Join me, if you would, in the
book of Acts, chapter 5, this morning. Acts, chapter 5. This
has been a tremendous passage of Scripture. And as we go through
it, we find how powerful the events that took place on the
day of Pentecost and the ripple effect from that. The word that
was brought there on the day of Pentecost and the ripple effect
as a result of that. We have witnessed two of our
brothers going up to the temple to pray And on their way, they
healed a lame man, and all the events that took place as a result
of that. And part of, we'd say, negative
side, but it turned out to be on the positive side, they were
brought before the magistrates. And those magistrates wiggled
their finger and said, don't do that anymore. But they were
pleased to preach the gospel and continue, and they thank
God for the time they had before that council. That council was
not a very kind council, but they left them with the knowledge
of the gospel. And then they go home, and they
get with their folks, and they just rejoice together that they've
been counted worthy to suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus.
And then here in chapter 5, I'd like to begin reading with verse
10, no verse 11. In chapter 5 we read about Ananias
and Sapphira. Now that passage of scripture
is there on purpose. It's just not inserted. It's
there on purpose. God intended for us to know something
about those folks that were in the church there at Jerusalem,
and that they had no interest in the gospel. They had interest
in their own self-admiring, or whatever we want to say. So they
just had that, and then the Lord dealt with that in a mighty way.
And as we've read in the Old Testament, the Lord dealt several
times in the Old Testament with those who came back with an evil
report. They came back and had no faith
in God, He consumed them instantly. Nadab and Abihu who brought strange
fire, he consumed instantly. And here, these two, Ananias
and Sapphira, they're being carried out and buried. Now notice the
result of that in verse 11, and great fear came upon all the
church and upon as many as heard these things. You know, even
this distance from that event, when you read it, you also find
that great fear comes upon us. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. There?s no problem falling
into the hands of an idol. But there is great fear falling
into the hands of the living God. And we find that in the
book of Hebrews. Would you join me over in the
book of Hebrews? We'll be right back here in the
book of Acts. But in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse
29, we read these words as, it's so often as we find as we go
through the scriptures, there's just a, additional statements
made about additional statements. So here in the book of Hebrews
chapter 10 and verse 29, of how much sore punishment, suppose
ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the
Son of God. Now this person that he?s talking
about here, he doesn?t understand the blood of the covenant. Now
most of the time we?re going to find people that say, ?I understand
the blood of the covenant,? but they really don?t and they?re their own ways betray them, and
their own words betray them. They betray themselves. You don't
have to set a trap. It won't be long. They'll betray
themselves when it comes to the grace of God. And it goes on,
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me.
I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall
judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. You know, when we look at
that, when Christ went to the cross, He fell into the hands
of the living God. He fell into the hands of His
Father on the cross, and it was there that the dire punishment
of God, the great punishment of God against sin was poured
out upon His Son, and He was like a burnt offering of the
Old Testament. He was consumed by the wrath
of God because of our sin. He became sin for us. He knew no sin, but he became
sin for us. So it was a very fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. But in verse 32,
but call to remembrance the former days in which after you were
illuminated, you endured great fight of afflictions. So as we
see here, the Lord has shared with us time and time again that
he is going to judge sin. And He judged sin at the cross,
but He will judge sin in the end. All of those that are without
Christ, He will judge. They will fall into the hands
of the living God. All right, going back to the
book of Acts chapter 5, verse 12. Acts chapter 5, verse 12. After the events of Ananias and
Sapphira, and what they saw there, and great fear came upon all
the church, and upon as many as heard these things. Can you
imagine what went through Jerusalem? The reports that the news had,
the newspapers next day came out. Let me tell you what happened
over here yesterday. Well, great fear came upon them. And then it says in verse 12,
And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought
among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's
porch. Now, that's the passage we'd
like to use for a text today, but let's read on just a little
bit. And of the rest, durst no man join himself to them, but
the people magnify them. So there were some that gathered
themselves with the apostles, those who were believers. But
the outsiders, because of how God had dealt with that situation,
I don't want to be part of that group. I don't want to join myself
to that group. Look what happens to those folks
over there. Look what happened to those who
were in unbelief over there. but that the saints were magnified
in the eyes of the people and honored God. And verse 14, and
the believers were more added to the Lord, multitudes both
of men and women. What a statement here. And then
insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and
laid them on beds and couches. You know, it tells us in the
scriptures a little later that these things happened at this
time, but these things are now ceased. They're no longer in
effect. Now, we pray for people, and
you know what? There are times God performs
a miracle. But it's not like this. It's
not at the hands of an individual. It's the hand of God that he
performs that miracle for us. It's beyond our comprehension.
