I've heard two different fellows
preach from this text in the last month or so. One I heard
on tape as I was doing some work around the house, and I just
thought, that's just the best preaching I've ever heard. I called him up to tell him so,
John Chapman. Called him up at work. Had to
call him to tell him how much I appreciated it. And then I
heard Brother Joe Terrell preach from this text in Kentucky just
a week or so ago, and I thought, that's just the best preaching
I've ever heard. My wife said the same thing.
And it blessed me so much, I thought, well, it's just time to preach
this. Maybe our folks will get the blessing too. I tell you
what, for those who love and worship the God of the Bible,
The true and living God, the God of the Bible, God who is
God. For those who know and love and
worship this God, you love Romans 9. They love it. For those who do not know the
Lord and want to know the Lord, or those who are seeking the
Lord, this chapter will tell you a whole lot about the God
of the Bible. This chapter. For those who don't,
sadly, for those who do not believe in this God, God of the Bible,
this chapter angers them. It makes them mad. It proves it's a savor of life
to some and death to others, doesn't it? What makes some just
shouting glad makes others shouting mad. and just read it. Don't have to comment on it at
all. I did that one time. I just read it to a family and
said, I don't believe that. They said, what? I just read
you God's Word. Yeah, but he doesn't say that.
Well, wait a minute. I just read it. My pastor's smart, isn't he,
in telling people, you got a Bible there? Open your Bible and have
them read it. Now, read that to me. What does it say there?
Have them read their Bible. They always say that. No, it
doesn't say that in my Bible. Well, you read your Bible. Let's see what it says. This
is going to tell us about God's will and God's purpose. This
chapter. God's will and God's purpose.
Let's dive right in. Verse 1, Paul said, I say the
truth in Christ. What he's saying is the truth. He said, I'm going to tell you
the truth. Now, all preachers say that, don't
they? They all say that. They're sure
not going to stand up and say, I'm going to lie to you now.
They're going to say, I'm telling you the truth. Well, how do you
know? Look at it. He says, I say the
truth in Christ. In other words, Jeanette, the
truth has something to do with Christ. A man's going to preach
the truth, John. It's going to be something about
Christ. As a matter of fact, it's going
to be all about Christ. Because Christ is all, and Christ
said, I am the truth. It's going to be something, it's
going to have something to do, it's going to have everything
to do with Christ. Everything he says has everything
to do with Christ. The gospel concerning God's Son,
declared to be the Son of God with power, and that's Romans
1. How much is Romans 9? Okay, let me stick to the text. Well, it's the truth in Christ.
How do you know the truth? It has something to do with Christ.
A man's going to preach Christ. How do you know a man's telling
the truth? He's going to preach Christ, and it's going to be
something to do with God's glory. What he says is going to give
God all the glory. That's how you can know the truth
from a lie. You know it? You take two doctrines.
Take two doctrines. Over here the Methodists are
saying one thing, over here the Episcopalians are saying one
thing. No, let me use a better example than that. They're saying
the same thing. But over here you've got a Methodist
or whatever, and over here you've got a true gospel preacher. Or it could be a Baptist over
here. He's saying one thing, he's saying another. He's saying
God loves everybody. He's saying God loves his people,
elect people. He's saying Christ died for everybody.
He's saying Christ died only for the elect. He's saying that
the Holy Spirit wants to and can. He's saying the Holy Spirit
does exactly what he intends, what God says he'll do. He's
saying you can be lost one day. He's saying you can't ever be
lost. How do you know the truth? Well, if you read the Bible for
one thing, but if you just Whichever one gives God all the glory,
all of it. How does God get the most glory? Loving everybody and somebody
going to hell, or loving a particular people, there ain't no way they're
going to hell. Which one gives God the glory? Which one gives God all the glory?
God wanting to and can't, or God doing exactly what he says
he's going to do, gives God all the glory. And on and on you could go with
that. You know the truth of a doctrine by how much glory it gives to
God. If God gets all the glory, A-double-L-all,
that's the truth. He says, I say the truth in Christ. My conscience also bearing me
witness. And over in 2 Corinthians, he
said this. Let me just read it to you. 2
Corinthians 4. He says, we've renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty. You can turn if you want to.
