Turn back with me now to Romans
chapter 9. A lot of what the apostles wrote
to the churches in his epistles were in answer to false doctrines
and false accusations against the truth and against those who
dare to preach it. I spent the past week visiting
some of my brothers and sisters, sons, and one of my cousins. And they live going all the way
down the Gulf side of Florida and all the way up the Atlantic
side of Florida. kind of went and spent some time
and just hopped from one place to the next until I landed back
in Augusta for my brother's memorial. And I had very little opportunity
to say anything to them. I haven't seen them in a long,
long time, some of them as much as 40 years. But we were very
close and all raised together know each other well. And some
are living out the last days of their lives. They're in bad
shape. And then I proceeded up to Augusta,
Georgia and went to my brother's memorial service. And all this
time I was listening intently to what they had to say because
they all know I'm a preacher, so they all felt compelled to
tell me something about what they believed and about religion
in general, about their denominations, the ones who went to church and
so on. And I was again reminded of the
darkness and deceit in which every lost soul lives out his
days. I was there, that's where the
Lord found me. It's a life of fantasy. They fantasize about things. Cremation, I think, is born a
whole lot out of fantasies. We watch the movies and they
take the ashes of a loved one and they spread them out over
the lake and they fantasize about their spirits being wherever
they love to be, in the mountains, on the lakes, or wherever. It's
a life of fantasy. It's a life of sensationalism. They, what do I mean by that? Well, they're sensual about things. These things have to be, whatever
religion is to them, it's something that stirs their feelings. It
makes them feel good. Feel good. But what I heard was a lot of
baseless concepts no basis in the word of god whatsoever and the one i did have opportunity
to talk to for just a second said i don't know why you believe
those things and i said well because god said those things yeah but You know, I look around,
everybody else don't believe those things. Well, I said, I don't have any
other information on God except this book. Do you? Has God come
to you in some kind of private vision or something and given
you information that's not contained in the word of God? I don't have
any other information. I have to base what I believe
on this book, on God's testimony. And I believe that concerning
all things, concerning my sin, concerning salvation, concerning
the life that I live. I have to look in this book and
see what God said. Because I don't have any other
information on God. Paul exhorts the saints at Ephesus
not to walk Like they used to walk. Don't walk like these other
Gentiles walk. Now listen. How did they walk? In the vanity of their mind.
That's what he said. Don't do that. Don't do that. Over and over in Proverbs it
says there's a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof is destruction. Don't walk in the vanity of your
mind. Don't walk after your feelings. He said, they walk in the vanity
of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God. That is, they don't know anything
at all about who God is. And so, they think they know
something about what they are, so they take what they are and
try to attribute those things to God. God's not like you. Thank God He's not. He said, there's none like me. Isn't that what he said? I am
God, he told Isaiah. There's none like me. To whom
will you compare me? You see what I'm saying? This
is the only information we have on God. And they're walking in
the vanity of their minds. having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their heart. They hear a thing. I remember hearing when I was
a kid. I heard things. I heard what my dad said. I heard
what other ministers of God said. And for the most part, this world
hears a thing, and then they come up with, they roll that
in there and mix that with everything else that they've heard. And then they come up with this
wicked imagination, and then over time, they wind up resting
their souls on it. My brother, before he died, he
looked at me and he said, I know that I'll be accepted
of God because I know how I've lived in this world. I know I've
tried to treat people fairly in my dealings with them and
I've been careful not to lie and not to do this and not to
do that. And I said, boy, that's not my hope, not my hope. All my hope rests in Christ,
period. Period. If he's not my righteousness,
I'm a goner. Because all my righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. He's my sanctification. I don't
have any, what in the world have you ever done that you would
call sanctifying yourself before God? What good deed have you
ever performed? What good thought have you ever
had that you would lay out on a platter and hand it to God
and say, look here what I did? Boy, Henry said one time, if
there was a big screen TV and you could plug your mind into
it and your thoughts would show up for everybody to see, nobody
would plug up. Oh boy, if they're evil to you,
What must they be before God? This whole world is ignorant
of God, ignorant of his son, Jesus Christ, who he is, why
he came, what he did, where he's at, what he's doing presently. What I hear him talk about is
this man that's powerless. He's a do-gooder, but he's powerless
to do anything unless you give him your consent. And even when
you give him your consent, then you still have to help him, because
he don't have any hands. He has no hands but your hands,
no feet but your feet, no eyes but your eyes. What kind of God
do you got? He's a half a substitute, some
men say. He can forgive all of your past
sins, but not your present and future sins. That's a half a
substitute, that's what that is. They preach him as a loving son
who goes to his father and contrary to his will, talks him out of
sending those that he'd made a commitment to, to hell. That's
just not so. Christ said, I came not to do
my will, I came to do the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which He hath
given me, I should lose nothing but raise it up again at the
last day. That's God's will. And add to this the concept that
God is whatever you want Him to be. That's what my sister
taught me. I believe that the Bible says different things to
different people and God basically is whoever you want him to be. Now if this book says different
things to different people, then there can be no judgment. Can't be a judgment. The Bible said, he that believeth
not shall be damned. Believeth not what? You see what
I'm saying? This book says something. And
what it says, it says dogmatically, irreversibly, unchangeably, it
says it, and it says it clear. God's not whatever you want him
to be. He said to the people, he said, you thought I was altogether
such a one as yourself. But he said, I reprove you. And then here in Romans nine,
Paul speaks of his kinsmen, the same as I've just spoken of mine.
