Before we begin the message,
go to God in prayer again. Pray for those that are sick.
Is your mom doing all right? I think you don't know. OK. OK. Pray for them. I know she called me this week
and said she was doing better, but still struggling. to ask God's mercy
upon them. Others not able to be with us
tonight for whatever reason, the Lord knows. Do ask your prayers for me as
I desire to preach this message. I'm running over some of the
same ground I went over last time, but I see in a different
light It's amazing what the gospel will do. You can take the gospel
and see something. And then, you can turn it, like
as in a different way, and it opens up a whole new light. And I wrote some scriptures tonight. I was intending on breezing past
them, but the Lord gave me something for these, and then, so I message
I had to change my mind this morning. So I changed my message
this morning. I don't like doing that. It's
really uncomfortable. But pray the Lord will bless
it to your hearts tonight. Again, pray for those who are
sick. Continue to remember Angela in your prayers, Rick, and others. Pray for those who are listening
online. I do receive emails and encouragements and things like
that from people and there's even people who've been giving
to the ministry in places that I don't know, never heard of
these places. But that's okay. God has a people
and they will be fed and he will feed them He will feed them with
the gospel, and I'm thankful that the Lord's given us this
means. I sure would long for, I know these people that are
not able, not a church near them, but my hope is that they're fed
through this ministry, but if at all possible, that they could
find a place where God's man is, and then encourage that local
assembly You know, that would be a big encouragement. I don't think they realize how
big of an encouragement that they would be to a local assembly
if they were to leave where they were and go where the gospel
is preached. I'm thankful we're able to supplement
that, but I know that there's a difference between watching
it on the television and being in the congregation. So, pray for them. Pray that
God's message goes out and It's going to do what God intends
it to do. I'm sure of that. So, pray for these. Pray for
me as I want to preach tonight. Don't forget to pray for the
lost. We are so taken up with our own problems and difficulties. I know this about myself. It
just, it can overwhelm you. Your own situation can so overwhelm
you that you forget why we're on earth. Why we're here. God has an elect
people here. And not all of them's been called
yet. That should give us hope when we preach the gospel. I know this. God's a hundred percent. He never misses one. He never
misses one. We may witness to somebody and
they brush us off. That wasn't one, was it? We could
tell it wasn't one. Maybe later. But that's not for
us to determine. We're here to witness of Christ.
That's it. That's the only purpose we have
here. Just as we were saying a second ago, don't we know that
everything in this world is going to be gone? That everything in
this world is going to soon vanish away. It's not going to be important.
None of it. None of it's going to be important.
And so the only vital thing is this, that we witness. That's
the purpose of the church. To be fed, yes. To strengthen
you, yes. So that you may witness to others. So may God use us. That's what
I would say. Use us. Let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious father, again we
thank you. We praise your name, we glorify
your name through the blood and the righteousness of thy son. We give you praise and glory
and honor by the power of your spirit who dwells in us, walks
with us, and keeps us in the faith. Father, your people are going
through great difficulties. These are seasons of great trials,
great afflictions. Father, you know there's a famine
in the land, a famine not of bread, but of the Word of God. I do beg you, Father, that your
Word would go out in power in demonstration of your Spirit.
that many sons would come in, that you would draw many to your
son, that they should bow and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray, Father, you'd use us for this purpose, to witness,
testify of what great things you've done for us. I pray you'd
set our minds and hearts this night on the gospel, and that,
Father, we should see these great and wonderful things that you've
done and then rejoice and give praise for them, give thanksgiving. And I do pray that if there's
any outside of Christ listening, that Father, by your grace, you
would cause them to flee to Christ. Cause them to abandon the refuge
of lies. And cause them to flee to Christ
and find a sure foundation for their souls. I pray for those that are sick.
Father, there are so many in our congregation who are suffering
in the body and the mind. And Father, we cannot heal ourselves. We cannot do anything ourselves. We know this, that you heal.
