make a few comments as I go along. Brethren, my heart's desire,
and that's what God deals with, and that's where we are, our
heart, the very soul of our part. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that God in His mighty mercy and grace
might save them, that they might be saved. For I bear them record,
I go on record, I know them, I know them very well, that they
have a zeal of God. They're very zealous for God.
Love to pray, standing on the streets, make broad their phylacteries. But this zeal of God is not according
to knowledge. They don't know God. They really
don't. And here's why they don't. They're
being ignorant of God's righteousness. God Almighty's righteousness.
How do you know that they're ignorant of it? Because they're
going about to establish their own righteousness. To have a
righteousness made of their own doing and have not submitted
themselves, bowed down to the righteousness of God. For Christ
is the end of the law, for righteousness, that's where God's righteousness
stands in Christ, to everyone that believes. Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the law, the one that the Jews
are after and so many people is, that the man which does those
things will have to live by. If you're going to go under the
law, have a righteousness by the law, you're going to have
to do it and do it perfectly. But the righteousness of faith
which we believe, those who believe, says this and speaks on this
wise, say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven, that
is to bring Christ down from above, what can I do to get Christ
to save me? What righteousness, what work
can I do? Faith doesn't speak like that. Christ has already come. Who
shall this faith does speak like this either? Who shall descend
into the deep? That is to bring Christ up again
from the dead. Faith is not looking for Christ
to rise again. He's already risen. But what
is this faith, the righteousness of faith that speaks? What does
it say? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy
heart. What is that? The word of faith. We preach faith. We preach Christ,
which we preach, and this is what we preach, and this is the
word of faith, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, you've got to say it, and it comes out, that's the
Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believeth under righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made under salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed, or brought to shame.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Now that's
where I'm going to start my message this morning. For who shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For how then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed our hearing, or our preaching? So then faith comes
by hearing, hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they
not heard? Yes. Verily or truly, their sound
went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of
the earth. But I say, did not Israel know? First Moses said,
I am going to provoke you to jealousy by them that are no
people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. But Isaiah
is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me
not. I was made manifest unto them that ask not after me but
to Israel he saith all day long I have stretched forth my hands
unto a disobedient and that word gang saying means denying people
and I'm gonna bring a message this morning called the universal
gospel the universal gospel And I believe I can make good
on that. And I'm going to go down through
verse 12 down to verse 21 and that's going to be my message
this morning. Universal gospel, the gospel for all. The richness
of the gospel. He says, There is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. That's the richness of the
Gospel. You know, the Gospel, in the
hands of the Holy Spirit, in the hands of the Holy Ghost of
God, is the power of God unto salvation. There's power in it,
salvation in it, and when God blesses it, salvation comes. Salvation's wrought in a person's
heart. And yet when you look at the
truth, look at the truth, as naked truth, God's Word, naked
truth, black and white, is a powerful force, just naked truth. It's a powerful force. And we
got to face it, got to reckon with it. Paul says this, he says,
you know, we are a sweet savor unto God in Christ, preaching
Christ. A sweet savor of life unto life
of them that believe. But it's also a savor of death
to those who don't. So the gospel is either a smell
of life, a sweet fragrance to you, or a savor of death. You don't smell no life in it.
You get no enjoyment out of it. You get no pleasure out of it.
You don't delight in it. And I do know this. I know this
as well as I know my name. A person can't be indifferent
towards the gospel. They can't. They just can't.
They may act like it. They may pretend to be that way.
But there's never a time when we actually hear the gospel.
Now I'm talking about the gospel, not just a message. The gospel.
