Greetings, friends, and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin, Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. That's a true thing what
Brother Buddy just shared with us regarding faith. Faith is a gift
of God, and it is the faith of Christ. which is a fruit of the Spirit. When you look at Galatians under
the fruit of the Spirit, and look at the list there, you will
find that faith is right there in the midst of it all. Faith,
kindness, gentleness, love, and so forth, and faith is right
there. So man does not come up with faith by some natural creature
ability. It's a supernatural gift of God. And as the Bible says, we're
saved by grace through faith. We're saved by faith. No, we're
saved by grace through faith. And that not of yourselves. What's not of yourselves? The
faith. And neither is the grace. You're
saved by grace through faith, and that grace and faith, neither
one are of yourselves, but is a gift of God in all of works,
lest any man should boast. And so it's the grace of God
that brings about faith in His elect children, and causes them,
and causes them to believe that Jesus Christ had come to seek
and save sinners of which they find themselves among that lot. And that faith is a supernatural
work of God that no man can cause another one to acquire. No preaching
can cause another one to believe. No persuasion of creature effort
can cause another one to believe on Christ. It takes a supernatural
work of God's grace to bring about saving faith in those whom
he's chosen, yea, in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the
world. Now, I'm reading from the 9th
chapter of Romans, this morning, if you have a Bible and would
like to follow me. I'm in Romans chapter 9, and
I want to begin reading at verse 13. This is quite a familiar
text. Romans is probably one of my
favorite epistles that Paul was blessed to write because it has
so much of the revelation of the sovereignty of God in its
text. From everything from God's almighty
character and attributes right down to, and he talks about those
of whom he predestinated in the latter chapters as well. That
they shall be glorified and so forth. And so Romans is a very
unique doctrinal book or epistle that Paul had written. And he
wrote it to the believers in Rome and to the brethren in Christ
Jesus. And I want to begin reading verse
13 of chapter 9, and in regarding the the chosen instruments and
the heirs of grace that God has sovereignly determined. And it
says this, As it is written, Paul writes in his treatise here
in 13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. Now some theologians and some
commentators have said that the word hated is too strong. of a word from the translation. Well, they can say what they
want to, but that's what was determined to be the proper translated
word from the Greek to the English. Now we're talking about the translation
here that I'm reading from, the King James Version of which I'm
persuaded has been preserved by God to this very day for English-speaking
people to use as their guide and roof of the Christian life
and for the revelation of the truth of God's will and work
among the children of men. This book is over 390 years old,
as far as this translation goes, from 1611 up until this very
day. Now, it says, but as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, you can take
the word hated there and put in there disliked, if that makes
you feel more comfortable. or any other word that you might
want to use that makes a drastic contradiction from one extreme
to the other. Whatever you want to try to take
and put in that text, you have to admit that there was one that
God had loved and had favor for, and one that God did not have
favor for, nor did he love him. Because, I mean, that's what
it says. For it is written, Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated, And what do we say then, question
mark? What do we say about it then?
