Romans Series – God’s Sovereign Reign

The same kind of questions we ask was asked by the Romans.  If God is all knowing, how can some be called and some harden their hearts?  What about all those in the Old Testament who didn’t know Jesus as the Messiah?  If they were and are a cloud of witnesses, who are they testifying about?  As Paul was sharing the gospel with everyone, we must come to realize that he did not have the New Testament.  It was the scriptures of the Old Testament that pointed to the truth of Jesus.  We can take what we have only in the Old Testament and we would see Jesus flowing out of the pages of scripture.  So before we continue in our reading of Romans, we must keep before us our sovereign God who will hear our prayers and will heal, give, and be our provision.  God worked through a very specific, historic promise.  His promise started with Abraham and ended with Jesus.  The reminder is that God chose people.  He chose the people of Israel.  And he is continuing to chose us as we put our trust in Jesus as our salvation.

So before we continue in our reading of Romans, we must keep before us our sovereign God who will hear our prayers and will heal, give, and be our provision.  God worked through a very specific, historic promise.  His promise started with Abraham and ended with Jesus.  The reminder is that God chose people.  He chose the people of Israel.  And he is continuing to chose us as we put our trust in Jesus as our salvation.  It is not by birth, but by faith that we are saved.

So the question is if God is limiting salvation, and being unjust by that limitation?  The answer is NO.  He confirms that there is a standard of righteousness.  God wants us to be right before Him.  But it starts from the inside, not the outside.  Parents never tell their children that they can only be a child because they adequately clean their room, wash up, or do their chores correctly.  Children are accepted as children without those rules.  But the rules are still there and asked upon children by their parents.  In the same way, God accepts us as we accept Him.  We are his children at that moment.  No rules.  No effort.  It comes from who He is.  We cannot earn or achieve what God has given by faith.

So we arrive at a difficult passage.  It appears that God is just choosing who is saved and who is not saved. This is predestination idea that is accepted by many Christians.  But it is hard to find evidence for that, and instead, there is very strong evidence that this is not something God does.  What we find is that God is shaping people in the time and place of His plan.  So what if God shows his wrath, showing the result of unrighteousness, he is in doing so pointing toward salvation?  It is a wake-up call.

So as we stop for today, ask this question.  Has God answered my prayer in a way I feel was incorrect in both timing and result?  Was there a larger issue that was addressed even though I went through hardship?  So continue to trust God.  When we accept His promise through Jesus Christ we are his children and nothing will change that.