Romans, chapter 9. In the last two weeks, I've attended
the funerals of two dear friends, both of them I'd known for a
long, long time, for years and years. And they both, more recently,
Mary Bell, profess to me their desire to go home, to leave this
world, and to enter into glory. At Bob's funeral a few weeks
ago, I've made mention of this before, on October the 15th,
we sang at his funeral, It is well with my soul. It is well
with my soul. And Donnie Bell, Thursday morning,
just a few hours after his dear wife had passed into the arms
of Jesus Christ, posted on his Facebook page, it is now well
with my baby soul, he said. Most of y'all read that. She drew her last breath, Donnie
wrote, with me standing by her side. the night before that. Why is it well with their soul? How can it be well with any sinner
leaving this world, Mike, to go stand before God Almighty? God Almighty. What hope can any sinner, and
that's the best way to describe us. We'll never rise above that,
not in this life. We're sinners. That means we
sin. So how can any person, how can
Larry Criss, have any hope of standing before God Almighty, who is so pure of eyes that he
cannot behold iniquity? who says, swearing by his own
eternal being, he could swear by nothing higher than that,
by his own character, he says, as I live, saith the Lord, I
will in no wise, no way, it'll never happen, clear the guilty. or pass by iniquity. I won't
wink at it. Nobody's going to be overlooked. When we stand before God Almighty,
everybody, everybody that stands there in judgment is going to
get exactly what they deserve. You ever think about that? Going
to get exactly what's coming to them. That's what it says
here. And you remember, unless you
get startled by that, child of God, Remember what we read in
the last chapter of Revelation, chapter 22? They have a right
to enter in through the gates into the city. My soul, who gave
them such a right? The King of glory. The vision. The Lord Jesus Christ that Bobby
just sang about. I have attended funerals, and
so have you, I'm sure. where it was said of the one
that died by the man conducting the funeral that the deceased
was then in heaven, we were told, because they'd been a good father. I'm not making this up. I've
heard this more than once. Or that they had been a good,
faithful husband. or the woman who had died was
in heaven now because she'd been such a good wife and mother. How often we've read in the obituary
of the local paper that so-and-so was of the Baptist faith. What
is that? What is the Baptist faith? As
though that entitles them to inner glory. Or they were a member
of the First Baptist Church, not the second one, no, no, no,
the First Baptist Church. I hadn't been here too long,
I think less than a year. I received a letter from the
clerk, secretary, of one of the churches in the area. And they
were requesting that I have the letter of this person they mentioned
sent to that church because they had applied for membership there
and said they were a member of this church. I'd never heard
of them. I'd never met them. The times
that I had been coming down here and filling in for Tommy for
years and years, a couple of times a year, I'd never met this
person. And then when I came here as
your pastor and was here every Sunday, I'd never met this person.
But they, I don't know who they are, still don't know. But they
stated that they were a member here. And I know that you're aware that in our
religious day, nobody goes to hell anymore. Nobody dies lost anymore. According to the religious philosophy,
it doesn't matter who they are. It doesn't matter if it's the
greatest starlet who's lived to be the greatest harlot in
her life. When she dies, she's gone to
heaven. No matter how they lived, no
matter what kind of life of perversion, shaking their fists in the face
of God their whole life, saying, it's not your will but mine,
I'm going to do my thing. But when they die, some idiot
says, well, they're up in heaven looking down on us now. No, they're
not. No, they're not. Sadly, tragically,
no. No, they lived in this world
for this world. They died in their sins. If you die in your sins, there's
not going to be some transformation take place. It makes no difference
what a preacher says or a pope says or a priest says about a
purgatory, a halfway house, whatever that is. You die in your sins,
you die without Christ, you're going to stand before God without
Christ. You're going to stand there without
a mediator. I cannot think, I cannot think
of a more horrible thing than that. People standing before God, and
the Lord Jesus Christ taught this himself, and he didn't say
one or two moonies. Many shall stand before me in
that day and here's their mediator, here's their foundation. This
is why they think God's going to say, well, come on in, welcome
home. We've done many works in your
name, your name, Jesus' name. We've cast out devils in your
name. We've done mighty miracles in your name. Can you imagine
that? It seems apparent to me there
in Matthew 7, these people thought he was going to say, well, enter
in. Enter into the joy prepared for you from the foundation of
the world, but that's not what he taught, is it? He said, depart
from me, I never knew you. Our works is no mediator between
God and man. By all means, be the best citizen
that you can be, be the best husband or wife that you can
be, be the best parent that you can be, but that is no foundation
of acceptance before the Lord God Almighty. There's only one
rock, there's only one foundation, on which we shall stand before
God Almighty that gives us a right to pass through those gates into
the city, and that is Jesus Christ himself, the only mediator between
God and man. That is indeed a strange God
that will accept all these different theories and speculations about
the way to heaven, that will accept any sinner on any grounds. If he bows down out there and
worships that stump, it's okay, he'll go to heaven when he dies.
