Good evening, let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 17. Number 17. Sound of every blessing Tune
my heart to sing thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for
songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung
by flaming tongues above Praised the mountain, fixed upon it,
Mount of my redeeming love. Here I raise my heavenly servant,
Hither by thy help I'm come. And I hope by my good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God. He to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood. Baby, I'm constrained to be. Let my goodness, like a fetter,
find my wandering heart to be. Won't you wonder what I feel
in? Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
295. 295 O blessed thought, O words with
heavenly comfort from. Still, tis God's name that leadeth
me He leadeth me, He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth
me His faith could be, for by His hand He
leadeth me. Sometimes midst scenes of deepest
gloom, sometimes where Eden's powers bloom, By water, still, or troubled
sea, Still, tis His hand that leadeth me. By His own hand He made it be. His faithful follower I would
be, For by His hand He made it be. Lord, I would clasp thy hand
in mine Forever, murmur, Lord, be mine Guns in whatever lot
I see Since this my God that be For by His own hand He leadeth
me. His faithful companion I would
be, For by His hand He leadeth me. And with my task honor this time,
Grant by thy grace the victory's won. In death's cold way I will
not flee, Since God through Jordan freed me. by His own hand He leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, for by His hand He leads me. Romans chapter 9 You know of all the years that
I've met To worship or preach or listen to preaching. I don't
never remember Starting on the first day of the year having
a service on the first day of the year. I don't never remember
You know It's the first time out there, but I don't remember
I know we've I met on maybe the second or third or fourth, but
here on the very first day of the year, we get to meet. It's a blessing to me. That's
a blessing to me. A fellow asked me today, I said,
we got talking about the Lord and the gospel and told him where
I was going to preach from. And he said, you mean you're
having church tonight? And I said, yeah. I said, first
day of the year? Oh, my. My, my, yes. But let's go back up there and
start in verse 11 and read down to verse 18. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid! For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will, and whom he will, he hardens." He hardens. Our blessed, blessed Father in
heaven, our great glorious God, creator, sustainer. You created the world by your
word and you uphold it by the same word. You hold it in store
by the same word. And Lord, we are so grateful
for this wonderful time that you gave us together. We bless
you for it. Thank you for it. And Lord, we
pray for those who are not with us through sickness or affliction
or whatever it may be. As they listen tonight, may they
be blessed, may they be encouraged, may they be made whole, be made
well. And Lord, we thank you for those
who's come out this evening. And Lord, we ask you to remember
our loved ones again, our sons and daughters. children and grandchildren. And Lord, I know I speak for
every family here when I pray for our children. Everyone in
this building who have children, grandchildren, pray for them,
ask for thy mercy upon them. And Lord, we shut up to what
we preach. It's up to you, Lord, to deal
with them. And Lord, if they're dealt with
at all, it'll be you that do it. Please bring glory to yourself
tonight in this service. enable me to speak the truth
as it is in Christ Jesus and speak the truth in love. In his
holy name I pray, amen. Amen. Page 31 in our course books.
We'll try to sing Zion's Hill. 31 in our course book. 31. If I've led this on guitar
before, I sure don't remember it. So I probably won't play
it right, probably won't sing it right, but we'll try it anyway. There waits for me a glad tomorrow
Where gates of pearl swing open wide And when I'm past this veil
of sorrow Beyond the reach of mortal pain
Someday God only knows just where and when The wheels of mortal
life shall all stand still And I shall go to dwell on Zion's
hill Someday I'll hear the angels
singing Beyond the shadows of the tomb And all the bells of
heaven ringing While saints are singing home sweet home Some
day, beyond the reach of mortal pain Some day, God only knows
just where and when The wills of mortal life shall all stand
still Father Blue and I be blessed. If we all look here in Romans
9 with me, I want to talk about the justice of God. God's justice. Last time we talked about God's
faithfulness. God's faithfulness. And what's
happening here is God's character is being called into question
because of His electing grace, because of His purpose ACCORDING
to grace, and His character is being called into question because
of His rejection of Israel as a nation. And the Apostle showed
us that not all Israel, which is of Israel, ain't it what he
said down there in verse 6 of Romans 9? And this is what
they say, Well, God's not kept His promise to us. That's what
they're saying. God's made us a promise, you
