If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Romans 9. Romans 9. Our text will be found
in verse 16. Now, as I prepared this message,
I tried to prepare an introduction to lead up to verse 16, and every
time I got done with the introduction, it was larger than the message.
So I don't have an introduction written, so I'm just going to
go through quickly and hurriedly, and know that there's plenty
more here in these first 15 verses before I get to verse 16, which
is my text. There's plenty here that you
can dwell on for an eternity. There's just so much in this
chapter that I can't possibly cover it all, but I'm going to
try to get us to what Paul is talking about by way of the context
of the Scripture. Now, in chapter 8, Paul ends
with a very blessed note. He speaks of the everlasting
love of Christ. He speaks and He says, nothing
shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Nothing. Nothing. Height, nor depth, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor power, nor anything that is present
or ever will come shall separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus. That's a wonderful message there.
I know. I could have stopped there. I
could have stopped with that one, but I didn't. The Lord had
this text for me. So I went on, and as I was reading
through Romans chapter 9, I see that Paul starts talking about
Israel. He starts talking about his kinsmen
according to the flesh. He says, I could wish myself
a curse if that would work. I would do it so that my nation
Israel, my kinsmen according to the flesh might be saved.
I loved him. I want them to be saved. Why is Paul talking? He switches from the love of
Christ to the nation of Israel. Why does he do that? Well, the
reason that I think that he's doing that is this, because he
makes a point in verse 6 of chapter 9. Read that. He said, "...not
as though the word of God had taken none effect." See, Paul
is heading off an objection. That's what he's doing. He's
heading off an objection. The objection would be this.
Paul, if the love of God in Christ is forever, and you said it's
forever, that if everyone whom God has chosen in Christ, that
the love of Christ is forever, then how is it that God chose
the nation of Israel and now they are cast off? How is that? Does that mean that the Word
of God is not powerful? That the Word of God took none
effect? Think of all the promises that
He gave Israel, right? He gave many promises to that
nation Israel. Now then Paul, does that mean
that God's Word fell to the ground? Was God surprised? By the rejection
of Christ by the nation of Israel. Did he scratch his head? Was
he like, oh my, look at all I did, and now that they rejected my
Christ, what am I going to do? Is that God's attitude? Is that
what happened? You see, he's heading off an
objection here. Is the Word of God of none effect? Paul says that's not true. Not
as though the Word of God had taken none effect. How is that possible, Paul, for
God to choose Israel? Look what he said. He said, Israel
pertained to the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the law, and the service of God, and the promises. They
had all that. God gave them all that. And you
mean that God's Word, God rejected them, and how is it that the
love of Christ, nobody shall be separated from the love of
Christ when God has separated Israel from Himself? Paul says,
don't be afraid, the Word of God is still powerful. Everything
God said will come to pass. Don't worry. What you have is
you have a wrong idea of the promises. You have a wrong idea
of the Word of God. It happens to us many times.
Many times we look at God's Word and we see a promise of God and
we don't understand why that didn't work. It's not the promise,
it's us. It's not the promise, it's not
the Word of God, it's us. We have a wrong idea of the promise.
Well, that's what they had, a wrong idea of the promise. You see,
not all Israel is of Israel. That's what Paul said. Paul said,
look, the Word of God is still powerful. God was not taken by
surprise that the nation of Israel rejected Him. Why? Because all
those that are of the seed of Abraham are not all children
of God. They're not all children of God.
And you could go through many examples, but he goes back to
the core. He uses two examples to show
that not all Israel is of our children of God. He used two
examples. First thing he uses is Isaac. What was the promise? In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That was the promise. Now what does that mean? Does
that mean every physical descendant of Abraham is going to be saved? Is that what it means? Well,
absolutely not. Look at the example of Isaac
and Ishmael. Were they not both children of
Abraham? Yes. But, Ishmael was rejected
and Isaac was given the blessings. Well, the objection Paul knows
is coming is, well, that's because she was born of the bondwoman. The Israelites will say, well,
he was born of the bondwoman and Isaac was born of the free.
That's why he chose Isaac over Ishmael. Paul says, well, let's
go with next generation. Look at Isaac's children. You see, Isaac's children were
twins. in that they were born at the
same time. They were born of the same mother and the same
father. Their mother was a free woman.
