I'd like you to turn to Romans
chapter 9, if you will. Years ago, back in the 70s, as
a matter of fact, and I'm really even my age, but years ago, I
had the honor of preaching a week of meetings in Helena, Montana. And the pastor told me that the Bible college that he
went to They threatened to expel anyone who was caught reading
the 9th chapter of Romans. Now that's sad, but it doesn't
surprise me. But you know, it's not just the
9th chapter of Romans where the blessed truths of the Gospel
are taught. It's from Genesis 1 all the way through the book
of Revelation. So if they want to take a knife and start cutting
out those scriptures that declare God's grace and His mercy for
a particular people through the perfect redeeming work of Jesus
Christ, they're going to have to start way back. And they do. That's why they're coming out
with so many new translations. They don't like the original
version of God's Word that's taken from the original manuscripts
and translated over into the English language. They don't
like that at all. But God's people love it, and we just delight
in the truths of God's grace that He has revealed to us. And
so, God help us as we realize if it wasn't for His grace, we
would be just like those people. We wouldn't want the truth. We
hate God in our unregenerate state. We hate His gospel. We
hate His people. We'll settle for any religious
thing that comes our way, but we don't want the truth. We love
the darkness we're in. The Bible says so. Now, I don't
want you to read it right now. I placed an article by Pastor
Fortner in this morning's program. But read that on your own time.
Please don't read it now. But in that article, Pastor Fortner
said this. He said, God saves us because
it was His eternal pleasure to bless us with His grace. God
passed by the angels that fell. But he hath blessed us. God passed
by multitudes of fallen men, but he hath blessed us. The cause
of God's blessings upon us is not in us, but in himself alone. Every saved sinner knows and
acknowledges that fact. We do not deserve God's favor.
He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy. Now this is what
the Word of God teaches. The message that we preach here
and the messages that we hear from visiting preachers point
to this very fact. There are those that God chose
in Christ before this world was created who are called vessels
of mercy. Messages that deal with God's
sovereign mercy He bestows upon us through the perfect redeeming
work of Jesus Christ our Savior. Messages that glorify the risen,
exalted Christ of God, who is seated on His sovereign throne
of power at this very moment, and has been ever since God raised
Him from the dead, working all things after the counsel of His
own will, ruling this whole universe and everything in it. This is
the God we worship, and we love the message that stirs our hearts
to point us to these truths, that causes us to praise Him,
Someone said, and I believe it's true, nobody will worship God
except at the throne of absolute sovereignty. And we bow down
before a sovereign God who has always been in control, who has
always been on His throne of power, who has always ruled and
reigned over everything in His universe. But He has not always
been a man. This same God that was born of
the Virgin Mary as the God-man is now seated in the heavens.
There's a glorified man in heaven right now. His name is Jesus
Christ the Lord. And if we don't bow down to Him,
we're bowing down to a God of our own imagination, if we even
bow down to a God at all. And if we don't bow down to Him,
we're going to spend eternity in a place called Hell. Now, just as a point of interest,
before I start reading our text, Isaac was God's promised son
to Abraham and Sarah. Abraham and Sarah were instruments,
but it was virtually impossible, humanly speaking, for Sarah to
have a son. And God purposed that to manifest
the fulfillment of His promise by His own sovereign power. And
Galatians 4.28 says, Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children
of promise. Now I say that to point us to
something that is being taught in many religious circles as
false. Some are teaching that because
we, as God's covenant people, who've been enlightened by the
Holy Spirit, because we're children of promise, then our children
are included in that covenant and so they're baptizing babies
and that's just unscriptural and all the babies are doing
is getting wet and the sad part about it is that when they get
a little older and able to understand and they're given a false hope
