back in Romans chapter 10. Our text will be verse 13. In
the reading, we considered this blessed verse, this promise from
our God in its context. When I looked at this verse,
felt drawn to it, began to study and prepare, I couldn't help
but remember a time years ago, a fellow that I worked with told
me, and he was very emphatic, brother Lowell. He looked at
me and said, you can't preach from that verse of scripture.
Yeah. He said, you can't preach from
that. I wish he was here this morning.
Wish he was here now. But I asked him, why not? Why
can't I? He said, because you believe
election. He had found me out. He said, therefore, you can't
really believe this text of scripture. Therefore, you can't preach from
something you don't really believe. Well, God forbid that I should
ever attempt to preach from something that I don't really believe.
That sounds more like a harling rather than a faithful shepherd,
the under-shepherd, the God-sheep. But he was very serious. He thought if I believed or anyone
believed election, then they could believe this blessed promise
of whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. And yes, my concept of God, my
concept of God, conceives of him doing what he does, whatever
he does, on purpose. Could he have acted otherwise? Or does he act otherwise? Now
think about that. Could God do anything except
that which he does on purpose? I mean, what would that mean?
If he did, or if he should, even one time, even once, do something
in time that he didn't purpose to do, in eternity past as we
put it, what would that say about our God? If God does something this day,
He, of necessity, purposed to do it. And when I say of necessity,
I mean that necessity of His own nature, His own being as
God. Does that make sense? He said,
I am the Lord, I change not, and what follows, therefore.
Therefore, because I changed not, because I'm God, therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Why does God change not? Louis,
there's no need to. He's perfect. He's perfect. Me and you change all the time.
Change our mind, change our opinions, change our thoughts, Because
we're not perfect. We make mistakes. God's perfect. If He should change, it's either
for the better or for the worst. Either way, He's not perfect
if that should happen. And of course, that's impossible.
That's why I say, of necessity, He's bound, so to speak, by His
very nature and essence of doing whatever He does on purpose. I hope that's your concept of
God, too. A great God. Our God is in the heavens, David
said. Oh, what a concept of God. Just a glimpse of God as He is. Does that not give us comfort
in the storms of life to hear the captain of our salvation
coming to us, walking up on the billows, saying, it is I. Be of good cheer and desire.
Don't be afraid. This has not caught me off guard. It has you, but it hasn't me.
Don't be afraid. It's the very fact that we serve
a sovereign God. That's the very root, the foundation
of our comfort. That's the very basis that fortifies every promise,
what he promised he's able to perform. Election, granted, takes
man plum out of the equation, doesn't it? And that's why people
don't like it. It just takes man plum out of
the equation altogether as far as being a contributor to salvation. Now you have folks, fundamentalists,
they like to call themselves, that say, I believe election,
it's in the Bible, it's in the Bible. So they're not so ignorant,
ignorant as they are, not so ignorant they want, that rather
they would deny that it's in the Bible, but this is what they
do with it. And you've heard this, you know what Oh yes, I
believe election, but election was based on foreseen faith.
And they think that settles it, no problem. Based on foreseen
faith, God saw who would believe, so he chose them to believe.
That's what they say. What nonsense. What an utter
nonsense. It represents God is doing something
that makes no sense either. All the lengths, are there no
lengths, and I know the answer is, no, there's not. There's
no lengths to which religious people will go to maintain their
merit or their will or their contribution. You've got to give me some elbow
room. You've got to give me something. Surely, surely you're not saying
that all of salvation, Repentance, faith, the will to come, to bow
before Christ, to sue for mercy, all of that's of grace? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm so thankful
that it is. Every needy sinner that's been
stripped and brought down will have the same blessed thought.
Oh, I'm so thankful that salvation is of the Lord. In Psalm 50,
The Lord God expressed the problem with natural man, lost man, with
religious man. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as thyself. There's your problem. There's
the problem. You think I'm like you. And we
have been in a generation that tells us that over and over again,
God's like this, and some silly, stupid little Christ dishonoring
metaphor. And God says, no, no, I'm not
like you. I'm not like you. I'm like none
other. To whom shall you compare me,
saith the Lord? To whom shall ye liken me? I'm God. None else. No God beside me. And in mercy, he says, look unto
me. Look unto me. Don't look to those
gods that cannot save. They confess that they cannot
save. They say he's done all he can.
