And we're at chapter nine this evening, the
letter to the Romans, and we're at the
ninth chapter, and I want you to make
a special note of where in your mind
that we're starting a new section in the
letter to the Romans this evening.
Because I'm perfectly sure that if you get
this book into your mind in sections, then
you'll never forget the teaching of Romans.
That's how I have it in my mind.
One day, you know, the Russians may come
and take the Bible from us, or Rome
may try to do it once again.
Well, if you have it in your heart,
they'll have bothered taking it away, won't they?
And I know tonight that chapter one, and
chapter two, and chapter three, down to the
end of verse twenty, deals with the condemnation
of sinners.
We've gone through that.
And then I know from verse twenty-one
and chapter three, right through that chapter, and
through chapter four and chapter five, deals with
the great teaching of the doctrine of justification
by faith.
You know, I can lie in bed and
close my eyes and go through some of
those great verses on justification found in that
section, and it fills your soul.
And then you remember, starting chapter six, right
through chapter seven, right to the end of
chapter eight, we were dealing with the sanctification
of faith, practical sanctification.
So, there are three sections.
The condemnation of sinners, the justification of believers,
the sanctification of faith.
And now we're starting a new section, and
it goes through chapter nine, chapter ten, chapter
eleven, three more chapters.
And it's dealing with the explanation that Paul
gives of God's dealings with Israel.
That's what's here.
I feel that Paul felt that after explaining
justification by faith, and showing how a man
can be justified without works and without the
deeds of the law, you know, he had
to explain something of God's dealings with Israel.
And it takes time in this section, nine,
ten, eleven, to give this explanation of Israel,
of God's dealings with Israel.
And we have some very wonderful things in
the portion this evening.
We're trying to do the first eighteen verses
this evening.
So we're at Romans, chapter nine.
It's a new section.
It's the explanation of God's strange, seemingly strange,
dealings with Israel.
And we're at the first three verses now,
because these three verses bring to us the
personal burden of Paul for Israel.
It's very wonderful.
Now, just watch the capital I's in these
three verses.
I say the truth in Christ.
I lie not, but I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart, for I
could wish to see those four capital I's.
And you know, some of the expositors who
have trouble with the capital I's in chapter
seven, they have no trouble now.
And I just don't understand their mentality, that's
all.
Because they try to get away that it
was Paul personally in chapter seven, they try
to get away from that.
But they have no trouble now that the
I belongs to Paul, or not at all.
It doesn't disturb the pet theory they had
in their mind, what chapter seven did.
And so the capital I's in chapter seven,
they don't want to be Paul, but they're
quite prepared to accept it now.
I don't understand this sort of exposition.
I don't think it's honest.
So I want you to notice that it
is Paul personally.
And I want you to notice this.
He says, I say the truth in Christ.
You know, this is received, Paul, isn't it?
No trouble with that bit either, do you?
You haven't.
This is Paul in Christ.
Not Paul the Pharisee, no, no.
Not Paul unto the Lord, no, no.
Paul in Christ.
There can be no trouble with anybody here
in that, that's too clear.
And he not only says, I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not.
But he's talking not only about Christ, but
about conscience.
You know, he had a conscience that was
really working.
And this conscience was being worked by the
Holy Ghost.
And if you get the word Christ, and
the word conscience, and the word comforter, who
is the Holy Ghost before you, you'll be
getting down to what was going on here.
For the Holy Ghost was really working on
this man's conscience.
And now he's saying the truth in Christ.
And here was the truth.
That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow
in my heart.
If you make the first phrase of chapter
three a parenthetical one, you'll get it like
this.
That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow
in my heart for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh.
You know, Paul had a great burden for
the unsaved Jews.
Great burden.
I think that as well as getting the
truth out of this, we must say something
here.
I wonder has the Holy Ghost so wrought
in our lives that we have great heaviness
and continual sorrow for the unsaved around us.
Many of you.
Man, if I made you stand to your
feet, you'd be a whole crowd.
You'd have to sit on.