that they're included in the covenant and they've been baptized
and they don't have to repent they're already there you know
it's just a terrible teachings and my point is to point us to
two sons who were born of Isaac and Rebekah. That was Jacob and
Esau. And Isaac was a promised child of God. Not only a promised
son to Abraham, but a promised child of God to Christ. He was
one of God's children. And that didn't help Esau not
one little bit. Not one little bit. just because
he was born of a person who was God's promised son, did not make
him one of those who were included in the covenant of grace. Now,
we're vessels of mercy. God has chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He has ordained a people who
would be recipients of His sovereign mercy. So I've titled this message,
Vessels of Mercy, and I just want to walk us through few verses
from Romans chapter 9 to point out some truths concerning this
very blessed truth, vessels of mercy. So let me give you four
points, four hooked to hang your thoughts
on, as it were, on this subject of vessels of mercy. Here in
this portion of God's Word, vessels of mercy are ordained by God,
and we're vessels of mercy because of the Lord's illustration that
we'll see. because of the Lord's declaration,
which we will read, because of the Lord's confirmation in some
verses that follow, and because of the Lord's revelation. Those
four points. And God helped us to realize
the importance of believing His Word. And the Word of God tells
us, our Lord Himself speaking, He that is of God, heareth God's
words. He said to some unbelieving Jews,
He said, you believe them not because you're not of God. So,
those people who were ready to expel Those students in that
college for reading the ninth chapter of Romans, they are not
God's people. They don't believe God's word
and they're just playing church. We, God's enlightened children,
believe all of God's Word from cover to cover. We don't understand
it, and if anybody tells you they understand it all, mark
that person, they'll lie about that, they'll lie about anything.
We don't understand it all, but we believe it all. And so, this
subject of vessels of mercy, I'm interested in this, aren't
you? Religious people aren't. Self-righteous
religionists, they're not interested in this subject of vessels of
mercy. They don't believe God's mercy is sovereign. They believe
God owes them His mercy based upon something they have done.
Some work they have done. So if they've done this and they're
taught this by their preachers and their leaders, their spiritual
leaders, they're taught this. If you'll do this, God will have
mercy on you. That makes God obligated and it's no longer
mercy. It's like grace, like our brother
was preaching last night. You're either under law or you're
under grace. There's no middle ground. You can't straddle the
fence. We're either for Christ or we're
against Him. So, first of all, the Lord's
illustration. Look here in Romans chapter 9,
verses 9 through 13. We read, For this is the word
of promise. At this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. This is God's promise to Abraham
and Sarah. Sarah was 90 years old before
Isaac was born. Abraham was 100 years old. So
like I said earlier, it was just virtually impossible for Sarah
to have a son, humanly speaking. But God's promise is going to
be fulfilled. And what's impossible with man,
God makes it possible by His sovereign power. And you know,
our Lord taught this as far as salvation is concerned. His disciples
asking who then can be saved when he said it's easier for
a candle to go through an eye of a needle than it is for a
rich man to enter heaven. They said who then can be saved.
He said with men it's impossible, but with God all things are possible. So here's the promise. I will
come and Sarah shall have a son and not only this it says in
verse 10, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one even by
our father Isaac. Now catch this. In parenthesis,
in verse 11, it says, 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. Before Jacob and Esau were born,
Rebekah had conceived, but way before they were born, way before
anybody was born, way before time began, Jacob was marked
out to be a vessel of mercy. Esau was not. before the children
were even born, either having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth." Now I realize, I understand, that Esau sold
his birthright for a bowl of stew. He got so hungry he couldn't
hardly stand it. Well, Jacob was a mama's boy.
