God Loves… Himself

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

The Gospel of grace alone is distorted and adjusted far from its original purpose when it is taken from the God-centered and God-focused origin and plan of it to make it focus on man. Soli Deo Gloria is a grand truth that is set forth in Scripture and has echoed in the pages of the writers of great theologies for all history. As the Gospel of grace alone was not discovered at the time of the Reformation, so Soli Deo Gloria was not discovered at that time either. These were great truths that were recovered from the Bible and history by the Reformers and it is no accident that these great truths were rediscovered at the same time. It will also be no accident if the Gospel of the glory of God is ever trumpeted again in our nation or any other nation, but instead it will come from the living and true God who works all things for His own glory and He will make His Gospel and His purpose of His glory known. The two things (Grace alone and His Glory alone) cannot be separated in reality. Wherever the true Gospel of grace alone is proclaimed the truth of His glory alone will be proclaimed as well. It cannot be otherwise.

In one sense the Gospel of grace alone protects and preserves the glorious teaching of Soli Deo Gloria, but in another sense Soli Deo Gloria protects and preserves the Gospel of grace alone. When one teaching is distorted or the focus of it is changed, the other is changed as well. I am not sure how it can be denied that the focus of grace in our day has been placed on man and what it does for man rather than its real intent which is to preserve the fact that God does all for His own glory. Oh how this simple matter of the intent and focus of God in the Gospel is so vital as to change that to make man His focus is to change the Gospel itself. The Gospel is only and can only be by grace alone if God saves sinner for His own glory alone. If at any point and in any way the focus of God is on man and He does this for any cause or reason that can be found in man, the Gospel is no longer of grace alone.

Once again, God is triune and within this one God there is three Divine Persons. The one God consists of three Divine Persons. When God is said to do all for Himself, it tells us that the three Persons do what they do out of love for each other and as a way to manifest the glory of the thrice holy God. If God loved human beings enough to save them based on themselves, then this destroys the holiness of God in that He would love human beings more than Himself. This is to say that it would have the Father loving human beings more than the Son and the Son loving human beings more than the Father. This simply cannot be as one Person in the Trinity loving a human being more than another Person in the Trinity would be idolatrous. When the Son comes to die for sinners out of a primary love for the Father and His glory as He was sent by the Father who also loved and sent the Son out of a love for the son, we have a Gospel that is all to the glory of God and a Gospel that is all of grace.

The Gospel of grace alone is primarily the good news of how God loves Himself as triune and out of love for Himself as triune (and nothing but demerit and sin in the human) He can be moved to save sinners and bring them to share in His love for Himself. In all of this the very glory that God is filled with is manifested to sinners, in sinners, and then through sinners. When God acts out of love for Himself He is being perfectly holy in that there is no one else worthy of being love but Himself. When God is said to love a human being, what we can understand by that is that the unworthy human being is changed and viewed as in Christ and as such brought to share in the love of God for Himself. This is great news. God is then said to love sinners when He sets His love on them and works repentance from their self-love and gives and works in them a love for Himself which has to come from Himself. Sinners are truly saved by grace alone and they are truly saved in a way which is to the glory of His name both now and for all eternity. So the Gospel of grace alone and Soli Deo Gloria were not invented at the Reformation, but instead both reveal eternal truths of God as triune and His holiness.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

The Gospel of grace alone in Christ alone is the means or vehicle of how God glorifies Himself on earth and in the heavenlies as well. The purpose or reason for the Church is to proclaim and defend this Gospel of grace alone in Christ alone. The purpose for each human being is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, but when God glorifies Himself through Christ and by the Gospel of grace alone this teaches us that human beings glorify God when they are converted by hearing the Gospel and by living in accordance with it. When people distort the Gospel of grace alone, they are distorting the truths about creation, humanity, and God Himself.

God calls sinners to Himself by the grace of Christ, so when a person changes the Gospel of grace alone to something else (though it may appear to be small), that person is cutting off the calling of God (in this sense) and is distorting the nature of God and of Christ. The Scriptures also teach us very clearly and in multiple places that the Gospel is the Gospel of the glory of God. The true Gospel is not about the worth and glory of man, but it is the display of the beauty and majesty of the glory of God. The Gospel is by grace alone so that it may be to the glory of God alone. When the Gospel is distorted, it is the glory of God that is attacked and distorted.

