I would not attempt to set before
you that which is the chief attribute of God. Some say His holiness
and righteousness, some His sovereignty, others His love, His mercy. I
think it's a mistake to suggest that one attribute of God outweighs
or outshines another. But I do know this. There is
nothing about the character of our God that is more delightful,
more comforting, or more assuring to the believer's heart than
the declaration of his great sovereignty. Oh, how we rejoice
to know that our Father is in absolute control of all things. And there is no attribute of
God's nature more disturbing, more despised, more likely to
stir up the wrath of man. than the glorious sovereign character
of our God. You'll recall in Luke chapter
four, when our Lord had preached this message of God's sovereignty,
when he declared plainly that God has mercy on whom he will
have mercy, the Jews took him, led him out to the brow of a
hill and would have thrown him off the cliff, murdered him if
they had gotten by with it. They were enraged by this declaration
of God's sovereignty. This lies at the very heart of
all true Christianity. God Almighty is absolutely sovereign. In the days when Martin Luther,
John Calvin, and John Knox were so mightily used of God for what's
called the Protestant Reformation, breaking the arms of papacy and
Roman superstition and the darkness of papacy, which held all men
in darkness universally around the world. God raised up those
men who set forth this glorious declaration that the scriptures
alone for declare salvation by grace alone through Christ alone. And setting forth the great dignity
and character of God as absolutely sovereign, men began to worship
Him everywhere. Oh, may God be pleased to make
known his character in our day so that men may worship him.
Now I have nothing new to say to you at all this evening, but
I want to show you from the scriptures something about the sovereignty
of God's grace. We'll look at Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 16. Now the Lord willing, I'll come
back to this again next Tuesday evening, but tonight I just want
to show you the foundation of this matter of God's sovereignty
in salvation, His sovereignty in grace. Most all men declare
that God is sovereign in heaven. Almost all religions say that
God is sovereign somewhat in creation. Most everyone would
say God is sovereign, at least in some measure, in providence.
And almost all religions, indeed all religions apart from the
gospel of God's grace, deny his sovereignty in salvation. Brother
Paul read in the office a little bit ago in Psalm 37, 39, the
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Now this is the
declaration of Scripture in our text. For verily he, that is
the Lord Jesus, Hebrews 2.16, for verily he, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham. I don't know of a plainer
declaration of God's sovereignty in all the scriptures with regard
to the exercise of his grace than what we have here. Our Lord
Jesus passed by the fallen angels. And he took hold of the seed
of Abraham. He passed by the angels that
fell, gave them no grace, did not give them an opportunity
of grace, made no offers of grace, did no work of grace for them.
But he took hold of the seed of Abraham. Not the seed of Adam,
the seed of Abraham. He came here as a man to save
men, but not all men. Rather, he came here to redeem,
to save, to justify a chosen people called the seed of Abraham,
his covenant people. When our Lord Jesus Christ came
to save fallen creatures, He took hold of Abraham's seed,
that he might die in our place, deliver us from death and the
bondage and fear of death by his irresistible grace and almighty
power. We were lost, all of us. rushing
headlong to destruction until the Lord Jesus Christ reached
down the hand of his sovereign omnipotence and delivered us
from death, from the bondage of the law, and from the curse
of the law. Every saved sinner is described
in Zechariah 3 and verse 2 as a brand plucked from the burning. He just, he reached down his
hand for me. He stretched out His almighty
omnipotent arm and snatched us as brands from the burning. As
Bobby said, we were running in our madness just like our sons
and daughters run in their madness. But God had mercy on us when
we would not look to Him and we would not call on Him. He
stopped us in our mad rush to destruction. He passed by the
fallen angels, He passed by the sons of Adam, He passed by brother
and sister, mother and father, and He took hold of the seed
of Abraham. What mercy! Now the scripture
declares here that God our Savior reserves the right of absolute
sovereignty in the exercise of His saving grace and in the application
of His mercy. He is sovereign in creation,
yes. Sovereign in providence, yes.
And he is absolutely sovereign in the salvation of sinners.
