The Justice, Mercy, and Freedom of God in Election, Part 3 (Romans Sermon 67) (2024)

sermon

April 24, 2005

Sermon Series:

Romans

Topics:

Glory of God

Scriptures:

Romans 9:14-16

I. Romans 9: Six Reasons Why God is NOT Unjust

Now, two weeks ago we looked at very quickly, I just named them and barely discussed them, six reasons from Romans 9, why God is not unjust. I’d like to look a little more carefully at them today. They are the nature of God, the nature of justice, now the nature of mercy, the nature of sovereignty, the nature of self-revealed glory, and the nature of humanity.

II. Reason #1: The Nature of God

Let’s look at the first one, the nature of God. God is not unjust because of who He is, God is not unjust in unconditional election, simply because God can never be unjust in anything He does. God’s actions are by definition just, because He is the absolute standard of justice in the universe. Also this argument is most powerful because God displayed His justice brilliantly in Christ at the cross. That’s the summary of the point that I was seeking to make then.

Now, let’s look and listen to some details. First of all, look at the grammar. If you look at verse 14, I think the New American Standard has the best translation. The question in the Greek is written in such a way as to expect the answer, ‘No.’ So the NASB translates it well I think, “What then shall we say? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be.” There is a passion to this answer. We wouldn’t just say, “No, I guess not.” Paul sure wouldn’t say, “No, I guess not.” No, may it never be, there can never be any injustice with God. He deals with it quite directly. Quite powerfully. And why is that?

Well, first of all, let’s try to understand who it is we’re talking about simply from Scripture. God has revealed Himself in the prophets to be utterly passionate about justice. He’s committed to justice in a way we can scarcely imagine. For example, there are declarations of God’s justice. Psalm 9 says, “The Lord reigns forever. He has established His throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness. He will govern the peoples with justice.” Or again in Psalm 11 it says, “For the Lord is righteous, He loves justice, upright men will see His face.” And again in Psalm 36:6, “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep.”

And we could multiply these kinds of plain statements. The Psalmist and the prophets, again and again, are saying the same thing, God is just all the time. He’s a just God. Well how about the commandments that He gives to us? For example, He gives commandments to the Israelites that they should raise up or that they would appoint judges in their society, who would deal with court cases, they would deal with legal cases. And this is God’s command to judges, through Moses. He said, “Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.” And so He clearly commands judges to follow justice and justice alone. He says don’t give any advantage to the rich, don’t give any disadvantage to the rich or the same on the poor. Follow justice and justice alone, that’s what He tells the judges to do.

Or again in Micah 6:8, “He has told you O man what is good, and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That’s what He wants from you. He wants you to be just. Why? Because He is just. And then there are statements made through the prophets. Oh, we could multiply these again and again, how much of the minor prophets concerned about issues of social justice, how much are they concerned about issues of poverty and how the widow is treated and how the orphan is treated. Again and again God establishes this matter of justice as one of the main reasons He’s going to be judging Israel, because they were not just to the poor and needy. But listen to what He says in Isaiah 10:1-3, He says, “Woe to you who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?”

What does He say there in Isaiah 10:1-3, except that God is very concerned about matters of justice to the poor, to the downtrodden, to the widow, and to the orphan. Well, this is especially true in His statements about Judgment Day. Now the apostle Paul said in Acts 17:31, that God has set a day when He will judge the world with justice through the Man that He has appointed. That man is Christ. He’s going to judge the whole world with justice. These are clear statements. Judgment Day will be a time when it says in Romans 2, that God will give to each person according to what he has done. God is a God of justice.

Well, God’s justice is especially proved also not just in His statements, but in His actions through history. He brought a flood on the entire ancient world as a matter of justice. He brought fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah as a matter of justice. And when Abraham, His prophet and His friend stood before Him, interceding concerning a matter of justice, Abraham said, “Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right?” The answer is, “Even if there are 10 righteous people in the city I will spare it.” That’s not just justice there, that is mercy, but God clearly displayed His justice there. By the way, Abraham in asking that, shows that spark that we are created in the image of God and we have a concern for justice. More about that in a moment. But throughout history God has proven His commitment to justice, but the highest display of all is in Christ, amen. Jesus Christ is the Righteous One. He came to display justice, to declare justice and ultimately to die for justice.

He displayed justice in the fact that He always did what was right at every moment. He always loved the Lord His God and He always loved his neighbor as Himself, He was perfectly law abiding. He was a perfectly just man.

Christ declared justice to the nations it says in Matthew 12, “He will declare justice to the islands and to the distant lands.” He was a proclaimer of justice. He said, concerning the Pharisees, He said, “You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law: Justice, mercy and faithfulness.” There He is declaring justice to the nations. But most especially, He came to die for justice. Now, how does this work? Here’s the issue: the issue is that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We’re going to talk more about that in a moment. But the real shocker with salvation is not that there are any that go to hell. It’s that any (or many) don’t go to hell and actually instead go to heaven. How did we get there? Do you ever wonder that?