And Isaac was the promised seed. And yet you have two children
being born of the same woman, and yet God chose one and rejected
the other. God chose one and rejected the
other. So then, are the promises given
to all the physical seed of Abraham? No. No. The promises were given
only by the grace of God. Only by the grace of God in election. Read that, "...for the children
not yet being born, neither having done 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." You see, Paul is showing us This very important
point. Salvation is by grace and not by works. Salvation comes
only because God would choose a people to save. You see, God chose Jacob and
passed by Esau. Some of you here today that are
believers in Jesus Christ, God has chosen you and passed by
many others. Some of you here may not believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and die in your sins, you will then
know that God passed by you. And the reason you were not saved,
God did not choose you. Men don't like to hear that.
Men don't like anything to do with that. But I tell you this,
if God did not make a choice, no one would be saved. If God
did not choose a people, there would be no salvation for the
human race. None. And therefore, he heads
off another question. He says then, is there unrighteousness
with God? You see, he asks the question,
is it unfair for God to choose one and to reject another? Is
it unfair? Is it unjust? Is God unjust to
choose this person and to pass by this person? Is God unjust to do that? God
forbid. God is only just. God is only
right in everything He does. Do you agree with that? Do you
agree that God is right in everything He does even when you can't understand
it? I do. That's what it is to be reconciled
to God. If you're reconciled to God, you agree with God against
yourself. That's what it is. You see, I
agree to this, God had every right to cast me into hell. I
agree to that. I know that. Do you know that? You do if God has mercy. And
then he says in verse 15, God's not unjust for God tells us about
this early on. He tells us about this in His
word to Moses. He said this, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Now I say this, praise God that
He will have mercy. God declared, I will have mercy. That's something to glory in
for people who need mercy. You see, there's hope in that
statement. There's hope. And God says, I
will have mercy. But on whom will He have mercy? On whomsoever He wills. You see, the mercy of God does
not come by works. It does not come by will. It only comes by grace. And that's
what we're dealing with in our verse. Look at our text. So then,
it. What is the it? Mercy. It. Mercy. is not of him that
willeth. It is not of him that runneth,
but God that showeth mercy. And that's what I've titled my
message, Willeth, Runneth, and Showeth. I'm going to look at
these three words in light of God's mercy. And how it is that
God's mercy doesn't come, and then how it does come. Let's
look at this word first. It is not, mercy does not come
of him that willeth. Now then, I want you to know
this about the King James Version and it will open up a lot to
you. I've said it before, the word ETH, the ending of that
word is very important in the King James Translation because
it is a present perfect tense. You see, that means that the
Word is talking about past, present, and future all at the same time. All at the same time. In other
words, if you were to translate this in our language literally,
it would say, it is not of him that willed. It is not of him
that is willing. And it is not of him that shall
will. You see? It is not of him that willed,
it is not of him that is willing, and it is not of him that shall
be willing. You see, the mercy of God is
the subject at hand, and this Word is not, the mercy of God
is not based on the will of man, past, present, or future. The
mercy of God does not come by the will of man, but only by
God's sovereign election, which is unto salvation. You see, if salvation were to come by
the will, in other words, if what the Arminian doctrine says
is true, that Jesus Christ made an atonement and all that man
has to do is to be willing to accept it. If that's true, my friends, we
ought to go home because none of us are saved. None of us are saved. Why? Because mercy doesn't come by
the will of man. That's what the text says. That's
what God says. That's what God says. None would
be saved. You see, man is born with a depraved
nature. You, my friend, you see that
little baby right there that you are holding in your hands?
He is depraved and he is lost and he is in his sin just as
my children are. If your children are sitting
there without Christ, that is because they are depraved in
their nature. They are lost and they need mercy
from God. And my friends, mercy doesn't
come because you determined to have it. A man can determine to have mercy
all he wants to, but it is not by the will of man mercy comes.
It comes by the grace of God, not by the will of man. You see,
man by nature, all men, are unwilling to come to Christ. They're unwilling. Remember Jesus
speaking to the Pharisees in John chapter 5? He said to them,
search the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life, but they are they that testify of Me." You will
not come unto Me that you might have life. You will not. You
that are lost, you will not come. You are unwilling in your heart
and mind to come to Christ. Matter of fact, you hate Christ.