That we remain unaffected. Unaffected. It affects you one
way or another. In affection. And the greatest
blessing of the gospel is that it's universal. You know what
our Lord told his disciples? He said, go into all the world,
wherever you go, and you preach the gospel. You preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized,
they'll be saved. He that believeth not, what's
going to happen to him? They shall be damned. That's what Christ said. And
I'll tell you what, what he's saying is, is to be preached
to anyone at any time. In any situation, anywhere, that
you get an opportunity to talk to somebody about it. And that's
a great encouragement to me because it says, the scripture says,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, not be brought
to shame. Not be brought to shame. That's
a great encouragement to me. But let me give you my first
point there out of verse 12. Let's look at the marvelous,
marvelous mercy of God to all. For there is no difference. In
Romans he uses that phrase pretty often. There is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call on Him. Now God makes no difference in
who you are. He doesn't. There's no difference
between the Jew and the Greek, which is a Gentile, toward a
person who's a slave or he's a free, toward someone who has
very, very concert or somebody who is absolutely ignorant. It
makes no distinction, no difference between the rich and the poor,
none whatsoever. Now we, on this earth, we make
distinctions in people. We do. We make distinctions in
people. People are, you know, we make distinctions in people's
office, people's education, people's ability, people's gifts, people's
wealth. We make distinctions in people
here. But God doesn't make any distinction. He doesn't have
respect of persons. Now what does that mean? There's
nothing, anybody, the President of the United States or the poorest
man on the face of the earth living homeless somewhere. God
makes no distinction between them two people. He makes no
difference in them. He don't respect anybody because
they're wealthy and He don't ignore anybody because they're
poor. He don't make a distinction in a person who's got four or
five degrees and somebody beloved who can't hardly write their
name. He doesn't make any, he has no respect to persons. And
we'll, I tell you this is something I look forward to, we'll leave
all distinctions Men may care when we go to glory. Christ is
all and in all. That's all we're interested in.
See, the Jew says the Gentile, he can't be saved. The poor says
the rich can't be saved. Those that are educated say the
ignorant can't be saved. But the gospel says there's no
difference. There's no difference in sin.
Is there any difference in man's nature? Any difference in sin? What's the difference between
every man that's on... You take the whole human race,
put it in a bag, turn it upside down, shake it out, and everybody's
exactly the same in nature and in sin. Ain't that right? And I'll tell you what, the gospel
sees all alike. And that's what's so precious
about the gospel. The gospel puts everyone on the
same footing. Same footing. And that's why
they're all in need of mercy. Let me show you something. You
keep Romans 10. Look over here in Matthew 19 with me. Go over here in Matthew 19. Here's
what I'm talking about. Here's a perfect illustration
that our master gave us himself. You all know the story of that
rich young ruler that came to the master and asked him what
good thing he had to do to be saved. And our Lord told him,
he says, you know, keep the commandments. He said, oh, I've got no problem
with that. I've done that. That's one of them Jews that
went about to establish his own righteousness. And so our Lord
says to him, said, well, just go selling everything you've
got and give it to the poor and follow me. And oh my, he was
sorrowful and went away because he is very, very wealthy. Then
look in verse 23. Then said Jesus unto his disciples
Verily I say unto you or truly I say unto you that a rich man
shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven He didn't say he couldn't,
he said it's hardly that he would And again I say unto you it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God Now watch what
happens here When his disciples heard it they were exceedingly
amazed They were amazed. And then they asked this, well
who in the world can then be saved? Jesus beheld them and said unto
them, with men this is impossible. Listen to the next line, but
with God all things are possible So he said over here. He said
he makes no difference He makes no difference And look what else
it says for the same Lord over all You see he's Lord Who's he
Lord over he's Lord over everybody on the face of this earth. He
was Lord when he created Adam He was Lord when He cursed Cain. He was Lord when He made the
ark and put Noah in it. He was Lord when the earth was
destroyed by a flood. He is Lord when Sodom and Gomorrah
was destroyed. He is Lord and always has been
and always will be of everybody on the face of this earth whether
they know it or not. Don't put old billboards say
Jesus Lord here. He was Lord before you ever was
born. And He'll be a Lord. You know what He'll be when we
go to glory? He'll be King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. Just like He is right now. He's
the same Lord over all. And I tell you this tells us
that we're in His hands. We're in His hands. We're in
His will. His will is paramount. His will
is paramount. We're in His hands. And if you
ever really understood that and got a hold of that, that you're
in the hands of Christ to dispose of you as His seemeth good in
His sight. And if you ever know how merciful
and how gracious and how loving and how kind and how pitiful
he is towards sinners, you know what you'd do? You'd run just
as hard as you can get to get to him. You wouldn't waste a
hair's breadth getting there. And then not only that, but he
said he's rich unto all that call upon him. Oh, he's rich. How rich do you
reckon he is? We have a few nickels down here.
You know we have a little bit of money sometimes. And some
have more than others. Talk about how rich a man is
in light of God Almighty. It's absurd. Ain't it? It's absurd. Look what he said
over here in Psalm 50. Psalm 50. You know it's a... Oh my, to talk about, man, to
talk about how wealthy he is, and oh, they got this, they got
that, but I tell you what, don't even mention wealth in the sight
of God. Don't even talk about it. You
know, listen to what he said. Verse 9, I'll take no bullock
out of your house, nor he goats out of thy foals. Why won't you,
Lord? Because every beast of the forest
is mine. And the cattle upon a thousand
hills, that's just a number to tell you that all the cattle
is His. And I know all the fowls of the
mountain. I know every bird. I know every single one of them.
