Weekly Seed of Faith 10/16/20

Seed of Faith – Spiritually Lost   By Pastor Dave  

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’”  John 4:10

Dear Faithful and Fearless Seed-Sowers,

It is my prayer that as we live and walk through this world-wide pandemic that we do not get lost!  Have you ever felt spiritually lost?  Do you feel a little spiritually lost now? My prayer is that God’s word will be our guide and that we won’t get lost.

We have been taking time to sit at the well in Samaria with Jesus and the woman at the well. I encourage you to read John 4:1-26 this week.  Allow the Holy Spirit to speak life and light to your heart and mind.

Last week we looked at the fact that the woman at the well was spiritually empty  The woman at the well missed the real living water at first. Why?  She was spiritually empty and spiritually lost.

SPIRITUALLY LOST
What I find interesting in this story is that Jesus speaks seven times in the conversation and the woman speaks six.  Jesus begins with a question, “Will you give me a drink?”  Jesus, the living water, asks for a drink of water. The woman replies with a tirade of prejudices.  “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)  Jesus challenges her with the statement, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Don’t you find it interesting that this woman misses Jesus’ invitation completely?

I wonder how many times you and I have missed these encounters with Jesus.  Jesus offers us himself and we question and doubt Him just like the woman at the well. “Hey, Mr. Living Water, where’s your bucket? Where are your containers? You think I’m going to do all the work and give you a drink of my water?  What are you doing here, coming to the well in the middle of the day? There is never anyone here…but me. And you expect me to fetch you a drink? Mighty bold of you, Mr. Living Water.”

Jesus asked a question. That is all. “Will you give me a drink?”

One hundred years ago, The Student Volunteer Movement for Missions met in Des Moines, Iowa, and they voted to drop the traditional aspects of its program which had focused on Bible study, evangelism, and foreign missions. Instead they voted to choose to focus on racial injustice, imperialism, and other social issues. Within fifteen years the movement was dead.[i]

Thirsty people need more than optimism, confidence, self-will, and self-worth.  They need good news and that good news centers in the only one who can say, “The water I give [you] will become in [you] a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”’

The problem is that when a person is spiritually empty and spiritually lost—it is easy for us to miss Jesus at the wells of our lives.

SPIRITUALLY FULL — SATISFIED
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Look for a moment at what Jesus is saying to the woman in verses 13 and 14.  Jesus tells her that nothing will ever satisfy her longing and dissatisfaction…except for a continuous long drink of God’s living water. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”

Don’t miss the word, “Never!”  (Say that verse again.)

Jesus saw the woman for who she was: God’s creation.

Jesus sees us for who we are: God’s creation.

Are you spiritually empty? Are you spiritually lost? This story is put here for us! Can we read and come to know and understand that Jesus offers us this same drink of living Water? This drink will satisfy our thirsty soul forever. Do not miss what Jesus offers the woman and what Jesus offers us: a drink of living water that will completely satisfy and permanently satisfy. Once we have tasted this living water of Jesus Christ, we will never be thirsty again. Once we have tasted the living water of Jesus, the ways of the world lose their hold on us.

SO WHAT?
So what do these ancient words mean to us today as we are shut-in, shut-out, or essential workers? What about our relationships, our families, our church and our friendships?  I am here today to tell you that God wants to speak to you of a living water that will fill you and bring you eternal life.

When we were in Zambia, Africa, with our mission team I was struck by the life-giving wells that have been dug in the compounds.  The people of the area go daily to these wells for water, 365 days a year. Do you know that the human body is made up of 60% water? Do you know you could go without food for about 3 weeks but you could only go without water for 3-4 days? Every cell in our body needs water. Water is a lubricant for our joints, regulates our body temperature, and flushes out waste. Water acts as a shock absorber for your brain and spinal cord. Water is needed by your brain to manufacture hormones and your neurotransmitters. Water helps to deliver oxygen throughout your body.

Now, can you understand why Jesus met this outcast Samaritan woman at the well, in the middle of the day? “Will you give me a drink?”