One of the five points of the Reformation (so to speak) was Soli Deo Gloria, which means to God alone be the glory. This is precisely what the Gospel of grace alone does. It is all to the glory of God because it is the Gospel of grace alone by Christ alone. God has created the whole universe in order to manifest His inter-trinitarian glory or His love for Himself within Hmself. He created the planet earth to display His glory, yes, but He created it to sustain life and be a means of the manifestation of His grace in Christ by saving sinners to the glory of His grace. How dare any person devise a way of salvation or a way of living that is not aimed primarily at the glory of God in all things and in all ways. How dare a worm of the earth try to distort the true Gospel and make it a way for puny man who has no ability to contribute to his own salvation! That is an attack upon the very being of God, the attributes of God, and the decrees of God.

The great and glorious fact that God saves sinners for His own glory is great news to sinners who have reached the point of realizing that God does all things for His own glory and that they are dead in sin and have no ability to save themselves in whole or in the smallest part. God saves sinner according to His power, His wisdom, His self-sufficiency; which are all ways of focused on manifesting His grace to the glory of His name. When sinners try to focus on their own power, own wisdom, own sufficiency; they are then focused on the glory and ability of man rather than the glory of God despite their words.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism simply nails the point when it tells us that the man’s primary (chief) purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. What it does not say, however, is whether this is God’s purpose for man, the purpose God gave man, or whether it is both. It also does not say that man has no ability to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, but instead both of those thing (glorify God and enjoyment of Him) must come by grace alone. Man must not seek to glorify God in his own strength and enjoy God in his own way, for that is doing things in the strength and wisdom of man rather than doing them by grace which glorifies God.

The Gospel of grace alone delivers man from having any part of salvation and leaves all the work up to God. In that God is glorified. Man must realize that if his sanctification, which can be looked at as a being saved from sin and the world in a sense, is from himself then he has the power to overcome sin in his own power. But the Reformation principle (Soli Deo Gloria) and the Westminster Shorter Catechism (glorify and enjoy God as man’s primary purpose) teach us that all things must be done by grace so that it is to the glory of God. If we distort the Gospel of grace alone, we will end up with a distorted gospel and a distorted way of sanctification as well that distorts God’s purpose of glorifying Himself in and through man. God justifies man by grace alone to His glory and He sanctifies man by grace alone to His glory as well.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ and of Grace alone cannot be preached too much. The Church and the churches must be given to preaching this and defending it. The Church is to be the pillar and foundation of the truth and the Gospel of grace alone and of Jesus Christ must be the main part of that. Whether a church is Reformed or not, this is a major issue. Whether a pastor is Reformed or not, this is a major issue. But again, what is the use of preaching, teaching, and believing solid doctrine if there is no Gospel at the heart of it? The Gospel is not some little canned message that people say a prayer in response to, but it is the good news of Jesus Christ and it is the good news about all of Christ. The Gospel is the good news of the grace that Jesus Christ is and of what He has purchased for sinners. There is no real Christ preached unless there is a real grace preached, but it is also the case that there is no real grace preached unless the real Christ is preached.

In the history of the Reformation, which includes a century or so after it, some important doctrines were set out. We had the five sola’s of the Reformation and the five points of Calvinism, though the five points of Calvinism were actually set out in contrast or in answer to the Remonstrants or the Arminian points. In all of these points, I will contend, the Gospel is at the heart of the whole issue as originally set out. For example, while Sola Scriptura may not seem to have the Gospel of grace alone at the heart of it, in the time of the Reformation it did. The issue with Sola Scriptura was over authority or should we listen to Scripture or to the leaders of Roman Catholicism. Luther was setting out the glorious Gospel of grace alone and Rome was opposed to what he said based on what they said others in history had said. Luther used and exposited the Scriptures and said that it was the authority and not the Church Councils nor the Pope.

