Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, I'm good here. This is
just fine. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. so Good morning. We're going to
open this morning's service singing number 106 out of the hardback,
106, Tell Me the Story of Jesus. Tell me the story of Jesus, write
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard. sang as they welcomed his birth. Glory to God in the highest,
peace and good tidings to earth. Tell me the story of Jesus, write
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, was hurt. Passing alone in the desert,
tell of the days that are past. How forced it seemed, was tempted,
and yet was triumphant at last. Tell of the years of its labor. Tell of the sorrows he bore. was despised and afflicted, hopeless,
rejected, and poor. Tell me the story of Jesus, lying
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was. Fell of the cross where they
nailed him, writhing in anguish and pain. Fell of the grave where
they laid him, tell how he lived again. Oh, ain't that story so
tender, clearer than ever I've seen. Love paid the ransom for me. Tell me the story of Jesus, crying
on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
the sweetest that ever was heard. Our second hymn will be 226,
My Savior, 226. I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know at
His right hand is what who is my Savior. I take Him at His word in me. Christ died for sinners, this
I read. For in my heart I find a need
of Him to be my Savior. that he should leave his place
on high and come for sinful men to die. You counted strange,
so once did I, before I knew my Savior. And know that He fulfilled, may
see, the trouble of His soul in me, and with His work contented
me, as I with my dear Savior. Gay, living, dying, let me bring
thy strength, my solace from this spring. And he who lives
to be my king wants God to be my Savior. Thank you. You may be seated. I would like to read Hebrews
3 and 4. Hebrews 3 and 4. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus. who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch
as he who hath built the house hath more honor than the house.
For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things
is God. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after. But Christ, as a son over his
own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end, Wherefore,
as the Holy Ghost sayeth today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw
my works 40 years. Wherefore, I was grieved with
that generation and said, they do always err in their heart,
and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath, they
shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be any of you, any of you an evil heart of unbelief. in departing
from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is
called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. While it is said today, if you
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke, albeit not all that
came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved 40 years. Was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom
swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them
that believed not? so we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached,
as well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said,
as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest,
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world,
for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise.
and God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in
this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief, again
he limiteth a certain day, saying in David today, After so long
a time, as it is said today, if ye will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, for he that
is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own
works as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes
of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed unto the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was as in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of
need. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for allowing us to gather together in this barn this morning. Father, what a great, great privilege
it is. It is the highest blessing this
side of heaven to be able to come together with like-minded
believers, with your sheep, although it be in this place and with
a little group. Father, if your spirit is here, Father, then
it is a great blessing. Will you bless it unto our souls?
Give us an appetite this morning once again to hear the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for all
that you have done, that you have brought us together about
three years ago, and you have continued to let us meet together
from week to week. And Father, we do not know what
lies ahead, but Lord, allow us to have confidence in you and
trust you, you who control all things and do everything on purpose.
And Father, remember Brother Eric, our pastor, we thank you
for him. Father, give him the strength
and the health to stand before us this morning to declare the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, allow him the freedom
and give us, Lord, listening ears and understanding hearts.
Be with those of us, Lord, that are struggling, perhaps unknown
to us. Lord, remember Johnny and Don
as they struggle. Give them strength and comfort.
Be with all of us who are struggling, maybe with sicknesses. Father,
that we may turn our eyes unto the Lord Jesus Christ. for then
the things of this world will grow strangely dim. Father, remember
us as a group as we search for a location. All things are in
your hands. Father, will you guide us and
give us the necessary wisdom and the courage to go forward?