If you were saying this in Christ, if
you were saying this as absolute truth tonight,
how many of us could rise to our
feet and say, I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow.
Man, some of you don't get that for
so going to hell.
What a pity.
Now just be honest about it because we'll
never get any good out of this unless
we're honest.
Let me say this to you.
You know, there is a teaching that's going
about these days.
It's called by many people ultra-Calvinism.
Now remember that in a certain sense and
up to a certain point I'm a Calvinist.
But you know, there's a crowd of people
in our country now and they profess to
be ultra-Calvinist and they've got election so
much in the heart that they say, you
know, we can sit at home and our
toes in the fire and we don't need
to get excited at all and we're not
having any more fair meetings and we're not
voting.
None of you are all blind.
But I'm just about fed up with some
of you Calvinists.
Oh, you've just got it all cut off,
haven't you?
All right, we'll put you beside Paul tonight.
And let me tell you this.
He knew more about election than you'll ever
know.
And with all that knowledge, I can tell
you this.
He has to confess this.
I have great, great heaviness and continual sorrow.
You boys come over to your corner to
have a look at it.
You know what the ultra-Calvinists mean to
me in this country?
I'll tell you.
There are a lot of dead, proud, indifferent
believers who starve their conscience by election.
Let their friends go to hell and then
they close their eyes and say, well, if
God's going to save them, he'll save them.
Well, you're not a bit like Paul.
I hope you'll learn.
All for a team that would say repeatedly,
I have great heaviness and continual sorrow, for
sure.
Let's get back to my machine.
Yes, let's get back.
Presbyterian, yes?
You old Baptists listening?
Presbyterian.
My dear friends, there came a bunch of
Americans to this country some years ago and
went over to the church where my name
is.
You know how they've been there, having
a jolly good time because they've got a
lot of money to throw.
And you know, as we came into the
church, the old section was brushing it up.
Big fellow, leader of the party said, you
here when McShane was here?
Old man looked up and said, yes, sir.
Praise God, I was.
Oh, he said, that's just fine now.
Put his arm round, give him a wee
hug.
Tell us about this fellow McShane, he said.
He said, all right, I'll tell you, sir.
Did you just come with me?
Took him into the little vestry, set him
down on the chair, said, see that big
bible?
Opened the big bible and the yank opened
it with a smile.
He said, now sir, put your elbow on
either side and the Americans obeying everything, put
his elbow on either side, smiling to the
French.
He said, now sir, if you can put
your head in your hand and weep for
the next five hours without stopping for souls,
you'll make shame.
I took a smirk at his face.
Let us be honest this evening.
What do we know about weeping?
What do we know?
Challenging everybody in the meeting.
I'm persuaded that 99% of you know
nothing.
Absolutely persuaded.
My God, heck your heart.
For some of you old dead bounteous men.
My God, heck your heart.
Oh, friends, this is why we're lacking, isn't
it?
You can't work it out, you know.
You need to just to confess to God
how careless and careless and cold and icy
and indifferent.
Man, you'd rather have your tea on Sunday
evening and wash the old dishes than get
out to a prayer meeting, wouldn't you?
Oh, it doesn't make a matter who goes
to hell.
You have to do your research the way
you have it done last time.
My God, heck your heart.
Oh, I feel, I feel we're a thousand
miles away from Paul.
What a man.
Great heaviness.
Continual sorrow.
It was put there by the Holy Ghost.
It was on his conscience.
He could do nothing else about it.
Would to God we had it.
What's this?
This is Paul's burden, isn't it?
Read it over again.
I say the truth in Christ I lie
not, my conscience also bearing me witness in
the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart, for I
could wish that myself were accursed from Christ.
That's a tremendous statement.
We must get it exactly as it was
said in the original, for I could wish,
but it doesn't say that he did wish,
because Paul was far too well instructed to
know that he could never be accursed from
Christ, now that he had received them by
grace.
Paul knew that he was placed into the
body of Christ, and that body can't be
mutilated by bringing about it.
See, if I lost a hand, this body
is mutilated.
That's a member.