And oh listen, and the wild beasts of the field are mine. All them
things you don't see at night. All them things that ramble around
all night. And listen to this, if I were
hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, oh my
goodness, he owns it all, and the fullness thereof. Oh my, so you see beloved, and
he said, well I eat the flesh of bull or goats, drink the blood
of goats, no, no, no, no. But he is rich, he is rich. What is he rich in? Well, he's
rich in power. He's rich in power. Rich in might. He's rich in knowledge. You know
how rich he is in knowledge? There's not a thing about us
or any person on the face of this earth that he don't know
everything there is to know about. Huh? He knows you better than
you know yourself. Oh, He's rich in grace. Oh, how
rich He is in grace. Full of grace. Full of truth. Rich in grace. Who's He rich
in grace toward? Sinners. Are you one of them? Both hands go up when I say that.
They'll ask these politicians, you believe in this, that, and
they'll raise their hand. Are you a sinner in need of mercy? Can you save yourself? No. Can
you help yourself? No. Who's God's Savior? Grace, given to me in Christ. That's what God's Savior is.
And I tell you what, He's rich in wisdom. And oh, He's so rich
in forgiveness, so rich in mercy. Well, who's He rich to? It says
there in verse 12, all that call upon Him. That's who He's rich
toward. Everybody calls on Him. Y'all
ever experienced any of that richness? Oh, if you called upon Him, you have.
And now look here, that's the marvelous mercy of God. And look
at the marvelous terms of the Gospel in verse 13. Unto all
that call upon Him. Now listen to this. For whosoever,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Now I want you to notice something here. He said, whosoever. He
just said, you know, it makes no difference. Now, if you put
your name in there and say, put your name in there. I've said, my name is whosoever. My name is Donnie Bell, whosoever. And you know there's lots of
Donnie Bell. I got a nephew. He's named after
me. They call him Donnie. There's another Donnie Bell here
in Cumberland County. I met him. He's a musician. But it don't say Donnie Bell.
It says whosoever. That's me. That's you. That's whosoever in this building. Whosoever hears the gospel. You
know what, the gospel is wide and as big as God himself and
yet is as narrow as God himself is. I don't know if you understand
that or not, but that's the way it is. And I tell you what, and
I tell you whosoever shall call, what are you talking about calling? Calling faith. The word of faith on this wise.
I don't have to say, oh Christ come down here and save me. He's
already come down. He's already saved a multitude
that no man can number. Who's going to bring Him up out
of the grave? He's already out of the grave. And faith says
we believe that. Call on Him in faith. Call on
Him in simplicity. Call on Him in honesty. Call
on Him continually. That's what this word, who shall
ever call upon the Lord, means. That means that once you start
calling, you just keep on calling. Who shall ever shall call. Call
and keep calling. That's what it means. This call
is continual. It's not a one-time prayer. It's not like these fellows say,
well, didn't you call on the Lord? Yes, I did. Well, then
you're saved. So they have to go back to a
certain time, but there's on an altar, some preacher told
them, didn't you call on the Lord? I did. Well, it's said
here after you call on Him that He saves you. So they have to
go back to an experience. But if you ever call on Him in
faith and honesty and simplicity, you'll call on Him all the days
of your life. That's what this is talking about
right up here. Calling and calling and calling
and calling. Once you ever call on Him, you
know when you'll stop calling? When your last breath leaves
your body. That's when you'll stop. Until
that happens, you ain't gonna stop. Unless you lose your mind. And
here's something about it. Lose your mind, but He still
knows you. Sometimes I feel like I've lost
it. I try to think of something and it just won't come. It just
won't come. And then you know later it will
come to you, you know. But my memory ain't nothing like
it used to be. But bless His holy name. I don't
have to. He remembers me. He knows one day by His sovereign
mercy I called on Him. Called on him this morning. I'm
going to call on him the rest of the day. I'm going to call
on him before the service tonight. You're going to call on him before
the service tonight. We called on him this morning.
