I'm thankful to be here, brother.
I'm thankful to have you as a dear friend. It's an honor to be with
you. I appreciate y'all having me.
And appreciate your pastor. You have a faithful pastor. Preaches
the gospel to you. And what a blessing it's already
been to be here tonight. Worshiping our Lord together.
Let's turn together to Romans chapter nine, if you would, please. Romans chapter nine, and we're
going to get verse 17. I really just want
to make a couple of observations about verse 17, but I want to
talk about a few things leading up to that
verse, but let's read verse 17. And then we'll look at some more
of this chapter in the beginning verses and talking about it. But verse 17 of Romans nine 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. Particularly that
last phrase, that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. The Lord Jesus Christ dealt with
Pharaoh the way he did. so that we would preach what
we preach, so that we would declare His name, the name of the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who
has mercy on whom He will. Redeemer who doesn't wait to
see what sinners are gonna do for permission for what He can
do. Lord Jesus Christ who sits on
the throne of glory and said in John chapter five, I'm pretty
sure it is, that as the father quickeneth whom he will, even
so he's given authority to the son to give life to whomsoever
he will. He said he dealt with Pharaoh
the way he did so we would declare that, who he is, and that there's
mercy with him. With this God, with the one who
sits on the throne, with the sovereign Christ of the Bible.
There's mercy. There's mercy. And I want us
to notice a couple of things. Paul expresses at the beginning
of this chapter, let's read verses one and two. I say the truth
in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. For I wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. And this burden upon him, in
verse two, this heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart,
we get another glimpse of that at the beginning of chapter 10.
Look what he says in chapter 10, verse one. Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. And notice that his heart's desire
for them was his prayer to God for them. Because he knew, if
what I want to see happen is gonna happen, God's gonna have
to do it. So his heart's desire was his
prayer to God for them, that God would save them. Not that
they would come around to Paul's way of thinking or get correct
in their doctrine. That's just the natural consequence
of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and having him save you. They
need to be saved. It's not a difference of opinion.
It's a difference between life and death. For I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Have you ever known anybody that's
zealous for God, but they don't know God? That's what he's saying. They have no knowledge of him.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, that's where it
starts, doesn't it? If you're gonna seek the righteousness
of God in Christ, you've got to understand what God's righteousness
is. You that would be under the law,
you're gonna have to hear the law as God speaks it. You're gonna have to hear it
from the mouth of God. before you see the futility of
your attempts to keep it and honor it and satisfy it. They're
ignorant of God's righteousness, the righteousness that God requires.
Righteousness that we can never produce. All of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in the sight of God. There's nothing good
in our flesh, not one good thing. But they're ignorant of that,
and this proves it. When somebody doesn't know who
God is in his righteousness, here's what they'll do. They'll
go about to be righteous themselves. When you have no idea who God
is in his holy, flexible, righteous justice, what you'll do is you'll live
the Christian life, you'll walk an aisle, you'll make decisions,
you'll read your Bible, you'll pray every day, you'll do all
these things and you'll say, God's pleased with me. You'll
go about to establish your own righteousness. And it's a lack
of submission. The problem is submitting. To
acknowledge the truth of what God says about his righteous
requirements of a sinner, and our utter, it almost seems too
light of a statement to say our failure to keep God's law. When God teaches you, Paul said
when the law came and it's truth, I realized sin revived in my
heart. I knew what sin was, and I died. The me that trusted in
myself died, and the me that says all of my heritage, all
of my righteousness, all of that's done, that I may win Christ and
be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, but the righteousness
which is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness
he wrought for sinners. So you see what this heaviness
is in verse two. And notice that, you know what,
if you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and you know him
in his sovereign grace, the only kind of grace there is is sovereign
grace. You know, people get accused,
and I suppose it may be true of many who preach Calvinism
and what they call the doctrines of grace. It's undoubtedly true
of some that it's a cold thing. And religion will accuse us of
that whether it is or not. That it's just, you know, you
don't even care about sin or you don't have a missionary program
probably because you believe what will be, will be. You know,
that type of thing. Does Paul sound like he doesn't
care here? Does Paul sound like he's cold and indifferent toward
lost sinners here? I could wish myself a curse. Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. I told Greg I wouldn't embarrass
him by saying anything about this, but when he preached a
minute ago, did it sound like he didn't care to you? Like he
was just stating doctrine, take it or leave it? Believe it or
you're going to hell? God said, I'll give you pastors
after my heart. I don't know a whole lot about
the heart of God, but I know he loves his sheep. I know that.