Somebody will suck. It really doesn't matter to God.
God must be a strange, strange being that will accept that sort
of thing. I've had people tell me, well,
I'll tell you what, Larry. Don't want to hear what you've
got to say. I'll take my chances, they say. You ever had anybody
tell you that? I'm going to take my chances.
I'll worship God in my own way, I've had folks tell me. Invite
him to come hear the gospel. No, no, no, I worship God while
I'm fishing or while I'm hunting or while I'm just laying in bed.
I worship God in my own way. It really doesn't matter what
you believe just as long as you're sincere. You've heard that, haven't
you? God will accept that. Really? Really? Really? Are you sure about that? Are
you willing to rest your immortal soul on that? All right. Thank you, Mike. Me either. Me either. Are you willing to
go out and stand before God Almighty? In just a few more days, you're
going to. We all are. We all are. When God says, like he said to
that rich fool, tonight I'm requiring your soul of you. You mean God
does that? Absolutely. Absolutely. And then whose are all those
things going to be? What good will those bigger barns
do you then? We'll come back to Acts. I'm
sorry, we'll come back to Romans 9. Look, if you will, for a moment
in Acts chapter 17. Paul was waiting for Timothy,
and he's at Athens. Boy, they had oodles of gods. God's for everything. God's for everything. And while Paul waited there and
he saw all this adultery, his heart just overflowed with a
burden. And he thought, man, I've got
to preach the gospel to these heathens. So they appointed him a day to
meet him on Mars Hill. That's where all the smart fellas
gathered around. I don't know what they did, but
they all said, well, this is what I think. This is my opinion. I believe God's this. I believe
God's that. I don't believe it really matters
what we believe as long as we're sincere. Paul said, as he, look
here what he says in verse 22 of Acts 17. Well, we ought to read verse
21. This sounds like it could have been written this morning.
For all the Athenians and strangers which are there spent their time
in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things you are too superstitious. You're probably aware that What
Paul said to them, you're very religious. That's what he said
literally. You are very religious. Verse
23, for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar
with this inscription, to the unknown God. Hundreds and hundreds
of gods, but just in case they missed one, they wanted to cover
all their bases, you know, to the unknown God. And look what
Paul says. whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, him I declare unto you." When Paul said, him whom you
confess is an unknown God to you, I'm going to tell you about. This unknown God that Paul declared
to him was not a false deity. No, he preached unto them the
one true and the living God, that God as he said on down in
his message that has appointed a day, has appointed a day that
he would judge the world in righteousness, verse 31, by that man, by that
one man, the Lord Jesus Christ that he raised up from the dead. And that God that Paul preached
to them was an unknown God. The only true God there is, the
true and living God, they didn't have a clue who he was. And I'll
tell you this. It's the same this morning. Do
you know the one place, the one place where you dare not preach
the gospel of God's free grace? Do you know where it is? It's
not out there in the whorehouse. It's not in the bars. Oh no,
it's in the average pulpit. You dare not preach. You preach
the gospel of God's free grace and they'll look at you, that's
an unknown God to us? What are you talking about? That's
sad, isn't it? That is sad. Paul wrote in 2
Corinthians 11 about another Jesus. If any come unto you preaching
another Jesus, beware. Our Lord in Matthew 24 in answer
to the apostles' questions concerning the last days and the signs of
his coming and so forth, the first thing he said, he answered
them. But the first on top of the list was, be careful that
you be not deceived. Why, Lord? Because many false
Christs will arise and they'll deceive many. They'll deceive
many. Turn, if you will, are you still
in Acts? Look at chapter 1. Turn back a few pages. Look here
in chapter 1 of Acts. The Lord, for the last time,
is appearing to his disciples. As a matter of fact, they followed
him up to the Mount of Transfiguration.
