The book of Acts chapter nine, and we'd like to compare today a little bit about Pharaoh and Saul of Tarsus, but we want to read Acts chapter nine verses one through nine. Now, it doesn't take long in reading this to find out that this guy is not somebody we want as our neighbor, Saul of Tarsus. It says, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter. Now, I don't want that across my back fence, do you? Well, this is the kind of guy we're dealing with.

Against the disciples of the Lord went unto the high priest and desired of him, the high priest, letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And you know what? The high priest gave him those papers. This religious leader of Israel, this religious leader of Jerusalem gave him papers to have people arrested and brought back to Jerusalem with the idea that they'd either be imprisoned for what they believe or they would be killed for what they believe.

Now this practice has already taken place here in Jerusalem recently because we find this same man standing there watching as his underlings stoned Stephen to death for preaching the gospel. All right. And as he journeyed, he went down there. Now I've had people tell me that Paul went down there and look at his free will. He's going down there. You look at his free will. He didn't have a free will. I put an article in the bulletin, and I would encourage you, it's very short, it's by Arthur W. Pink, and it says about the will of man, since it's fallen, the only choice that we can make, only free choice we can make is to sin.

We cannot get above our level. Just try to put more water in a glass than the height of the glass. And you'll say, it's not gonna work. Just try to get somebody that's born into this world, natural birth, that's a sinner by nature, a sinner by practice, a sinner by choice, a sinner by God's purpose of grace to Adam when he said, the day you eat, you shall sin, or you shall die, and that is brought out in the New Testament, and all have come short of the glory of God. Sinners have come short of the glory of God. They cannot make a positive choice.

So here we go with a man going down to Damascus with the idea of arresting people and bringing them back to Jerusalem for punishment's sake, for death if it was possible. Men or women. And as he journeyed, came near to Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. Now it doesn't take us very long as we read this to find out who brought this light. And who did it on purpose brought this light? God Almighty brought this light upon this man who is breathing out threatenings and slaughter with the desire to arrest believers, Christians, those who know the gospel. Just like he had Stephen killed, he was interested in getting rid of this whole mob of people that was upsetting his religion.

And on the way down to Damascus, He was struck by a light from heaven. Notice that. It says, shined a light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul. Now, I don't know how that would affect you. But I know this, it affected Saul. It was an effectual call. that Saul heard. It was a powerful call that Saul heard. It was a timely call that Saul heard. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Now he asked a good question because he had no idea. He's not going down there looking for Jesus. He had no idea in this world who was speaking to him out of this light. And he says, he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying this. And then in verse five, he said, who art thou Lord?

And the Lord said, now he out of respect, you know, they call a lot of people Lords in this time. All you have to do is read English history and you find that all kinds of people were called lords. He's out of respect doing this, but he doesn't have a heart for it at this moment. It's not gonna be long that that word lord is gonna mean significant things to Saul of Tarsus.

Here we have the answer. The Lord said, who's speaking out of heaven? Who's speaking from this light? Who has stopped Saul? And he's the only one of the whole mess that's traveling with him. Nobody else is struck by this message. They heard a voice, in another place they saw a light, but nobody else heard what Saul heard. Nobody else saw what Saul saw.

God is very specific. I want to remind us that there was a time when Jesus was on purpose, came down to a place, where there were multitudes of people that were sick and infirm, and they were around the pool, the pool of Bethesda, and he came in the midst of them, and it says there was a multitude of the people there, and he walked up to one person out of the multitude, and asked him if he would like to be able to walk. He said, when I want to get down there, and the water is stirred by the angel, and I want to get down there, I can't get down there and someone else gets in first. You know what the Lord said?

Stand up and walk. Only one person out of a multitude did he show grace to, but it was grace. All right, one person. He said, I am, verse five, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against, and that word should have been ox goads.