You heal. You make alive. You wound and
you heal. And we beg you, Father, that
you would take these that are sick and that you would touch
their bodies, strengthen their minds, not for the enjoyment
of the flesh, Father, but for the edification of their souls,
that they might again come and join us and worship with us. Father, tonight we confess our
sins. We confess our inability to do what we've come to do. We've come to worship. We've
come to hear. But we confess our inability except you open
our ears and give us understanding. And Father, when you do, help
us to give you the praise and glory for it. I pray these things
in Jesus' name, for his sake. Amen. Alright, take your Bibles
again. Turn with me to Romans chapter
9. Romans Chapter 9. I've entitled this
message, A Remnant. A remnant shall be saved. A remnant. Now in verse 22, down through
verse 24, the apostle is again answering that objection. Remember
the objection of the free will works religion. Well, if God
is sovereign over everything, everyone and all the deeds of
man and the salvation of man, if God is sovereign, then how
can man be responsible? That's the objection of free
will. Therefore, they conclude that God is not sovereign. What
does Paul say? Who are you to to reply against
God's sovereignty. Just because you can't reconcile
them, because you can't understand how God is sovereign and man
is responsible, who are you to bring God under your system of
justice? Then he tells them, he's the
potter, you're the clay. And this is just how it is. He
is going to make vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. And listen, He does no injustice
to either one of them. Why? He takes it from the same
lump, Paul said. The same fallen race. He takes
one man from the fallen seed of Adam and another man from
the fallen seed of Adam. He makes one to honor and one
to dishonor. He didn't do anything to Clay. He didn't change the nature of
the clay. He molded it, He shaped it, but
He didn't have anything in that. So sin, you can't charge what
God was sinning, though God determined it. God determined it for this, that
He should make vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. And Paul
says here, what if God was willing to show His wrath? Now, why did
He make vessels of wrath? To show His wrath. to show His
holy character and hatred for sin. And then what does He do?
With long-suffering, He suffers long with them, that He might
make His power known in their destruction. And secondly, we
see He makes vessels of mercy. Vessels of mercy, of foreprepared
underglory. And Paul says, even us, even
us, who He hath called. So first of all, who are the
vessels of mercy that God hath foreprepared? He said this, even
us whom God hath called. Now that's what, we went over
that message a couple weeks ago. Vessels of mercy are only manifest
by the calling. We can't tell who a vessel of
mercy is except this, God called them. God called them. So speaking of God's elect, Then
Paul quotes in verse 25 Hosea. He saith also in Hosea, I will
call them my people which were not my people, and her beloved
which was not beloved. Now he's speaking truly of the
Gentiles, but we know this, that we were all by nature not the
people of God. We were all, by nature, not children
of God. We're children of wrath, even
as others. We were not, by nature, beloved, but we were sinners,
unloved. And so God's speaking to His
elect. That's who the elect are. First
of all, they know this. We're not, by nature, the people
of God. We're not loved, and we're definitely not, by nature,
the sons of God. And so he says in verse 23, chapter
2 in verse 23, this is how the original text in Hosea reads. He said, I will sow her unto
me in the earth. I will have mercy upon her that
hath not obtained mercy, and I will say to them that were
not my people, thou art my people. And they shall say, thou art
my God. When God calls his people, they
will believe. When God calls a vessel of mercy,
He's not asking them. It's a command. Notice the language
there. I will say unto them that are
not my people. What is He going to say? You're
my people. And what are they going to say?
You're my God. Does that sound questionable
to you? God doesn't talk like we do.