It's 2 Corinthians 4. It's fine. Verse 2. Did you? No. Well, I'll read
it then. He says, and that's what I don't want you to do,
take my word for it. People are taking men's word
for it, aren't they? You take God's word for it, don't
we, Stan? He says, We have renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully. I'm not trying to make this book
say what it doesn't say. Not trying to make him not say
what it does say, not taking away from it or adding to it,
not twisting it, corrupting it. Peter said, they that are unlearned
and unstable do wrest the scriptures, twist it, make it say what it
does not say. He said in verse four, of 2 Corinthians
four, he said, or verse two, he said, by manifestation of
the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience and
sight of God." In other words, what he's saying is, I want everybody
here to get a Bible and be like the people of Berea and search
the Scriptures and see if what this preacher is saying is so.
Don't take his word for it, because he's got reverend in front of
his name. He ought to be suspicious immediately. If he doesn't have a Bible, and
he's not opening it up, and you're not going verse by verse, don't
listen to him at all. So this is what you say, with
my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. Commending
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of the Lord. What's
that mean? Just hoping you think I'm a good guy? No. hoping you'll
know and see that I'm true to this word. This is what this
book is saying. Search it. Go home. Somebody
said, I just don't know about that. I'm going to get my Bible
and see. Good. Go now. Stop the service early
so you can go home and read for yourself. my conscience bear me witness."
Verse 2 and 3, I have great heaviness and tenual sorrow in my heart.
I could wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to flesh, my family, my friends, my neighbors, Israelites. And Paul was a man who did not
bend. to anybody, didn't bow and scrape
to anybody. He said, if I yet to seek to
please men, I'm not the servant of Christ. He said, do I try
to convince men or persuade men or God, he said. Who am I answering
to, men? Who am I working for, he said. If I seek to please men, he said,
I'm not the servant of Christ. He wasn't a man-pleaser, was
he? And he wouldn't bow and bend, though his life depended upon
it. They said, now if you just quit preaching this way, he said,
I can't. This is the truth. And they stoned
him until he was dead. He died. And he stood right back
up and went in the temple and preached it again. Would you
preach the truth if they got some big rocks? And said, we're
going to bash your brains out. Don't say that again. He said,
I can't help it. God's God. whether anybody believes
it or not. This is the gospel. I don't care
what the world is saying. Paul said, this is the gospel.
And if an angel preached any other gospel, let him go to hell
with them. See, this was a man who stood
firm, dogmatic. He said, you're too narrow. Paul
said, I'm just as narrow as you can get. I'm going to be as narrow
as this Word says. Christ said, straight as the
gate is, narrow as the way. A true preacher is narrow-minded. What's that mean? It's Christ
and Christ alone, not this and that way. But Paul had compassion. Paul
had what I longed for. He was able to deal with people
with wisdom and compassion and kindness and tenderness. and
not get mad at him and call him a dummy for believing an error. Fella yesterday, poor fella,
I like this guy. He's so nice, isn't he, Mindy?
I really like this fella. He is, he's a sweet fella, but
he's so ignorant. And he's religious, you know,
they know I'm a preacher and everybody's got to let the preacher
know how religious they are. And he told me he teaches youth
time at his church, you know, sometimes. He said, I've got
an idea for the next time I teach my youth time. I said, oh, what
is it? Just cringing, oh my, what is
it? He said, I'm going to tell them
about all the different ways to get to God. He said the Methodists believe
it and the Baptists believe this. There's many ways, but they're
all going to get to God. I said, no, no, no, no, no. That's exactly what I said to
him. No, no, no, no, no. I said, read your Bible. Our
Lord said in John 14, 6, I am the way. The Lord said, and this
is about the way I said it, and I wish I could have said it a
little more tenderly. Paul said in Ephesians 4, there's
one Lord, one way, one faith. Not many faiths, just one faith. And we talked about it a little
while. What Paul could have done did do such a much better, so
much better job at it. You know, he just gave compassion
and kind. We need this, people. Instead of coming across as,
you ignoramus, you fool. No, this was us. One issue that
was you. Believe in what you believe in,
thinking it's the truth, when all along it's an absolute lie. And you married a man that was
kind and tender and compassionate, didn't you? Well, that's what we need, and
Paul was that way. Verse 4, and he says the Israelites,
he said, my kinsmen, they're to whom pertain the adoption,
the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service
of God, the promise, whose are the fathers, of whom concerning
the flesh Christ came, who is over all God, blessed forever." He said the Israelites had every
advantage, everything, all these blessings. And let me apply this
in modern, in our day. I hope I have some compassion
on the Baptists and the Methodists and the Ites of my day. Not Israelites, but whoever. Mormonites. You know, this country was formed
and preserved by God just like Israel of old. It has been. It has been up other
countries haven't been people other countries are languishing
in just darkness total darkness don't think. But the United States
of America Lord has put profit after profit preacher after preacher
in this land and like Israel to whom is the glory. Oh, Ralph Barnard swept the south,
and others have swept the west. Oh, up, down, north, east, south,
and west. Gospel preachers, great men,
whom the world is not worried, and women, their wives. The gospel
has gone throughout the land, hasn't it? Paul said the Israelites, they
just don't believe them. And people, America is not one
nation under God. I know what they say. I know
what the money says. But that right there is their
God. It's obvious. You look and see how many more
people are out than worshiping God. Is this
nation under God? Love God? Worship God? Very few
people. Our Lord, when he came, he said
of the Israelites, he said, This people draweth near to me with
their lips. Their heart is far from me. And
it could be said of America. There are lots of religious people.