You hate everything about Him. Why? Because your heart is depraved
and wicked and vile. You see, men don't mind coming
to a Christ that did all He can do. Men don't mind that. So long as they have their part,
so long as I can add my will into the equation, I don't mind
coming to Christ. Oh, everybody is willing to come
to a Christ like that. Everybody is willing to come
to a God that will bow down to them. Everybody is willing for
that. Every sinner is willing. As long
as God will change His rules for me to get in, I don't mind.
I like that. You like that as long as God
will bend down to you. But my friends, you won't obtain
mercy that way. We don't mind as long as God
accepts our part. in salvation so long as we have
a choice to receive or reject God's mercy. We don't mind that,
but when I tell you God has mercy on whom He will and whom He will,
He rejects. You see, God has the authority
over your soul to save it or to damn it. That's the God I'm
talking about. That's the God of this Bible.
You can worship another God if you want to. And you who are
depraved, you will. You'll find another God to worship.
Men don't like that God. You see, I speak to a man about
God like that and he'll come quickly and say, I won't have
anything to do with a God like that. Of course you won't. Of
course you won't. Because mercy doesn't come by
your will. It doesn't come by your will. The Scriptures speak
only of Jesus Christ as the sovereign Lord and ruler of all, giving
mercy to whom He will. You see, I bring my children
here to worship because I know that only under the sound of
the gospel will they ever be saved. But you know what? I have
no power over their salvation. I long for them to know Christ.
But I know this, they'll be saved only if God will have mercy. And my friend, the same is true
about you. You will only be saved if God will show you mercy, not
because you willed it so. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts." You see, in order for a man to
come to Christ, in order for a man to be willing to come to
Christ, he must forsake everything he knew or thought he knew about
God. For a man to come to Christ,
he must give up his religion, he must give up his works, he
must give up his baptism, he must give up his decision for
Jesus. And he must come and bow down
to Christ. He must bow down. He must give
up everything he thought he knew about God. Forsake everything. Jesus said, if any man hate not
his father and mother and sister and brother, and yea, his own
life also, he cannot be my disciple. Is there anything you love more
than Christ? You cannot be his disciple. No matter how much
you are willing or think you're willing, salvation doesn't come
by will, it comes by grace. Let the wicked forsake his thoughts
and his way thoughts about God. Are you willing to part with
everything for Christ? Are you still hanging on to something
you've done? Are you hanging on to something
you're doing? Or are you hanging on to something that you will
do in the future? It's here where the false prophets
will come in and they'll say this, well, you see, that man,
he believes that if somebody is saved, that God grabs them
by the hair of their head and drags them into heaven. That's
what the false prophets say when I start talking about grace being
not of the will but of the mercy of God. They say, well, you don't
believe that a man has to be willing. Who said such a foolish
thing? You've never heard me say that.
And you've never heard any other gospel preacher say that. You
must be willing to come to Christ. But I tell you, if you are willing,
it's not because you willed it. It's because God showed mercy
and then you were willing. Am I right? That's the way the
Scripture talks, the way the Scripture speaks. all who have
been quickened by the Spirit of God." Are we not willing to
come to Christ? That's foolish. That's like asking
a man who's living, are you willing to breathe? Yes, I'm willing
to breathe. I love breathing. I love living. Well, it's the same way when
you ask me, well, of course I'm willing to come to Christ and
give up everything to come to Christ. Why? Because I've seen
the greatness of my sin. When a man's heart is open and
he sees the greatness of his sin, he sees his unworthiness to stand
before God. To see my sin and my religion
as nothing but vain and empty. Have you ever seen yourself bankrupt
before God? You see, only a bankrupt sinner
is going to beg for mercy. Only someone who's dying of thirst
is going to need water. And I'll tell you this, only
a sinner who's seen his sin will need mercy. When I saw the greatness of my
sin, and then I saw the greatness of God's remedy for sin. When I saw Christ, when I saw
Christ and how God imputed my sins to Him, how He bore my sins on the cross,
and how He was successful. And I saw there's hope. And I
willingly came and ran to Him. You see, anybody who's ever seen
their sin and seen Christ, they know they're willing to come
to Christ. I'm willing to come to Christ. Aren't you? Are you
willing to come to Christ? Yes, I'm willing. You see, I
