Okay, good morning. Let's open your Bibles, please,
to Romans 9. Romans chapter 9. Before we start,
let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for letting
us gather here this morning to worship you. We ask that you
please be with us this morning and that it's your voice that
we hear and not this this center standing up here. We ask that you are pleased to
let us Let us see Christ in the Scriptures. I ask that you bless this message
this morning. We ask in Christ Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. This morning I'm going
to try to deal with this notion that the world has that God loves
everyone. You hear it often, I see it on
TV, see it all over this corrupt world. I used to drive a truck
across country and I've seen, and I'm sure you all have too,
just crosses and just religious stuff is just plastered all over
this world. And, you know, you see John 316,
I used to see it all over trailers and just all over the place.
You know, and other types of this religious garbage that goes
on in this world. And they all rest on blasphemous
lies. And one of them that they rest
on is that God loves everyone. And that's what I'm going to
try to deal with this morning. We're going to read in Romans
9, we're going to read verses 8 through 23. That is, they which are the children
of flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise
are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith unto
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. 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. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Thou wilt
say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to
the thing that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath
not the potter power over the clay? of the same lump to make
one vessel of honor, one vessel unto honor, and another unto
dishonor. What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory? Okay, looking at verse 8. Starting in verse 8 here, we
see that there's two types of people. There's children of flesh. They are these which are children
of flesh that are not the children of God. There's children of promise
that are counted for the seed. So we see here that there's children
of flesh that are not the children of God. And then there's children
of promise that are counted for the seed. Two different types
of people. I want to look at verse 11. carefully, the children
being not yet born, they haven't been born yet, they haven't done
any good or evil, but the purpose of God according to election, according to election might stand
not of works but of him that calls. So the children have done
nothing, they're not even born yet, yet God according to election
He chooses one, he doesn't choose the other. Under verse 13, as
it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. I looked
up in the Strong's Concordance this word hate because there's
a lot of confusion that goes on in this religious world and
like my Bible's got this commentary on the bottom and this guy just
plays it off that hate doesn't really mean hate. And I looked
it up in the Strong's Concordance, and I looked it up in the Hawker's
Concordance, and it's the Greek word, and I don't know if I'm
pronouncing it right, but it's miso. It's M-I-S-E-O, and I don't
know how you say it in Greek, but it's hate. It's the word hate. And Hawker says, hate means hate.
There's no way around that. There's no way to explain it
away. That's the translation. That's the original word. That's
what it means. That's what God has said. Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Now I want to look at verse 17. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee. and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth." So the purpose of Pharaoh, that God raised him up just to
destroy him, to declare that God's name might be declared
throughout all the earth. I want to turn to Exodus chapter
15. If you would, Exodus 15, and I want
to read about Pharaoh. And I think Curtis was here last
Sunday. Chapter 15, and I want to read
verses 4 through 13. I think that's where he was.
Okay, Exodus 15, starting in verse 4. The depths have covered them,
they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord,
is become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine
excellency, thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee.
Thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
And with the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together,
the floods stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed
in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue.
I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My lust
shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword. My hand
shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind. The sea covered them. They sank
as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee? O Lord,
among the gods, with a little g, who is like Thee, glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Thou stretchest
out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in Thy mercy
has led forth Thy people, which Thou has redeemed. Thou has guided
them in Thy strength unto the holy habitation. Does it sound
like God loved Pharaoh? When we read in Romans 9, we
just read that God's purpose for him is that he raised him
up. He set him to rule over the children
of Israel, to enslave them for the sole purpose that he would
destroy them, that his name would be cleared throughout all the
world. Did God love Pharaoh? Let's turn back to Romans 9. We'll look at verse 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. God chooses
who he has mercy upon. He chooses, God does. The world
says you work hard, you live right, you keep the law, God
loves you, and he'll have mercy on you, and he'll forgive you.
But that's not what this says. He hath mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will he harden. And God hardened Pharaoh's
heart. God sent the plagues, and Moses
kept coming to Pharaoh and asking to let his people go. And Pharaoh
every time almost did, but then God hardened his heart, and he
said no. He said no. Verse 21. If not the potter, power over
the clay. The same lump to make one vessel
of honor and one vessel of dishonor. You know, the world, people want to want to look to
God and say that, you know, they think that He doesn't have
power over the clay. That their will is just as strong
as His. That they can choose, that their free will can choose
to be Savior, choose Jesus, or choose this. But there is no
free will. God has power over the clay.
And He's made the same lump, He's made one vessel to honor,
and one vessel to dishonor. The vessel of honor, Jacob. The vessel of dishonor, Esau. Verse 22, What if God, willing
to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? Does it sound like He loves these
vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? Much longsuffering. God's much
longsuffering. He doesn't destroy the world
yet. There's still his elect. He's
still calling his people. He's still finding his lost sheep. He's much long-suffering. Does he love these vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction? Like Pharaoh? Wasn't Pharaoh
a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction? His only purpose was that he
raised him up so that he might destroy him. Verse 23, And that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which
he had aforeprepared unto glory. How does he make known the riches
of his glory on the vessels of mercy? By revealing Christ to
them. Christ is the riches of his glory.