We called on him from when we called on him. And I tell you
what, you'll call on him all your life. And then look what,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, name is given
for his character. His character. And I'll tell
you something about Him. He's not like us at all. Look
over here in Romans 11 verse 33. He's not like us. Oh my,
He's not like us. Call upon the name of the Lord. Oh the depths of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Oh, how unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who hath known
the mind of the Lord? Anybody know what God's mind
is? Whoever sat down and told God
how to do things. Whoever first give to Him and
He has to turn around and pay you back. For of him, through
him, to him, are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Amen. You know there's two men
went up to the temple to pray. Our Lord gave this parable, you
know, told us. Two men went up to the temple
to pray. One a Pharisee and one a publican. The Pharisee prayed
thus with himself. Thus with himself. He prayed
for his own benefit and those around him. And you know what
he said? He said, I thank Thee. He didn't
say God. He didn't say Father. I thank
Thee that I'm not like other men. I fast twice in the week. Pay tithes of all I have. And I'm not an extortioner. I'm
not an adulterer. And he went through a whole list
of things that he hadn't done. But there stood another man over
there. An old publican, a sinner. Now your master eats with publicans
and sinners. And I tell you what, he wouldn't
even lift his eyes up to heaven. Smote on his breast and said,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. They called on the Lord. And
the scripture says that man went down to his house justified. Justified. And I tell you, you'll
call upon the Lord as you see Him. And as you know Him, your
view of Him will determine how you call upon Him. And then let's
look here at the marvelous, marvelous method of the Gospel. Verse 14
and 15. Oh, the marvelous method of the
Gospel. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall
be saved. How then, now listen to this,
how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. It's the method of the gospel.
There are four hows here, four of them. Four hows. And you know
when you're asked how, that's a question. Well, how do you
answer that question? And there's four hows here, so
how are we going to answer those questions? And they have to be
answered. It says here, how shall they
call on Him in whom they have not believed? You see, men can't
trust Men cannot trust or have faith on an unknown Christ or
an unrevealed Christ. They can't do it. And how shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? How are you going
to believe in somebody you've never heard anything about? And
that's why you know the Lord Jesus Christ, He asked His disciples,
He said, Who do men say that I the Son of Man am? They said,
well, they say you're John the Baptist, you're Elijah, you're
Jeremiah, you're one of the prophets. He said, but who do you say I
am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Oh, how
blessed you are. flesh and blood didn't make you
see that didn't make you know that but my father which is in
heaven he revealed it to you he revealed it to you you know
now listen to what I'm going to tell you right here men must
have the correct information of Christ before they will believe
or call you got to have the right information And there's been
a lot of misinformation concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
been a lot of misinformation about Him. You know what? They
talk about His love. He loves you. They tell that
to everybody in this community. God loves you. Christ loves you. And I tell you what, not only
does he love you, but we do too. And then they tell you, oh listen,
tell everybody in discriminally, Christ died for you. He loved
you so much that he died for you. Well tell that to Cain. Tell that to the world while
they was dying in the flood. Tell that to people of Sodom
and Gomorrah that he burned down. Tell that to Esau. And then they say, oh my, he's
got power to save if you let him. Oh, that's misinformation. Misinformation. And that's why
people talk about, you know, he's become denying the power
thereof. And listen to me, if one believes
this false information, then there'll be a false trust and
a false faith and a false calling. Is that not right? You know how
many people are setting in services this morning all over the world
all over America and they're being fed false information and if you're one of God's blessed
people that God gave you the correct information that God
crossed your feet in your path with the gospel of the grace
of God in Christ Jesus you ought to bless God every day of your
life that he crossed your path Because there's a multitude of
people that he ain't. He raises up preachers. Now listen
to what I'm going to tell you here. He raises up preachers
and they give out all this false information. You know why he
does that? At least he keeps some people
restrained and moral to some degree. Huh? And I tell you,
and how shall they hear? How are they going to call on
Him? How shall they hear without a preacher? You've got to have
a preacher. You can't find anybody in the
Bible that was ever saved without hearing the preaching. Huh? Even Peter and Paul and John
and them, Christ called them. Men make little of preaching,
you know. God pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel, the apostles said. Men make little of preaching
and preachers. They make little of it, preaching
and preachers. But our Lord was a preacher. He sent all the disciples out
to preach. John the Baptist was a preacher.
Paul was a preacher. We weren't called to debate doctrine.
and argue with people. And we wasn't called to share
the gospel. You can imagine, could you imagine
Paul standing on Mars Hill and all seeing all them idols everywhere
and he says, now stand up and say, now I want to share the
gospel with you today. I want to share Jesus with you
today. No, he stood up and started preaching. Started preaching. How do you
share something? You know, we can share money,
we can share a meal, we can share a conversation. We can share
a lot of things, but one thing we can't do, we can't share the
gospel. You've got to tell it. You've
got to declare it. Listen, I've got a pie. I'll
share this pie with you. I got some money. I'll share
my money with you. But I can't share the gospel
with you. God's got to make you know that. Ain't that right? And we're called to preach Christ.
