And to your prayer, this is Angel Kirby. This is a young lady, she's just a few years older than Cynthia. That's not Cynthia, Hannah. We've got a brain tumor and had a heart attack. We discovered it this week, a young woman. So remember her in the prayer, Angel Kirby. Remember the others who requested prayer also. Seek the Lord's help for them.

Next Sunday's the last Sunday of the month, so we'll have a large table and a big dinner Take the name of Jesus with you. ♪ Child of sorrow and woe ♪ He will joy and love give you ♪ Take you anywhere you go ♪ Precious King, oh how sweet ♪ Hope of life and joy all the day Precious name for us three, O my worthy name, joy of the day! In the name of Jesus never, As I should have ever slain, In temptations bound together, please find glory in Him in prayer!

Precious Name, O Our Sweet! Love of earth and joy of heaven, Precious Name, O Our Sweet! O the gracious Name of Jesus, how He fills our souls with joy! Beneath the Lord's esteem us, may His sons adore Him more! Gracious Name, O our Savior! Home of earth and joy of heav'n, Gracious land, Lord of sweet. Home of earth and joy of heaven, Sound the name of Jesus proudly, Calling from splendor's blue. King of kings and crowned with Queen, our journey is complete! Precious reign, oh, how sweet! Home of earth and joy of heaven! After Scripture reading, prayer was seen, number 463. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the 9th chapter of the book of Romans.

Verse 18 says, Therefore have thee mercy on whom you have mercy, and whom you willy-hardened. Thou wilt say then unto me, What have ye yet found fault for, who hath resisted his will? Hey, but, O man, who art thou to replyest against God? Shall the thing form, and say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Had not the potter the power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor?

What if God were willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, and due to 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 had aforeprepared to glory?

Let us pray. Our Father, we rejoice to read in your word of the greatness of your power and your distinct distinguishing grace we are thankful that you will have mercy we know it's on whom you will as your great sovereign prophet but we're thankful that you do show mercy we're thankful that we have been a recipient of it father give us a heart for your greatness as things around us look strange, that you, Father, are in control of all things. We bow to your wisdom, trust you, and where we sit in awe and wonder, sometimes great confusion, you can still our hearts. We thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ, our great sacrifice that was offered unto you for our sins. It was so effectual and perfect that he put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, purged our sins, made it so that you can look on us with favor. That precious blood of the cross reconciled us unto you. We thank you. that the relationship between your children and you is not a strange one or an estranged one, but one where they are welcome into your presence, received with open arms, even you, who are great and majestic, say unto them to come boldly to the throne of grace.

Father, we pray for those who are sick, Going through trials of those who've lost loved ones. I know it's never the case, especially for this young lady who's been diagnosed with a brain tumor and also has had a heart attack. I pray that she'll be with her, if it's so pleasing to you to turn her eyes to Jesus Christ and have her fall on Him. Father, we pray for ourselves this hour and through this day, And our minds and hearts will be set on giving you glory and only you for all that takes place in this world. Help us now, we pray in Christ's name, amen.

And number 463, all that thrills my soul is Jesus. you Look into that heart, my Jesus, by His presence only mine. Plural and tender, pure and precious, oh, how blessed You've gone in mine. Oh, how it fills my soul to sing, He is more than I can be. Then the very spoken vows done in my wasted breath. All the grace my soul can see.

He is more than life to me, and in the perishable tempest What a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, what a love, All I've got in my soul is Jesus, He is all that I'm to be. And I'll perish not in baptism, In my place before I die. Oh, ♪ He is more than life to me ♪ ♪ And in love there is more than thousand ♪ ♪ In my place in God I see ♪ ♪ I am a dressed for holy freedom ♪ ♪ In the ransomed I will be ♪ Can you forever and forever praise and glorify the King? I will not show this Jesus. He is more than I can be.

Father again we come in the name of Christ our great and glorious Savior to free and blessed gift you've given to all you choose. We wonder and are so thankful that his spirit dwells in us and you have made us one with him and with you. Help us, Lord, to be thankful people. Remind us daily, even hourly, that everything this side of eternal perdition is by your grace and your mercy. Help our giving to reflect the depths of our understanding of what we've been given. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. so so do do do As I was preparing this afternoon's lesson on Jeremiah, I ran across a phrase, prepared destroyer. And it made me start thinking about Romans chapter 9 for some reason. And I couldn't think of anything else, so I thought, well, I haven't preached all this in like 30 minutes.

