14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 
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 depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, 
that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
—Romans 9:14-18, ESV

I remember a murder case in Georgia from about ten years ago.  A woman was shot and killed during a carjacking in Duluth, an Atlanta suburb.  Eyewitness testimony and DNA evidence led to a quick arrest, and it seemed like an open and shut case.  Then, the charges against the prime suspect were dropped.

It turned out the crime was committed by the man’s identical twin brother.  They would have looked the same to an eyewitness.  Identical twins possess the same DNA.  But, they leave different fingerprints.  The exonerated brother went home, while the guilty brother was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.

My question today is not to do with the crime, but the brothers.  How can two identical twins turn out so differently?  They had the same parents, same upbringing, same everything save their fingerprints.  One lived a normal, law-abiding life.  The other became a convicted murderer.  The answer is complex.

So is the doctrine of election.  It is a complex doctrine ordained in eternity past that can separate even brothers for eternity future.  Election entails justice, for the guilty.  Election is loaded with mercy, for the seemingly innocent, who may not be as innocent as you might think.  And election is punctuated with the sovereign, gracious, and immutable will of God.

Romans 9, 10, and 11 are extensibly about election, evangelism, and exaltation.  “God’s purpose of election” (ref. 9:11) does not negate our responsibility to call on God for salvation (ref. 10:13) once we have been properly evangelized (ref. 10:14-17).  The purpose of election and evangelism is always the exaltation and glory of God (ref. 11:36).  

Romans 9:14-18 brings back two brothers from the previous text, Esau and Jacob.  It introduces two more, Pharaoh and Moses, though we forget sometimes they were once brothers, too.  Both sets of brothers were raised in the same house by the same parents.  Their destinies were different, however, as one brother received the awful judgment of God, while the other brother was shown God’s mercy.  All of this is in accordance with the perfect will of God, a will infinitely higher and greater than our own.

Election is God’s Justice

The family in the Georgia case pleaded with the judge to let their son and brother go free.  It was just one mistake, they said.  The gun had a hair trigger, they said, even though he shot the woman multiple times.  Let him go and he won’t do it again, they said.  

So, the judge sent him home, right?  In the words of the Apostle Paul, “Mé ginoito!”  This means “by no means” (ESV), “God forbid” (KJV), “may it never be” (NASB), or as the t-shirts say in one of our town’s most popular restaurants, “No way, Jose!”  

Esau, the brother of chosen and beloved Jacob, was a desperately wicked man.  He mocked God and the sacred religion of his forefathers, Abraham and Isaac.  He married ungodly women and engaged in pagan religious practices just to spite the Lord and his parents.  He was a wild man’s man most men would have liked, but to God he was a hated, deplorable, rebel.  So, no, God did not choose Esau, give salvation to Esau, nor bring Esau into His eternal kingdom.  Esau got what he deserved, justice.

Pharaoh, grew up with his adopted brother from birth, Moses.  Pharaoh scoffed when Moses told him about the true and living God, YHWH.  Pharaoh pursued Moses and the Israelites unto death after their exodus out of Egypt.  God does not help those who help themselves, but God does harden those who harden themselves, like Pharaoh.  So, no, God did not choose Pharaoh, give salvation to Pharaoh, nor bring Pharaoh into His people and kingdom.  Pharaoh got what he deserved, justice.

Election is God’s judgment, passing over, reprobation, hardening of hearts that are already inclined to sin, rebellion, and unbelief.  These hearts, however, do not just belong to the murderers, rapists, thieves, Esau’s, and Pharaoh’s of the world.  They belong to you and me as well (ref. Isaiah 53:6; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10ff).

Unless you can come to grips with the fact the whole human race deserves just punishment from God, you will never understand the merciful side of the glorious doctrine of election.  Election is God’s justice.  It is also God’s grace and mercy.

Election is God’s Mercy

No one deserves to be saved, forgiven, or given eternal life in Heaven.  But, it happens all the time!  It is because some people are good?  Is it because some people are smart and wise and make the right choices?  Or, is it because of the sheer mercy and grace of God?