Why didn’t she just give the guy a drink? Because she was spiritually empty, and spiritually lost. She needed a spiritual refilling and Jesus knew that. I am going to be really bold here: When Jesus meets you at the center of your emptiness and lostness, it’s an invitation for you to never thirst again. It is an invitation for your hot, dry well to become a SPRING of life-giving water. A spring has an underground source. Much of the bottled water that we pay good money for today comes from SPRINGS of underground wells!

Are you hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying? Are your ears open? Are your eyes open? Is your heart open? Jesus wants to trade us: our stagnant, worldly well for His, our shallow, empty well for His, our dried up, lost well for His.

“I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me, makes the lame to walk and the blind to see, opens prison doors, sets the captives free. I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me. SPRING UP, O WELL, and fill my soul! Spring up, O well, and make me whole! Spring up, O well, and give to me: THAT LIFE ABUNDANTLY!”

Here is a link to the song on YouTube … https://youtu.be/ytGCFLK3KtU

Here we are, Jesus is standing at your well and asks you a simple question, “Will you give me a drink?”

Here’s your answer. “Jesus, thanks for meeting me here at my empty well. Why don’t you give me a drink of your living water instead?”  I promise you: HE WILL! And you will never thirst again. Keep drinking from the life-giving well of Jesus Christ and from the words of Scripture; living words for parched souls: acronym for BIBLE–Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth!

“Jesus, meet me at the wells I visit that never seem to satisfy my soul. I want the life-giving water that springs up eternal life. Amen.”
See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Romans 9:19-21 The Potter and the Clay

 

The human heart is a deceitful but very resourceful thing, and two ways it expresses these characteristics are by dismissing God, on the one hand, or blaming Him, on the other.

This is the kind of thinking Paul is dealing with in Romans 9:19-21, as he continues to teach about the sovereignty of God in salvation. In the first half of the chapter, he has been arguing that the matter of salvation God operates by the principles of election and reprobation, and he has answered the question: Is God just in so operating? He has shown that God is just, since God owes mankind nothing, salvation is by grace, and God rightly demonstrates all aspects of His glory, including His wrath and power as well as His mercy and grace, by so doing. But now the wicked resourcefulness of the human heart comes in. For, if a person cannot deny God’s sovereignty over human affairs and human destinies or even God’s right to save some and pass by others, as God does, the person will at least try to deny his or her own responsibility in the matter. So a new question arises: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists His will?” (v. 19).

This of course, is a major theological question: the relationship between the sovereignty of God and free will. It is a question that can be answered and has been, particularly by Jonathan Edwards in his treatise on “The Freedom of the Will.” But Paul doesn’t answer the question here, at least not directly. And the reason he doesn’t answer it is that he already has.

For this objection to have weight, the person making it must assume that God determines to condemn some persons without reference to what they are or do as sinners. It assumes that He creates some people only to damn them, to send them to hell, and that they are passive in the matter. But that is not what Paul has been saying. Reprobation means “passing by” or “choosing not to save.” And those whom God passes by chooses not to save are not innocent persons but sinners who are in rebellion against Him. God does not condemn innocent people. He condemns sinners only. But God does have the right to save or not to save sinners, as He chooses.

So the question is really an objection to God’s right to do what He does, which is what has been under consideration all along and which is why I have said that Paul has already answered it. Paul knows that the objection really rises out of the rebellion of the heart against God’s sovereignty. In fact, the very question is rebellion. For the query “Who resists His will?” is itself resistance. Human beings are sinners, are guilty, and they prove it even by the way they ask their questions. Therefore, Paul answers by reiterating once more that God has a right to do with His (sinful) creatures as He will.

We have already looked at the question. The answer (v. 20) and the illustration (v. 21) provide contrasts that are intended to put the question in its proper perspective and ourselves in our proper place. There are three of them: (1) Man and God. You and I are mere men and women set over against the God who made not only us but all things. It is ludicrous for creatures as small, ignorant, impotent, and sinful as we are to question the propriety of God’s moral acts. We may not understand what God is doing in any particular case, in fact most of the time we will not (see Isa. 55:8). For us to suggest that He is wrong in what He does is patently absurd. (2) What is formed and He who formed it. The contrast between man and God, the first, stresses the insignificance of one and the greatness of the other. This second contrast brings in another matter, namely, that we are mere creatures – God is the Creator – and therefore everything we are and have comes from Him, including even our ability to ask such questions. (3) The clay and the potter. Each of these three contrasts says the same thing. But each also adds a new element, and the new element here is the authority of the Old Testament, since the illustration of the potter and clay is drawn from the Old Testament and shows that the principle involved is a point of revelation (Isa. 29:16, 45:9, 64:8; Jer. 18:1-11).