How did David the adulterer and the murderer get there? What happened to his sin? What happened to his death penalty? I thought, in the Law of Moses he deserved to die. Nathan said, “You shall not die.” Well, what happened to David’s death penalty? That is a big problem for God. It may not be a big problem for us because we’re kind of hoping for mercy all the time, and we’re wanting to be covered all the time, and we’re used to that kind of thing. But for God and the holy angels in Heaven, this is a big issue. How did he get here? And so his sin must be dealt with. And it never was in the Old Testament account. But it was dealt with, wasn’t it? It was dealt with by Christ at the cross, and some of the most important verses on the justice of God are in Romans 3:25-26, and there it says that God presented Christ as a propitiation, “a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” He’s talking there about David and others, He’s talking about Noah in his drunkenness. He’s talking about Abraham and his lying, He’s talking about the sins of every person that’s up in Heaven from the Old Testament era. What happened to their death penalty? It was paid. It was paid by Christ.

God demonstrated His justice at the cross. Verse 26 says, “He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be both just and also the justifier of those who have faith in Christ.” God cares about justice enough to slaughter His Son on that matter. Now, that’s incredible. And I said a moment ago, we have a spark of concern over justice. You know why? Because we’re created in the image of God. But as I mentioned, two weeks ago, your spark is like a match compared to the raging inferno of the sun. You take your little match and you take God burning like the sun, that is the comparison of your concern over justice and God’s. God is deeply passionately and totally committed to justice.

III. Reason #2: The Nature of Justice

Secondly, let’s talk about the nature of justice itself. What is it? What are we even talking about? The word in Greek can be translated two ways, justice or righteousness. They’re the same. How does God define this matter, justice or righteousness? Well, we need a standard, don’t we? We need a standard. Have you ever gotten one of those cheap yard sticks like from… It’s made out of wood and it just expands and contracts with the weather, if it’s humid or whatever, it’s larger or smaller. Say we need a better, a better yard stick, right?

Well, how do you know what a yard is or a meter or something like that? There’s got to be a standard somewhere. And all governments have known this and they inevitably set up a Government Bureau of Standards of Weights and Measures and other things, and against that standard no one can argue. There has to be a starting point, there has to be a standard. And there is in our nation. The National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland. See, now you know. And for $10,000 you can send anything to them and they’ll measure it as accurately as you want, but woe to you if you question them and say, “I think my yard stick’s more accurate than yours.”

There must be a standard somewhere. And I tell you that this whole matter is a reflection of the image of God that we’re in. There is a standard of righteousness and it’s God Himself. God is the standard of righteousness. In Revelation 16, the angels are pouring out the bowls of wrath on Earth, and on the third bowl the angel pours out the bowl and the fresh water is turned into blood all over the Earth. And then, it’s fascinating what happens, in Revelation 16:5-7, this is what it says, “Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,” listen carefully, “You are just in these judgments, You who are and who were the Holy One, because you have so judged.” Now, let me tell you something, that’s the way the angels think. You are just because this is what You decided to do. But he doesn’t stop there. This is very interesting, “‘For they have shed the blood of Your saints and prophets and You have given them blood to drink as they deserve.’ And I heard the altar respond, ‘Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.'”

Do you see there are two levels of dealing with this question about justice? The first level is simply because God said so. Now tell me, you parents, you haven’t used this one, “Because I’m the daddy, that’s why. Because I’m the mommy that’s why.” Of course, it’s not very satisfying to the 5-year-old who wants a third dessert, and there’s no way you’re going to be able to explain why two desserts is mercy anyway. They’re never going to get it.

And the fact of the matter is you don’t have time to persuade them that your ways are righteous and just. And in the end you say, “Because I’m the daddy, that’s why, now wash up and go to bed.” So what is going on there? Well, here’s the issue, it’s one of a standard that must be held in the family. Whether they see it or not, whether they understand it or not. And the Scripture testifies that God’s ways are so much higher than our ways. His thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts that we could never fully understand all that He’s doing. Just like God moves in a mysterious way that we sang earlier, we can’t trace out what He’s doing. And is the universe going to stop and wait until we all get it and see it? No, “Because I’m the daddy, that’s why” is a dim reflection of, “Because I’m God, that’s why, and everything I do is just and righteous whether you understand it or not.”

But it doesn’t stop there. That’s the first level, the second level is… Do you see the correspondence? Do you see what God’s done? He turned the fresh water into blood and they deserve it, because they have shed the blood of the saints and prophets, and so You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve. There’s a lining up there. What I believe will happen is when our salvation is finished, we will see it the way God does. When we are done being transformed from everything that sin’s done to these minds of ours, we will not be troubled anymore by these questions because there will be a perfect harmony and unity between what God has done in history and His nature and His character. And that brings me to the third and the greatest issue, and that is the issue of what is justice itself.