We say, man, if I go here, maybe this or maybe that. I don't know. I mean, we've got plans. You all got plans? But you can't say for certain
that your plans are going to happen. The only one that can
do that is God, and God does that. Every time He speaks, He's
certain. Will call them that are not my
people that's that's specific enough isn't he gonna call sinners? What are they gonna say there
are my god in other words God's call upon the vessels of mercy
is always Factual that is vitally important to understand God's
call in general, the call of the gospel in general, goes out
and many will reject it. But when the call of God goes
out to the vessels of mercy, it is effectual, it accomplishes
the thing God sends it to do. It always does. It's always successful
when God calls His people. But God's elect are not seen
as the people of God because they're not yet called. Isn't
that right? Were you walking around this world before you
were called? Could you say that you were any different than anyone
else? There was nothing special about us. We thought we were
special. I remember the kids watching
that television show. There's a song in that kid's
program, You're Special. You're so special. Well, they
were to us. They were special to us. But
in truth, we're not special. By nature, we're not the people
of God. We couldn't say that. Until when? Until He called us.
And when He called you, listen, you can say this, I am His people.
I am His people. They can only claim to be His
people. We can only claim to be loved of God after our calling. I like the way they put that
in II Timothy. He says, He saved us and called
us, which is first. He saved us. And then what? We found out about it. He called
us with a holy calling. His calling is very special.
It's a holy, a perfect calling. And when He calls us, we come
to Christ. Now listen, I don't know who
the elect of God are, but God does. That's not for us, is it? I know this, that they have always
been the elect of God. They have always been the elect
of God. Before their birth, they were the elect. since God chose them in Christ
from eternity, and God will send his gospel to them as he did
the Gentiles. And when God calls them to faith
in Christ, this proves something, that they're vessels of mercy.
They're vessels of mercy, aforeprepared unto glory. God said clearly
through his prophet, Hosea, that he shall call his elect And this
will be the result that in Hosea 2.23, I will have mercy upon
her that had not obtained mercy. There's only a certain group
of people that's going to obtain mercy. Those who need mercy. Those who had not attained it. I will say unto her which is
not my people, you are my people. you will say thou art my God
now then concerning the elect Gentiles the Apostle quotes in
verse look at verse 26 of our of our text he said it shall
come to pass and the place where it was said you are not my people
there shall they be called the children of the living God this
is a recount of Hosea 1 and verse 10 He said, Yet the number of
the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it is said unto them, You are not my people,
there shall it be said, You are the sons of the living God. I want you to see what the Apostle
is doing here, too. This is vitally important. He's
preaching the gospel from the Old Testament. He's proving everything
he said from the Old Testament. He's telling us that His people
will not just be citizens of heaven, but rather sons of heaven. Sons of God. Sons of the living
God. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians
6.16, As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them,
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among
them and be you separate sayeth the Lord and touch not the unclean
thing and I will receive you Was he saying God said I'm gonna
dwell in them isn't that astounding God said I personally am gonna
dwell in them I'm gonna walk with them I Don't tell you tell
you I don't always feel the presence of God that really shouldn't
matter I God is faithful, isn't He? When you're not, He's still
faithful. He abides in us. He walks with
us. Even as He said, I will be their
God. Now what could take that away?
Seeing Christ has already put away our sins, what then could
remove God from being our God? Nothing. You're going to be my
people. And listen to what He does when
He calls us. He says, wherefore come out from among them and
be you separate. Isn't that exactly what we did? We were walking
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. We had our conversation in time
past, in the lust of our fests, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others, but God. And when God called us, we desired
to be away from these things. This doesn't just mean being
away from sin. That's one part of it, but away
from religion. We had a religion that we cling
to. When Paul was calling these Gentiles
and he said, be you separate from them, he's not saying be
you separate from just from the vile people, he's talking about
the religious people. Be you separate from them. Don't
touch the unclean thing in other words don't go after those other
gods when God calls us to himself he calls us from the gods of
our imagination and Listen what he said I will receive you I
Will receive you and I'll be a father unto you you should
be my sons and my daughters That's what God said you'll be my sons
and my daughters This is the gospel that God sends to all
his elect And God calls His people out from among the religions
of the world, the works religions of the world. And God dwells
in us, He walks with us. He is our God and we are His
sons. Do you hear Him calling? That's
important. Do you hear the Spirit call you? God says, come out, don't leave
those gods. Those are nothing. Those are
vanity. And you'll be My sons. Listen,
if God calls you, can you do anything else but come? You that have come, is there
anything else you could have done? Was it an option? Save me, or I die. That's not an option. I need that. If I don't have
that, I'll die. And so we come to Christ. And
so see this, that Paul, see that God uses then the Old Testament
scriptures here to preach the gospel. Friends, election is
not a New Testament doctrine. That's what Paul is trying to
tell you. It's not a new thing. It's clearer now than it was
before, but it was the same before. God had always had an elect people. And who are these elect people?