He said, They draw near to me with their lips. Their heart
is far from me. Everybody's religious. But it's
obvious when you talk to them that Christ is not their life. That fellow I talked to yesterday,
bet you a dollar and a half and a cow and a calf, he's not in
the worship service this morning. He's working on his boat. Well, but boy, I wish he, I wish
the Lord But verse six says, it's not as though the word of
God has taken no effect. Look at it, verse six. Not as
though the word of God has taken no effect. They're not all Israel
which are of Israel, neither because they're the seed of Abraham
are they all children. Verse eight, verse eight, that
is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the
children of God. All men and women are not God's
children. Isn't that what your Bible says?
Romans 9, verse 8. Isn't that what they said? Does
it? Doesn't it say, they which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God? If you look back to Romans 8,
it talks about some carnal and some spiritual. We currently
mind his death to be spiritually minded, life and faith. So you've
got some people are of the flesh and some people are of the spirit.
And those are the flesh. And John calls them the world.
They are of the world, therefore. They hear it, the parish with
their of the flesh. Christ said, you're of your father,
the devil. God of this world, and then they're God's people.
His children. Is that clear? That clear, John? Sure it is. That's what his words
say. And I can take you to several
places, but for lack of time, for lack of time, you can read
it on your own. I think it's Isaiah 60. I just
looked at it this morning. I'll look it up real fast again.
Isaiah 65. You can read all that chapter. talking about his people, his
children. And he says here, they are not
all the children of God who are children of the flesh, but the
children, look at it, verse 8, look at it, the children of the
promise are counted for the seed. What seed? The seed of God, the
seed of Christ, God's people. They're counted for the seed,
they're God's people, children of promise. And now he's going
to allude to or make this illustration of God choosing Abraham and then
right down the line. All right? What we're going to
talk about here is God's sovereign purpose, God's sovereign election
of people, God's sovereign love of particular people at the exclusion
of some others. That's what he's going to talk
about. plain as black and white, right here. Verse 9, at this
time, and he's talking about Abraham, will I come and Sarah
shall have a son. Sarah. Now what about Hagar's boy? Abraham had a son by Hagar, named
Israel. What about him? What about him? What did God say to do with him?
What got to do with. Testament. He's not your son
and he's not mine. I have a son picked out for you. And Sarah is the one going to
give birth to him. And that's Isaac. He's the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A particular people. Fine. Fine. All right, read on. Not only this, verse ten, but
when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even Isaac. Now he's,
he's narrowing this thing down. He said, now I have chosen Isaac. Not issue. Cast him out. Son
of the bondwoman cast him out. It's a picture of the law and
grace. It's another story. Rebecca has two children. Now,
you can't get any more sovereign than this. Two boys from the
same womb, same father, same mother. Maybe identical twins
in many respects. Maybe not in looks, but they
were twins nonetheless. Two boys, same mother, same daddy. All right? Jacob and Esau. Let's hear what he says here.
Verse 11. The children being not yet born. Now God said this to Rebekah
and Isaac before they were born. Neither having done any good
or evil. We're going to talk about election
before they were born, aren't we? Read on. That the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works. See, they hadn't done
anything good or evil to cause God to love one or reject
the other or choose one and not choose the other. But of him
that calleth, or him that says, You're mine, calls. It was said
unto her, The elder Esau shall serve the younger, as it is written
in Malachi 1, and it's written just like this. Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. And it doesn't mean love less.
