Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Have you
ever thought, why me? Why me, Lord? Why did you save
me? What caused you to want to save
me? Well, we're going to see tonight
the answer is, because it was according to his will and according to his purpose.
Because all of us, I don't think there's a believer alive that
hasn't said, why me? But it's all because of the will
and purpose of God. And I know that's hard for us
to understand, hard for us to even grasp as believers. Because
we know our sinfulness, don't we, brother? We know our unworthiness,
don't we, brother and sister? We know we don't merit this salvation,
this wondrous salvation. And so that's what causes us
to say, and we know the deceitfulness of our own heart even as believers,
right? How How easy it is for us to stray,
right? Prone to wander, the hymn writer
wrote. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Oh, here's my heart, Lord. Take
and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. See, sheep wander, don't they?
And God calls us the sheep of his hand. And he's the good shepherd,
isn't he? Now we may wander a little bit,
but we know he's always gonna bring us back, isn't he? With
cords of love. Remember that crook in the staff
we looked at last week? Lovingly bringing us back to
the Savior. Oh my. So we may wonder, what is the
cause of our salvation? The cause of our salvation. Look here in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5. The answer is actually found
in verse 18. It's part of the, and all things
are of God. All things are of God. Brethren, we're saved because
all things are of God. It was His will and purpose to
save us. My oh my. Let's read verses 11
to 21 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord. I was talking to Vic today and
I said isn't it amazing That people don't fear God? We know who he is now. We didn't
fear him before we were saved, but now we have a reverent fear
for him, don't we? Not a slavish fear, but a reverent
fear. We know now. And the little bit
he's revealed himself to us, my oh my. He's God over all. Fear not him who can destroy
the body, but fear him who can destroy both body and soul in
hell. The master said that. And he's
speaking of God, isn't he? So Paul writes, knowing the terror
of the Lord. We persuade men. We preach. Come to Christ. He's the only
hope for sinners. Come to Christ, it's he who has
obtained eternal redemption for his people, for sinners. Paul writes, we persuade men,
but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made
manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf,
that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance
and not in heart." See, Paul didn't glory in appearance. Paul gloried in the Lord. Paul
didn't want glory. He wasn't self-seeking. And that's
how we preachers need to be. Not to be self-seeking. That's
how we believers need to be. Right? All of us. Not self-seeking. Remember, he's writing to the
body of believers at Corinth. And they had had some trouble,
hadn't they? About self-seeking with the tongues, with preacher
worship. I'm of Apollos and I'm of Paul. See, they'd had some problems,
hadn't they? Oh yeah, they had. And so Paul, under inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, writes this. He goes, don't glory in appearance,
we glory in the heart, don't we? We're gonna see this week
in our Philippian study that the reason, part of the reason
why the believers in Rome waxed bold was to bring joy to Paul's
heart. That he might glorify God for
what was happening. Oh my. For whether we be beside
ourselves, it is to God. Or whether we be sober, it is
for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth
us. Now look at that. That is so
important. That's so important right there.
You've heard me quote that verse many times. And that's so important. When people say, well, if I believe
like you believe, I could go out and do whatever I want. The
love of Christ constrains us, beloved. So that we don't run
out the door and go crazy in sin. We don't want to, do we? I was listening to this fellow
this week, and he says, oh, this once saved, always saved, it
makes for people to go out and do whatever they want. And I
thought, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't
know. He doesn't understand. And he
said, well, we're new creatures, and we ought not to go out and
do whatever we want. And I thought, I don't know no
preacher in grace who's preaching that. But see, they twist things,
don't they? They don't know or they don't
understand that the love of God constrains us now. Why do we feel guilty when we're
conscious of our sin? Because we have the spirit of
God in us. And he's teaching us, isn't he? We don't just say,
oh, well, I'm just a sinner. I just do this because I'm just
a sinner. No, we grieve, don't we? And
it says, now think of this, my dear brothers and sisters. How
bad would we be if the love of Christ didn't constrain us? I
don't even want to think about it. How would we be if the Holy Spirit
didn't constrain us? See, they never talk about that.
