and Brother David's absence.
And I don't take this lightly. I'm very honored, very thankful
to the Lord Jesus for allowing me this special privilege. And I'm praying that He will
give me utterance for His glory. Years ago, it's been probably
30 some years ago, out in Northern California, a
town by the name of Roseville, very close to Sacramento. There
was a man driving out on a country road in the Roseville area, and
it has to be some time back because there's no more country roads.
It's just all one mass housing developments. But anyway, He
pulled his car over to the side of the road. There was a big
field there with a horse out in the middle of the field and
he parked his car and got out and walked over to the fence
and spoke to the horse asking this question, Are you God? Well, the horse started walking
toward him and he got so excited All of his religious acquaintances
heard about his encounter with God. People started coming from
all over. First in the Sacramento area,
then all over California, then from different parts of the United
States, and even some folks from different countries came to see
this horse this man thought was God. They interviewed the owner of
the horse one of the reporters from the Sacramento Bee big newspaper
there and he said you know I don't mind people coming out looking
at my horse but I'll guarantee you he's not God people are bound
to worship anything they want to worship now I was raised on
a farm wasn't a funny farm we had a lot of animals and they
were all in pens and they'd walk up to us every time we'd walk
to the fence expecting to get fed but we never ever thought
any of them was God but I have to admit in my unregenerate condition
I didn't know God anymore than that man who thought that horse
was God I believed there was a God, but even the devil believes
that and trembles. And I believed this was the word
of God. But I didn't believe God because
I didn't know what this Bible said about me and about God and
about a chosen people and about a redemption through Christ for
a particular people. I didn't know any of these wonderful
gospel truths that give our Lord all the glory. So I was just
as lost as that man who spread it around that he had found God
by talking to a horse. Strange. I want to draw your
attention to the ninth chapter of Matthew. The ninth chapter
of Matthew, please. Years ago in the medieval days
when kings would say off with his head and that sentence was
carried out immediately. There was a young man who had
committed a crime worthy of death and the King had pardoned him.
Then he committed another crime worthy of death and he was brought
before the king and a young man's mother was pleading with the
king to have mercy on her son and the king said to the young
man's mother he's not worthy of mercy she said that's true
sire but the king said he doesn't deserve mercy she said that's
true sire but if he deserved it, it would not be mercy and
for that saying the king pardoned her son again and I don't know
what happened after that but that statement the woman made
in defense of her son is true God delights in mercy but we
don't deserve mercy I don't want what I deserve and through my Lord Jesus Christ
He has accomplished for me that which will give me mercy in the
sight of God through what He has done God delights in mercy
He loves to show mercy but only for Christ's sake And that's
what this religious generation does not understand. God's sovereign
mercy. That's my subject this morning.
If you're with me in Matthew chapter 9, starting at verse
9 we read in the Holy Scriptures, and as Jesus passed forth from
thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom
And he saith unto him, Follow me. And he, that is Matthew,
rose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came,
and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
for I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Now our Lord specifically stated
that we are to go and learn what this means. He said I will have
mercy and not sacrifice for I have not come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. Now it takes the power of God
Almighty to open our understanding to
the fact that all we are is nothing but sinners in the sight of an
angry God. Sinners who are worthy of nothing
but God's wrath. Only God can teach a man that,
or a woman that, and when He does we'll see our need of a
Savior, not before then. And as we come under the sound
of the gospel and hear godly men who have been through that
very miracle of knowing that they have sinned against God
and deserve nothing but His wrath and know that through Jesus Christ
God will have mercy on those who see themselves in need of
a Savior and until that happens we'll go through life just as
lost as that man that thought that horse was God. You can tell
me all day long how you believe there's a God, but if you don't
know Him, you're still lost. If you don't have an understanding
who God is and what He has done for His people, then you will
never see your need of Jesus Christ. But when the Holy Spirit
convicts us When we come under the preaching of the gospel and
God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, we see that
we have sinned against Him and deserve His wrath. Then God shows
His mercy through His darling Son, whom He sent to this earth
for this purpose, to redeem a particular people with his own precious
blood so that God can have mercy on those for whom Christ died
and this is a wonderful gospel that all of those who are called
to preach love to share with people we love to share with
people that there's mercy with God but only one way that's through
Christ and His precious blood. Now I ask you to turn if you
will to Ephesians chapter 2. The Apostle Paul when he was