These are vessels of mercy. And how will we know we're vessels
of mercy? Even us whom God hath called. The difference is the
calling. That's the difference. So secondly,
who are the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? Listen,
these are rebels. Rebels who God simply puts up
with. I mean God just simply is long-suffering
to them all the while using them for
the purpose of calling his elect I mean there's a lot of things
important things going on in our government and things and
we don't have anything and we really we don't have anything
to do with that we just don't We can voice our opinions. You
know, we all have them. Just voice your opinion and see
how far that gets up the chain. Nobody's really hearing what
we're saying or they don't take really into account our own personal
thoughts on this. But I'll tell you what God is
doing with them. He's using them to call His elect. Whatever they're
doing up there. It ain't by accident. God's just
long-suffering with him. Why? To work all things together
for your good. That's what he's doing. Now they
think they're working all things. They think that they're the ones
having all the power. They don't have any power. You
realize that, don't you? That they don't have any power? They can't get up in the morning
and breathe except God give them the breath to do it. They don't
have it. They can't have the thoughts. except God give it
to them. And so what God is using these
vessels of wrath, He is long suffering with them. But look
why in verse 27, Isaiah tells us, Isaiah also crieth concerning
Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, listen, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish the work and
cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth." Consider the blessing of that nation,
Israel. Now, the apostle is talking about
Israel. He says Israel is going to be
a big nation. They're going to have multitudes
of people who can claim to be Jews. And consider the blessings that
that people had. They had the law given to them,
listen to this, by God himself. No other people ever had that.
No other people have ever had God come down on top of a mountain
and give them a law but the nation of Israel. It's only one. They had the true way of worship. All these other pagan nations,
they went about offering what they didn't know to whom they
didn't know. They had to have multiple gods because they couldn't
figure out which one would be the right one. So they made up
multiple ones, offered it to each one their part. But this
nation had a true understanding that God, that there's one God.
He needs to be worshipped in such a way. He needs a higher
priest. He needs a tabernacle He needs a sacrifice. They had
a one true way of worship God gave them the promises concerning
Christ nobody and I We we take it for granted that this this
message goes out to everyone you realize up until Christ that
that nation was Isolated gospel was isolated to one single nation
Very few of those Gentiles now there were some but they were
very few that that gospel message was preached it Yet consider this having the
Word of God is not enough Having the law of God is not
enough Having the prophets preach the word to you is not enough.
Having the presence of God is not enough. Can you consider
that? That wherever Israel went, the presence of God was there?
I mean, in a visible way. God led them by a pillar of cloud
by day and a pillar of fire by night. He rained down manna every
morning to them for 40 years in the wilderness. When that
tabernacle was built, God's Shekinah glory came down into that place
so everybody could see it. Everybody knew He was there.
But I'm telling you this, even the presence of God is not enough. The only thing sufficient to
save A sinner is to believe on Jesus Christ. That's it. They must have had a righteousness
which is of faith. That's what he's going to tell
us later on about these Gentiles who received the righteousness
of God. Well, how did they receive it seeing they didn't even look
for it? Well, because they received it by faith. Righteousness made
by the faith of Christ and righteousness received by faith in Christ.
That's how righteousness comes. It can't come any other way.
But the Jews sought it a different way. They sought it by law. Therefore,
they could not attain it. Even so must we all believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you this, as a
young growing up, I always was under the sound of the gospel.