I know that. And also, notice something else
about this. Notice what he does. Having that
burden, having that desire, having that burning in his heart, God
save him. God have mercy on these people
that I love. I care about them. Have mercy
on them. Reveal yourself to them in your
power to save. In that desire of heart, notice
what he does in verse seven. He makes the point here that
it's not earthly Israel that the promises were ever made to,
but God's spiritual Israel from all nations. And in making that
point, he quotes Genesis 21, 12. Neither because they are
the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. He identifies who God saves sovereignly,
his people. He has a people. Otherwise, it's
just a crapshoot, isn't it? Did the Lord Jesus die just to
see if somebody would avail themselves of the opportunity? No, there's
a seed. He died for the seed and he said
seed because, not seeds, because that seed is Christ and those
who are found in him. So he quoted Genesis 21, 12 right
there. Notice, having shown there that
being a Jew is not the basis of salvation, Paul, he shows
what is the basis of salvation. In verses nine and 12 and 13.
Look at verse nine, for this is the word of promise, at this
time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. Salvation is not by birth or
heritage, it doesn't run in bloodlines. How God does save is by a miraculous
birth. Sarah shall have a son? Yes,
there'll be life where there can't be life. There'll be life
from the dead. There'll be impossible life.
With men it's impossible. Only with God is this possible.
That's how sinners are saved. And then look at verse 11. 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. It was said unto her, and it
specifically says here, neither were born and neither had done
any good or evil. Why does it say that? Well, it
tells us why. That the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works. Not of works, regardless of anything
that they were or did or anything or ever would do. So how is a
sinner saved? By God's choice. God chose one by miraculous birth,
by the electing grace of God, and the third thing, how is it
that saves a sinner? That a sinner is saved by the
love of God. Jacob have I loved. Jacob have
I loved. It's not because you're born
a Jew that you're the elect of God. The promises were made to
God's spiritual Israel, and the way that he saves them, by a
miraculous birth, by my choice, regardless, without
regard to anything in the sinner, and by loving who he loves. And his love is in Christ. My
brother quoted that. His love is in Christ Jesus.
That's how you become a child of God, not by being an Israelite.
And so he makes that point, but notice what he does in every
case. In verse nine, again, he quotes scripture. We saw in verse
seven, he quoted from Genesis 21 in verse nine, this is the
word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have
a son. He quoted scripture again. Look at verse 12. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. Scripture. Verse
13, as it is written, Jacob hath our love, but Esau.
Have I hated? Why do we preach doctrine that
nobody wants to hear? Why do we preach a Christ that
everybody hates? Because he's the Christ of the
Bible. Because it is written. Because thus saith the Lord.
If you're gonna know God, you're gonna have to believe what he
said about himself. You're gonna have to believe
who he is as revealed in his word. Did you notice how Paul
did that? It's not my opinion against yours. We haven't figured
out something that Armenians haven't figured out. God revealed
it in his word. And a pastor, a preacher that
preaches the gospel, or a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, a parent
in the home, whoever, saith the Lord. God's the one
that told us who he is, isn't he? He's the one that said, I'll
have mercy. That's scripture too. So let's
look at our text. Now in our text tonight, it begins
with these words, for the scripture saith, in verse 15, for he saith
to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. So over
and over again, he resorts to the word of God. That's why we
preach what we preach, because it's simply what God said. Those who preach that salvation
is of him that willeth, In direct opposition to verse 16, it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God.
