Romans chapter 9, entitled this
message, The Calling of the Vessels of Mercy. The Calling of the
Vessels of Mercy. As we've studied in this chapter,
Paul is answering three objections. Three objections to the sovereignty
of God. One was Is the Word of God of
none effective? God promised to save Israel and
Israel rejected the Messiah. Is God's Word failed? Paul answers, of course not,
because Israel is spiritual. Israel are sons of promise, not
sons of the flesh. And he gives those examples of
Isaac, And Jacob and Esau. Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac was
chosen. Ishmael was rejected. Both sons
of Abraham. And to make it an even better
argument, he uses the two in the womb that are Isaac's children. Both of them. Twins in the same
womb. And yet God says, I've chosen
Jacob, loved him, and hated Esau before they were born. Before
they had done any good or evil. For this purpose, that the doctrine
of election that might stand, for this purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth. And then the other objection
was, is God unrighteous to do that? God forbid, He's already
told you this, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll
have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So then, it
is not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but God that
showeth, what? Mercy. He's declaring this, that
salvation of Jacob was mere mercy. There was no difference between
Jacob and Esau by nature. Yet God purposed in love to save
Jacob. What about Esau? Well, God hated
him. Before he had done any evil,
God hated him. And he gives this example, Pharaoh.
He said, Pharaoh, look at him. I raised him up. I gave him life. I gave him breath. I put him
on the throne so that I might destroy him. That's it. Pharaoh had one purpose, to magnify
the justice and holiness of God. That's it. And then he gets that
in that last objection. He said, well, then why does
God find fault? If God's ordained all things, even sin, why does
he find fault? How can he do that? Listen, God doesn't ever ask
us to fully understand. Though you and I cannot reconcile
the responsibility of man and the mercy of God, you can't reconcile
the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. You can't
reconcile. So what? Who are you? Did not God say
my thoughts are higher than your thoughts and my ways higher than
your ways? Well, of course they are. And then Paul begins to talk
here about vessels. He said, have not the power power
of the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honor another
dishonor? What if God willing to show his
wrath and make known his power endured with much long suffering,
the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? And that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy before prepared
under glory, even us whom he hath called not only Jews, but
also of the Gentiles. And so then this subject here
is the sovereign election of God. Election is not complicated,
friends, is it? It's not a not a hard thing to
understand just what I said. The problem is the nature of
man rejects it. The nature of man in his own
wisdom despises it. God chose a people. God loved
the people. You understand that? Before the
world began, he loved the people. These here are mentioned as vessels
of mercy, aforeprepared. Who does the preparing? God does. These vessels of wrath, these
are fitted for destruction, molded and shaped by God. For what? To manifest his power and his
justice, his holiness. Therefore, some men are vessels
of mercy and grace, while others are vessels of wrath. Upon whom
will God exact strict justice? Now, these vessels of wrath,
listen, they're not going to suffer because God didn't choose
them. They'll suffer because of their own sin. They'll suffer
because of their own sin. But if we are vessels of mercy,
we're going to receive the glory of God, because God afore prepared
us for glory. These vessels of wrath have one
purpose, that God make His power known, and the vessels of mercy,
those who are elected of God, are prepared for glory. God chose them, God loved them,
Christ then came as their representative man. Those given to Christ, those
elected of God were given to Christ. And He became responsible
for their salvation. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders.
He's talking about His kingdom. The government of His kingdom
rests completely on His shoulders. It often brings me comfort to
know the responsibility of my salvation rests solely on his
shoulders. Didn't I throw off every burden?
My salvation rests solely on him. His name shall be called
wonderful. Why? Because he's victorious.
He came and He actually accomplished salvation for who? The vessels
of mercy. He obtained righteousness, the
righteousness of God for the vessels of mercy. He came and
died upon Calvary's tree for the sins of the vessels of mercy. Did I lose anybody so far? God chose the people and Christ
saved them. It's easy to understand. He saved every one of them. He's victorious. And so then, if God chose only
the elect and Christ redeemed only the elect, the important
question for every one of us is this, am I a vessel of mercy
or a vessel of wrath? How might I know what I am? And so Paul, having shown the
purpose of showing that God has chosen and Christ is redeemed,
he puts flesh on this doctrine. Is election just a doctrine to
be learned? A lot of people believe salvation
just by learning a lay. If I just know an election, then
obviously I'm safe. No. There'll be a lot of Calvinists
in hell. You mark my words, there'll be
a lot of Calvinists in hell. Why? They trust in their knowledge.