Now, we touched on this, and this is not easy to understand, especially for us sinners, but remember what happened up there on that mount with Moses. Moses is there saying, “Now show me Your glory.” We talked about this last week, And the Lord said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim My name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Well, God’s justice, that is His righteousness, is His commitment to His name and His own glory. That’s what it is. Now, let me explain how I understand this. All justice is based on a scale of value in the society. The more something’s worth, the more the law must protect it, that’s the way it works.

So there’s a difference between petty larceny and grand theft because there’s a difference in the value of the thing stolen. There’s a difference between robbery and assault because there’s a higher value of the person than there is to his possessions. There’s a difference between murder and assault because there’s a higher value of the person’s life than a part of their body. And even in some states, and perhaps even in most, there’s a difference between, let’s say, attacking, and killing a law officer or what they call a peace officer, and a private citizen, because they see it as an attack on the system itself. And in some states they say this meets the criteria for the death penalty. It doesn’t mean that the person is intrinsically of a higher value, but within society there’s something higher that’s being protected there.

What is the highest, most valuable thing in the universe? It is God’s glory, that is the highest thing there is in the universe. Therefore, God’s laws and His ways and His decisions and everything He does protects that and lifts it up. That God is the Sovereign King, that He is glorious, that His name is Majestic, that’s the highest thing. Therefore a righteous and just man values highest what is of highest value in the universe, and that is God’s glory. And if he doesn’t or she doesn’t, that person is an idolater, they have exchanged the glory of God for something created, because there’s nothing else in the universe except for what God created and God. And so we put God above all things. And as justice, we must have His name, His honor, His reputation as the highest above all things, that is what justice is.

IV. Reason #3: The Nature of Mercy

The third reason is the nature of mercy. This, I have to say to you, brothers and sisters, was the first understanding I came to this text. You know that troubling little word ‘for’ at the beginning of verse 15? I’ve understood it one way. Now I understand it a little bit differently, but it says, “What then shall we say, Is God unjust? May it never be, for He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'” I said, “Wait a minute, that’s a disconnect. How is that an answer? I don’t get it, it still seems unjust. It’s just a restatement of the problem.” Well, no it isn’t actually. Is God unjust? No, for He says, I will have what? Mercy. Oh, how did we change from justice to mercy? Well, that’s the issue. That is the issue.

The bottom line is do you really want that kind of justice from God? Is that what you would demand on Judgment Day? Lord, I want justice, I want a careful and meticulous accounting of every single thing, I want everything dealt with properly, God. That’s really what I want. Is that, in fact, what you want? Is it not rather that these words resonate with you in Luke 18, “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘Be merciful to me, the sinner.'” Isn’t that more like what you’re like in God’s presence? Isn’t that what you want from God on Judgment Day? Mercy. And give me mercy.

Well, what is mercy? Well, it’s God’s commitment to not treat us as our sins deserve. To free us from the misery that sin has brought on us, to lift us up, frankly, according to the mountain where He’s with Moses, right into His very presence so that we can see His glory. Now that’s mercy. How can you demand that? You can’t demand it. Imagine in the Middle Ages, if there were a mighty Emperor and a bunch of his subjects started a rebellion against his authority and it cost the Emperor much. A lot of property burned, a lot of his soldiers murdered. Finally, the ring leader’s caught, and in this Insurrection the Emperor’s son was killed. The ring leader’s caught, brought up before justice, before the Emperor, said, “What do you have to say for yourself?” Can you imagine that man falling on his face, and pleading with the Emperor for mercy, that he not be executed? I can. It might be a stretch to imagine that he’d get the mercy.

That’s amazing that he would do it. But now let me tell you something even more amazing. Can you imagine that man standing with his kind of legs apart like this, his hands on his hips and saying, “Give me mercy. I demand it.” And suppose he even kind of supported his argument by saying, “You were merciful to somebody a year ago. You owe me mercy.” No, he doesn’t. Mercy cannot be demanded, and it’s never owed. It’s given freely as a gift or it’s not given at all.

There’s a story told in the Civil War, a soldier in Robert E Lee’s army, the Northern Virginia, committed a crime and was brought trembling before Lee. Lee saw how afraid that soldier was and said quietly, “Don’t be afraid, son. I’ll see that you get justice.” He said, “General, that’s the very thing I’m afraid of.” He’s afraid of justice. Martin Luther was afraid of justice before he understood justification. He was afraid of God’s justice, because he saw it as how God would send him to hell, and he knew he deserved it. Dorothy Sayers said something interesting. I was reading, and I found this interesting. “When we demand justice, it is always justice on our behalf against other people,” for what they’ve done us. Nobody, I imagine, would ever ask “Give me justice in this case. I’ve done something wrong to somebody and I want justice.” I’ve never heard of it, I’ll have to ask our judge friends. Have you ever seen it in a court? It’s always the other way. “I want justice for what was done to me.”

