Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. So if you wish to follow along,
turn to Lamentations. We'll take just this week at
least. Take a little break from Romans
for at least this Sunday. Lamentations chapter three. It's right after Jeremiah. And
I say that as I told the people at Willersburg not to be condescending.
Because I remember one Sunday, I don't know if it was Paul or
Joe preaching, and I think it was Ruth, and they said, turn
to Ruth. And they had done finished reading the text and began to
preach, and I still hadn't found Ruth. And I know where Ruth's
at. I finally just had to lay my
Bible down and act like I'd found it. Just listen. Lamentations chapter three. Did
I say that? I said lamentations. Lamentations
chapter three. I want to read just three verses. Lamentations three, verse 21. This I recall to my
mind. Therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. because his compassions fail
not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. My title is derived directly
from the text, of course, as many of you probably would already
understand that. My title is this. It is of the
Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. The fact that the book would
speak of anyone, that God's holy book would speak of anyone, whether
it's one person or a billion persons, doesn't matter how many. I know this world of religion
is caught up with numbers, and I understand that. Believe you
me, I understand that. Because in our human mind, in
our flesh, we associate quantity with God rather than quality
with God. And we all have to battle this.
Probably about every day of our life. But it is just the fact
that anyone is not consumed is astounding. It's astounding. Now, I understand it is probably
not astounding to most because most people think that there
is the old cliche, there is a spark of goodness in every man. But
I'm here to say that that is not so. So again, the fact that
anyone is not consumed is astounding because we deserve to be consumed. It's not just an unfortunate
consequence of who we are and what we do, but it is God revealing
his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. Remember, I know you remember
this, and you don't have to turn to this one. I'll have you turn,
Lord willing, here in just a moment. You remember what Paul wrote
to Titus? Titus three verse three, for we ourselves, and he's talking
to believers. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers or various, various
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and
hating one another. And anyone with any common sense,
even common sense, you don't have to have even specifically
spiritual sense, but common sense, who would watch the news today
on TV that doesn't realize that what Paul wrote some odd 2,000
years ago is still true of us today. Men and women will kill
one another over nothing. Over getting cut off in traffic.
And we've all, if we've driven for any time at all, have made
mistakes in traffic. But people kill one another over
such things. It's astounding. Here's another
one, you know this one. And you don't have to turn to
it, because I'll give you a passage here in a moment. Romans chapter
three, and Paul lays out, or I should say, more importantly,
he quotes from the Old Testament scripture. But before he does
this diatribe against us as humanity, there's none good, there's none
righteous. You all remember Romans three, but here's what I want
us to hear. What then? Are we, that is Jews, that's
what he's talking about in this context, those who are of Jewish
descent, are we better than they? Who's the they? Gentiles, those
who are of Gentile descent. What then? Are we better than
they? No, in no wise. In no wise. The Jews had advantage,
but they squandered that advantage. What then, are we better than
they? No, in no wise, for we have before proved, before he
even starts to quote the Old Testament, but we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. Now turn to Isaiah chapter one.
I know you thought I was gonna probably read some more of those
verses there, but here's what I want to read. Isaiah chapter
one. Let me just begin with verse
two. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. So this is for
all. All. Whether they're things up
above or things beneath. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth. For the Lord has spoken. I have
nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against
me. Now, I can hear it now, the dispensationalists saying, but
this is written to Jews. Yes, it is. It was definitely
written to those who are of Jewish descent, but Paul said, I've
already proved hundreds of years after this that both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are all under sin. We're all alike by nature. The ox knoweth his own, wait
a minute, wait a minute. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me. And in this sense,
God being the creator of all heaven and earth, we are all
his children in that sense. He is our creator, we are his
creation. We owe him worship and honor
and love and devotion as his creatures. Jew or Gentile does
not matter. The ox knoweth his owner and
the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people
doth not consider. Is God saying that mankind is
dumber than a ass? Yes, you're not even a dumb ass. The dumb ass, that's what this
is, now don't you, I know you're sitting there, I'm not trying
to cuss here, I'm talking about what this is. We are worse than
a dumb ass. The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my
people hath not considered. Ah, sinful nation. And this is true. Though this
was spoken just to Jews, this is true of all humanity. Ah,
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One, and before there ever was an
Israelite on the face of the earth, God Almighty had revealed
Himself in the earliest days of human history as to who He
was. And Romans 1, Paul tells us,
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. They turned the
truth of God into a lie. There wasn't nobody but Gentiles
then. So we Gentiles started this mess. We were in this mess to start
with, were we not, before any actual Israelite ever came along. and have provoked the Holy One
of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any
more? Now listen, I know we often comfort
ourselves in the fact that sometimes some folks go through trouble
and we hope, we pray, we may even pray, oh God caused this
to bring them around. But that is not so. We pray,