Saul of Tarsus was a self-righteous Pharisee who thought he was right
with God because he had kept God's law. He was just as guilty as Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. But
he didn't know that until on his road, on his way to Damascus
to throw Christians into prison or whatever he could do to them
to inflict pain, God had mercy on him. Saul of Tarsus was not
seeking Jesus Christ. He was seeking to destroy those
who believed in Jesus Christ. He had no righteousness of his
own, but he boasted in a righteousness that he thought he had, and he
thought he was right. And the Lord revealed himself
to Saul of Tarsus by shining a light brighter than the noonday
sun and speaking personally to that man and he was brought into
a living union with Christ our Savior and never ceased from
the time that Ananias came to him and he received his sight
he never ceased Paul, the apostle who was Saul of Tarsus, never
ceased to give God all the glory for this wonderful redemption
that's ours through Christ our Savior. Matter of fact, writing
under divine inspiration, he said he was a pattern for all
those who would hereafter believe. We weren't seeking Christ either. We might have been seeking a
Jesus of our own imagination, but we did not seek the Christ
of Holy Scripture until He sought us and found us and brought us
into a living union with Himself. Now when the Apostle Paul learned
this blessed truth, writing to the saints at Ephesus in chapter
2, He says, and you hath he quickened,
verse one, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others. Now Paul puts himself
in the same class as the people that he's writing to. We were
all in that class of ungodly people who were by nature children
of wrath even as others. The lustful desires of the flesh
that which we wanted out of this life We'd stop at nothing to
get it, even if it meant we sinned against God to do what this old
body wanted to do. He includes himself in this number. I see myself in this number,
don't you? I see myself as a hell deserving
sinner, just running from God and hating God and drinking iniquity
like water. Even if I wasn't living on a
funny farm, I was guilty. I was guilty all the way through,
but God had mercy on me. Look at the next verse, verse
4. But God, don't you love that?
It doesn't say, but man. It doesn't say, but you had the
right to make a decision for Jesus. God loves everybody. And it was your free will that
translated you into a living union with Christ. It doesn't
say, but anything but God. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. by grace
are you saved that's just as much a part of God's Word as
John 3 16 but God who is rich in mercy and this is what our
Lord tells us to go and learn I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy He didn't come to call the righteous
to repentance a man will not seek a physician until he's sick. I don't know about you, but I
don't like to go to doctors. But I'm thankful they're there
when I need one. And Jesus Christ is the great
physician who alone has not only the authority, the power, but
the right to put his healing hand upon a hell-deserving sinner
and have mercy, translating that individual out of darkness into
his eternal kingdom. He not only has the right, he
exercises the right. We read in John chapter 17, for
God the Father has given him authority over all flesh that
he should give eternal life to as many as God the Father gave
him. And that's God having mercy on a particular people for Christ's
sake for Christ's sake we read in verse 5 of this verse 4 of
this Ephesians chapter 2 but God is rich in mercy for his
great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you are
saved so it's sovereign mercy God's sovereign grace God's sovereignty
in bringing a people into relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that
He will receive all the praise and all the glory. And God has
raised us up, it says in verse 6, He has raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in
the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus for by grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift
of God not of works lest any man should boast so folks listen
when we get to glory and if your faith is in Jesus
Christ if my faith is in Jesus Christ we're as sure of heaven
as if we're already there and when we get to glory We're going
to give the one who loved us and gave himself for us all the
praise for eternal life. And he's worthy. He's worthy. Jesus Christ is worthy of all
praise and honor. Is that not true? That's true. We better not wait till we get
that glory. We better give Him all the praise
and all the honor and all the glory right now today. Right now! If we're not giving
God's Holy Son, Jesus Christ the Lord, all the praise, we
don't even honor God at all. So we read in the scriptures,
but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ. He's given us life. I
want to ask you to turn to Romans chapter 9. Back up a couple of
books. The 9th chapter of Romans. The
Apostle Paul, when he sat down to write these epistles, you
can see what he preached by his writings. He declared the truth
concerning a people chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. He preached the truth about man's
totally depraved condition He preached the truth about redemption
through Christ, how He by Himself purged our sins, how that Jesus
Christ, when He went to the cross, He by His one offering sanctified
His people and perfected them forever. So we know that He preached
those truths, that's what He wrote. And here in Romans chapter
9, He shares some truths with us
that this world of professing Christians absolutely hates. I mean they hate these truths.