This chapter caused many Jews to say that the Lord had forgotten His people even before He knew them. Because it sets aside the Jewish nation, as it were, for the Gentile nation. But not all together. For in the 11th chapter of this book, the people whom he foreknew. And Paul said, that's not the case because he saved me. He saved me and Paul was a Jew. But this chapter, many people wish it was left out of scripture altogether.

I remember Rupert Reibenbach, after he had a debacle at his church where they weren't actually suing came to his house and said, I don't believe in predestination at all. I don't believe it's in the Bible. So he opened her up to Romans chapter 9. And after she read about half of it, she slammed the book shut and said, I'll never come back to church again. Well, that just showed that she wasn't one of the elite.

This book sets the standard for understanding the election of grace. It sets the standard for understanding what the new birth is. It sets the standard for God's absolute sovereign control over all things. It sets the standard for God raising some up for glory and raising some up to put down and send to hell.

People don't like to think of God in those terms. They like the nice side or what they call the nice side. But our Lord, everything that He sets apart to be used of Him in whatever way it is used, it is holy unto the Lord. It is sanctified unto the Lord. It is His use and will honor Him and glorify Him in His wrath or in His love. But God will be glorified in all things. either in the salvation of your soul, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, or in putting you in eternal hell, He will glorify, be glorified in you.

When Babylon the Great is destroyed, to whom the Lord has said to his people, come out of her, so a lot of God's people are in Babylon in false religion and are called out by the gospel of are still in Babylon and remain there, even though they're not truly saved, the world religion will go on and will be great. But in that day, when our Lord divides things and destroys Babylon, many whom you might know and have known will be in the number who were cast into the lake of fire, where there is no hope. And if you're a child of God, what you will do, according to the book of Revelation, you will glorify God, even if He sends your parents to hell, if you're a heathen. And you will cry, Salvation unto our God, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. That will be your song.

And here in Romans 9, Paul sets forth the facts that changes everything in the matter of people's understanding of Israel and the people of God. And he said, I could almost wish myself a curse from Christ for their sake, to see them saved, to see them brought to a knowledge of Christ.

But he went on to say, well, all that's of Israel is not Israel. The Israelites aren't calling Abraham. The true Israelites are calling Isaac. Why would he say that? I'd probably say that Isaac is the seed in which God's children are called. Because Isaac was born supernaturally.

According to Romans chapter 4, Abraham and Sarah were long past the ability to produce a child. They were in their hundreds. They couldn't have a baby. The Lord said they were incapable of doing that. But the Lord told her, you're going to have a son. She laughed. That's what it says in Genesis. She laughed. The Lord said, why are you laughing? You're going to have a son. She said, I'm too old to do that. And it didn't happen right away. So she thought, well, I'm going to help God out in this situation.

I told Abraham to go into Hagar. get her pregnant, they'll have a son named Ishmael when you got here. We'll call him that God, the son that God promised. And he was born of the power of the flesh of Abraham and Hagar. And then Sarah got pregnant. She couldn't make a baby. Look at Abraham. She got pregnant.

She bore a son named Isaac. Isaac was born. And the Lord said, you see that boy Ishmael, he's Abraham's seed. No doubt about that, he's Abraham's son. He's even called the son of Abraham in scripture. He can't stay in the same house. Because you see, he represents all who are born of the flesh, that's flesh. But Isaac represents all who are born of the Spirit, that's regeneration. So we're not calling Ishmael, we're not calling Abraham, we're calling Isaac. Because if you are of God, it's because you were born spiritually, supernaturally. in a way that men can have nothing to do with. No flesh can have anything to do with your spiritual birth.

Nothing. It happens miraculously and wondrously through the preaching of the Word of God. And the preachers can't help you. Anybody can stand up here and do what I do. If God sends them, He'll give them word to say and they'll say it. But it's not the preacher that saved you. It's not being in church that saved you. What saves you is when God takes this Word and plants the seed in your heart and gives you new life in Jesus Christ.