You know, my dad had cattle, and his horses were his kids. He didn't have a horse. He wouldn't have a horse on the place. So when it came time to move the cattle, he'd give us an apple limb that he had cut off, a sucker. It was about that big around and about that tall. And it was straight. Those suckers would come out and they'd be straight. And he had cut them off and dry them out and you could hit a cow right between the horns and not even dinga that piece of wood. It was strong, like hickory. Well, that was our herding stick. That was our go-to stick. And that was an ox goad. And there were times that some of those calves paid the price for trying to get away, and we had to herd them with the ox goat. And here we have the Lord telling Saul of Tarsus, it is hard for thee to kick against the ox goats.

One of the translations put it this way, it's impossible for you to get away from my will. It is impossible. Well, it is impossible. It is impossible for us to get away from the will of God. I have had people tell me, and I've shared this in the past before, people tell me, well, I have a son or a daughter, they were saved and they just got away from the Lord. I remember a preacher mentioning that in a message, and he just said, where is that? Where do you get away from the Lord? It's an impossibility to get away from the Lord.

So it's just another mockery that people bring up because their child made a profession of faith and now they have no interest in serving God whatsoever. And they're just saying, well, they had to be saved because I was there when they made a profession of faith and they got away from the Lord. No, no, no, they never knew the Lord. if they can stay in that position.

All right. Then it goes on, and he trembling and astonished said, now this is where it got real serious, Lord, what will you have me to do? If you read verse one and heard what it said about this man, And then you read this verse, verse six, you find out that there has been a dramatic change in the life of Saul of Tarsus.

He has been given a new heart. He has been humbled. This is the most humble time he's ever had in his life. He is a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He's a chief among his people. He's been leading to the execution of Christians. He is a very powerful person, and here we have him on his knees before Almighty God and saying, Lord, what will you have me to do?

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but was led by him by hand, brought him into Damascus. And he was there three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink."

Now, we're going to stop there, and Lord willing, we'll get to pick up with verse 10 next week. I was in a meeting one time, and a preacher got up there. I mean, he preached like the house was afire. And someone says, do you always preach that fast? He says, only when I'm in a hurry. So I'm going to be in a hurry here.

Turn with me, if you would, to the Book of Romans, Chapter 9. The Book of Romans, Chapter 9. In the Book of Romans, Chapter 9, we find that God shares with us that there is a difference. There is a difference between those that he moves in and those he doesn't move in. There is a difference between those who hear the gospel and those who don't hear the gospel. There is a reason for it, and we read about it here in Romans chapter 9.

Now, when I was down in Texas in 1971 and spent one semester in a Bible school, I was told that this chapter 9, 10, 11, and 12 were parenthetical chapters and you didn't have to read them. That's just a way of getting around what you don't want to read. If the stock market is doing bad, do you read the stock report?

Here we have people who claim to be preachers of the gospel that will avoid verses of scripture. Now I pray that we never avoid verses of scripture. Now we may have to say as we read that, I'm not sure what this means, but I'm not going to not read it. I have a friend who is a preacher that was going through the book of Ephesians and he had to quit reading it and studying it because it didn't agree with his theology.

That should be the opposite, shouldn't it? I should say, I didn't know this. I found out something new today. I'm gonna go here. I'm gonna find out what it believes. What does it say? Well, Ephesians chapter one and two says a whole lot about our salvation. And if we don't have a grasp of a little bit about that, we don't have a grasp about anything about that. All right, here in the book of Romans chapter nine, verse 14, what shall we say then?

Is there unrighteousness with God? Is there unrighteousness with God? And we have to say, absolutely not. There is no unrighteousness with God. Now, if there's unrighteousness with your God, you have a problem. But there is no unrighteousness with the God of the Bible. He does everything right. He is in charge. All right.

For he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. That is the glory of God. Moses desired to see his glory, and when God told him this, this is the glory of God. If God should have mercy on one, that is far above what is deserved. But if he should have mercy on a number that no man can number, how great is his glory and grace and mercy. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy.