I imagine the second grade was the first time I'd ever heard
a real gospel preacher. About seven years old, I think
it was. I heard a real gospel preacher. And from that time
forward, I had really not sat in much else. I even knew, when I went to the
pizza parties and all that other stuff as a kid, those other places,
I did it for the pizza, because I knew that what they were saying
wasn't right. But I know this. I had the gospel here, but that
wasn't enough. You can have gospel-believing
parents. That's not enough. Except you yourself believe. You and no wise shall enter the
kingdom of heaven. You must believe. Christ yourself. And so you think of that great
nation. How many of those of that great
nation Israel who had all those blessings, how many were saved?
Listen what God said, a remnant. A remnant. A small amount of
that nation. Among the sons of Israel, God
had an elect remnant that shall be saved. Look at Isaiah 10. See where
Paul gets this. Isaiah chapter 10. Look at verse 20. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the remnant of Israel, the elect of Israel,
not all, but the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the
house of Jacob shall no more stay upon them that smote them. Now get the picture, they had
been captive by the Assyrian army, and God says not all of
them are going to escape. But God chose a remnant of them
that were going to escape. And listen to what he said, I
like this. He said, they're no longer going to depend on those
that held them captive. Now as long as they were captive,
they were totally dependent upon the Assyrians for their life.
They couldn't own property, they couldn't work their own gardens,
everything they had and everything they received, they depended
upon their captors. God said, when I deliver them,
they're no longer going to depend on their captors. Listen, what
they're going to depend on. But shall stay upon the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even
the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God. For though thy people
Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them
shall return. Listen to this. The consumption
decreed shall overflow with righteousness, for the Lord God of hosts shall
make a consumption even determined in the midst of all the land.
God here declares that he would righteously destroy that nation. God here declares that he will
righteously destroy. when he said, I'm going to make
a consumption of Israel. I'm going to consume them. He's
decreed that. And he said he's going to do
it with righteousness. It's going to be in righteous
judgment he does it. Because of their unbelief and
rebellion. And this destruction that Paul
saw coming was that that happened in A.D. 70. A.D. 70, the Romans besieged Jerusalem
so much so that they destroyed it. They burned it. It was all
gone. It was a consumption. It was because of their rebellion.
At the beginning of Romans 9, Paul says this, you know, I'd
trade places with them if I could. If God would save them, that
would be helpful. I would be accursed so that they
could be saved. I'd do it if it were possible.
But Paul knew this, the destruction was coming. He knew it because
the Old Testament declared it. And so everything the Apostle
has answered and stated concerning God's election, reprobation,
concerning the remnant that shall be saved, concerning the nation
of Israel, Paul didn't come up with this stuff. I mean, we see
this clearly in the New Testament, but really grab this. It is an
Old Testament doctrine that Paul is displaying here. And God swears that in the Old
Testament that He was going to totally destroy Jerusalem. And
only a remnant of Jerusalem, only a remnant of the Jews were
going to be saved. Isaiah 611, he said, Lord, how
long? He answered, until the cities be wasted without inhabitants,
and the house without man, and the land utterly desolate. In
Isaiah 8, it says, and he shall pass through Judah, and shall
overflow and go over, and it shall reach even the neck, and
the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy
land, O Emmanuel. In Isaiah 27, he says, Therefore
he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed
them will show them no favor. Listen, all of these point to
that destruction of Jerusalem. All of them. God formed that nation, but when
he finished the work with that nation, they were cut off. When
God finished using Israel as a tide, they were cut off forever. Now, how many of the elect were
lost during those sieges? Now, they were destroyed because
of their rebellion. But in truth, how many of the
elect were lost? Not one. Not one of the elect
were lost, not one of them. But God cut off the vessels of
wrath fitted for destruction. Look at verse 28, for He will
finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. I'll tell you what,
this was a quick work. When God cut them off, it was
a quick work. Go to Isaiah chapter 28. Look
at this. Now this is God's promise again
of cutting them off. This short work God's going to
make. God promised to destroy these
false preachers in Israel who preach lies against Christ, and
God promised to destroy all of Israel who would not believe.
