Open our Bibles again to Romans
chapter 9. The title of the message this morning
is, Are You a Child of God? I spent a good bit of time this
week thinking about children and parents. There's something
very special about the relationship of a child and a parent. You
know, as a child, you only get one set of parents. They're the
only ones you ever get. And we love our parents. Children
tend to just love their parents, even when they're not very good
parents. Children tend to love their parents
because it's such a strong bond. They're the only ones you ever
get. We get a sense of self. We get a sense of love and belonging
from our parents. And we all can appreciate the
love of a parent. Even when a child is an adult,
parents are willing to just do whatever they can to help their
child. You just don't outgrow those
things. And as a child, we simply do not like to lose that relationship. It's just, you know, you lose
a mother or a father, that relationship will never be replaced. We just
like that feeling. of having parents, having their
love. I didn't intend to say this,
but you get this for free. That impresses upon me, to us
parents. Be good ones. Be good ones. Our children deserve it, don't
they? Well, as special as that is, I've got something more special.
Almighty God has some children. He has some children among the
sons of men. This is what he said. Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children
of God. Caiaphas, the high priest, the year our Lord was slain,
preached a wonderful gospel message. He had no idea what he was saying.
He preached a wonderful gospel message. He said that Christ
came to gather together in one the children of God. That's who
He came to gather, the children of God, which were scattered
abroad. So God has some children, doesn't He? That's obvious to
us. If you think you're blessed to have earthly parents, what
a blessing must it be to be a child of God. It's a far greater blessing
if God's our Father, if He loves and cares for us as His children. And this is what I want to know.
Am I a child of God? How can I be a child of God?
I know I'm a son of Adam. How can I be a child of God?
Our text this morning is going to give us the answers to that
question. It begins with two ways that we cannot be a child
of God. First of all, we cannot be God's
children because we're religious, because we go through religious
ceremonies. Now, it's easy for us to be able
to see and understand. There's someone who has no interest
in the Lord at all. That's not one of God's children,
is it? Someone who has no interest in public worship, someone who
has no need to hear the gospel preached, someone who has no
need to hear of God. They're not a child of God. I guess it shouldn't surprise
me, but my daughter Savannah last week told me something that
it did kind of surprise me. She said of all the people that
she works with, she and one other girl, young woman, I guess, are
the only two people in that whole complex that regularly attend
a worship service, a church service on Sunday morning. And Savannah
is the only one that goes Sunday night and Wednesday night. Now,
does that mean that those two are the children of God and everybody
else is not? No, it doesn't mean that. You
can't tell from that, can you? We don't become a child of God
by going through the motions of religion. And if you wonder
whether or not that's true, Frank, is that really true? The nation
Israel shows us that that's true. Look here at verse four. Paul
says, who are the 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. Now we know from the scripture
that God gave the nation Israel every advantage, didn't He? But
most of them were lost. That's why those verses we looked
at last week, that's why Paul has this great heaviness and
continues sorrow in his heart. They didn't know the Lord. They're
very religious. I mean, they lived a life and
their life seven days a week revolved around their religion.
But they were lost. Now they had every advantage.
God chose Israel, that little insignificant nation. God chose
them to be the only nation on earth to be his people. He chose
them. That's what the adoption is.
God chose them of all the nations on earth to be the nation where
God would dwell with them. This is the only nation on earth
God would communicate with. Only Israel had God's presence. Israel had the Shekinah glory
of God dwelling over that mercy seat. in the Holy of Holies.
That's where God would meet with men. Not another nation had it. Not one. Only Israel had the
law of God. Only Israel had the ceremonies.
Only Israel had the religion, the ceremonies of worship, which
were all types of Christ. God said this is the only way
I'll be worshiped. Only Israel had it. Israel had the fathers. Now they had Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. They had David. They had the
sweet psalmist of Israel. They had all the prophets. No
other nation had a David. No other nation had an Isaiah.