We've had friends or family that were, in their last days, as
the doctor reported, and then we find out, next exam, they
can't find the cancer. They can't find the tumor. They
can't find this. Well, I'm just gonna count it
as God is merciful. Well, he goes on to tell us,
insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and
laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow
of Peter passing by there might overshadow some of them. And there came also a multitude
out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick
folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and they
were healed every one. Verse 17. Then the high priest
rose up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of
the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation. We're not gonna
go any further than that because we'd like to go back to verse
12 of this passage of scripture. And we see here that they, and
by the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders wrought
among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's
porch. Now, Nancy and I had the privilege
one time of being in Athens, and they had a place similar
to Solomon's Porch there. It had been built many hundreds
of years ago, and then rebuilt in the 1950s. And we got to walk
in there, and it was an open place with colonnades, and a
roof over it, and shaded place in the summer, and it was just
delightful to go in there. And it was large. You know, as
we read about Solomon's porch, I went to the internet because
they have a lot of information and it shared with me that Solomon's
porch was 303 yards long, and that's in cubits originally,
and 100 yards wide. That's a huge place. Three football
fields long and one football field wide, with colonnades going
down the outsides and one down the middle to support the roof.
Thousands of people could meet under that. In fact, it's estimated
that up to 50,000 people could be in Solomon's Porch at one
time. It's a huge place, and it's here where the disciples
gather, and it is here where they're preaching the gospel.
It is in this large place, not in the temple because they could
not go there, but they were outside in the area where it was easy
to preach the gospel, open air preaching. No microphones. They were preaching the gospel
to the folks in the church and the people that would gather
around and listen to them. We have that these apostles were
doing that, and an apostle means one cent. Now, many people just
believe there were 12 apostles. One of them lost his position,
and another one took his position. But do you know what? We find
that Barnabas is also called an apostle, and there's others
that are called apostles, and it really means one cent. But the most important apostle
in all the scripture is mentioned to us about the Lord Jesus in
the book of Hebrews. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession. That's the apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's in Hebrews chapter three
and verse one. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. Now,
what does that mean? Consider the one that was sent
from heaven. to save His people from their
sins. Consider Him, the One Sin, the
Apostle and High Priest of our profession. It was the High Priest
that symbolically took care of the sins of Israel, and it's
the Lord Jesus Christ who in actuality, as a High Priest,
took care of the sins of the people, His people, at the cross.
Not only is He the presenter of the sacrifice, but He is the
sacrifice. Not only is He the High Priest,
but He's also the Lamb of Sacrifice. If things go on here that's above
my pay grade, but I just look at that and say, Hallelujah!
He didn't leave anything to human intervention. He didn't let anything
be done with human sin. He took care of every facet of
that. He is the spotless Lamb, He is
the spotless High Priest, He is the spotless Prophet, He is
the spotless King, and He is the spotless Apostle and High
Priest of our profession. And that's who we're going to
find out, that these disciples continuously preached as they
brought the message of Christ to the people that came and listened. He is the Apostle and High Priest
of our profession. You know, we're going to find
out that these disciples, as they began to preach, we know
that these disciples were not attempting to put notoriety to
themselves. As they were preaching there,
they're not looking for notoriety. They may have had people, you
ought to hear that message. But it wasn't them that says,
look at the message. It wasn't them that says, look
to us. We find out earlier when the 70 came back, they began
to talk about what great things they could do. My goodness, the
Lord gave them power over demons, the Lord gave them power over
illnesses, the Lord gave them power over many things, and when
they came back, He said, Lord, you should have been there. Well,
He was. Lord, you ought to have seen
this. He saw it. And after all was said and done,
he says, don't you thank God for all of this. Thank God your
names are written down in heaven. Don't come back bragging what
you did. Come back and brag on God. And
thank God he wrote your names down in the Lamb's Book of Life
before the foundation of the world. Now, they were in Solomon's
porch, and they're doing exactly what we read about the Lord Jesus.