Or the Mount of Olives, I'm sorry. To the Mount of Olives. And they reached the top. Look here at verse 9 of chapter
1. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up. And a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel. Now catch this, which also said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus, this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven
shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into
heaven. This same Jesus. The same one
that ascended that day, Joe. The very same one. He's not changed. He's not changed. It doesn't
matter who says so. He's not changed. It doesn't
matter who likes it or not. He's not changed. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. So whatever he was that day,
Whoever he was that day, when the disciples beheld him with
wondering eyes, ascend back to glory. That's exactly who he
is at this very moment. He's not changed. He's not different. And he's the same one, as the
angels told him, that's coming back again. Now, how did he go? I mean, what sort of Christ was
he? when he ascended back to glory. That's the same one that's coming
back. Who was it? He appeared to his disciples
and said before he sent them to preach the gospel, you remember
what he said? The God of Scripture, the Christ
of Scripture, the true Lord Jesus Christ, this same Jesus, this
is who he is, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me. Now boys, take that with you
and preach the gospel everywhere. Preach it everywhere and I'm
with you. I who possess all power, not
some power, not will exercise power if some feeble, fallen
sinner will allow me, will give me permission. Jesus Christ doesn't
ask permission. He has his way in the whirlwind,
and I find that so comforting. The only ones that don't find
that comforting are rebels. Rebels that don't know him. That
makes them uncomfortable. Over to a child of God? to hear
all flesh is in the hand of my great God and Savior. And he
says, no man, no power, no devil, no one can pluck them out of
my hand. Don't you find that comforting?
He has power over all flesh. That's this same Jesus that they
saw ascend unto heaven, the one that Paul said purged our sins
and sat down at the right hand of God. Didn't make something
possible. He purged our sins, who by himself
obtained eternal redemption for us. Didn't take a stab at it. Didn't do his best. You can't
find any such nonsense as that in the Word of God. It says King
Jesus obtained eternal redemption for us. It's a done deal, Mike. It's a done deal. And the success
of that redemption doesn't depend on anything you do on down the
road. No, it was done then. When he said it is finished,
he bore all of our sins in his own glorious body on the tree. How far did he bear them? You
can't find them. They're gone. They're gone. That's our Redeemer. That's this
same Jesus. He ascended back to glory in
sovereign, glorious majesty, and right now he rules as the
God-man. And God the Father said, let
all the angels worship him. Come, my son, sit down at my
right hand until I make all your enemies your footstool. He must
reign, we read in 1 Corinthians 15. How high did God exalt him? High above all power, Ephesians
1. All principality, all authority,
God had highly exalted him. And again in Philippians 2, how
high did he exalt him? Above every name that's named,
you name it. You name the greatest power,
greatest authority you can think of, Caesar. I was going to mention
that pipsqueak in the White House, but that's not a good comparison. Oh, no. See, anyone you can think
of, they're nothing. They're nothing. They're not
worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as that one that
God's given a name above every name. Who is it? This same Jesus. The same Jesus that ascended
back to glory that day. Now you compare that to this. God has highly exalted him and
given him a name of every name. We sang a moment ago, look, ye
saints, the sight is glorious. See the man of sorrows now. From the fight, what? Returned
victorious. Victorious. Look here. Look. Oh, that's worth singing
about, isn't it? I can roll all the way to my
immortal soul in his great care. and arms and just rest easy. It is well with my soul." Now,
you compare those verses that we quoted and those we read to
such statements as this. Now, if I'm making these up and
I'm not, you've heard them, will you let Jesus save you? Won't
you give him a chance? And this is a real popular one.
He's done all he can. The rest is up to you. Now, I'm
not trying to be smart. I'm serious. I'm asking you. Can these be the same people?