I Tim 3:14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

The Scriptures are the very out breathing of God and the Church is built by Him as well. There can be no true or real contradiction between the Scriptures and what God has taught the Church, so when there is a contradiction between the two only one of them can be right. The Church is to defend Scripture and what it teaches as opposed to those who try to distort Scripture and the Gospel of Christ. In this sense, then, Scripture stands as the authority rather than the words and works of men so that the Gospel of grace alone can be set out in purity and power. The Church is not to change the Gospel or deviate from it in the slightest, but instead it is to set out the pure Gospel of grace alone and Christ alone. The Church is not there to be comfortable and enjoy all the creature comforts, but instead it is there to proclaim and defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It must be stressed once again, however, that the Gospel of grace alone and Christ alone is not a simple little message. It is the good news of the whole Christ and all that He did and is still doing. It is the good news of how Christ reigns and rules in the hearts of His people. It is the good news of how the sovereign Lord of the universe rules over all things for the purposes of His Church, but even more than that the sovereign Lord rules over all things for His own glory. The Church is to stand for the Gospel because it is also the Gospel of His glory. The Church is a vehicle for the glory of God rather than all the other things it is so busy doing. The Gospel of grace alone is the vehicle by which God’s glory is proclaimed among men. But the Scriptures are the guide of that all. The Gospel is taught to us by Christ who uses His Scriptures to do so. One of the great purposes of Scripture is to be the written testimony to the Gospel of grace alone and in that Sola Scriptura is the servant of the Gospel.

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

The Gospel of grace alone is a fundamental truth of Scripture. Apart from this Gospel, the whole of Scripture does not fit together. Apart from this Gospel, the central truth of Scripture, the rest of the message of the Bible is nothing more than morality and philosophy. Apart from this Gospel, the attributes of God are missing some revealed beauty and glory. Apart from this Gospel, the character of Christ and the cross don’t fit with the rest of Scripture and the attributes of God. All the doctrines of the Bible are off kilter or unbalanced apart from this teaching of how God saves sinners by grace alone.

Pelagian thinking which focuses on the ability of man as virtually or fully untouched by the fall is simply far from biblical Christianity and has no Gospel of grace alone in any real sense of the word. Semi-Pelagianism, which is Arminianism, may teach many things that are mostly orthodox, but the point that this theology takes off from in reality is the point of grace alone. The Semi-Pelagian (or Arminian) by definition believes in the free-will of man and the ability of man to choose Christ from that will rather than a Gospel of grace alone which teaches that grace must bring the person to Christ.

In the passage of Scripture above (Galatians 1:6), it is important to know that this calling of the Gospel is by grace alone as well. This calling is one that comes to the sinner who has no ability to respond in any way but by self-love and hatred for God, but this calling makes the sinner willing and is in fact Christ coming to the sinner and Christ giving the sinner a new heart by His Spirit. Sinners respond to Christ in a positive way only after they have received life and this comes by being united to Christ. The will is not free from the death of depravity and so it cannot come to Christ apart from His giving it life. The will that is free of grace, which the soul must have if it is truly a free-will, cannot hold to a Gospel of grace alone. These things must be made clear.

The truth of the mater, however, is that in the modern day it seems as if much of Reformed theology is inconsistent (at best) with the Gospel of grace alone. The Gospel of grace alone stands firm and all other doctrines and teachings must be judged by it and be viewed as inconsistent with they contradict the Gospel of grace alone. When other teachings stand over and judge the Gospel of grace alone and try to get it to conform to their teachings, this is changing the Gospel. It is possible to teach the doctrine of election as a doctrine that fits with a creed rather than teach election as fitting with the Gospel of grace alone. The whole reason for teaching the doctrine of election is to set forth the inability of the sinner and the glorious and freeness of the grace of God. The doctrine of election is not just a teaching that we must teach in order to be in accordance with our creeds, but it is a doctrine to teach in order to set forth the glory of God in the grace of the Gospel.

While the academics study Scripture using various ways of hermeneutics (science of interpretation), it should be kept in mind that there is a spiritual understanding of Scripture that is beyond the reach of the human intellect (and so the academic way of study). This is not to say that academics is totally worthless, but it is simply to set out that the Gospel cannot be truly understood by the natural man and also the spiritual man using the reasoning of the natural man. It is the totally sufficient God who saves sinners out of love for Himself and His own glory (comes to us as grace and by grace) and nothing in the sinner can move Him to save sinners. Salvation is totally free of causation within the sinner and all causes are found in God alone and His love within Himself as triune. Regardless of a person’s external theology or stated theology or creed, it is possible for the poison of free-will to come in by the front door or by a side door. Whether it is academic theology in the Reformed tradition or a feeling oriented theology of others, the Gospel of grace alone must be stringently set forth and guarded. Anything less than grace alone is a distortion of the Gospel and as such is condemned by Paul. It must be condemned by us as well.