The Holy Spirit restrains us, doesn't he? Oh my. And we do desire to live
a life pleasing to God, don't we? We do. And this is the big
thing right here. We desire now to serve Him. Because
remember, we're bond slaves for Christ. What does a bond slave
do? He serves the Master, doesn't
he? Not perfectly, but he serves to the best of their ability,
don't they? Yes, that's what we are. We're now servants for
Christ. We once had wanted to have nothing
to do with him. Now we're like, Lord, I want to serve you. And it's the love of Christ that
constrains us from sin, beloved. When we think about Christ died
for my sins, that constrains us. Oh my. Because we thus judge that if
one died for all, then we're all dead. And that he died for
all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth,
know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. He's gone
to glory. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
look at this, he's what? A new creature. We have a new
spirit in us. We have a new heart in us, right?
We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, given faith to
believe and rest and trust that Christ shed his blood for the
redemption of my soul. For me, each believer says, we
marvel at that. My oh my. Therefore, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away. We
don't desire to do the things that we once did, beloved. Now
we hate those things, don't we? I used to love, I'd be out in
the bars all week. Friday nights, just partying
it up. I don't desire that anymore, beloved. I don't, it has nothing for me. Nothing for me anymore. Who made
that difference? God did. God made that difference,
not me. I'm a new creature now in Christ,
hallelujah, are you? Praise be to God, isn't it wonderful? Oh my, all things have become
new. Now the gospel, oh, I love it.
We didn't act like that before, did we, brother? Someone talks
about election. Oh, we used to get our feathers
all ruffled in religion, didn't we? Now we're like, oh, oh Lord,
you chose me? Praise your mighty name. I know it's nothing to me. It's
all because of your grace and mercy. Oh my. And all things are of God. Now
look at that right there. who hath reconciled us to himself. Okay, notice that. We wouldn't
be reconciled to God unless he reconciled us to himself. That's what that says, isn't
it? Who hath reconciled us, being believers, you're writing to
believers, to himself, by who? Here's the key, Jesus Christ.
Only through Christ alone. We are saved for Christ's sake.
Right? Or redeemed according to the
will and purpose of God, because he planned all things. And all
things are of God. And all there means all. Good
and bad. He, in his permissive will, allows
things to occur. He allowed Paul to persecute
the church, didn't he? Brother Zane, I love what we
were talking about. Yeah, he allowed Paul to persecute the
church. And he allowed Paul to head to Damascus with notes,
but Paul had an appointment with God. And this was all according
to God's purpose and plan, because in old eternity, Paul had been
chosen in Christ. And in old eternity, Paul was
going to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He didn't know it, did he? He's
going to Damascus, and we're going to kill, we're going to
wipe them out. Something changed. He went from persecutor to preacher,
didn't he? Oh my. All by the power, will,
and might of God. Right? It's God who regenerated
them, God the Holy Spirit. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, God,
the second person of the Trinity, the God-man who spoke to him.
And you know it was all planned and purposed and executed by
the Father according to his will. Isn't that amazing? That's just
incredible, isn't it? Do you know that everything we
did today did not catch God by surprise? Nothing. Do you know nothing
that we do from now until He takes us home will catch Him
by surprise? Isn't that amazing? Oh my. Now, what does that do? The love
of Christ constrains us. Oh my. God always has his eyes
upon us. Always. And he sees us in Christ. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. See, we preach reconciliation
to God because Adam fell, right? Adam fell. Now there's a divide.
And we're all born into this world dead in trespasses and
sins. My buddy Jim was telling somebody,
he told me he was telling somebody that, hey, we're all born sinners,
even babies. This guy just lit up on him. I can't believe that. Jim said,
well, that's in the Bible. We're all born dead in sin. And
he said, the guy just lost it. I'm not a sinner! Well, there's
the key right there. Right there, that's the key.
See, if all men are born sinners, that means he's a sinner. Yeah, now that's where the sword
hits the bone, isn't it? The Word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing, piercing
to the bone. Oh, my. See, that man heard something,
but he didn't like what he heard. Oh, my. And I said to Jim, I
said, look at the natural depravity of man right there. You telling him the truth, and
he doesn't want nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing to
do with it. So we can't reconcile ourselves
to God because we're born sinners because we're sons and daughters
of Adam. We're his offspring. So when Adam fell, he's dead
in trespasses and sins. And all he can, he's a sinner,
all he can do is produce sinners, right? See, but Christ is conceived
by the Holy Spirit of God. He's sinless. He's the seed of
the woman. We come from the seed of the
man. We come from our dads. And of
course the sperm and the egg mix together and make a human. we need to be reconciled to God.
