<html><head></head><body><div><div><div>Romans 9;14-18<div><br></div><div><b>14. &nbsp;What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!</b></div><div><b>15. &nbsp;For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”<br>16. &nbsp;So it depends not upon man’s will&nbsp;or exertion, but upon God‘s mercy.</b></div><div><b>17. &nbsp;For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”</b></div><div><b>18. &nbsp;So then he has mercy upon whomever he will, and he hardens the heart of whomever he will.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Today’s verses and those we read in the next few days would ‘appear’ once more to seem to support the false teaching of ‘double predestination.’</div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>The teachings of the&nbsp;</span><span>scriptures must not&nbsp;</span><span>be founded upon isolated verses, but rather in light of the entirety of the Word of God</span><span>. &nbsp;Therefore,</span><span>&nbsp;we must view today’s verses in the light of other passages which are more clear and straightforward concerning the will and working of God.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span></span><span>&nbsp; &nbsp;A very important</span><span>&nbsp;principle of Biblical interpretation is that we understand &nbsp;the difficult passages in the light of the clear passages.</span></div><div><br></div><div>In this case, when Paul teaches that God <i>“raised up” </i>Pharaoh <i>“for the very purpose of showing My power.”</i></div><div>(v 17), that does not mean that Pharaoh did not receive mercy&nbsp;from God. &nbsp;He mercifully&nbsp;received&nbsp;from Moses&nbsp;a clear witness of Who the true God was, and further, that&nbsp;Pharaoh himself was not God. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>It was Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to repent and confess God’s Truth, which led God to&nbsp;finally confirm&nbsp;Pharaoh in his unbelief. &nbsp; Clearly, Pharaoh was guilty of the unforgivable sin, he resisted the Holy Spirit’s efforts to give him repentance and faith, therefore Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp; When Paul&nbsp;says God, <i>“has mercy upon whomever He will, and He hardens the heart of whomever He will”, </i>these truths must be understood in the light of John 3;16, <i>“For God so loved the world&nbsp;that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should&nbsp;not perish but have eternal life.”</i></div><div>And,</div><div>“..<i>God our Savior, desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” </i>(1 Timothy 2;3&amp;4)</div><div><i><br></i></div><div><br></div><div>The greater point to be received from today’s verse is verse 16. Our very salvation, the receiving of the gifts of repentance and faith are, <i>“…not the result of man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy.”</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>If we are saved, (if we remain&nbsp;repentant and continue in the gift of faith), that is all God’s doing and to&nbsp;His glory alone, not ours. &nbsp;If others&nbsp;perish in unbelief, it is the result of their&nbsp;personal rejection of the gift of God’s mercy, for His mercy is toward all mankind. &nbsp;God is love, and He loves all, even those who perish. &nbsp;It is they who own responsibility for their condemnation.</div><div><br></div><div>Therefore, we teach ‘election to grace’ but not ‘election to damnation.’</div><div>As Paul says in his opening in verse 14, <i>“Is there injustice on God’s part? &nbsp;By <u>no</u>&nbsp;means!”</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>We should also recognize that this principle which teaches,&nbsp;‘our&nbsp;salvation is, <i>“not the result of man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy”</i>&nbsp; applies to the whole of the living out of our lives of good works.</div><div>We confess with Paul that, <i>“the grace of God is at work in us”, </i>and <i>“It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His pleasure.” &nbsp;</i>(Philippians 2;13) &nbsp;</div><div>The power to do good works is in and from God. &nbsp;We are His instrument in His hand. &nbsp;If we struggle to overcome fears and bad habits, it is because we fail to believe Philippians 2;13, and instead are like Paul in Romans 7, overpowered by our own prideful&nbsp;sin nature.&nbsp; Paul and we are&nbsp;still seeking to do the will and work of God by the strength of ’his/our own will.’ &nbsp; &nbsp;Trying to do good works in and by ourselves is prideful.</div><div><br></div><div>God allows His children to fail when they try to do good works&nbsp;in their own strength, instead of believing they are&nbsp;in Christ, and He is living by the Spirit in them and through them&nbsp;meta-physically. &nbsp;Like Paul, we too are His chosen instruments. &nbsp;&nbsp;This is what Paul tries to teach us about the necessity of <i>“the Law of the Spirit of Life </i><u>in Christ Jesus.”</u>&nbsp; &nbsp; (Romans 8;2)</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, we praise You that our salvation and lives of good works are all Your grace at work for us and in us. &nbsp;Bless us to by faith live out the&nbsp;lives You have prepared&nbsp;for us, truly dead to our sin nature, and fully yielded to your will and work. &nbsp; In<span>&nbsp;Christ we pray, Amen.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Love,&nbsp;</span></div><div><span>Dad/Baba/Eric/Grandpa Pickle Pastor</span></div><div><span>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we, broken-hearted, contrite, forgiven, believing children, are His!”</span></div><div><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>

