Thank you, Jim. Well, good morning. Today, I hope to share a message
with you that you will find very important. I found it important
as I was studying and going through scripture, and I'll be real honest
with you. I get extremely nervous whenever
I get up here, but there's a reason for that. This is such an important
message, and I know that, and I want to be clear. and what
I say, and I just hope that you will find it as interesting as
I did, and it'll shed some light to some people. So a lot of people
don't know about my personal religious journey, and I'm not
gonna really go into that today, but it's like a lot of us here,
we're wandering down that road, the road that everyone is on
at some point before God grabs us up, Here at Eager Avenue Grace
Church, we're so blessed to have true gospel preaching and a media
ministry that puts the gospel message throughout the whole
world. It's an absolute blessing. The
title of today's message is God is Sovereign. It's very simple.
And the scripture that we'll cover is Romans 9 verses 1 through
18. So you may want to go ahead and
be turning in your Bibles there. Now Jim Casey used to tell me,
I ask him for permission to use his name and it's good, but Jim
used to tell me years ago when I first started talking to him
about this gospel, he said, stop worrying about these earthly
things. He used to say things like, boy, you better think about
the eternal things. We have an eternity to spend,
and just think about that, an eternity. And I can't stress
to you enough, these things are worth looking into, the scriptures,
the truth. If I told you today a way that
you could build a fortune so big on earth, amass a tremendous
amount of money, would you look into it? Most people would. And most people are diligent
and serious about their money and their finances. So why is
it that something that is so much more important than money
and earthly possessions, we're talking about salvation, eternal
salvation, and people just look the other way. They don't get
serious about it. I know in here we talk a lot
about natural man. Jim mentioned that earlier. A
lot of people wonder what the words natural man may mean. Paul
writes some things for us that for the natural man, they're
hard to be understood and most people really want to avoid. To be honest, natural man, man
that has not been saved by God's grace, will be offended by most
of what is said in scripture. Either that or they'll just ignore
a large portion of what's in this book. And I hope that you'll
listen and look into these things that I talk about today. They're
so important. But as I talk today, I hope it
will be more understood. Today's Bible study is going
to come from Romans 9, 1 through 18. It says, I say the truth in Christ, I
lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
For I wish, for I could wish that myself were a curse from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are
Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and
the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of
God. and the promises. Whose are the
fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is
over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Not as though the word
of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of
Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word
of promise. And this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. For the
children being not yet born, neither have done neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will hardeneth. I know a lot of people out there
will have trouble with that if they read it carefully. And I
can tell you this morning that sinners not regenerated by the
Holy Spirit, none will bow to the truths that we read here
in scripture. Our text here declares that God
is sovereign and no natural sinner that hasn't been given eyes to
see by God the Father will ever be able to see this. I went out
to eat with some friends a few weeks ago, and we started talking
about some important gospel truths. And that's always dangerous,
going out with friends and start talking about religion. But when
the door opens, I welcome it, because it's an opportunity to
discuss very important things. And it never fails when the sovereignty
of God comes up. Everyone has a tendency, they
agree with the fact that God is sovereign. They really can't
argue based on the way it's put to them. But when you link the
sovereignty of God with salvation, substitution, election, imputation,
and other important and vital doctrines, they start disagreeing. And I'd like to go through some
scripture now that will further illustrate and support the absolute
sovereignty of God and the natural state of man before God. 1 Corinthians 2, verses 14 and
15. It says, but the natural man
receiveth not the things of the spirit, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. One thing that
everyone should know, first and foremost, is that if you see
this and understand the absolute sovereignty of God, is that you,
on your own, you didn't figure it out. Nothing in regards to
salvation is done by the sinner. When a sinner is saved, it's
all because God the Father made them believe and understand.