Have mercy upon us, for Jesus' sake alone, amen. Morning. Let me turn that on. All right, brethren. We're going
to be in Romans, chapter 9. Romans, chapter 9. And we'll
be looking at verses 9 through 18. Romans 9, verses 9 through
18. Now here in our text, Our Lord
is providing us with a distinction, a clear distinction between nature
and grace, that which is of the spirit, that which is of the
flesh. And what he does here is he gives
us a pattern of salvation in the scripture, where we see that
salvation is not based on man, on man's merits, on man's works,
who he is, his lineage, his blood, what he does. It has nothing
to do with man, who his parents were, his decisions, his thoughts
and ideas of who he is and who God is. It's not based on man,
but rather our salvation is based on God's choosing of the elect
which has occurred, his choosing occurred for them prior to their
being born. So that has nothing to do with
what they do or don't do. It has nothing to do with their
goodness or lack thereof. And so the other thing we see
in this is that our election or our choosing by God, choosing
us, has nothing to do with our works. In other words, his choosing,
which is also a popular teaching among religionists and dead professors,
our choosing has nothing to do with us motivating God or inspiring
God to have mercy or grace upon us and to choose us. And what
we see in this is that the Apostle knows nothing of that popular
teaching which I've heard in our day and going back many decades
now, that God in his foreknowledge looked down in the annals of
time to behold you and me and to see whether we would choose
him. And if he saw that we would choose
him, then he elected us. That's a lie. That's a false
teaching. That's just saying that God chose
us based on what we did. And you'll see, I believe, in
this, what the apostle lays out here for us is that he knows
nothing of that doctrine. That's not truth. That's not
what he's saying at all. In fact, he's showing us that
it has nothing to do with what we did before or after birth. It has to do with God's own purpose
and God's own choosing. So, we have here a pattern of
salvation, and after he outlines the pattern of salvation, Paul
then begins to justify this doctrine of election. He justifies the
doctrine of sovereign election, of God choosing whom he would,
and he uses the scripture. He shows us from the scripture
that this is what God has always shown and taught in the scripture.
Now if you remember at the beginning of this chapter, Paul was affirming
to the Jews that all for whom God intended to save, they were
being saved. They were being saved. What we can see is that the Jews,
there must have been Jews who were saying to him, well, if
this Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, then why aren't all
the chosen people acknowledging it? Why don't the chosen people,
the Jews, all see and embrace him? Surely if this was the Messiah,
then God would have blessed his chosen people to believe him. And Paul says, that's true. And
God has. That's very true. All the chosen
elect of God have heard and believed. They are being called out by
the gospel and the Spirit attending that word, giving them light
and life. And so we see here that this
passage here shows that very thing, that it's God choosing
His people whom He would, not at all based on their works,
their good works or bad works, but it's all according to His
own purpose, His own choosing sovereignly. Now I've titled
this message, Whom He Will. whom he will. And we'll just have two divisions.
First, we'll look at the sovereign choice of God, which is witnessed
in Abraham and his children. And then the next one, we'll
see that it's all according to what God has said in the scriptures. All right, so let's look at this
sovereign choice of God in Abraham's lineage. Look there in Romans
9, verse 9. Here, Paul goes to Abraham's
lineage to show that God himself has put a difference between
nature, that is, of this flesh, what we are in Adam, and his
grace, those of his grace. He's putting a difference between
the flesh's work, what we do, even if it's religious things,
even if it's what we think is good. God puts a difference between
our works versus what the Spirit miraculously works for us in
grace. Now look there at verse nine.
For this is the word of promise. At this time will I come, and
Sarah shall have a son. Now the son spoken of here is
Isaac, who would be born of Abraham and Sarah. Isaac was a product
of promise. He was a product of God's promise. He was born according to promise. It wasn't according to nature,
but his birth, his being conceived in Sarah's womb, and his birth
was a miracle of God's grace. We know that Sarah was 90 years
old, well past the years for a woman to conceive and to bear
a child, 90 years old. But, when we look at Ishmael,
the same can't be said. It wasn't a product of promise,
he wasn't a product of grace, but rather he was a product of
the natural course of men and women. He came forth of the flesh. Ishmael is a child born after
the works of the flesh. In fact, let's read verses 7
and 8 of Romans 9. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham
are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed." So the fact that all the Jews who heard Christ or
heard the apostles, the fact that all the Jews heard and didn't
believe, only shows that they were not children of promise,
but children of the flesh. And we see this with Ishmael.