Now it's up to you. Don't look to them. Look to me.
The mighty God, a just God, and a Savior. And again, we mentioned this
in the reading, there's no conflict between God's sovereignty in
the salvation of a sinner, as is demonstrated in a lecture,
and the promise of verses 12 and 13. There's no conflict there. These blessed truths are not
at odds with one another. This man, the Apostle Paul, who
wrote these words under divine inspiration, as moved on by God
the Holy Spirit to do so, he also wrote this in verse 14 of
chapter 9. Glance at that with me, if you
will, for a moment. That man who wrote, whom God
inspired to write, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved, was also inspired to write this. Verse
14, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Paul anticipated man's objection to what he had just written previous
to this. And Paul says, God forbid. What
shall we say the what? The what Paul mentions prior
about God having mercy on whom He will. For example, in verse
11, concerning the children of Rebekah. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to what? Foreseen faith? No, according
to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. What shall we say then to that?
Verse 15, For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then, So then, Paul sums things up, so then, this is how it is. Here's the conclusion, as the
wise man said. Let's hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, or not of him that runneth, but of God that showeth Mercy. What shall we say to that? Oh,
thank you. Thank you, Lord, for having mercy
on me. Men say, how do you reconcile
these two things? Man's responsibility to obey
the gospel, to come to Christ, to bow before him, to believe,
how do you reconcile that? His responsibility to do so and
God's sovereignty in salvation. And my answer is this. I don't
need to. I don't need to reconcile those
things, do we, John? Both are true. They're not at
odds with one another. Only those who are enemies need
to be reconciled. It would be like this. After
service or before we began, Louie and Lester are in conversation,
and I just walk up and bud in and say, this got stopped. You
two are going to have to make amends. You two, we can't have
this. Y'all got to be reconciled."
And they would look at me and say, what's the matter with you?
Has your cheese slid off the cracker? We reconciled. We're not arguing about anything.
There's no need to reconcile us. We're not quarreling about
anything. And when men say reconcile God's
sovereignty and man's responsibility, there's no quarrel there. There's
no need to reconcile. Now, I grant you, both are true and we may not
see, oh, there's no maybe about it. We don't see how they meet. But according to God's Word,
they align side by side. And though we might not see how
they meet, they do meet perfectly, perfectly at the throne of our
majestic God. Perhaps, perhaps, because I've known of cases and
so have you, perhaps someone has been troubled by the thought
As Paul said concerning Satan, we're not ignorant of his devices. Trouble by the thought, what
if I'm not one of God's elect? What if I'm not one of his chosen? Do you recall maybe having such
thoughts when God first began to deal with you and to strip
you and to get you lost? Did that thought cross your mind?
You look back on it now or think, now that was foolish. Oh, but
it was real to you. It was a problem at the time.
I hope God will enable me to help. Help anyone that is troubled
or anyone you know that may be troubled by such a thought. I
look at this verse of scripture, verse 13 in Romans 10, and I
don't have, honestly, I have no reservation at all about preaching
from it. I believe this as much, and God
helped me to preach it just as much, just as sincerely as I
do the doctrine of God's glorious election of grace. And taking
verse 13 as my text, this is the title of the message this
morning. A full, free, gracious gospel promise. When I first
put that down, I thought, that's a little lengthy. That's a little
long. But then I thought, which word
would I omit? Full? No, don't want to do away
with that one. Free? Oh no, no, dare not do
away with that one. Gracious? No, no, can't leave
that out either. So we'll consider this promise
as described by those three words. It's full, it's free, and it's
gracious. It's all that. It's all that
and more. And I pray that God will be pleased
to bless it to our hearts. Before we get to the first, the
fullness of the promise, I want to share something with you. Mr. Newton wrote this. Often
as the bell for solemn toll speaks of the departure of a soul, let
each one ask himself, am I prepared, should I be called to die? Only