The only times that we find this subject of Solomon's porch is
here in the book of Acts and one passage in the book of John,
chapter 10. Would you turn there with me? This has to do with
the Lord Jesus, and it has to do with the message He brought
there, and it also has to do with those who walked away and
said, I don't want this. And you know that's been the
constant, constant, constant affliction of natural man where
they hear the good news of the gospel and they will say, I don't
want this. And you know what? Every one
of us said that at one time. And if it hadn't been for the
convincing power of the Holy Spirit, we'd say it today. but he's the one and comes and
does his great duty of revealing Christ to us, and then we say
as the disciples, as the apostles, hallelujah for Christ. All right,
here in the book of John chapter 10, we read these words, John
chapter 10 verse 22. John chapter 10 and verse 22,
we read this, and it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication,
and it was winter. So we can look that up and find
out what feast. I didn't do that. You can. And
it says, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Now, it's not that much earlier
than we find the apostles meeting there in Solomon's Porch. Now, let's just follow this down
for just a little bit. And it says here, And then came
the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost
thou make us doubt? This is in Solomon's Porch. This
is in that great place there. And they came around and surrounded
the Lord Jesus Christ and said, How long are you going to make
us doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." Well, he has
told them plainly. You know, you can't make a blind
man see the Mona Lisa. Well, she's got a smile. Well,
okay, what's it look like? Well, and you go on and on and
you just can't get the job done. Blind people can't see the Mona
Lisa and spiritually blind can't see Christ. So he goes on here
and says, Jesus answers them. I told you and you believe not
the works that I do in my father's name. They bear witness of me.
You've seen all of this. And yet you walk away and say,
he's filled with the devil. He's of his father, the devil.
He can't have anything. Oh, you know what? We remember
his mother and father, and she was pregnant before they got
married. All of this history they could
remember, all the incidents they could say, but they said, it's
not for me. Going on, but you believe not,
because what? This is in Solomon's porch. This
is right there by the temple, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
going to share the same message that the disciples are going
to share. They have the outline for the message, and that is
what Jesus Christ preached. You know what? Every time a gospel
preacher stands in a pulpit, he's doing nothing more than
preaching what Christ preached. He's preaching Christ and Him
crucified. He is the only preacher that
ever was on this earth that had the right and privilege to preach
himself. He could brag on himself, and
he did that, and the rest of us brag on him. We can't brag
on ourselves. We are fleeting flowers of the
dust. Going on, you believe? Not, because
you are not my sheep, as I said unto you. Now, I don't know about
you, but here's a whole bunch of people that are over there
saying, we want to know more information about you. And he
just says, you're not my sheep. You believe not because you're
not my sheep. And I said, what in the world? I thought I was
from Israel. I'm of the children of Abraham.
I got all the rights to be the sheep. And he says, you believe
not because you are not my sheep. And he goes on to tell them,
my sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow
me. My sheep hear my voice. Now you
don't hear me. All you can do is find fault
with everything I've done. You know how many times the Lord
Jesus Christ, on purpose, touched or healed somebody on the Sabbath
day? He didn't do it by mistake. He did it exactly on purpose. Why? So these religious people
could come over and find fault with him. You just can't see
because of the blindness. You can't see. The Lord Jesus
Christ teaches, as it goes on here in the book of John, yes,
I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. This is the message the Lord
Jesus Christ preached there in Solomon's porch this day, not
that long before our friends the apostles are gathered together
in Solomon's porch and began to be in one accord, and their
preaching was the preaching of Jesus Christ. I and my father
are one. And the Jews took up stones."
Now, you know, I thought about that. Do you think there were
buckets of stones in Solomon's porch? I don't know. But this is a nice, flat surface. Has a nice roof over it. Open air. Can you imagine when
it's 100 degrees to step in the shade under a place like this? Or it's raining and it's a pleasure
to step under the roof of that, open air, and watch it? But here,
maybe they carry bags with stones. They're just ready at any time
to take care of business. Well, the subject changes immediately.
Why don't you show us if you're the Christ or not? He said, I
have already shown you that. And then it says the Jews answered
him saying, for a good work, we stone thee not, but for blasphemy
and because that thou being a man, make us thyself God. Oh, my. We just can't have the
deity of Christ. They won't stand for it. And
the subject goes on there. Well, Jesus walked in there. He said, you believe not because
you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. Now,
let's go back to the book of Acts, if you would, into chapter
5 and verse 12. And I appreciate this thing right
here. I don't have to speak real loud.
This is for recording purposes. Can you imagine, in your mind's
eye, just imagine that those apostles in Solomon's porch have
a microphone and we get to hear what's going on. Now we don't
have their direct message here, but we know what they preached.