Christ is too high and glorious for nature so much as to touch. There must be a divine nature first put into the soul, to make it lay hold on Him. He lies so infinitely beyond the sight or reach of nature. That Christ which natural free-will can apprehend, is but a natural Christ or a man’s own making, not the Father’s Christ, nor Jesus the Son of the living God, to whom none can come without the Father’s drawing (John 6:44). Thomas Willcox

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 “It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

It is possible to look at the passage in John 6 and think of it as so negative or against us, but instead it is very instructive and positive. The natural man cannot see or reach Christ and cannot infuse anything in himself to do so, but as usual when Scripture sets out what is impossible for man it states what God alone can do. The natural man in his natural “free-will” cannot teach itself what it must do and it has no power to do what it must do, but God does not have the limitations of the natural man. The natural man can only apprehend a natural Christ, but the living God can work in man and give him a new nature so man can apprehend the true Christ. The natural man cannot apprehend any Christ but that of his own devices and a natural deduction from Scripture (perhaps), but that is not the Jesus Christ of God the Father and it is not the Jesus Christ who is the Son of the living God.

The natural man is often drawn to the “Christ” of the natural man’s efforts in evangelism and in doing service to the natural “God” that is devised in the religion of natural men, but the only way to come to the true Father of heaven and earth is to be taught of Him and to be drawn by Him. This is encouraging to the person who has tried to come to the Father in his or her own strength as that is impossible to do. So for the person who has tried and tried to come to the Father, stop trying in your own strength and look to God to do the drawing. All who hear and learn from the Father will come to Christ. So human beings need to be pointed to God rather than to self. Human beings need to learn to quit their striving and know that God is God. Human beings need to learn that they are dead in sin and God alone can make them alive. Human beings need to learn that they have no strength in the spiritual realm and that God must give them that strength. Human beings need to learn that the will is not free and that God alone can draw them rather than for their own will to enable them to come.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so glorious that it is beyond man to apprehend it, so it takes man to quit his efforts in his own strength to do it and look to God alone. The Gospel teaches us that it is nothing but grace and grace alone that will save a man, but the Gospel also teaches us that it is nothing but grace and grace alone that can awaken a poor sinner and to be brought to Christ. Grace alone can bring us to Christ and His Father and nothing else. If anything but grace could bring us to Christ, then the Gospel would be less or something other than grace alone. It is not the will of man that can bring a soul or enable a soul to come to Christ, but it is grace alone that can do so.

John 6:45 tells us quite clearly that no one “can” come to Me unless the Father draws him. The word “can” is a word that tells us of ability. In other words, no one has the ability to come to Christ unless the Father draws him. There is no ability in the will of man and there is no ability in any other part or aspect of man either. The ability or power that is needed to bring a man to Christ is a Divine power and that alone will do it. The power of man cannot possibly do what is needed especially when man has no power at all. Man must bow to the wisdom and power of God in Christ and ask to be drawn rather than trying to do it in the strength of self.

Without question, according to Scripture, there is only one reason that God will draw a sinner to Christ. That is to the praise of the glory of His grace. Sinners, whether true believers or not, must be drawn to Christ by grace. Sinners need to stop their striving as if these things come by works and seek the Lord for grace. The striving must come from the strength of grace which works out of love from God and for God, but it must not be an effort to obtain grace or earn it in some way. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us salvation is by grace and grace alone. We must not add one thing to it in order that it would be all from Him and would be to His glory.

Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

Galatians 1:6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 5:4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

It may seem as if this whole series on the Gospel of grace alone has been nothing more than a rehearsal of one point. In many ways that is true. There have been so many things that have been brought into professing Christianity under the guise of or in accordance with grace alone that this point needs to be stressed over and over. It does not matter the name or the titles, if a person is pursuing righteousness in any other way than by grace alone through faith alone, that person is stumbling over some law of righteousness. It does not matter if a person is pursuing righteousness by the name of grace alone if in fact that person is not pursuing righteousness by a biblical grace in reality. It does not matter if a person is pursuing righteousness by faith alone if in fact the person is not pursuing righteousness in accordance with biblical faith.