What are they relying on? Their own sinful and selfish
sense of fairness. That's all they have to go back
to. Well, that's not fair. It makes sense to us, the natural
man, doesn't it? Well, that's not fair for God
to hold us accountable. If he determined everything,
and that question's gonna come up here, Then why are we responsible? Why does he hold us responsible
for what he ordained? And that makes sense to the natural
man. But those who preach the gospel, God's preachers like
Paul, we rely completely and only on the word of God. By his grace, the scripture saith
and the clear declaration of scripture is that The human will
is the problem, not the solution. So that's what we preach. Neither
is it of him that runneth, striveth, or worketh. Again, man's religion
is works-based. Why? Because it just seems reasonable
to man. I did wrong, I've got to do right
to fix it. Problem is, we never have done
right and we ain't fixing to. And that's clear in the scriptures.
If they would go to the scriptures like Paul did, we would see that,
wouldn't we? They say God's done this now,
but for what God has done to mean anything, you have to do
that. And to overcome that damnable
lie from hell, Again, a sinner must look to
the gospel, the truth of God, the scriptures, which will cause
you to look to Christ. You look to the scriptures, you're
gonna see Christ. If the Lord reveals him to you
in his word, and by God's grace, we'll fall in love with eternity. Know that by grace we are saved
through faith, and that's not of ourselves. It's the gift of
God, not of works. Because we'd sure enough boast
if it was, wouldn't we? If we had anything to do with
it. No man can come to Christ except
the Father which sent Christ. Draw him, John 6, 44. We didn't
make that up. That's what the Lord Jesus taught. Matthew 13, 11, he answered and
said unto them, it's given unto you to know the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven, but to them it's not given. We don't preach that to out-argue
people and to say I know more than you. We preach that because
if you're gonna be saved, if you're gonna have any hope, you're
gonna have to bow to this God. You're gonna have to come and
believe on this God, this Christ, who bestows mercy on whom he
will. That's not bad news. The fact
that God's going to have mercy on somebody, that's not bad news. It just seems that way to people
who want to work out their own righteousness. You know, the
only thing people hate worse than God's law is God's grace.
Isn't that sad that we're that way? If you ever listened to
a freewill Antichrist preacher, You've likely noticed that they
don't exactly excel at expounding scripture. That's what Paul was
doing. He's scripture after scripture
after scripture after scripture. Those who denied this truth of
God's sovereignty, God's electing grace, God's predestinating a
people to be conformed to the image of his son. It's scripture,
scripture, scripture, scripture, scripture. And it's simply that they won't
expound scripture verse by verse because God just didn't say what
they want to say. It's that simple. They teach
plainly that salvation is by man's will and works, and God
said it's not of him that willeth or of him that worketh, but of
God that showeth mercy. I'll tell you this, when we preach
the truth, the irrefutable truth of God, by the way, it's irrefutable. It's not my doctorate in theology,
if I had one, nor my powers of debate or persuasion that refutes
them. It's the simple word of God. Plain, simple, clear word of
the Lord that corrects our natural evil. to trust in ourselves, to rely
on ourselves, to look to our own works, our own will, our
own way. Our verse tonight, it establishes
from the scriptures that the prerogative of God in saving
whom he will. Now we know from the scriptures
that Pharaoh hardened his heart against God. He hated God. And he said, who is this God
that I should listen to him? and he despised God, and he bowed
his neck, and he rebelled against God. Exodus 8.30, and Moses went
out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord, and the Lord did according
to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from
Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. There remained
not one, and Pharaoh hardened his heart. At this time also,
neither would he let the people go. And don't miss that last
phrase. We're talking about salvation
here, aren't we? Paul references Pharaoh and what happened in
Egypt. And the end result was the salvation
of God's people by the blood of the lamb. The lamb that he says is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. But we're also given a glimpse
of the invisible working of God In Pharaoh's heart, Exodus 10,
one, and the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have
hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might
show these my signs before him. And I'll tell you this, God does
this both ways. He hardened Pharaoh's heart,
but listen to Lamentations 5, 21, Turn thou unto us unto thee,
O Lord, and we shall be turned. He hardens sinners' hearts against
him, He softens sinners' hearts and turns them toward him, to
him. Could God have had mercy on Pharaoh
if he wanted to? He said he could have. He said,
I'll have mercy on who I want to have mercy on. Why didn't
God have mercy on Pharaoh? The clear teaching of this passage
of scripture is because he didn't want to. That's the God we're
talking about. That's the God we bow to. That's
the God that saves sinners, that has mercy on sinners. Because
he didn't want to. God was pleased to show his power
by his dealings with Pharaoh. And let me say this with a qualification. God's not obligated to show mercy
on any sinner. Not with all things being equal,
he's not obligated to have mercy on anybody, but he obligated
himself by the covenant of grace, didn't he? He obligated himself.