He knew how to cook and he fixed up a bowl of some good dainty
foods that was appetizing, you know, it was very appealing to
the flesh and Esau wanted that. He was so hungry and Jacob said,
sell me a birthright. Now Jacob was a usurper. I understand some things But
there's some things I don't understand. I understand how God can hate
people. I don't understand how He can
love anybody. I look in the mirror. I know. Jacob was worse than
Esau as far as the human eyes are concerned. We were talking
about this, Brother Joe, just last evening, about how we can
understand God hating somebody, but we can't understand God loving
anybody. This is the way it is when you're
enlightened by the Holy Spirit. You understand the depravity
of man. You understand the sinful nature
of man, how we run from God, hating God, and shaking our fist
in His face and say, we'll not have you to reign over us. We
understand that and why God would have mercy on anybody just surprises
me. He does. But this is very important. Please don't overlook this. Even
though Esau was wrong in selling his birthright, even though Jacob
was wrong in stealing his birthright and deceiving his father, and
he was influenced by his mama, we know that, but it doesn't
make it right. Even those things that we understand doesn't make
any difference with what God had purposed before they were
even born, before they had done any good. or any evil the purpose
of God according to election is going to stand, God's going
to make sure those that He chose in Christ, those who were redeemed
by Christ, will come to Christ. Vessels of mercy. So this illustration
that we see here in these first few verses that I read in your
hearing applies to all of us. It's a God-given illustration. Esau and Jacob, who were born,
even before they were born, God had marked out one to be a recipient
of His mercy, and the other one, he was not chosen in that same
class of people that God purposed to bring to Himself through the
perfect redeeming work of Christ our Savior. So there's the illustration. will either believe that or they
won't, but it's given for our learning. God loved Jacob before
he was even born. It says in verse 12 of chapter
9 of Romans, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the
younger. In verse 13 it says, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. So the illustration is there.
And people just go into it. They say that's not fair, that's
not right. That can't be meaning that. God
didn't hate Esau. How could God hate anybody? It
means that God loved Esau less. Let me ask you something. How
could God do anything less than perfect? How could He love anybody
less than what He loves. God's love is in Christ Jesus.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. And God loves His Son with a perfect love. Our love
is like a yo-yo. It's up one minute, down the
next. But God's love never changes. He's immutable. And He tells
us this through the prophet Jeremiah. I have loved Thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn Thee unto Myself. And so, it's God's love based
upon God Himself In himself, our love comes back to him because
he, by his spirit, Causes the love of God to be shed abroad
in our hearts, and we love him because he first loved us But
God's love is not based upon anything. He sees in anybody
It's based upon his own eternal purpose what whatever you can
conjure up in your mind concerning the love of God It's found in
him and only in him nothing in man. Nothing in man man is so
sinful So we've said how could how could God not hate everybody,
but he doesn't he loves some people And there's the illustration. But look at the declaration.
This is our second point on this subject of vessels of mercy.
The declaration from God himself, starting at verse 14. What shall we say then? It's
referring back to God loving Jacob and hating Esau, and that
before either one of them were born. What shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be. God forbid. Here's the declaration from God.
He told Moses, verse 15, For he said to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. This is a divine declaration
from God himself. Way back when Moses was called
of God to lead his people out of Egypt, God was speaking to
Moses, and Moses said, Show me your glory. Show me your glory. My goodness, Moses, what more
do you want to see? Moses saw a bush burning that
never was consumed. It was on fire, but it didn't
burn up. Then he saw God pour out ten plagues on Egypt. God's power. God demonstrating
His power like we heard last night. He told Moses, you go
tell Pharaoh to let my people go and I'll harden his heart.
He won't let them go, but you go tell him that anyway. And
Moses watched the plagues of God come down upon Egypt in a
way that just defies human speaking. We can't describe it. I challenge
you to go back and read the plague of the hailstones that came down.
And just watch as Moses tells Pharaoh what God's going to do.
Pharaoh refuses to let God's people go. The hail starts coming
down and Moses walks right out into that hailstorm. And the
hailstone hits that man of God. God controls everything. Everything. And so we have this that Moses
witnessed. He witnessed God causing the
Egyptians to just give of their substance. They spoiled the Egyptians
without a battle. They gave them gold and silver
and clothes and foods and get out of here. He witnessed that.