And really she says in the end, what we want is revenge, and we want the judicial system to do the revenge for us. We have to understand justice and mercy a little bit differently. Our only hope, friends, is this, and that is the mercy of God. Psalm 130:10 says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” Hallelujah, He doesn’t. But, friends, that’s mercy, and He gives it freely. Not under obligation.

V. Reason #4: The Nature of Sovereignty

Reason number four is the nature of sovereignty. We don’t need to spend much time on this because we saw it so clearly last week. But the nature of sovereignty consists in God’s glory to be free and independent from His creation. A king is not a king if he has to check with his servant or his subjects to see if all of his decisions are the way they want. That’s a democracy with the poll numbers and all that, where they’re checking to see what the people want.

God doesn’t check poll numbers. He is a king, He’s sovereign, He does as He pleases with the things on earth, or in heaven, above, they are His. And this is the very freedom that He declared to Moses, when He said His name, and His name is Yahweh I am, I am that I am. We talked about this last week. He is the “I am.” And what He’s saying is no outside force defines Me, controls Me, dictates to Me. I am and there is no one like me, I am and there is no one before me, there will be none after Me. I am and no one can resist Me or stay My hand, I am that I am. And a corollary to that is I will do what I will do, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful and I will harden whom I will harden. It’s the very thing he says here in verse 16 and in verse 18. God has sovereign freedom in this. Later on Paul is going to elaborate on this in the matter of the freedom of the potter in verse 21 of Romans 9, “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purpose and some also for common use?”

VI. Reason #5: The Nature of Self-Revealed Glory

Reason number five is the nature of self-revealed or personal glory. You may not have thought about this one before, but it occurred to me. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. But what’s happening between Moses and God up on the mountain is that Moses a sinner is standing up there. And when he says, “Now show me Your glory,” he’s saying, “I want to know you better, I want to be drawn into Your inner circle, I want to see more of You. Know more of You, be closer to You, I want to be close to You, God.” Can you demand that? Is that a matter of justice?

I remember I shared with you the feeling that you might have if some total stranger came up and demanded to see more of you, you’d think, “This is a stalker and a dangerous individual, I need them dealt with quickly.” That’s one of the reasons we pay the police is people just like that. That’s a little odd, alright, I demand to see more of you. I demand to know you better. I want to be close to you.

VIII. Reason #6: The Nature of Humanity

And the sixth and final one has to do with the nature of humanity, there are two important aspects of humanity that I’d like to keep in front of us. First is that we’re created beings, and the second is that we’re sinful beings. First, in that we’re created, we are in no position whatsoever to question God concerning His justice. The angels don’t do it, we do it, and God puts up with it. He understands what sin has done to our brains and He is reasoning with us here in Romans 9. Fascinating to me how after the statement later in Chapter 9, He says, “Why does God still find fault, for who resists His will?” And God says, “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” That should end the chapter, but it doesn’t, He actually goes on and continues to reason with us and give us more insights and more understanding.

That is the mercy of God, He is explaining Himself, but He wants us to know at that point, He doesn’t need to tell us anything. And the angels in heaven don’t question God this way. We are created beings, He is God and we’re not. Like the book of Ecclesiastes says, “God is in heaven, you’re on earth. So let your words be few.” That’s even if we’re sinless and pure, but we’re not sinless and pure. The fact of the matter is, we’re corrupt and sinful and we don’t understand justice very well, we think about it all wrong. We’re very self-focused in all of our decisions and the way we reason, and not only that, but we’re very prideful.

It’s interesting to me. I was going out witnessing with Elijah, and the two of us were witnessing here in a neighborhood nearby, connected with the Health Fair. And this one man had read a book recently on the history of Africa, and he said, “Where are you from?” And Elijah said, “I’m from Nigeria.” He said, “I know more about Nigeria than you do.” Woah.

Elijah’s been here a few years and spent the rest of them in Nigeria. He was born there, raised there, speaks several of the languages that they speak over there. To this man I said, “Well that’s interesting. Have you ever been to Nigeria?” “No.” I said, “This is an amazing study in human arrogance.” It really is. “So tell us what you know about Nigeria.” And he was going into the issues with the slave traders and some other things, and the importation of Christianity into Nigeria and he was trying to get at the fact that Christianity was not Nigeria’s native religion. Well my friends it’s nobody’s native religion. We’re all converted into it. It’s not an American religion, it’s not a European religions, it’s God’s religion, which was first revealed in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth.

But this man, I found it interesting the attitude, it’s what some sports people call the arm chair quarterback, you know, the Monday morning thing. You have never ever faced what it’s like to have a 320 pound guy who wants to kill you, bearing down on you late in the fourth quarter, you had 846 offensive plays to memorize, you had 11 seconds left, and you’re trying to complete a sideline pattern… You’ve never been there, but you would not have thrown that key interception.