If I lost even a little finger, if
I lose an eye.
And Paul knew that he had eternal life.
Eternal life it can't be for six months,
you know, because that would only be six
months' life.
And when you get eternal life, there are
no buts behind it.
It's eternal life.
There are no more arguments.
Paul knew that he was perfected forever by
the work of the cross.
And the idea here in the original is
just this.
If it were possible, if it were possible,
I would be ready for it.
If it were possible to take me out
of the body and take me away from
Christ and put me into hell and curse
me forever, if they could perceive, I'd be
ready for it.
Say, what am I?
What am I?
Oh, I tell you, friends, we've got a
yard or two to go in this business,
haven't we?
Ready to go to hell, that others could
be saved.
You know what's seen here?
I'll get this over to you one by
one.
You know, there's great happiness, isn't there?
And there's continual sorrow, and there's the sacrificial
love of Christ in its soul.
He never was so like Christ before.
Isn't this what Christ was prepared for?
My, he felt the burden of the
man's only being like Jesus, that's all.
We'll say, God, we were That's Paul's personal
burden, isn't it?
Now, let's go on.
He says, for I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my
kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites.
And we must be very careful with this
word, Israelites, because this is where the teaching
of his steps is going to come in.
Just let's hold on to that word, who
are Israelites, and then go down to verse
6 and the last phrase of it.
Paul's saying, for they are not all Israel
which are of Israel.
So we must learn to differentiate between Israelites
and Israelites.
That's what we'll need to be taught this
evening.
You know, they're not all of Israel which
are of Israel.
That's the bit we need to get clear
this evening.
So that when he says, who are Israelites,
you know, he's got something special in his
mind.
And then he goes on to show the
national blessings of Israel.
We'll do them quickly.
Watch them.
Verse 4, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth
the adoption?
So remember, we dealt with the adoption of
sons last week.
Yes, you know, we've received the adoption of
sons, which just means that God is really
manifesting to all in country that we are
the children of God.
But we went into that and we won't
go over it again.
But you know, there was a part of
Israel, you remember what I said of course,
there's a part of Israel that was really
the elect nation.
Yes, they received that adoption.
That was the adoption of the nation.
And then it says, to whom pertaineth the
adoption and the glory?
You remember, the divine presence came down and
dwelt in the tabernacle, aye, and in the
temple, the glory of God in the midst.
And not only did they have the adoption
and the glory, but the covenants.
My, what a subject it would be to
go through all the covenants this evening.
The covenants that God made with Abraham, and
the covenant that God made with Isaac, and
the covenant that God made with David.
My, these are covenants that God entered into,
and this is what Paul's getting at.
Just because I'm bringing the gospel and the
Gentiles can come in and get saved and
be justified by faith, I don't want you
to think that God has forgotten about the
covenants.
He's beginning to explain what God has done
to Israel.
Oh, he's taking it all up all right.
He said they had the covenants, and so
they have, and so they have, and God
doesn't break covenants.
Not the bitter ones.
And then they had the law, hadn't they?
The giving of the law, and the service
of God.
Oh, what a wonderful thing this was.
The temple performances.
My, they were really wonderful.
And then the promises.
You know, God promised a lot to Israel
in the Old Testament, didn't he?
Promised that he'd bring them back into the
land, promised that he'd make them the head
and not the tail of the nations.
My, and there are a thousand promises that
were given only and solely to Israel, and
you can't steal them, you know.
Some of the expositors would love to take
all the curses of the Old Testament and
give them to the Jews, and take all
the promises of the Old Testament and give
them to the church now, but you're not
allowed to do that.
You'll just have to give them the promises
as well as the curses.
And Paul's not taking the promises off from
here, is he?
That's a bit of him.
Not the way some people do.
He said they have the adoption and the
glory and the covenants and the giving of
the law and the service of God and
the promises.
Whose are the fathers?
Oh, think of all the faithful pilgrim fathers
they had.
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and
Moses.
My, these were the foundation stones of the
Jewish nation.
And then he goes further.
And of whom?