And then it says this, and how shall they preach except they
be sent? Now this is a calling. It's something
that a man never takes unto himself. It just doesn't happen. When
Isaiah, God said, who shall I send? Isaiah said, here am I, send
me. What are you going to tell them?
Well, I got something I want you to say when you get there.
All flesh is grass, and the glory of man is as a flower that fadeth
away. That's what he said, go tell
them. And I tell you what, Paul He said, please God who separated
me from my mother's womb, call me by His grace. Call me. He
said, you know that he is called to be an apostle. Called to be
a preacher. Then he says, so how beautiful
then are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. Can
you imagine how beautiful our Lord's feet were? You know? Can you imagine? If the people
that we love, their feet are beautiful. Oh my! Not the feet themselves, but
the idea of what they bring. Oh my! When our Lord Jesus would go
somewhere, they'd gather around Him. Why? Because He brought
glad tidings of good things. And I tell you, what's some glad
tidings of some good things? Well, I tell you, electing love
is glad tidings, isn't it? Oh, that's a good tiding. That's
glad tidings. Electing love. Love them with
an everlasting love. Eternal grace. Boy, that's a
good tiding. That's a glad tiding. That God
gave us grace in Christ before the world began. A suffering
Savior. Oh yes, He suffered. Oh how He
suffered. But yet at the same time in that
suffering, in that dying, our Lord Jesus Christ satisfied God
Almighty in every single way that God had to be satisfied. Fulfilled the law, satisfied
justice, made peace through the blood of His cross. I tell you it's glad tidings when
you say that His blood cleanses you from all sins. That we're
justified by Him. That our righteousness is the
very righteousness of God. It's a glad tiding and a good
thing when we talk about forgiveness and accomplish the salvation.
It's not good tidings to tell somebody, well you got these
conditions, you got to meet these conditions, you got to repent
and believe. Those are two conditions God
put on you. Well, were you going to get repentance? Were you going
to get faith? And they tell you they put these
conditions on you. And they say, if you do this,
you'll be saved. If you'll stop doing that, you'll
be saved. And they'll say, let go and let
God. Let go and let God. God wants
to save you if you'll just let go. Let go of what? Let go of what? You ain't got
nothing to hold on to. But oh, there's no glad tidings
undue to be saved. But oh, it's good news when you
say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's what that Philippian jailer,
he had the sword ready to kill himself. After God caused an
earthquake to loosen them jails and let everybody out. They thought
Paul was going to run. He walked back in there and he
says, oh, don't you do yourself no harm. We're all here. We ain't going to run. And you
know what? He took him in there and that
jailer washed those wounds of Paul and Silas, washed their
backs and washed their wounds, washed their face, washed their
feet. And then he says, sirs, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now I tell you what, if you want
to know what Paul the Apostle said, and here's a man who asked
the question, what must I do to be saved? He said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ with your house and you shall be saved. Well, I believe. Help thou my
unbelief. Alright, look at the rejection
of the gospel. I'll hurry up. But verse 16,
look what it says. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. Oh, they brought this glad tidings. They come preaching good and
beautiful things with beautiful feet. But they've not all obeyed
the gospel. They've not all listened to it.
They've not all obeyed it. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed our hearing, or hearing us? Who's believed hearing us?
Who's believed our report, our preaching? Who's believed it? Well, nobody believes it until
God gives you faith. Nobody believes it until God
brings the gospel to you. Huh? But here's where we're at. It's
not left up to me to make people obey. It's not left up to me
to give people faith. It's not up to you. We just have
to tell it like Isaiah did and leave the results to God. God
will do what He will with a person. But I know support those who
preach it and leave the believing to the Lord. You'll get His people. You'll get them. And then look
at the simplicity. of faith. Look what he says,
well there's people who didn't obey and they believe not. Well
then how in the world are you going to believe then? So then
faith comes. It comes. Where does it come? By hearing. You listening today? By hearing. Well what you hear, the Word
of God. That's what you hear, the Word
of God. Well, how in the world do I get it? Well, you've got
to listen. The Word. That's why I said the
Word of Faith is what we preach. And how does faith come? By hearing
the Word preached. Faith comes from a message heard.