You never would have done it. I’ve heard these talk show people they think that they know better than the coaches that have spent their whole lives studying basketball. They think they know better than the 747 pilot who bounced a little as he landed. Would you like to try? I’d like to be off the plane when you do, but would you like to try? I don’t have the right to offer you the airplane, but this is the human heart, this is our arrogance. Now, you say, “but I’ve known pilots that have made mistakes, I’ve known quarterbacks that have made…” That’s true, but God has never made a mistake, and you’re questioning Him. Note well then the arrogance and the pride.

Who are we? Who are we? We’re like blind people trying to judge a painting contest, deaf people judging a recital, a piano recital, we don’t know justice, we are unjust every day. If you don’t think so, ask God, show me ways I’ve been unjust today. Show me ways. It would have to do with poverty, how you spent your money, how you spend your time, things you say to people, judgments you’ve had in your heart toward people. You and I, I’m not excluding myself, we are both unjust every day of our lives. And we’re going to question God on the issue of unconditional election? We don’t have the right. So now God has been on the dock today. We’ve been questioning Him about His justice. Can I say to you, case dismissed? “What then shall we say, Is God unjust? May it never be.” Someday, if you are saved, if you’re one of Christ’s children, you will see and understand completely, and you will know then that God has never been unjust in anything He’s done through the whole path of salvation. If you don’t understand unconditional election, don’t throw it out. Just say I don’t understand it but I humble myself under it, but I know this, my God is never unjust. Close with me if you would in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Questioning God’s Justice

Lord Acton’s Famous Dictum: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Seen again and again in human history… the more powerful a man becomes, the more it tends to corrupt him and make him cruel and arbitrary

The question here is, has God’s absolute power corrupted Him? Paul has been teaching the doctrine of unconditional election…

Romans 9:10-13 Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad– in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls– she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

He does this to answer the grievous question, “Why are so many of God’s chosen people, the Jews, rejecting Christ.”

Paul’s stunning answer is

Romans 9:6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

God has an elect group of Jews, and they alone are receiving Christ… the rest are hardened And this seems unjust

1. God’s ways soar above ours… and our perspective is self-serving and limited

2. Job questioned God’s justice

Job 19:6-7 … God has wronged me and drawn his net around me. 7 “Though I cry, ‘I’ve been wronged!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

Job felt that God had dealt unjustly with Him… it was for this and other hard attitudes toward God that Job later repented

Elihu spoke the truth:

Job 34:12-17 It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice. … 17 Can he who hates justice govern? Will you condemn the just and mighty One?

Even more pointedly, God speaks:

Job 40:6-10 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm: 7 “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 8 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? 9 Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? 10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.

a. People in suffering question God’s justice

i) Perhaps they lost a precious child to cancer

ii) Perhaps their spouse was killed in a car accident

iii) Perhaps they have a lingering and painful illness

iv) Perhaps they look at massive events in history, like the holocaust in WWII and question how a God of justice could allow something like that to happen

How much more do people question the justice of God in unconditional election, where the issue is not temporary suffering in an earthly concentration camp by eternal suffering in the fires of hell.

b. The devil comes in to insinuate that God is unjust in this or that action

c. His goal is clear: to tap into our limited perspective in an assault on God’s character, including His justice

3. The issue here: is unconditional election unjust?

II. Romans 9: Six Reasons Why God is NOT Unjust

A. Six Reasons Paul Gives

Question: “IS GOD UNJUST (UNRIGHTEOUS) for unconditionally electing people to eternal life?”

Paul’s unequivocal answer: MAY IT NEVER BE!!! Six Reasons:

1. The Nature of God

2. The Nature of Justice

3. The Nature of Mercy

4. The Nature of Sovereignty

5. The Nature of Self-Revealed Glory

6. The Nature of Humanity

Two weeks ago, we looked at these six questions in a quick overview… this week, we desire to look more carefully at each

III. Reason #1: The Nature of God

God is not unjust in unconditional election simply because God can never be unjust in anything He does. God’s actions are by definition just, because He is the standard of justice in the universe. Also, this argument is powerful because God demonstrated His passionate commitment to justice in the sacrifice of His Son for the sake of displaying His justice.

A. Literal Question: Expecting the Answer “No!!”

Romans 9:14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

NASB Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!

1. Greek construction: expects the answer No

2. Paul’s Emotional Answer… not just no, but NO!!!!!!!

a. “God forbid” or “May it never be!!”

b. A sense of impossibility… it is inconceivable that God could be unjust!!

B. God’s Awesome Passion for Justice throughout Scripture

1. Proved by His statements through the prophets

a. Declarations of God’s justice

Psalm 9:7-8 The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. 8 He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.

Psalm 11:7 For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.

Psalm 36:6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.

b. Commandments from God to exercise justice as He does

Deuteronomy 16:18-20 Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. 19 Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. 20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

c. Prophetic warnings and assessments of God’s justice

Isaiah 10:1-3 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, 2 to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. 3 What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?

d. Especially concerning judgment day… a day of perfect justice

Acts 17:31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.

