Of God That Showeth Mercy - Romans 9:16

“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” Romans 9:16  

THE overriding message of the ninth chapter of Romans is the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation, that “salvation is of the Lord”. In verse 15 we read God’s clear declaration that “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion”, demonstrating that salvation lies in the will of God, not in the will of man, and in the calling of God, not in the works or the merits of man (9:11), “so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy”.

This truth of God’s sovereignty in calling those whom He wills unto salvation, in showing mercy to whom He wills, in showing compassion to whom He wills, is described in verse 11 as “the purpose of God according to election”. God has a people whom He has elected to save, a people whom He has chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) having predestinated them “according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:5). These are those unto whom He shows His mercy, His compassion and His grace. For salvation does not rest upon the weak, fickle, corrupt and changeable will of man, but on the eternal will and purpose of God “according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” Ephesians 1:9.

 

How often the scriptures repeat this truth. How clearly they show the contrast between the fallen will, desires and intents of mankind, and the perfect sovereign will and purpose of God. Man’s will by nature is always set in opposition to God and His grace, springing forth from the hearts of those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), who walk according to the spirit of the children of disobedience, according to the “prince of the power of the air”, in the lusts of their flesh, the “desires of the flesh and of the mind” Ephesians 2:2-3. How can such choose to follow the God of the scriptures? They can not and they will not. But in contrast God, in the good pleasure of His will has purposed from all eternity  to show mercy, to show compassion, to those who sought Him not, to those who had no will to seek Him, those who had no strength to run to Him, to those, who when taught their condition before God, when shown their sin and depravity, when awakened to the eternal consequences of their rebellion against God, could, and can, only throw themselves upon the mercy of God, upon His compassion, His grace. It is such as these whom God has purposed to save - those whom He has chosen in Christ unto salvation, those whom He has purposed to show unto mercy, and those whom He teaches, in time, their need of that mercy.

 

Romans 9 sets forth this truth of God’s sovereignty in considering the position of both the Jews and the Gentiles in relation to the promises of God. From the earliest of days God always had a people in this earth who were set apart from others. The nation of Israel was chosen of God as a people separate from others, to whom God showed great mercy, giving them the promises, the priesthood and the scriptures. God’s dealings with Israel throughout the scriptures stand as a clear picture of His sovereignty in salvation, of His electing purposes. God always did choose some, and not others. But as this chapter shows, Israel itself, as a physical nation, was merely a figure, a pattern, a type, of that which was to come. God’s eternal purposes in electing grace are set upon not a physical nation, but a spiritual. Not those born of the flesh, but those born of the Spirit. For those whom He saves are chosen out from amongst both Jews and Gentiles, and as one whole they form the true spiritual Israel of God, of whom Israel of old was but a picture, “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall they seed be called. That is, they which are of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” Romans 9:6-8.

 

Hence the chapter having considered both those to whom God shows mercy, and those whom He hardens in their sin - those whom He raises up as vessels of mercy to make known His glory, and those described as vessels of wrath to make his power known in judgment - goes on to conclude that God has a people called out from amongst both Jews and Gentiles who are “afore prepared unto glory” to whom He shows His mercy. These are the people of God, the true Israel of God, the “children of the living God”.

“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?

As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” Romans 9:22-26

 

But this truth of God’s sovereignty and of His divine election unto salvation is not one that sits well with the natural man. By nature we oppose it. By nature we have a high regard for ourselves, our own abilities and our own will. By nature we feel that we have a right to choose our own destiny. That salvation be by the will of God, and not by our own, we consider to be unfair. But the reality is, by nature, we never receive the things of God, we never seek after God (Romans 3:11), our will never desires Him or His salvation, and in our fallen depravity, with hardness of heart we simply shake our fist at our Maker in complaint. But God has a reply to this complaint, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” 9:20-21.

 

No, man by nature may not react well to the truth of God’s sovereignty. But that is because “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7), because “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Except God reveal these truths to us by His Spirit they will always remain foolishness to us, something which we oppose.

 

Yet the truth is, if it were not for the rich mercy of God, for His undeserved compassion towards a people who sought Him not, who having turned from Him sought their own things, living life in the lusts and desires of their flesh, for their own ends, and for their own glory, in the depths of sin and rebellion, yea, if it were not for God’s mercy to such as these, none would be saved. Yet God, in His glory, in His mercy, has chosen a people in Christ whom He has called out from amongst all people, all races, Jews, Gentiles, male and female, all ‘vessels of mercy’, whom He has saved by the blood of Christ, by the death of His own Son who loving them gave Himself for them. Oh! What love for sinners this shows. And were it not for this love, for this purpose of God according to election, for the immutable will of God in saving “all Israel” none would be saved. But because salvation is of the Lord, because God is sovereign in salvation, because He has mercy on those whom He will have mercy, salvation is sure and certain to every last one for whom Christ suffered and died, to those whom He purchased with His own blood upon the cross.

 

And when such sinners are brought to see the love and mercy of God towards them, through the revelation of God’s Spirit, and feel the application of that mercy within their own hearts, then the truth of God’s sovereignty in salvation, that He by His own will sought them out to save them, is not something they resist, but something they rejoice in, something they glory in, something which will cause them to praise God’s Name for evermore!

 

Oh! Praise God for His mercy in saving sinners freely by His grace!