Can these two be the same individuals? One says, he needs my help. The other says, all flesh is
in my hand. I don't need anybody's help.
Can they be the same redeemer? God, by the prophet Amos said,
I've sent pestilence to you people and you didn't repent. I've sent prosperity and you
still didn't return to me. He said, Because of that, he
says, now this is going to happen. Because you wouldn't listen to
any other thing. Prepare to meet your God. Prepare to meet thy God. Man, how do you do that? How
do you do that? How do you prepare to meet God
Almighty? I may meet him before I get to
Danville tonight. Before I get to Danville tonight,
I may meet God Almighty. He may say, well, that's all the time I'm given,
Larry Criss. I've ordained every step. He just took the last one. and
be called into his presence. What hope do I have? Paul in
1 Thessalonians 5 wrote, God has not appointed us to wrath. God's made an appointment for
his people, John. Isn't that amazing? God has not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. to obtain salvation,
hell, by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that brings us to our text,
and we'll be brief. Look, if you will, back in Romans
9, verse 16. As we said in the reading, the
apostle, like a lawyer before a jury, so to speak, is giving his closing remarks,
his summation, is that what they call it? And he puts all of his eggs in
this one basket, as if to say, now in conclusion, in light of
what was just written, so then, are you looking at it? So then,
it is not, that is salvation, mercy, grace, it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. Now we're not going to take a
detour on this part of the Romans road. You know what I mean by
that. I suppose one of the most popular
tracks there is that seems to be more of them than any other
is that they call it the Romans road where they snatch a few
verses out of Chapter 3 and chapter 5 and chapter 10, are you a sinner? Everybody's saying, yeah, yeah.
Well, you confessed it, you know, yeah, you stole the watermelon
when you was a little boy, yeah. Okay, well, if you'll confess
it and believe on Christ, you're saved, you're saved, going your
way, don't you doubt it. That's the Roman's road. They
always take a detour here in chapter 9, but this is not a
detour. This is the bridge. This is the
bridge. There can be no salvation without
this. Instead of being the detour,
this is the bridge, the only bridge that brings sinners to
Jesus Christ. So then, it's not of him that
willeth. Oh, I'm so thankful that that's
so. But of God that showeth mercy. That's mercy's source. That's
mercy's origin. There are many religions in the
world, but actually, when you get right down to it, brother
Lloyd, there's only two. There's really only two. There's the religion of Jesus
Christ, true religion. And there's all the others. And
all the others have this one thing in common. They have this
one thing in common. They're all united with this
one thing. They tell men what they must
do or what they can do to save themselves by their own work,
by their own worth, or by their own will. They have that in common,
but the Word of God, the Bible here, tells us plainly. That
it's not by the will of man, we just read it, didn't we? But
by the will of God. Salvation is not man's work,
it's God's work. God must save sinners if they're
saved. Entirely determined by God's
will and the work of his son and the merit that rests upon
him. No part of salvation of a sinner
is dependent on man's will or work. Did I say that right? Did I intend to say that just
like that? Exactly. No part of salvation is dependent,
nothing, is dependent upon man's will or man's work. It's not of him that willeth
or of him that runneth. Oh, religion just puts you in
a trot, don't it? It's like one of my daughters,
She was little. I had these hamsters. And she
had this cage with all kinds of little wheels and little tunnels. That hamster get in that wheel
and just going nowhere. Spinning, but going nowhere. That's what religion does. It
puts you on a treadmill and says, run, sinner, run. Run, sinner,
run. Pray, read, sacrifice, walk the
altars, make decisions. Run, sinner, run. And all of
that boils down to this. You don't know God. It won't
bring peace to your heart. Oh, but when King Jesus has his
will, And he always has his will. And he exercises his will in
the salvation of a sinner. And he says, Come down, Saul
of Tarsus. Come down, Zacchaeus, today I
must abide at thy house. And then says, Salvation has
come to this house today. Oh, then a sinner has peace with
God. That's the source of mercy. It's
not of him that willeth or of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy and God that likes to show mercy. Doesn't
it? Secondly, you have mercy's certainty. This is God speaking. The God
who says, I shall do all my pleasure. Notice what it says here in the
text. It doesn't say, I will try to have mercy. I will have
mercy if someone will allow me to have mercy. No, he says, I
will have mercy. God Almighty, God Almighty, whose
will none can resist, whose hand none can stay, whose purpose
none can stop. God says, I will have mercy. That same God who said in the
beginning, let there be light and light was, that same God
says, I will have mercy. There's some sinners are going
to experience God's mercy. There's no question about that.