And then he puts this little bit in
as an explanation.
Of concerning the flesh.
Christ came.
Now, that's very lovely, isn't it?
Oh, how careful Paul is.
And from this nation of concerning the flesh
only.
You know, that would teach us that the
Lord Jesus had a pre-existence, you know.
He says, Oh, only, only as concerning the
flesh.
The only person you can say a thing
like that about.
Because we all started at birth, you know.
But only as concerning the flesh.
He had everything to do with the Jewish
nation.
And then he said this, verse 5.
And of whom?
Of concerning the flesh.
Christ came.
Then he said this about them.
Who is over all?
And then he said this about them.
God, blessed forever.
And the rationalites want to market and wedge.
Because he's God.
Yes.
My, he's God.
He was God manifest in flesh.
And as concerning the flesh, he had a
connection with Israel.
My, thank God that Paul was very careful.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came through the virgin,
who was a Jew.
But only as concerning the flesh, he had
that connection.
But he's over all.
He's God blessed forever.
No wonder Paul said, Amen.
No wonder.
You see, these are the national blessings of
Israel.
Now, that's just laying the foundation for where
we want to go.
Now, before we start verse 6, the first
phrase of it, I think that Paul was
thinking like this.
Now, Israel had the covenants.
God made covenants with them.
Real covenants.
In fact, they're called everlasting covenant.
And God gave them promises.
And they're rich and mighty and powerful and
precious promises that God gave to them.
And he told them through the prophets about
Christ who would come and take the nation
and rule for those thousand years in the
millennial world.
Now, he's thinking like that.
Why is Israel satisfied with all that's true?
And then he goes on now.
He says, Not as though the word of
God hath taken none effect.
You know, that's just Paulism.
That's very wonderful.
He says, Now, I don't want you to
think that all these covenants and these promises
of God and everything that he said that
Christ would do for this nation, I don't
want you to think that it has taken
none effect.
God doesn't enter into a covenant and then
break it around the corner, you know.
He's not secular.
And he doesn't give promises that he'll not
keep.
He just doesn't do that.
He can't do that.
And all that he said about Christ, he
will most surely do.
The word of God, it's not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect.
Now, he begins the explanation of the whole
thing.
He takes us back to the historical background
of the Jews.
Now, you need to follow this very closely
if you're going to get the proof.
We're at verse 6 and we're in the
middle of the verse.
Here's the explanation beginning.
For they are not all Israel, which are
of Israel, neither because they are the seed
of Abraham are they all children.
But, and this is one of the promises
God made, but in Isaac shall thy seed
be called.
And I want you to get the word
called.
There is a portion out of Israel that's
really called.
And in every age there hath been that
portion and even tonight there is that remnant.
And in the day to come there will
be that remnant.
And God will keep all the promises and
the commandments of the remnant.
For they're not all Israel that are of
Israel.
That's where we make the blunder, but we've
got to get this right, haven't we?
Now, we'll go back to see exactly where
this happened.
It happened in Genesis 17.
And I think when you're at the spot
and see it for yourself, you'll get it
clear.
We're in Genesis 17 and Abraham
is on his face before God down the
chapter there.
At verse 18, that's where we'll stop.
We're in Genesis 17 verse 18.
And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael
might live before thee.
You know, Ishmael was Abraham's son too, wasn't
he?
Oh, he was, yes?
So it's quite right in saying that though
they be Abraham's seed, they're not all children.
Got that?
You see, the trouble in Palestine just at
this very moment is that the land is
cut in two and on the Jordanian side
you've got the Arabs who are all dated
back to Ishmael.
And on the other side of the border
you've got the Jew who are dated back.
And you know, we had some great old
times with these fellows.
I remember walking for half a day with
an owl.
And he said, but the country's ours.
You know, we're Abraham's children.
I said, you know, that's right.
Yes, you're dated back to Ishmael.
He said, yes, that's true.
And Ishmael was the oldest son.
And these fellows have no right to it.
And they're not getting it.
And they're not doing it.