That's how Peter described it. We are not born of corruptible seed, semen. We are born of incorruptible semen, even the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass, and like the fly of the field, it fades away. There's nothing to flesh. But the Word of God endureth forever, and it is by the Gospel that this Word of God is preached unto you. It's a wonder and amazing.

And Isaac, he said, thy seed shall be called. Thy seed shall be called. Then he says that two sons were born of Rebekah. Two sons, one named Jacob, which means heel grabber or supplanter, and another named Esau. when he was coming out, trying to stop that situation.

He was always trying to stop something, because he was a supplanter, a snake, a snaky kind of guy, a mama's boy. But Esau was born first. That means he gets the birthright. That means everything that his father has was passed to him. It means Jacob don't get anything. He'll always be the servant of Esau.

That's what the law says. God said differently. No, he wrote the law. After all, it's his law. He wrote the law. He said the elder he saw is going to serve the younger. Why in the world did that happen? So something would stand as an absolute revelation of God's purpose. And what was that purpose? It says in verse 11, for the children, not being yet born, neither having done any good or evil. Why? That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It said, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, this is why the elder shall serve the younger. This is why Jacob was going to lead Esau rather than the other way around.

Because Jacob have I loved, the children having done none, no good or evil. So God is not reacting to them. God is not responding to them. They've done neither good nor evil. They're just babies being immediately born. So it has nothing to do with them as God sees something about them and responds to it. It says the children having done neither good or evil.

Jacob have I loved. the supplanter, the heel grabber, the sinner, which he will ultimately prove to be. And he so hath I hated. Hated. In the original language, when it's spoken in Malachi chapter three, the word is an absolute active hatred. Despising. When translated into the Greek, it means utterly and completely disregarded. I'd rather be hated than disregarded, I'll be honest with you.

At least I can deal with that. But to be utterly disregarded, it's as if these two children being born, having done neither good nor evil, one of them, God says, I absolutely don't give a hoot about him at all. I don't like God like that, but that's the God you're gonna meet. That's the God you're gonna stand before. Martin used to say, if you think God's a monster, get ready to be a monster.

He's the God of heaven and earth. The one who does as he pleases in heaven and earth and all the deep places, even in the sea. He does all things according to the will. So God, to show what election is, He didn't choose one because they were good or one because they were evil, because that didn't matter. So God has chosen you to salvation. Here's why He chose you. Because He would. And because He loved you from the foundation of the world. He chose you.

You may be just the rottenest character in the world. I expect you know anything about yourself. You believe that about yourself. It ain't nothing to me. Why in the world would God choose me? He chose me because he would. Because he's God and he can do that sort of thing. But the purpose of election might stand. Now the response to that will be this. That doesn't seem right. I've heard it said to them. Had some of my old kin folks say, well that don't seem right. That ain't fair. Paul deals with that in verse 14. He said, what shall we say then?

Is there unrighteousness or unfairness with God? Because he chose one and disregarded the other? Because he loved one and hated the other? Does that make God unrighteous? That ain't fair. God ain't like that. Yes, he is. Remember, there's one TV. personality back when he had all those talk shows at Phil Donahue, all those talk shows on TV. There's one woman that was on the head with red glasses, I can't remember, and Sally was something or another. And somebody quoted that verse for her in scripture. And she said, that's not my God. And I thought, yeah, you're right. Yeah, she hit the nail on the head. He's not your God, but he is your God.

What shall we say then, is there unrighteousness with God? Paul goes back to Moses, when Moses asked God what his glory was. Back in Exodus chapter 33, verse 19 and 20, he goes back to Moses. He says, here's what Moses asked God, and God answered him. on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion or show grace on whom I will be gracious.

So then, if God does it that way, if that's how God operates, have he done neither good nor evil. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not activities or works. It's not by the will or not by works, but of God. What does God do? That shows mercy. Of God that showeth mercy. And so he gives an example. The children of God were They had been there as a nation for over 400 years.