Nobody else had an Isaac. But most of that nation still
did not believe God. They knew the fathers. They talked
to the fathers who knew God. They talked to Abraham who talked
with God. They talked to Jacob. God Almighty
talked to Jacob. And he turned around and told
his children, What God said, most of them didn't believe. We know that they didn't believe.
Most of that nation did not believe because Christ came. God incarnate. God became a man. And when he
did, he became a Jew. He descended from David. He was
a Jew. He came into his own. And his
own received him not. Now they had every advantage,
didn't they? Every advantage. but they still rejected the Savior
when He came. They didn't want Him. They said,
I'm going to have this man reign over me, crucify Him. Now that's sad, but I want to
make this applicable to every one of us here. I'm not talking
about something happening in history. I'm talking about you
and me today. God has chosen this place, this little building
on this little country road to be the place where the gospel
is preached in this town. The glory of almighty God, the
glory of God in salvation is preached from this pulpit three
times a week. But you know that we cannot be
saved just by being in this place where the gospel is preached
and hearing it with the natural ear. Can't be done. We know that from Israel. And
just let me tell you from my own experience, I can tell you,
you can sit under the greatest gospel preacher of your generation
all your life and not believe if you just hear with these ears.
I'm proof positive of it. The Jews heard the law, didn't
they? They said, Moses, don't let God speak to us. You speak
to us. And he did. He told them what God said. He
told them the law of God. And they heard him, but they
didn't believe. You know, I know they didn't
believe they didn't look to Christ. Instead, they looked at their
ceremonies. They looked at what they could do. They didn't hear
Moses with your faith, did they? And the same thing applies to
you and me. We can't be saved just by hearing the gospel, just
like the Jews could not be saved by reciting the Ten Commandments.
You and I can't be saved by reciting the five points of Calvinism.
That's not that's not the way it happens. The only way sinners
like you and me can be saved, there's just one more, it's believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I say believe Him, I
don't just mean you give mental assent. Yeah, that's got to be
true. That makes sense. No. Believing
Christ is casting your whole soul, putting all of your hope
on Him and leaving it there because you know He's the Savior and
He's your only hope. That's believing Christ. The
Lord here has given us a place of worship. And I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful to have a place
that we can meet together and worship. And I can say this is
true. God's worshiped here in spirit
and in truth. God's just blessed us to have
this congregation have a heart of worship. I'm so thankful.
But you know, we cannot be saved by attending a place where God's
worshiped. Just being around people that
are worshiping, just being around good preaching is not going to
save us any more than being around the ceremonies of the Old Testament
saved that stiff-necked, rebellious people Israel. Just being around
other believers won't save us. Just like being around the fathers
or related to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn't save
the Jews. If we would be saved, we must
believe the Christ that's preached. It's through faith. That's the
only way a sinner can be saved. Israel had the fathers. Am I safe to say we have two?
I think I am. I think I'm safe to say we've
had the fathers. We've had men and women who are
giants in the faith, modern day Abrahams, Isaacs, and Jacobs.
But you know, knowing those men and women, being related to them,
coming from their loins, not going to save us. Not any more than Absalom could
be saved by descending from David's loins. The only way we can be saved
is by having the same faith as our fathers, the same faith and
the same Savior. All the outward form and ceremony
of religion in this world will not do us any spiritual good
without faith in Christ. Even being around true religion,
even giving mental assent that it's true, won't do us any spiritual
good without faith in Christ. The only way sinners like you
and me can be saved, the only way we can be a child of God,
is through faith in Christ. Through faith. Let me show you
that from the scriptures. First Romans chapter four is
back a few pages. Romans chapter four. It's the same way that Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob became the sons of God, children of God. That's
how they became the fathers. Romans four verse 13. For the
promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to
Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. See, this didn't come to them
through the law, through the obeying the law, through the
ceremonies of the law. It came to them through faith,
didn't it? And the same thing applies to
you and me. Just replace law with religion. All of our religious
ceremonies, that's not how anybody's saved. It's through the righteousness
of faith. Look over at Romans chapter nine,
the end of that chapter, verse 30. What should we say then? That
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness. They
didn't seek righteousness through the ceremonies and the law. They
didn't have them, did they? But they have attained to righteousness.