He witnessed the people that came up to the Red Sea, the Israelites
and the Egyptians falling and a cloud come down upon them and
cover them to where they couldn't move while God parted the Red
Sea. by His power. He had witnessed that. Watched
God dry up that ocean floor where His people could walk across
without even getting mud on their feet. He witnessed that. When
He got to the other side, He saw the Egyptian army led by
Pharaoh going right down between those two walls of water. I said
this before, and I'll repeat myself, it would have taken something
bigger than a man to get me to go down between those two walls
of water. But there was something bigger than the man that made
him do that. This was God's purpose. And Moses witnessed God destroying
Pharaoh and the whole Egyptian army. And yet he says, show me
your glory. And God answered Moses this way,
here's my glory. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. It's God's mercy. God's sovereign
mercy. He has mercy on those that He
chose in Christ before this world was created. Only those who were
purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, no less, no more. It's God's mercy. And so that's
the declaration. God Himself says, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. But look at verse 16, and we're
continuing now. with more of God's proofs of
His sovereign mercy. This is not only God Himself
speaking through Paul during that time when he wrote this
epistle to the Romans. It's God speaking to us. God
speaking to His people in every generation. So this is the Lord's
confirmation of this wonderful Gospel truth that we love. So
in verse 16, of Romans 9, it says, so then,
now stop right there. It's important we understand
words. Those two words, so then, refers
back to what we have already looked at. Because God himself
promised the people because God himself set his love upon Jacob
because God himself said it is God who has mercy on whom he
will have mercy so then so then because of that it is not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that show
of mercy you know what that's telling us it's not your free will Not your
so-called decision for Jesus. You might make a decision for
this phony Jesus that's being preached from most pulpits today.
But if you have made a decision for that Jesus, you're just as
blind as you always were. You're still dead in trespasses
and sins. It's not your free will. It's
God's sovereign will. Of His own will begat He us with
the word of truth. The word of God says in James
1.18. And we read in the book of John that we're born not of
blood. nor of the will of flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. God clearly sets this forth in
His Word, and I say again, he that is of God heareth God's
words. And if we don't hear those words
and believe those words, God has not enlightened us. So it's
not man's will, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth. It's not your works. We read
in Titus, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. It's God's Spirit that regenerates
us. That's God's work. It's God's
work that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God has to take
away the stony heart. He has to give us a new heart.
That was prophesied back in the Old Testament that God would
do this. Ezekiel brought this out very
plain. God will give us a new spirit. He'll give us His spirit.
He'll take that which He is pleased to take and create it just exactly
as He wants to create it. If any man be in Christ Jesus,
he's a brand new creation. And God doesn't create from something
that exists. You just look around you. All
of this that you see in the way of creation, this earth that
we walk on, all of that which is in heaven, the stars, the
planets, all of those things that are up there, just by the
Word of His mouth. He said, let it be. And by faith
we believe they were framed by the Word of God out of nothing.
Out of nothing. Well, we're nothing in our unregenerate
state. Nothing. There's nothing in us
that's good. Nothing. So God does what He pleases.
Sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. And He creates, He
forms, He forms His Son. This is God's work. Man can't
do that. We as God's preachers have the
honor of preaching the truth, pointing people to Christ. But
as we heard last night, only God can make the Gospel effectual. Only God can make His truths
real to the heart and reveal Christ to us. So, it's God's
Word. Read on. We're talking about
confirmation of this wonderful truth of vessels of mercy. Look
at verse 17, For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for
this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my
power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth." Did you know that God raised up Pharaoh for
that very purpose? To destroy you? I know that's
hard. I know people don't want to believe
that. But God tells us in the book of Proverbs that He has
created all things for Himself, even the wicked for the day of
evil. So there are vessels of mercy, there are vessels fitted
to destruction. But God is the potter. We'll
see that in just a moment. He raised up Pharaoh to show
his power. And I'll tell you what, when
Moses and all those Israelites on the other side of the Red
Sea saw God destroy their enemies, they didn't say, oh, poor Pharaoh,
poor Egyptians. They rejoiced and they sang praises
to God for delivering them and for taking care of their enemies.
And I don't believe that we should go around rejoicing that anybody's
going to hell, but I do believe we ought to rejoice in God who's
delivered us from that awful place of torment, don't you?