Now, you can't read through the scriptures without being confronted
with this fact. It's an impossibility. Folks
ask me frequently, well, don't you think that folks who deny
this, they just don't understand? No, that's not the problem. That's
not the problem. You can't read this book without
being confronted with God's sovereign delay. It can't be done. You
cannot read this book without understanding that this book
speaks of one who is God, who has mercy on whom he will have
mercy. The problem is men will not bow
to the revelation of God in Holy Scripture. Today we hear much
talk about the fundamentals of the faith. And yet those who
claim to be uncompromising fundamentalists, fighting for the book, the blood,
and the blessed hope, seldom ever mention the gospel doctrine
of God's sovereignty, except to ridicule it, poke fun at it,
and deride those who believe it with scurrilous accusations
of antinomianism and hard-shelled-ism and such things as that. The
fact is, let men do what they will, say what they will, God's
indisputable sovereignty is a fundamental, basic, vital doctrine of Christianity. It is a vital point of all true
doctrine, of all true faith, of all true Christianity. I know
that you may perhaps question whether or not this is really
so universally, plainly taught in scriptures. Is it really found
everywhere? Because I know that we have a
tough time shaking the influence of religion. I challenge you
to read the book. You've just begun reading through
the book of God again. Going from Genesis through Revelation,
try to look plainly and see if it's not there every time you
open the book. Right there it is, confronting
you as you open the pages of Scripture. God has mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hearteneth. This
is what the book says, Romans chapter 9, verse 15. You don't
need to turn there, just listen. For he saith to Moses, God said
to Moses, now this is what he said, Moses said, as he was about
to go up to lead Israel out of bondage into the land of promise,
God gave him this great commission, and God said, now I'm going to
be with you, and you're going to lead these people all these years,
and I'm going to bring them at last into the land of promise.
And Moses said, I beseech thee, O God, show me your glory. If
I've got such a great work to do, if I have such a heavy task
before me, if I have such an awesome responsibility, show
me your glory, give me something which will strengthen my soul
and strengthen my hands and strengthen my heart. And this is what God
said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now there's
His glory. That's not my word, that's His
word. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So be it. And this is the Holy Spirit's
conclusion to that revelation. This is not something that I've
concluded. This is not something John Calvin
concluded. This is the Holy Spirit's conclusion. So be it. It is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. What's that talking about? Read
Romans chapter 9, find out what it's talking about. It's talking
about God's salvation. Folks, let's talk about Jacob
and Esau. Jacob and Esau are as irrelevant as you and me.
Jacob and Esau simply represent God's people and those who are
not God's people. Romans chapter 9 is but the conclusion
of Paul's great discourse concerning justification, sanctification,
and the calling of grace by God's almighty power. It is but the
conclusion of his great declaration of God's saving operations. And
now, this is how he says it. God has mercy on whom he will
have mercy. The illustrations of God's sovereignty
in the exercise of his grace are as numerous as the characters
of scripture. Let me give you some examples.
That which stands before us in our text this evening. Satan
led a revolt in heaven. He led a revolt against the throne
of God. You can read about it in Isaiah's
prophecy. He said, I'm going to take over the God business.
I'll be like the most high. I'll exalt my throne above the
throne of God. I'm going to take over. And one
third of the heavenly angels followed him in his revolt. That's
what we're told in Revelation chapter 12. As a result of their
sin, they were forever doomed to suffer the wrath of God. No
mercy extended, no grace offered, no Savior sent to deliver them.
The fallen angels were forever damned, forever damned, without
the least opportunity of grace or the least measure of mercy.
Then God created Adam. What did Adam do? What did Adam do? What was the
essence of what Adam did in the garden? Remember the scripture
says Eve was deceived. Satan deceived her. But Eve wasn't
the one responsible for the covenant family. She wasn't the one responsible
for all the seed of Adam which would come after him. She wasn't
the one responsible for all those whom Adam as a covenant head
represented. Adam was. But what did Adam do? Adam saw Eve's fall and the result
of it. And he said, God, this ain't
right. You've got no right to do this. You've got no right
to forbid me this tree. You've got no right to take this
woman from me. You've got no right to do what
you will. And he shoved his fist in God's face. And he said, I'll
be God. I'll be God. And that's the essence
of all men's rebellion. That's the essence of all men's
sin. Every son of Adam comes forth from the room, speaking
lies, rebelling from his very heart, and he says, I will be
God. God has no right to rule over
me. And as soon as Adam said it, the Lord God called him. He came seeking him. And he said,
Adam, I'm going to provide a redeemer for you. I'm going to provide
a Savior for you. In Genesis 3, verse 15, I'm going
to send one, the seed of a woman, who will crush the serpent's
head. He'll undo everything that was done right here. He's going
to triumph over the devil, and triumph over the devil in the
saving of my people. Now, I'll illustrate it for you.