Paul is asking a question. Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid, Paul says. He says, is it unrighteous for
God to love one and to dislike another or to hate another? Is
that unrighteous with God? No. For everything that God has
declared and has done in regarding His determined purposes in His
divine providence in time is righteous in its accomplishment. God cannot do anything but righteousness. Therefore, the question is asked,
is God unrighteous? The answer to that is no! God cannot be unrighteous, for
he is just, he is holy, he is the Almighty. He is perfect in
every aspect of his divine deity and character. And the Bible
says, so then it is not of him that willeth. Well, let me go
back up to verse 15, after we said that God forbid, God forbid
that we would say that Christ, or God the Almighty, is unrighteous. God forbid we'd ever think such
a thing. He's righteous in all that He's
doing. And the bottom line is, He's righteous in choosing one
over another. He chose Jacob. to be loved and
he had chosen Esau to be passed over with his divine love, and
it was determined that he was looked upon as one that was hated
of God, just as it is today in this time world. There are those
who God has chosen in Christ Jesus from the foundation of
the world to be his elect church, to be the adopted heirs of grace
in this time realm in which we live, to be those who are caused
to believe on the person of Jesus Christ and that they will believe
and they shall be witnesses unto that belief as they walk in newness
of life in and by the power of God Almighty in through Jesus
Christ who is in us causing us to both will and to do of his
good pleasure. Now Paul goes on to say, For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
God said to Moses, Moses, I'm going to have mercy on whom I
will have mercy. And he says, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. What God is saying
here in Paul's expression of what he told to Moses was, I
am not obligated to have mercy on all mankind, nor to have compassion
on all mankind. But I have chosen to have mercy
on some of mankind, and to have compassion on some of mankind,
as it pleases me to fulfill my divine purpose. Now that's what
the scriptures are saying to us, so listen, look at verse
16. So then it is not of him that
willeth. Okay, comma. It's not of him
that willeth. It is not of the creature, it's
not of man that wills. That's what I'm saying. It's
not of him, the creature, the human being to will, it's not
of him that willeth, look at it, nor of him that runneth,
and what Paul is saying here, it's not of the creature that
wills to be one chosen of God, are the elect of God, an adopted
heir of God. It is not of one that wills,
nor is it one that runs. What's that mean, runneth? That
means that is going after and striving to obtain the goal. Now that's what's being taught
in most churches today, and sadly to say, most Baptist churches
as well, is that if you are willing And you are running the race
to obtain the prize of salvation by works and duty and obligations,
you shall obtain it. But if you're not running the
race, and you're not being identified as those doing duty, works, and
obligations to please God, then God is displeased with you, and
you will not merit salvation nor life eternal. Now that's
a lie of the devil. It is not based upon whether
man's will or he is working to try to be pleasing to God, to
merit salvation. But it goes on to say here, but
it is of God that shows mercy. It's not of the man or woman,
boy or girl that will us, nor that run us to achieve something,
but it's of God that shows mercy. Now, I preached this last weekend.
Brother Michael and I went to Lanier County, Georgia, to the
church of my former membership, Empire Church, and we go up there
on the fourth weekend, and they have a meeting on Saturday before.
And we normally travel up there and we are normally put in the
pulpits and preach. Usually there's three of us to
preach. And then I'll go and spend a night with Brother Michael
and preach with him as God opens the door at Michael's church
on Sunday. And then I'll travel back home.
So that fourth weekend I'm in two meetings. I had been taken to some thoughts
on God's justice and God's mercy in the messages I spoke up there
on Saturday at Empire Church about that God is a just God. Okay, a just God, that means
that he must deal with things in a just manner, and he does. For every one that sinneth, the
soul that sinneth, the Bible says, shall surely die. That's justice. Okay? That's justice. And God is just
to say that the soul that sins shall surely die. He has every
right to condemn every human being to an eternal fire, a lake
of fire and brimstone in hell, and justly He is right in doing
so if He so desires. But He has chosen to redeem some
of the lot of mankind that have fell in the depravity of sin's
degradation through Adam's fall into disobedience. He has chosen
to save out of that lot of mankind throughout the generations of
time a people for his name's sake. They're called a remnant. They're called the church. They're
called the children of God. They're called the saints of
God. They're called the bride of Christ. And they are caused
to believe by faith, as we talked about earlier, that gift of God.
And so, if God was totally just, and that was the only character
that he expressed towards creatures such as we, we are all condemned
already. If I was caught speeding doing
80 miles an hour in a 50 mile an hour zone and I go before
the judge and the arresting officer or the ticket writing officer
showed proof on his radar that I was doing this speed and I
stand there totally guilty of this wrongdoing, speeding. The judge
has nothing else but to be just with me, and he is going to take,
and in a judicial manner, as the judge appointed by the people,
to cause me to pay whatever penalty that he feels is just and right
for what I've done wrong. Whether it's a $500 fine or 30
days in jail, he has the ability and just reason to do that. Now God is the same way. He is
a just God, and he can do as he pleases among whom he will,
and he's just in all his ways. In all his ways a righteous.