It's not him that willeth. We hear so much about free will and our self-will and all kinds of will, and yet we find out that the Bible has nothing to say about that. It's been created. It's been brought to our attention through other means. There's not a religion in the world that doesn't believe in free will. They all believe that. That's one central thing that the Muslims and the free will Baptist believe together. Every religion in the world has that. That is their heart and core. We have free will. Well, you know what the Bible teaches about it? We don't. We don't. We don't have free will. We cannot make a good choice.

Here it tells us, it's not of him that willeth nor him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. And that's what we find with Saul of Tarsus. God showed mercy. He was... We wouldn't want him as a neighbor. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, 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, he what? Now that's a biblical term that we have to read. He hardeneth. Do you know what? Pharaoh was hardened four times. by God. God had his messenger tell him four different times things to do, and then God hardened his heart so he wouldn't do it. Well, that's God.

Verse 19, thou wilt say then unto me, why dost thou yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed 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 honor and another to dishonor? 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.

All right, would you travel with me over into the book of Exodus chapter eight? In the book of Exodus chapter eight, this is during the times when God brought some plagues upon Egypt. He had came to Pharaoh and Pharaoh said, no, I'm not letting them go. I'm not gonna let them go. And so it finally came down to this. God said, I will send plagues upon you. And we read through here and every one of these plagues is serious. And it looks like Pharaoh may change his mind. In fact, we're gonna read, Pharaoh admitted twice that he was a sinner.

Yeah, to most people, when they say I'm a sinner, they're ready for the baptismal font. Boy, we got that out of them. They're a sinner. Well, you know, a whole lot of people believe that they're a sinner only because they got caught. And they only believe that they're afraid of meeting God because of hell. You know, and those are not good reasons at all.

All right, here in the book of Exodus chapter eight, would you turn there with me? In the book of Exodus chapter eight, we read these words about Israel versus Egypt and the choice that God made. And we're gonna see this carried out between Pharaoh and Saul of Tarsus. We'll see this carried out between the world and the church. We'll see this carried out between the sheep and the goats. It's just carried out by God's purpose.

In Exodus chapter eight, verse 20, it says, the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. "'Lo, he cometh forth to the water, and saying to him, "'Thus saith the Lord, let my people go, "'that they may serve me. "'Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, "'behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, "'and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, "'and upon thy houses, and the houses of the Egyptians "'shall be full of swarms of flies, "'and also the ground whereon thou art. "'And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen.

"'I will make a difference. in the land of Goshen. Now who lives in the land of Goshen? The children of Israel. Why were they in the land of Goshen? Because they were shepherds. And Pharaoh did not like the Egyptians, did not like sheep. They did not like shepherds, so they put them in the land of Goshen, and it says here, sever that day the land of Goshen.

I'm gonna make a difference in which my people dwell that no swarms of flies shall be there to the end that thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. You're gonna have flies here. That part of the Egypt over there, the land of Goshen, is not gonna have flies, and I'm gonna show you that I'm in charge of the flies. And I'm in charge of where the flies will go. All right?

Turn with me, if you would, to chapter 9, verse 1. In the book of Exodus chapter 9, verse 1, we read this. Exodus chapter 9, verse 1, then the Lord said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle, which is in the field, upon thy horses, upon thy asses, upon thy camels, upon thy oxen, upon thy sheep. there shall be a very grievous disease, Moraine, and the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and there shall nothing die of all that is the children of Israel."

What are you talking about? How can you do that? How can you do this, protect this group of cattle and the rest of them have this great grievous disease? I am God. I'll put a mark on every cow of Israel's and they shall not get this disease. Two more times we find that this happened.

The children of Israel in their land of Goshen, no hail. And you know one of the most marvelous ones is we find out that when he brought darkness upon the whole country of Egypt, in Goshen they had light. Now it doesn't mean that they had candles. Egyptians had candles, but they had no light. It means there was the Shekinah glory of God in their homes. It was a sign from God that there is a difference between Egypt and Israel. Now, it's not just national Israel. It's the church he's made a difference about. They have light. They don't have light. They have hail. They don't have hail. They don't have all this tempestuous life that is right over here and God has made a difference.