How? Even the righteousness, which
is a faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
they sought righteousness by their obedience to the law and
by observing all the ceremonies of the law. They followed after
the law of righteousness. They've not attained to the law
of righteousness. Why? Wherefore? because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for
they stumbled at that stumbling stone. See there, it's by faith. And one more scripture, Galatians
chapter three. Galatians three verse 26. For we are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now you can't make it any more
plain than that, can you? We're a child of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. Not by any religious activity
that we do, but by faith. Alright, here's the second way
that we're not children of God. You cannot become a child of
God because of who you're related to in the flesh. Back in our
text, Romans 9 verse 7. 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. Now it's easy for us
to understand. A person is not saved because
they descended from Abraham physically. But now again, I want to make
this apply to you and me. I don't want to talk about somebody
that lived 6,000 years ago. I want to talk about you and
me. Like I said, we've had defilers here, haven't we? But we're not
saved because our parents are believers. No, sir. Salvation
cannot come through human bloodlines. The forgiveness of sin cannot
come through human bloodlines, because human blood is filled
with sin. It's corrupt. It's defiled. It's filthy. Salvation
comes through the blood of Christ. Now, you have every advantage. You're blessed. God's given you
every advantage if your parents are believers, if your parents
are faithful to teach you Christ, if your parents were faithful
to bring you to these classes, these teachers who teach you
Christ, if they're faithful to teach you those things, what
an advantage you have. Oh, I'm thankful. If you find
yourself with parents like that, you give thanks. That's a blessing
from God. But you know, having those parents
won't save our souls. Having parents that believe Christ
won't save our souls. They can teach our heads, but
try as they might, they couldn't put in our heart. They can't
put faith in our heart. They put knowledge in the head,
but not faith in the heart. If you would be a child of God,
must believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You must.
Your parents can't do it for you, your grandparents, your
pastor can't do it for you. You must believe on Christ. Let me show you that Galatians
chapter three. Galatians chapter three, verse
six. Even as Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted, it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Know ye, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same
are the children of Abraham. Those who are children of Abraham
are children by faith, not because of who he physically descended
from. You're saving faith, saving faith. It's all the same faith. It's
exactly the same faith everywhere you find it. Yet this is also
true. Saving faith is very personal. I'm saved through my faith. My faith. The faith that God
gave me, not the faith of my parents, not the faith of my
friends, the faith God gave me. My faith won't help you at all.
If you would be saved, you must believe. God must give you the
gift of faith. In the illustration Paul uses
to prove his point, is Ishmael. Now if anyone could ever be saved
because of who his daddy is, it'd be Ishmael, wouldn't it?
He's the son of Abraham. But it wasn't so. It wasn't. Ishmael was a rebel from the
beginning. He lived and died a rebel. Ishmael was born, how? By the will and power and purpose
of the flesh, not by the will and power of God. So Ishmael
is a son of the flesh, not a son of God. Now, you know the story. God came to Abraham. Abraham
getting to be an old man, had no son, had no heir. The servant
was going to be his heir. And God promised Abraham, your
servant is going to be your heir. You're going to have a son. I'm
going to give you a son. He's going to be your heir. He's going
to, he's going to, he can be your son. Well, years went by. Abraham's heir is still childless.