Paul doesn’t seem to be quoting specifically from any one of these texts. But the points in Romans are exactly what these verses in the Old Testament also say: (1) It is absurd for a mere man or woman to fault God. (2) God has absolute sovereignty over His creatures, saving whom He will and condemning whom He will. (3) This is not an arbitrary selection, since His judgments are based on His justice in condemning sin. (4) Therefore, “turn from your evil ways…and reform your ways and your actions.” Instead of objecting to God’s actions, we should fear them and allow our fear of judgment to drive us to the repentance we need.

God’s purpose is not solely to condemn. The demonstration of His power and justice in judging sinners is a true part of what God is doing in human history, but it is not the whole thing. God is also making known the riches of His glory in the salvation of some, as these verses, particularly the next verses, show. Why should you not be among those who are saved?

If all God wanted to do was send people to hell, He would not have needed to tell us these things or anything else. There would have been no need for a Bible, no need for preachers to preach or messengers to explain and teach it, no need for a Savior to be held forth as the heart of the Bible’s message. If all God wanted to do was let us go to hell, all He would have needed to have done is nothing. We are capable of rushing off to hell entirely by ourselves. But God has not done that. He has provided a Savior. He has given us a Bible. You cannot bring God under obligation to save you by anything you might do, and indeed you have not done anything significant. But the way He saves people is by the preaching and teaching of His Word, which is what you have just received, and by the power of His Spirit working through it.

If what you have heard has made sense to you, if you know that God does not owe you anything, that you have actually spurned what good He has shown you, and that all you actually deserve from Him is judgment, then God is already using His Word to bring about the needed transformation of your heart. Now, instead of trying to tell Him that what He does is unjust, you will wisely and rationally seek His mercy through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, where alone it may be found.

Romans 9:19-21 Reflection Questions:

Paul recalls the image of a potter and clay from Isaiah 29:16, 45:9 and Jeremiah 18:1-6, which tells of a stage in Israel’s history when God was struggling with rebellious Israel. How is the image of a potter and clay helpful in understanding God’s attitude toward sinful Israel and the purpose He had for it to be a means of blessing to others?

In what ways has the teaching of today’s study encouraged you to be able to answer any questions that may arise when you are sharing the gospel with others?

Weekly Seed of Faith 10/9/20

Seed of Faith – Spiritually Empty  By Pastor Dave  

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  John 4:13-14

Dear Faithful and Fearless Seed-Sowers,

First of all, I truly believe that God will make us faithful and fearless seed sowers during this corona-virus epidemic. Life has changed.  Sowing seeds of faith has changed. I pray God is creating you more faith and less fear!

We are still digging deeply into the well at Sychar in Samaria. Maybe during this time of anxiety from the pandemic you might be experiencing a little bit of feeling spiritually empty. If so, come along on our journey and drink from the well that promises to spring up to eternal life. I encourage to take a few minutes this week and read John 4:1-26; as you read, put yourself into the story. Don’t just enter the story once, put yourself into all of the characters.  They all have a viewpoint and a story to tell from the well and Jesus promises us that, if we drink, we will never thirst again!

Let me set the stage.  Around 722-721 B.C. the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian army.  The king of Assyria deported many of the Jewish people and transplanted foreigners to live in the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  These foreigners intermarried with the Jewish people and the races became mixed.  This land was called “Samaria”, the people were called “Samaritans.”  When the Southern Kingdom fell to the Babylonians in 586 many of the remining Jewish people remained behind and longed for the return of God’s kingdom.  Finally, after 70 years of captivity, the Jewish people started returning under Ezra, a scribe, and Nehemiah, the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. The people banded together rebuild the walls and they also started to rebuild the temple. The returning Jewish people now viewed the “Samaritans” as political rebels, racial half-breeds and religious people who worshiped the many Gods of the foreigners along with the One True God — Yahweh!  Their prejudices were mighty and many!