It's all of grace. A person in their natural state
will never receive the things of the Spirit of God, in no way,
shape, or form. In John 10, 26 through 30, it
says, but you believe not because you are not of my sheep, as I
said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and 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. I and my father are one. I don't
think there's any clearer language in the word of God. Christ said
it right there. First of all, he's likening all
of humanity to sheep. And let's be honest, sheep are
not the smartest creatures in the world. They have a shepherd
and they follow the shepherd. And the shepherd decides who
the sheep are that belong to him. The sheep don't say, hey,
that's the shepherd I want to follow. That's just how it is. So then we come to verse 28 of
that, where he says, and I give unto them eternal life. Christ
says, I give unto them eternal life. He didn't say that he'd
give them eternal life if they walk an aisle. say a sinner's
prayer or reach their hand out, give money, do good works. It's
not some conditional relationship based on what a sinner decides
to do. I've heard it so many times before. Christ is holding
his hand out. All you have to do is reach your
hand out. And that's not what it says in
scripture. Salvation is not by human reason. God has to reveal
it. He has to clearly open our minds
and our understanding. And this is the thing, by nature,
every single son of Adam, they despise the one and true God.
Natural man will love the God of their imagination, the one
that they make up, because they get to make their own decisions.
God's not the decision maker in their salvation. They make
the decision to save themselves. In Romans 9, verses 15 and 16,
it says, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. This scripture right there is
very offensive to the natural person. Listen to what it's saying. It says right there that God
will make the choice when it comes to redemption and salvation.
It says, hey, I'll have mercy on who I want to have mercy on,
and I will have compassion on who I want to have compassion
on. It's God's choice. That's the sovereignty of God.
People always say it's just not fair for God to choose one person
and just pass over another person. But it clearly says in Romans
9 21, Hath not the potter power over the clay? Of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? Right
here, the Apostle Paul, in that scripture, he's explaining the
sovereign and unlimited power that God has over his creatures.
In this passage, God is described as a potter. Man is described
as the clay. And God created the clay. Now
we all know what a potter does. He takes a lump of clay and he
forms it. So God, right here in scripture,
God the potter has power over the clay to form it and shape
it the way he wants. He either forms the clay into
vessels of honor or vessels of dishonor. But the key here is
that God decides what he is forming. He puts it on the wheel and it
comes out exactly the way he wants it. And that's quite a
bit different from the God that is preached throughout this generation
today. One of the biggest problems that
I see today is that the natural sinner has a thought process
like this. We messed this thing up and we
need to fix it. But that's not how it is. Our
sovereign and ever powerful God is in control, especially in
salvation. And I've talked to Bill before
and I think he said it in here. And I like what he said whenever
he comes into a conversation about these things. Sometimes
you get into it with people and you start talking and discussing
and somebody tells you that all you have to do is open your heart
to Christ and just let Christ into your heart. You let Christ
in. And the response is this, that's
mighty nice of you. a wretched, filthy sinner, to
allow Almighty God, the sovereign, ever-powerful God of the universe,
creator of everything, to allow Christ into your heart. That's mighty nice. You made
the decision. Well, that's not really how it
happens, and we know that. God makes the decision. Christ
does the choosing. Christ did the dying. He chose
his sheep before the foundation of the world. I did not have
a say in it. And I'm so thankful for that,
because to be very honest with you, if salvation is left up
to me, if salvation is left up to the sinner, and it rests on
our shoulders alone, we'll certainly mess it up. And it's mighty comforting to
know, standing here, a sinner like me has a righteousness,
a substitute, and perfection, I have something that I can never,
ever produce on my own. And those not resting on Christ
alone, and for those who think that their decisions and their
deeds and their good works and their donations and them reaching
their hand out and making that decision to gain their salvation,
it is really sad. Because here's the thing, God
never purposed and he never promised to save all men and women without
exception, even though that's what most of everyone in false
religion says. They'll go right to John 3.16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever should believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. I hear it all the time. And by
using the word world, They teach that God loved every single solitary
person that ever lived on this planet, and God is doing everything
that he can possibly do to save every one of these people. But
let's be clear. If God loved everybody, and God
the Father, creator and master of all, is doing everything he
can in his power to save every person, And that's all he wants
is to save everyone without exception, every single person. And there's
still a multitude of people because it says it in scripture. There's
still a multitude of people that are in hell right now. What does
that say about God's love? And what does that say about
a sovereign God? And what does that say about
God's power? And why did Christ have to die? Either God is sovereign
over all, and that includes sovereignty over salvation, which that means
that he does the choosing when it comes to salvation, or he's
not a sovereign God. Listen, the God of the Bible
is so powerful. This is his world that we're
living in, and we have to honor and glorify him. And I like to come up with examples
and stuff that I try to liken these things to, and I came up
with a multiple choice question that you would see. Somebody
would see a multiple choice question, and the question is, is God sovereign
over everything? There's two answers. There's
an A and a B, and there's only one correct answer. A would be,
yes, God is sovereign over everything. B would be, God is not sovereign. There is no C, so either answer
will be A or B. And the answer is clearly A.