He's a type of all men born after the flesh of religion. We could
be very religious people and do many wonderful works and say
many wonderful things and yet still be only products of the
flesh. having no knowledge of the Spirit and of the true and
living God. And so that's what we see in
Ishmael. He's a product of the flesh. And I say it's of religion because
Sarah and Abraham were trying to effect the promise of God. according to their wisdom in
the flesh. He's just a product of flesh. And so Abraham and Sarah, they
were trying to manufacture and make this promise of God to them
to come to pass. And so it's this foolish act
This foolish act of theirs is just like any of us who try to
work a righteousness by the things that we do and say or don't do,
trusting that these are the things that make us accepted with the
Father. And so Isaac here is a type of
those born of the Spirit, those that are truly children of God.
I'm gonna read Galatians 4, verse 28 and 31 to you. Galatians 4.28 says, Now we brethren,
as Isaac was, are the children of promise. We who are born after the Spirit,
we too are the children of promise, just like Isaac was. We are miracles
of God's grace, all according to the promise that he made with
Christ in eternity past, before the foundation of the earth.
And so being children of promise, we are born again, born of Christ's
spiritual seed. So then, Galatians 4.31, so then
brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the
free. We're born of Christ's spiritual
seed. He's free. He's not in bondage
to sin. He's not in bondage to any man.
He's faithful to the Father in all that He does that pleases
Him well. He's a free man and all His children are born free. of Him. We are born free men
to serve and worship the true and living God in true righteousness
and holiness because God's not looking at our works and our
flesh's works. He's looking to the Son who is
perfect and holy. Now, someone hearing this, they
might argue and say, well, alright, I hear what you're saying, but
Isaac was the lawful son of Abraham's lawful wife, whereas Ishmael
was born of a bondman, so that's why he wasn't chosen of God.
And so Paul goes on in the next verse and shows us, back in Romans
9, shows us Jacob and Esau, right? He shows us those two. Look at
verse 10. And not only this, not only is
Isaac, not only in Isaac are they called, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. He's saying, here's a case of
two boys, two twins, conceived at the same time, having the
same mother and the same father. developed in the same womb, grew
up in the same household, and yet there's a clear difference
between the spirit and the flesh. So we see that it's God who puts
a difference between these two boards. The difference must be
traced to God's sovereign elect choice. It has nothing to do
with their works, but God's sovereign elect choice of them. Romans
9-11, 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 called. the Lord showing us that this
was done prior to them being born, which of course also knocks
out the idea that God looks down through the annals of time and
with his foreknowledge he can see who's going to do what. Because
right here the Apostle is saying specifically to us that They
didn't do anything good or evil. God wasn't looking at what works
they would or wouldn't do. He was looking to his own choice
within himself. He set his love and affection
upon Jacob and not upon Esau. All right? So turn over to 2
Thessalonians 2, verse 13. And we see this again in the
scriptures, where the Lord is showing us that it's according
to his own purpose and choosing. 2 Thessalonians 2.13 Just like Isaac and Jacob here,
our election of God occurred before our existence, before
we were born. But we are bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth." In other words, God chose
us first in Christ. It wasn't because we chose Him
or would choose Him, He chose us first. in Christ, and therefore,
because He chose us, and His love was set upon us, He effectually
calls us through the Gospel. You that are here today are all
hearing the calling of the Gospel, and those whom God has set His
love and affection upon, in the time of God's appointed day for
your salvation, He will break you out of your prison of darkness
and sin, and give you faith fixed in Christ. He will reveal faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 14. Whereunto he
called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. So that's an effectual call.
Many are called, but few are chosen. And that's an effectual
calling for those who God sovereignly chose in eternity past. They
shall hear Faith will be there. They shall hear it with faith.
God will reveal and fix that faith in Christ. Now, the other
thing we see in Titus 3, turn over there, Titus 3, we see that
our election is prior to any good or evil that we've done.
Titus 3, 5. He says not by works of righteousness
which we have done. So it can't be that God's looking
down in time. It has nothing to do with works
of righteousness that we've done. But according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. In fact, what we see and what
the scriptures reveal to us is that this choosing is always,
was and always is according to God's own purpose within himself. He doesn't choose us. His choice
of us isn't based on anything outside of himself. It's all
based on his own purpose, his own choosing, his own decision.
Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to God. purpose. God's purpose. Ephesians
111 says, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will, all within himself. 2 Timothy 1 9 who hath saved
us and called us within holy calling not according to our
works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And so men, they
deny the sovereign election of God. And the reason they do this
is because they despise God. They hate God. They don't love
Him. They don't believe Him. They
don't want to depend on Him. They don't want to trust Him
and wait upon His mercy for them. They want the glory of salvation
for themselves. They're looking for something
to boast in. They want to know that they did
this, that they've earned this and achieved this with God for
themselves. All right? Now, according, that
being said, according to various customs and natural laws, the
eldest son had the dominion and the authority over the younger
siblings. Just naturally, he was the child
who had the birthright by their order, and all the blessings
would go to them, and then it just was according as they felt
predisposed to dispose of it if they wanted to help somebody
or not. But here, the Lord comes to Rebecca,
and he tells her in Romans 9-12 that the elder shall serve the
younger. The elder shall serve the younger. So the greater one, that is the
first one, would serve the lesser, the younger one. And if you know your scriptures
pretty well, you'll know that Esau never served Jacob. He never served him temporally. He did rather well. He was pretty
well, he appeared to be blessed and had many physical possessions
himself. And his children, largely, were
very successful and had a good amount of prosperity. There's
only one brief time, about a thousand years later, after their birth,
when Edom was subservient to David for a short time. And it
didn't even last very long. This isn't to be understood in
a physical sense that Esau would serve his brother Jacob, but
rather in a spiritual sense. He was subservient to Jacob in
a spiritual sense, meaning that Esau was excluded from the blessings
and the favor of God which he showed spiritually to his younger
brother Jacob. God had mercy and compassion
upon Jacob. Jacob was as great a sinner as
any of us. He was a very cunning man. He
was able to get the birthright from his brother, that blessing
of the birthright. He stole the blessing from his
father upon him, that should have been Esau's, and even his
uncle Laban. He was very cunning with him,
and he became very prosperous while he served him. for his
daughters. And so Jacob was a very cunning
man and very shrewd, very wise like a serpent, if you will,
and was a trickster, if you will, and yet God set his love and
affection upon him. This has nothing to do with the
works. It has to do with God's sovereign electing choice. Esau,
from what we could tell, was a fairly, you know, pretty good
boy, and his dad liked him, really appreciated what he could do
with a bow, and what he could bring home and cook up for him,
but he had, though he had temporal blessings, he didn't have the
spiritual blessings of the true and living God. So this is to
be understood spiritually. Now Esau is a picture for us
of the old man. He's a picture of this flesh,
what we come forth as in Adam. All right? Esau is a picture
of the old man, which comes first. We're all born of this flesh.
But that which is spiritual is that which is eternal. That which is spiritual, what
God has done, what Christ has done, that is what is lasting
and what is blessed. And so Paul tells us in Ephesians
4.22, he speaks of this flesh this nature of ours in Adam as
the old man. And he tells us, put off concerning
the former conversation, the old man. He's speaking to believers,
those that are delivered from their death and sin. That old
man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts which
is in us all. And then he tells us a little
later that he put on the new man, which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. That new man being born of the
spiritual seed of Christ, not by man's works. Just like Ishmael
was a product of the flesh, and he had no blessings of God, our
works in the flesh aren't going to produce anything that God
accepts. But that which is second, that
which is born of Christ, Christ's spiritual seed, that is approved
of God. That is what is blessed of God,
because it's all Christ's spiritual seed. And so Christ is formed
in every chosen child of God and that old man is laid aside
in the sense that it's passed by. God isn't looking to our
flesh now for us to earn or maintain the salvation. He looks to Christ,
the spiritual seed. We have no part in Adam. When our God looks upon us, He
looks upon us in His darling Son, Jesus Christ. And that's
in whom we have our blessing and our inheritance. That inheritance
which awaits the sons and daughters of Adam, we have no part in.