we ask amiss that we may consume it of our own lust. Because God
doesn't save people by trouble, he saves people by Jesus Christ. We don't know how to pray as
we are. And I don't wanna get off you
right here. Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt
more and more. You see it? The whole head is
sick and the whole heart faint. Yes, this is true of those Israelites
in Isaiah's day, but it's true of you and I, of us all today. From the sole of the foot. Even
unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. That is not a pleasant picture,
but he's not talking about some kind of accident that we've had. He's talking about what we are
and do by nature. He's using metaphors to describe
how disgusting we are within ourselves. wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. And I will say this. Not all of humanity is in the
dregs of immorality. Not all of humanity is in the
dregs of immorality. but all of humanity is either
in the dregs of immorality, or they are in the dregs of false
religion, whatever that false religion might be, or they are
in the midst of, even brought up in, trained up as children
in a perverse Christianity. where a perverted gospel is preached. Men will take, even in their
morality, in their morality, they despise all of these immoral
things, and they avoid all these immoral things, but they will
take the truth of God and twist it into a lie. We deserve to
be consumed. But we still here. This I recall
to mind, to my, I'm sorry, my mind, therefore have I hope.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, not
because they become exhausted, but because we need them every
morning. If I get ready to pillow my head
at night, and I begin to confess my sins before God, before I
pillow my head. That's okay, there's nothing
wrong with that. I'm not degrading that in any
way. But when I pillow my head and
I go off into that state called sleep, even in my sleep, I rebel
against God. My mind begins to show what's
really down in here. Thy, they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. That gives me hope. That's given
me hope. Now let's note this morning,
I will try to be brief, but there's some of these things I don't
want to rush over. Let's try to note, these are the same five
things I gave to the folks at Grace Fellowship Church in Williarsburg,
Ohio, but let's try to note at least five choice gospel morsels. Now you notice I didn't make
it six and use the first one as a choice gospel morsel, because
our state in Adam ain't a choice gospel morsel. It's wounds and
bruises and putrefied stores. We steak in the sight of a holy
God. We are rotten flesh in the sight of a holy God. And yet,
some of humanity is not consumed. As a matter of fact, all of humanity
is not immediately consumed, which is an amazing thing in
and of itself. An amazing thing in and of itself.
But I'm not gonna deal with that. Let's try to note at least five
choice gospel morsels. The first morsel, the Lord's
mercies are key. You hear what I said? Now you
can turn back to Titus, if you will. Titus chapter three, where we
read, I've already read these words, verse three. For we ourselves
were also sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
different, all kinds of various lusts and pleasures, living in
malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, because even
at our best state we're altogether vanity. There's not a just man
upon the face of the earth that doeth good. That's not saying
a just man don't do good. Don't stop the quote. There's
not a just man upon the face of the earth that doeth good
and sinneth not. Even when just men and women,
justified by God, justified in Christ, even when we do good,
sin is still present in everything we do. It's still present. That's what the prophet was saying
there. Look, but after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward men appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His will. Mercy,
you see that? Mercy. Everybody's talking about
saved today, but I don't hear too many people talking about
being in absolute need of God's mercy. Begging God for mercy,
crying out to God for mercy. Why? Because they actually think
they deserve God's mercy. They actually think there's at
least enough good in me, God ought to spare me. But we are
told from the soles of our feet to our head, were nothing but
utter corruption. The Israelites would take the
offerings that God said, offer a lamb, and they'd bring one
with a broke leg. And one prophet said, offer that
to your governor and see if he'll accept that. And yet men and
women do this throughout the world and have done it for ages.
They offer to God at best the leftovers. Whether it's leftovers
of the money, leftovers of the time, leftovers of their devotion,
whatever it is, it's always, at best, the leftovers. God said,
I'll have the firstfruits. Remember, there were offerings
of the what? The firstfruits. That means God gets the first
and the best. the first and the best. Look,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly. I often forget that. And the sad part is I forget
that when I fail God and that's what I really need to know is
abundant mercy. When I really fails, when I really
ought to understand it. Right? Which he shed on us abundantly. Remember, look at what we were,
and yet look at what God did for us. You see that? Now you
said, why would any of us think that after he's done this gracious
and merciful act toward us, first, in Christ and his person, second,
in washing, the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
you think that God now loves you less than he ever did when
he was like you were to start with? And yet, because we're
so caught up with ourselves and our works, we think those thoughts,
don't we? Hmm. So again, the first morsel,
it is of the Lord's mercies. That's the key. And as Tim James
once said, if you think God owes you mercy, you have no idea what
God's mercy is. If I offend you, and I know this
is a simple illustration, but it is profound. If I offend you,
it would be even a further offense to you if I come to you and said,
I'm gonna let you show me mercy. Now would it not? Mercy is to
be at rest, begged for, cried out for, believe God for it. And yet we're in this age, and
I suppose we've always been in this age, but with all the electronics
and universal sharing of knowledge, and the Bible talks about that
as well, you can't get away from all of this self-righteousness.