I will have mercy. Now he's gotta have mercy, doesn't
he? He gets to, I don't know how to say that right. We're
talking about God. I don't know how to say that right. He's obligated now. that covenant of grace, the eternal
covenant of grace, wherein the Lord Jesus Christ became our
surety. If he sheds his precious blood
for me, that is salvation. I started to say, God's going to
save me. He did save me when he shed his blood for me on Calvary. God's pleasure in dealing with
Pharaoh, the way that he did, and all of the terrible plagues,
and you think about what went on in Egypt at that time, that
horrible plagues that God sent, and in hardening Pharaoh's heart,
putting, he said, I raised you up for this. Putting his rebellion
against God on display, and boy, it was on bright display, wasn't
it? He did everything he did out
of his hatred for God. His defiance of God and God's
absolute annihilation of Pharaoh. I mean, he didn't just destroy
Pharaoh. He made a display of it. That's
what he says here. He made an open display of destroying
Pharaoh. And he said that he did it to
show his power to show the utter futility of fighting against
God, the utter futility of rebelling against God. And when you come
to offer your works before God, that's Romans 10 again here,
when you come and say, I've worked out my own righteousness, you
know, and come for God's acceptance, you're rebelling against God.
Because God has clearly shown that that's not how sinners are
accepted. When you come to accept Jesus
as your personal Savior, don't you ever do that. That's rebellion. To accept Jesus as your personal
Savior, that's rebellion against God. He's not up for your acceptance
or rejection. You come before him begging that
he might accept you and his son. by the blood of his son. So he
put all that on display to show his power, to show that your
will is the problem, not the solution, to show that when you
bow your neck against God and you refuse to believe the truth
of the sovereign God, sovereign mercy, sovereign grace, the sovereign
Christ who saves whom he will, Say you lose is again an understatement. You lose eternally. You die eternally. You're destroyed eternally. And he showed that to the world.
And he said, I did it that my name might be declared. Well, what did Greg just do?
He just declared the name of the Lord. The character of the
Lord. the attributes of the Lord, who
He is, and what He did for sinners. Sinner's will is always hatred
and defiance. Man's will is defined in Luke
chapter 23. It's not just an example of it. This is always man's will. When
Pilate, therefore willing to release Jesus, spake again to
the crowd, but they cried saying, crucify him, crucify him. And
he said unto them the third time, why, what evil hath he done?
I found no cause of death in him, I will therefore chastise
him and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priests prevailed, and Pilate gave sentence
that it should be as they required. and he released them unto them,
him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired, but he delivered Jesus to their will. That's not
just an example of the will of man, that's the definition of
it. That's what we are. Everything we do is in defiance
of God. We haven't ever done a single
thing that wasn't in utter defiance and sin and evil against God. This is the remedy to our will.
What will stop me on my path of rebellion, defiance, and hatred
of God? Mercy. I will have mercy. And the definition of mercy in
the context here, it's interesting that in the
Hebrew where this quote comes from, In Exodus 33, 19, I'll
have mercy, I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy. I'll
be gracious to whom I will. That word mercy means to love
and to love deeply. That's our text. Jacob have I
loved. That's mercy. God's love, it's
the result, it's the effect of God loving you. Mercy in Christ. Basis of God's mercy is not a
decision somebody made. Or anything in a sinner to recommend
that sinner to God. It's the love of God. It's Jacob
have I loved. God has mercy on those he loves. And those whom he hates, he hardens. That's the God has mercy. The God that offers mercy, that
makes mercy available, He can't do anything. He can't do anything. It's the
God that has mercy on whom He will, that has mercy on sinners. God gives another reason why
he dealt with Pharaoh that he did, that his name might be declared
throughout all the earth. And I said, I just wanted to
make a couple of points here, but think about this for a second.