know, that all Israel be saved. But no, He said, Not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect. For there are not all
Israel, which are of Israel. So He's showing us that all Israel
is not everybody that's a Jew is Israel. And Paul is teaching
us here from the Scripture that NATIONAL DESCENT, no matter where
you come from, what nation you are, what nation you come from,
or PHYSICAL DESCENT, whether you re a mother or you re a daddy,
whether you re a son of Abraham or a son of Adam, it don t make
any difference. And I tell you, personal merit
has nothing to do with the blessing of God upon a soul. It s by the
grace of God solely and entirely upon the grace and will of God,
and God s will and grace is not arbitrary. That s what He meant
back up here when He said in verse 11, For the children being not yet
born, they had done anything good or evil, hadn t even been
born yet. And why is it this way? Why did
He do it this way? That the purpose of God, God
does things on purpose, not of works, because if they had done
good or evil, then people would have thought, Well, God saved
him because he is good and rejected him because he is evil, but neither
one of them hadn t even been born yet. So he says, Not of
works, but of him that was calling. You know, and this is what God
said, this is what our Lord said in verse 13, As it is written,
As it is written, That s the thing that Paul always says,
or as it is written. Where is it written at? Malachi
chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. That s exactly where it s written
at. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. So this is something that s not
new. And Esau have I loved, you know people say, Well, he just
loved Esau less. But I was talking to a fellow
today and he said, they don't say that. He says, God loved Jacob
and hated Esau. And oh my, that's what he exactly
says, knowing. Now I know something about God's
holiness and man's sinfulness. I mean, God's holy, God's character's
righteous, and man, he is so full of sin. And I could understand,
I really could understand God hating both Jacob and Esau. I
could understand God, had He not WILLED to do it, not saved
ANYBODY, but that's not God's way. Not only is He righteous
and holy, but He's a God of grace. He's a God of justice. He's a
God of mercy. And I tell you, God acted, and
this is what the difference is, God acted IN JUSTICE towards
Esau, IN MERCY towards Jacob, and neither one of them had done
anything. And then, boy, people raise an objection. Here's the
first thing they say. What shall we say then? And you
know, he used that thing so many times in Romans 8. What shall
we say then? What shall we say then? What
are we gonna say? He knows exactly how people think,
how all Jews think, how the natural man thinks. And he says, what
shall we say then? This is the first thing people
say. God's unrighteous. It's not right for God to do
that, to love one and pass by another. It's not right for God
to love one and hate another. It's not right for God to do
that. And oh my, is God unrighteous to do that? Is it not right for
God to do what He will with His own? Paul said, Boy, you think
that God's unrighteous to do that? He said, God forbid, don't
you even let that thing come across your mind. Oh, God forbid. And I tell you, I was talking
to a fellow today, and here's the thing, everybody's got to
figure out which level, what they're going to believe and
which level that they say, you know, if you're going to be saved
by works, what level do you have to get to? And if you're going
to be saved by grace, then you don't have to worry about works.
But here's what they said, God forbid! God's not unrighteous!
God forbid that you'd even think such a thing. And then he goes
back to the scriptures. That's one thing that you can
always count on, the scriptures. Paul didn't say, I think, or
I believe, or I hope it's this way, but I'd like it to be this
way, but what does he say? For he saith, God said, and that's
the first thing he said, it's written. Next thing he said,
God said, he saith. Well, who'd he say it to? He
said it to Moses. You know, if God chose Jacob
for no good in him and rejected Esau for no evil in him, well,
if he's unjust and unrighteous and unfair, God forbid that any
would charge God with foolishness. You know, Job, you remember Job,
he lost everything. He was offering sacrifices for
his children. while he got up, somebody run,
come to him, said, all your camels has been gone. Then somebody
come and got all your goats, and they're gone, all your lambs,
and they're gone, and all your asses, and they're gone. And then all of a sudden, all
10 of his children was in a house having a great celebration, and
a tornado come through and killed all of them. Job shaved his head, bowed down
to the earth, and he said this, The LORD giveth the LORD, taketh
away, blessed be the name of the LORD. And Job sinned not,
and charged God foolishly. And that s what people do. The
minute you start putting a question mark on God, you re acting foolishly. And he said, They sinned not,
or acted foolishly about God. And oh, my! And here s the thing
about it, God acts CONSISTENT with His perfect character and
wisdom and purpose. And this shows us that God is
no respective person. It s not what you ve done or
what you don t do. That don t enter into the picture.