But look, we do not plead. for the justice of God, because
the justice of God points its guilty finger to us and says,
you are guilty of sin. For there is none righteous,
no, not one, for they've all gone out of the way, they've
all gone astray, for there's none righteous, no, not one,
they're all sinners. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not
one, the Bible says. So God in His justice has all
authority, power, and right to put us all in eternal damnation
forever and eternity. But in His mercy, and that's
what I plead for before God, and that's what I plead every
one of you here this morning that believe upon the person
of Jesus Christ. as your Redeemer, Savior, as
your Advocate and Mediator, as the only hope of salvation in
time and eternity, that you have experienced the mercy of God. For the Bible says that it is
the mercy of God that we have experienced the forgiveness of
God in and through Christ Jesus. And it is in the mercy of God
that He sent His Son to pay the ultimate price on the cross of
Calvary, suffering and bleeding in our room and standing on that
cross to pay the price that it would, listen to me, I took and
took justice and mercy and went on into pardon. with it in the
subject matter. I just want to mention this in
passing. Brothers and sisters, I don't
want to be on parole. I want to be pardoned. There's
a difference. When you're on parole, you've
got things you've got to do and rules to abide by for the length
of time that you're on it. But when you're pardoned, you're
set free. There's nothing ascribed to your account. You are free. It's written off. You've paid
your price. Buddy, it's all done. Over with and finished. I am
pardoned by the blood of Jesus. And to everyone which believeth
has been pardoned by the blood of Christ. And we stand before
God Almighty justified and pardoned by the cleansing blood of Christ
and dressed in the robes of righteousness which Christ alone can adorn
us with as we stand before the holiness of God Almighty. The
Bible goes on to say, listen to this in 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 of the earth." Paul says
to these believers in Rome, he says that God had told Pharaoh,
he says, for this same reason. Have I raised thee up, ye wicked
king of Egypt, that have kept my children of Israel in bondage
for four hundred years, and made them slaves to make bricks out
of clay and out of straw? But he says, you know, I have
taken and raised thee up as a wicked king that has been a thorn in
the side of the tribes of Israel for all these years, that I might
show forth my power. Now listen, God had taken and
raised up Pharaoh, caused him to take into captivity the 12
tribes of Israel, made them slaves under his throne-kingly power
for 400 years, and then he sent Moses back years later. Little Moses, who was found in
a basket floating down the Nile by Pharaoh's daughter, who took
him into Pharaoh's house and raised him up until he was the
prince under Pharaoh. He had all the rule and reign
of Pharaoh's Egyptian kingdom, and he killed a Hebrew. He killed
an Egyptian who was trying to inflict deadly force upon a Hebrew
slave. And because of that, he had fleed
from Egypt and was gone for some 40 years, the Bible says. until
God came to him and said to him, go and set my people free. All
this time God had raised up Pharaoh to have the children of Israel
mistreated because of their disobedience Well, that ain't the first time.
You read the Old Testament and you read in there about Assyria
and about the Babylonian captivity of the children of Israel. Children
of Israel, they went through some desolate times. I'm talking
about for many years at a time. They were treated as the off-scouring
of the earth. And you know what? The church
of Jesus Christ this day and age is looked upon as the off-scouring
of the earth. We are the poor low-life folks
here that take this book and we actually believe it. A book
that was looked upon as some kind of superstitious religion
by the minds of the intellectual today and the humanistic philosophers
of today. But I've got news for you. This
same book here that God has preserved for us has got the words in it
that are of life and life eternal. or one of God's elect, it becomes
a book that is supernatural. It is not a natural book. The
Bible says a natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit,
neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.
And for anyone to understand anything that is written in the
pages of this book and understand it with the mind, heart, and
the soul by the Spirit of God, it is a work of God's grace.