Romans 9;14-18
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 it depends not upon man’s will or exertion, but upon God‘s mercy.17.  For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”18.  So then he has mercy upon whomever he will, and he hardens the heart of whomever he will.
Today’s verses and those we read in the next few days would ‘appear’ once more to seem to support the false teaching of ‘double predestination.’
The teachings of the scriptures must not be founded upon isolated verses, but rather in light of the entirety of the Word of God.  Therefore, we must view today’s verses in the light of other passages which are more clear and straightforward concerning the will and working of God.
   A very important principle of Biblical interpretation is that we understand  the difficult passages in the light of the clear passages.
In this case, when Paul teaches that God “raised up” Pharaoh “for the very purpose of showing My power.”(v 17), that does not mean that Pharaoh did not receive mercy from God.  He mercifully received from Moses a clear witness of Who the true God was, and further, that Pharaoh himself was not God.  
It was Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to repent and confess God’s Truth, which led God to finally confirm Pharaoh in his unbelief.   Clearly, Pharaoh was guilty of the unforgivable sin, he resisted the Holy Spirit’s efforts to give him repentance and faith, therefore Pharaoh’s heart was hardened.  
  When Paul says God, “has mercy upon whomever He will, and He hardens the heart of whomever He will”, these truths must be understood in the light of John 3;16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”And,“..God our Savior, desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2;3&4)

The greater point to be received from today’s verse is verse 16. Our very salvation, the receiving of the gifts of repentance and faith are, “…not the result of man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy.”
If we are saved, (if we remain repentant and continue in the gift of faith), that is all God’s doing and to His glory alone, not ours.  If others perish in unbelief, it is the result of their personal rejection of the gift of God’s mercy, for His mercy is toward all mankind.  God is love, and He loves all, even those who perish.  It is they who own responsibility for their condemnation.
Therefore, we teach ‘election to grace’ but not ‘election to damnation.’As Paul says in his opening in verse 14, “Is there injustice on God’s part?  By no means!”
We should also recognize that this principle which teaches, ‘our salvation is, “not the result of man’s will or exertion, but upon God’s mercy”  applies to the whole of the living out of our lives of good works.We confess with Paul that, “the grace of God is at work in us”, and “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His pleasure.”  (Philippians 2;13)  The power to do good works is in and from God.  We are His instrument in His hand.  If we struggle to overcome fears and bad habits, it is because we fail to believe Philippians 2;13, and instead are like Paul in Romans 7, overpowered by our own prideful sin nature.  Paul and we are still seeking to do the will and work of God by the strength of ’his/our own will.’    Trying to do good works in and by ourselves is prideful.
God allows His children to fail when they try to do good works in their own strength, instead of believing they are in Christ, and He is living by the Spirit in them and through them meta-physically.  Like Paul, we too are His chosen instruments.   This is what Paul tries to teach us about the necessity of “the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.”    (Romans 8;2)
Prayer:  Merciful Father, we praise You that our salvation and lives of good works are all Your grace at work for us and in us.  Bless us to by faith live out the lives You have prepared for us, truly dead to our sin nature, and fully yielded to your will and work.   In Christ we pray, Amen.
Love, Dad/Baba/Eric/Grandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we, broken-hearted, contrite, forgiven, believing children, are His!”

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