They're not going to preach themselves, they're going to preach Christ.
They're not gonna preach their will, they're gonna preach Christ's
will. They're not gonna preach about the goodness of man. I
was in the presence of a fellow yesterday and he said, you know,
basically, all men are good. Have you ever heard that before?
I used to think that. There are just a few. You know,
they let us know there's a few that are not good. But mostly,
basically, all men are good. Well, that is so contrary to
the scripture. Now, I'm thankful for neighbors
that are friendly. I'm thankful for neighbors that
come and visit across the fence. I'm thankful for neighbors that
do things. I am thankful, but that never
is going to purchase their redemption. I like good neighbors. I will
hope to be a good neighbor. But that's not what God is talking
about here because He tells us by nature there is none good
in the eyes of God. Now suppose that there was a
microphone attached to the apostles as they ministered to the saints
here in Solomon's porch and this is what I imagined, this is what
I hear. They speak You know, it's like
the Apostle Peter and John James and the rest of it Matthias He's
been elected as a an apostle to take Judas's place They might
start like this my dear brothers and sisters The Christ The Messiah the Lord Jesus came
down from glory to save sinners and That's our message. That's good
news. That's the gospel. Christ, the
Messiah, the Son of God, God the Son, came down from glory. And you know, we can't explain
what it is, where he came from. I mean, we read a little bit
about it, but my mind's eye can't see it. It's just so glorious
that my mind can't see it. Now, someday I'll see it. But
right now, it's just so glorious. I can't picture all, oh, I heard
all my life it was streets of gold. You know what it is? It's the
presence of Christ. That's heaven, being in the presence
of Christ, bowing before Christ, singing a new song, Worthy is
the Lamb. All right, my dear brothers and
sisters, this one came down from glory. This Messiah came down
from glory to save sinners. Now the Lord Jesus Christ mentions
this. They're just going to say the
same things that Christ preached. And you know what Christ preached?
The same things the prophets preached. The Old Testament prophets
preached the same thing. Now they may have done it with
figures and types and shadows, but they were pointing to this
one who was going to preach, and these apostles are saying,
we're going to preach the same thing he preached. Because when
he preached, he gave life to those that heard. And that's
our goal, is that God would give life to those that hear. The
same life he gave us, we pray, we pray that he will give that
same life to someone else. Now, we have nothing to do with
who gets that life, but we have everything to do with scattering
the seed of life. That's the gospel, the Lord Jesus.
All right, turn with me, if you would, to the book of Luke, chapter
5. This is what Jesus had to say
about this. In the book of Luke, chapter
5, There in verse 31, Luke chapter 5, verse 31. Jesus brought this
subject up and he says this, Luke chapter 5, verse 31. Now
there's a lot of people that the Lord dealt with in his personal
ministry and he saw and he knew everybody's heart. I just, it's
a wonder to me as Jesus walked around, he's just walking around
in a cemetery. Everywhere he looked, he saw
people dead in trespasses and sin. Everywhere he looked. He looked among his own family,
his own brothers and sisters he saw dead in trespasses and
sin. Every once in a while he saw
someone who has had life given to them by the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Every once in a while there s
someone that really is walking around. Like the apostles, he
called them out of darkness to his marvelous light. And so most
of the people are in darkness. They are, I hate to use the word
zombie, but they were walking dead, just the walking dead. All right, here in the book of
Luke chapter five, it says, Jesus answering said unto them, they
that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Now, isn't that an interesting
verse? Jesus said, if you think you're alright, and if you think
you are whole, and if you think your righteousness will make
it, I don't have anything to say to you. I only have something
to say to the sick. Now, I'm thankful that God makes
us sick. makes us see ourselves. Because without that, we'd go
through this life in our own self-righteousness with the idea
that we're going to purchase our position before God Almighty
in that great day. Verse 32, I came not to call
righteous, but sinners to repentance. So as the apostles preached,
as Jesus preached, as we find out throughout the Old Testament
and the New Testament, and today, a gospel preacher is going to
preach that we are sinners by nature, we're sinners by practice,
and we're sinners by choice, and unless God gets involved,
we're going to go to the grave as a sinner. A sinner without
hope, without peace, without righteousness. We find, if you
turn with me back to that passage of scripture Brother Mike read
in Ezekiel 34. It's in my notes, Mike, before
I met you this morning. Ezekiel 34. Go back there with
me. As we find that this is the message
throughout the scriptures, in the book of Ezekiel chapter 34,
we preach no new thing. You know, Solomon said, there's
nothing new in this world under the sun. Nothing new under the
sun. You think something came new?