Aforeprepared unto glory, that word afore can also be translated
beforehand. And these are the people written
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
Beforehand, God prepared them unto glory. He chose them before
the foundation of the world. You have no say in it. These are His people. We can clearly see from these
scriptures that God chose a people to save. He did not choose everybody. If God loved everyone, Wouldn't
he choose everybody? Let's look at the flood. I want
to turn to Genesis chapter 6, please. Genesis chapter 6, I want to
read verses 1-13. And it came to pass, when men
began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were
born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men,
that they were fair. And they took them wives, all
which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh. yet his days shall be a hundred
and twenty years. There were giants in the earth
in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came
unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the
same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. And that repented the Lord that
he had made man on this earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made
them. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God. And
Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also
was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for
all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said
unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth
is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy
them with the earth. I want to skip over to verse
17. And behold, I, even I, do bring
a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein
is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is
in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish
my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons
and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee." We see in these verses
God's holy judgment against sin on this earth. In verse 17, God
says he'll destroy all flesh with a flood, and everything
in this earth shall die. Everything in this earth, except
he put He put Noah and his family, I think it was eight people,
in this ark. Does it sound like God loves everyone? He only spared
eight people. The rest of them he destroyed.
Verse 8, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What did
Noah do? He didn't do anything, he's a
sinner. Noah was a sinner, but he was one of God's. And he was one of the vessels
of mercy before prepared, before the foundation of the world. Verse 18. Establish my covenant. That speaks
of Christ. Come into the ark. The ark is
a picture of Christ. And God didn't bring everyone
into the ark. He only brought Noah and his family. And that's a picture of salvation,
you know? The ark pictures Christ, and
if we're not in Christ, the wrath of God is on us. And like the rest of this world,
we'll be destroyed. We'll be destroyed if we're not
in that ark. Let's skip over to one chapter,
chapter 7. I want to read verses 17 through
24. Chapter 7, starting at 17. And the flood was 40 days upon
the earth, and the waters increased and bear up the ark. And it was
lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed. and
were increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went up on
the face of the waters, and the waters prevailed exceedingly
upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole
heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the
waters prevail, and the mountains were covered, and all flesh died
that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of
beast, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,
and every man all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all
that was in the dry land died, and every living substance was
destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man
and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven,
and they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained
alive, and they that were with him in the ark, and the waters
prevailed upon the earth 150 days. So this is a detailed account
of what happened in the flood and what God did because of sin
in this world. And I like verse 17 as a side
note. It says, and the ark, bear up
the ark and it was lift up above the earth. Isn't that a picture
of Christ lifted up above the earth, sitting in heaven, the
right hand of God. He must be lifted up. Verse 21, all flesh died. all flesh. And 23 says, every living substance
was destroyed. Everything. Everything destroyed
because of sin, except those that were in the ark. Noah remained alive in his family
because they were in the ark, just as it will be if we're not in Christ. If we're
not in Christ, we'll be, just as these verses said, all flesh
died, sent to hell, eternal damnation if we're not found in Him. The
flood is a picture of what's to be when the Lord calls the
last of His sheep. In no way implies that God loves
everyone. No way. I don't know how you
can read this and think that God loves everyone. He destroyed
everyone on this earth except for eight people. It says and implies the exact
opposite. God has a people he loves and saves by the blood
sacrifice of his darling son and the rest he leaves to themselves
and is much longsuffering with the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction. That's what's going on now. He's much longsuffering
with these vessels of wrath because he still has elect in this world.
He still has sheep that he's calling. When the time comes,
God will judge the wicked and destroy them, those not found
in the precious Lord Jesus Christ. There's two types of people in
scripture. Those God chose from eternity, that He loves with
an everlasting love, and everybody else. Let's listen to what Christ
says to some of these Pharisees. This is in John chapter 8, verse
44. He says, ye are of your father,
the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. Does it
sound like God loves them? He calls them, you're of your
father, the devil. He says the devil is their father. That's one type of person. That's
one type of people. The father is your devil, and
the lust of your father you will do. And here's the other type. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 through
6. And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. among whom also we had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are ye saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Here we have the children of
the devil and the children of God. We all walked according to the
course of this world. We all had our conversations
in the lust of our flesh, but God always loved his people.
