Listen up, little ones
Listen for the word mercy.
Reading
Romans 9:18–26—My Beloved People, My Sons
Optional Reading
Hosea 1:1-2:1
Keys for kids
- God chooses us to be saved.
- God is right to do this because he owns all his creation.
- God is merciful to do this because we don’t deserve saving.
Questions
- What objection is Paul answering?
- What may the potter do with the clay?
- What may God do with people?
Notes
(See Saturday for authors)
In Romans 9, Paul, by the action of God breathing His Word out from human authors here in Romans 9, answers objections to “Calvinism”—specifically objections to election. Remember the context—Paul is in unceasing anguish over his fellow Jews not believing in Christ. In this context, Paul addresses objections to Sovereign election that sound amazingly like objections raised today.
In our verses, the objection that Paul answers is, it’s not my fault, it’s God’s fault. And the answer is: God is God and may do with his creation what he desires. A potter may make a beautiful vase or a spittoon, a lovely pitcher or a chamber-pot. And nobody says potters can’t. But some want to say God can’t.
The amazing matter is that God chose to create some on which to show mercy, to display the riches of his glory. God chose some, as we read in Hosea and we read here, whose names by nature were “Not My People” and “Not Beloved,” and in his mercy he renames them “My People” and “Beloved.”
God’s election is, absolute, unconditional, merciful, sovereign, international. So, trust Him, Submit to Him. Be humbly thankful. And plead with Him—longingly desiring the salvation of others so much that you, like Paul, could wish yourself lost if they might be saved.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 65a, 119t
Prayer
- Thank God for showing mercy to you in Jesus.
- Pray for a specific application from yesterday's sermons.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.