God will prove His perfect justice on Judgment Day when every single sin will be accounted for according to His perfect laws and perfect justice:

Romans 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”

2. Proved by His actions in history

a. God flooded the entire world and killed every sinner on earth as a plain display of His justice

b. God crushed Sodom and Gomorrah as a display of His justice, as He hated their sexual perversion and oppression of the poor

And in the middle of it, He patiently listened to Abraham intercede for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah on the simple basis of His justice: he would NEVER sweep away the righteous with the unrighteous

c. God judged the whole land of Egypt for their wicked oppression of Israel in hundreds of years of bondage… ten plagues and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea was God’s justice for their sins

d. God exiled both Israel and Judah because they violated His covenant by their wickedness and by their oppression of the poor and needy

Throughout history, God’s powerful actions in judgment for violating His laws and in protection of the poor and innocent proves His perfect justice

e. Conversely God was not unjust and did not fail to keep His covenant promises to all who trusted in Him… if they obeyed His commands, He blessed them…

C. God’s Highest Display of Justice: Christ on the Cross

1. Christ came to DISPLAY justice:

a. Justice is the scepter of Christ’s Kingdom

b. Justice was perfected in Christ Himself: He always said and did what was perfectly just and righteous

2. Christ came to DECLARE justice to the nations… Matthew 12:18

3. ESPECIALLY: Christ came to DIE for justice for the elect… this was God’s highest display of justice in history

a. Basic issue: the elect are wicked sinners, and ALL SIN DESERVES THE DEATH PENALTY

b. It appeared UNJUST for God to forgive their sins and allow them into heaven

c. Clear example: David’s terrible sin with Bathsheba

d. The cross was a perfect display of God’s justice

Romans 3:25-26 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished– 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Some say the cross is the greatest display of God’s love in history, and so it is… they say God loved us so much that He would rather die than live without us

But the cross is also God’s display of justice… He loved justice so much that He would rather die than let us into heaven without the just payment of the death penalty our sins deserved

God’s credentials in the arena of justice are impeccable, His reputation earned by millennia of perfect justice and by His incredible display of justice at the cross

Human beings have a concern for justice… like Abraham, we want to be sure that the judge of all the earth will do right

But our concern for justice is like a lit match compared to the raging inferno of the sun… God’s love for justice and His absolute determination that justice will be done is infinite.

Summary: Unconditional Election is Not Unjust Because it is Impossible for God to Be Unjust

IV. Reason #2: The Nature of Justice

A. A Question of “Righteousness”

B. How God Defines Righteousness

C. God Himself is the Standard of Righteousness

1. God alone is the ultimate standard of righteousness

Illus. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD is a federal technology agency that aims to develop and promote measurement, standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life. For $10,000 they will measure any object for length, comparing it to their standards

Their word on length is final and authoritative

At a much higher level: God is the standard of all righteousness

Good example in Revelation 16: Seven bowls of wrath poured out on the whole earth

First bowl: painful sores; Second bowl, sea turned to blood and every living thing in the sea died; Third bowl: all fresh water (rivers, streams, springs of water) became blood

Revelation 16:5-7 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; 6 for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” 7 And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”

2. First Statement by the Angel: You are just because you have so judged!!

3. Second Statement by the Angel: The punishment fits the crime

D. Level One: “Because I Said So”

1. Frequently spoken by the parents

“Because I’m the daddy, that’s why!”

2. Underlying assumption: I do not need to explain my reasons; you must learn to trust my judgments

3. Ultimate issue: can you trust God’s justice even if you don’t understand everything?

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

E. Level Two: “Because They Deserve It”

1. God’s justice is so consistent that it lines up with actual responses to actual occurrences

2. The angel notes this: they shed the blood of the saints and prophets, and God has given them blood to drink AS THEY DESERVE

3. God explains some of His judgments so that we can learn His patterns, His way of thinking, His logic, His rationale

4. He is training our minds and souls, and by the time we are fully saved, we will be able to understand fully

5. In the meantime, while still in the flesh, we must merely learn to trust Him

F. The Essence of God’s Righteousness: Relentless Pursuit of His Own Glory

1. Deeper issue…what is justice itself?

2. God’s righteousness = His relentless pursuit of His own glory

Exodus 33:18-19 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” 19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

God’s “justice”, His “righteousness” is His commitment to His name and His sovereign freedom to be God

3. All justice is based on a scale of value… the more valuable something is, the more it should be properly esteemed by human beings

a. There is a difference between petty larceny and grand theft… the more valuable thing that is stolen, the greater the crime

b. There is a difference stealing someone’s possessions and hurting their body… as the body is worth more than possessions, so assault is a greater crime than robbery

c. There is a difference between hurting someone’s body and taking their life; as a life is worth more than a part of the body, so murder is a greater crime than assault

d. There is a difference between murdering a private citizen and murdering a police officer… many state laws look on the willful killing of a police officer as an attack on the badge itself, and it meets the criteria for the death penalty