And so the ministry of the preachers is, be ye reconciled to God through
Christ. He's the only hope. The only
way for a sinner, which is all of us, to be reconciled to God
is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I pointed out
on Sunday, in Sunday school, we read John 3, 14 and 15, And
it was Zane who brought this out last week, I believe. Verse
16, everybody quotes verse 16, but they stop. They say, for
God so loved the world, they stop, right? You ever hear those?
They stop right there. There's a clause that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And
the world there is the elect. My, oh my, because the elect
won't perish, will they? Christ purchased us on Calvary's
tree. And we believe, don't we? Which
is the clause there, right? Whosoever believeth. Well, did
we just muster up that belief? It's given to us, isn't it, Brother
Brian? Yeah, by God the Holy Spirit. When we're born again,
he gives us faith and repentance. It's like the same piece of paper,
like I said, faith on one side, repentance on the other. You
won't find faith without repentance. In repentance, this means turning
away from our sins and turning to God. As a matter of fact,
and I believe it is in the first chapter of Revelation, John says,
turning and being turned, you know what that means? God turns us and then we turn. We won't turn. We won't turn
to God unless God turns us, eh? Makes us will in the day of his
power. You see how it all just ties together and gives God all
the glory, doesn't it? It all goes to him, beloved.
All of it. So look at this. He's given us
the ministry of reconciliation. To wit that God was in Christ,
Christ was God in the flesh. He's 100% man, and he's 100%
God. Reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. So who, the question here is,
does that mean all the world? Did he reconcile all the world?
No, as Brother Zane brought out, he reconciled those who believe. And as a matter of fact, and
that's not even based upon man, because the scripture says in
Galatians, like we looked at, and I love that portion, where
it says, God sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts, whereby
now we cry, Abba, Father, because we were heirs. Remember? Did
we know we were heirs? We had no clue. But God sent
forth the spirit of his son. And we believe. And so we don't
know who God's people are, so we preach the gospel to all,
don't we? People say, well, you're holding back. No, I preach to
everyone. That's called the general call. It goes out. Flee to Christ. Flee to him. He's the only hope.
There's no other hope but Christ for sinners. There's none. There's
heaven and there's hell. These are two places in the scriptures,
right? Whosoever believeth on him. She'll go, she'll hear, well
done, my good and faithful servant. And the others who rejected Christ,
I said to Jim, I said, I pray for that man that you talked
to, that God will save him because if he doesn't, he's on his way
to hell. My, remember we're brands plucked
out of the fire, right? Oh my. Spurgeon has a sermon
called Turn or Burn. It's true. People don't like
hearing that anymore. Well, it's truth. It's truth. Oh my. To wit, that God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses. So who are the ones who don't
have their sins imputed to them? Now notice it was imputing there
too. That's the key right there. That's the key for what's going
to follow. Right? So we don't have our sins, the
reason we don't have our sins imputed to us, because our sins
are imputed to Christ. And his righteousness is imputed
to us. I like calling it the great exchange. Right? Our sins are imputed to
Christ, and His righteousness is imputed to us. And that's
the believer. That's all of God's elect. My,
oh, my. Someone says, well, how do I
know if I'm one of God's elect? Do you believe? Are you resting and trusting
in Christ as the only hope for sinners such as you and I? Then
don't worry about being one of the elect. Just trust Christ.
People get so hung up on these things, don't they? Whosoever
believeth. See, that's the key. The gospels
in 13 and 14, or 14 and 15 in John chapter 3, that's where
the gospel is. Even as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, right? You gotta look to Christ, right?
How do we look to Christ? How do dead sinners look to Christ?
Well, we have to be made alive, right? God the Holy Spirit regenerates,
we're made alive. Sinners who are regenerated are
given faith. And then what do we do? We look
to the one who's the lover of our souls. And he's the fairest
of 10,000 to our souls now, isn't he? Oh, I like the hymn. I like that we need to sing the
song into, oh, how I love Jesus, right? Oh, how I love Jesus.
I think it is because he first loved me. That's the key. The only reason we love Jesus
is because he loves us before we loved him. How long has he
loved us, brother? From eternity, amen. Now that's
enough to fizz our brains, isn't it? Oh my! I'll tell you what. Look at this. To wit that God was in Christ.