And so God raised up Pharaoh for that very purpose. Then we
read in verse 18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have
mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. So God is telling us that he
raised up Pharaoh for that purpose. Therefore, if we understand this,
and these are confirmations of this blessed truth concerning
vessels of mercy. God is the one who has mercy
on whom he will have mercy. He raised up Pharaoh for that
very purpose. Therefore, Therefore, he will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. He hardened Pharaoh's heart,
but he didn't have to do much, just withdraw his restraining
hand. He already had a hard heart. He hated God, just like us. When
we come to this world, we hate God. We have a heart of stone.
The scriptures tell us that. In Romans 8, the natural mind
is enmity against God and not subject unto the law of God.
Neither indeed can be. And people don't want to hear
that. Until God opens our understanding and we realize how bankrupt we
are, how helpless we are, how hopeless our condition is, God
moves us to realize that we need His mercy. And that's when we
fall before Him and cry out, God have mercy on this hell-deserving
sinner. Then we read and answer. Or in a confirmation of what
we just read in verse 19, Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth
he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? If God forms one vessel to be
a vessel of mercy, and others are vessels of wrath, fit of
destruction, and God has already marked out a people to be recipients
of his mercy, why would he yet find fault? for who has resisted
His will. When I was just a young babe
in Christ, hadn't been saved maybe three months, four months,
I got a phone call from a man I grew up with. He was involved
in an Armenian free will church. And he asked me, he said, Gene,
if man doesn't have a free will, why will there be a day of judgment?
I didn't know the answer to that. I hadn't been Christian very
long. I said, well, I'll call you back.
And I called my pastor. He wasn't home. I said, oh man,
I have an opportunity to reply to somebody about the truths
that I believe, and I don't have an answer. And you know, my Bible's
open. I fell right to this. My eyes fell right on it. I'm
telling you the truth. My eyes fell right on this very verse.
Thou wilt say unto me, why doth he yet find fault? Same question. So I called him back, and I said,
you have your Bible there? He said, yeah. I said, turn to
Romans 9, and I read these scriptures. And he was saying, hmm, hmm,
I'll call you back. He called his pastor. A few minutes
later, he called me, and he said, you know, we believe that already
happened. I cannot explain what he meant
by that. Please don't ask me to try to
explain. I don't know what he meant by that. But his pastor
convinced him that this didn't apply to us, that it only had
us something took place a long time ago. This is for us. Thou wilt say unto me, then why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
And folks, I want to tell you something. Nobody can resist
God's will. God is sovereign and He works
all things after the counsel of His own will. You can resist
the Spirit of God that's in me. And this is what Stephen was
referring to when he said to those unbelieving Jews, you uncircumcised
in heart, you always do resist the Holy Spirit as your father
did. So do you. He was referring to the Holy
Spirit within him. He was preaching the truth. They turned a deaf
ear to him. But when God does a work in the hearts of His people,
there's no resisting that. We're drawn to the Lord Jesus
Christ by the sovereign, irresistible, drawing power of God, the Holy
Spirit, under the preaching of His gospel. And look what Paul
answers to that question. Verse 20, Nay, but, O man, who
art thou that replies against God? Who do you think you are,
you foaming, freewill, Arminian believers that reply against
God? They're just followers of Baal, a different God. Who do
they think they are to reply against God and lie on God and
tell these lies and convince people that they're right, that
they're God's preachers? No. Shall a thing formed say
to Him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? He's our Creator. We're the sheep of His pastures,
He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. Read on. It says, Hath not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? Now God's the divine potter,
and we're the clay. But if we take this and think
about a man who has the gift of making different pots out
of clay as he spins the potter's wheel, he has the prerogative
to make whatever vessel he wants to. He doesn't answer to anybody
else. He might want to make a A pan
that slips under the bed for people to use who can't make
it to the bathroom at night. Or he might want to make a vessel
that's fit for a palace to put the Queen's flowers in. Whatever
he wants to do, that's his priority. He'll do that. And God is sovereign. He'll make one vessel under honor
and another under dishonor. Who's going to stop him? Who's
going to tell him what to do? Who's going to dictate to God?