this frail and fleeting breath preserves me from the jaws of
death, soon as it fails once I'm gone and plunged into a world
unknown. and then leaving all I loved
below, to God's tribunal I must go, must hear the judge pronounce
my fate and fix my everlasting state." Three times in the last five
days or so, I've been made aware of that very thing happening. of dear friends, dear friends
of mine, I know his parents, was hit head-on last Monday night
by a drunk driver and died. Forty-three. His father had spoken
to him just shortly before that to remind them of meeting together
to do a job, working together. And the next call he got was
to come and identify the body of his son. Then I got another call. Someone
I've known for years and years and years, spoke to, preached
to, witnessed to, went out to meet God. Just in this state
that Mr. Newton spoke of. Just this morning,
early this morning, my mother called me. Her only brother,
my only uncle on her side, is in the hospital dying. She
was told he probably won't make it through the day. And I said, oh, Mom, I'm so sorry. Just look to Christ. She said,
Larry, he's the only brother I've got. And she said, what
makes it so hard is he doesn't know God. When I was visiting
in West Virginia, I don't think it was the last time, but the
time before I went to see him, His wife had passed not long
before that, then a daughter, and he just casually made the
remark, well, her ashes are on the mantle. Pretty soon they
can put my ashes next to her on the mantle, just as unconcerned
as he could be. Newton went on to write, Lord
Jesus, help me now to flee. and seek my hope alone in thee. Apply thy blood, thy spirit give. Subdue my sin and let me live. Then, when the solemn bell I
hear, save from guilt I need not fear. Nor would the thought
distressing be, perhaps it next may toll for me. Rather, my spirit
would rejoice, and long and wish to hear thy voice, glad when
it bids me, earth, resign, secure of heaven, for thou art mine."
Makes all the difference, does it not? Looking again at verse
13, the fullness of this blessed promise of God's salvation, whosoever,
Jew or Gentile, as Paul said, Lord over all, is rich unto all
without exception that call upon him. Whosoever means whosoever. In John 14, just before our Lord
went to the garden where Judas led the mob to betray him, he
told his disciples, don't let your heart be troubled. I'm going
away, that's true, but I'm going to prepare a place for you and
I'll come back for you. If it wasn't true, I wouldn't
tell you this. And if this wasn't true, He wouldn't
tell us this. Whosoever. Who? No matter who they are. No matter
who they are. If they call on the Lord Jesus
Christ, if they come to Him for mercy, they shall be saved. No matter who they are. Whoso. So. So fallen. so helpless, so lost, so much a rebel, so much sin,
so much rebellion, so much of turning a deaf ear to God for
years, yet if they call upon the name of the Lord, whosoever
shall be saved, ever, ever, no matter when they call. They shall be saved. Our Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labor,
all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will. He didn't
say, I might. I might consider it. No. Come
unto me and I will give you rest. He comes into Jerusalem. for
the last time. And as he descends the mount
and Jerusalem comes into view, he pauses and says, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you as a hen gathers
her chicks under her wings, but ye would not. The reason men are lost and the
only reason they're lost is because they won't come to Christ. You're familiar with the passage
in Ezekiel chapter 33? God tells the prophet, speak
unto them. Speak unto them, Ezekiel. Tell them. Tell them. Why will ye die? Tell them, as
I live, saith the Lord. Oh, what a strong expression. As I live, saith the Lord, I
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. I would rather
that they turn unto me and live. Turn ye, turn ye. Why will ye
die, O house of Israel? Again, I say, if anyone dies
in their sins, there's nobody to blame but themselves. They can't blame God's sovereignty.
They can't blame election. They can only blame their own
stubborn will that they won't come to the Lord Jesus Christ. The election doesn't hold a sinner
back from coming to Christ. Any that come, any that call,
shall be saved. Come, Christ says. All that come
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Come
to me. Must emphasize that. Not come
to the altar, but come to me. Not come to the preacher and
shake his hand or the priest and mumbo-jumbo. No, come to
me. Come to me and you'll never be
cast out. As we said earlier, the question
arises in folks' minds and troubles them. What if I'm not chosen?