I said, you know, it's quite true that
you're related to Abraham through Isaac.
But Ishmael would never, you know, go
into the promises and into the covenant.
And the Ishmaelites were never called, shall thy
seed be called.
Now, let's get the hold of this clearer.
Watch this.
This is Abraham praying, O that Ishmael might
live before thee.
And God answered this prayer in a way
that he never thought it would be answered.
And God said, verse 19, Say of thy
wife, shall there be a son indeed, and
thou shalt call his name Isaac.
And I will establish my covenant with him
for an everlasting covenant.
Now, just mark it in red letters.
Those of you who have no time for
the Jew, that God made an everlasting covenant
with And don't go letting your God down.
Well, there's some people say, you know, all
God's finished with him.
Is he?
Well, he'll be in trouble if he is.
Because he just happened to make an everlasting
covenant, and nobody asked him to do it.
He just made it on his own.
He said, I will make an everlasting covenant,
armed with his seed after him.
Isn't that it?
Ask for Ishmael.
I have heard thee.
Behold, I have blessed him, and will make
him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.
Tell Princess Charlie to get, and I will
make him a great nation.
Yes, the Arabs are all over the world.
But my covenant will I establish with Isaac.
You can argue about it whatever way you
like.
You know, I nearly knocked the bottom out
of the old Arabs' ideas, whenever I began
to get them back to the covenant.
God never made any covenant with the Arabs.
Nuffer will find that out.
And he won't defeat the Jew, no matter
what he does.
And he's going to try to do it
one day.
Ah, but he's in for trouble.
Because God will wipe him out.
And this book says he'll wipe him out.
And so you can see this.
You see what we're getting at when we
say, they are not all of Israel, which
are of Israel.
And they're not all children, though they be
children of the flesh.
They are not children of God.
And so let's get this clear.
We're back at chapter nine.
Now we want to get this very clear,
because it will establish something for us this
evening.
And let's get over this again.
We're at the middle of verse six.
The explanation begins, For they are not all
Israel, which are of Israel, neither because are
they the seed of Abraham are they all
children.
But in Isaac, and only in Isaac, shall
thy seed be called.
And that's very important.
That is, they which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of
God.
But the children of the promise are counted
for the seed.
For this is the word of promise, at
this time will I come, and Sarah shall
have a son.
Now, I think you've got that bit, but
that's not the whole bit, you know, that's
not the whole bit.
Some people learn that bit, but that's easy,
if you've got that, now you have to
come see that now.
It's not this now, it's Isaac.
Now just take your time, don't roam yourself
out of the reach.
Take your time behind me.
Now watch this wee bit.
Ah, verse ten.
And not only this, not only this, but
when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even
by her father Isaac.
Now you know that Isaac was the called
one, and then you remember how he married
Rebecca, it's a beautiful story.
How Elisa went away down and found Rebecca,
oh you know all about it, so we
needn't worry about that.
Now watch this.
Now she conceived by Isaac, 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.
It was said unto her, the elder shall
serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
So you see, it's not all Isaac's seed
even, that's all.
Is that not the truth?
So it's not all Abraham's seed, is it?
Because he just threw out Ishmael, and to
take Isaac.
And then it's not everybody that comes from
Isaac, because his wife had twins, you know
that.
Jacob and Esau.
So you've just got to rule one of
them up too.
And we're having trouble with the descendants of
Esau to this very day.
And they think they have a whole lot
to talk about too.
And so it's Jacob now that's selected, and
that's powerful.
And you know, some people who think that
God's not just being fair here, and they
come along, and there's a man who came
along to me the other day, and he
said, the Bible says that Jacob have I
loved, and Esau have I hated.
He said, you know, this is a dreadful
thing for God to hate Esau.
I said, friend, is that your problem really?
He said, of course it's my problem, isn't
it?
God hating this kid before it's even born.
It hasn't done any good, and yet God
just selects.
I said, then you're worried about God hating
Esau.
I said, you know, there's nothing, no problem
about a holy kid hating a condescending problem
at all.