Nobody. That's right. Read along. It
says, what if God, verse 22, what if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fit into destruction. He's been doing
this ever since man was created. He endured with much longsuffering
those ungodly people during the days of Noah. He endured with
much longsuffering those ungodly people in Sodom and Gomorrah.
He's dealing with much patience and long-suffering with the ungodly
people in every generation until that last sheep for whom Christ
died is brought out of darkness into the waiting arms of Christ
our Savior. Verse 23 says, And that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory. Now we have the illustration
through Jacob and Esau. We have the declaration from
God Himself, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. We
have the Lord's confirmation through these verses, pointing
to the fact that He's the divine potter and we're the clay, and
He forms a vessel as it pleases Him. But we have to have this
reveal, and that's our fourth point, the Lord's revelation. And God must call us. God must
call us out of darkness and make the riches of His glory known.
And only God can do that. We can play church. We can go
around talking about God's glory and what God has done and still
be as far from Him as Judas Iscariot was who walked with the Lord
for three and a half years during his public ministry. But when
God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, when He enlightens
the mind, brethren, Like the two on the road to Emmaus, our
hearts will burn within us as He opens unto us the Scriptures.
We'll delight. We'll delight in the truths that
are set forth before us in the Holy Scriptures. But God must
reveal that. It says, and that He might make
known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which
He had aforeprepared unto glory. Now listen to this, verse 24.
Even us whom He hath called Not of the Jews only, but also of
the Gentiles. How can that mean something that
has already happened? Even us. God must call us. But He calls us with an holy
calling. And we read in 1 Timothy 1.9 that God has saved us and
called us with an holy calling. Not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, was now made manifest
to us by the appearing of Jesus Christ. And so, He has come And
then God's preachers proclaimed these wonderful truths concerning
our Lord who has come from glory to do His Father's will, as the
ladies were singing about earlier. And He did His Father's will.
And this will of the Father was that those that Christ represented,
He would sanctify through His one offering. And those that
He sanctified, that's just a word that means set apart. Those that
He set apart by His one offering. He would perfect forever. That's
in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 9 down to verse 14. It's very
important to believe God's Word. And so, it's God Himself who
calls us out of darkness under the preaching of His Gospel,
revealing Jesus Christ to us. Folks, listen. We have this honor
of telling you who Jesus Christ is. He's Jehovah God. He's our
Creator. All things were created by Him.
I know there are three divine persons in the Godhead. All Christians
believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But in Christ
dwelleth all fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're not
bowing down to God if you don't bow down to Him. God has purposed that His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, would be the object of all worship
and praise. All things are under the feet
of Jesus Christ. He is the head of all principality
and power and dominion and might, not only in this world but in
that which is to come. God has highly exalted Him and
given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, things in heaven, things on earth,
things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord through the glory of God the Father.
He's our sovereign God. That very One who was born in
a manger, that very One who worked in a carpentry shop, that very
One who during His public ministry, they spit on Him and mocked Him
and made fun of Him, that very One that was hung there on that
cross suspended between heaven and earth and God's wrath being
poured out on Him. He's our risen God. He's our
Savior, yes, but He's our Lord. We're to tell people, We're to
tell people that Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead And we're to tell people what he has done He redeemed
his people He purchased us with His own blood. All of our sins
were laid on Him. God has laid on His Son the iniquity
of us all. We heard last night that God
our Father made His darling Son, who knew no sin to be sin for
us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
All of our sins were laid on Him. Grab a hold of this. Grab
a hold of this. God has already punished us in
our substitute and He cannot demand payment twice. That's
why Universal Redemption is just as phony as the $3 bill. You
cannot believe in Universal Redemption and believe that Jesus Christ
saved you. If He did no more for you than what He did for
those who are going to hell, you don't see Him as your Savior.