Look at verse 14. He says, Wherefore, hear the
word of the Lord, you scornful men. that rule this people, which
is in Jerusalem. Notice why he's going to cut
them off. He said, because you have said, we have made a covenant
with death and with hell. Are we at agreement? When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come to us, for we have made
lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Which
is what? What covenant is he talking about?
He's talking about a covenant of works. That's the covenant
that they made. A covenant by which they can
earn the favor of God. And God says this, Your refuge
is a refuge of lies. Under falsehood have you hid
yourselves. Isn't this what works religion
says? that hell will not come near them, that God's destruction
will not come near them. Why? Because of all the good
things they've done. But the covenant of works does
not afford a refuge as they suppose, but only the wrath and judgment
of God. Look at verse 16. Therefore, because of your rebellion,
because of your covenant, listen, God's going to give you a touchstone. You know what a touchstone is?
It's a litmus test. You want to know if your foundation
is a foundation of lies? Well, you're going to have to
put it next to this and compare it. Therefore, thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion, For a foundation, a stone, a
tried stone, precious corner stone, a sure foundation. Who is that? That's Jesus Christ. He is the only tried and proven
stone. Isn't that what all his enemies
did? He tried him to see if he was righteous. He said he was
the Son of God. He proved himself to be the Son
of God in the flesh. He is a precious cornerstone.
In other words, all the weight of the foundation is resting
upon His perfect person and work. Listen, and he that believeth
shall not make haste. They're not going to be confounded.
Anybody on this foundation tonight? Are you on this foundation? God
says you're not going to be confused. You're not going to be confounded.
You're not going to be ashamed in the day of judgment. Why? Because you rest on My stone.
My foundation, all who rest on Christ know that
He is all their righteousness. Don't you know that? He's all my hope of standing
before God. Listen, this is the faith of
the remnant. The faith of the remnant is always resting on
Christ alone. But I want you to see that the
gospel has a two-edged sword. It does two things. It quickens
the elect, but it also sends judgment to those who are outside
of Christ. Look at verse 17. Judgment also. Will I lay to the line and righteousness
to the plummet? This is the result of Christ
to the vessels of wrath. Not salvation, but judgment.
And hell shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters
shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand. What does that mean? Everybody that supposes to be
accepted of God based on their works, when God comes in judgment,
you're going to be like that nation of Israel. You're going
to be swept away. You're going to be swept away. God's going
to make short work of you. How quickly does it take God
to throw a person in hell? How quick is that work? Then
all your life's work of trying to please God by your works,
you're going to find out something. It didn't amount to anything. So when the overflowing scourge
passes through, passeth through, then you shall be trodden down
by it from time that it goeth forth. It shall take you from
morning by morning, it shall pass over by day and by night,
and it shall be vexation only to understand the report." Listen,
the report of the gospel to the vessels of wrath is vexing. The message of salvation by grace
without works is vexing. When they hear it, they're vexed.
They hate it. And here's the report. Listen
to the report. Look at verse 20. Isaiah 28, verse 20. Here's the
report. The bed is shorter than a man
can stretch himself on it. and the covering narrower than
a man can wrap himself in it. The vexing report is your works
are not enough. Your bed is not long enough. Your righteousness can't cover
you. This is vexing to somebody who's
trying to obey the law, isn't it? Isn't this vexing? to constantly
know that you're never going to have enough. Always striving,
but never getting there. Now, if Christ is our bed, it's
definitely long enough, isn't it? Christ's righteousness surely
can wrap ourselves in that. But not a man who's trying to
earn his way. For the Lord shall rise up as
in Mount Perizim, he shall be wroth as he is in Gibeon, that
he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act,
his strange act. What is that? Judgment. Oh, that men would hear the word
of God and repent. That's always my hope, is that
you would see that your works are not enough. That Christ's
work is plenty. That you should believe on Christ.