Why would we realize that we're enemies in
our minds, that we're totally depraved, that we're
absolutes?
There's nothing to keep a holy God from
hating us.
I said, you know, you're on the wrong
end of the problem.
The problem is how the problem is.
And that will always be a problem.
Don't worry yourself how God loved you, or
how God loved me.
And you know, this is not according to
what we've done, or what we haven't done,
or what we have said, what we haven't
said.
This is just the sovereignty of God's election.
Some people don't like it like that, you
know.
But you know, if you're not going to
let God be sovereign, you'll lose the promises.
Because he was sovereign when he promised, so
that you'll have to be, let him be
sovereign in the election too.
Or some people would like God to step
into the middle of the road and make
promises.
But that would allow them just to work
sovereignty in election.
But let's see this clear still, you know.
I know that this puzzles some people, and
that's why I'm buttoning it up.
I think you can see the historical background
of the Jew, and for the moment you
can hazily see the fundamental basis of election.
Now this is what a lot of people
say.
We're at verse 14 now.
Paul knew all that went on in people's
minds, you know.
He says, what do we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God?
Because we believers would never entertain that sort
of thing, would we?
Or wouldn't we?
Because you would be bound to know that
the God who planned your salvation, who threw
the world into space, who is the eternal,
unchanging maker of heaven and earth, you would
know that even if you couldn't puzzle it
out, you would be bound to give God
marks for righteousness.
Well, if you didn't, it would be a
pity on you.
Even if you couldn't puzzle it out, you
would know that your God would always do
right.
Our God is a righteous God.
Of course, Paul doesn't entertain the question for
a moment.
I know that this is the critical bubble
of unbelief.
Is there unrighteousness with God?
Listen, Paul's shouting, God forbid!
Well, he's no nonsense with it.
Neither have I.
I know that the God that loved a
thing like me so much as to send
his son to the place called Calvary and
not spare them, I know that he's a
righteous God.
Even if I can't puzzle things out, I
still know he's all right.
Never gives me any bother there.
God forbid!
Never entertain that.
But Paul goes further than that, because there
are minds that love to peer into things.
Now watch this very carefully.
We're at verse 14.
What shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God?
God forbid!
For he says to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion.
Now, where did he say that to Moses?
Now, that's just what you would need to
see, isn't it?
Well, that's in Exodus 32, and that's just
a very important portion this evening.
Now, Exodus 32, and we'll need to go
as quick as we can here, and this
is the place where Moses came down from
the mount with the tables of stone in
his hand and found them around the golden
calf.
You'll remember that.
And here's what Moses said in verse 30.
Exodus 32, verse 30, And it came to
pass on the morrow that Moses said unto
the people, Ye have sinned a great sin,
and now I will go up unto the
Lord, tell Him, Venture, I shall make an
atonement for your sin.
And Moses returned unto the Lord and said,
All this people have sinned a great sin,
and have made them gods of gold.
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin,
and I think this is the only place
where you get a dash like that.
You know, he just couldn't go on with
it.
He's making a plea.
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin.
And it gets sort of tough, doesn't it?
And then he says, And if not, blot
me, I pray thee, out of thy book
which thou hast written.
And he was very like the Apostle Paul
there, wasn't he?
Or was it the Apostle Paul was very
like him?
Or was it that they were both like
Christ?
You know, he's prepared to allow God to
blot his name he has written, and that
nation can be saved.
Very lovely thing, you know, Moses was a
great fellow too.
But what should God say?
Verse 33, And the Lord said unto Moses,
Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I
blot out of my book.
Therefore now go, lead the people unto the
place of which I have spoken unto thee.
Behold, mine angels shall go before thee.
Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I
will visit their sin upon them.
And the Lord prayed the people, because they
made the calf which Aaron made.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, go
up hence, thou and the people which thou
hast brought out of the land of Egypt,
unto the land which I swear unto Abraham,
to Isaac, to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed
will I give.
And I will send an angel before thee,
and I will drive out the Canaanites, and
so on.
Bring thee into the land.