Knowledge don't save you. Salvation's in a person, friends.
It's in Christ. Are you a vessel of mercy? How
can we know this? Look what Paul says here. He
says in verse 24, even us. Paul's making a confident statement
there. I'm a vessel of mercy. I'm a fore prepared under glory.
Even us. Notice how he knows whom he hath
what? Called. So the question is, have
you been called? What is it to be called? That's
how Paul knew he was a vessel of mercy. He's been called and
that's how I know I'm a vessel of mercy. God's purpose in election
was that some of Adam's race should be saved. And we know
this, if there were no election and it was left up to man, then
none would be saved. None. If there's no election,
anybody believe in no election at all, I'll tell you what, there
would be no salvation. Be no salvation. So the election
is always unto salvation. By the death of Christ and this,
by the power of the calling of the Holy Spirit, all that God
had predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, listen,
they will all come to faith in Christ. Not one of them will
be left. Go to John 6, one of my favorite
passages here because it's very comforting. John six and verse
37. I know this should be comforting
to you when you look at God's church to see how small God's
church is and how few in our day are are called. A few believe the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Listen to this. Oh, verse 37, that the father
giveth me. What's going to happen? They shall come to me. And what is he going to do when
they come? And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Now, what's the grounds for this?
What's the grounds of you coming to Christ? Here it is. For I
came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will. Why is it that you are going
to come to Christ? Because it is the Father's will.
You came to Christ? Whose will was it? Whose will gets the glory for
you coming? Religion says man will. Well,
let him have that. I will, because he willed. I came because he willed it.
This is the will of him that sent me, that of all he hath
given me, I should lose nothing. Does it make you confident? You
know how many people are going to be saved? All that the Father gave Christ. I don't know how many that is.
But I know this, all of them will be saved. All of them will
be saved. He's gonna lose nothing but raise
it up again. This should bring comfort in our ears. That we
were given to the Son, represented by Him, He was sent of the Father
to be our federal head, and we are going to be saved because
He obtained righteousness. By His obedience and by His death,
He has redeemed us. Consider what he endured friends
you that are called you that have been called to faith consider
what Christ has endured for us By prophecy and Isaiah and Psalm
6 Psalm 69 he said this The zeal of thine house had eaten me up
and the reproaches of them that reproached thee had fallen upon
me You and I reproached God How is it that we were saved because
our reproaches fell on him He bore our sin in his own body
on the tree. See that God who chose these
vessels of mercy did not do so then at the expense of his justice.
You that were called. God did not set aside his justice
for his love. This is what men want. Men want
God to love you and just set aside his justice. God did not set aside his justice. But I want you to see that both
the elect and the reprobate both. Will satisfy the justice of God. Both will satisfy the justice
of God. If God chose some to show mercy
at the expense of his justice, then God would be unrighteous,
isn't that right? You have two men, two men have fines to pay
and they go before the judge and the judge of his own love
pays the one. He pays the one. Justice is satisfied. But you know what? He doesn't
pay the other and he goes to jail. Guess what? Justice was
satisfied either way. And so God's Savior, God damn
you, listen to me, God's justice will stand. God's justice will
stand. God did not choose us and then
excuse His justice, but God's Son agreed to pay the debt. He agreed to pay the debt for
His elect. Therefore, because Christ was
successful at the cross in satisfying the justice of God, everyone
that is called goes free. We go free. You know Hebrews chapter 9, Hebrews
chapter 9 and verse 12 said this about Christ. Neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. He obtained eternal redemption.