They were religious. They were zealous. They were
law keepers. They were proselyte makers. They
were church goers, Bible readers, organized, established, recognized
by the world as God's chosen people. Ask anybody. Ask anybody. Go down to a local bar, walk
in there with a bunch of drunks who maybe heard a few scriptures
when they were growing up. Ask them who the Jews are. They'll tell you that's God's
elect. Huh? Isn't that right? They were God's chosen people.
Ask nearly anybody, they'll tell you the same thing. But here
in Romans 9, 6, Paul says something different. He said, for they
are not all Israel that are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. So what's all that mean? It means
this, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these
are not the children of God. They're not the children of God.
And then God told Rebekah, Isaac's wife, who was pregnant with twin
baby boys. They hadn't been born yet. They'd
not done any good or evil. And he told them this, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but
of God that calleth. He said, the elder's gonna serve
the younger. I'm gonna reverse the process.
The elder's gonna serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved. When did he love him? Before
he'd done any good or evil. Isn't that what that's saying?
That's right. He said this, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, and he said it because it was written, Jacob
have I loved and Esau have I hated. I'm gonna ask you something. Is there
any currently active, worldly acknowledged religion that believes or would let you
preach these things in their pulpit? No. No. Why? Because it runs contrary
to natural men who walk in the vanity of their minds. It runs
contrary to it. And I could go on and on about
false religion and the ignorance that they live in and the lies
that it generates. But as I listened to my loved
ones going on and on, I just wanted to stop them and say,
what if? What if? Isn't that what Paul's
saying here? He said, I know what you're going
to tell me. Why does he yet find fault who has resisted his will?
If he's sovereign in all things, then how can he hold us accountable?
Because he's sovereign. Who held you accountable when
you was little, huh? Your father? He could hold you accountable
too, couldn't he? Mine could and did. But these things run contrary
to natural men. But I just kept wanting to say,
what if, what if, what if your ideas and concepts are not found
in the word of God. And at the best, only half truth. What if your watering hole turns
out to be a broken cistern that holds no water? What if your hope in the end
is nothing more than a sentimental dream? Paul plainly tells them in verse
16, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Mercy's his. It's in his hands
to dispense or withhold. And when God revealed himself
to Moses, he said, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll show compassion to whom
I will show compassion, and whom I will, I'll harden. Moses told him, said, Lord, if
you're going to curse these, take my name out of your book.
He said, I'll take whose name out of my book that I will to
take out of my book. Got nothing to do with you. I'm
God. I'm God. And the bottom line of Paul's
arguments here is, who art thou, O man, that replies against God? Why would a man? a created being
and a fallen being on top of that. Why would this man take
it upon himself to cross-examine God? Where did he ever get the
idea that he could put God in question? You see what Paul's saying? Who
art thou, old man? Mercy and grace, my friend, are
reality. Salvation is a reality. God's
love and kindness and tenderness are realities. His church in
this world is a present reality. The new birth is a reality, but
not the way religion declares it to be. So let me just propose something
here for you to think about. Let me give you some what ifs.
What if God? Now Paul begins here in verse
22 of Romans 9 and he said, what if God, willing to show his wrath
and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? What if contrary
to what men believe, God is putting up with this whole unbelieving
world until his redemptive purpose is fulfilled. Men think they've been approved
of God and that's why things are going smooth for them. Huh? Things went smooth for Pharaoh
for a little while. Till God buried him in the sea. There was a world full of scoffers
and mockers who gathered to laugh at Noah, laughed at his preaching,
laughed at the ark that he was building. Nothing drastic happened. No
fire fell from heaven. No giant earthquakes. God didn't
send a big wind and blow them all away. Christ said they just
went on marrying and giving and marriage. Everything just went
like it always went. Just going smooth as silk. They
planted the garden and harvested the garden. They were singing
and dancing and marrying and going to family reunions and
just going on with life in general. Nothing happened. And here they
are. They're scoffing against God.
