God’s Right To Decide

Romans 9:14-28

I am presently building a metal working shaper in my free time. The other night, I cast an aluminum piece for the framework. When I opened the mold, I found that my sand had been to damp, creating voids in the casting. I re-melted the aluminum and cast another part from it. I had the right to decide how the aluminum would be used as the owner and builder. God exercises the same right as regards the people he has made.

“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 showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show 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.” (Romans 9:14-18)

The aluminum I melted had no power or ability to melt itself or cast itself. It was totally dependent on my power and skill for the results. I have no idea whether it would have chosen to be one part or the other, although I suspect it would have preferred not to get so hot. I demonstrate my ability by what I make. God had that same right, to use Pharaoh as he saw fit to accomplish his purpose. Just as I was not forced to settle for a piece that did not turn out properly, neither is God.

“Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast 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? What if God, willing to show 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?” (Romans 9:19-24”

The aluminum had no right to be upset that I recast it into something else. I had already put in the effort to try to cast it into the first form, and it did not comply with what was desired. Rather than scrap the entire project, I re did the one part. In choosing to save others who were not Jews as well, God has done much the same thing. Rather than scrap the entire human race because of sin, he has chosen to save some who were not Jews.

“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. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.” (Romans 9:25-29)

There is no question whether God had the right to choose who could be saved. That we could not even be saved without his work is also clear. John 6;44 declares, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Ephesians 2:8 tells us even the faith to be saved is a gift from him. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” A man could do nothing to cause his own salvation, and neither can any one else. Until God causes it, the person will not be saved.

That God should choose to base his choice on the future decision of a man is entirely his right, and according to Romans 8:29-30, that is what he did. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” It is why God could say, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” in Romans 10:13. Though he knows what their choice will be, they still need to make it.