And they're judged according to their works. but we will be
judged according to our works in Christ, what He's done, and
what He's accomplished for His people. And so we see there in
Romans 9.13, as it's written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. And if we're honest, we could
see how God would hate Jacob. I mean, how God would hate Esau.
And we could see how God would hate Jacob. But the miracle of
grace is that God set his affection and love upon Jacob. All right,
and so that's what we see there. And Paul in verse 17 gives us
another example, and we might look at this again, we might
touch back on it next week, but he says, 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. And so the Lord is showing
throughout the scriptures that he is sovereign, that he does
according as he pleases, and shall not the judge of all the
earth, the king of all the earth, do what is right? He always does
that which is right, and righteous, and holy, because he himself
is righteous, and holy, and perfect. So when man hears that God is
sovereign in election, it angers him in the flesh. He gets angry
in the flesh. And that man who hears it like
that is like Ishmael and Esau, who despise the truth of God.
And he may be very religious, trying to work and perfect the
righteousness of his own. And that's why he gets angry.
Because by hearing of God's sovereign election, God's choice, He's
humble. He has to lay aside all his works. Everything he counted on, everything
he trusted in, is all counted for nothing. It's all deemed
ineffectual and worthless in our relationship with the Father
and what we know of Him and what He reveals to us. It's not by
our works of righteousness, but rather our Father hates the works
of the flesh, and the flesh hates the truth of God. And that's
what we see in the flesh. I'm gonna read Galatians 4 again,
this time I'll just focus on verse 29 and 30 which says, but
as then, so this is the flesh, this is carnal man who hears
that God sovereignly chooses whom he will and delivers them
from death and darkness. This is those who hear it and
hate it. Galatians 4.29, but as then he
that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, would say
the scripture, cast out the bondwoman and her son. They're nothing
more but children of the whore of Babylon. Don't, don't, don't,
don't worry about them. For the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. And so our
God has seen to it that this is all according to His works
and purpose. All right now, let's see what
the Lord reveals here in the scriptures, as He said. So Paul
here next begins to address the pushback, the fight of carnal
men who are warring against the truth of God in this regard,
concerning this truth. Romans 9, 14 says, what shall
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. In other words, he
just flatly says no one's going to be able to charge God with
folly. He is God. And what he does is right. And
he's able to do as it pleases him. And who are we to say anything
against it? He's saying, let us close our
mouths, be humble, put our mouths in the dust, and have nothing
to say, but hear rather. what the Lord Himself says. Let
us be humbled and bow to the Father and say, Lord, what you
do is right. You're a sovereign God. I'm not
God. I'm a creature. What do I have to say to the
Creator? Who am I to say and reply anything
against Him? He does as pleases Him, and what
He does is right and perfect. And so we see this there in Romans
9.15. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
And this is what our Lord said to Moses when he said, I'll reveal
all my glory to you. If everything he could have said
to Moses then at that time, He chose to speak of his sovereign
election, of his sovereign choice of whom he would to show mercy
and compassion to them, all to whom he will. All right, now
this truth makes clear our utter dependence on the mercy of God.
And that's really the rub for man. They want to feel that there's
something they can do. They want to have that control
and be able to sway or turn God if they so choose to do so. If
they feel or come to feel that there's a need for that. But
this fact that God has mercy and compassion on whom he will,
it shows that we are utterly dependent upon God and his mercy. And we ought to understand, we
ought to seek to understand that and to believe Him concerning
that, that we would hit the ground and beg Him for mercy and cry
out to Him for mercy and grace because we're never gonna earn
that favor with Him. And those of us who have been
humbled and whose mouths have been shut before God know that
to be so and are thankful because the Lord has shown us that We
wouldn't have come to him if it was based on our own merits
and our own heart and our own thoughts and thinking. And so
all men, what the scriptures show us is that all of us are
dead in Adam. He says in Romans 5, 12, wherefore
as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so
death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. The Scriptures
reveal to us our depravity and our sin and our death in that
sin. And no man naturally loves the
true living God. John 3.19 tells us that this
is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world. The Lord
sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world, but men love darkness
rather than light because our deeds naturally are evil. It's
a miracle of grace that any of us believes the true and living
God. And then hearing this truth, it doesn't turn those that are
hardened in their sin to want to believe God. Our turning to the Lord is of
the Spirit. It's not of this flesh. It's
a miracle of God's grace that turns a hardened sinner who hates
this truth who destroys that stronghold that's been built
up against Christ, humbles us and turns us to the true and
living God, and bends this knee in grace to confess, Lord, you
are all. And I'm here for your salvation.
