HAVING dealt with the criticism that God is unrighteous when he shows mercy to some and hardens others, and has shown that God is not unrighteous but on the contrary is entirely righteous, Paul anticipates another objection to the truth of God's complete sovereignty which he is declaring in this chapter of his letter to the Romans. It is a question which has always been asked, and rises in a person's mind when he or she is told that whether we receive mercy from God or not is entirely in his hands, and we have no part in it whatsoever. It is supposed that if God decides alone who will be saved or not, then it is wrong for God to blame anyone because we have nothing we can do to obtain, or not, the mercy of God.

The question asks who can resist his will, and the answer is, of course, that no one can resist the will of God. God is sovereign and all powerful. From this people raise the question as to whether it is fair that God saves some and punishes others. Again people are attacking the justice of God. How do we address this question? I guess that all of us feel, in some measure, the power of this question. For myself I wonder why I should be so privileged as to be one of those to whom God has chosen to show mercy out of all the other people around who have not received mercy and so are in the condition of being lost. The answer is that I do not know why God has bestowed on me this great blessing, but I am so thankful that he has, and it makes me so much more concerned for the lost, which gives greater impetuous to my ministry.

LOOKING AT THE QUESTION.

When we look at the question we need to understand what is wrong with it. It is not wrong to ask the question, what is wrong is the way the question is asked. If the question is posed with a humble heart which submits to the revelation of God and the will of God, but is still trying to understand and come to terms with this truth, then the question is not wrong, and the Holy Spirit will help us to receive the truth and appreciate what is the right attitude to it.

However if we pose the question with a contentious spirit and with the idea that we believe God to be wrong and unjust, then the question is a wrong one, and only makes the problem worse for us.

THE SOURCE OF THE QUESTION.

Where does such a question ultimately come from? This is a serious consideration and is the clue to the way the problem is received in the human heart.

The problem with this question is that it is an expression of a sinful and rebellious heart and disposition. The truth about us is that every one of us from the day we were born have been under the condemnation of God because we are born in sin and in rebellion against God.

The question suggests that God chooses to make us sinners and then condemns us, but this is not the truth. We were born sinners, and we have been sinners from birth, and have gone on sinning every day since we were born, and there is no health in us. We were born under the condemnation of God because of this. The wonder is not that God chooses to condemn us to hell, for this is what we deserve. The wonder is that God shows mercy to anyone. God has no obligation to show mercy, but he has an obligation to judge sin and condemn the sinner, because of his holiness and justice. God would be unjust not to condemn us and punish our sin.

In fact God had to find a way that he could be just in showing mercy. In justice and holiness God had to find a way that his holiness and justice could be satisfied and upheld before he could ever show mercy. This is the wonder of the mercy and love of God that he did find a way. That way was to take upon himself, in the person of his incarnate Son, our iniquity and sin, and suffer the justice of his holiness against our sin in his own person. This is the wonder of the cross of Jesus. Jesus was bearing the sin of all those to whom God chose to show mercy, so that God could be just as well as the justifier of those sinners who receive his mercy.

This problem will never be understood unless we believe the Bible record of creation and the fact of Adam's sin. When God created the world, and created human beings in his own image, he created Adam and Eve as totally holy. That was the image of God he created them with, and the mind to think and make decisions. Adam and Eve had free will. They were totally free to obey God or not to obey God. God created them so that to obey him was the most pleasurable and satisfying choice, as God gave to Adam and Eve total happiness and joy in fellowship with himself.

All humanity were represented and potentially in Adam and Eve, and so Adam's choice was made for us all. Satan seduced him and Eve, and they chose to serve Satan, and renounce their allegiance to God. From that time the justice of God had to be executed, and so the sentence of death was pronounced and fell on Adam, and Eve, and the whole of humanity in them. This is why we are born sinners into this world and born under the condemnation of God. We are born in the state of condemnation, and our corrupt flesh, which we inherited from Adam, demonstrates this condition every day, because we sin all the time, and fall short of the glory of God's holiness. If God had condemned the world at the time of Adam's sin he would have been entirely just. Instead he promised a Saviour through whom he could show mercy to sinful and condemned human beings.