God did what he did there so that when his name is declared
in all the earth, here, other places in the world, this country,
when his name is declared throughout all the earth, that it is declared
in this context. He said He did it for that reason,
so that we would declare this, that He's on the throne, that
salvation is by a miracle of His grace. It's by His choice, and it's because of His love. That's what we declare. We declare
the Christ who never tried to do anything, He never offered
anything. He never wanted to do anything. Let me ask you this, would it
make any sense that God manipulated, used, destroyed and threw Pharaoh in
hell so that people would go around saying God loves everybody? It doesn't really make much sense,
does it? He did that, he said, so that his spokesman would declare
his name throughout all the earth, that he has mercy on sinners.
And it's the sure mercies of David. It's the sure mercies
of David. To false religion, it sounds
like bad news that God decides and not me. No, that's good news. That's the best thing you ever
heard. That the one on the throne who delights to show mercy, it's
in his hands. You got anybody that you love?
They're lost. If you're gonna be honest before
God, you'd have to admit they're lost. Paul was willing to admit
that, wasn't he? I pray God would save them. Aren't
you glad it's not up to them? as a believer that if it had
been up to you, you'd be a goner. God would have his name declared
throughout all the earth in this plain and clear context. And
again, the ultimate result of that, of God showing his power,
making his power known. That's what he said I did it
for, to make my power known. What was the result of God's
exerting his power in that situation? What was his message to Pharaoh
all along? Let my people go. This is how sinners are saved.
By that God. By the one that maybe you don't
like, but I pray to God you will. If you ever find out who he is,
you're gonna like him a lot. You're gonna like him a whole
lot. Let my people go. The saving of God's people is
the end of all of his dealings with all sinners. Pharaoh was
destroyed, why? Because he was stiff-necked and
rebellious, because he was a sinner, because he deserved it. And what is the exact way that
God described the Israelites that he saved, the remnant that
he saved? They're stiff-necked. They're
rebellious. He didn't save them because they
were any different from Pharaoh. He saved them because he loved
them. Because he wanted to. Listen to Deuteronomy 7, 6, and
for the sake of time, I'll read it to you. If you can turn there
quick, please do. Deuteronomy 7, 6. For thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. Thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any people. For you are the fewest of all people. The Lord loved
you. What does religion say? God wants
to save everybody. He's trying to save everybody.
He chose the fewest in number. It's always been a remnant, hasn't
it? It's always been a remnant. Even now, Paul said, there's
a remnant according to the election of grace, and we can say that
same thing even now, even tonight. There's a remnant. But because the Lord loved you,
verse eight, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn
under your fathers because of the covenant, he obligated himself. Hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand redeemed you out of the house of bondmen,
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God dealt with Pharaoh
the way he did, and look at the result. Know therefore that the
Lord thy God, he's God. Is that what he said when he
dealt with Pharaoh the way he did? I'm God. I'm God. The Lord thy God, he's God. The
faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy, Them that love Him, keep His commandments to a thousand
generations. We love Him because He first
loved us, and we love Him indeed by His grace. And repayeth them that hate Him
to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him that
hateth Him. He will repay him. to his face. So when we declare the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ throughout our little corner of the earth,
here's what we say. Salvation's by a miracle of God's
grace. You must be born from above or
you can't see or enter the kingdom of God. God hath put a difference
between his people and all the peoples of the earth. He saved
them out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under heaven.
And all spiritual Israel shall be saved. We've been in Romans
9 and Romans 10. Go to Romans 11 and read about
that. All of his people, all spiritual
Israel shall be saved. He said, I'll give men for you
and people for that life. He gave Pharaoh. He will destroy every enemy that
keeps you in bondage. And by the blood of the Passover
lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, he'll set you free. Let my people
go. Put the blood on the door. That's faith, isn't it? Display
openly and publicly that it is the blood of the lamb that is
your hope and your refuge, your safeguard from the destroyer. Only his blood. When I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. And when God sees the blood,
he will. Not your obedience, not your
imagined goodness, not your spirituality, not your decision, not your will,
the blood, the blood of his son. By his grace, we declare throughout
all the earth the name of the God who has mercy on whom he
will, and that his mercy and love are in Christ Jesus.