These perverts, these preachers, they say that. They say this
means that he loved Esau less. Man, Malachi 1, if you read the
rest of that, it'll tell you just how less that love is. Lay
him waste for the dragons. By the way, God doesn't love
anybody less. It'd make an imperfect love,
wouldn't it? God can't love but one way. Perfect. Well, he said this, didn't he? He said this. He said this. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand. Purpose. Purpose! I've lost some of you. And you'll be lost if you don't
know the meaning of that word. My pastor, a man who's been preaching
forty-some years, said a man got up one day and screamed at
the top of his lungs, Purpose! It's working. You're listening
now. He said to my pastor when he
was a young man, he said, you learned the meaning of that Boy,
you'll learn something with the God of the Bible. Purpose! God
does all things on purpose. You'll know the true God, not
what men say. You'll know the true Christ,
not what men say. You'll know the true way of salvation,
not what they're saying. Purpose. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand. It will. It will, he said in
II Timothy 2, the foundation of God standeth sure. Having
this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his." The foundation standeth sure,
Joe. Well, how firm a foundation.
He's saints of the Lord. He's laid for your faith. What's
that? in his excellent work." What
more can he say? It stands sure according to election,
the purpose of God according to election. Purpose, purpose,
purpose, purpose, purpose. Election is God choosing people
on purpose, for a purpose. Barnard, once again, let me use
him. That old fellow had some wisdom. He was about my age when
everybody thought he was old. about my age when he preached
that message to my pastor. And they thought he was an old,
wise man. Well, he was. He said to a woman
one day, he said, Are you saved? She said, I don't understand
election, Brother Barnard. He said, Are you saved? She said,
Well, yes. He said, Well, who saved you? Did you save yourself or did
God save you? She said, Well, God saved me. Well, he said, did he do it on
purpose or was it an accident? He said, well, I guess it's on
purpose. And that's election. God saving people on purpose. On purpose. Acts 15, 18 says
this, and you can write that down. Acts 15, 18, it says, "...known
unto God are all his works from the beginning." Ephesians 1,
4 says, "...according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world." 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, that's the one I
want, that's the one I get, that's the one Christ will go die for,
that's the one who'll be saved, that's the one who'll give me
glory for it, that's the one I'll stand with, that's the one that'll be mine,
mine or thine, thine or mine, That one. You see, purpose. Purpose. If you see purpose in this scripture,
you'll see clearly. If you see that God has to do
everything on purpose, else everything would be chaotic. Wouldn't it? It'd be chaotic if everything's
just running wild and God's hoping, hoping, hoping. It's just going
to explode. It's not going to come together. It's like, you know, the word
of God are like glasses. It says we see through a glass
dimly. The word of God are like eyeglasses.
It's like eyeglasses. I take these glasses off right
now, everything's a blur. Everything's cloudy. I don't
see so clearly. Everything looks jumbled. All
your faces don't... I don't see any particular people
here. But when I put my glasses on,
it clears up the picture. It clears up the picture. The
future doesn't look cloudy. And if you were to read this
word and you see God has a purpose and God is ordering it in all
things, then it's sure and it's going to work it out, out the
purpose. You read the last chapter, you don't have any trouble with
all in between. You turn the tapestry over and
you see the picture, the face of Jesus Christ. And you'll see why all that looks
a jumble over here, but you'll see it's all working together
to sell a picture. I don't understand. Turn it over.
Purpose. Purpose. The great master weaver
is weaving it all intricately. Well, how can this, how can that
thread over there and this thread over here come together? Turn it over. I see. Purpose! Purpose. God does all things
on purpose. Purpose. Forgive me. That's all I'll yell from here
on out, unless you fall asleep again. All right, read on. He
said in verse 13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Now listen, listen carefully. He said, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated." God chose one of these boys to love Him,
to save Him, to exalt Him. Jacob. Didn't He? That's what He said. Why did
He do that? Number one, He's God. And you really don't need a number
two. And this is what Paul's going
to say here in a minute. Why, how could he? He's God. But look,
he's God. See, and the fear of the Lord's
the beginning of... Not fair. Not right. That's not right. That's not
fair. Every man deserves a chance. Salvation ain't by chance. It
ain't by accident. It ain't chance and accident.
Salvation not by chance. Not rolling the dice. Chance. Not being lucky. It's being chosen. That's what it is. Why are you preaching this, preacher?