Nope, nope, nope. Brother Wayne and I were visiting
over the phone the other day, and he said, you know, I've been
told that I brought a message that someone else brought. Well,
that other person got it from somebody, too. There's nothing
new in this world. The gospel has gone out and it's
going to be repeated and repeated. And if somebody, God gave the
sense to write it down in a readable form and I get to read it later
and use it as part of my message, I'm just going to do it. The
truth will always bear witness. All right. Here in the book of
Ezekiel chapter 34, verse 11, would you turn there with me?
Verse 11, for thus saith the Lord God, Now that means pay
attention. This is God speaking. Now I don't
know how many times in the book of Ezekiel alone, thus saith
the Lord. Page after page after page, chapter
after chapter, instruction after instruction, thus saith the Lord,
God of heaven speaking. God of heaven speaking to the
spirit, to the prophet Ezekiel. To write this down, he says,
behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. Well, where are they by nature?
Hiding in the brambles. looking for something else. They're
down in Lodibar. They're in a place of no pasture. They're in Nazareth. There's
just nothing good can come out of Nazareth. You know where we
come from? Is no place at all. Goes on,
as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among
his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek my sheep and will
deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered
in that cloudy and dark day. They are scattered. They are
scattered. They're sinners. They're scattered.
They have left the God of heaven. They have left the gospel. They
have scattered themselves all over the place. But this one
God who has just spoken in this passage of scripture, thus saith
the Lord God, he has every one of them marked out wherever they
are. And he has promised to bring
the gospel to them, and part of the gospel to them is ruined
by the fall. totally, totally incapable. Can
you imagine as we listen to these apostles preach on that day that
they also brought up that there is no possibility in ourselves
that we could ever come to Christ. I don't care how much the preacher
says come down the aisle. I don't care how many times he's
asked you to sign a card. I'm saying there is no way in
this world we will come to Christ on our own. Now, we may come
to religion, we may come to the baptismal font, or we may come
to the Lord's Supper, we may come to all kinds of religious
ceremonies, but we will never come to Christ on our own. It
tells us here, turn with me to the Psalms, if you would, from
Ezekiel, go over to the Psalms, Psalm 14. We've read this so
many times. Someday I might learn to quote
it, but right now I'm just gonna be safe. Psalm 14, verse 1, 2, and 3. This is what the apostles preached,
just as Christ preached it, and just as faithful gospel preachers
today preach it. It is so hard. In our natural
state, it is so hard for us to ever believe this. In fact, it's
impossible. It is impossible for us to believe
what is said here. And this, again, is God speaking.
It tells us here, because we all are pretty good on our own.
I know I have some bad traits. I saw a T-shirt yesterday. I
love Jesus, but sometimes I cuss. I'm pretty good most of the time.
I love Jesus. But we have those traits, don't
we? Well, here in Psalm 14, verse 1, the fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good. Oh, Lord, I know what you said
there, but I am the exception. I've had people tell me that.
I'm the exception. I really am really good. Well, let's just see God's commentary
on it. Verse 2, the Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men. You know, in my mind's
eye, I just see kind of like yesterday, Gene and I went over
Dalles Mountain Road. And it's been 35 years, I guess,
since I've been over there. And what you can see from up
there, wow. Look down on the river, look
down on the dam, hold your teeth together because it's a bouncy
road. But it was so beautiful, beautiful flowers, everything.
Well, can you just imagine kind of pictorially? God looked down
from heaven as I looked down from Dal's Mountain and saw what
I saw. Now, he sees our heart, so it's
much different than that. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. Well, next verse, we would hope
it would say, I saw a few. I saw a few. But the next verse
doesn't mention that. And that's not what the disciples
preached, and that's not what Christ preached, and that's not
what the Old Testament prophets preached. They didn't preach
that God saw a few. They preached God saw none. What's
the next verse say? They are all gone aside. They
are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. There is no exceptions. We can't say I'm the exception
because there is no exceptions. In the book of Romans chapter
9, would you turn over there with me? Man is totally unable
to get himself out of the mess. Sin has killed and brought death,
and no one will seek help from that right source on their own. We will go to sources, but they're
not the right source. We will go to things. We will
make confessions. We will agree, but we'll never
have that unless the Lord deals with us. What a sad state we
find ourselves in and the world's in. None are exempt. We must have Christ. In Romans chapter 9, we read
this, Romans chapter 9, as we find out that if anybody is going
to be saved, there must be some intervention on our part from
heaven. There's got to be intervention.