And He says, Now therefore, be not mockers, lest your bands
be made strong. For you have heard from the Lord
God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. Listen, don't mock God's Word. Try to earn your salvation. Listen
to me. You're mocking the Word of God.
You're telling me that Christ is not sufficient. Don't mock the election of God's
salvation, that God shall save a remnant. Don't mock that. Why? Because it's true. God will only
save a remnant. And He'll save it by the preaching
of this Gospel. But by the same Christ, in the
same gospel, God will also destroy everyone who will not believe.
There is a consumption coming, just as sure as A.D. 70 was coming. I'll tell you,
there's a consumption coming that's going to encompass the
whole earth. It is the judgment of God. And yet it is strange, isn't
it, that when the gospel is preached, men are vexed. Why would you
be vexed? The gospel is a sure salvation. But in this text, God uses At
the time that this was written in Isaiah, God used the future
coming of the Assyrian army to picture the coming of A.D. 70.
And what does A.D. 70 picture? It pictures the coming
of God in judgment upon the whole earth. And listen, in all cases,
only a remnant was saved. Only a remnant was saved. Behold how God does the same
thing even now among the local assembly. Doesn't God purge the
local assembly? He does, doesn't he? God purges
the local assembly. How many have we seen come and
go? Huh? How many have you seen? Come
in, and they endure with us for a while, and we rejoice together,
and then they're gone. What happened? John said this, Little children,
it is the last time. As you have heard, the Antichrist
shall come. Even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we
know it is the last time. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would have no doubt continued with us. But they went out. that
they might be manifest, that they were not all of us. What
does God do at the local assembly? He purges the vessels of mercy,
separates the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath, doesn't
he? By constant purging. And so no matter their excuse
that they give, the reason they fall away is because they can't
bear the gospel anymore. They don't bear the gospel anymore.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard this. Well, you preach
the same thing. And I'm scratching my head and
saying, what else do you want to hear? God preaches the same thing.
I don't know what else you want to hear. What they want to do
is they want to take this book and set it aside and get some
other book. No, that's not what we do. We preach the same thing
God preaches. So they leave. What does God
say? Those that are not my remnant,
listen, Don't be confounded that they go away. They have to go
away. They can't endure. God purges them out because of
their unbelief. I tell you this, I've had more
than one, a man come in, this is one illustration, a man came
in and he seemed to love the gospel. But when I told him that
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, He couldn't
bear it. It was vexing to him that he
couldn't provide any righteousness by his obedience to the law.
And what'd he do? He left! That's what God does. He purges
his children. And you know who's going to be
left? Remnant. Always a remnant. Always a remnant. And so then we see this. This
is a sure point that God has a remnant, and he's going to
call every one of them. They're vessels of mercy. He's
going to call every one of them, and they're all going to believe.
The difference is the vessels of wrath that are fitted for
destruction. They'll hear the gospel, but they're going to
be trusting totally in their works, or some unholy mixture
of Jesus Christ and their works. Who makes the difference? Why
are you a vessel of mercy and not a vessel of wrath? What was
Christ that made the difference? It was Jesus Christ that made
the difference, isn't it? God brings his elect to believe
on Christ and the rest will reject him and fall away in destruction.
