheila,

It's heavy for me also, but it's also a great comfort, for I know that apart from God electing me to salvation, I would be on my way to eternal damnation in the lake of fire.

Dan

 

July 8

Romans 9:13-18, “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 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. 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. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”

We have been looking at the doctrine of reprobation, the passing over of those who are not elected to salvation. Some may ask, “If the doctrine of reprobation is as difficult as it seems to be, why should we speak about it at all?” The answer is quite straightforward, because the Bible deals with this doctrine. This doctrine, as all other Biblical doctrines and passages, are “given by inspiration of God, and [are] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (2 Timothy 3:16).

1. Reprobation assures us that God’s purpose has not failed. This is the theme of Romans 9, God’s Word has not and will not fail. “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect.” (Romans 9:6) Putting this on a personal level, you or I might wonder, “Will God fail me?” The answer to that question is NO!! God does not begin a work He does not finish. He does not make promises He does not keep. So if you have heard His promises and believed His Word, you can be sure that God will be faithful to you.

2. Reprobation helps us deal with apostasy. Most of us have known someone who made a profession of faith, but seems to have fallen away. Has God failed them? NO!! If they continue with their apostasy, then they were never among God’s elect people, they were never saved. Apostasy does not show that the plan of God has failed, but rather reprobation helps us to understand apostasy.

3. Reprobation keeps before us the important truth that salvation is entirely of grace and that no works of man contribute to it. MacArthur says that if all were saved, we would not understand the wrath of God towards sin, and if none were saved, we would never see the love of God. Boice teaches that if none were lost, we would assume that all are being saved because somehow God owes us salvation. But all are not saved, therefore, the salvation of the elect is due to divine mercy only. This is a fact we must never forget, that our salvation is due solely to God’s mercy.

4. Reprobation glorifies God. When we think that God owes us something, or that God must do something, we limit Him and reduce His glory. Election and reprobation glorify God, for they teach us that God is absolutely free and sovereign. You and I have no power over Him. “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” (Romans 9:18) God is God, and He does exactly what He wants to do.

From a practical point, what does reprobation and election teach us? They teach us the glory of the Sovereign God in His election, they highlight mercy, and they drive those who hear and accept these doctrines to their knees. It forces us to cry, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Boice says, “As long as we believe we are in control of our own destinies, we will never assume this position. But when we understand that we are in the hands of a just and holy God and that we are without any hope of salvation apart from His free and utterly sovereign intervention, we will call out for mercy, which is the only right response.”

I trust your prayer will be the prayer of the tax collector, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 9

Romans 9:14-15, “ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 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.”

When human beings make a mistake, who do they usually blame? The human tendency is to blame someone else. We have all done it at one time or another. At the dawn of history, Eve blamed the serpent for her sin and Adam blamed Eve and God for his sin, Genesis 3:12, “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” In Malachi’s day, at the very end of the O.T. period, Israel was doing the same thing, “Wherein hast thou loved us? ... Wherein have we despised thy name? ... Wherein have we polluted thee? ... Wherein have we robbed thee? ... What have we spoken so much against thee?” (Malachi 1:2, 6-7; 3:8, 13) They “wearied the Lord with [their] words.” (Malachi 2:17), yet were demanding that God give them an explanation for His actions.

We hear similar questions today. Most of our contemporaries demand that God give an account of Himself, and that account must be given according to man’s standards. Some of the questions we might hear are: “If God is good, how could He let my mother die?” What about cancer? Why doesn’t God do something about it?” “Why does God let bad things happen to good people?”

We’ve all heard questions like that. But when it comes to theology, the questions we hear the most involve man’s demands that God justify Himself when it comes to election. How can a loving God elect some to salvation, and pass over many others?

After explaining to the Roman Christians that God chooses some to salvation, and passes over others, Paul asks the rhetorical question, “Is there unrighteousness with God?” This is the second question Paul asks in chapter nine, the first was whether God has broken His word in passing over some Jews, who had not responded to the gospel, and by saving Gentiles. The answer was, that God had not broken His Word, and Paul proved it by showing how God elected one person rather than another in the first three generations of Jewish history. That brings us to this second question, Is God unjust?

Paul answers the second question with the strongest denial he can muster. If I might paraphrase, NO, NO, a thousand times NO!!! This answer will not satisfy most people, but it is the only proper answer. Why? Boice says, “Because it puts us, fallen human beings, in our proper place, which is the only position from which we can begin to learn about spiritual things. The very nature of sin is wanting to be in God’s place. But as long as we are trying to be in God’s place, we will never be able to hear what God is saying to us. We will be arguing with Him instead. In order to learn, we must begin by confessing that God is God and that He is therefore right and just in His actions, even though we may not understand what He is doing.”

This is the only place we can start. If there were injustice in God, the universe would fly apart. The righteous character of God must be the basis of everything that is. God cannot act wrongly.

Just where do we get our awareness of right and wrong? We get it from God. So if God were not just, we would not even be able to ask the question, “Is God just?” We would not even be able to conceive of the question. Continue with us as we look at Romans 9, which gives us the explanation of how God is acting justly.

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 10

Romans 9:14-15. “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 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.”