Here you are with those vaguelys, and he strips Adam naked, and
he kills an animal. and he clothes the fallen pair
with the skins of an innocent animal. That's redemption. That's
righteousness. All accomplished without the
works of a man by God's sovereign hand of grace in Jesus Christ
the Lord. The Lord God takes man. who has done exactly what the
fallen angels did, who has done exactly what Satan did. And while
Satan and the fallen angels have no mercy, the Lord God has mercy
upon the fallen sons of men, and yet not upon all. He has mercy upon some of Adam's
fallen race. He continues to display his justice
and his righteousness. He continues to display his anger
against sin and the sinner. This day, folks talk about God,
He hates the sin but loves the sinner. That's as silly as it
can possibly be. He says He's angry with the wicked
every day. But God shows His righteousness and His justice
in passing by many. But He lays hold on the seed
of Abraham to deliver them, having mercy on whom He will have mercy. The Lord God passes by multitudes. The scripture says many are called,
but few are chosen. Now we can either rebel against
this message of God's sovereignty and perish in our rebellion,
or we can bow to the throne of the sovereign God and say with
Christ, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Whether we bow to God's throne
or rebel against it, the fact remains the same. God Almighty
can save me or damn me. It's up to Him. He can save you
or damn you, it's all together up to Him. That's God's right
as God. As God chose some of the angels
who lost their first estate and passed by others, even so among
the fallen sons of men, the Lord God has chosen some, and He passes
by others. What does it mean for God to
pass by a man? What does the Scripture talk
about when it talks about God loved Jacob, but hated Esau? The word hated is the very same
word that's used when our Lord says, Bob, if you come after
me, you've got to hate Sally Ponson. That's what he said.
And yourself too. What does that mean? It doesn't
imply anything other than this. If you follow Christ, you give
no consideration to her, you just follow Him. That doesn't
mean you cease to love her as a husband, doesn't mean you cease
to love her as a man, doesn't mean you cease to exercise responsibility
and such, but you don't let your love for her in any way interfere
with following Christ. That's what it is. No consideration.
And when God says, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,
He says, I set my heart on Jacob. And left Esau alone. Just left
Esau alone. Gave him no consideration. All
right, now look at the scriptures. Adam had two sons. Cain and Abel,
Genesis chapter 4. Two sons. Cain, the firstborn. Boy, something about a firstborn
son. Something about a firstborn son.
Cain the firstborn, Eve said, I've got the man from the Lord.
She put all her hopes in Cain. She laid everything in Cain.
But God chose Abel. And Cain's damned. Abraham had
two sons. He had one after the flesh, one
by whom he hoped through the arm of his flesh to accomplish
God's purpose, called Ishmael. And this Ishmael, the child of
the flesh, the child of the bondwoman, represents all works religion.
And God passed by Ishmael. He had promised Abraham another
son, Isaac. A child of grace, a child of
promise, Isaac representing all God's elect. Isaac had two sons,
Jacob and Esau. Esau, the elder, in the womb
of his mother, and Jacob, the younger. Jacob, God says, has
I loved. Esau have I hated. God passed
by Esau because he hated Esau. He saved Jacob because he loved
Jacob. Somebody asked Virgil one time,
a lady heard him preaching on this subject and said, I don't
understand. how God could hate Esau. And Spurgeon said, my problem
is not understanding how God could hate Esau, but how God
could love Jacob. Jacob have I loved. You sons
of Jacob. It ought not surprise us at all
that anybody goes to hell. The astonishing thing is somebody
is chosen by God's grace to be saved. We all deserve His wrath,
but He's chosen to have mercy on some. In the days of Noah,
And we tend to kind of think, you know, well, in Noah's days
the earth was so sparsely populated and there weren't many folks
around. You better read the book again. This place was covered
with men. This earth was covered with men
in Noah's day. I have no way of knowing how
many, but you stop and just consider the ones listed in scripture.
And the multiplying generations for hundreds of years, going
on with men living to be hundreds of years old, having sons and
daughters. This place was covered with men. And they weren't crawling
around like dogs, and they weren't cavemen. They were literate,
well-learned, well-taught men. And God describes Noah this way. found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. Most people preach it like God found grace in the eyes of
Noah. That's not the way it was. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Noah and his sons, his wife and his son's wives,
eight souls alone, chosen and called of God, the rest of the
world under his wrath. Now, do what you want to with
that. That's just what it says. That's
just what the book says. Pharaoh. All throughout the Old
Testament, we're given example after example of God's sovereignty
in salvation. One glaring example is this man,
Pharaoh. God raised him up for only one
reason. You can read it in Romans chapter
9. He said, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might get glory in me. That I might show everybody who
I am. So that the whole world will
know that I'm God. The whole world. So that everybody
in the world will understand that it was me who dumped you
in the river. And everybody does. He accomplished
his purpose. Now sometimes folks think, well,
that was all in the Old Testament. Things are different now. People
get the idea that, you ever hear folks say, you know, that was
in the old Bible? The Bible is not an old Bible.