was willing, I am willing, and I, by the grace of God, shall
be willing, but it's not by my willing that I'm saved. I place
no value on my will. All the value and glory go to
God for my salvation. All of it. We who are willing bow down to
Him and receive Him willingly by His grace. We know this, that
all who came willingly, we know that the Scripture says, Thy
people shall be willing. We're willing, aren't we? But
when is a man willing? In the day of his power. When he comes and reveals to
you Christ, it is then that we are willing But it's not our
willing that brought God down to us. It is God that has made
us willing. Made us willing. So then, it
is not of Him that willeth. Isn't that right? Is that clear? I hope I made that clear. It's
not of your will. Second of all, let's look at
our text again. It is not of Him that runneth. Runneth. There's another word, ETH. It
is not of him that ran, it is not of him that is running, and
it is not of him that shall run. Now, the cause of mercy is not because
of our running. What is running? What does that
mean? Paul uses this several times in Scripture as an analogy
of the Christian life. If you are a believer in Christ,
you are running a race. That's what Paul says. Hebrews
chapter 12, we'll see in a second. We're running a race. What is
running? You see, running is striving. Running is works. Running is religion. That's what
it means. So then the Scripture says, it
is not of him that is striving. It is not of him that is working.
It is not of his religion that a man is given mercy. Because
we all inherited our father Adam's nature, born dead in sins, men
by nature are not runners to God. We are runners from God. Adam. I said this in Sunday school.
I'll use this analogy again. Adam. When Adam sinned against
God and God in mercy came to Adam, right? Did Adam run to
God and beg for mercy? When God came, was Adam so willing
to run to God and plead for mercy? No. Adam was over there grabbing
fig leaves trying to cover his nakedness. And that's what we
do by nature. We run from God and grab things
and works and religion and deeds and we try to cover our nakedness
with our works. That's what we do by nature.
You that are lost, that's what you're doing now. When I declare
God is sovereign and God will by no means clear the guilty,
which you're guilty. Every one of you are sinners.
I'm a sinner. What is it that you use to cover
yourself? Men by nature use what they're doing. I go to church.
I do this. I do that. I'm running. I'm striving. I'm doing my best. It is not of him that doeth his
best. It is not of him that strives.
It's not of him that joins the church. It's not of him that
was baptized. It's not about what you do. Salvation doesn't come by works. And that's what he's saying.
We all are running according to the lust of our flesh and
of the mind and are by nature children of wrath even as others.
The natural man has a carnal mind. What does that mean? What
is a carnal mind? Carnal mind is a natural mind.
It has natural wisdom, natural understanding. And the scripture says that the
carnal mind is enmity. In other words, your mind is
at war with God. Your mind is at war with God.
Your mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God. Anybody here subject to the law
of God naturally? You naturally come out of the
womb telling the truth? Is that it? Children, testify. Do you tell the truth all the
time? If you tell me you do, you lied.
You lied. You see, you can't. You can't
obey the law of God. It's against every fiber in your
being. You know what's right and yet
you do what's wrong all the time. It's because we're against the
Word of God. And if you're here today and
you have no interest in Christ, it is because you are running
from God. You hate God and there's nothing
about this service you love. Nothing. You don't have any interest. You say, I try to do good. I try to go to church sometimes
when it's convenient. I'm feeding the poor. I'm doing
this. I'm running okay. I'm doing fine. That's what you think. But my
friend, you are wrong. You see, God's not going to have
mercy because you're doing your best or because you're sincere. You know, people who are in false
religion, that's their thing. Well, if I'm just sincere in
what I believe. Wrong. Wrong. How do I know that? It is not
of Him that runneth. Mercy does not come by striving
or being sincere. Otherwise, we wouldn't call it
mercy, we would call it merit. Isn't that right? Mercy means
to give you something you don't deserve. If you're running to
deserve it, then we would call that merit or earning or working
for your salvation. to all you that would strive
to obtain mercy, to all that would earn God's favor, it is
not of him that ran." You heard this, and I've said it a million
times, when I've approached people with the Gospel, they said, well,
I was something, right? I was baptized. I made a decision when I was
10. I joined the church. I did this. I did that. It is not of him that ran. It's not about what you did. That earns zero mercy. It is not of him that is running.