In grace alone. We are saved by God's grace through
His infinite mercy. We want mercy, not justice. We
want pardon and free and clear, and we have it in Christ Jesus
and by His precious blood. And when we experience such forgiveness
of sins, it brings a peace past understanding and a joy unspeakable.
Now, the Bible says that God That told Pharaoh, for the same
purpose I've raised ye up, that I might show my power before
thee and unto thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. You know what? I'm speaking to
you this morning that Pharaoh and God are being proclaimed
throughout all the earth. I'm down here in this little
area of Hillborough County, and I'm telling you this morning
what has been preserved in the Word of God, that Pharaoh was
still raised up by God, that God's power be made known. I'm
telling you that this morning. That same message is going out
today because it's preserved in the Word of God. And it's
part of the gospel of the salvation of God. And it goes on to say
here, look at verse 18, Therefore he have mercy. Oh, mercy, what
a sweet, what a sweet sounding trumpet in the ears of God's
people. Oh, that we would have mercy,
or he would have mercy rather, on whom he will He will hardeneth. In other words, God will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. In other words, God will have
mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy upon, and whom he hardens
their heart, he will harden them. God does this. God makes a sinner's
heart so hard that he cannot hear, nor can he see and understand
the things of God. Is it no doubt why we have loved
ones and friends and neighbors and relatives and so forth that
give no ear or no comprehension to the things of God when we
talk to them about the love of Christ? Because their hearts
are hardened. And unless God take and transplant
that hard heart with a heart of of a fleshly type that can
be massaged by the Spirit of God, of which God can take and
come by His Spirit and cause us to see and believe the truth
as it is in Jesus, we shall never understand the truth of the matter. Whom he will have mercy and whom
he hardeneth, thou wilt say then unto me, why doeth he yet find
fault? For who hath resisted his will?"
Let me tell you something. Nobody has resisted the will
of God. You say, what about What about
this message that I've heard over the years where preachers
stand and say, if you be willing, if you'll just be willing, God
will save you. Is that true? Well, in one sense it is. Because
you'll only be willing if God makes you willing. But it is
not the act of the creature's will that causes that work to
come about. For the Bible says that blessed
is the man whom thou has chosen and causes to approach unto thee. You cannot approach unto God
unless you have been chosen to do so. Bottom line. That's the
bottom line. For he says, But who has resisted
his will? We find in the book of Acts,
where we find that Luke, who was the one who penned Acts of
the Apostles, he writes in there one place, he says, for they
have resisted the Lord. And you know what? People make
a big deal about that. They say, well, what do you mean
by that? That says right there you can
resist the will of God. Man by nature, in a sinful state
of depravity, can do nothing more than resist the will of
God. As far as, you know, when it comes to salvation. He's going
to resist anything to do with God. Because his ears are deaf
and his eyes are blind to the scriptural truths of the spiritual
kingdom of God. And therefore, what else can
he do but resist? Until God breaks down the barriers
of sin's dominion and crushes the heart of a sinner and makes
him see his need for a Savior, he ain't never going to be willing
and does not want to desire to be willing and never will. For thou wilt say unto me, Why
didst thou yet find fault for who had resisted his will? Look
at 20. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Who are you that replies against
God? Who is any man, woman, boy, or
girl, that can reply against God and has the audacity to say,
God, why did you do this or do that? What man has the right
to do that? when all should be condemned
because of sin. No man has the right, listen
to what he goes on to say in 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? Listen, we're
going to talk about the potter and the clay here as Paul gets
down here in the text. Can the thing form say to it
that formed it? Why did you make me this way?