Is God unjust? We must start with the fact that God does elect some persons to salvation, and that He passes over the rest mankind? So how are we to understand God’s justice? Let’s look at the essential elements of the answer.

1. All human beings deserve hell, not heaven. Paul paints a very ugly picture of the human race in Romans 3:10-18, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

So what does every person in the above described human race deserve? All human beings deserve hell, not heaven, they deserve condemnation. Many people nonchalantly say that they want justice! If God disregarded all other factors, and He gave them justice, they would go to hell immediately! Apart from those other factors, which are the electing grace of God and the death of Christ that makes salvation possible, condemnation to hell is what happens.

2. If any individual is to be saved, it must be by mercy only, and mercy is in an entirely different category from justice. Deserving is based upon what people have done. Mercy has nothing to do with what people have done. Mercy finds its source only in the will of God. “I ... will be gracious [show compassion] to whom I will be gracious [have compassion] , and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” (Exodus 33:19)

Compassion and mercy are used almost synonymously, but there is a slight difference. Compassion recognizes the poor or helpless state of a person and stoops to help that person. Mercy does the same, but its unique quality is that it is shown to people who not only do not deserve it, but who actually deserve the opposite. Here, mercy describes the giving of salvation to people who actually deserve to perish. God shows mercy on the basis of Christ’s work in taking the punishment due sinners on Himself.

3. Even if God should save people on the basis of something in them – faith, good works, etc. – this would actually be injustice, since people’s backgrounds are unequal. Boice says, “If God saved some people and not others on the basis of good works, which is what most people would like God to do, there would never be justice, because some inherit kinder or more serving temperaments than others and because environmental factors play a part.” If God used faith as the standard, it would be unjust, as some people trust much easier than others.

Election is the only just way, and God is right in choosing as He does. Why? Because election alone starts with all people on a level playing field, because all deserve hell. Then God chooses (elects) some, and passes by others, “all entirely apart from anything whatever in these elect or reprobate persons.”

This doctrine drives me to my knees in grateful thanksgiving to God, because He chose me to salvation, instead of giving me what I deserve, eternal damnation in hell.

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

Sheila,

I'm not sure that we will ever know why God chose us to salvation, or what criteria He used.

If God is the sovereign God that the Bible declares Him to be, then none of this, election or reprobation, can be left up to man, because that would cause God to be less sovereign, and a less sovereign God would not be God at all.

It is a difficult subject that I certainly do not completely understand, and what I do understand I feel totally inadequate to try to explain to others.

In Christ,
Dan Todd

 

July 11

Romans 9:14-15. “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 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.”

Is God just? Today we will look at two questions that are always raised by the unsatisfied, questioning, and ultimately rebellious mind.

1. Shouldn’t God show mercy to everyone? The arguer may agree that all deserve hell and that God does not have to save anyone. The arguer may also agree that if any are saved it is by mercy only, apart from anything anyone may have done or may do. But the arguer will almost always ask, “Shouldn’t God show mercy to everyone? Is it right for Him to restrict His mercy to one group of people (the elect) rather than showing it to all?”

The key word in the question is “should.” It means “ought,” “must,” or “necessary” if justice is to be done. But when we use “should,” we are back in the realm of justice, and not mercy. “Should implies obligation, and obligation has to do with justice. So with this question, we are talking about justice, and justice can do nothing but send everyone to hell.

2. Why doesn’t God show mercy to everyone? This is a question that is asked by someone who knows the difference between justice and mercy, but is still wondering why God is selective. This question is asking about God’s reasons for doing something, and there is no way of knowing the answer unless God reveals it to us in His Word.

Romans 9:15 appears to say that this is the way God operates: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Boice says, “A perfectly legitimate answer to our question is that the “why” of it is God’s business. God does not owe us an answer. What is more, there are undoubtedly parts of the answer, if not all, that are not revealed. God has reasons that may forever be unknown.”

Paul quotes Exodus 9:16 in Romans 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.” This verse deals with reprobation, the passing over of some. God passed over Pharaoh so that He might display His power, in order that His powerful and sovereign name might be proclaimed throughout the earth. God thinks it is important that the created order should know that He is all-powerful, especially in overcoming and judging some who stand against Him, as Pharaoh did, and as the Antichrist will do. God shows this power by judging them.

Paul argues in Romans 9:22-24 that God’s wrath, power, patience, glory, and mercy are displayed in election and in reprobation. “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?”

Boice says, “God considers the display of His attributes in human history to be worth the whole drama, to be worth the creation, fall, redemption, election, reprobation, and everything else. From God’s point of view, the revelation of His glory is the great priority.”

Election and reprobation are difficult subjects to understand. But our lack of understanding cannot and does not negate what God has said in His Word. God does what He does, because He is just. He glorifies His name by displaying His wrath towards sinners, and He shows the riches of His glory towards those who are saved, because it is the only right thing for God to do. When we object to this, Boice says, “Our objection only shows that we are operating by a different and, therefore, a sinful standard.”

The real wonder of all this, is that God displays His mercy. Mercy is undeserved and un-required, yet God has done so. He has done so by saving wretched sinners like you and me.

Adapted from “Romans” by Boice.

In Christ,
Dan Todd