God gets all the glory. That's why this gives God A-double-L
the glory. They don't need any other reason
to preach it. You're going to see in a minute, this is all
my hope. And if he hadn't chosen me, I'd be running the roads
right now. Running the roads, hell-bent. Hell-bent. And maybe being around
a tree and facing a holy God and him saying to me, I never
knew you, I never chose you, get him out of here. But sovereign
mercy, sovereign election said, stop that boy. He's mine. Do I need a better
reason than that for preaching this? I'm one of these Jacobs. Do you hear that, you son of
Jacob? Jacob Davis, did you hear that? Jacob, have I not? Well, wait a minute, Doug. Wait
a minute. He said, I'll have mercy, verse
15. He said to Moses in Exodus 33,
and I do advise you to write that down, Exodus 33, and read
it for yourself. He said in Exodus 33, verse 19,
I will have mercy. Now that's, we could just stop
right there. Oh, that's good news. You know,
if men understood the word mercy, they'd never have trouble with
sovereign. If men just understood what mercy
means. Amy, the word mercy means not
getting what you deserve. Esau got what he deserved. Didn't he? He sold his birthright. He wasn't interested in God.
God gave him what he deserved. But Jacob didn't get. Jacob deserved
the same thing, didn't he? Jacob. Was Jacob better? Well,
God chose Jacob because he's a better boy. He was worse, wasn't
he? He was worse. If we'd have chosen,
we'd have had the two boys standing here, Jacob and Esau. We'd have,
everybody in here would have chosen Esau. Like Brother Joe
said, Esau was a strong man, a man's man, a hunter, an outdoorsman,
and just a good-looking, fine fellow, just obedient to his
father and running out to get his due for his dad. He says, Jacob dwelled in tents.
That's all he said. Was he a lazy, no-good-for-nothing
boy, Stan? That's what it appears to say.
He dwelled in tents. Mama's boy. Sniveling little
coward. That's what he appeared to be
one later on. You poor pity. We'd have chosen Esau. Or which are you? All right,
Jacob. You see, if they both would have
gotten what they deserved, they both would have been hated by
God and condemned by God. But he said, I'm going to show
one of them mercy. Mercy. I'm not going to give
Jacob what he deserves. And then he went on to say, and
I will have compassion. It says in Exodus 33, gracious. I will be gracious. have grace to whom I will have
grace. It doesn't say offer it, Stan.
It doesn't say offer it. It says, I will be to sovereign grace. Not only did
he spare Jacob, but he gave him everything, blessed him. Jacob kept sinning. God kept
blessing him. Sin abounded. Grace did much
more Sin brought him low. God taunted
him, called him Israel. Jacob? Jacob? Jacob. A prince with God. A son of God. Behold what manner
of love the Father bestowed upon Jacob that we should be called
sons of God. His name didn't stand. You can't get used to that, can
you, Stan? You don't call yourself that. What's your name? St. Stanley. I'm a Christian. Do you? What's your name? Jacob
Sinner. Right? Jacob didn't run around
saying, I'm Israel, I'm Israel. He knew better. God said, on
whom I will. Isn't that what it said, verse
15? He didn't say, I'll have mercy on whomever will accept
me. It doesn't say, I will have compassion on whomever will choose
me as their personal Savior. It doesn't say, I will be gracious,
I will save, I will elect all those that elect me. Does it
say that? Does it say that? It does not
say that. So then, verse 16, it is not
of him that willeth. Boy, if I was a freewill preacher,
and if I had it on the top of my building, freewill, man, I'd
be telling the deacons after I read it, run out there quick
before somebody sees it. Chop that down. Grind it to powder. Throw it on the baptismal water.
Let's all drink it! God's will will be done, not
our will! Nahashta! Nahashta! Now, I ain't
speaking in tongues. That's what he said about that
piece of brass they were worshiping. Remember that? Hezekiah, was
it? Nahashta! Don't worship that. It's a piece of brass. Don't
worship free will. It's an idol that will damn you. Worship God. His will be done. Not of him that runneth, or that
means worketh, or doeth, or serveth. It's not. Let up God that showeth
mercy. Read on. There's more. Verse
seventeen and eighteen. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, I raised you up for this purpose. Purpose. There
it is again. Purpose. that I might show my
power in thee, and my name might be declared throughout all the
earth." He raised Pharaoh up to dump him in the Red Sea. He used that old boy, didn't
he? Isn't that what Romans 9 verse
17 says? Read on verse 18, Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will, and have mercy on whom he will he
hardeneth. I wish I had time to dwell on that, but I don't.