Good or evil, that don t enter into the picture. Neither one
of them done anything. So this business of salvation
is up to the Lord. And oh, look what it says, And
he saith to Moses. Where did he say this at? Exodus
33, look over there with me at it. I think every one of y'all
know where this is. I think every one of y'all has
looked at it time and time again. But look what He said here in
Exodus 33. He says to Moses, the Apostle's
not going, and here's the thing, well, you turn over there. The
Apostle's not going to explain and justify God's actions. and
he s not going to justify it and try to reason with them and
make them understand on the natural level. And oh, he said, I m not
going to put God in your scales, and that s what people want,
they want God in THEIR scales. And it quotes scriptures, the
scripture saith, and he talks about it, and then saith the
Lord, and he makes no apology for God. You know, there s a
system of teaching, it s called apologetics. Now, I don't understand
what that is. I don't understand it. I guess
that people try to justify what the scriptures say
or something. But anyway, look what he said
here in verse 19 of Exodus 33. Moses said in verse 18, Lord
beseech me, show me thy glory. And he said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before you. You know, it's the goodness of
God that he shows mercy at all. It's the goodness of God that
he reveals himself. It's the goodness of God that
he would speak. It's the goodness of God that
he'd do anything for anybody. But oh, he said, I'll cause my
goodness to pass before you and I'm going to proclaim the name
of the Lord. And look what he said. And this is what my goodness
is. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and I will show mercy upon whom I will show mercy. So he went back and said, he's
declared to Moses. Ain't that what he said? For
he says to Moses. You know, that's why the scriptures
is so important. We just got to stay with the
Bible. and oh, he declared to Moses, Sovereign Mercy! Sovereign Mercy! And I tell you
what, that s enough for any believer. Any believer has no problem with
Sovereign Mercy. Any believer don t have any problem
with God showing mercy to them or anybody else. And you know,
there are three reasons that men are not saved There are three
reasons that if a man is saved, it must be by sovereign mercy
and electing grace. If a man is saved, it must be
by sovereign mercy and electing grace. First of all, all men
are lost, born in sin, shaped in iniquity. As in Adam, we all
die. And you know, he hath, you who
are dead and trespasses sin hath he quickened. And with who? Together with him, with Christ.
So that's why men, you have to be saved by sovereign mercy because
all men are lost. They're dead and trespasses the
sin. And by nature, by nature, no man loves God. By nature,
nobody knows God. By nature, no man loves God.
The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the
law of God. Our Lord says, you will not come
to me that you might have eternal life. Men love darkness rather
than light. And oh my. So men by nature,
they don't love God. And here's a third reason. Men
count the things of God as foolishness. THE NATURAL MAN RECEIVETH NOT
THE THINGS OF GOD, NEITHER CAN HE KNOW THEM, THEY ARE FOOLISHNESS
UNTO HIM. I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I'VE
BEEN CALLED A FOOL FOR BELIEVING WHAT I BELIEVE. Man, he can see free will, but
he can't see free grace. Man can see works, but he can't
see salvation by grace. Man can see fate, but he can't
see God. Man can see destiny, but he can't
see God. And only God's the one that said,
I will, I will. Not you, I will. How about Jacob? He ain't even been born yet.
What about Esau? He ain't been born yet. They
ain't done good, they ain't done evil. Well, why and how is any
of them gonna be saved? God said, Jacob, I love. And
ain't God got the right to love whom he wants? Everybody in here
is married. You know what you did? You married
the person you wanted to marry. You chose your bride, you chose
your husband, you wooed them, you done what was necessary to
get married and live a life together, and yet they won't let God choose
who He will. But oh, listen, God acts with
freedom! He acts with freedom. Men, anyone
who argues for the free will of man, is arguing AGAINST the
free will of God. When you cry out the free will
of man, you re crying down the freedom of God. When you cry
out the free will of man, you re bringing down God, and oh,
my! And I would never do that. So
then he says in verse 16, look what he says then. So he says,
You know, God said to Moses, So he comes to this conclusion,
it says, So then is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but God that shows mercy. And he says, So this is what
we conclude, since God has mercy on whom he'll have mercy. Salvation
is not just a response to human resolve, it's not of him that
willeth. It's not of him that willeth.