How do we know that? Because he made a difference between Pharaoh and he made a difference between Saul of Tarsus. The children of Israel had light. When the blood, when the Passover came, you know what? Pharaoh and the children of Egypt were not informed of the Passover rites. Only Israel was. They weren't told to put blood on their doorposts. Israel was told to put blood on their doorposts.

Is God unfair? As Paul brought up, is there unrighteousness with God? No way, don't go there. Don't even suggest that to your mind that there is unrighteousness with God. I've had people tell me to my face, my God would never do that. Well, the God of the Bible has done that. So if he's not your God, what does that mean? What does that mean? You have a false God. You have a God that's not the God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible does as he pleases, and he is pleased to show us the difference between Egypt, Pharaoh, and the church, and Saul of Tarsus. Now, from a standpoint, if we put him up here, lined him up, here's Pharaoh, here's Saul of Tarsus. Let me put him up here so you can see him. Pharaoh, Saul of Tarsus. And we had a tick box, a check off box. All right, we looked at them and we know their history. We know the history of Pharaoh. We know the history of Saul of Tarsus.

We go over here, good God. No, not at all. Loved God, no. We could go down through this list and find out they were both religious, but they didn't know the first thing about God. Pharaoh was the God of Egypt. And you know, in Saul of Tarsus' eyes, he was God.

They were both murderers, so we're going, oh, that's not a good thing. Both were very important in their own eyes. Proud, proud. Both were very intolerant of others. Both hated God, the true God. And both were at the top of their heap. They were at the top of their position. Oh my, Pharisee of the Pharisees, King of Egypt. And as we read, what if God willing that he might make known what will make the difference? What if God willing to show his wrath? What if God willing to show his grace? What if God willing to show his wrath? You know, the entire army of Egypt followed Pharaoh into the Red Sea. The entire army. Now, I don't care about Yul Brynner riding off in that movie. He was Pharaoh, and he didn't get in that mess, but the Pharaoh of the Bible was in that mess.

Who took the wheels off of the chariots to slow the Egyptians down? Who caused the water to return? Who drowned every one of the army of Israel after millions had been slain over here in Egypt by the mighty hand of God? Who did this? God. Who protected those people from going through on dry land? I grew up on a lake beach, lakeshore, and we'd get down there and it didn't matter whether it was a dry year or a wet year, you could be up to your knees in mud And here we are, opened up the Red Sea, and they walked through dry shod. Who did that? Israel.

I will harden Pharaoh's heart, God said. I will harden his heart. Turn with me to the book of Isaiah, if you would. the book of Isaiah, and there in chapter one, verse nine, we have this most important verse of scripture about what we're trying to see, the difference between Pharaoh and Saul of Tarsus. The book of Isaiah, chapter one, verse nine, it tells us this, except the Lord of hosts. Isaiah chapter one, verse nine. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. Isaiah chapter one, verse nine. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

What is he saying? We should all have been destroyed. Sodom and Gomorrah was not a good place to be when God rained down fire and brimstone. It was destroyed. God destroyed those places and the cities of the plain. And there was one man and two daughters that escaped.

And the only way that they escaped is God, his angels lifted them over the wall of Jericho and set them out. They didn't even go to the door. I had a friend. Oh, they had the free will to stay there. No, no, no. God got them by the arms and got them out of there.

You know, Saul was like Noah and everyone else that God ever saves. You know what it said about Noah in Genesis chapter six and verse eight? But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And I've had people tell me, well, he was a special person. Noah wouldn't have said that.

God is the actor. Noah and Saul are the sheep that he acted upon. He's the actor. They didn't have anything better about them that would put them into a category where God was required to show them grace. God showed them grace. Moses, or excuse me, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God was in charge of this.