In chapter 10 you read that. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin, sat down on the right hand of God. He
finished the work, expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by his one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. And so then to those that are
chosen and redeemed and called Paul says this in Romans 8, there
is therefore now no condemnation. But you know what? I often feel
condemned. So what? There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. This is the blessing of God's
sovereign election. This is the fruit of it. Those
that are called those that are redeemed chosen and redeemed
shall be called and everyone who is called comes to life and
faith in Jesus Christ. Now this calling of God is then
the manifest evidence of our election and redemption. This
is how you may know if you are called. What's the means then
of this calling? If God is going to call men,
how then will he call them? God does send then forth a general
call. He sends out a general call.
He sends out a call to all men. Listen to this call. Look unto
me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth. That's pretty broad, isn't it?
You just hear it? Well, that's a call. It is a
general call that goes out. Look at me and be saved all the
ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. God's
word cries out to all men to look to Christ and be saved,
to repent and believe the gospel. This is the cry then of every
gospel preacher. You know. I know I've said this many times,
but Spurgeon was asked, he said, Sir, if God's only chosen the
elect and Christ only died for them, and they're the ones going
to be saved, then why preach? Why preach to all men? And Spurgeon
said, sir, if you would kindly point them out to me, I'll preach
only to them. I don't know who they are. We
preach to all men. Why? Because I don't know. You
that are sitting here that I suppose you are vessels of mercy, truly
I can't tell. How many times have we been wrong?
How many people we've seen come in, seem to be a vessel of mercy,
and then poof, they're gone. So I can't tell. So I'm gonna
continue to preach to all men. I'm gonna tell everybody, look
to Christ and be saved. Look to Christ. You remember
that parable of the sower in Mark 4? It says, sower went out
to sow. Sower then is a preacher of God's
Word, you know Christ was a preacher of God's Word Did he not say
this? Come unto me All you that labor
and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest now He said that
and that call went out to everyone that heard it He preached to everyone that
he had opportunity and was commanded to. He preached to everyone.
So do gospel preachers. We cast this seed at adventure.
I don't know where it's going to land. I don't know what it's
going to do. The worst preaching I believe
I've ever done is tried to try to plant this seed into somebody.
Specifically. That was horrible. Nope. It's
casted at adventure. We cast this seed at adventure.
And I don't know where it's going to land. I don't know what's
in your heart right now. I don't know what's in your heart.
I don't know how your heart is. I don't know if it's hard. I don't know if
it's thorny. I don't know if it's stone. That's how we are
by nature, isn't it? Every heart's hard by nature. Every heart has
the thorns and cares of this life. Everybody has a stony ground
heart that seem they may seem religious on the outside, but
down deep ain't no root. Ain't no real love for Christ
or faith. I don't know where this is going to land, but I
know this. The Holy Spirit knows where it's going to land. You pay attention. Only the ground
that the spirit prepares will receive the seed. That's not my business to prepare
your heart. Ain't your business either. You
can't do it. You know, we say, prepare your heart. I said it
sometimes you just say things that I don't think we really
think about what we're saying. How can I ask the spirit to prepare
your heart? Yes, but you know, you can try
to take a deep breath and be real religious and that's not
preparing your heart, preparing your body, maybe your mind. But
surely you can't plow your heart. It's a spirit's job. It's a spirit's
work. He plows the hearts. and prepares
it for the seed to be received. So the general call goes out
into the world. But for this call to become effectual,
it must be done by the spirit. Go to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. What a wonderful call
this is. Isaiah 55. Well, if I get in
the right book. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat, yea, buy wine and milk without money, without
price. You know that general call limits us pretty quick,
doesn't it? It's only really calling somebody that's thirsty
and hungry. It's only calling somebody that's broke. The general call goes out, but
really it's very much sinners. General call is going out, but
I'm calling sinners. I'm not calling righteous people.