They're mocking his messenger. All these things are going on.
until Noah entered into the ark. And then it was all over. It
was all over. My friend, the living God is
a consuming fire. His wrath and judgment is not
only real, but they're continually being manifest in this world. God is willing to show his wrath. He willing, he was willing in
the garden to condemn the whole human race
by the sins of our father Adam. You think he was willing to show
his wrath? He did. And those he redeems out of that
fallen race, he said, were by nature children of wrath, even
as others. Says, by the offense of one,
judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Ephesians 2.3 tells
us that even the saved were by nature children of wrath, and
God exercised his wrath on Cain. Drove him out from among a believing
family to live in the land of Nod. Somebody asked me the other
night, might have been Brian, I don't know, somebody asked
me, What is the land of Nod? I said, I don't really have a
clue, but when I go in and see things like funerals that are
preached by unbelieving men and the families out there and they're
all going like that little dog that sits on your dashboard,
you know, Nod, Nod, Nod, Nod. That's the land of Nod. God cursed this world, saved
eight souls in the ark. And in my lifetime, I've seen
so many leave the church and just fade into what's known
as this present evil world, just fade away, fade away. Paul said, Demas hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world. And John said, if any man loved
the world, the love of the Father's not in him. Not in him. God's willing, my
friend, to show his wrath and make his power known. If you
don't believe it, read in this book about the cross. He spared
not his own son. If God poured his wrath out on
his son, I guarantee you he'll pour it out on you. He's willing to show his wrath
and make his power known on the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. He knows how to handle rebels. And sometimes he smites them
down and takes them out right before everybody. Just takes
them out. I went into a church, an Armenian
church, and back then I was playing a guitar and singing, and I go
into all these different denominations and get a little chance, I thought
I was getting a chance to witness to him. But anyway, I was in
a free will Baptist church that night. And the old pastor came
in after the meeting had started. And the pastor recognized him
and said, this was the founding father of this church. And I'll
just pull a name out because I don't remember his name. And
the pastor said, Sam, how are things between you and the Lord?
And he went to throw up two fingers like that, saying, me and the
Lord, just like that. And when those two fingers went
in the air, God killed him dead in a wedge. His head hit the
pew. He died instantly. Sometimes God takes a man out,
just takes him out. Sometimes he lets him live and
gives him over to strong delusion to believe a lie and be damned. He knows how to handle rebels
and don't ever entertain the notion that God's not willing
to show his wrath. My sister, the same sister that
told me what I told you before, she told me this. I don't believe
a good God would send anybody to hell. And I said a good God
wouldn't, but a just God will. A just God will. So what if God be a just God? Not that sentimental concept
of God that we've got in our mind, but what if God is a just
God? What if God's willing to show
his wrath and make his power known on all this unbelieving
work? Boy, that changes things, don't
it? A woman told me one time, she
said, God's love I said, yes he is, but he's not all love.
He's also righteous and just. God is wrath. God's a lot of things, but he's
not all love. So what if God's willing to show
his wrath? Boy, I'm telling you, that changes
things now. From what I can understand by
the testimonies that I heard, this was a handful, maybe five
of my relatives, and they were talking. But what I gleaned from
that is a very unconcerned, I'm going to go out and meet him,
whatever's there is there. Really? That's a person who knows
nothing about God. Daniel, was there a more righteous
man than Daniel, outwardly? Daniel said when he saw the Lord,
his cumbliness melted into corruption. Job put his hand over his mouth
when the Lord spoke to him. He said, once have I spoken,
yea, twice I'll never speak again. All right, here's the second
what if. What if God, in spite of man's depravity and sin, in
spite of his ignorance and blindness, and in spite of his continual
rebellion and hatred for God, what if God was willing to make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which
he had afore prepared unto glory? What if God is willing Now I'm
gonna tell you something, when God convicts you of sin, there's
not gonna be any hope for you, not in your mind. Because everything
in you is polluted, everything in you is sin. And you're gonna
look to him for mercy. You're just gonna fall down at
his feet and beg for mercy. Nothing else you can do. So what if God is willing in
spite of what man is, in spite of what man does, in spite of
his ignorance and blindness and deceit, in spite of what Satan's
influence over him and over this world, what if God is willing? Oh, my soul. willing to make known the riches
of his glory. We live in a day when men believe
and preach a God who reacts to things in time. Something happens
and he reacts to it. Somebody decides something, God
reacts to it. But that's not the God of the
Bible. He said, remember those ancient
things, those things of old, for I am God. And there's none
like me, I declare the end from the beginning, from ancient times
to things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand
and I'll do all my pleasure. Paul's saying here, what if God
has a people he chose in Christ? This people of four prepared
unto glory. predestinated unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good
pleasure of his will. That kind of doctrine never enters
into the thinking of a natural man, never enters into his thinking. But see man as he is, he's fallen,
depraved, he's a sinful wretch, practices his idolatry and sinful
worship with ease. That woman at the well told Christ,
he said, you worship in Jerusalem, we worship here in the mountains.
