Pastor David Jang
If God’s choice comes first, why does it matter that I believe and repent today? Pastor David Jang, founder of Olivet University in the United States, explores this question in his sermon on Romans 9:11–33, examining the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human faith. Election reveals that salvation begins with God’s grace, and that grace calls us to come to Christ. As we follow Paul’s argument, our attention shifts from speculating about who has been chosen to asking what we ourselves are relying on.
Election and Reprobation: God’s Grace Precedes Human Merit
In this sermon, election refers to God’s gracious calling of sinners to salvation, while reprobation concerns those who are not chosen and remain under judgment. These terms may raise questions about God’s justice and fears about our own salvation. Yet Paul’s argument does not begin with the assumption that human beings first made themselves worthy of salvation. We must understand the meaning of grace in light of the fact that all people are under sin.
In Romans 9:11, Jacob and Esau had not yet been born and had done nothing either good or bad. Paul explains that God’s purpose in election was already made known at that point. God did not compare their achievements and reward the better of the two. The sermon sees in this order of events the grace of God that precedes any human merit.
We are accustomed to a world in which good performance earns recognition and greater effort brings greater rewards. If we apply that same logic to salvation, God becomes someone who calculates human achievements and pays accordingly. But the forgiveness of sins is not a wage we can claim from God. The grace of election silences our boast that we deserved salvation and leads us to thank God for calling us when we had no claim to his favor.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20 reveals how our hearts respond to this grace. Those who arrived first grumbled when they saw that those who came later received the same denarius. They treated the generosity shown to others as though it came at the expense of their own hard work. As we read about election and ask about God’s will, we too need to consider whether we are insisting that God follow our own ranking of who deserves what.
The Potter’s Sovereignty and His Patient Mercy
Yet the difficulties raised by election and reprobation cannot be explained simply by our tendency to compare ourselves with others. Paul himself asks whether there is injustice on God’s part and firmly rejects the suggestion (Rom. 9:14). He then speaks of God’s purpose in raising up Pharaoh and of his hardening of hearts, explaining that God’s power and name are made known even through historical events beyond human understanding (Rom. 9:17–18). Without dismissing these difficulties, the passage directs the reader to the relationship between Creator and creature.
In Romans 9:20–23, the potter shapes vessels for different purposes from the same lump of clay. This illustration shows that the Creator has purposes for his creatures and authority over them. We cannot judge the whole of his will from our limited experience. Pastor David Jang encourages us to understand this sovereignty in light of God’s goodness, justice, patience, and mercy.
The presence of both vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy does not diminish the gravity of judgment. At the same time, Paul speaks of God’s patience. When we consider that patience, it becomes difficult to take for granted the opportunity we have to repent today. Acknowledging that we cannot fully understand God’s will can lead us to prayerful reflection on the grace with which he has patiently borne with us until now.
Our inability to fathom God’s will does not remove our responsibility to respond. Election shows that salvation begins with God’s grace; faith is our response of receiving that grace. That is why Paul’s discussion of sovereignty leads, at the end of Romans 9, to the question of what people rely on to attain righteousness. We must read together the confession that grace comes first and the call to believe in Christ.
The Stone We Stumble Over When We Rely on Works
In Romans 9:30–33, Paul contrasts the Gentiles with Israel. Gentiles who had not pursued righteousness attained it through faith, while Israel, which pursued a law that would lead to righteousness, failed to attain it. Paul identifies the reason: they relied on works rather than faith. If we explain this by saying that the Gentiles were saved because they were better people, human worthiness takes the place of grace once again.
God’s promise through Hosea to call those who were not his people his own also sheds light on this argument (Hos. 2:23). God’s call crosses the boundaries of belonging that human beings have drawn. For those of us who have already received grace, this truth prompts reflection on how we treat others. If our first response when a newcomer enters the church is to examine their background and credentials, we should ask what it means, in that encounter, to confess that we too have received salvation as a gift.
This passage reveals what our religious zeal is resting on. The same acts of worship and service can become a basis for considering ourselves righteous, or they can be offered in gratitude for the grace we have received. It is difficult to distinguish these two attitudes merely by the amount of effort visible to others. If, when someone points out our wrongdoing, we want to defend ourselves by first listing all the good we have done, that reaction gives us an opportunity to examine what we are relying on in our service.
The Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 appealed to Jesus’ mercy even though she had no claim to his favor. Her plea for even the crumbs that fell from the table expressed a faith that placed its hope in the Lord. The sermon sees in this woman an example of clinging to grace without appealing to her own standing. What matters is not how unworthy she made herself sound, but whom she trusted to save her.
For this reason, even humility or earnestness must not become a new form of merit. If we think we deserve salvation because we have humbled ourselves enough or prayed fervently enough, faith itself becomes a means of demanding payment from God. Faith means receiving the salvation Christ has accomplished and entrusting ourselves to him. We must not understand God’s election and our response as a transaction in which we negotiate terms with God.
The stumbling stone Paul speaks of is Jesus Christ. When we insist on our own righteousness, he becomes a stumbling block; for those who seek forgiveness for their sins and rely on him, he is the rock of salvation. Romans 9:33 ends with the promise that whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. This passage calls us not to display an ever more impressive record of religious achievement, but to examine honestly whom we are trusting right now.
Responding to the Grace of Election with Faith and Obedience
Where, then, should someone begin if they are afraid because they do not know whether they have been chosen? Romans 10:13 promises salvation to everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. We do not have to understand the whole of God’s hidden will before we can pray. The gospel’s call stands before us now: trust in Christ and turn from sin.
Pastor David Jang emphasizes both the priority of God’s election and our responsibility to respond in faith. The thought that we may live however we please because we are already chosen misses the meaning of that grace. We must also examine the tendency to cling to assurance of salvation while postponing repentance, or to confess that we are loved without considering the love we show our neighbors. Our confession of faith in grace must find expression in our choices and actions today.
James 2:17, which the sermon also addresses, exposes the problem of faith without works. Good works are not the price we pay to obtain salvation; they are the fruit that faith bears in those who have received grace. When we remember this order, obedience is freed from the anxious need to prove ourselves and becomes a response to the love we have received. Because we have been forgiven, we can acknowledge our wrongs instead of hiding them; because we have received grace, we can undertake work that goes unnoticed.
Looking ahead to Romans 11 also restrains us from making easy judgments about other people’s salvation. The sermon considers both the hope of restoration that remains beyond Israel’s failure and the salvation opened to the Gentiles. We cannot close off someone’s future simply because they do not believe now, or rule out the possibility of repentance because of their past. Those who remember the mercy that called them can wait for God to work longer than their own judgments might otherwise allow.
Reading about election may not resolve every question all at once. Yet we can examine the attitude that demands that those awaiting grace first prove they deserve it. Just as our attention can shift from counting another worker’s wages to recognizing the vineyard owner’s generosity, faith leads us to give thanks for the salvation we have received and to rejoice in the grace shown to others. As I stand before God today, what am I presenting as my merit, and what step of obedience can I take as I rely on his mercy?
Dr. David Jang has proclaimed the gospel in various regions of the world through field missions and digital media ministry, and as the fruit of that ministry, many people devoted to the Great Commission have been raised up. Based on this missionary vision, Olivet first began as a small church school for missionary training. Later, in order to provide more systematic theological education and cultivate missionary leaders, Olivet Theological College and Seminary was established in Los Angeles and Seoul in 2000.
As the school grew, Dr. Jang officially founded Olivet University in San Francisco in 2004. In the diverse and dynamic environment of San Francisco, Olivet expanded its educational fields beyond theology to include music, journalism, art and design, and technology. The university also strengthened its educational capacity by recruiting faculty members, including Dr. William Wagner, and in 2005 moved to the former UC Berkeley Downtown Extension campus, further solidifying its foundation as a university.
In 2006, Dr. Jang transferred the presidency to Dr. David James Randolph in order to focus more fully on missionary work, while continuing to lead global missions as International President. Olivet University later received institutional accreditation in 2009, added a language education college and a business college, and continued to grow as a Christian educational institution for world missions by expanding its degree programs and international partnerships.
David Jang Official Website: www.davidjang.org
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