What does God say concerning that? My thoughts are not your
thoughts. My ways are not your ways." He
said, I know the thoughts that I think towards you, in Isaiah
55. Thoughts of good and not of evil,
come, come to me. The gospel is a message of glad
tidings to helpless sinners, to hopeless cases. That's whom our Lord saves, isn't
it, Joe? Hopeless cases. desperate cases. Oh, that's good news to those
who know themselves to be such. This man receiveth sinners. Wasn't
it nice for those Pharisees to point that out? To the needy
sinners gathered around, this man receiveth sinners. This man,
the God-man. Yes, sinners. not sham sinners,
not pretend sinners, but desperate sinners. As a young man, once
or twice growing up, I had the unfortunate encounter to be buttholed
by some preacher or so. Are you a sinner? Will you confess
you're a sinner? They wanted to drag me down the Roman's road.
They always take a detour where it says it's not of him that
willeth. But anyway, and sign a decision card. Oh, you're a
sinner. You said a cuss word. You might
have stole something when you was a little boy. And I would say, yeah, I'm
a sinner, just to get... And I was thinking to myself,
now, will you get out of my face? Will you leave me alone? Yeah,
I'm a sinner. No, no, that's not what it means. A sinner's a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so, not pretend sinners, not the worthy,
but the unworthy Jesus came to call. Remember in Luke 7, that
centurion that was friendly to the Jewish nation, the elders
had even built them a synagogue? had a servant that was sick,
near death, and he sent some of his friends, Jewish elders
to the Lord and said, ask him if he'll come, or ask him if
he'll heal my servant. And they went with the message
and said, Lord, he's worthy of this. Remember that? That's what
they said to the Lord Jesus, this one we're coming on whose
behalf we're coming to you for, he's worthy of this. And we're
told the Lord went with, What mercy and grace. And before he
arrived, the centurion sent other messengers and said, Lord, I'm
not worthy. I'm not worthy. The elders may
say that, but I'm not worthy. I didn't feel like I was worthy
to come to you. are worthy for you to come under
my roof. If you'll just speak the word,
my servant shall be healed." And our Lord spoke the word.
I'm not worthy. And he received the mercy that
he sought. Did he not? Our Lord said, I've
come to call the sick, not the whole. Remember when he called
Matthew? And Matthew prepared a great
feast in honor of our Lord and invited all his publican friends. And the Pharisees, of course,
were standing by and again made the accusation. He eateth with
publicans and sinners. And our Lord said, I've come
to call the sick, those that have need of a physician, not
to hold. The unrighteous, not the righteous.
Go and learn what that means. Go and learn what that means.
And he quoted them from Hosea. Go and learn what that means.
I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You don't have a clue what that
means. Go and learn what that means. God delights in mercy. This gospel promise is full of
grace. You've probably experienced this
too. I have, especially being a preacher.
Invite someone to church or just in conversation. If folks find
out Like when I worked at the University of Kentucky, what
do you do there? I'm a welder. They want to talk
about that. They thought, big deal. But tell
them you're a preacher. Well, let me tell you what I
think. Let me give you my opinion. But if folks ask you, they find
out you preach or pastor a church, they'll ask, is it a full gospel
church? Is it a full gospel church? Do
you preach the full gospel? Oh, I try to with all my heart,
but I know that's not what they mean. You know what in our day
what a full gospel church is? It's full of nonsense. What they mean is, is it a full
gospel church? Do you give us room to glory?
Do you give us room to glory in the flesh? Will you let us
jabber in some kind of so-called unknown tongue? Will you let
us stand up, being the worms we are, and brag on other worms? Are you full gospel? No, we're
the opposite of that. God forbid that we should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What they mean
is, is there room for man's merit and man's praise? No. No, thank God, that's not the
message. This gospel, this promise of
God's grace, full of grace, is a gospel that tells needy sinners
the best news they could possibly hear. as we read in verse 16
of chapter 9. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. Thank God that it's not, or I'd
never have been saved, but of God that showeth mercy. It's
full of grace as to its purpose, its purchase, and its power. Old Joseph Hart expressed it
this way in one of his many hymns. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost
and ruined by the fall. If ye tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. That's exactly right. Come ye thirsty, come and welcome.
God's free bounty glorify. True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings you nigh. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor a fitness finally dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to feel your need of him. And to all such, he says, call
upon the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. John said,
we saw him. We saw him, the only begotten
of the Father. And John says, I'll never forget
it. I'll never get over the impression.