A person can stumble by works while calling them grace and faith. A person can be caused to stumble over Christ as the stone of stumbling while thinking that s/he is seeking Christ. If a person is not pursuing Christ and His righteousness by grace alone through faith alone in truth and reality, that person is stumbling over Christ while using the name of Christ. As in Galatians 1:6, there are many today who are deserting Christ while using the words “grace” and “faith” and thinking that they are seeking Christ. They are either distorting the Gospel themselves or they believe in a distorted gospel.

It does not matter what a person says or what creed a person thinks that s/he believes, but if a person is seeking to be justified by any other method than the true Christ by a true grace that person is seeking to be justified in a false way and that way is antithetical to the Gospel of grace alone. It is not just a minor thing when someone distorts the Gospel and leads others astray, for those who do not have the true Gospel will suffer in hell forever. It is not enough to pray a prayer and be more, even if one is very, very moral and very, very nice, a person must have the righteousness of Christ by grace alone or that person will suffer the eternal wrath of God. The Gospel of grace alone must be preached and taught constantly and consistently or the people will be led astray by distortions from all manners of people.

Romans 9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

Once again, this is a passage from Romans 9 that declares that the Gospel is all of grace and nothing but grace. While this is impossible for the natural man to relish and understand with a spiritual understanding, which is why natural men hate this chapter (whether religious, ministers, professing Christians or not), this is a delight to those who love the freedom of God in saving sinners. This passage is sweet to those who have died to all hope in self and see themselves as utterly beyond saving unless God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. The soul that sees itself as dead and beyond doing anything spiritual in its own power will delight in this passage as it sees God as having the ability to save sinners without any help at all from sinners. The soul that has lost all hope in its own self-sufficiency and knows that it has no ability and no sufficiency in the realm of salvation is happy to think upon the grace of God which saves sinners, even despite who they are and what they are done rather than look to them for some good in them and/or some decent works.

The doctrine of God’s loving sinners freely and setting His love on them because of who He is rather than who they are strips men of all pride and confidence in the flesh. Indeed men will be inclined to complain and accuse God of injustice, but there is no real complaint against God the Potter that can come from man the clay. As one thinks through this, the conclusion is quite evident. Puny little man has no claim against his Maker who has the right to make of man as He (God) pleases. Is a potter wrong for taking a lump of clay and making one vessel for honorable use out of it and yet from the same lump making another vessel for common use? The difference between the vessels is not what the vessels have done and not the quality of the clay, but in the mere pleasure of the potter. The point is quite clear. It is the potter that makes the choice of what to make out of the clay. In the Divine sense, this teaches us that it is the Divine Potter who has the right over the clay to do with them as He pleases and there is no real complaint that will stand up.

Can we really complain if God does make human beings out of clay and endures with them as vessels of wrath? He is under no obligation to use a lump of clay and make all human beings the same out of that clay. To some, however, He will make known the riches of His glory upon them and in them as vessels of mercy. But again, what we see is the choice of the living God that makes the difference. The Gospel shines so brightly here and in a unique way. The Scriptures are clear that all men are sinners and that God must elect to save sinners or they will not be saved. But in this passage we see that all men are from the same lump of clay and God is free to make them as He pleases. Those who are vessels of wrath in some way make for the shining forth of His glory even brighter toward the vessels of mercy. This is not some ugly and horrid teaching stuffed away in a hidden part of the Old Testament, but instead this is set out to show how sinners are saved by grace alone. This should lead sinners to bow before the Lord of glory and marvel at His sovereign grace.

How this should move sinners to absolute humility and emptiness of self and pride before God. How this should teach sinners how to seek God in terms of salvation. They are not to seek Him as if He owed them anything, but instead as nothing more than a lump of clay that He can do with as He pleases. God has the right and the power to do with any and all sinners as He pleases, which shows us with great clarity that that Gospel of grace alone is true and cannot be wrong. The glorious Gospel of grace alone is that God saves sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace and so He can save the worst of sinners because He saves based on Himself and not on what the sinner has done. He is free and gloriously free to save by grace alone and there is no one who can charge Him with wrong. Oh how beautiful is the glory of sovereign grace!