Have mercy upon me, Lord, that you speak of in your word. But
we're told that the natural man will not come to Christ, he said,
that you might have life. He said, you won't come to me
that you might have life. And the reason is that the carnal
mind, what we are in Adam by nature, is enmity against the
true living God. Hates this truth. And so these
truths, they're all foolishness to men, right, because we know
that the foolishness of preaching, when you declare God's sovereign
grace and mercy and power and salvation, it's foolishness to
men. The cross is foolishness to those
that are perishing, but to us which are saved, which are being
saved by the glory and power of God, we rejoice in that. He rejoiced in His salvation
and in His power. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. And that spiritual discernment
is a work of the living God in and through His people, teaching
them and revealing to them and growing them in the grace and
knowledge of Jesus Christ. Alright, so what's the conclusion
of this truth? He tells us in Romans 9, 16.
So then, it's not of him that willeth. No man has a free will,
which is another popular teaching. No man has a free will to believe
on the true and living God. Man's will is bound in sin. He's never going to break out
of that. If anyone does believe, it's going to be a miracle of
God's grace and mercy. Nor is it of Him that runneth.
It's not going to be by our good works. It's not going to be our
laboring and our striving and our working hard to change God's
mind and to earn a favor with Him. But, it's of God that showeth
mercy. That's what the Lord is teaching
us through His gospel. That's what He's revealing to
His children. That it's not by our striving
and doing. Those of you who believe Christ
and trust Him and hope in His mercy, it's by God's grace and
power and glory that you have that faith. And we confess that. And that's our hope, is Christ
and His mercy and grace, which He's provided in His Son, Jesus
Christ. who came for this very purpose,
in the flesh, as a perfect fit sacrifice, the Lamb of God, to
bear the sins of His people, and to put it away once and for
all, to make us righteous before the Father, having no spot, no
blemish, no sin, and no faults, to stand before Him in perfect
righteousness, robed in the blood-bought righteous robe of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's why he came. Now some
hear this message of God's grace in Christ and they receive it
by God's grace. Others hear it and they despise
it in their hearts. They despise God. They despise
his Christ. They despise his gospel. They
despise his people. And they'll hear for a time,
but when you glorify Christ over and over and over again, and
lift Him up, and declare what He does for His people, the natural
man grows tired of it. And he'll find an excuse to complain,
and he'll find an excuse to leave, right, whether it's the preacher's
fault. I'm sure if you want, you can
find fault with me, because it's there, and they'll find fault
with the place that we meet, or they'll find fault with the
people, or all of the above, some combination. But the Lord
in grace humbles the sinner, and it's good for the sheep to
be together, and to labor together, even though we're weak and sinful,
and we see our faults, But the Lord makes the Gospel of His
Son, Jesus Christ, precious to us, so that we're made willing
by His power to forbear with one another, and to be patient
with one another, even as we know that you all are being patient
with us. And we trust that the Lord is
able to teach us, right? You might have trouble hearing
something at one point, but how the Lord teaches you, it may
be an hour later, it might be a week later, it might be a year
later, or it might be 20 years later, but the Lord will teach
his people what they have need of knowing. All right, and so
we're thankful for that. The end of the truth. is that
we desperately need God's mercy. Romans 9, 18. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. And so we'll probably look more
at that next week. But I pray the Lord will bless
that word to your hearts and comfort you that believe in him.
