ROMANS 9:14-18 GOD'S MERCY Who really are the ones to whom God extends His mercy? Only those who are sovereignly elected to bring the promised blessing of Christ to the world? Only those who are chosen to be God's earthly nation? We must keep in mind the God we know and worship is sovereign, not arbitrary. "In every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him."
Israel thought they were God's people because they were Abraham's seed and had to be reminded it was not natural seed alone that brought them into covenant blessings. It was because through Abraham's faith in God, and His obedience of faith that they came into the blessings God promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All of Abraham's seed included far more than Isaac, and Isaac's seed was more than Jacob. God is the Sovereign who can, and does, show compassion and mercy on anyone He chooses to. That mercy does not depend on what we will do or eventually decide to do that is the means of our salvation.
God must show mercy to us or else we would all be lost forever. Our good intentions or any efforts that we might choose to make as steps leading to make God willing to save us, does not in any way make God merciful to us. Mercy cannot be earned. God has already reached down to us by His grace to provide a means of acceptance with Him through Christ. It is of His mercy that we are not already consumed because of our sin against Him.
The hardness of the heart of Pharaoh, of the nation of Israel and of people today begins with self-sufficiency, then self-made ideas and self-satisfaction. Disobedience is usually the first step leading to hardness. Then comes the desire for wealth and prosperity that we think we deserve. Some even claim this is evidence of God's blessing on them. Discontentment and a rebellious attitude that tries to blame God for things we perceive to be bad, soon follows. Any rebuke or correction that is deserved will be rejected. Those who heard that correction, refuse to listen or pay any attention to that which goes contrary to their own will. When that happens, people fail to respond to God's grace and offered mercy with no intention of obeying God, even though they heard His voice. This hardening, leaves one unwilling and unable to obey God.
God is not the One who makes people stubborn and willfully reject Him. And because God is the God of love, does not mean He is obligated to save everyone. He is sovereign it is true but He also gives people the right to reject His mercy and He gives people the right to obey or disobey His Gospel message. He has the sovereign right to do that.
God, being God, knows how people react to His mercy. He also knows how people will respond to His will and truth proclaimed in the Gospel. We who read these words of scripture can accept with a certain reverent attitude, the truth that God shows mercy to those who respond to His mercy. If that is rejected, that person will be hardened to divine entreaties that were once offered. These awesome words declare perhaps more clearly than others, the truth of the sovereignty of our God and the way He has displayed and extended His mercy toward us.
The depth of God's mercy can never be fathomed - Its height goes beyond our imagination or thought. It is not limited to those who have come to know Him - No one can measure "what God hath wrought."
His mercy is not confined to a nation or creed. Mercy is extended to those who on His name call. Whenever a lost soul, or a person in need - Turns to God in faith, His mercy will keep that one from a fall.
When one disobeys God, their heart starts to harden - Wealth and prosperity make one harder still. Discontent and rebellion - rejecting God's pardon - Failing to respond to God makes hardness the heart to fill.
The Sovereign God shows mercy far beyond measure - But when it is finally refused, He may no longer hear. Because when His grace is spurned and is not to one a treasure - He has the sovereign right to harden those who for Him have no fear.
"Father in heaven, there does seem to be a wide tendency of opinion to resist and reject Thy mercy. There are some, Father, who have shown recently a desire to hear Thy Word. I pray for that lady who has been so resistant, that she will again come to hear Thy Gospel tonight and respond in faith to Thy offer of mercy. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."