He was God in the flesh. Reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors.
See, every believer is an ambassador. Right? For Christ. What does
an ambassador do? Well, an ambassador goes to other
countries and tells them of their country. So we go out in the
world to tell about our king. Right? And where's the country we're
going to? It's called heaven. Scripture says we seek a better
country, don't we? There'd be no more toil there,
no more sin, no more sickness, no more sadness, no more crying,
no more pain. Hmm. Zane and I were talking
the other day. Sister Kathy's more alive now
than she's ever been. She went to the land of the living,
didn't she? She left the land of the dead, that's right, dead
spiritually, and went to the land of the living. Isn't that
wonderful? where everyone loves and adores
Christ. You imagine what that's going
to be like? You know how our hearts burn within us when we
hear the gospel or when we're talking to each other? Do you
imagine that all the time? Oh my! Someone asked me a long
time ago, well, aren't you going to get bored serving God? No!
I'm never going to get bored serving God in heaven. He's my
king. He's my redeemer. He's my savior. Is he yours? It's wonderful. And I pray, I pray if he's not,
that God would make it so. Oh my. Look at this. Now then we are
ambassadors for Christ as though God did besiege you by us. We
pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God. Now that's
the message that goes there. Be you reconciled to God. How?
Through the Lord Jesus Christ in his shed precious blood. That's
the only way. That's the only way. Now remember, we looked up earlier,
it said, not reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses, in verse 19. Now look at this. For he hath
made him to be sin for us, so our sins were imputed to Christ.
He's still the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. If he was a sinner,
he could never be our Savior. He says in John, near the latter
part of John, he says, the prince of this world cometh and hath
nothing in me. He can't find any sin in him,
because he's sinless. Oh my, look at this. For he hath
made him to be sin for us, our sins were imputed to him. He
bore them like they were his own, but they're ours. He bore
the punishment for our sin fully, didn't he, brother J? So much
so that he extinguished the wrath of God against us. Praise His
mighty name. Oh, my. And now, we didn't know
that, did we, before we were saved? We had no idea. And then
we found out. Someone preached the gospel.
Oh, Lord, You died for me. Because God sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts. Now we cry, I have a Father.
Oh, Father, thank You. Thank You, Father, for sending
the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You for saving my soul. Oh my, look at this. For he hath
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. Now he offered himself
up without spot. So when he's dying on the cross,
even though our sins are imputed to him, he's still offering himself
up without spot. He's the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God. I ask you this, when the high
priest laid the hands upon the one that was, remember there
was two, first of all, there was two lambs that were to come
up. One was gonna be the scapegoat,
and one was going to be the offering, right? Okay. So the lots were
drawn, the scapegoat goes there, and then what happens? The Passover
lamb, the lamb that's going to be shed, right? So the priest
goes there, puts his hands on him for the sins of Israel, right? Which pictures our high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing our sin. Now did that lamb become
a sinner? No, it's still a lamb, right?
Still a lamb. It's still perfect, isn't it?
It had to be spotless. It's still a spotless lamb, isn't
it? But by the laying on of those hands, it pictures imputation.
And our sins were imputed to Christ, and he bore them, beloved. He bore them for us. And he knew
no sin. He died the perfect spotless
lamb of God. Look what it says here, this
is amazing. Look at, who knew no sin, he knew no sin in his
life, and he knew no sin in his death, beloved. Otherwise he
couldn't be our Redeemer, could he, brother? If he knew sin,
he couldn't be our Redeemer. He couldn't save anyone, but
because he's God in the flesh, you see. Can God sin? God can't sin, can he? He hates
sin. This is why I believe in what's called the impeccability
of Christ. Christ could not sin. Some would say, why? Because
he's God. He's God, beloved. Isn't that amazing? And yet,
all the sins of all the elect of all the ages were laid upon
Christ. No wonder he sweat great drops
of blood. Right? No wonder he sweat great drops
of blood. Could you imagine the sinless
one bearing the weight of all the sin of all his people of
all the ages? As far as we know, billions and
billions, right? It says as much as the sand in
the seashore. I've been to the seashore. You
pick up a handful of sand, man. There's thousands of grains in
your hand. That's a lot of folks, isn't
it? Oh my. And there he is, dying
on Calvary's cross, offering himself up as the Passover lamb. God's lamb. Sent by the Father. Right? Sent by the Father to redeem
us. from all our sins. Look at this.