This surprise encounter with Jesus at the well confronted all of the prejudices this woman held.  First, she was a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jewish people had nothing to do with each other. Second, she was a woman.  Men did not talk to women in that culture. Third, she had been with many different “husbands” and she was a sinner. Any righteous, religious person would never have anything to do with a sinner like this woman. Fourth, her place of worship was there at the well of Jacob, the Jewish people worshiped at the temple in Jerusalem. Did you hear the prejudices? Racial prejudices, social prejudices, moral prejudices, and religious prejudices are all confronted in this story found in John 4.

Maybe an early “so what?” question for us today is, “Where does Jesus surprise you with your prejudices?”

“What if Jesus met me at Jacob’s well this Sunday morning?” I’m serious, what if you were dressed just like you are right now, and what if you had gone to the grocery store: Staters, Vons, Ralphs, Sprouts or your own favorite, grocery store? On your shopping list is: WATER! Go to the well to get water and,,, Jesus meets you there? Holy cow! (This is what I call “putting yourself into the story!”)

Am I spiritually empty? Maybe that is a good “so what?” question during this season of our lives. Some of us are totally running on empty while others of us seem to be coasting along okay but we do hit a few bumps here and there. The truth is we are all like this woman at the well.  At one time or another we’ve all become empty. It’s true; we become empty with the things this world has to offer.  We become lost when we follow our own will and go our own way and we don’t leave any room for God to surprise us.

The real truth is, we all long to be spiritually filled.

What I find interesting in this story is that woman at the well had most likely heard of the prophets and their prophecies.

Listen to just four of these prophecies:

“On that day, a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” Zechariah 13:1

“On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.” Zechariah 14:8

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” Isaiah 44:3

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 12:3

I wonder if this unnamed Samaritan woman had grown up reciting, singing, and memorizing the Psalms?

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-3

But somewhere along her way, she forgot those words and she began to drink from other wells.

This Samaritan outcast came to the well in the middle of the day in order to be alone. She wanted to be away from the ridicule, scorn, mockery, shame, and guilt she felt from the other women and the rest of the people of Sychar.  She was spiritually empty.  Spiritually bankrupt. Can you go with her to the well? It’s the middle of the day. It is burning hot. And there she is dragging her empty containers with her. The woman was empty. She was not expecting God to meet her at the well.  She was not expecting a surprise from God. She was expecting that she would go, get her water, and go home. Everyone else had already gotten their water. Sneak in, sneak out in the middle of the heat of the day.

Do you ever do anything like this? Do you look in the mirror and say, “Don’t go to the store now, you might run into someone you know. Wait til just before the store closes.” And at 9:50 pm, you put on your hat and sunglasses and pull your jacket up to cover your face, you keep your head down and enter the store. Ever been there?

Okay. Now imagine Jesus meeting you at whatever aisle you are shopping in. Right.  You need tomato sauce? There’s Jesus.  You need milk? There’s Jesus.

Jesus meets this woman right where she is.  Jesus meets her in the middle of her shame, guilt, fear, doubt and even in her hiding.

Are you empty?  Are you worried and troubled by many things?  Maybe you think you cannot go one more day or walk one more mile with the burden you are carrying. The truth is that Jesus will meet you no matter where you are, no matter what you have done.

At first meeting, the woman misses Jesus, she misses the living water. Why?  She was spiritually empty and spiritually lost.

So What?
I am here to tell you today that Jesus wants to meet you right where you are and Jesus has a gift for you: the gift is to come drink from the well that springs up to eternal life.  The choice is simple, take and drink or walk away empty. My prayer is that you will drink deeply like the deer at the stream.

Open your bible. Read the story of the woman at the well.  Pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. Let God surprise you!