Gospel don't call righteous people, call sinners. It calls those
who are hungry for righteousness, thirsty for righteousness. That's who this call is given
to, somebody without money, without means to pay. Come and buy wine
and milk without money, without price. Why do you spend your
money for that which is not bread and labor for that which satisfies
not? Hearken to me diligently, eat that which is good and let
your soul delight itself in fatness. Why are you spending your time
and money on the things of the world who cares? It's gonna go
away. It don't satisfy, have you found
that out? The world doesn't satisfy. The
more you get, the more you want, the more you have, the more you
want, it just won't. It just won't. I'm not talking
about money, I'm talking about just money, knowledge. Education. How much, you got
enough of that yet? A lot of people like education
like other people like money. And vanity. Vanity. your ear and come unto me here
and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant
with you even the sure mercies of David and so this general
call goes out but guess what what is he going to do it's going
to do exactly what God determined it to do whether to harden you
or to save you You got it? When this word goes out and it
hardened you, listen, it did exactly what God determined it
to do. And so he said that in verse
10, I think it is. As the rain cometh down, and
the snow from heaven returneth not thither, watereth the earth,
and maketh it to bring forth and to bud, That it may give
seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void,
but it shall accomplish the thing wherein I please. And it shall prosper in the thing
wherein to I send it. Are you getting the sense then
that this is all the work of God? I can make this general
call. But only God can make it effectual. Only God can make it effectual.
You that believe, you testified to this, that this call was necessary.
This call, this general call that went out, one day it wasn't
just general, it was very specific to you. Paul says this in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, We are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren. Beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Listen, means through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. These were necessary. The sanctification of the spirit
is the giving of a new heart, a new nature. He sets us apart
by giving us a new nature by which we then believe. We could
not believe before, but now we believe. Why? Because He's given
us a nature to. Where unto He called you, He
called you. Who called you? I preached, but
who called you? That man that you heard, he preached,
but really who called you? Wasn't us. where to he said where to he
called you by our gospel to the attaining of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ you believe you've been called you testify
that's exactly right that's exactly how it happened I was lost I
was undone I was without God or his son but God in mercy reached way
down for me We were like Adam hiding from
God. And that is silly. Isn't that
a foolish thing to think you could hide from God in the trees?
Yet he did. He was so foolish. So were we.
He covered himself in leaves and thought that'd be sufficient.
We did, too. We took some religion. We took
some knowledge that we have. Maybe our Calvinism covered us. We surely thought that was enough
until what God came. to us. See how salvation works? God has to do it all. He does the choosing, He does
the dying, and He does the calling. He does it all. This is the experience
of every vessel of mercy. The seed of the gospel of Christ
was no accident, was it? I keep thinking about that woman
that asked Ralph Gardner about elections. She said, I know the
difference between us and you is this matter of election. She
said, I don't understand. And Ralph said this, did God
save you on accident or on purpose? He saved me on purpose. Well,
that's election. He saved me on purpose. This
word didn't come to you accidentally. I use that illustration of J.D.,
my brother, J.D., I miss him so much. Him and him and his
brother out there in that parking lot doing rock, paper, scissors,
see if they're going to go in. Well, just by chance, J.D. won and they went in. Just by chance that night I was
preaching about Christ, the shepherd, and he heard the voice of his
shepherd just by chance, I guess. by accident. There was no chance
he was going to miss this. It was designed by God. That word specifically that night,
I don't know if anybody else heard the voice of Christ, but
he did. That's true of us. I didn't hear
my pastor's voice, I heard the voice of the son of God. And I heard, I lived. And so then this call
is general until it's not. It's general until it's specific.
And when it's specific, you listen to me, it's effectual. That word
effectual, I use it a lot. Simply this, it gets the job
done. That's what effectual means.
It's powerful. The word was not powerful how
many thousands of times I heard the word of God and it was not
powerful. Until it was powerful. Until
God made it effectual on my heart. The effectual call then is the
call that involves the will and power of God upon the will and
person of man. I wasn't willing until God was
willing. And the day God was willing,
I was willing for something to must be effectual.
It must be accomplished by power. Something must have power to
perform it. Already read. God was willing
to save some revealed by sovereign election
because he is God. He then has also the power to
do it. I'm glad that God's not like
us. How many things you will to do? And yet you can't. You like power, don't you? You
want it, but you just don't have it. God, when he will something,
he has both the will and the power to do what he will. And now the general call is not,
if it's not accompanied by power, men will always reject it. They
will always reject it. It's their nature. Now listen,
a general call may affect the outward actions of a man. It
may make him civil, moral, religious. But eventually that'll fade. Eventually that'll just turn
to nothing. But the effectual call of God The effectual call
of God is like the call of Lazarus. When the Lord came to that tomb,
Lazarus had been dead four days. Sister didn't even want to open
up because he stinks. The body already started corruption.