So Sarah said, tell you what, I think God wants us to do our
part. We've got to help God and do
our part to accomplish God's purpose. She said, I've been
thinking about this, Abraham, tell you what we'll do. You go
into my servant, Hagar. She's much younger than me. She's
got the strength of life. You go into my servant, Hagar,
and she'll have us a son. Abraham did it. Sure enough,
Hagar, young, strong, vibrant woman, She produced a son. She
gave Abraham a son. He named that boy Ishmael. And you and I know Ishmael. They put that baby boy in Abraham's
arms and he loved that boy. Oh, how he loved that boy. That's his son. But Ishmael was
not the son God promised, was he? No, sir. Ishmael was born
of the will and the power of the flesh. Paul tells us that
in Galatians chapter 4. He tells us God used all this
to give us a picture. Ishmael represents a person trying
to be saved by the will of the flesh, by what the flesh can
do, the strength of the flesh, by keeping the law, by observing
all those outward ceremonies. Just like today, somebody tries
to be saved, they're Ishmael, by what they can do in the flesh. It's walking an aisle, it's making
a decision, it's living the Christian life. Whatever it is, you know,
it's what the flesh can do, the will and the power of the flesh.
God says, that's Ishmael. That's what Ishmael represents.
And God said, I'll never accept it. Never. Salvation cannot come
that way. No one can be a child of God
that way, by the will of the flesh. I show you how strong
this is. Do you know God never refers
to Ishmael as son of Abraham? God didn't think of Ishmael as
a son. What did he tell Abraham? Now
you listen to Sarah. She's telling you right. Cast
out the bond woman and her son, not your son, her son, the son
of the flesh, the son produced by the will and the power of
the flesh is going to be cast out. But take now thy son, thy
only, your only son. Isaac's the son. Take him to
a mountain and I'll show you. You offer him there as a burnt
offering. Ishmael wasn't the son. That which comes of the
flesh can never be a child of God. Now, is that obvious to
us? We can't be saved because of
who we're related to. If Ishmael couldn't be saved because he's
related to Abraham, No child of Frank Tate's could ever be
saved because they're related to me. Is that obvious? And in that
day, the day that Paul was writing, this is what broke his heart.
There were many Jews like Ishmael. They descended from Abraham.
And they were all around the true worship of God, and they
never understood it. It never caused them to worship
because they didn't see Christ in it. They didn't see the Savior.
And the same thing is true today. There's so many people. I know
there's many more people are in false religion, but now there
are many people in true religion. There are many people sitting,
hearing the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace preached
by his servants faithfully. But that doesn't mean they're
saved. Just being there physically is not going to save anyone.
Let me ask you a question. Does that mean that God's purpose
has failed? Does that mean that God is trying
to save people, but they're not saved because they won't hear,
they won't believe, they won't bow? Does that mean that the
Word of God is not powerful enough to save? I mean, all we preach
here is the Word. If someone sits here for years
and years and hears God's Word and they're not saved, Eric,
does that mean we should change our method? Should we start to
preach something else? No, no. That doesn't mean the
word of God is not powerful enough to save. It is. Look here at
verse six. Paul says, not as though the
word of God have taken none effect. For they're not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Everyone who's part of the nation
Israel, a national fleshly Jew. They're not part of spiritual
Israel. Our Lord told us this. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. He didn't have a fleshly kingdom
and he doesn't have a fleshly family. He doesn't have fleshly
children. He has spiritual children. God's
nation is spiritual Israel and all of those people shall be
saved. And you know how God's going
to save them? He's going to use his word to
do it. The seed of his word. So that's how someone does not
become a child of God. But how am I a child? How can I be a child of God?
Our text gives us two ways. Number one, we're children of
God by covenant grace. Now when we say covenant grace,
what we mean is the promised grace of God. A child of God
has always been a child of God because God promised in eternity
that they would be. Verse 7, Paul says, 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. Let me give you a few
ways that Isaac represents God's children. All of God's children
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. All of God's children, first
of all, are children because of God's promise, God's covenant
mercy, God's promise of mercy to his children. Do you know
why Isaac was born? You want me to tell you why Isaac
was born? Because God promised Isaac would be born. And he was
born at the exact time God said he'd be promised. Because God
always keeps his promises. When our girls were little, Janet and several of the other
mothers did this. I thought this was wise. She was so wise in raising our
children. In their Sunday school class and then from the message
that they heard, they always had to tell her one thing that
they remembered. Several of the women did, didn't
they? And one mother was driving home with her boys one day and
I had preached that morning and he said, You don't even have
to ask me. You don't even have to ask me. I know what he said.