Romans 9:13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 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 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

One of the sobering and yet glorious teachings of Scripture on election is that not only does God have mercy on whom He will have mercy and have compassion on whom He will have compassion, but He also hardens those whom He desires. Oh how this causes the natural man to gnash his teeth at the true sovereign of the universe as the natural man desires to be in control and sovereign over himself, which is to say that the natural man would be a god unto himself. But Scripture teaches us very clearly that it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. But what if God has no desire to choose mercy? He does, after all, have mercy on whom He desires (v. 18). But if He does not desire to show mercy, what are we to say at that?

We are also told that God hardens whom He desires. This is such a hard teaching that is ignored and is the cause for many to avoid teaching Romans 9, but even those who dare to teach it don’t really address many of the issues. This hard teaching is necessary, however, if we are going to understand the true nature of grace. To repeat or quote Scripture again, “He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” For God to show mercy in an aspect of grace, but for Him to harden it is an aspect of His justice. His glory shines either way. While that sounds calloused, we are left with no other place to stand on by Scripture and we should not want to stand at any other point than where Scripture stands.

But this great teaching teaches us to encourage sinners to flee from sin because God may harden their hearts and turn them over to sin. It is not that sinners just sin and their wills are free to sin in this life without judgment, but each sin is judged and judged immediately whether one sees it or not. Sin hardens the hearts of sinners and they are turned over to more and more sin. Sin brings judgment in this life and in the life to come. It is by grace alone that God takes sinners that are hardened in sin and to the glory of His grace He softens their hearts and converts them at His mere pleasure.

Another aspect of this teaching is that the thrice holy God is under no obligation to those who sin and are hardened in their sin. While they continue in bondage to sin and sin makes the bondage worse and worse, sinners are helpless in their sin while they are piling more and more burdens upon themselves. Sinners have no power to undo sin or to take sin off of their backs, but sinners are completely at the mercy of God to do as He pleases with them. It takes the blood of Christ to take the guilt of sin away and sinners cannot apply that to themselves. It takes an infinite power to rescue sinners from the power of sin, the devil, and of self. That infinite power can only be exerted by the living God.

Yes, this is a hard teaching and it is rejected by many in the modern day. But this teaching will also set out the grace of God and put it on display for all to see. While justice screams for God to judge sinners and to harden them, God shows mercy and grace and saves sinners by Christ in a way that satisfies perfect justice and yet puts the glory of grace on display for angelic beings and sinners to admire. The right of God to harden the hearts of sinners as a judicial judgment is one thing to admit as true in accordance with a creed, but to bow before God and confess His righteous judgment on us and look to grace alone is quite another. But until we see how righteous God is to harden us in our sin and damn us, we will not see with great clarity that God saves sinners by His grace alone.

Romans 9:13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 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 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

The glorious Gospel is full of glory because it is all about the beauty and glory of God. The Gospel is said to be the Gospel of the glory of God and the Gospel of the glory of Christ. While human beings want to make the Gospel focus on men and men will see a glory in the Gospel as long as it is about them, the true Gospel of grace alone will have no glory for the unregenerate person to see. The unregenerate person does not have spiritual eyes to see the true glory of Christ but instead will only think of that as glorious which has to do with self. The unregenerate person does not have spiritual ears and so cannot hear the voice of God speaking forth His glory, but instead man only has ears for things that do not destroy his pride and self-sufficiency.

The glory of the Gospel is that God has mercy rather than salvation depending on men to will or run. The glory of Gospel is not that God provides men salvation by grace and then leaves it to them to choose it or not, but instead the glory of the Gospel is all about the grace of God in overcoming the obstinate will of man and making him willing in the day of His power. The Gospel is not about man becoming religious or moral in his own strength or even with some help, but about God changing the heart of man and by grace changing man where he will grow to become more and more like Christ by His grace. It is the glory of His grace that is on display rather than the salvation of men depending on their own wills or their own running. This is so hard for the proud heart of men and the focus of themselves on self. Instead of man looking to self and his worth, works, and will for salvation, he must look to the mercy and grace of God alone. This is why in older days men taught that men must be humbled and broken in order to be saved. God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

The Scriptures specifically and undeniably teach in this place that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and that He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. The Scriptures specifically and undeniably teach in this place that salvation does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs (the efforts of man), but instead it rests upon God to have mercy. The contrast is quite clear. On the one side we have many today who focus on the will of man as the issue in salvation. On another side we have many today who focus on the efforts (effort in works and morality) of man. The third side, it seems, is quite small and perhaps even very small. These are the ones who look to the grace of God alone in all things rather than their own will and works or morality. But what we must see is that these are the ones who think of grace as sovereign rather than something man can will or act in order to get God to do something. These are the ones who stand for a Gospel of grace alone looking to the hand of God alone to give grace and nothing else.