Can't get away from it. But which is shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace. Grace, that was before we even
had faith, because that we should be made heirs. This is. This grace, he's talking about
here, and I'm not talking about different kinds of grace, but
different facets of the one grace of God, because he's the God
of all grace, this grace must precede even our believing. That
being justified by his grace. How is that done? Through the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be made heirs. And me and that poor, poor preacher,
he'd gone on now, that preached my granny's funeral, said God's
a gentleman, he don't make anybody do anything or be anything. I
thank God he does. Because he made me an heir. Because
had he not made me an heir, I'm worse than an ox or an ass. I
am an unclean ass, according to God's holy law. And as Scott
Richardson said, you can take that any way you want. And you
know what you did to an unclean ass if you didn't redeem it by
lamb? You broke its neck. and we deserve to have our necks
broke. But bless God, he offered up,
the father offered up his son, the lamb, for some unclean asses. I don't mind. Not too many people understand,
I don't mind being an unclean ass. Because that means I could
be redeemed by a lamb. And not have my neck broke. Now if you just think you're
an ass, you probably are. You will perish. Because it's
only unclean asses that could be redeemed by a hand. Now go
and figure out what that means. Second morsel, mercy is accompanied
by abundant, unfailing compassions and great faithfulness. And these are all qualities in
God, not me. It's not our compassion, though
we as God's people have compassion. He gives it to us. Though we
have faithfulness, because He gives it to us. He works it in
us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. But we're
not talking about our compassions, our mercies, our faithfulness,
we're talking about His. Now listen to what the prophet
Isaiah said. Isaiah chapter 55, this is marvelous. Turn if you
wish, Isaiah 55. Ho everyone that thirsteth, here's
the question, do you thirst? Do you thirst? Ho everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, are
you flat broke? These are metaphors for spiritual
realities. Not talking about physical thirst
or physically not having any money in your pocket. Oh everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come ye buy. Sounds like a contradiction.
It is to the flesh. But it's not to the man or the
woman that's been made thirsty and God Almighty's broke them
down into pure poverty. Oh everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money, without price. Now I, I can receive a deal like
that. Ain't you? But you know, not
everybody can. And not everybody will. Some
because they say, well, who are you to tell me I'm so thirsty
and I'm so broke? I can find a way to gain these
things myself. Not these things. Look, wherefore
do ye spend money for that which is not bread? Even if you got
some money, you're in trouble. spiritual money, we might say. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfyeth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. My brothers and sisters, it's
okay to rejoice in the person of work of Jesus Christ. It's
okay to find happiness in him. Incline your ear. Isn't that
one of the first things? Let every man be slow to speak
and swift to do what? Hear. Hear. And to see you not
and to hear you near where they come from. They come from the
Lord. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Hear and your soul shall live. Are you really listening?
That's the thing. Are you really listening? And
I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies
of David. And this is a play with words. God showed King David sure mercies. He needed God's mercy. Even throughout
his believing life, he still needed God's mercies, did he
not? But this is talking more abundantly
about David's son, the greater David, Jesus Christ. Behold,
I have given him for a witness to the people and a leader and
a commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not. and nations that knew thee not
shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the
Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. There's a promise
from God Almighty that through the person of Jesus Christ, even
a bunch of Gentiles like us would run to Jesus Christ. You're not
here by accident. You ain't here by luck. You ain't
here by your choice. Because God purposed this long
before we were ever born. That's the second morsel. Here's
the third morsel. Mercy salt is a God-wrought,
God-guaranteed commodity. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 31. Remember I said this is the third
morsel. Mercy salt and mercy must be
sought after. Come to the fountain. You stay
away from the fountain, you'll perish. I don't care who you
are. Stay away, you'll perish. But this is what it says. Jeremiah
31, verse 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me. And I
was chastised. God don't ask us if we'll let
him chastise us. Okay God, go ahead and chastise
me. It don't work that way, does
it? He chastised us because we're kicking against, against. That's why we gotta be chastised.
Look at it. Thou hast chastised me and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. I can relate to
that. It don't make me happy, but I can relate to that. But
there's a, we'll look at this, God willing we'll get to Romans
chapter five and I think it's verse 16. But God bethink that
you were the servants of sin. but you have obeyed from the
heart. That form of doctrine which was delivered to you. So
I did get to Romans chapter five or six or whatever it is. Look
at it. Unaccustomed to the yoke, turn
thou me and I shall be turned.