What, John? What? What captivated you? What, even as an old man cast
out on the Isle of Patmos, do you still remember? He was full of grace and truth. We saw him, the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh, what a full, gracious
promise. None have ever heard him say,
listen, None have ever heard the Lord Jesus say, and never
will, come to me and I'll cast you out. Never. Never. The very reverse. There's never
been a sinner and there never will be a sinner that ever came
to Christ seeking mercy who didn't receive it. Never. When they
came, they found their greatest need. They found grace. Grace to the full. Grace overflowing. Grace that can pardon and cleanse
within. That's where the problem is,
isn't it? Religion dresses the outside. When the axe needs to
be laid to the root of the tree. I don't need a little pruning. No, the problem goes deeper than
that. Deeper than that, I need a new
heart. I need a new heart. Where is
the soul winner that can do that? Where is the preacher that can
do that? Oh, but the great physician, the healer of souls, he does. He does it successfully. Remember when the woman said
within herself, that poor dying woman, that had that hemorrhage,
that issue of blood, was dying. She'd gone to many physicians
and they just relieved her of her bank account. And she heard
of Jesus and she said to herself, I've got to get to Him. I've got to get to Him. Can't
you just picture that? Can you just picture that? Did
she get down on her hands and knees? Did she wiggle between
legs of people, the multitude that was pressing against him?
Whatever was necessary, she got to him, and she reached out and
touched him. Like that. Like that. Just like that, she
was made whole. And our Lord said, somebody touched
me, and the apostle said, what? Are you kidding us? Sure people
are touching you. We can't even move, such a crowd.
He said, oh no. That's not what I mean. Virtue has gone out of me. Virtue
has gone out of me. Everything that he was, everything
that she needed, virtue, power to heal, mercy great and grace
so free, flowed from him into her. And she was whole. She was whole. And he said, go
in peace. Secondly, secondly. Oh, look
at the freeness of the promise. Look at it again. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So full
and also so free. So free. You can't buy grace. It's not for sale. You can't
earn grace. You can't merit grace. That's
been tried. That's been tried. In the first
few verses of chapter 10, Paul told us about those who had tried
that. And it's being tried all around
us today. But it can't happen because it's
absolutely free. As long as you think you have
anything to pay, you'll never experience grace. All but the
sweet note in the song of the glorious gospel of Christ is
this. When you have nothing to pay, nothing to pay, You are
nothing, can do nothing, you have nothing. When that happens,
He freely forgives you all. Nothing, no claims on Christ,
like a beggar at the throne of grace, because that's what we
are. Crying, Lord, if you will, you
can make me whole. Last Saturday night, I think
it was, perhaps Sunday night, I'd been kind of just moping
around all day Sunday like a fish out of water. And I'm glad. I'm glad. I missed being here.
I'm thankful. God, don't allow me to miss gathering
with your people and not be bothered by it. But I think it was the
late late local news, either Saturday or Sunday night, and
I think it was somewhere around Birmingham. But this family,
some years ago, I don't remember when it started, not important,
but they started this, had a yard sale, but they didn't sell anything. They gave it all away. They gave
it all away. And it caught on. Other families
in the neighborhood thought, yeah, we don't need to sell this. Let's give it to the needy. And
it got so large that they began to do it one day, one day near
this time of the year, Christmas, on the parking lot of a mall. And all the people would come.