How many times have I heard, well, I'm trying. I'm just trying
to obey God's law. I'm doing my best right now."
It is not of Him that is running. And I don't know how many times
I've heard this, especially from young people. They'll say, well,
you know, I know that's important. One day in the future, I will
do this and do that for Jesus. One day, I'll believe what you're
saying, preacher, but right now, I'm just too young, you know?
I'm going to miss out on all the exciting things of sin if
I believe now. Go right ahead. Right ahead. It is not of him that is going
to run. See, no matter what you determine
to do, salvation is not in your hands. It is only in the hands
of God to give mercy to whom He will. But there's the false preachers.
They're going to come and they're going to say, well, you see,
that man, he believes that you can be saved and do what you
want to. He don't believe you should be
striving. He don't believe you should be running. Again, only
a fool would say such a thing. I've never said anything like
that and never will. You see, everyone that believes
is running. You that believe, you are running
a race. You are. Paul said, Hebrews 12,
verse 1, "...let us run with patience the race that is set
before us, laying aside every weight, and the sin that does
so easily beset us." Believer, you are in a race. But what is
it for you to run the race? What does that mean? It is to
run By faith. That's how we run the race. You
see, we don't run the race by guidelines and rules and regulation
and law. We don't run the race that way.
We run the race by faith. Faith! Paul says anything that
is not of faith is what? Sin. Sin. We run the race by
faith. And you that believe. Is not this life full of tears
and pain? Have you not found that to be
so? Have you found this life to be
full of griefs and sorrows, hurts? Have you not found the struggle
within your own chest with sin? Have you not been over at times
overwhelmed and overcome with your sin? I have, and I know
you have. How is it that we overcome? How
is it that we run the race? How is it that we lay aside every
weight? What's the sin that easily besets
us? Unbelief. That's the sin that
easily besets us, that easily causes us to fall off the track,
to fall down in the middle of the race. In order to have victory over
these things, my friend, we do this only by looking to Jesus
Christ, by coming to the throne of mercy. We realize, believers,
that God is our refuge. A very present help when? In
trouble. In trouble. Remember, He's not
always the help out of trouble, but He's the help in trouble.
He's always there for us to strengthen us through the race. Yes, we
run. We ran, didn't we? When we got
into this race, how did we get in? Faith. Remember when the Lord came to
us by grace, He gave us life and faith. That's how we started. That's how we realized we were
in the race, is by faith. God gave us faith to believe
in Christ, to come to Christ. How do we run right now? How
are you running now? By faith. You see, I don't rest
in faith I had ten minutes ago and I'm not resting in faith
I'm going to have ten minutes from now. I rest in faith now! I believe now! And you know what? I believe now. And now, and right
now, and right now, moment by moment by moment, running the
race, how? By faith. By faith. We run the race. For the Scripture
says, the just shall live by faith. Now, there are many who
are running the race, but only those who run by faith in Christ
alone are legitimate runners. A lot of people are running.
A lot of lost people are running. Imagine a race, you know, the
Olympic race. You got the runners and they
have to go through a preliminary and then they sign up. And they're
on the starting line and they're getting ready to run. And all
of a sudden a fan comes out of the stands. And he gets down
there and he's on the block too. And they take off. And that guy
that just came out of the stands, he's beating all the other people.
He's doing better. He's running around that track
and say the fan wins. You know this guy, this crazy
guy, out there running a race he wasn't signed up for, he wins.