After Joseph died, who had been a help to his people, another Pharaoh arose and he made them into slaves. It was a hardship for them. Finally, they cried out to God. And Pharaoh said, I ain't, I don't know nothing about your God. And Moses said, let my people go. He said, I don't know your God. I ain't gonna list who is he. And God said, this is all according to plan. He had told Abraham, back in Abraham and Genesis 13 or 15, I think it's Genesis 15. He told Abraham, your people, I'm gonna make you a great nation.

And your people are going into captivity for 400 years. And I'm going to deliver them by my great power. This was centuries before it happened. 400 years. I'm going to deliver them. And here he raises up this Pharaoh. Wait a minute. This is the promise.

They're going into captivity. So he raises up a Pharaoh to put them into captivity. to make their life miserable. So miserable that they, who had forgotten their God altogether, suddenly called out to Jehovah for help. He raised up Pharaoh, who puts his people down.

Why? How come he raised that man up to do that? Don't he love his people? Yes, he loves his people. Why did he do that? To make people understand who he is. In Isaiah 45, it says, I create darkness. I am the Lord. I do all these things. I do all these things.

So the example he gives in verse 17, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh. And when it says the scripture saith, that means God speaks to Pharaoh. Remember the issue here is he will have mercy on whom he will and have compassion on whom he will. But it's God alone that shows mercy.

And so he says unto Pharaoh, even for this same reason have I raised you up. I raised you up. Wait a minute. My father was a Pharaoh. My grandfather was a Pharaoh. I raised you up. I put you on the throne of Egypt. So I would show my power. in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. I'm going to show my power. How you going to do that? I'm going to wipe you off the face of the earth. I raised you up just to finish you and let my people go.

So he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hearteneth. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It says Pharaoh hardened his own heart in one place, but in another place it says God hardened his heart. God hardened his heart toward all the things that he saw.

He saw some tremendous things. He saw the river turn to blood. He saw a horde of flies come in where people couldn't hardly breathe without breathing in a fly. Frogs came in. Hail fell down. All kinds, ten different Horrible things happening and he saw every one of them and he said, you're going to bend me.

And God said, okay, tonight I'm coming through. Not the angel of death, not some green fog like it was in that movie. That green fog was pretty intense. God says, I'm coming through tonight, I'm going to kill every first We got a firstborn son, my son's 50 years old, he's gone now. My son's just born, he's gone.

Every house, wait a minute, there's some Israelite houses there in the land of Goshen. There's a whole lot of Israelites living there, every house. I'm killing every son, every firstborn. Told the Israelites, put blood on your doorpost and lentils. Kill a lamb, put a little blood on the doorpost and lentils. Go inside that house and eat that lamb. Every bit of it, don't waste none of it.

And wait. Those people, once they were inside that house, they couldn't see anything. They couldn't see God. They couldn't see the death that was happening. It was happening all around them. God got blood at every house, every Israelites house. He got blood, He got the blood of the firstborn. His firstborn, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, the only begotten of God. And He said, when I come through and get, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. even as the son of his own household was killed hard and so hard. He says, I want, I want, finally said, just because he was whipped, I'll, y'all go. Said, the Israelites just go. Leave, please. I don't want anything to do with you and your God. So they were leaving.

They were looing and got to the Red Sea. Get the army together. Get the men on horses and the chariots. Go kill every one of them. They're backed up against the Red Sea. They ain't no hope for them. So he sent his army out for them. But God opened up the sea and they walked across on dry land. Then the chariots came in and said, there they are. They done crossed on dry land. Let's chase them.

And they went down into that sea. Wanted to kill every Jew on the other side. God just folded that sea up. on top of it. And he uses words like they sank to the bottom like a stone. Read Genesis 15. Genesis 15. They sank to the bottom like a stone. Killed them all. Why? That my name all the earth in my name."

Then somebody says, well if God uses people like that, if everything, every creature is God's thing and he can just do with it what he will and they don't have a free will, They're independent individuals, they don't have any say so. They live in a democratic society, they don't have any say so. They don't have any say so.

God'll use you, he's using you now and will continue to use you until he's done with you. And you'll glorify him. And somebody will say, well, if God is sovereign, If He made me what I am, how can He put me hell for being what I am? Because He's God.