He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, he didn't know
any sin, that we might be what? Made the righteousness of God
in him. Here we are, we're sinners. All we are is sin. Everything
we do is tainted with sin. And yet the scripture says, we've
been made the righteousness of God. in Him. That's the key, isn't
it? In Christ. See, His perfect righteousness
is what we're clothed in, beloved. So now God looks at us, Brother
Brian, He don't see our sin. He sees Christ. Isn't that amazing? And as a
matter of fact, he says, as far as the east is from the west,
you can't. I heard a preacher, I was listening, someone used
that analogy in the message, I was bouncing off the walls.
You guys know I use that all the time, I love it. You go east,
you never meet east. You go west, you never meet west.
Right? I got that from Henry, so I can't
claim that one. I can't claim any of them. But
isn't that wonderful though? So our sins are so far removed
from God that he don't remember them anymore. Why? Because the sinless one died
for us. And who did he die for? All who
trust in him. The question is, are you trusting
in him? All who believed in him. See,
we don't, we don't, we don't hedge it up, do we? It's why. Hey, come! Flee to Christ! Right? Whosoever will, let him
come. The Spirit of the Bride say,
whosoever will, let him come! Right? Oh, yeah. For God so loved the world. We're
not afraid of that verse, are we, brother? It's a wonderful
verse. Whosoever believeth. Have you believed? Praise his mighty name. You know
what the cause of that was? You know the cause of us believing?
Because God's loved us with an everlasting love. in unchanging
love. A love that will never end. Will
never end. And we will see it's... Personally,
I think that the greatest manifestation of love, you've heard me say
this many times, was the death of Christ on the cross to this
world. That is the greatest manifestation
of love. that God would send His own Son, He who knew no sin,
to be made sin for us. Now, we didn't have any idea
of that, did we? Hmm. We had no idea that. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. Didn't care, did we? God sent us a preacher, didn't
He? God sent Ken to you. My oh my. Ain't that amazing? Oh, it's incredible. I'll tell
you why. So, what is one of the reasons why we are saved? What originates
in God's everlasting love. That's where it originates. That
God loved us based upon absolutely nothing in us because we weren't
even around. All right? We weren't even around. I love
when the Lord says, you haven't chosen me, but I've chosen you.
I wonder what folks think about
that today. That's the master saying that.
And then he says, without me, you can do nothing. Well, can
we save ourselves, brother? Can we regenerate ourselves?
And he sends the spirit of, Christ is the one who sent the comforter,
isn't he? You ever think of that? Christ sent the comforter to
us. The Father sent the Holy Spirit to us because we are sons. God has sent the spirit of a
son into our hearts crying, I have a father. We were heirs and didn't
even know it. Why were we heirs as opposed
to my two brothers? Why was I an heir opposed to
my two brothers? Why were you an heir opposed
to your family? Because all things are of God,
right? It's all according to his will
and purpose. I remember talking to Brother
Neil. I love this. Neil and I were talking one time. He goes, you
know, I don't understand why people get all upset about God
choosing the people. And I'm listening intently. I
thought, I know where he's going here. I love it because he's
just a matter of fact, right? And he said, he's God. He can
do whatever he wants. And I thought, man, we need to
post that. God can do whatever he wants. And do you know he does? It says
in the scriptures, our God's in heaven, David said. And he
does whatsoever he pleases. See, but the problem is men don't
like that. You see? But when you find out as a believer
that the cause of us being saved is the everlasting, unchanging
love of God. My, how that floods our souls
with love and gratitude and thankfulness. And joy. And joy. Joy unspeakable, as the scripture
says, right? Oh my, look at verse 18 again. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. I marvel at this. All things
are of God. My, and then look at this. Who
hath reconciled us to himself. Was that because anything in
us? Is that because we made a supposed decision? No, it's scripture
says there's none that seeketh after God. See, if He hadn't sent the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts, we never would cry, Abba Father,
would we? We'd be like that fellow Jim
talked to, wouldn't we? I don't want nothing to do with that.