The preacher can't intervene. He can mention one who does intervene
for us, but he can't intervene. I can't get anybody to get anywhere.
You can't either. You just can't move anybody.
We're stalwart in that. In the book of Romans 9, verse
11, as we find out that God must
intervene. He?s got to take the initiative,
and He will take the initiative with all His lost sheep. He will
take the initiative, and we thank God, just as the disciples, the
apostles, thank God for Him taking the initiative in their life.
Because if left to ourselves, we will never turn aside to God. There's nobody that seeks after
God on their own. So here in the book of Romans
chapter 9, it says, you know, as we think about it,
when God chose Abraham, where did he find him? Abraham wasn't in some church
somewhere saying, Hallelujah, Jesus. He was Ur of the Chaldees
and worshipped other gods, idols. He was an idolatrous man when
God came down to him and called him out of Ur of the Chaldees.
Now, he would have been happy staying there where he was. From
a very physical standpoint, he would have been happy his entire
life and died and met God without help and without hope and without
God in this world. But God intervened in his life,
came down, and called him out of that place. And you know what?
We don't have to go very far and find out where was Jacob. We're going to read a little
bit about him. Where's Jacob when God came down? Jacob was a scoundrel. He was a rascal. He was one of
those guys that had no interest in God whatsoever. He was interested
in making a profit. He was interested in finagling
an inheritance out of his brother. He was interested in lying to
his own dad. And God came down and called
him out of that place. And you know, where was Judah? Judah was not a very, well, we
look at him and say, boy, he went down to town and he did
some bad things while he was down there. And yet God called
him out. And through that line comes our
Savior, the Lord Jesus. In the book of Romans chapter
nine and verse 11, it says, 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. Now don't get too upset about
the word election because that's our hope. Christ is our hope, but he elected
a people to give that hope to. Without this, without him intervening
in us and intervening in our lives and wrecking our plans. You know, that's what he did
with Saul of Tarsus. He wrecked his plans. Saul of Tarsus was
headed down to Damascus and God intervened and wrecked his plans.
He got him off that horse and down on his knees and showed
him the light of the gospel. And Saul of Tarsus, first thing
out of his mouth, he says, Lord. And he was never, ever the same. First thing he does is preaches
Christ. there in Damascus. Verse 12,
it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, for
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
I like what Charles Spurgeon said. I can understand completely
why he hated Esau. No blood was going to be shed
for him. But I can't understand at all how he could love Jacob. The same way he loved Jacob is
how he loves every one of his children with an eternal, everlasting
love that was fulfilled in the covenant of promise, the covenant
of grace in the coming of the Messiah to lay down his life,
a ransom for many. In verse 15, it says, for he
said unto Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Who's
that? It's above my pay grade, but
I'm certainly gonna preach it. I will preach what the scriptures
have to say. He says, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy,
and I'll 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. 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. You know, it's interesting
when it says that about Pharaoh. Almost identical words are brought
out in Romans chapter one about the resurrection of Christ. That
he might show power of God in the resurrection of Christ. He's
the son of God by the resurrection. In verse 18, therefore hath he
mercy on whom he'll have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth.
Do you understand that? You don't have to believe it.
It's above our pay grade. Why did God do what he did? Because
he's God. I mentioned the other day, Brother
Gary Shepherd said, someone said, I don't believe in election.
Well, that's too late. It's already happened. Council Halls of Eternity,
it took place. So whether you agree with it
or not, it doesn't matter, it's already happened. And then in
verse 19, thou wilt say unto, then unto me, who hath he yet,
who, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing form, say to
him 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
unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 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,
that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy which he hath aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath
called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. And so there is a statement about
us. We are totally without ability. to ever rise above the edge of
the glass that we're in. We cannot raise ourselves from
the spiritual grave. Out of all the idolatrous people
that were in Ur of the Chaldees, God came to one. Just being related was not enough. God must interfere in lives or
none would come at the call of the gospel. He must interfere. And after the Lord gives us his
salvation, we say, thank you for interfering on the wreck
I was in. Thank you. Well, we're going
to stop there and we'll pick this up, the Lord willing, next
time. We'll come back here to the book
of Acts chapter 5.