Do we have the right to say to God Almighty who created us and
caused us to come about from the from the seed and ate substance
of our mother and our father, and come forth from our mother's
womb, born into this time world as a living, breathing human
being? Do we have the right to say to him, Why doest thou, God? No, we don't. For the Bible goes
on to say in verse 21, Have not the potter power over the clay
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor? One lump of clay. Keep this in
your mind. One lump of clay. You know what clay is. The clay
comes in different manners and different substances. Some of
it is here in Florida. A lot of it is that old gray,
mucky clay. Slick as a whistle when it's
wet. But boy, when it gets dry, it's hard as a rock. That old
gray clay. And then you go up north, brother,
and you get into some of that Georgia and Alabama stuff. You
get into that more reddish clay. Then you go overseas and the
clay becomes redder and redder. Of course, they make red bricks
out of clay that's more redder yet in its color. But listen,
take a lump of clay about as big as a softball and take and
squeeze it and pull it apart as damp, soft clay. Does not
God, out of this one lump, of the creation of mankind, have
the right to take that clay, of which we are made from, from
the dust of the earth, the Bible said, and take and pull it apart,
and to take and make out of one lump of the two parts, a vessel,
what's it say? Take and make out of the same
lump, one vessel, unto honor. OK? He's going to tie it down,
round it off, and make it just like he wants it. And he's going
to set it right there. And he's going to say, that's
my bestful and to honor. And he's going to take the remaining
lump of clay, and he's going to do what he wants to with it.
And he may not even round them off smoothly. He may not even
want to fool with it much. And he may lay it over here on
the other side, and it says right here, does he not have the power
to take out of the one lump and make one vessel to honor and
the other to dishonor? Yes, he does have that right
and he has exercised that right by taking and choosing an elect
church out of the root of mankind and choosing them in Christ Jesus
to be his church and they shall believe on Christ And it's because
Christ has come to seek and to save those sinners of which God
the Father has predestined to be saved according to the word
of God, whose names have been written in the foundation of
the book of life before the foundation of the world. And God is just
in doing that, just as he can take out of one lump of clay
and make one vessel fit for honor and one vessel of dishonor. Paul's saying, doesn't God have
the right to do what He wants to do? And of course, the answer
to that, knowing that God is all-celebrant, almighty, the
answer to that is, yes, He does. And He does do what He desires
to do. For let's read on. For it says
in verse 22, What if God willing, to show His wrath, And to make
his power known, endured with much strong suffering, the vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction." In other words, if God's so willing,
he will make his power known, And by enduring with much longsuffering,
has taken and making vessels of dishonor to display his power
among the children of men throughout the ages of time. And it goes
on to say, and that he might make known the riches of his
glory on the vessels of mercy. which he hath aforeprepared unto
glory." Now let me tell you something, if you don't have underlined
in your Bible that two words, aforeprepared, you ought to. Because it is interpreted the
same as predestined. Afore means before. Prepared means he has brought
it to, he has caused it to be brought to pass. He has aforeprepared
it. He has divinely caused it to
come about. It cannot be altered or changed. God's ways are unchangeable. And then it goes on to say, whom he hath called, not of the
Jews only." Now listen, he's not just talking about natural
Israel here. And here's where some commentators
and here's where some Bible scholars get off in the deep end. They say, oh now he's talking
about, in all this text here, about the Jews. It's all about
Jews and natural Israel. Now listen to what Paul says,
even us, Many in Rome were not Jews, they were Roman Gentiles. And it says, even us, whom he
had called not of the Jews only, they're not of the Jews, they
were Gentiles, but also of the Gentiles. So we're not talking
about the God's chosen people of the 12 tribes of Israel here.