That's how I was. When he was saying that, I'm
going, that was me before the Lord saved me. But praise God,
we're new creatures in Christ now, aren't we? Oh, my. My oh my. Let's turn to Romans
chapter 9 real quick. Look at this, Romans chapter
9. Now, if anyone asks you, how could God hate Esau? The best
answer for them is, how could he love Jacob? How
could he love? Well, because of his everlasting
eternal love. He loved Jacob with an everlasting,
eternal love. But we look at it and go, how
could he love us? Well, the cause is in his everlasting
love. Look at this in Romans chapter
9. Look at this. This is magnificent. Romans chapter 9, verses 13 to
18. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? So right away, Paul knows that man is going to say, that's
not fair. And by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, I love that this is here, by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit of God, because it shows us, even before we hear
it, because I guarantee if you tell people about election, they're
going to tell you, that's not fair. Is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God unrighteous? No, he's
perfectly, purely holy and righteous, isn't he? And everything he does
is good and right. My oh my. For he sayeth to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. Look at that. This is
God saying this. This isn't a man saying this.
This is God saying that to Moses. I'll have mercy on whom I have
mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
So then it is not of him that will. Now, people talk a lot
about will, don't they? You hear it all the time. What's
my will? God will never violate, I heard this, God will never
violate my free will. I hear that all the time. My
oh my, just stop. If God doesn't break into our
life like he did with Paul, remember Paul's a pattern? If God doesn't
intervene in our life like he did with Paul, And if we were
with Paul, and God hadn't intervened in his life or ours, we'd go
right to Damascus with him, wouldn't we? Yeah. Oh, we sure would. But look at
this. So then it's not of him that
well. It's not according to our will. It's according to God's
will. See, that's what rubs man the
wrong way, isn't it, brother? Not according, so it's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that willeth. That means you
can't work it. You can't earn it. All right? Here's the key. But of
God that showeth mercy. Someone tell me where he shows
us mercy in. Who does he show us mercy in?
Amen. In Christ alone, right? Nowhere
else. Look at that. So if you're a
believer, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then God's
showing you mercy. I love it when Paul says, I've
obtained mercy. He knew he didn't deserve it.
He knew he didn't merit it. He knew he didn't earn it. And
he pens these words right here, doesn't he? By inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Look at this. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, 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. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom he will have
mercy, and whom he will, he hardneth. Now, if there's someone we don't
know, whether they went to heaven or hell, right? Bruce Crabtree told me something
a long time ago when my mom died, and I'm going to repeat it tonight.
And I bring this to mind when I think about my mom, or when
I think about my dad, or when I think about other people I
know. God will do what's right. I don't have to carry that burden. I don't have to carry that burden.
And it's a burden. It's a burden. God will do what's
right. It's in His hands. We leave it in His hands, don't
we? He'll do what's right. My, oh, my. Look at this. Again, for the Scripture saith
unto the Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee
up, that I might show my power in thee. Now, he showed his power
Right? He delivered the Israelites out
of Pharaoh's hands, didn't he? And then he led those Israelites
through the desert as a pillar of fire at night and a cloud
to keep the hot sun from beating on them. Can you imagine that?
Look at that. Oh, it's a cloud. And it followed them. The whole
time they wandered through, you know, we look at that, we look
at that and think, how did they murmur? How did they, we'd have
done the same thing. We'd have done the same thing,
beloved. We're just sheep, we're just, whoa, and I like the food
better over in Egypt, right? It's true, that's how we are.
That's why we need a shepherd. That's why we need a savior,
isn't it? I look at those folks and I think, well, that would
have been me too. My, I used to look down on, I'll be honest,
when I was in religion, how could they do that? And then God showed
me grace, and I went, oh my goodness, I'm just like him. Right? Oh my, praise God for mercy. Praise God for mercy. Look at
this, he raised him up, that his power might be showing him.
So his power was showing in delivering the Israelites from Egypt, and
then his power was manifested again in the destruction of Pharaoh
and his armies in the Red Sea. Oh my. And so much so that when
they went into the land of Canaan, that they had heard of them already,
what happened. Word got around, didn't it? Their
God delivered them. Oh my. My, oh my. Look at this. That
my name might be declared throughout all the earth is being declared,
isn't it? We still talk about the exodus.