Thus, all justice is based on a scale of values… the more valuable something is, the more justice must value it. All law and all courts are based on this scale

4. A truly righteous man is the one who esteems all things properly based on their worth

5. The most valuable thing in the universe is the glory of God

a. For God to be righteous, He must value His own glory above all things

b. For man to be righteous, He must value God’s glory above all things

c. The essence of sin is that we DO NOT value God’s glory

Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

d. To value anything more highly than God’s glory is to be an idolator

e. God is not an idolator… He values His own glory above all things

6. THEREFORE: God must save us from sin in such a way that His glory is central above all things. THAT IS JUSTICE!!!

Summary: The nature of justice proclaims that Unconditional Election Upholds God’s Glory… simply because whatever He does is righteous, and because justice itself is valuing God’s glory as God above all things

V. Reason #3: The Nature of Mercy

A. Not a Question of Justice But One of Mercy

1. Imagine going to God and saying: “I don’t want any grace, any handouts, anything free…JUST GIVE ME WHAT I TRULY DESERVE!!!

2. Anyone rightly instructed by the law knows that will only bring wrath

Romans 1:29-32 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

3. God’s righteousness here is AGAINST US… and we deeply do not desire what we truly deserve

4. Our only hope is one thing: God’s mercy, expressed in the forgiveness available in Christ…that God would NOT give us what we truly deserve!!

Luke 18:13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

B. What is Mercy?

1. Mercy is God’s commitment to alleviate the suffering that sin brings onto us, and to treat us better than our sins deserve

2. Essential to this is freeing us from the ultimate penalty for our sins… eternal separation from God in hell

3. This Mercy is only given us in Christ

4. The greatest mercy God can ever give us is to show us His glory… to span the gap there is between Himself and us… to bring us close to Himself

5. Moses begged the mercy of seeing God’s glory… Moses cannot demand this, for Moses is a sinner

6. BUT God has the sovereign freedom to give it as a gift

C. Mercy Cannot Be Demanded

1. It’s not unjust is because God doesn’t owe this to anyone

2. Rebels cannot demand mercy

Illus. Imagine in the Middle Ages, if a man lead a peasant revolt against the Emperor, and in that revolt, the ringleader assassinated the Emperor’s only son

Imagine if the revolt was put down and the ringleader was brought before the Emperor for justice; now imagine the rebel falling on his face before the Emperor and begging mercy… we can see that, although it would be a shock if the man received it

BUT imagine the arrogant rebel standing with his legs spread and his hands on his hips, a defiant sneer on his face… and DEMANDING the Emperor show him mercy! Even worse, imagine this rebel saying he deserved mercy because the Emperor had been merciful to other rebels in the past.

NO NO NO… mercy can never be DEMANDED… it is not a matter of justice, what is owed, what is righteous for the king to do

D. “All Have Sinned”… Is It Really Justice You Want?

Illus. Civil War, a soldier in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia committed a crime and was brought trembling before Lee. Lee saw how afraid he was and said quietly, “Don’t be afraid, son… I’ll see that you get justice.” The soldier answered, “General, that’s exactly what I AM afraid of!!”

Is it really justice you want? Do you really want to live in a world in which every person you’ve ever hurt in your life will stand up and accuse you and press for your conviction?

Dorothy Sayers: “When we demand justice, it is always justice on our behalf against OTHER people! Nobody, I imagine, would ever ask for justice to be done upon him for everything he ever did wrong. Let’s face it, most of the time we do not want justice, we want revenge.”

1. The Bible makes it clear that the entire human race is sinful, both through original sin in Adam and through actual sins committed against the laws of God

2. All of us are deserving the ultimate penalty of justice… the justice of God has every right to hunt us sinners down like dogs and slaughter us

3. Can you imagine standing on judgment day and saying “I don’t want any handouts… just give me what I truly deserve!!”

4. Our one great hope is this: the mercy of God

Psalm 103:10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

E. Unconditional Election is Not Unjust Because it is a Display of Mercy

Romans 9:14-16 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

VI. Reason #4: The Nature of Sovereignty

A. God’s Glory Consists in Sovereign Freedom

1. A King is not a king if he must check with His subjects first before rendering a decision

2. The glory of a King is his sovereign freedom to do as he chooses

3. This is especially true of God: He has sovereign freedom to do what He wants with His possessions

4. God’s name = His freedom

Exodus 3:13-14 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”

“I am who I am” = no outside force defines me, controls me, dictates to me… I am, and there is no one like me; I am and there is no one before me or after me; I am and no one can resist me

Also, a sense of “I will be what I will be” and “I will do what I will do”

At the core of this sovereign freedom is the freedom to chose those to whom He will show mercy

B. Clear Statement to Moses

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

This plainly means: “I will choose my children according to my own purposes, and nothing outside of me will control that choice.”