A fellow can will all he wants to, but that will is not what
saves a man, God's will is what saves a man. And oh, salvation
is by the will and purpose of God. And oh, look over in John
chapter 1, look in John's Gospel chapter 1, look what he says
over here about John chapter 1 and verse You know, not of him that willeth. Salvation is by the will and
purpose of God, not by what a man wills to do. He said, He came
unto his own, and his own received him not. Look in verse 12, But
to as many as received him, to THEM gave he power to become
the sons of God, to them that believe on his name. Now, listen
to this, which were born. not of blood, nor the will of
the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." That's how it's
done. Blood, will of man, the flesh,
nothing has to do with it. And oh, salvation is not by human
effort, back over here in our text. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. Oh, salvation is not by human
effort. Oh, I tell you what, It's like, there was this, David,
when his son Joab, when his son Absalom got killed, Absalom tried
to take his throne, Absalom got killed. He got hung in a tree
and he died. Well, there was this, Joab said,
now you run over and tell the king. You run and tell the king
the news about his son. Well, this other fella said,
I want to run too, I want to run too, and I can run faster.
So this one had the message, he said, I want you to tell the
king this one thing, just one thing. This other fella went
out running, he outrun him. When he got up there, he said,
what's the news? I don't know. I don't know. He didn't know what to say. But
that man that had the message, he got there and said, oh, king,
Okay, thy son, thy son, thy beloved son, and that's what happens. Fellas wheel, fellas run, but
if they ain't got nothing to say, just stand down. But I mean,
you know, fellas, I was looking at some of these messages today,
some of these verses for some scriptures out of Mark and looking
at different things and I was looking at one of them, and one
of them was talking about how we ought to be such strong evangelists
out of Mark about the Lord Jesus and the Passover. Man wants something
to do, just give him something to do, and oh, salvation is not
of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth. But here's
what it is, the only reason anybody will ever be saved, the only
source of salvation is I will have mercy. God's not willing,
it's not running, but of God that shows mercy. And God that
shows compassion. And oh, look what happened. Then
again, how many times he used the scripture? Down in verse
17. For the scripture saith, now
that's Three times he said, use God. In the scriptures, three
times already. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh. You know where that's at? It's in Exodus chapter nine,
verse 16. That verse of scripture is. For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh. God has something to say. Judgment
according to the will of God. He said, the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh. under Pharaoh. For even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. God spoke the
word under Pharaoh, and as God has the right to show mercy to
whom he will, he also necessarily has the right to judgment and
reprobation. Now, He can bring judgment on
a man, He can turn a man to reprobation, leave him absolutely to Himself,
and that's what He did. I remember years ago, I think
I was preaching something about Pharaoh, and I think it was nine
times, nine times, you know, he went to Pharaoh and told him
time and time again, THE LORD SAID LET MY PEOPLE GO. And then
God would send a flag and he'd say, tell Moses, said, Lord,
I've sinned against God. I've sinned. And then, you know,
he'd say, ask the Lord to stop this. And then he wouldn't let
him go. And then he'd say, and then next
thing thing come and I sinned. And nine times that went on. And you know what God said? I
hardened him. So he'd do just that very thing.
You know that. He talked about our sin. He talked
about our sin, but oh, but He never knew what sin was, but
look what He says there now. Oh, God has the right to show
mercy to him well, and He has the right to reprobate somebody,
and oh, we see God's absolute sovereignty. Oh, here, God's
absolute, utter, absolute sovereignty here in the matter of dispensing
grace or justice. and the right to dispose of men
as he will. And I tell you what, he fulfills
his purpose. Ain't that what God said? He
said, I've raised thee up for this same purpose. He said, by
purpose, he had a cause and election to grace. And by purpose, he
raised up Pharaoh. By purpose, he had men turn against
his son. Everything God does, he's done
on purpose, predetermined it to be done. And oh, my! And I tell you what, He disposes
of men as He will to fulfill His purpose, whether it s election
or judgment or reprobation. And look at what God said here.