Paul said, brethren, knowing your election of God. How do
you know? Because our gospel came unto
you, not just in word, though it did come in word, but it came
in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. The gospel
comes from hearing a message heard. And I tell you, when you
hear that message, God gives you ears to hear that message.
Blessed are your eyes that see and blessed are your ears that
hear. Faith comes with hearing. And then when you hear, you say,
I know, I believe. And knowing God, you know Him
through His Word. And faith responds to a message
heard. And faith responds to that. And
I tell you what, is there anything too hard for the Lord? No. Don't
know. You know, Eli believed God. When he says, you know, I'm going
to kill you two sons. He said, well, do what seemeth
good in your sight. He submitted to the message that
God gave him. And then let me quickly say this.
Look in verse 19 and 20. It's certain that some will believe
the gospel. Look what Paul says here in verse 19. But God said to Israel,
Moses said, I'm going to provoke you to jealousy. Why are you
going to make us jealous? Well, there's a people that are
no people. As far as you're concerned, they're no people at all. They're
nobodies. And a nation, a foolish nation,
nations that's that don't know God, didn't have any interest
in God. And he said, I'm going to anger you with them. And he
did, he angered them with him. And I tell you what, and then
Isaiah is very bold and said, I was found of them that sought
me not. Now, you wasn't seeking God,
but yet, He's found of them that wasn't even looking for Him.
How'd that happen? He come to where you was and
opened your heart, opened your eyes, opened your understanding.
You said, well there He is. That's Him. You weren't looking
for Him. And then look what it says. And
I was made manifest. I made myself clear and manifest
unto them that didn't even ask for me. We weren't even looking for Him.
Wasn't seeking Him. But he said, I've manifested
myself to people who wasn't even asking for me. Oh my. I tell you, the seed is sown
and some springs up and it brings forth fruit. And thank God we're
not on a fool's errand. We have a message from God concerning
His Son and He'll cause it to prosper. as it pleases Him. As to prosper as it pleases Him.
He says, my word shall go forth and it shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that to unto us. And then last
of all, let me show you this. God's wondrous mercy and longsuffering
to people. But to Israel, He says all day
long. I have stretched forth my hands
unto a disobedient and like I said that word gainsaying means a
people who deny. God said here I have stretched
out all day long. I have stretched out my arms,
stretched out my hands, stretched out my hands. All day. I can't hold my arms
up just a little while. But he said, I hold them up all
day. Outstretched. And all such patience and such
slow suffering. God ain't playing games with
men. He's not playing games with men. God, His arms stretched
out. His hands stretched out. all
day long, showing how long-serving He is, how patient He is. And He asks this question while
He's got them stretched out. You know, you see, when somebody
comes up, you ain't seen them in a long time, you put your
arms out and embrace them. You know, how many times does
your little children, when they're little, and your grandchildren
run up to you and stretch out their arms? What do they stretch
them out for? So you'll take them in your arms.
God, that's what He stretches out His hands for. He'll take
you in His arms. And He asks this question, why
will you die? God has no pressure in the day
of the wicked. And may God make us like this. Patient. Patient. willing, willing to leave our
arms outstretched, to leave our hearts open towards people that
don't know Christ. Pray for them. Stretch out our
hands to them. Stretch out our hands to them. Our Father, Thank you for your
blessed, abundant mercy given us in Christ. How we praise you
and thank you that you are a God that makes no difference, that
you're rich unto all that call upon you. We're thankful, O Lord Jesus, for that gospel
that you sent to us. Send us a preacher sent someone
like an Isaiah with a message and you blessed us to hear that
message blessed us to believe that message and Lord Jesus all
those days when we were in religion all those years that we were
lost and then we turned and found that you had your arms outstretched
for us and oh Lord when we saw those arms reaching out for us. Lord, we fled to Him. We come
to Him. And You embraced us. You took
us in those loving arms. You took us in those precious
arms. Those arms that's strong. Those arms that created this
world and all that's in it. And uphold it by Your Word of
Your power. And Lord, we thank You that You
took us in. And you embraced us and loved us. And that, Lord,
you'll never, ever, never, ever let us ever, ever be let loose
from your arms and your hands. We bless you for it. God open
hearts, open understandings, and we ask you to do it for Christ's
sake. Amen. Amen. oh how merciful how merciful
blessed lord how merciful thou art to me oh how merciful how
merciful I'll see you tonight, six o'clock.