You can read 2 Thessalonians 2 for yourself in regards to
that. Verse 19, so here's the argument. Everybody always raises this
argument. God's people don't. They don't
argue But everybody in the world says that they say they will
then. Verse 19. If he elected the people. If his will will be done. Nothing
can be done about it. Why does he yet find fault? He
made me this way. He elected me or he didn't elect
me. Who can resist his will? Now we said in verse 19. That what he asked John that
way your Bible read. I wish I had one of you stand
up and read your Bible. God raises up, uses them, cast
down, hardens them, and people say, then verse twenty. Listen to
how Paul answered this argument. He didn't philosophize. He didn't
say, well, you know, this goes all the psychoanalysis of Listen
to what he says, verse 20, "'Nay, but O man, who art thou that
replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?' What Paul
is saying here is, you have no right at all to even
argue or ask God any such question. He's God. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? Why? Because he's right. You see, everything God does
is right. There's not a law here and God
says, well, I've got to meet it. Everything God does is law,
is right. He doesn't answer to a standard
of righteousness. He is right. he will do right
everything he does is right and he says John he says to us. I
say that why should we do it because I said so. He doesn't
have to explain that does he do that but but but but what
was I said so. OK. OK. Can you imagine an ant in my
yard can you imagine an ant in my yard. Do y'all need ants? There are ants in my yard. I
got to get rid of some of them. I got to get, I got to, I got
to wipe them out. I don't need ants. God doesn't
need people. He just does not need human beings.
I don't know where men came up with that. And we sure need him. And that's
the reason he shows mercy. And anyway, can you imagine an
ant in my yard one day, me walking through the yard, doing something,
and he said, You can't do this. That wasn't you. Who do you think
you are? Can you imagine that? Don't cut this grass. I like
it the way it is. Hey, you! He said. What would you do, Stan? You
said, just say that. What would you do? Oh, poor little
fellow. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to violate
your free will. This is your yard, too. I'm sorry. Can I not do with my own what I will?
It's my yard. It's not your yard. Didn't God
say, I made man. I'll do with him what I want
to do. See, this is hard sayings. That's
what they said to him. Isn't that what they said, Stan?
Peter said, he said, Paul wrote some hard things, and they that
are unlearned and unstable do rest. There's some people in Christ's
priesthood that said, these are hard sayings, and they won't,
they said, we're not going to, we won't have this, and Christ
turned to his people. and said, will you also go away? What shall we say then to these
things? John, Romans 8, 31. What shall
we say? What do you say, John, to these
things? That God's God, He chooses whom He will. Sovereign mercy.
What do you say? You say, if God be for me, who
can be against me? You say, sovereign mercy is my
salvation. Don't you? What makes them mad
makes you eternally glad. They say, I hate Romans 9. You
say, preach it one more time, preacher. One more time, louder. I didn't hear you the first time.
That's my God. That's the God of the Bible.
That gives God all the glory. Christ died for his people, and
he saved every one of them. Not one drop of his blood was
shed in vain. That gives Christ all the glory. That makes his blood just precious
stuff, doesn't it? Precious substance. Well, he's going to cut it short.
Cut it short, and in righteousness, verse 28, the Lord will make
a short work upon the And I wish we had time. We talked
about Hosea. You remember that? Hosea had
two boys. He named them this. They weren't
his by his wife, but some other. He adopted them later on. And
one of them was called, one of them was called, this is what
he named them, these worthless, no good. He said, he named one
of them not mine, and the other one not loved. And Joseph said, can you imagine
calling me, come here not mine, come here not loved. And Hosea
didn't want anything to do with them. Finally after a while he
said, they're going to be called, they that were not mine are going
to be called mine. They're the unlovely are going
to be called loved. Why? Sovereign mercy. Why? He just chose to do so. He pleased
him to do so. What shall we say this time?
He's God. He's God. What do we say to Romans
9? What's your reaction to Romans 9? What's your reaction to sovereign
mercy, sovereign election? He's God. He's the potter. I'm the clay. This is his planet. He knows what he's doing. He's
too wise to err, too good to do wrong. And I'll see it in
the end. When it's all said and done,
I'll see it. I'll see it very clearly. It'll be a clear picture
then. And I'll be praising his purpose
and including me in it. All right. Brother Joe, do you
have a hymn picked out?