He said, Oh, it was the only reason that I raised you up,
the only reason that you had any power, the only reason where
you were where you were, the only reason you had any power,
the only reason that you was a Pharaoh is because I raised
you up. That's what God said. I raised
you up. Jeremiah said, He raises up kings
and sets down kings. He raises up nations, sets down
nations. You know how many nations have
existed and they don't exist anymore? Roman Empire, Grecian Empire,
Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Empire, all of them gone, the greatest
nations and greatest power, Egypt was the greatest power at that
time, don't even exist anymore. Oh my, like they did, I've raised
you up, raised you up, put you where you are, gave you the power
you had. And I made your wrath to praise
me." Look what he said. That I must show my power, my
might, my authority, my right to do what I want to. And he
said, this is the only reason I've done it. That when people
talk about Pharaoh and my power, people talk about me. My power,
my rights, my power. And that's what we're interested
in, God's power. The way you conducted yourself
was by my appointment. You know, when our Lord Jesus
Christ went to the cross, you know, God made the wrath of Pharaoh
to praise Him, and He made the wrath of man to praise Him when
He put His Son on the cross. They derided Him, mocked Him,
spit on Him, and yet look what God brought out of it. Man's
wrath ended up bringing glory to God Almighty. Pharaoh brought
glory to God Almighty. You know why God does what He
does? To bring glory to Himself, whether He damns Esau and loves
Jacob, whether He damns somebody in our family and loves us and
leaves us alone. As far as I know, there s not
a soul in my family on EITHER SIDE that s interested in God
or ever made a profession of God or was interested in the
Gospel. Not one of them, not one of them. And I tell you, look at what
God says now. And I love this right here. God's
gonna have His name. And here we are declaring His
name for what He did to Pharaoh, about 4,000 years ago. God's mercy and judgment's by
the will of God. Look what He says. And I love
this right here. Therefore he has mercy on whom
he will. On whom he will. And whom he will, he hardens. He hardens. I love God being that way. We're
shut up to what we believe and what we actually preach and what
we look unto God for. And oh, my, God is righteous
in His judgment. That judge of all the earth must
do right. And why God does act toward men
differently is because He WILLS to do it. I WILL to love Jacob. I will. And you know, a fellow brought
it to my attention today. He was talking about Jacob. He
was talking about Jacob, and he says, You know, Jacob, after
that ladder came down, You know, Jacob was laying there asleep,
and this big ladder came down from heaven, and angels went
up and down on it. And he got up and said, Boy,
this is nothing but the house of God. And he saw that ladder,
and there come the Lord Jesus on that ladder, and he met Him,
and God had already made promise to him, made promise to him. and loved him and already made
promise that I'm gonna keep you, I'm gonna preserve you. And you
know when he got up and before he prayed and started on down
to Laban's house, he said, now, Lord, I'll give you 10% of everything
I ever make if you'll bless me. After God just told him, he's
seen that great vision, that letter, and he gets up and starts
bargaining with God. That just goes to show you how.
HOW COULD GOD LOVE JACOB? HOW COULD GOD LOVE ANYBODY? HUH? BUT I'M SURE GREATFULLY DOES.
WE LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. AND OH MY! AND WE KNOW IF GOD WILLS SOMETHING
TOWARD SOMEBODY, YOU KNOW, WE KNOW GOD'S WILL AFTER HE DOES
SOMETHING FOR US. WE DIDN'T KNOW GOD'S WILL FOR
US UNTIL HE MANIFESTED THAT WILL TOWARDS US. HE IS RIGHTEOUS IN
MERCY, AND HE MUST DEAL WITH ALL MEN
IN JUSTICE. BUT WHEN HE ACTS IN MERCY, HE
IS FREE TO DEAL WITH MEN ACCORDING TO HIS OWN WILL IN CHRIST. AND
I TELL YOU SOMETHING, HE DOESN'T EXERCISE HIS MERCY AT THE EXPENSE
OF HIS JUSTICE. OH, NO! NO, NO! THAT'S WHY HE NAILED HIS SON
TO A CROSS, THAT THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD, Through faith in His blood and
what Christ did, God might be just and justify to who? Him
that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we believe on
Christ? God loved us before the world began. When we was yet
in our mother's womb. Our Father, thank you for your
great and abundant mercy towards us. Thank you for your justice
that's right and true. And Lord, we find no fault in
anything you've ever done in this world. We find no fault
in anything you've ever done for us or any member of our family.
We find no fault. You're the judge of all the earth
and you'll always do right. And Lord, you can do what you
will with your own. You're the one that made us,
not we ourselves. We're the sheep of your pasture,
the trees of your planting. And Lord, we thank you for that.
God bless these dear saints as they go on their way. Meet the
needs of their hearts, meet the needs of their life. Please be
with those who wasn't able to be here tonight, who through
sickness or providence couldn't come. Lord, bring glory to yourself
through us for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to me all
I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power. Holiness forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. Well, I'll see you Sunday morning
and we'll have lunch here Sunday too. Soup and sandwiches again. Simple, simple, simple.