Verse four, And when the people heard these
evil tidings, they mourned.
No man put on him his ornaments.
For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say
unto the children of Israel, Ye are a
stiff-necked people.
I will come up into the midst of
thee in a moment, and consume thee.
Therefore now put off thy ornaments from me,
that I may know what to do unto
thee.
And the children of Israel stripped themselves of
their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
And Moses took the tabernacle, pitched it without
the camp, afar off from the camp, and
called it the tabernacle of the congregation.
And it came to pass that everyone which
sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle
of the congregation which was without the camp.
And it came to pass that Moses went
out unto the tabernacle, that all the people
rose up, stood every man at his tent
door, looked after Moses.
Came to pass as Moses entered into the
tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended unto the door
of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with
Moses.
And all the people saw the cloudy pillar
stand at the tabernacle door.
And we go on down.
Here is Moses and the Lord speaking.
Verse seventeen.
And the Lord said unto Moses, I will
do this thing of which thou hast spoken.
For thou found grace in my sight, and
I know thee by name.
And he said, I beseech thee, show me
thy glory.
He said, I will make all my goodness
possible for thee.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before thee, and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy.
You know, I want you to get this.
You know, the Lord had a right to
you, to blot out the entire nation.
My, they had sinned a grievous sin.
They had made a golden calf, and they
had fallen down and worshipped it and naked
before it.
And God had a right to blot out
the entire nation, but a Savior came in
to stand between him and the people.
This was Moses.
And you know, God looked at Moses, and
he just said this, all right, all right,
you have found grace in my sight.
I will have mercy upon whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion.
Let's get the whole of it.
You know, the day that I was saved
was the day that I came face to
face with God, I think, for the first
time, as it were.
My, all the shudders went away, and I
found myself in the presence of a holy
God.
You know, at the first moment of realizing
there was a God, and I was so
close to him, I thought that God had
come up to me and sat down me
in the, and if he has, if he
has, it will always be mercy.
And if God, my
God can damn you to make righteously, righteously
damn you in the plaque of hell.
And you have in the word to say,
you have sinned, you know, and you have
sinned grievously.
Some of you have wiped your feet on
the Savior.
God damned you tonight, you will be damned
for all eternity, and he can do it,
you know.
My, you have a God in the cross,
you are at the mercy of God.
You are at the mercy of God.
Now, let's go back to Romans 9, because
this is very important.
Now watch, we are at verse 15.
For he says to Moses, that was chapter
33, wasn't it?
I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion.
So then, this is Paul summing it up
now, so then, it is not of him
that willeth, and not of him that willeth,
but of God that shows mercy.
You know, that's a great verse.
Oh, we should, we should hem that verse
around in gold.
You know, it's not of him that willeth,
he no man just doesn't will to be
saved.
You know, I hear about some of these
preachers, and they believe that the moment they
put drops of water on a baby's brow,
that it's regenerated.
That's what they call baptismal regeneration.
And the funny thing about this, that they
can put the day of this baby's birth,
so they think.
But I'm taught it's not of him that
willeth.
You know, if the mother brings the baby
down, so we'll put it back to August.
I'll be away all July.
What rubbish from hell.
Let's get the hold of this.
No man wills this thing.
It's not of him that willeth, and it's
not of him that willeth.
It's neither will nor will.
It's of God that shows mercy.
Let's get the hold of that, because that's
a powerful phrase.
But of God that shows mercy.
You see, friends, I would say this, that
it's the mercy of God that we're all
in this meeting this evening.
Mercy of God.
Mind you, there's a lot of things going
on in the world that keeps on teasing
us all, boxing usually on Tuesday night.
But I believe it's of the mercy of
God that we have found on this place
of this sickness evening.
And I believe this, I believe it's of
the mercy of God that we've got an
open book tonight.
We should praise God for this.
You know, it's the mercy of God that
in this little land, in Ireland, imagine, in
pagan, popish Ireland, in Ireland's state of Rome
and all its devices, we've got an open
book now.
The doors are open.
No bars in the doors.
Mercy of God.