I know Frank's message. She said, what was his message?
He said, God always keeps his promise. That'd be a good thing
to remember, wouldn't it? God always keeps his promise.
That is exactly why Isaac was born. Isaac represents all of
God's children. All of God's children are going
to be born again. There's not going to be one still
birth. Not one. I can preach the gospel in utter confidence. I mean, just utter, absolute
confidence. I can see what Paul says. I have
great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart to see people
that do not believe, but that does not deter my absolute, utter
confidence to preach the gospel because I know this is so. All
of God's children are going to be born because God promised
it. And he always keeps his promises.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation comes by the will and
purpose of God. Look at Titus chapter 1. Salvation
comes from God's promise of redemption, His eternal promise, His promise
that He made before time began. Titus 1, verse 1. the servant of God and apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and
the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, and
hope of eternal life. Now, why does Paul have such
a hope? Which God that cannot lie promised before the world
began, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching,
which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our
Savior. So I can also say with Paul, I'm going to preach at
faith. with confidence, because God's going to keep his promise.
He's going to use the preaching of his word to have all of his
children be born again. A second God's children are children
just like Isaac. Isaac is a type of all God's
children because their birth is supernatural. And when I say
it's supernatural, I mean only God can make it happen. Verse
nine. For this is the word of promise.
at this time, at this set time, at this exact time, will I come
and Sarah shall have a son. God says Sarah's going to have
a son when I come and enable her to have a son. That's when
it's going to happen. Now, humanly speaking, biologically
speaking, it was impossible for Sarah to have a son. Genesis 18.11 tells us that it
ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Her womb
was dead. I did not do very good in biology
in high school. And when I got to college, I
did everything I could to avoid taking any biology classes because
it was an utter mystery to me. I mean, I just couldn't understand
it. But I know this is true. You can't get life from something
that's dead. You don't have to be real smart to know that. You
can't get life from a dead wound. Sarah gave birth to Isaac. You
know why? His birth is supernatural birth.
God gave life to a dead womb. Sarah produced a son, the son
of God's promise, the son through which the Savior would come.
Now, how does that apply to you and me? That's a good Bible story.
But how does that apply to you and me? Well, you and I are born
dead in sin. We're born spiritually dead.
And just like Sarah's dead womb, you and me can't get life from
something that's dead. We cannot produce spiritual life from our
dead spiritual cells. The only thing we can produce
is more spiritual death. There's no hope that spiritual
life can come from anything we do because we're dead. So if
a sinner is born again, it's got to be a supernatural birth,
doesn't it? It's got to be a birth that only
God can make happen. And He'll do that for every last
one of His children. Look at John chapter 1. God's children are going to be
born supernaturally when God gives them the power, when He
causes them to be born. John 1 verse 11. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. But that didn't mean he was a
failure. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power. He gave them the right, the privilege.