C. Paul’s Later Elaboration: The Freedom of the Potter

1. Furthermore: not only does God have the right to have mercy on whomever He wants

2. God also has the right to harden whomever He chooses to harden

3. Paul sums this up as the freedom of the potter

Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

Summary: unconditional election is not unjust because it upholds God’s sovereign freedom

VII. Reason #5: The Nature of Self-Revealed Glory

A. Moses on Sinai: An Intimate Experience with God’s Glory

1. Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to beg God to go with Israel

2. At a key moment, Moses made an amazing request: show me your glory

3. BUT God is not going to show it to ALL the Israelites… only to those He chooses to show it to

B. God’s Personal Glory is His Own

1. It is God’s unique privilege to show His glory to whom He chooses

2. This is not a matter of justice, but it is intrinsic to the nature of personal relationships

3. God chooses whom He will draw near to Himself

Matthew 11:27 No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

C. No Person Can Demand Self-Revelation from Another Person

1. Imagine if a total stranger came up to you and said: “Reveal yourself to me!!”

2. You probably would call the police

3. Even acquaintances and casual friends cannot demand to be closer to you than you are willing to give

4. How Much More Does God Retain this Freedom

Unconditional election is not unjust because it accords with self-revealed glory

VIII. Reason #6: The Nature of Humanity

A. Two important aspects of humanity

1. First, we are created beings… shaped and formed by the Creator like a potter shapes the clay

2. Second, we are sinful and corrupt, with minds polluted by sin

B. Therefore, we are in NO POSITION WHATSOEVER to bring a charge of injustice against God

Romans 9:20-21 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?'” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

1. Even if we were sinless and pure, we would have NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER to impugn God’s justice, for His ways are so much higher than our ways and His thoughts so much higher than our thoughts

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

2. However, we are corrupt and sinful… whatever vestige of the original image of God is left in us is perverted and twisted and corrupted by sin… therefore, we are like drunk people trying to judge the straightness of a line

Illus. “Armchair quarterback”:

Witnessing with Elijah Ipole, a native of Nigeria… a man who’d read some about the history of Africa told Elijah he knew more about Nigeria than Elijah did… even though Elijah was born there and had lived his whole life there; so also sports spectators arrogantly think they can coach better than the man who’s actually walking the sidelines; they can critique the judgments made by experts in fields they’ve never studied; the armchair quarterback has never taken a hit from an NFL lineback or tried to memorize 846 separate offensive plays, or had to make a critical throw late in the fourth quarter… but he will arrogantly judge the quarterback for throwing that key interception

BUT none of that come close to us judging the motives intentions and justice of God!!!

3. We are like blind people judging the beauty of a painting… we are unjust every day, and yet we presume to judge God’s justice!!

4. We are radically impaired in our judgment, and God is flawless and righteous in everything He does

5. Thus we are in no position to bring any charge against God’s justice

6. Case is thrown out of court!!

C. Unconditional Election is Not Unjust Because It Deals Properly with Human Nature

IX. Applications

A. Summary:

Unconditional election is NOT UNJUST because

1. The Nature of God: God could never do anything unjust… His track record puts that beyond dispute

2. The Nature of Justice: God defines what is just and unjust by His person… if God does it, it is by definition just; and we learn that justice is whatever best displays and upholds God’s glory as a sovereign, free King

3. The Nature of Mercy: Salvation is not a matter of justice owed to sinners, but of mercy shown to sinners… no one can demand to be chosen, for it is a mercy God gives freely, or He doesn’t

4. The Nature of Sovereignty: God is sovereign, therefore He is free to do whatever He wants in this matter of salvation

5. The Nature of Self-Revealed Glory: No person can demand as a matter of justice that we reveal ourselves to another person… how much less can sinners demand self-revelation from God

6. The Nature of Humanity: We sinners are in no position to judge God’s justice, since we are so unjust and so limited; furthermore, our arrogance demands that we be saved in such a way that we are humbled completely in the process

B. Never Question God’s Justice Again! Rejoice in it!!

C. Delight in the incredible grace God has shown to you… far beyond anything you deserve

I. Romans 9: Six Reasons Why God is NOT Unjust

II. Reason #1: The Nature of God

III. Reason #2: The Nature of Justice

IV. Reason #3: The Nature of Mercy

V. Reason #4: The Nature of Sovereignty

VI. Reason #5: The Nature of Self-Revealed Glory

VIII. Reason #6: The Nature of Humanity

Dr. Andrew M. Davis is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Durham, North Carolina, and the founder of Two Journeys Ministry. He holds a bachelor’s degree from MIT, a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also a visiting professor of church history at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Council Member of The Gospel Coalition. He and his wife, Christi have five children and four grandchildren.