Can I say this without you thinking that
I'm egotistical?
It's a mercy that we've got a saved
man in the pulpit who can teach the
book.
Mercy.
Because the three-quarter of the pulpit's full
of old dead fellows who don't know anything
about God's will.
Being taught by a man of God taught.
It's the mercy of God that each holy
night of this place bursts from the dark
the old-fashioned message of the cross of
Christ.
Every Sunday.
And shall be till I die.
E'er since thy face I saw the
stream, thy flowing wounds supply, re-blooming love
hath been my fee, and shall be till
I die.
Mercy of God.
And I want to tell you, unsaved man,
that it's the mercy of God you ever
came to.
Some of your fellow men have never struggled
like this.
Never heard of us.
Never been challenged in their life.
Let me say this to you, unsaved man,
with all the masses of God that's on
your head for my...
And remember, the mercy of God only leads
you to the place that some of you
haven't attended.
Oh yes.
You know, some people would love to teach
a lecture like this.
That God just elects, and that you haven't
a say in it, you're just a machine.
Let me say this to you.
At this very moment in the world's history,
God is commanding all men everywhere to repent.
God is commanding all men, all men, everywhere,
to repent.
God's commanding.
And God commands and God leads.
You see, it works like this, that the
very mercies of God are so wrought together
that you're worked upon by God that at
last you're willing to fall at His feet.
For this of the mercy of God.
You don't rule out man, you have power.
Not a bit.
Now watch this, and it goes deeper now.
We're still at Romans 9, and we're nearly
at the end.
Verse 17.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Myles and
Paul were great preachers, couldn't be finder places,
even for the same purpose have I raised
thee up, that I might show my power
in thee, and that my name might be
declared through all the earth.
You remember the story of Pharaoh, don't you?
You know what it says in Exodus, we
don't need to go back to it.
It says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
It's not a bit of a problem, isn't
it?
Well, I'll tell you how it was done.
You know, God sent Moses to get the
children of Israel out, and Pharaoh says, Who
is the Lord God that I should let
them go?
I don't know anything about them.
All right, says God, we'll take you on.
And God sent the plague.
Ah, and he really shook Pharaoh to the
foundations, didn't he, with the first plague.
And Pharaoh trembled.
And then he begged for mercy.
And then God gave him mercy.
God took the plague away.
And then when he got the plague away,
you know, and the sky was taken on
the ground.
And then God sent another plague.
It was worse.
Then God scared them again.
And then he trembled again.
And then he begged for mercy again.
And then he got it.
You know the whole story, don't you?
And mercy.
And you know this, friends, it was the
mercy of God that was hardening them.
That's why I get scared about some of
you older men in this meeting.
And I'm really scared for you.
You know, you can take so much from
God, and you can bow down under the
weight of the word of times and tears
fill your eyes.
But when you get out and give your
life, like Pharaoh, you can go back to
what you were up before.
And you're getting harder, you know.
You know, the sun in the sky, it
hardens the clay.
Same day, same time.
And it's the mercy of God that will
soften you until you come and bow and
accept Christ.
You'll die a hardened old sinner and go
to hell.
And when you go to hell, don't blame
God.
You know, I get fed up listening to
sinners who always talk about election.
It doesn't belong to you.
You just leave it alone.
It's perfection that belongs to you, not an
action.
Too often you think about receiving Christ, and
the day you do, I'll say, not an
action that you should be puzzled about.
It's perfection.
You just keep your own word, you'll be
all right.
Why, the Lord said he will not come,
didn't he?
Oh, you want to come and accept Christ.
And you know, it's the mercies of God
that prepare you for receiving, and coming, and
trusting, and believing.
And when you come, you'll find you're one
of the called ones, and you're one of
the elect.
Here's one of the greatest verses in the
book.
It's our last one.
Therefore, verse 18, therefore have he mercy on
whom he will have mercy, and whom he
will be hardness.
Lots of questions come behind this.
We will deal with them next week.
May God teach us these virtues.
Let's bow together.
I'll catch you later.