It's just the Old Testament. The older part of the whole Bible. And God in the Old Testament
is exactly the same as God in the New Testament. Exactly the
same. In exact all things, He changes
not. Exactly true in all of His attributes
and in all of His works. When you read the New Testament,
You have example after example of God's sovereignty. The Lord
Jesus passed by gathering his disciples, and the scripture
tells us he came upon men in a ship with their father, and
he called Simon and Andrew. And Simon and Andrew left their
nets, and they left something else. They left their father
in the boat. He called Simon and Andrew, nothing
about their father. The scripture tells us that he
called James and John and their mother, but says nothing about
him calling Zebedee their father. He came here and there and he
healed some and left others to die. The scripture tells us that
he called some and passed others by. In fact, the scripture tells
us that our Lord Jesus saved some who sought Him and did not
save others who sought Him. The Scripture do not explain
the reason. The Scripture do not explain
how that one sought Him truly, earnestly, with heart, faith,
and the other for other reasons, others with hypocrisy. But the
Scripture leaves it plainly this way. There was a woman with an
issue of blood who said, if I could just touch the hem of his garment,
I'd be made whole. She touched him and was made
whole. And then there was a rich young ruler who came. And he said, now, good master, You tell me what you require
and I'll do it. And he went his way because he refused to let
go of his riches. What does the scripture declare?
The Lord had mercy on that poor sinner who came seeking Him in
faith, but another who came, this rich young ruler, went his
way and the book says nothing else about him. The scriptures
are very plain. Our Lord Jesus laid down his
life for some and not for others. He took the cup on the night
of his crucifixion and he said, this cup is the New Testament
in my blood, shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. Shed
for many. He said, I'm the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. The Lord
Jesus died for some and not for others. He called some and not
others. He chose some and not others.
He saved some and not others. He's gracious to some and not
others. The fact is, God does not deal
with all people alike. Now that's just a fact. Folks
say, well that's not fair. You take that up with God. Just
take care of God. This is what the book says. Whether
we understand it or whether we don't, we either bow to it or
we perish. The Lord God Almighty has mercy
on whom He will. He has compassion on whom He
will. He shows grace to whom He will. Now let's look at some
scripture. Turn to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew
chapter 11. What an astounding illustration
this is of what I'm trying to tell you. The Lord Jesus has
been preaching, performing his wondrous works. Then in verse
20, then began he to abrade the cities wherein most of his mighty
works were done, because they repented not. Now try to get
this thing where you can get hold of it. He's been performing wonders,
miracles, showing his word. all around and doing mighty works. So that those folks who saw his
miracles and heard his word were utterly without excuse. Utterly
without excuse. And they were unimpressed. Oh, maybe impressed in their
minds, maybe impressed with their eyes, but they didn't repent.
God sends his gospel to Danville, Kentucky. Folks hear it. That
sounds interesting. I believe I'll go listen for
a while. Nah, nothing to that. Go their way. Repent not. Repent
not. Other folks in other parts of
the world never heard the gospel of God's grace. Now listen to
what it says. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if, what a word, If the mighty
works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. That's just about as astounding
as anything I've read in my life. The Lord God says to Chorazin
and Bethsaida, the things that you've seen and heard, if Tyre
and Sidon had seen them and heard them, would have done wondrous
things in them and would have brought them to repentance. But
in his sovereignty God withheld it from them and showed it to
you that yours may be the greater condemnation. Read on. But I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at that day, at the day
of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works," look at it now, if the mighty works which
had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, If that bunch
of perverts down in Sodom who tried to rape the men who came
to minister to Lot and his family, if they had seen and heard what
you've seen and heard, it would have remained to this day. But
I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land
of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. will have less condemnation than
religious folks who've heard and despised the gospel. That's
what it says. I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for you. At that time, what do you say to this? How do you
respond to this? Well, I won't worship a God like
that. The Son of God did. Jesus Christ, our Savior, did.
Look at it. At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast... What does it say? What does it
say? Hid. Hid. Hid. God sends blindness to some
and light to others. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear, these are of the Lord. The believing heart, these are
of the Lord. So too is the blind eye and the
deaf ear. The Lord hath hid these things
from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. How come you believe when folks
smarter than you don't? How come you believe when folks
wiser than you don't? How come you have repented when
folks who are better than you haven't? Because God has revealed
his grace to babes. Except you become as little children,
our Master said. You shall in no wise enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Now let me give you this one
thing. I'll send you home. We must see. We must bow. We must. We must in all how we
ought to want to rejoice in God's absolute sovereignty. He wounds
and He heals. He kills and He makes alive.
It is His sovereign right either to save or to damn whomsoever
He will. It's His right to either be gracious
to me or pass me by. Rebels would be wise to fall
down before his sovereign throne and beg for mercy like the leper
fell at their master's feet and said, Lord, if you will, oh,
God, if you will, you can make me whole. But it's up to you. It's up to you. Pass me not,
oh, gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. That's the way sinners
approach the Lord to obtain mercy. We bow before him. You don't
make a deal with him. You don't strike a bargain with
him. You don't try to talk him into something. You just bow
to him. And there's never yet been a
rebel bowed to his throne who went away without obtaining mercy. Amen. All right, Lindsey, you
leave us in the hem, please.