They'll bite their cheeks trying to get words out that dishonor
God. They will have nothing to do
with people who have been brought into this living union with Christ
who know the truth. They just absolutely hate the
scriptures to the point where they read things into the scriptures,
or they add a word here or there, or they take away a word, and
still claim they're God's chosen people, or God's redeemed people. They still claim that. They hate
it. They'll tell you that Jesus was
a God, or they'll tell you that He calls everybody. That's not
true. There is a general call that
goes out to all people everywhere through creation. We read this
in the first chapter of Romans. And there's a call that reaches
these ears under the preaching of the gospel even to folks who
will not be delivered. They hear that gospel, but they
don't believe it. But there's an inward, personal,
efficacious call that reaches the heart of God's elect at his
appointed time of love for them that enables us to see our God
as a covenant God with a covenant people and see Jesus Christ as
the one who fulfilled all conditions of the eternal covenant of grace
for his chosen people and we see God the Holy Spirit in the
scriptures and we see him through the eye of faith as the one who
comes to us under the preaching of his gospel gives us a new
heart which is the Holy Spirit within us, Christ in us and enables
us, giving us faith, to believe what this holy book
tells us about God and salvation through Christ our Savior. Up
here in this ninth chapter of Romans in verse 11, Paul is writing
about two children Esau and Jacob, who were twins,
born to the same woman. And it says, for the children,
speaking of Jacob and Esau, 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 now this is the Word of God and God tells
us plainly that he did love Jacob but he hated Esau I know people does not like to
hear about a God who hates anybody but this book teaches that God
does Love is one of the attributes of God. Hate is another one of
his attributes. And we heard when Larry was teaching
Sunday school how God has set his love upon a particular people,
but on a people that he did not set his love upon, God looked
at them differently. And God looked at Jacob differently
than he looked at Esau. And we read in verse 14, Paul
knew that this would disturb the minds of some because he
says he hated Esau. So he says in verse 14, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. There's no unrighteousness with
God. I can understand him hating Esau, but loving Jacob is beyond
my comprehension. And what's even harder, more
difficult for me to understand, He loves me. This is difficult,
but I know so. I know it's so. God's Word teaches
this, and I believe God. Then we read in verse 15, For
He said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
The Holy Spirit moved Paul to write that after he said he had
set his love upon Jacob, but he hated Esau. After he said
there's no unrighteousness with God, he'll have mercy on whom
he'll have mercy. In verse 16 we read, So then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Now this is sovereign mercy.
This is sovereign mercy. God will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. And countless numbers of men
and women across this nation and around this world have the
audacity to stand before God and attempting to worship Him
believing that it was their free will that made the difference what they're saying when they teach that God loves
everybody and that Christ died for everybody what they're saying
whether they want to admit it or not is that the difference
between them and those who go to hell forever is not found
in what Jesus Christ did for them, but in what they did for
Jesus Christ. Therefore, Jesus Christ is not
their Savior. They cannot say that. He did
no more for them than He did for those who will spend eternity
in hell. That's not true. Folks, listen. Every sinner saved by grace who
enters into heaven there in the presence of Jesus Christ and
we have the honor of seeing Him in all of His glory and spending
eternity with Him. Every one of us forever and forever
and forever will give Him all the worship and all the praise
for this unspeakable gift, eternal life through Christ our Savior.