That don't seem right. This is what the fella said. He says, now I was saying to me then in verse 19, why doth He yet find fault, if He made me like Pharaoh just to put me down, why does He yet find fault for who hath resisted His will? Nobody can resist His will. He makes us what we are and puts us in the place where He has for us in this world and has us doing what we are doing. He does all that. And if He makes us bad people, how can He charge me with that? It's a good question. It's reasonable. It's logical. The natural mind will always think that way. I think that way. If something unfair happens, I think, well, that ain't fair.

But I'm not God. The answer to that is this. Who are you to open your mouth against God? Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? Don't you realize that you didn't make yourself? God made you. Shall the thing formed, that's you, say to him that formed it, that's God, But the Lord says he's not going to reply. He'll not give account of his matters. Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing before him say to him before him, Why hast thou made me thus? Why hast thou made me thus?

Hath not the potter the power over the clay? Doesn't he? He took Jeremiah to the potter's house and showed him that he had power Now he takes the reader here to the potter's house and says, here's the potter, he's got the clay over the wheel, and the clay doesn't have anything to do with it, it's just there. And he takes the, dips his hand in the water and moves that clay and forms it into whatever he wants to form into, and that's his business, you see, it's his And if he intends for you to be something, that's what you're going to be. I know people say things like, well, God wants this for you. If God wants something for you, that's what you'll have. That's what you'll have. Just figure it out.

Had not the potter plowed the clay the same lump to make one vessel into honor, a vessel used to display the glory of his grace and his mercy, to show the power and the wisdom of God A thing of beauty, a thing to be displayed, a trophy? You make one vessel into honor, but you make another into dishonor. One that's used for a while, having served its purpose, it's thrown away. This is talking about pots, you see. Some vessels are made beautifully. I have several wedding vases from a man that's a swimmer over on my shelves. They're beautiful, and I love that, and every once in a while I'll just pick up and look at them.

They honor her, her craftsmanship and her beauty. But, she might have made an old bowl or something, that she used for a while as an ashtray, or as a set tray, and maybe got a crack in it, and she just threw it away. Why, it wasn't worth nothing. This is what God is talking about. He makes one vessel beautiful to honor Him. And another, he makes serviceable and usable and functional until it's no longer of use. Having finished its course, he throws it on the potsherd pile with the rest of the broken potsherds. It's his clay. It's his wheel. It's his power. Does he have a right to do that? Of course he does. Of course he does. And this, verse 22, is a question, but more of a statement, to the man who said, who's resisted his will. What if God does that? What have you to say? What can you come back with? What is your retort? How will you respond to that?

What if he's willing to show his wrath, but he forestalls it? His long-suffering. What if he's willing to make his power known, but instead of immediately destroying those things that eventually will be cast aside, what if he, with long-suffering, endures them until he's done with them? How long did he endure Pharaoh until he was done with them? was done with him, long-suffering the vessels fitted to destruction that he's made ultimately to cast aside, to throw away, to destroy. He's made them that way. He made Pharaoh that way. The great king of Egypt, riches untold, power like in no other nation.

I made you to destroy you. He's a Pismire, an ant of no value whatsoever thrown away. I made you for that. God made you for something. He made you for something. He made me for something. And he'll use you. And I pray God everyone here will be set on his mountain as a trophy. and His mercy and His grace, because if you're not, when you're done, you'll be thrown away. Why? Because you're His. Because you're His. Why did He do that? Why did He do that? And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which he hath aforeprepared to glory." He made them to glory. He made these to destroy, made these to glory.

This is the God of Scripture. This is the God that men, if they ever really see who He is, they will worship Him. They will fall down and say, He is God, and there is none beside Him. There is none like unto Him. He declares the end from the beginning. Things that are not, He calls into existence. And though He purposes it, it shall stand. He speaks it, and it shall come to pass. He sits upon the circle of the earth, and Jesus inhabits His grasshoppers. He raises His princes up and puts them down.

He is God. He looks at the nations of this world and weighs them as sands of the balance, dust on the scale. He looks at the nations of this world as a drop of the bucket, nothing to them. He's God, magnificent, sovereign, before whom all things are. And you know what? In His greatness, He shows mercy on whom He will show mercy and whom He will. He hardened us. There's no use to question it. You have no right to. It is one of those usable things. Father, bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name.