When he opened that tomb and Christ spoke his name and commanded
him to come out, what could Lazarus do but live? When God spoke to your heart,
what else could you do? When that word came and said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, what else could you do? How many
times did I reject that until I could? That's power, friends. That's
the the power on the vessels of mercy. Listen, go to Ephesians
chapter one. Look at this. Ephesians chapter
one. What does it take for a man to
believe? Now religion tells you it doesn't
take much more than just a sentiment of will. Just a smidgen of determination. If you just will. That's not what my scripture
says. Look at this. Ephesians chapter 1. Look at verse 18. And the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. And what does this enlightenment
do? It gives you some understanding. It gives you knowledge of some
things that you did not know before. That you may know what
is the hope of His calling. That word hope is not wish, it's
confidence. I have confidence in this calling. When my eyes were opened, I was
able to know the confidence, have hope in this calling of
God. And I know this, the riches of
the glory of his inheritance in the saints. I know the riches
of the glory of Christ, don't you? Isn't that where your riches
are in Christ? And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward who believe? According to the working of his
mighty power. Now, how do you believe? according to the working of His
mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead. You see, the same power it took
to raise Christ from the dead is the same mighty power it took
to raise us from the dead. I'm going to give you a few illustrations
in Scripture as to this effectual calling The Lord gives us several
illustrations of this. First of all, it is like being
called from dead, being dead. Ephesians 2 tells us, And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. We were born dead in sins. So that we could not give ourselves
life. This is the condition God finds
all of His elect in. We're dead just like everyone
else. Therefore, in power and of regeneration, he comes. And gives us life. In other words,
this power of life must come from without side of us. How basic is this? There's nothing
a man can do to give himself life. Be ever so religious as you would.
Perform all the rituals you want. All the ceremonies. Really determined. To have life. You can't give
yourself life. Can't do it. It has to happen
outside of you. I'll give you an illustration
of that. Remember in Ezekiel 37, the dry bones. God takes
his preacher out there and there's a vast amount of dry bones in
this valley. And he said, look at them. He
went out there in the bones, he picked them up, and he said,
look, they're not just dry, they're very dry. No life at all. Dead twice over. And he said,
son of man, can these bones live? He said, Lord, you know, if these
bones are gonna live, you have to do it. Do you know, if you
want them to live, they'll live. And he said, go out there and
preach to these bones. He said, prophesy to these bones. And
so I prophesied as I was commanded. Now, consider the human wisdom
in this. Prophets stand out there over
a bunch of dry bones preaching to them. Imagine somebody walked by. Well,
man, that's just foolish. What are you preaching to dead
bones for? Well, that's what God said to do. You know, I'm
preaching to hope to be preaching to dead bones. You know why? Because only the dead get life. And he preached to these bones,
as I was commanded, I prophesied and there was a noise. Behold,
a shaking in the bone came together bone to his bone. And that's
something one of his bones over here, one of his bones over here.
What? No chance those two bones were
going to get together. They were his. And behold, lo
sinew and flesh came upon them and skin covered them about,
but there was no breath in them. Oh, when God begins to shake
and rattle the bones of a man, he trembles. And he finds out
this. He's without breath. Remember that you were called
when you found out you were dead. And you found out there was no
life in you. And he said unto me, prophesy to the wind, prophesy,
son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come
from the four winds and, O breath, and breathe upon these that are
slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded.