He said, you worship you know not what. You just go down there
to feel better. That's the only reason you go
down there. You don't know what you're worshiping. See God. I see man as he is. But then see God as He is, doing
exactly what He's purposed to do. God's gonna save everyone
that He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.
You may not see any potential in them, and you won't because
there is no potential in them. All the potential's in God. But
we write people off. They get to a certain place,
well, that's it. There ain't no saving Him. all
my fellow god save me we are i don't care how big romeo how
dark romeo you've got turned the light on the light on at
all there is to it god does exactly what he's purpose
to do in a patient one eleven it said in hand that is in christ
Also, we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him, now listen, who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Believers are men and women who
are vessels of which he hath aforeprepared unto glory. Every detail of their salvation
has been fixed by God. And it's being brought to pass
in this time according to the good pleasure of his will. And he just, there's no, I don't
even know how to say, there's no aspect, there's no part or
portion even in time that God is not fully in control of in
your life. And to make these men understand
that, our Lord said, Not a sparrow shall fall to the ground without
your father and every hair on your head is numbered. And I could say that about every
aspect, every step you ever took. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, after talking
about antichrist and its influence over the world, Paul said he
was bound to give thanks always to God for them, these Thessalonians,
beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel. He made me a preacher. He taught me his gospel. Then
he sent me in his providence to preach to you and he gave
you a reason to be here. That's what he's telling them.
And they heard the gospel. And he said, I thank God. God's not anxiously going about
trying to get men and women to help him or enable him to save
their souls. enduring these vessels of wrath
in this world in order to make known the riches of his glory
on these vessels of mercy. And that's what he's going to
do. That's exactly what he's going to do. And then what if God makes the
riches of his glory known? It's not in the capacity of man
to see it, to perceive it or understand it. I have not heard
Our eye hath not seen or ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. How
did He reveal them to us? By His Spirit, through the preaching
of the gospel. It came not in word only, but it
came in power and in the Holy Ghost. That's how it came. In this gospel, the very character
of God is revealed in its perfect harmony. So what God sets before
the sinner is the fact that God is both just and the justifier
of him that believeth in Jesus. He's just in his justification. And this revelation is set before
men through the preaching of the gospel. And I'll preach to
as many as will listen to me. And all those chosen of God are
here. And they'll rejoice and they'll believe. And all those
who not won't. They just won't. You can pile
truth up around them like cordwood. It won't make a bit of difference. And here's the last thing I want
you to see. How in the world does a man know
his election? You say, okay, Preacher, you
quoted some scriptures, I see it there. God said he has an
elect. How in the world does a man go about knowing if he's
one of them? He calls his people. Isn't that
what he says here? He's going to make known the
riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He hath afore
prepared unto glory, even us whom He hath called. He calls them with an irresistible
calling. Here is this, when God the Holy
Spirit comes in power into a man's life, it gives him a new heart.
It gives him the ability to perceive. It gives him the ability to understand. Paul said, I thank God who hath
made us meet to be partakers with the enlightened saints.
He made us meet. He made us able. to do these
things. He enabled us to believe these
things. Elections made known by our calling.
He calls us through the gospel. Now if you will, turn with me
to 1 Corinthians chapter one, just a few pages from our text. I wanna read you this verse and
I'll close with the reading of this verse. 1 Corinthians chapter one, down
toward the end of the chapter, verses 30 and 31. But of him, that is of God, are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That according
as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory in himself. No,
that's not what that says. He that gloryeth, let him glory
in the Lord. Why? Because he did it all. He
did it all. Wouldn't you like to take somebody
and just tell them, what if? What if what you've always believed
is wrong, and the word of God is so? What if?