Do you think he's going to get the prize? No! He's disqualified because he
wasn't signed up. He didn't start the race the
right way. My friends, if you're running
this race trying to win Christ, you are that crazed fan, and
you will not win the prize. Remember Ignorance and Pilgrim's
Progress? Hey, got to the gate, he thought
everything was fine. He went across the river and
he didn't have any problems, and he sailed across Jordan,
got to the gate, and what happened? Bind him up and cast him into
everlasting darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Some of you are running ignorantly. If you do not come by way of
faith in Jesus Christ, you will not come at all and God will
cast you out. It is not of Him that runneth. It is not of Him that runneth. So it brings me to my last point,
what is it? How is it that a man obtains mercy? How is it that
men obtain mercy from God? If God will give mercy to whom
He will, how is it that a man obtains it? How is it that a
man obtains it? Look at this. It is not of him
that willeth, nor him that runneth. But here it is. But of God that
showeth mercy. Come on, work with me. ETH. There
it is again, showeth, but it is of God who showed mercy, who
is showing mercy, and who shall show mercy. Isn't God's Word
wonderful? That's just beautiful. It opens
up like a flower when we know what those words mean. This is the cause and root, the
accomplishment of all salvation, because God showeth mercy. If anyone is to receive mercy
of God, it will be because He showeth mercy. You see, God showed
mercy in election, didn't He? He showed mercy in election. God in Himself before the world
was created chose a people of His own sovereign will. Now my
friend, that is a set number of people. Put it down any way
you like. It is a set number of people
that God has chosen. This is what we deem limited
atonement. It's not that God's atonement
was limited in effectiveness, but God's atonement was limited
in its number of recipients. God chose a people, and this
is the beginning of mercy. If God did not do this, none
of you would be here. I wouldn't be here. I would be
living in my sin and there would be no hope like the angels. Remember
the angels' sin? Was there mercy for the angels?
Did God have mercy on the angels? My friend, God could have let Adam alone, but He didn't. He chose a people that He would
show mercy to. In eternity, He chose those people. And hath not the potter the power
over the clay to do with us as he wills? Of course he does.
Men can kick and spit against the election of God, but I believe
and I know it to be true that Scripture tells us without election,
there is no hope for mankind. But praise God that He did choose.
Number two, God is showing mercy. You see, God showed mercy in
Christ when He died on the cross. When God sent His Son, you want
to see mercy? There's mercy only at the cross. That's the most visible sign
of God's mercy, is that He sent His Son to die for unworthy wretch
like me. That's mercy. And God is showing
mercy. You see, I'm still here preaching
the gospel. Man, all over this nation there
are people everywhere preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because God is still showing
mercy to sinners. One day, one day He'll come and
shut it all down. When God has saved all His people,
He's coming and there won't be any more mercy given. But right
now, God is having mercy. You are here listening to the
Gospel. Maybe God would have mercy on
you today. Maybe God would make you willing.
Maybe God would give you faith to believe. God is showing mercy. He shows mercy. Who does He show
mercy to? Sinners. Only sinners. Anybody else doesn't qualify.
Only sinners. I qualify. Praise God, I qualify. Praise God, He's showing me mercy
right now. You that believe, He is showing
you mercy. You see, when you got up this
morning, guess what? His mercy was new. If I offend you one time, you
may forgive me. Two times? Okay. Three? That's getting kind of
tough now, isn't it? Four? Five? Ten? Twenty? You see, there's a limit
to our mercy, isn't it? And even when our mercy, the
next day, we always remember the day before, don't we? I always
remember that thing you did to me the time before. You see,
our mercy is very limited and it's never fresh. You see, I
can't have fresh mercy on you if you did something to me the
day before. Why? Because I'm going to remember
that. But see, God, He has fresh mercy. His mercy is brand new
today, like today was the first day. His mercy is new every morning. His compassions fail not. Isn't that wonderful? He is showing
mercy every day. And my friends, you can take
it to the bank, He shall forever show us mercy. Isn't that great? It is to you that obtain mercy. Have you obtained mercy? Has
God given you mercy? If He has, then you understand
what I'm talking about. It is new, it is fresh, and it
shall always be merciful to me. God is always merciful. The Scripture
tells me His mercy endureth forever. I'll tell you what, to me, knowing what I am by nature,
that is exciting. That is exciting to me. And I
tell you what, if you stand in need of mercy, I point you to
the only one that can give you mercy, Jesus Christ. I tell you,
bow down and give up your arms. Surrender and come to Christ. You know what? I've never met
one that has come to Christ and he's been rejected of mercy.
Not one. Come to Christ with something else, some of you are
running and willing and you'll be rejected. Come to Christ empty. And my friends, you shall be
filled to overflowing. Have you experienced that? If
you have, it is not because you ran, it is not because you willed,
it is because God showed you mercy. Give Him the glory. Praise His name. We have the men come prepare
the Lord's Supper for us.