Now here's a question, which one are you? This is a vital
question. If God had vessels of mercy and
vessels of wrath, If only a remnant is going to be saved, listen
to me, which one are you? I would that everyone would hear,
would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So as I preach, I know this,
that this message will be a saver of life unto life to some, and
a saver of death unto death to others. But I am confident that
God has a remnant. If I didn't have confidence of
that, I wouldn't preach. God has a remnant, and they shall
be saved. All who are the elect of God
shall believe on Christ, and he should lose nothing. Thy people
shall be willing when? In the day of thy power. So lastly, this. Contrary to
the objection of rebels, God's electing grace is a reason to
rejoice. Election is a reason to rejoice. Look what he says in verse 29
of your text. Look at that. Verse 29. And Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabbath hath left a seed, we had all been like
Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah. In other words, there's
no difference between the elect and the vessels of wrath and
vessels of mercy. There's no difference. Had God
not chosen some, we all would have been as Sodom. How many
people of the nation of Sodom and Gomorrah survived? Now you
had Lot, he was a stranger. He was chosen. God sent his angels
to grab him and make sure he got out. He wasn't really part
of that city. How many people in that city
were saved? None. Had God not chosen a people,
none of us would be saved. The only difference is God's
electing grace. Except the Lord of hosts had
left us a seat. Except God had promised to save
a remnant. Except the Lord had made good
on his promise by sending Christ who actually accomplished our
salvation. Except the Lord had called us
and kept us by the power of his spirit. Except salvation is of
the Lord, none of us would have been saved. There would have been none of
the race of Adam saved. See then, that election does
not close the door of heaven, but actually opens it. The election shuts none out.
But I'll tell you this, no one would be in had it not been for
election. It opens the door. Except the Lord had an elect
seed, we would have already been destroyed, vessels of wrath,
You see, the vessels of wrath are by nature the children of wrath. They hate the gospel,
they reject the gospel, and their unbelief and refusal to believe
is simply a manifestation of that reprobation. It's just clear. It's God manifesting that these
are vessels of wrath. You don't like this gospel? That's
just a manifestation that you're a vessel of wrath. They are gonna reject the gospel.
But vessels of mercy, those prepared for under glory, these are his
elect, his remnant, and God promises, I will save them. I will save
them. I tell you what, this causes
me to rejoice. You know why? God said, I will save you. Well,
if God will save me, then man, who can stop it? Who can stay
His hand or say in Him, what doest thou? I like this, we sing
this song sometimes. I bless the Christ of God. I
rest on love divine. And with unfaltering lip and
heart, I call this Savior mine. His cross dispels each doubt. I bury in His tomb every thought
of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom. I praise the
God of grace. I trust His truth and mind. He
calls me His. I call Him mine. My God, my joy,
my light. Tis He who saveth me and freely
pardoned gives. I love because He loveth me.
I live because He lives. You see, we who are the remnant,
we praise the glory of God's grace. We praise the God of electing
grace. We do not shun it. We do not
try to hide it. We do not try to bury it or compromise
it. Without it, we all would have
been like, what? Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, I rest on Christ,
my foundation. I know this. He is all my righteousness. Can you say that? Can you say
He's all your righteousness? What about all your wisdom and
understanding? Isn't He all your wisdom? What about your sanctification? You want to have a hand in that?
No, He's all my sanctification and He's all my redemption. This
is the faith of the vessels of mercy. This is the faith of the
remnant. And so our hope is this, that
God will save the remnant. But I tell you this, every vessel
of mercy that will not believe shall be damned. I'm telling you, I thought about
that. When he said that in Isaiah 28, he said, when the overflowing
scourge comes over you, it'll pass day by day and day and night,
you'll be vexed. Can you imagine the vexation
of those souls in hell who can never escape? Now they understand. And they'll never change their
state and standing. I do pray God be gracious to
the vessels of mercy. And I know this, He will. He
will. He'll save the remnant. I'm thankful to be part of the
remnant. I'm thankful. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Gracious Father, dismiss us with
your own blessings, please. Those blessings that are in Christ
Jesus, our Lord, that you have given us before the world began.
Those blessings that he has earned, he has merited for us. Even now,
by the Spirit, I pray you would apply them to our hearts and
minds. Walk with us. Dwell in us. Forgive us our sins. Cause us
to be a light in this dark world. Help us to praise Thine electing
grace, the perfect redemption of Jesus Christ and the effectual
call of the Spirit. Help us to testify to the lost
of these great and wonderful things. I ask in Jesus' name.