And those that don't, I pray the Lord will have mercy and
compassion upon you and turn your heart to believing. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy and grace. Lord, we
ask that you would indeed come with power,
take these words of clay, take these weak words of that I have
spoken, Lord, and I pray that you would attend it with power,
with your spirit, and that you would break through the hard
hearts of your people and deliver us from darkness and cause us,
Lord, to bow before our gracious God, who is sovereign and does
all things well, according as it pleases Him, even the very
choosing of your people. We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen. Why don't we forgo the final
hymn and forgo that. I just have a couple of announcements. Next week, and if you have any
concerns, let me know privately, but next week we're going to
Carl and Melinda have opened their home to us. Is that still
open? Okay. Yes, they've opened their
home to us. And so we're going to meet there
next week. It'll be in their living room. We'll just have
the one service. We'll see how that goes. There
will be a nursery upstairs for you all. Again, we'll see how
this goes, but at least it'll be a little cooler. I think with
our size, we should have no problem being able to fit there. Maybe
just have an idea of how you want us to park. Just maybe have
some ideas, since there's a few of us. And then on the front of finding
a place, I'm hearing some positive things back from each of you
that get an opportunity to go to Scenic, which is in the southwest
part of Springfield. So there seems to be an interest
there growing among the brethren. So if you haven't been there,
it's very easy to go to. You can go there at any time,
just show up. They're on scenic. If you don't
have it, the information, reach out to me. But if you drive behind
the building, there's an electronics place behind that building, and
that's where you go. And then the guy will let you
in. In fact, there's a real nice guy who works on electronic things.
Um... And so he's seeing that there's
an interest from us as well, and I think they're pretty motivated
to lease it to us if we would. And I think some of you have
ideas as to how we might be able to put up a wall for a nursery,
a small nursery. And maybe we could soundproof
it a little bit as well. It's not necessarily the most
ideal, but the shape of it is actually pretty nice. It could serve us pretty well
for a while, and it's not too far out of the zone. I guess
you could say it's in the zone of where we would be okay being. I did contact Nixa Chamber of
Commerce and I've not heard anything back from them and I don't think
it has to do with the fact that we're not members of the Chamber
of Commerce but I will reach out to them again and Continue to pray, continue to
pray about it, that the Lord would reveal his will to us so
that we know what we should do going forward, because it would
be good to be in a public place. So if you find other places,
send them to me, and we can look at them, but that's what we're
doing. Yeah, so if you get a chance,
if you're up there, stop in. Yeah, Levi saw it. I think, well,
I don't want to call out everybody that's seen it and likes it,
but there does seem to be some positive feedback. Yeah. Right. It is the most affordable thing
we've seen. Yeah, yeah exactly right because
we don't have to do it right even with the existing wall line
you can bump it out a little bit and then curve it like in
there and Yeah, yep, yeah, I agree definitely Right. No, I think it's definitely
has that potential. So be praying about it. Keep
looking for other things if you see something, but that is the
most cost effective thing I've seen yet. And yeah, for wave
two, three or four, whatever they got going on, it would be,
I think we'd be able to meet there so long as we can. You're not going to blow up more.
One other thing, I didn't see a lot more bang for the buck
from what I was talking to Joe. to jump to the next price range.
I'm not seeing like we're really getting that huge break. Right,
there's not a big difference if you go up another 200 or 400
bucks, it's not. A lot higher if you're looking for that value. Yeah, okay. All right, thank
you. All right, then we'll be dismissed. And so next week, 1030, we'll
just have the one, is 1030 okay with you guys? All right, so
1030, we'll meet there in Highlandville at Carl and Melinda Moore's house. I'll put the address in the bulletin. Actually, we need to update the
directory. I don't think we have your new
address, so. So if you send that, just text
it to me and then I'll update the directory or send it to Christine
because I think she's willing to manage it, but if she's too
busy, I don't mind doing it. Yeah, all right. That'll be good. Yeah,
so 1030, and just again, think of how you want us to park and
maybe send an email out letting people know when you pull in,
do this or something like that. That'd be awesome. I mean, I'd
get a traffic director. All right. All right.