My wife became a Christian 20 months before I did. For 600 days, she watched me go to the world’s wells. For 600 days, she went to the well of living water. I don’t know how many times she mustered up her courage. She walked into the family room where I was putting on my work boots and she handed me her bible. She said the same thing every time: “Here. Would you please read this? I highlighted it.  I don’t want you to read the whole book. I don’t want you to read the whole page.  Just read the sentence or two I’ve highlighted.” Each time she did this, for 600 days, 20 months, I smiled and took the book.  When she left the room, I closed the book and set it under the couch. There were days, I’m embarrassed to tell you, that I slid her bible across the room. What I did notice is that Jac was happy. She was full of joy. And the other thing I noticed, it wasn’t me that was making her so happy. Jac had joined bible studies and had everyone in town praying for me. One day she told me her bible study was hosting a couples bible study. She handed me a piece of paper with the name of the study (Romans) and the name of the teacher. The teacher was one of my former high school teachers and he was one of my favorite teachers. I decided to go and hear what he had to say; he was, after all, a really great teacher!

It took me until chapter 8 of Romans, verses 14 and 15, to understand that the wells of the world were not going to quench my thirst. Jesus met me at the well that night after bible study. It was January in Northern Illinois. It was freezing and the snow was blowing. The bible teacher had talked to our group about how we are children of God, how we can cry, “Abba, Father” to God. I couldn’t wait to get home that night. I got down on my knees and I prayed, “God, if you want to be my father, I’d like to give you a try!”

That well has never run dry. The year was 1981. Jesus met me at the well that cold, snowy night. SURPRISE, Dave!

Come meet the man who knows everything about me and still wants to be my Father. Come to the well that never runs dry.  No matter where you are, no matter what you’ve done–you are forgiven. And THAT is the BEST SURPRISE of all.

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Romans 9:13-18 Double Predestination

 

Again, we are examining the most difficult portion of the entire Bible. Not only because it deals with election, which troubles many, but even more because it deals with reprobation, the doctrine that God rejects or repudiates some persons to eternal condemnation in a way parallel but opposite to the way He ordains others to salvation. Reprobation is the teaching we come to specifically in Romans 9:13-18, which makes these verses an excessively difficult passage for many, if not most, people.

The doctrine is brought into our text by two Old Testament quotations; Malachi 1:2-3, and Exodus 9:16. Paul summarizes the teaching in these texts by concluding, “Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden” (v. 18). In the view of many people, the doctrine these verses express turns God into an indifferent deity who sits in heaven arbitrarily assigning human destinies, saying, as it were, “This one to heaven, and I don’t care. This one to hell, and I don’t care.”

This is a caricature, of course. But it is something we must deal with, since no one can seriously attempt to study or teach the Bible, as I am doing, without confronting it. More to the point, it is impossible to study election without also dealing with its negative counterpart. We can’t have the positive side of election which is predestination, without reprobation, which is the negative side. John Calvin recognized this, as have many others in the course of church history. He wrote, “Election [cannot] stand except as set over against reprobation.”* It is easy to distort this doctrine, of course, as the caricature shows. We must proceed slowly and humbly, recognizing our own limited understanding. Still we must try to see what the Bible does teach about reprobation, since the subject cannot be avoided.

The place to begin is with the fact of reprobation, is taught in the Bible, regardless of the questions we may have. In other words, we must follow the same procedure with reprobation as we followed in the last study with its positive counterpart, election. There are many texts that teach reprobation. Here are a few: Proverbs 16:4, John 12:39-40, John 13:18, John 17:12, 1 Peter 2:7-8, and Jude 4. There are many other texts along these lines, but the clearest are those in Romans 9, which we are studying, since they use the word “hate” of Esau and “harden” of Pharaoh. In fact, verses 1-29 are the most forceful statement of double predestination in the Bible.

There are two important distinctions between election and reprobation. The question we must ask is this: Does God determine the destinies of individuals in exactly the same way so that, without any consideration of what they do or might do, He assigns one to heaven and the other to hell? We know He does in the case of those who are being saved, because we have been told that election has no basis in any good seen or foreseen in those who are elected. In fact, we are told in Romans, for Paul’s point is that salvation is due entirely to God’s mercy and not to any good that could be imagined to reside in us. The question is whether this can be said of the reprobate, too, that God has consigned them to hell apart from anything they have done, apart from their deserving it.