It is an evidence of this corrupt and sinful condition in which we were born that we attack the revelation of God concerning the fall of humanity in Adam, and doubt the creation of Adam and Eve as the first human beings, created uniquely of the stuff of creation, in order to have fellowship with God. But this means we have no answer to the way the world is or the way humanity behaves and has always behaved. If God had not stepped in with his plan of redemption in Christ, and with his purpose to show mercy to those he chose to show mercy, and so restrained the evil in the human disposition so that his purpose of mercy could be fulfilled, this world would be totally given over to sin. The fact that all in the world have the riches of the earth to enjoy is an act of mercy from God even though it is not a saving mercy. It also gives time to repent if people would be willing to repent.

THE CONDITION OF THE FALLEN HUMAN HEART.

This question we are considering which Paul has raised reveals the condition of the human heart. The question comes from a heart which has no repentance. It is a question which suggests that there is nothing in anyone of us to blame, and so God is unjust to condemn us. This question in its contentious spirit comes from a heart where there is no real concept of sin, and our sinfulness before God. It also reveals a totally inadequate conception of God. In this question God is cast in the mould of humanity, though with superior power. It is a question that supposes that God behaves just like we do, and is only a little better than we are. It is a question that comes from a totally inadequate and sinful view of God.

This condition is illustrated so well in the person of Cain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve. When he came before God he came with the idea that he deserved to be accepted by God, and that when he brought the produce of his farming as an offering to God, that he was doing God a favour, and presenting some gift to God which deserved to be rewarded. Cain did not see the holiness of God, and had no conception or understanding of his sin and sinfulness. He felt he deserved God's blessing and favour. This is the way humanity thinks, and from this, humanity can't accept that God is just in condemning them. The whole thinking of Cain was wrong and sinful, and the same is the condition of humanity, unless God steps in to bestow his mercy.

Abel on the other hand came to God in the way God had instructed Adam and Eve, because he knew he was a sinner and deserved only God's condemnation. So Abel brought to God the best lamb in his flock, and sacrificed it to God as an atonement for his sin. And God showed mercy to Abel by accepting his sacrifice as the means whereby his sins could be forgiven, and punishment for sin not inflicted because the animal had suffered the penalty in the place of Abel. Such a sacrifice pointed to Christ's perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, and so Abel was saved through Christ because he believed God concerning the need of sacrifice to atone for his sin.

THE JUSTICE OF GOD'S ACTIONS.

When we read that God will show mercy to whom he will show mercy, and to whom he will we hardens, there is no injustice in God. God does not choose to condemn us or to make us sinners. We are already in a state of condemnation because we are sinners. God does not choose to condemn us but simply to leave us in the state of condemnation. However there is no injustice in this.

Illustrations are always poor in explaining the ways and works of God, but they sometimes help, so I offer you this one.

Imagine for the purposes of this illustration that there is a doctor. This doctor is a good doctor and with great skill and dedication in the exercise of his office as a doctor. But on one occasion there was a lapse, and the result of this lapse a patient either died, or was seriously effected, so that great suffering followed. The question about the culpability of this doctor is not in question. People who know the facts, whatever the doctor himself might say, can see he is to blame.

Now the British Medical Council would be the body who would have to deal with this case. The past quality of doctoring of this doctor is not the question, and does not come into the question. If the BMC condemns this doctor and strikes him off the medical register so that he can't practise medicine again, then they have every right to carry out this penalty. It is a just decision. The doctor's act deserves this. If however they show mercy and give the doctor another chance, then they have the right to do so.

Now should not the doctor accept his guilt and his deserving to be condemned whatever the cost to his life and future. He would have no cause to complain. So it is with all of us on account of our sin before God. Our guilt before God is evident. We have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. We deserve to be punished. God has every right and in justice to condemn us.

On the other hand if God shows us mercy then it is his right to do so, but he must find a just way to show mercy, and this is what God has done through punishing His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in our place.

CONCLUSION.