I am going to show grace to him. I will show mercy to whom I'll show mercy. I'll show grace to whom I'll show grace. I will be in charge of this. It's not because of what you have done or what you're doing that God ever did anything for us. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done.

You know, the Lord declares to his church, to Saul and all his sheep, turn with me to the book of 2nd Timothy, if you would. The book of 2nd Timothy. In the book of 2nd Timothy, we find that God shares with us what went on over there in the book of Exodus. with regard to Israel and regard to Egypt. Here in the book of 2 Timothy, chapter one, verse nine, we read this, who has saved us, this is God, and called us with a holy calling, and then he qualifies it by saying, not according to our works.

Second Timothy, chapter one, verse nine, not according to our works. Now, if we were rewarded according to our works, what would be our reward? Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. Here it says, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose of grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

So God had an interest in a people before the world ever was created. And then he created Adam and he was not in crisis when Adam sinned. You know what he had? He had a lamb slain already. In preparation, the covenant of grace said, there is one coming, the son. The son is coming to lay down his life, a ransom, a payment price, a propitiation for the sins of his people.

We have this great account given to us, Ephesians chapter one. Would you turn over there with me? Ephesians chapter one. We read there in Ephesians 1, and we've made this comment many times with regard to Ephesians 1. If you love Ephesians 2 and don't love Ephesians 1, we have a problem. You have to love Ephesians 1 in order to appreciate grace. because we're not saved by works of any kind. All right, here it says in Ephesians chapter one, verse four, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

Now, who was the author? Now, let me back up. Who was the scribe? Who was the secretary that wrote this down? Saul of Tarsus. Paul. And what did he write about his own salvation? when he got to reflect on how God had saved him, when the Holy Spirit revealed unto him how salvation takes place. And now when he is used by the Holy Spirit to write the majority of the New Testament, we find that this man Saul of Tarsus, now we know him as Paul the Apostle, we find out that God gave him liberty to write about how he was saved. And how was he saved? Well, God had according as he has chosen him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. And then he uses the word predestinated, having predestinated us. That's one of the P words that gets kicked out of church services, predestination.

Let me ask you one question. If you get on an airplane, do you want a predestination? Let me ask again, if you get on an airplane, do you want a predestination? I get on that airplane and they say, you say, where are we going? I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? Well, we haven't talked to the pilot yet. Well, what do you mean? Well, we're gonna just take off and we'll decide later. We'll decide later. Let me off. And yet, when it comes to spiritual things, people will say, I don't want that. And they get off.

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. This is Saul of Tarsus used to write these words about how God saved him on the road to Damascus. having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. You know, if we look at it, we find there isn't a nickel's worth of difference between Saul of Tarsus and Pharaoh. We just go down to, they're related guys, just like you and I are all related. We can trace our line back to, well, we can't trace our line back to Adam, except the Bible says that's where we go. We can't go from generation to generation. We might get hung up in the dark ages or some other age. We can't do it, but it's there.

And you either believe that God created Adam and Eve, husband and wife, and they had all the children that are down to this point, or you believe in evolution. You know, I've talked to a lot of people that believe that God created everything, but when you talk to them about a new creation in Christ Jesus that God has to create, oh no, no, no, that's not gonna happen. It's not fair to let God create everything but salvation. And God's not gonna put up with that because he is in charge of it. He is in charge of every creation. And when he saves us, we are a new creature or creation in Christ Jesus. He's created something that was not there.

We were dead in trespasses and sin. Brother Mike read there about the Good Samaritan, says he's half dead. You know, I wondered about that for a long time. Why does it mention that? He's alive physically. Dead, it's just a picture of a person dead and trespasses us in, but we're alive physically. And you think because you're alive physically, we can make good choices. Our heart overrules it.