Here, there is an important distinction to be made between election and reprobation, which has been the view of the majority of Reformed thinkers and is the teaching embodied in the great Reformed creeds like the Westminster Confession of Faith. The confession teaches that both election and reprobation flow from the eternal counsels or will of God, rather than the will of man and both are for the end of making the glory of God known. But there are two important points of difference.

First, the confession speaks of the reprobate being “passed by.” Some will argue that in its ultimate effect there is no difference between passing by and actively ordaining and individual to condemnation. But while that is true of the ultimate effect, there is nevertheless a major difference in the cause. The reason why some believe the gospel and are saved by it is that God intervenes in their lives to bring them to faith. He does it by the new birth or regeneration. But those who are lost are not made to disbelieve by God. They do that by themselves. To ordain their end, God needs only withhold the special grace of regeneration.

Second, the confession speaks of God ordaining the lost “to dishonor and wrath for their sin.” That is a very important observation, for it makes reprobation the exact opposite of an arbitrary action. The lost are not lost because God willy-nilly consigns them to it, but rather as a just judgment upon them for their sins. In these two respects election and reprobation are dissimilar.

Some at this point may be wondering, “If the doctrine of reprobation is as difficult as it seems to be, why we should speak about it at all?” The first answer to that is that the Bible itself does. It’s part of the revelation given to us. This is also the primary answer to a person who says, “I could never love a God like that.” Fair enough, we may say, but that is nevertheless the God with whom you have to deal. Nothing is to be gained by opposing reprobation. But this is not a very satisfying answer, and there are satisfying and meaningful things to say about reprobation. It’s a doctrine that, like all other parts of Scripture, has its “useful” aspects (2 Tim. 3:16).

(1) Reprobation assures us that God’s purpose has not failed. The first benefit of this doctrine is the very thing Paul is teaching in Romans 9, namely, that God’s Word has not failed (v. 6). “But am I one of the elect?” you ask. It is easy to know the answer to that question: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and begin to obey Him. Those who do are the elect. That is how we determine who those persons are. (2) Reprobation helps us deal with apostasy. We all know people who have seemed to believe at one time, but who have then fallen away. Does this mean that God has failed them? No. It means that if they continue in their unbelieving state, they are not among God’s elect people. Apostasy does not show that the plan of God has failed. Reprobation helps us understand it. (3) Reprobation keeps before us the important truth that salvation is entirely of grace and that no works of man contribute to it. If none were lost, we would assume that all are being saved because somehow God owes us salvation, that He must save us either because of who we are or because of who He is. This is not the situation. All are not saved. Therefore, the salvation of the elect is due to divine mercy only. We must never forget that. (4) Reprobation glorifies God. As soon as we begin to think that God owes us something or that God must do something, we limit Him and reduce His glory. Election and its twin, reprobation, glorify God, for they remind us that God is absolutely free and sovereign. We have no power over Him. On the contrary, “God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden” (v. 18). God does as He wants in His universe.

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 will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,” says the Almighty. If we believe that, our cry will be the cry of the tax collector: “God have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:15). And who can fault that doctrine?

*John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols., ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), p. 947.

Romans 9:13-18 Reflection Questions:

Paul is making the case that all the physical descendants of Abraham never automatically shared equally in the calling of Abraham. From the beginning that promise was narrowed down to the line of just one of two of Abraham’s sons (Isaac). The promise further narrowed to just one of two sons of Isaac (Jacob). This narrowing process is nothing new. It’s the way God has always worked, Paul says. Indeed in light of the overall failure of Israel, God has seen fit to continue this process by having the ultimate fulfillment narrowed down to just one descendant of Abraham – Jesus, the Messiah – through whom God’s promise to bless all nations would be accomplished. How does this make Paul’s case that God hasn’t changed His mind (or broken His Word) about the Jews but that, from the beginning, He has treated them (and His promise to them) the same way as always?

In verses 14-18 Paul continues his review of the whole history of Israel. He began in verses 6-13 with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now he references Mosses’ encounter with Pharaoh some four hundred years later and Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The story in Exodus 33 is where God declares to Moses that He will proceed with His plan for the exodus even though the people have made the golden calf, amounting to a declaration of independence from the true God. This is the setting for verse 15 in particular. Why is this story in Exodus significant to Paul’s argument in chapter 9?

What is your feeling on reprobation?