And the breath came unto them, and they lived and stood upon
their feet an exceeding great army. When God causes a man to
see he's dead, He does it for this purpose. To give him life. Anybody dead? Is there anyone in this life? Do you know you're dead? That's
a good start. I got hope for people that are
dead. Because God gives life, people
are dead. How do I know I'm one of them? I'm one of them. I'm a vessel of mercy because
God called me from death to life. Second illustration of darkness
to light. I knew this when I found out I was dead. I knew I lived
in darkness. Ignorance. You know the manifestation of
ignorance of a man is this. He goes about to establish his
own righteousness. That's what Paul said, I bear
witness to my brethren according to the flesh that they have a
zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They go about to
establish their own righteousness and have not submitted to the
righteousness already established. We were born in darkness, and
we knew nothing of God or His mercy. We desired only to make
ourselves acceptable. But when God called us, He called
us from darkness to light. Peter says this, but you are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people, for this purpose, that you should show forth the
praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light. When the light came on, what
did you see? I saw Christ. I saw Christ. When God turns on the light,
you'll see Christ. You'll see him as all your hope
and salvation. And the last thing is, This calling
is out of bondage into liberty. Liberty. We were in bondage. In bondage to what? We were in
bondage to the justice of God. We were in bondage. We were in
the condemnation. We had broken God's law. By no
means could we set ourselves at liberty. We were guilty. You take a guilty man, you lock
him up. And if he goes free because he escaped, he broke the law
again. We couldn't escape this. When God gives us light, he gives
us light to see our liberty, that Christ has made us free.
Free. Free from what? From the guilt
of sin. I feel guilty often. But you
know what? I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty. You know what? Christ bore my guilt. In a real sense, He bore my guilt. And God poured out justice without
mercy. so that I might be free from
the guilt of sin. As I said, there is therefore
now no condemnation. Why? Because there's no guilt.
Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again. And he set us free from the power
of sin. At one time we were under the
dominion of sin so much we could not believe. We had no power
to believe, but now he's given us a new nature by which we are
able to believe. And so sin has no more power
to take that away from us. I'll tell you this. I am full
of unbelief. By nature, I'm full of unbelief.
I'm so thankful for nature by which I do believe. And because
of this, we are set at liberty from the power of sin. And one day will be set at liberty
from the presence of sin. And that's what death does for
the believer. It sets us free from the very presence of sin. And so Paul says this for brethren,
we have been called under liberty. No longer under the law, but
under grace. Now, use not this liberty as
an occasion to sin. And why would he say that? Because
the flesh is always seeking to do that. Don't do that. But rather love and serve one
another. All those who are called to faith
are freed from the curse and bondage of sin because Christ
has set us free now that I want you to see this. the nature of
those that are called. Go back to your text one more
time. Go back to your text. I want you to see this because
this is this you. You were chosen of God. Now listen,
you were chosen. God did choose you. God redeemed
you. God called you. God gave you
life. God gave you sight. God gave
you liberty. You are a peculiar people. You are special. In the eyes
of God, you are. You are his elect. But so that pride will not settle
in, we must understand that as vessels of mercy, we were no
different by nature than the vessels of wrath. Look at your
text again. Verse 22. What if God willing?
No, wait, let me see. Look at verse 21. Has not the
Potter power of the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
to honor and another to dishonor? Don't you see that you and I
came from the same lump? Your vessel of honor. But you came from the same lump
of Adam's fallen race. There was nothing good about
you. There was nothing special about you. There was nothing
meritorious about you. This should cause us to be the
most humble people on the face of the earth. That God showed
mercy to us. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Of what hast thou, thou hast
not received? And if you receive it, why in
the world do you act like you didn't? How often we act like
we didn't receive it, that we somehow married to this. We're
somehow better. Now we're made of the same lump.
And yet God in grace chose us. God in grace redeemed us. God
in grace saved us and called us. And our calling was a holy
and effectual calling. Not according to the power of
our will or works, but according to his mercy, he saved us. It's all mercy. I'll tell you
this, if I continue in the faith, it will always be because of
mercy. Always because of mercy. Today,
I'm relying on the mercy of God. Trusting in his word. So thankful
he called me. Is he calling you? I pray you
will. He does. You'll come. It'll come. What else can you
do? I pray God blesses us, stand and be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, dismiss us with
your blessing and mercy. Pour out your heart, pour out
your gospel upon our hearts. Humble us, Father. I pray you'd be effectual in
your calling today. I thank you for Christ and his
blood. I thank you for his righteousness. Thank you for your spirit that
now resides in us. Be with us as we go and let this
word settle upon our mind and hearts. I pray in Christ's name.
Amen.