Yes, it is true, that sinners must repent and believe. But once again, do sinners repent and believe because of their own wills and their own efforts or because of the mercy and compassion of God? Are those sinners taught to repent and believe from their own strength and their own wills and efforts? If so, those sinners are not hearing the truth of the Gospel of grace alone. Their real hope and their real trust will still be in self as long as their hope and trust are in their own wills and efforts. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, though exceedingly and abundantly free, requires the whole person and all of that person. It requires people to give up all efforts of self and hope in self because when grace comes it gives a person an entire and whole hope in Christ alone. Yes, it requires death to self and death to pride, but it is still the Gospel of grace alone and it will work that death to self in the person by grace so that the whole of the Gospel may be by grace and grace alone.

Romans 9:13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 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 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

The Gospel of grace alone stands firm upon the eternal plans and will of God rather than the mortal plans and will of man. The Gospel of grace alone stands firm on the choices of God rather than choices of man. The Gospel of grace alone stands of the mercy and grace of God rather than the goodness of man regardless of whether it is by his birth or by his activity. The Gospel of grace alone stands on the works of God rather than the works of man. The Gospel of grace alone stands on the fact that salvation depends on the will and activity of God rather than the will and activity of man. The Gospel of grace alone stands on the fact that God has mercy on whom He desires rather than on man choosing for God to have mercy on himself.

The fact that God loved Jacob and hated Esau was not found in their own merits, righteousness, or works, but in the fact that God has the right to do with them as He pleased. This is a hard teaching for people to accept, but this is the great safeguard for the Gospel to be by grace alone rather than something that man attains to in some way. The text (above) is very clear on this and one has to try hard to get around that it is so clearly saying. This is to say that it takes a lot of theological and hermeneutical gymnastics to get around this plain teaching. God loved Jacob and hated Esau and so the natural objection (which Paul answers) is that there is some injustice with God. But Paul’s answer to that objection is not some philosophical answer based on some form of human-centered focus, but instead he goes to the words of God to Moses. God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion.

If the natural man (including the natural and religious man) did not rebel against that teaching so much the case would be closed at this point. God is not under any obligation to any particular person mercy or compassion, nor is He under obligation to any denomination or religious circle to show mercy or compassion. God shows mercy or compassion to those whom He is pleased to show. God does not show mercy and compassion because a person is born into a Christian home, nor does He show mercy and compassion because a person works and is good. God shows mercy and compassion because He wills to do so and this is based solely on Himself.

The issue of grace versus human goodness and works comes to the surface with great clarity at this point. God shows mercy and compassion on whom He is pleased to do so and not because of anything found in any one human or all humans together. He loved Jacob and hated Esau precisely because He was sovereign and it pleased Him to have mercy and compassion on one and not the other. God is free to set His love on those whom He is pleased to do so and He is free to pass over all those He is pleased to do so. The showing of mercy and compassion arises from God Himself and His own holiness, but not because of man. God created all things through and for Christ and man is for Christ rather than Christ being for man in the ultimate sense. Christ came in order to manifest the glory of the Father rather than to demonstrate the value and worth of man.

What is seen in this text is that God is utterly sovereign in His showing of mercy and compassion. How this fits with the Gospel of grace alone. What is called “grace” in the modern day is no real grace at all because it depends on man rather than on God. The modern day thinks of “grace” as that which man has to do something in order to receive it, but the Scriptures know of no such thing. There is no condition for man to keep or the Gospel is not of grace alone. The Gospel is all of grace and nothing but grace and as such it rests on the will of God to show grace or not as He pleases. This is a delight to the soul that has been taught of God to delight in Him and His grace.