He used the power of Almighty God to become the sons of God,
even to them which believe on his name, which were born. They're born again, not of blood,
nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. They are born of God's power,
of God's will, of God's purpose, of the blood, of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's how we're born. That's
how a child of God is born. It's a supernatural birth. Now,
you remember I told you that even though many do not believe,
that that doesn't mean that God's Word has lost His power. That
doesn't mean that somehow we failed in preaching God's Word. Look at 1 Peter 1. Now, we're insistent on preaching
the Word. Because God uses his word and
only his word to give life to his people. 1 Peter 1. Verse 23. Being born again. Now, how were
you born again? Well, not of corruptible seed,
not of man's corruptible sinful seed, but of incorruptible. by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So you can't
be born again of incorruptible seed, for all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
the flower thereof falleth away. But the incorruptible seed, the
word of God, endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. See, the new birth cannot come
by the flesh, because the only thing the flesh can produce is
more sinful flesh. So the new birth, there's a new
man, a holy, righteous man born who cannot sin, who cannot not
believe Christ because that new man has been produced from different
seed, different seed than his first birth. This is a holy seed. And the only thing the holy seed
can produce is holy people. So every child of God is holy
and righteous by a supernatural birth. That's how someone is
a child of God. 2. We are children of God by
electing grace, children of God by His covenant mercies, by His
promise, and children of God by electing grace. 3. And not
only this, but when Rebekah also is conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, 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's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, Paul knew
that Jews reading this letter would say, well, Ishmael was
never really a Jew in the first place. Ishmael was born of the
bond woman. We true Jews, we're born of the
free woman. We were never in bondage to any man. I mean, you
talk about revisionist history. We never in bondage to anyone.
We're born of the free woman. So just to make sure all flesh and
the hope is taken away, or all hope in the flesh is taken away,
Paul uses the example of Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau are
alike in every way, weren't they? Both of them born from a free
woman. They were both a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, their mama and dada Hebrews. Jacob and Esau, They're
twins. They weren't conceived and born
years apart like Ishmael and Isaac. They were conceived at
the same time. They're born just moments apart
with Jacob hanging on Esau's heel. But one of them is saved
and one of them is lost. I mean, you can't read Scripture
and deny that, can you? Well, what made the difference
between Jacob and Esau? What's the difference? One thing. God's electing grace. God's love,
his electing love. God loved Jacob. And that is
the only difference between the two. God made a difference between
those two brothers, between Jacob and Esau, just exactly like he
made a difference between Israel and the Egyptians. God made the
difference. Now, God didn't love Jacob because
of anything Jacob did or anything Jacob would do. Listen, Jacob's
unlovable. If you're going to do business
with Jacob, you're going to keep your hand on your wallet at all
times. The man's a cheat. He's just always conniving. He's
got an angle all the time. He's not likable. He's a mama's
boy. I mean, you can't like Jacob. We like Esau. I mean, he's a
man's man. You like this guy. I mean, he's
got a good handshake. I mean, he hunts. He does all
this man stuff, you know. God loved Jacob because Almighty
God loves the unlovable. He loves those nobody else can
love. Salvation is not of our works. It's of him that calleth. Salvation's
of the Lord. Salvation's not the result of
man's works. Salvation is the result of God's
choice and God's work for and in his people. Lord willing,
we'll come back next next Sunday morning and look at these verses
dealing with God's electing love, and we'll look at him some more
detail. But I want us to look at him briefly now in this context,
Paul's using them as evidence. They're both born free, so salvation's
got nothing to do with the flesh. God loved Jacob and hated Esau. Now he knows there's another
objection that the natural man, all these Jews are going to make.
They're going to say, that's not fair. Verse 14. What should we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Now, is that true? Is God not fair? Was God unrighteous
to choose to love Jacob in Hades salt? Was God unrighteous? Was
he unfair? to choose Jacob, to show mercy
to Jacob and to pass by his brother. Was he? Was God unfair? Of course
not. Paul says, God forbid that we
think that. Not only is God holy and right
in everything he does, whatever God does, it's right and it's
holy. Also, this is true. Whatever
God does is fair. That's right. It's fair. Esau
didn't want to birthright, did he? It didn't matter a thing. He sold it for a bowl of beans,
just some baked beans. So God wasn't unfair in passing
him by. Election is simply this. It's God being God. It's God
having the character of God to choose sinners to save or else
no one ever would be saved. Verse 15, for he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. I'm not going to waste my time
arguing with anybody about that. That verse thrills my soul. Election opens the door to salvation. God's going to have mercy on
somebody. Maybe he'll have mercy on me. He's going to have mercy
on somebody. But I know this, he's going to
have mercy on Jacob. That gives me hope too. God's
going to have mercy on somebody who don't deserve it. That's
who he's going to have mercy on. He's going to have mercy
on who he chooses to have mercy, and they're not going to deserve
it. I don't know why we think, I mean, I do know why we think.