Everything's free. And they interviewed this young
woman. And as near as I could tell, I believe this woman was
very sincere, very sincere. My heart went out to her. And
the reporter interviewed her. She had something and she said,
well, I'll take whatever I can get because I can't go to the
mall. I can't go to the mall and buy
anything. Oh, but if it's free, if it's
free, I can have that. She said, that's the only way
I can get it. And I thought, I've got to make
a note of that. That's what grace is. Christ
told the woman at the well, old lady, if you just knew, if you
only knew, if my dear friend's son had only
known, if my uncle who may have gone out into eternity even now,
had only known, oh woman, if you knew the gift of God and
who it is that's speaking to you, you would ask of Him and
He would give you, He would give you the water of life if you
only knew. Last of all, What a gracious
promise of salvation. Full, free, and gracious. Look
at grace coming to this world in a body prepared by God for
him. Look at grace. Oh, my soul. What more proof, what more evidence
does a sinner need of God's delight in showing mercy? Look at that
personification of grace made like unto his brethren. Hear
the angels say, oh may it ever be music to our ears. May we never get over the wonder. Call Him Jesus. He shall save
His people from their sins. Oh what grace! See Him hanging
on the cross, being made sin, being cursed by God Himself. My soul! What grace! Satisfying justice. Look how
he goes about seeking his sheep. He does the finding. He does
the fetching. We read that he must go through
Samaria. Why? Why? Are you telling me? that the King of glory, the Prince
of Peace, the mighty God is going through Samaria for one woman,
one adulterous woman that's lived with one man after another and
is living with somebody's husband at that very hour? That's where
He's going? Exactly. Exactly. Oh my soul. What grace. What grace. I hear Him say to
His disciples, let us pass over into the other side. They encounter a storm. You know
the story. Why does he want to pass over
to the other side? Because there's a poor one, poor
maniac over there that they've thrown out into
the tombs, lost, helpless, and our Lord
said, let's pass over to the other side. The Son of Man's come to seek
and to save the sheep. My, what grace. What grace. I see a poor beggar sitting by
the wayside at the gates of Jericho like he does every day, just
begging, begging. Most people probably like our
day ignore him. And one day he hears a great
commotion. What he can't see but he can hear, what's the noise
all about? Jesus is coming to buy. Now get in his shoes, child of
God. Sit down there. Bankrupt, poor, But Jesus came back. Have mercy. I need mercy. Nothing else matters. Mercy. Oh my soul, look at grace. And Jesus stood still. He always
hears the cry of a needy sinner. Does he not? But most of all,
most of all, As Mr. Newton said, the last
brief article on the back page of our bulletin about the surprises
he would have when he got to heaven. But the greatest display
of his grace to me is that he that is full of grace and truth,
the great shepherd of the sheep, came to Oak Hill, West Virginia
one time. for the express purpose, a purpose
that he had before the world ever
was. He came there to find this rebel, John. Isn't that amazing? This rebel. A hippie. Air down here. Drugs, the whole shooting match. and he came to find me. The Prince of Peace came to me. A nobody, a nothing, lost and
ruined, a desperate case, he made me thirsty. And I learned the truth of his
words. If any man drinks of this well,
he'll thirst again." And I thought, man, is that the truth? I've
been drinking and drinking and drinking and I'm so thirsty.
Is this all that life's about? If it had been for the fear of
hell, I thought of that. Oh, but all of that was grace,
wasn't it, Lord? That was grace, teaching my heart
to fear. stripping me, bringing me down. Because then he said, yes, whoever
drinks of this water will thirst again, but whosoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him will never thirst. And I'll tell
you what, I heard him say, if any man thirst,
let him come to be a drink. And I came. You're looking right
now, right now, at proof of this promise, that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Because I came
to the water of life and drank, and I've been receiving the full
free flow of his grace ever since. And I believe that he that had
begot a good work in me will perform it to the day of Jesus
Christ. And after this life is over, that he that gave me grace will
also give me glory. I believe God. The glory of beholding
him and being with him forever. Anybody thirsty? I can't dismiss
you without asking that. Anybody thirsty? Been to churches,
been to altars, been to preachers, Baptisms, decisions, but I want
to know Christ. Listen to what he says. Blessed
is he that hungereth and thirsteth after righteousness for he shall
be filled. How do I do that, Larry? How
do I come to Christ? It's not with your feet. Not
with your feet. People did that when he was here
and he said, you've not come to me. You come with your heart. Look at verses 9 and 10 again,
and we'll close with Romans 10. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
But with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Come with your
heart, right where you are, without moving. Cry, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. And he will. Yes, he will. Glory to his name. Come, humble
sinner in whose breast a thousand thoughts revolve. Come with your
guilt and fear oppressed and make this last resolve. Prostrate
I'll lie before his throne and there my guilt confess. I'll
tell him I'm a wretch undone without his sovereign grace.
Perhaps he will omit my plea. Perhaps will hear my prayer.
But if I perish, I will pray and perish only there. I can
but perish if I go, I am resolved to try, for if I stay away, I
know I must forever die. The last verse. But if I die,
with mercy sought, when I the king have tried, this were to
die delightful thought, as sinner never died. That can't not happen. because whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God bless you.