No question about that. And he delights to do so. Like
those poor leopards when he passed by that day, the Lord Jesus Christ,
do you remember what they cried? Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Don't leave
us where we're at. Don't leave us where we're at
by nature. Because we can't help ourselves.
We're sitting here in the dust, by the roadside, and we're outcast,
and there's nothing we can do about it. Our leprosy is in us,
and we can't get it out. And the plague of sin is in you,
and you cannot get it out. Walking up here and shaking my
hand won't get it out. It won't do. Being baptized won't
get it out. Oh, no, no. The only one that
can speak peace to a troubled heart and remove their sins is
Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. And oh, glory to His name. Glory
to His name. He said to those lepers, I will. It's not up to your will. It's
up to my will. And I'm willing. I'm more than
willing. And He says, I will be thou clean. Houston, a young man in the church
in Crossville, plays the violin. I've known that little fella
since he was this high. He was playing at the end, and
he plays it just lovely. And he was playing Amazing Grace
during a part of Mary's funeral. And I couldn't help but think
as I listened to him How many multitudes of redeemed sinners
were at that moment in glory beholding the face of the Lamb
because of his amazing grace? And how many here as we make
our pilgrimage through this world, are kept by the power of God,
and will soon join them in heaven, and with them cry, worthy is
the Lamb, all for the same reason, is amazing grace. It is amazing, is it not? And
even while I say that, oh, it's so easy to say, I'm convicted. I'm convicted, because I declare
there's not much time There's not much time in my thoughts,
in my heart, given to that blessed, blessed reality. God's amazing
grace, my thoughts, my heart flies everywhere else. Oh, God
forgive me. One hymn writer expressed it
this way. It was grace that taught my soul to pray and made my eyes
overflow. It is grace that's kept me to
this day and will not let me go." Joe, that's exactly right. God, in his delight to show mercy,
would not let this sinner go. He would not let me go. I said,
no. Away with God. Away with Christ. Get away from me, preacher. Don't
even talk to me about it. I don't want to hear it." But
God wouldn't take no for an answer. He would not let me go. When
I lay in that hospital bed for about six weeks, busted up in
a car wreck that they took hours to dig me out of, tangled up
with metal from a demolished car, and that 16-year-old boy
that looked up to me that taught him how to get drunk, lay dead right behind me. He
lay dead right behind me. But God would not let me go.
And even in that hospital bed, I cussed God, cursed God. Oh, that's amazing grace, isn't
it? That's amazing grace. Yes, indeed. He loved this Jacob, and that
is amazing. The conclusion right here, mercy's
conclusion, so then it is not of him that willeth or of him
that runneth, but of God. God wills. None would be saved
otherwise. Men cry, oh, don't interfere
with my will. Oh no, you better hope God doesn't
answer that prayer. You better hope he does interfere
with your will. Because if he leaves you to your
will, you will not come to him. Christ said that. You will not
come to me. And then he says, whosoever will,
let him come and take the water of life. How do you explain those
two? My people shall be willing in the day of my power. Who were
born, not of the will of the flesh, but of the will of God. What shall we say to these things?
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Measure God's mercy not
by your own short little yardstick. Oh, no. Don't measure your acceptance
before God based upon your own faithfulness. Oh, no. That's
the wrong tool altogether. That will cause you doubts and
fears. Oh, measure your acceptance before
God by Jesus Christ himself. How worthy is he? How much is
he worth to God Almighty? How much merit does he have?
What does Jesus Christ, what has he earned from God? What
does he have coming? Is there a measurement by which
you can figure that out? Well, that's the measurement
by which we stand before God. God, don't give me what I deserve. Give me what he deserves. He's given me right to enter
in through the gates into the city. And when in scenes of glory,
We sing the new, new song. It will be the old, old story
that we have loved so long. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.