In this context, as some commentators would like to say it means, we're
talking about Jews and Gentiles. It says, as he said unto Isaiah,
which is Isaiah, I will call them my people, which were not
my people. and her beloved which was not
beloved. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. Isaiah wrote 750 years before
Christ was even born. He said, God is going to have
a people that is not his people. as far as the historical account
of the Old Testament goes. Because Israel, the 12 tribes,
were his people. But he said, I'm going to have
a people who are not people. They are those of the Gentile
world, non-Judaism, non-Israel. They're going to be, what's the
Bible say? Out of every tongue, kin, and
nation, God is going to have a people in this new covenant, God is just in doing that. Oh,
let me tell you something. It says here, that He might make
known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which
He has aforeprepared unto glory. That's my main verse I want to
focus on and conclude on. It is on the riches of His glory
on the vessels of mercy. If you are here this morning
and have a hope and belief in Jesus Christ, the only one that can redeem
you from the curse of sin and of depravity. And that He is
your hope and belief upon having your sins forgiven and having
a home in the eternals and the glories of heaven. It is because
of God's mercy that He is pleased to express to you as an individual
believer. Salvation is individually. Twelve tribes of people that
God had chosen because He loved them. And the Bible says He didn't
choose Israel as His people in the Old Testament because they
were the greatest number of people. They were the smallest group
of people. They were one of the smallest
little band of people upon the face of the earth. The Bible
says He chose them because He loved them. That's all that's
necessary. There is no reasoning why God
chose Israel on their own efforts or their own works or goodness
or any other devotion to God. They were in times past a godless
people often. He chose them because he wanted
to demonstrate his love towards the people. So it is today, the
Israel of God today, if you haven't heard anything at all, may you
hear this last little portion. The Israel today, according to
the Scriptures, is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
is not, God is focused on inner bread and spread throughout
the eight areas of the earth to where there is no Israel of
God as there once was in the Old Covenant Old Testament. But
now the Israel of God, where God has his favor and his love
appointed towards, is the Church of Jesus Christ, made up of every
every nationality, every color and race that God is pleased
to call by divine sovereign mercy and expose themselves to their
depraved nature and their wickedness before a holy God. and then be
shown the fact that Christ alone can redeem them from the curse
of sin and cause them to repent and to fall with contrition of
heart before the God of glory and weep before God in their
contrite condition and call upon Jesus Christ of whom alone can
redeem them from their sins and give them the pardon of sin and
the eternal life that which is to come. In closing, Brother Buddy said about the
dear lady who was near death, and had somebody, I guess it
was a preacher man, say, well, you need to put aside that hope
and just lay hold on the fact that Jesus is their Savior and
that you are saved and you need to stand on that rock without
it being a wavering what you might call a hope. Well, let
me tell you something. The Bible tells me in here that
we are saved by our hope. Now we're saved by Christ's blood,
okay? And we're saved by grace through
faith in that not of ourselves, okay? But we have a hope yet
to be seen and experienced beyond this moral life and beyond this
before you this morning, and beyond this mortality of which
I stand before you dressed and clothed within the flesh and
blood of mankind. Beyond this, we have a hope. And the Bible says this about
hope. It is seen. It is no longer hope. But we haven't seen heaven yet,
brother Bay. I haven't been there yet. I'm
looking forward to it according to the promises of God who cannot
lie. Therefore, I have a hope and
I'm going to carry that hope, I pray, to my last breath. before God called this mortal
frame to the graveyard. I want to say, I have a hope
in Christ for I, Him alone do I stand and do I trust for my
salvation in time and eternity. To God be the glory. Great things
He hath done and is still doing. Bless His holy name. God bless
you all. And thank you for your kind attention.
May we pray together as we conclude this portion of the service. Father God, in that blessed and
holy righteous name of thy darling son Jesus, Lord I call upon thee. I pray Lord that what I have
set forth would be the truth. Oh Lord, unwavering and standing
firm upon it because I know that Jesus Christ is that solid rock
And unless I stand upon him, oh, I shall sink, sink deep in
sinking sand. I shall never be able to recover
from such a dilemma that I find myself in as a sinner. But, oh
God, I thank you that salvation is free. It's rich and free through
the red, rich, royal blood of Jesus Christ who died upon that
cross and paid sin's ultimate debt for all Oh, I'm pardoned, I'm set free. Hallelujah, I am free indeed
from sin and this dreaded curse. Thank you, Jesus, that my sins
are forgiven me, my past and present and even future. And
that is what causes me to love thee all the more, knowing that,
Lord, what you have done is done and shall last forever. and so
to Thee be the glory. Bless us as we continue our time
together this morning is my humble prayer in Jesus' blessed name.
Amen.