You know why we think you can do something to deserve mercy?
Because we're spiritually dead. Our understanding is darkened.
By mere definition of the word, you can't deserve mercy. Mercy
is given to those who do not deserve it. Salvation cannot
come by the sinful character of man. Salvation comes by the
holy character of God. God electing a people is just
God being God. It's God showing His character
of love and mercy that He'd choose to have mercy and save those
who do not deserve it. So here's the conclusion to the
whole matter about the children of God. How can I be a child
of God? Verse 16. So then it's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Now the only conclusion we can
draw from this description of God's children is this. This
is the only conclusion we can draw. Salvation is by grace,
not by man's works. Salvation is not by man's will. Salvation is by God's will. Salvation
is not by man's choice. Salvation is by God's choice. Salvation is by mercy, not merit. Now, where does that leave you
and me? Where does that leave us? I can tell you where it leaves
us. It leaves us begging God for
mercy. You know, people take these verses of election and
say, well, you know, I won't bother to do anything. I won't
bother to pray. I won't bother to seek the Lord. Whoever will
be saved will be saved. If I'm elect, I'll be saved,
so I just need to find out if I'm one of the elect. That's
not the question. The question for you and me is
not are we one of the elect. The question for you and me is
this. Do we need mercy? The question
for me is am I a guilty sinner and the only hope I have is God
would be merciful to me? Is that your only hope? If mercy
is your only hope, you know what God said? He'll show it. Mercy is your only hope. If you
come to Him begging for mercy, He'll show it. And you know what
you'll find out? You're going to find out you're
one of God's children all along. That you're one of God's children
because of His covenant mercies. Because He promised it. You're
one of God's children all along because He chose you long before
you chose Him. That's why you came to Him. That's
why you came to His feet begging for mercy. I implore us, each one of us,
beg for mercy. Beg God for mercy, that he be
merciful to you and to me. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for the precious promises of your word, your eternal promise
of mercy and grace to your people, that you're going to have children.
that you're going to have a family that you call out and that you
give life to, that you preserve and protect, that as a father
does his children, that you cherish them as a father cherishes his
children, that you'll provide for them, that you'll protect
them, that you'll teach them, that you'll lead them, that you'll
guide them as a father, an all-wise, all-powerful father does for
his children. Father, we're thankful. We pray
that you would Bless the gospels as it's been preached. Bless
your word to your glory. Father, bless it to the hearts
of your people. Be merciful to us, we pray, how we need you
every hour, every second, how we need you. Don't ever leave
us to ourselves, but keep us in your mercy and your grace.
Call your people out through the preaching of your word. Cause
your word to be planted as a seed in the hearts of your children
that would give life and call them to repentance and to faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, bless, we pray. Father,
we thank you for this food that we're about to eat. Thank you for the occasion. Father,
we thank you for young Ben, how we thank you for him. Father,
we pray that as he begins this next chapter in his life, Father,
that you go with him. Go with him every step. Don't let him go anywhere that
you don't go with him. Watch over him, lead him, guide
him, have mercy on him according to your will and purpose for
your people. Again, Father, we thank you.
Bless us for your great namesake. It's in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For his glory we pray and give thanks. Amen. Right now as we sing this closing
song, our ladies have got us a good meal prepared and hope
you all can stay and have a time of fellowship with us. The lion's
going to form right over there behind Ben. He's not hard to
find. He stands head and shoulders with everybody, so you watch
him. Everybody get in line behind him and let the men set up some
tables and we'll have a time of fellowship, all right?