Turn with me if you would to Lamentations. Lamentations chapter three. In Lamentations chapter three, we read this. You know what Lamentations means, don't you? Lamenting, oh my goodness, Jeremiah is lamenting over the condition of Israel, national Israel. He never lamented over the spiritual Israel, but he really lamented over the position of national Israel. In fact, God said, I regarded them not. My covenant with them is over. My covenant with the church will continue. It will not cease. I'm in charge.

All right, here in the book of Lamentations chapter three, Lamentations chapter three and verse 26. Read this with me. Lamentations chapter three, verse 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good. I used to go to a camp and boy, at the end of the service, we had to get 25 or 30 to come forward or we weren't successful at all. My goodness, that would just not be right.

And so they'd say, come up and pick out a preacher and go visit with this preacher. And their intent was to get the preacher to win them to Jesus. There's only one winner to Jesus, and that's the Holy Spirit. That's it. If someone comes to you, tell them the truth about the gospel. Tell them the truth about salvation. Tell them about Jesus Christ, the righteous. And then say, go get alone with God. Keep your fingers out of the pie. All we're gonna do is interfere. All right? Lamentations chapter three, Jeremiah chapter three. Would you turn there? Same writer, same chapter. Back up one book, Jeremiah chapter three, and here verse 23.

Now we know that the Saul of Tarsus had heard the gospel. He had heard it from Stephen. No doubt he'd heard it from other men. He might have been present at the trial of Jesus. We don't know. But he had heard the gospel, and that is what God uses to acquaint them with us, with the Lord Jesus, is hearing the gospel. That's our part, the gospel, declaring the gospel. All right, here in the book of Jeremiah, in verse three, verse 23, it says, truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

It's in the Lord our God. It's not in works of righteousness, which we have done. It's not how long we've been in a church. It's not how many of our parents or grandparents have been in a church. It's God dealing with individuals in this life by his free and sovereign grace. And he has said, He will show mercy to those he will show mercy. And there are incidents where he said, I will harden. Now that does not stop us from declaring the gospel. I want to treat everyone as an Isaac. The others are only known by God. All right, one other passage here in the book of the Psalms. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Back up just a little bit more. Psalm 37. And here we read in verse 39. Psalm 37. Verse 39. Psalm 37, verse 39. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time of trouble.

You know, the worst trouble I've ever had in my life was not a physical thing. It was when I was revealed my religion was worthless. It was worse than worthless because I was depending on a false hope. But when he revealed Christ to me, I found out that is worthless on purpose. But Christ is of all value, greatest value.

You know, one more verse. Paul was led to write this. Was he better? Was he more knowledgeable? Was he smarter than Pharaoh? I was in a Bible study one time, and someone said, well, if I didn't live back there with those people from Israel that were in the wilderness, I'd have been smarter than they were, and I would have chosen the right way. You know what that revealed? He didn't know a posthole from He had no knowledge about his own self.

Who maketh thee to differ? Who makes us to differ from Pharaoh? Who makes us to differ from the worst murder that's ever lived? Who makes us to differ from the worst religionist that has ever lived? Who makes us to differ from the most pious? Who makes us to differ from the most pharisaical attitude about our position in God? Who makes us to differ? Here in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, would you read that with me? And then we'll close. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10, we read this. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10. It's the grace of God that makes me what I am. And grace is not of works, it's an absolute work of God.

And, you know, we hear the term unmerited favor. I'm going to show favor to someone. And an old preacher said, you know, just after someone murdered your wife and then you showed mercy to them, that's more grace than we can understand by just unmerited favor. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Who made us to differ? God and God alone. We're born out of the same wombs. We have the same inheritance. We are the same from beginning to end. We may have different last names and we may be from Ireland or Scotland or anywhere in the world. But when it comes to it, we trace our line right back to Adam and in Adam, all died. All he represented died. In Christ, shall all that he represented be made alive. We have the difference between Pharaoh's and Saul's of Tarsus, and Saul would say, I deserve what he got, except for grace. All right, Brother Mike, if you'll come.