But He did for His people what none other can do. He removed
our sins. From God's side, as far as the
East is from the West, and God remembers them against us no
more. Does that bless you? That blesses me. The Word of
God tells us right in this book of Romans, in the 8th chapter,
that God has spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all. How shall He not with Him freely give us all things?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God has
justified His people. just as if we had never sinned. He sees us in Christ. So we're
to tell people who He is, what He has done, who He did it for. He did it for His elect people,
His chosen people. Vessels of mercy. God has a people
He calls vessels of mercy. We're recipients of His mercy.
We're to tell people where He is now. Christ is on His throne
and He's giving eternal life to as many as God the Father
gave Him. No more, no less. I leave you with a little story
that I read years ago. Back in medieval times when the
king would say off with his head and it was done immediately,
there was a young man who had committed a crime worthy of death.
But the sovereign monarch over that kingdom had mercy and he
pardoned him. Well, sometime later, he committed
another crime worthy of death. This time, he was scheduled to
be executed, and the young man's mama was pleading for her son. Sire, have mercy on my son. He said, he doesn't deserve mercy.
She said, true, sire, but if he deserved it, it wouldn't be
mercy. And because of that statement,
He pardoned that young man again. I don't know how true the story
is or what happened after that, but it just serves as an illustration
for us to embrace. None of us deserve mercy, except
based upon what Christ has done for us. We need to cry out to
Him for mercy. For mercy. And as long as we
think we have something to offer in exchange for our soul, we'll
never cry out to God for mercy. In this next chapter, in chapter
10 of Romans, starting at verse 13, it says, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And your false
religionists run with that, and they base their doctrine upon
that verse, and a couple of other isolated verses, and God has
given every man a free will, and it's your choice. But that's
not what that's referring to. It is true. Thank God for the
truth of this. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But look at the next verse. How
then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
These people who are calling upon their Jesus in these false
churches, they don't know Him. They don't know the Christ of
the Bible. They're calling upon another Jesus. And Paul even
mentioned in his writings during the apostolic age that there
was another Jesus being preached, another spirit they were receiving,
another gospel. And look what it's grown to in
our generation. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Now folks, listen, God sends
His preachers to where His people are. God has sent that man right
there, Brother Joe Terrell, to Rock Valley, Iowa. Sent Don Fortner
to Danville, Kentucky. His preachers are where God sends
them. And God's preachers preach the gospel. Thank God for God's
preachers. We're instruments. We can't do
anything to the heart, but we can do this. We can tell you
who Jesus Christ is. We can tell you what He has done.
We can tell you where He is now. We can tell you what He's doing
now. This is the message, Jesus Christ, all the way through the
Bible. It's all about Jesus Christ,
and our Lord Jesus said that. He said, search the Scriptures.
In them you think you have eternal life, and there they which testify
of meaning. He was referring to the Old Testament
Scriptures, but we know that includes the New Testament Scriptures
as well. So I have brought before you
a message based upon the truth of God's Word, vessels of mercy. that God himself afore prepared
unto glory. On your program for this morning,
I took a portion of scripture from 2 Thessalonians 2, verses
13 through 15. It says, But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle." Now, folks, those of you who have
been called out, those of you who know Christ, hold on to Him. as if you're very life-dependent
upon it. But also be aware of this, He
has a hold on you. He'll never let you go. But those
of you who have not called out to Jesus Christ for mercy, today's
a day of salvation. You've heard the Gospel. Don't
turn a deaf ear. Don't be like Pharaoh. Don't
be like his Egyptian army. Don't wait until that appointed
time for your departure from this life, because everybody's
going to live forever. either in eternal bliss or in
eternal torment. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Call upon Him. And if God is
pleased to give you a new heart to believe His Gospel, and those
of you who have that new heart, our closing hymn will be a blessing
to you. God has brought us into a living
union with Himself and absolutely nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Brother
John, you come. God bless you.