The only reason we love him is because he first loved us. But God never loved the goats. How could he love them and send
them to hell? What does that say about his love? Does it change? Does God love everyone and then
based on your actions in this life decide you didn't make the
cut and send you to hell? Does he still love you in hell? Or does He stop loving you? So
God changes? This is completely contradictory
to the Scriptures. God cannot change. God's love
is eternal. If God loves you, He always has
and always will. And it's not dependent on anything
you do. God loves sinners because He's pleased to do so. And that's
how it is. I'm going to read scripture here. When Christ looks up to heaven,
this is the Lord's Prayer, this isn't what the world calls the
Lord's Prayer, but this is when the Lord looks up to heaven and
He prays to the Father. And He mentions previously in
this chapter when He's praying for His apostles, He says He
prays not for the world. He prays not for the world. But
this is verse 24 from John 17, Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. First thing I want to mention
is that Christ is the only one who could pray with the words,
I will, I will. The Lord Jesus Christ is here
praying for certain people, the ones the Father have given Him. If He loved everyone, would He
not pray for everyone? He never prayed for everyone
in the world, yet He loves them all? It's just not so. We come to this verse of Scripture
that's commonly related to this subject of God loving everyone
and always taken out of context, is John 3.16. And I started to write some things
on it and I was looking at some commentators and I found Henry
Mahan's comments on it and I just couldn't put it, I couldn't do
it any better than this so I'm going to read Henry Mahan's,
what he has to say about this John 3.16. Someone once said, well, let me read it first. I'm sure we're all familiar with
it, but I don't have it with me. Someone once said, verse 14,
well, let's turn to it. Let's turn to John 3.16 so we
can get a reference of it. There we go. I'm going to read 14, 15,
and 16 real quick before we start this. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Someone once said verse
14 is the remedy, verse 15 is the result, and verse 16 is the
reason. There is more in the cross of
Christ than an exhibition of the holiness of God. There is
the display of his great love. Verse 16 takes us back to the
very foundation of everything. His great salvation was provided
by love. Christ came and died because
God loved us and was determined to have a people like Christ,
not in order to make the Father love us. There is no discord among the
Godhead. The atonement was not the cause,
but the effect of God's love. In this verse, there are seven
things told about God's love. Number one, the tense of his
love, God so loved He always has loved us. It is an everlasting
love. The magnitude of his love. God
so loved. It is an infinite love. The scope
of his love. God so loved the world. His love
is not limited to the Jews only, but to all nations. The nature
of his love. God so loved that he gave. Real love ever seeks the highest
interest and well-being of its object. Love is unselfish, it
gives. God is the greatest gift. God
gave the greatest gift. The sacrificial character of
his love. He not only gave his son to live
on earth among men, but to die the death of the cross. The design
of his love, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish. God
has a people who shall not perish. No condemnation, nor judgment
shall come to them." This word, the beneficence of
his love, and I had to look that up, and I'm going to read the
definition of it quick, because I didn't know this. Beneficence
is the action that is done for the benefit of others. Beneficence,
beneficent actions can be taken to help prevent or remove harms
or simply improve the situation of others. The beneficence of
his love. But having everlasting life,
this is what our Lord imparts to his own eternal life and glory."
And that's what Henry had to say about John 3.16. I think that's wonderful. The
word world is talking about his elect, the world of his elect.
Not everyone in the world, which it's taken out of context so
much, it's just ridiculous. Lastly, I want to talk about
how the Bible is not even written to everyone in the world. It's
written to believers. Who are the epistles addressed
to? Have you ever looked at the books in the New Testament and
looked to see who they were addressed to? There's quite a few of them,
but I want to read them. Because I want you to see what
I'm talking about here. We don't have to turn because
there's several of them. The book of Romans. This is Romans
1 verse 7. To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God,
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Called to be saints. Corinthians. onto the church
of god which sat at corinth to them that are sanctified in jesus
christ called to be saints with all that in every place call
upon the name of jesus christ our lord both theirs and ours
second corinthians paul an apostle of jesus christ by the will of
god and timothy our brother onto the church of god which is at
corinth with all the saints which are at which are all in i can't
pronounce that achia Book of Galatians, Paul an Apostle, not
of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father
who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are
with me unto the churches of Galatia. Ephesians, Paul an Apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Jesus Christ. Philippians,
Paul and Timotheus, the servant of Jesus Christ, to all the saints
in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and
deacons. Colossians, to the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossus, grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thessalonians, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, unto
the church of the Thessalonians, which is in which is in God the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Second
Thessalonians, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, unto the church
of Thessalonians, in God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.
Timothy, unto Timothy, my own son in the faith, grace, mercy,
and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Second
Timothy, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Titus,
to Titus, my own son after the common faith, grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
Philemon, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, our
brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. James,
a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes
which are scattered abroad, greeting. First Peter, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Second Peter, Simon Peter, a
servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Second John, the elder unto the
elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not
I only, but also they that have known the truth. Third John,
the elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth,
and Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved
in Jesus Christ, and called." This just gives you a good...
and I never looked at every single one of them. I mean, I don't
know that I've not read it or not heard it or not paid attention
to it, but to see that These books are written to believers.
They're not written to everybody. They're written to God's people. The Bible's not even written
to everyone in the world. It's written to God's people,
to His elect. Yet He loves everybody? To say that God loves everyone
is to declare that Jesus Christ is not God Almighty. and that
he's a failure. If God loved everyone, everyone
would be saved. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people. Amen.