Of God Who Shows 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.
Rom 9:14-16

Who can fully grasp God in His sovereignty? He is the God “who works all things according to the counsel of His will”. (Eph 1:11) It is foolish to ask the question the apostle poses in our text: “Is there unrighteousness with God?” He responds quickly, “Certainly not!” God by very nature is good, holy, and righteous. How can He act otherwise? He is our definition of all of those characteristics. As Jesus told the rich, young ruler, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Mar 10:18)

Man on the other hand is a different story! Man is born in sin. He’s not basically good as some teach. He is by nature evil! Given the choice, man will choose sin. This sinful nature is the common bond of all humanity. Paul writes in Rom 3:9, “For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.” He then, as any good preacher should, backs up that teaching with multiple scriptures, quoting Psalms and Isaiah:

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced 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 they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
(Rom 3:10-18)

He then concludes in v.23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Someone will say, “I don’t think man’s that bad!” Well, what do you think happened when Adam and Eve fell in the garden? They didn’t just stumble into a mud hole and need a good bath. They entered a state of separation from God! God said they would die in the day they ate of the forbidden tree (Gen 2:17), and so they did spiritually. Their spirits no longer enjoyed communion with their Maker! What else but such a drastic change in circumstances would require the death of the Son of God?! “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom 5:6) Still think man is born in pretty good shape? David, a man after God’s own heart, said of himself that at conception he was a wretched sinner! “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psa 51:5)

In case these witnesses aren’t convincing enough, let’s hear God Himself give an account of man’s heart: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart…” (Jer 17:9-10) God says we’re born so fallen in sin that we don’t even know how bad we are! Prior to salvation, we daily abide under the wrath of God because of our fallen nature.  “…we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Eph 2:3)

Now, we said all of this to make one simple point. We have absolutely no hope in and of ourselves.  Salvation must be an act external to us by a merciful God. How can creatures so depraved merit salvation by anything they do?  What can we do that pleases God when “we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags”. (Isa 64:6) What do we have to offer Him. The answer is simple: nothing! As our text says, “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” (Rom 9:16) If you are among the redeemed today, give God the glory due solely to Him for that salvation, for it was “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us”. (Tit 3:5) We have more to see in Rom 9, but we must first be sure our religion is God-centered, not man-centered, before these truths can be fully grasped.  When we understand who we are, we’ll see better who God is.  May we give our Lord the glory due His worthy name!

Jamie

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