Most people understand that God is sovereign, and most would
agree to that mentally. But they want to leave some sort
of the decision-making to the sinner. It's not how it works. See, He promised, and if you
don't get anything else I say this morning, He, the God that
sits in heaven, He promised to save every single solitary sinner
chosen in Christ throughout the world, Jews and Gentiles. That's what his promise is, and
he will make sure of it. God is a God of love, and he
loves every one of his children, his sheep that he sent Christ
to die for. Back in our text in Romans 9,
6 through 13, The Apostle Paul tells us that God made a distinction
between Abraham's natural descendants and Abraham's spiritual descendants.
He made that distinction from the very beginning. At the very
beginning, he has separated them into natural and spiritual children.
And listen to what he said in Galatians 3, verses 27 through
29. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free. There's neither male nor female
for you all, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you
be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. Did you hear that? If we are
in Christ, we are what? We are Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. We are saved by promise. God
made a promise. We are heirs and that is so important. And spiritual Israel was justified
and redeemed at Calvary by Christ's imputed righteousness, by his
obedience unto death, by his accomplished death. And they
will in time, evidence their adoption into God by their belief
of the truth. Here's one verse that no unbeliever
wants to honestly talk about. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. That's a very important verse
right there. People will say he just loved
Jacob more than Esau. That's not what it says. It says,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And I know a lot
of people that'll get bent out of shape about that scripture
right there. And they'll say, well, that's
just not fair. And that is some pretty strong language, and I
agree. But it's there, and we cannot deny it. It's pretty clear
if you ask me. Why do people get so upset over
scripture like this? Well, people, and it's all part
of our nature, that we want to read into it and respond with
our emotions. It's emotional for us, but we
have to understand that God's not emotional. And we all have
to know that. He's not emotional when he's
dealing with right and wrong. God is a just God. He's a judge
and he will carry out his justice. He has to punish all of sin.
And he will punish sin in one of two ways. Number one, he'll
punish sin in the person of the sinner. And the punishment of
sin to the unregenerate sinner is eternal death, separation. He has to do it. That's the law. Number two, He'll punish sin
and a sinner's substitute, and that will be Christ. And that's
why Christ had to die on the cross. That's his law, and those
are the rules. With Jacob and Esau, this is
the thing. Jacob and Esau were both born
naturally from sinful parents, just like we all are. They were
conceived in sin, and both were born by natural regeneration
in a state of enmity with God, and that's how we're all born. I'm about to finish up here,
but this is the thing. God is sovereign. God is or was
never obligated to set his love on anyone. He wasn't. Nothing
that I ever did moved God to love me. He was never obligated
to me based on anything that I have ever done. I don't know why God makes those
choices, but I do know this. I know I don't deserve it. I
know what I do deserve. And I'm so thankful that he sent
a suitable substitute to die on that cross. Once he set his
love on me and once he sets his love on all the elect of God
chosen, in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world,
salvation was guaranteed for those. And he will do everything necessary
to bring them to glory. God said, all Israel shall be
saved and not one of them will perish. All of his sheep will
be saved, guaranteed. And how are they saved? By Christ's
blood. by His sacrifice, all of that
is guaranteed by a sovereign God.