Read on. It says in verse 17, 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. This is speaking
of the Pharaoh that was holding Israel in captivity, who was
treating Israel, God's chosen nation, with hate and imposing
hardships upon them God raised up Pharaoh for that very reason
to destroy him so he repeats himself in verse 18 therefore
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he
hardeth this is God's priority he'll have mercy on some and
he'll pass by others what a wonderful God thank you God for sovereign
mercy. If it wasn't for the sovereign
mercy of God none of us, not one single individual would have
any hope at all. Let me read something from the
fourth chapter of Ephesians if you would turn there please.
Ephesians chapter 4 The Lord Jesus Christ, as I said
earlier, met all the conditions of the eternal covenant of grace.
He was sent here by God to redeem His people, and He did that.
But He also had to establish a righteousness for us, and He
did that. as he walked on this earth he
did always that which pleased our Heavenly Father and we were
in Christ while he was walking on this earth doing the will
of God the Father pleasing God the Father in all that he was
doing every word that he spoke every thought that he had we
were in him and God sees us in Christ doing just exactly what
Christ did for us, sees us in Him pleasing God so that He who
has made sin for us to pay the redemption price for our sins
has given us His righteousness imputing that to us if we believe
that He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again
for our justification. So that when we look to Christ,
we see Him as our all. Everything that we need to take
us from that awful pit that God found us in, all the way to glory,
is found in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. We must, we must get rid of anything
that we think will recommend us to God. There's nothing, nothing
in any sinner that God sees which would move Him to have mercy
on that person. nothing. He sees everything in
Christ to bestow His mercy upon hell deserving sinners and that's
what we have to see. We have to by faith embrace Jesus
Christ and what He has done for us seeing Him as the one who
satisfied the holy justice of God for us, seeing him as the
one who washed away all of our sins by his precious blood, see
him as seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, and us
seated in our heavenly representative to where there is no one, nothing,
absolutely nothing in this world that can separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And here in Ephesians
chapter 4, the very last verse, verse 32, we read, and be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. For Christ's sake. Because He
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, God has
highly exalted Him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, and every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God
the Father. he's not just some little lord
over a little piece of property over here he's lord of heaven
and earth he's lord of all he's reigning over this whole universe
and everything in it and he's coming to little churches like
this where a few people are gathered to worship him and he's meeting
with us revealing that Jesus Christ paid it all All to him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow."
Paul, writing to the church at Rome, spoke the truth when he
said, absolutely nothing can be laid to the charge of God's
elect, nothing. God has justified us through
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And we better bow down to Christ,
our Savior, giving Him all the glory, knowing that God has forgiven
us for Christ's sake. Amen? Praise the Lord. Thank you. Oh, we don't have a... Well,
stand with me. Let me lead us in prayer. I was
thinking we was going to have a closing hymn, but we won't. Let's just stand together and
I'll dismiss us in prayer. Bow with me, please. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
our finite minds can never fully grasp the meaning of Sovereign
Mercy. But if our faith is in Christ
and in Him alone, we are recipients of your Sovereign Mercy and we
praise you and thank you through Christ our Savior for such a Redeemer as ours. Help us. Help us to realize that
we are not to be servants of sin. We
heard that read in the men's meeting this morning from Romans
chapter 6. Help us to turn from that which
we know is not pleasing in your sight and strive to live for
your honor and for your glory Lord Jesus. Help us I fall short
every minute of every day, but I trust my Savior who never fell
short, never failed once, but accomplished my salvation through
your perfect redeeming word. Thank you. Thank you and help
us to take these thoughts with us. Help us to realize the importance
of being under the preaching of your glorious gospel on a
regular basis. To delight in hearing that we
have been forgiven for Christ's sake. Dismiss us now with your
blessings. Take us to our home safely. Bring
our pastor back from Arkansas. pray for him and the saints there
and those who are preaching the memorial service. And we also
pray for all of those that were mentioned who are suffering any
kind of affliction. Your healing hand upon them. Thank you. Thank you in the name
of our Lord Jesus for this wonderful wonderful gospel that's been
preached and made effectual in our hearts. Dismiss us now. In the name of our Lord Jesus,
we do pray for His honor and for His glory. Amen. Thank you. You're dismissed.