We still talk about the destruction of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. We still talk about the Israelites
walking across dry land in the middle of the Red Sea. Oh my. Look at this. He says it again.
How does a man become hardened? God just leaves him alone. He just has to leave them alone,
not show them mercy. Remember how hard-hearted we
were? I remember, it's awful. And I know I'm not the same person
I used to be. And that's by the grace and mercy
of God. It's a miracle. We're miracles. I heard someone
talk about miracles. We're miracles of God's grace,
beloved. Amen! Do you know the same power
that regenerated us is the same power that it took to raise Christ
from the grave? The same power it took us to
raise us from the dead? It's the power of God, isn't
it? Right? Praise His mighty name. Let's
give Him all the glory. Let's give Him all the glory.
We're justified freely by His grace, beloved. Freely by His
grace. It's wonderful. And then we can
trace this wonder of salvation all the way back to the free
and sovereign grace of God, which is what we just looked at in
Romans chapter 9, right? It's His will. You have compassion
on whom you have compassion. That's according to God's free
grace, isn't it? And He shows us His sovereignty by saying,
I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. Oh my. Remember the old saying? I've said it many times, I'm
going to repeat it again. What does it take for a man to go
to heaven? God has to do everything, doesn't
He? What does it take for a man to go to hell? God just has to
leave him alone. That's pretty sobering, isn't
it? That's pretty sobering. Praise God. Praise God. Christ
is all my salvation. Is it so for you? Oh, what a
gift. What mercy we've been shown,
beloved. And then we can trace our redemption
in Christ, the fact that we're redeemed. Look, we can trace
that back to the mercy of God. Look at verse 18 again. And all
things are of God. It originates with Him. He planned
our salvation. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Right? He purposed it. He purposed it. Then He created this world. Put
Adam in the garden. Adam fell. Did that catch God
by surprise? Because the Redeemer had to come
into this world, didn't he? He had to. He had to. Is God the author of evil? No.
He just left Adam alone in there, didn't he? And think of this. Adam was in the most perfect
place. And he still fell. That shows you us. Shows you
what we are. Oh my! But God said, the seed
of the woman is going to crush the serpent's head. He's going to bruise his heel.
That's his humanity. But he's going to crush the serpent's
head. See, people nowadays make Satan out like he's got all this
power. Satan's on the leash. He can only do what God allows.
God is sovereign. You listen to the way people
talk. I hear it all the time. You listen to how people talk.
And they talk, they don't believe God's sovereign. Maybe over the
weather, you know. I had one fellow, he's one of
them Word of Faith guys, Assembly of God fellows, talking to him. He comes, he sits across from
me, he says, I'm having a crisis of my faith. And I said, well,
why is that? He says, well, I believe that
if we pray enough, then God will heal someone. Otherwise, I must
not have faith. I said, Gary, that's not faith
at all. You can't twist God's arm. This is the same fellow I asked,
I asked him, I said, do you know what the, you ever heard about
the righteousness of God? And he goes, I never heard of
that. Christ is the righteousness of
God, beloved. Right? He's the Lord, our righteousness. See, it's not being taught out
there, beloved. What we have is so precious.
What we have is so precious. And if something happens to me
and I drop dead, God will just bring another preacher in here.
Right? And he's gonna preach the same
thing. I don't plan on leaving until I drop dead, so. Oh my. But isn't that true though? He
just raised up another preacher, right? And I asked two fellows
at the same time. I asked one guy and the other
guy was sitting beside him. I said, do you ever heard about
the righteousness of Christ? Never heard of it. Beloved, it's
such a part of the heart of the gospel. It's pivotal, isn't it,
brother? Because without the righteousness
of Christ, we can't stand in God's presence. Like you said, it's pivotal,
brother, with the gospel. So what does that tell us? The
gospel's not being preached. Oh my. The last point is we can trace
our salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone to
the will and purpose of God. If we are believers here tonight,
and I know we've all said, why me? Well, the answer is to why
me? Why am I saved? Why me, Lord?
Because it pleased God to do so. Isn't that wonderful? Is that out of our hands? That's
out of our hands, isn't it? That means salvations of the
Lord, right? That's what Jonah said, isn't
it? Jonah 2.9. Salvations of the Lord. What
do we say? Praise his mighty name. Glory
be to our great God. Brother Brian, can you