Our text today makes it rather obvious.  Election is the merciful and gracious choice of God to save some from this human race running headlong into Hell.  Heaven is the reward, indeed, but not one earned.  It is an unearned, unmerited gift from God, the very definition of mercy and grace.  

Election is mercy and election is grace.  Election is God giving us the gift of being pardoned from the punishment we deserve, or mercy.  Election is God giving us the gift of compassion, love, salvation, which we did not deserve, or grace.  

Jacob, or Israel, was a man no better than his brother, Esau.  In fact, he may have been worse.  Jacob was a sissy, a mama’s boy, a coward, a liar, a deceiver.  But God chose to love Jacob, choose Jacob, long before Jacob had done anything good or bad, and give Jacob mercy and grace.  Then Jacob made his calling and election sure (ref. 2 Peter 1:10) by loving God, worshipping the true and living God, responding to and obeying God’s word, and teaching others to do the same.

Moses, man of God, was a man no better than his brother, Pharaoh.  Moses was given to unbelief, wandering, pride.  He loved the privileges of Egypt until he didn’t, when God called his name and pointed him to a more glorious kingdom.  God chose to love Moses, choose Moses, long before Moses was born and put in that basket.  He gave Moses mercy and grace.  Then Moses made his calling and election sure by loving God, worshipping God, receiving and obeying God’s word, and teaching others to do the same.  

Beloved, you and I are no better than anyone else who has ever run the human race on planet earth.  We are all dashing off a pier extending into the Atlantic Ocean, trying to jump across to the other side of the world.  Some, to be sure, will jump a little farther than others.  But we will all fall woefully short (ref. Romans 3:23).  We all deserve to drown in our hatred, rebellion, and sin against the God who created us.  But, some of us are snatched from the sea and secured for a new Heaven and earth.

If God has set you apart for His love, if God has chosen you, if God has saved you, then you will know.  You will love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  You will worship Him, publicly and privately.  You will hunger for His word, and when fed upon it, you will seek to obey it and apply it to your life.  You will tell others about Him.  Election always leads to a truly evangelical life.  

Election is God’s Will

Now for the big question, which has been answered in part, but now is time to put forth the whole.  If election is God’s justice, and it is; and, if election is God’s mercy, and it is; then, who decides who gets justice and who gets mercy?  Is it God’s will, man’s will, or both?

Here we will let the text speak for itself.  I read God quoted as talking about “I will,” and He indeed is the “I.”  I read Paul writing, “It depends not on human will … but on God.”  I see how the text closes with “whomever He wills,” not with whosoever will.  Salvation is selected and applied by God’s will, not our own.

At the turn of the fifth century, Saint Augustine was the leading theologian of the day.  He was a champion of the authority of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, and what was considered Pauline Theology.  He was challenged by a popular churchman named Pelagius, who countered salvation comes by the free will of man, not the sovereign will of God.  Pelagius was branded a heretic and kicked out of the church.

After the Great Reformation, Jacob Arminius challenged the legacy of Martin Luther and John Calvin.  Those two and others had restored the Pauline and Augustinian emphasis upon the necessity of the sovereign will of God to free the bonded and sinful will of man in order to enable him to repent and believe and be saved.  The doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone was affirmed, and Arminians shirked off to the sidelines.  

Today, the Pelagians and Arminians are back, with a vengeance.  They control Roman Catholicism, dominate most of Protestantism, and of the hundred thousand or so Baptists preaching in churches today, most of them wouldn’t touch the true exegesis of Romans 9 with a ten foot pole.  

So let me summarize our text. If you are a Christian, saved, born again, child of God, bound for Heaven, you had absolutely nothing to do with your salvation but the sinning.  God chose you, God called you, God saved you, in accordance with his own perfect and sovereign will.  When your day of salvation arrived, having already been decided by God before you were born, you were spared from judgement, given grace and mercy, and the power of the Holy Spirit set you free to love, worship, trust, and obey God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

You and I did nothing, fellow Christians.  God decided it all, Jesus paid it all, the Holy Spirit put it all into you.  Now, worship the Lord.  Serve Him.  Go and tell others about Him.  Share the gospel of His great mercy and grace.  You do not know who the elect are, but proper evangelism will discover them.  The elect evangelized exalts the name and fame of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ!