Romans 9 "Need for Mercy" Jack D. Terry, Jr.

Dr. Terry discusses the current situation in Israel and how it relates to the book of Revelation. He mention the hordes of Muslims surrounding Israel and the possibility of doing a conversation about it. He also talks about different millennial positions and how the church will not be present during the thousand year reign. The speaker then discusses chapter 9 in the book of Revelation, which talks about the choices made by Israel and the church. They emphasize the importance of God's mercy and grace in our lives. Let me ask you all a question, Brother Jimmy and I have been talking about what's happening in Israel and what's happening to the nation of Israel and all of the bad guys hanging around the south and the north and the east and all of the people dropping rockets from four different directions and he and I are both talking about the fact that the book of Revelation says in the last days that they will come down on Israel from the north and the south and the east and the west and that the hordes of people will come down and many many years ago when I was younger and reading the book of Revelation when it talked about the hordes of the east, back then the only hordes of the east were in China or in that part of the world and yet when Russia had its breakup a few years ago and they went into the several different kinds of stans, you know, they went into Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and Bicyclestan and a few other things and they just had all these countries around there and because of that all those countries we didn't realize that were part of the Russian empire were Muslim and we didn't realize that until they set themselves up and as they did they gave themselves Muslim names like Afghanistan and other so anyway now Israel is totally surrounded on the north, on the east, on the south and from Egypt and down at Gaza and over in Syria and over in Jordan and over in Iran and up in Turkey they are all surrounded by hordes of Muslims. So Jim and I have talked about the possibility of maybe one Sunday just doing a conversation that kind of thing with you all about maybe what is happening in Israel relational to the word of God and he and I were talking last week we thought we might do it in a week or so but we want to give ourselves a little time and he asked me he said could you do maybe a little overview of the millennial positions and help us all to understand perhaps where we fit in the millennial position because you know there is more than one millennial position there is a pre-millennial position there is an aww which means no, no millennium and there is a post-millennial position these are very three prominent millennial positions of which many many people over the years believed, in fact the president of southwestern Baptist theological seminary founder B.H.Carroll was a post-millennialist ok and oh just to shock you George W. Truitt first Baptist church Dallas was a post-millennialist now that is back in the late 1870s to 1935-40 and we will tell you why on that day why they were post-millennialists and there was a very good reason why they were post-millennialists post-millennialism believes that there will be a millennium at the end that is where you get the word post at the end of it all and the others at the beginning and in the middle so you got the pop in the mid and the post and so we will talk about it if you all would like to do that on a given Sunday and maybe we can kind of get some information about how revelation refers to what is happening now now the thing you have to remember is and this you must remember the church will not be here on earth during the thousand year reign remember that you will not be here I will not be here the church will not be here when the church is raptured before the great tribulation which is beginning right now we're seeing part of the tribulation if you think this is bad just wait as the old boy say you ain't seen nothing yet if you think this is bad just wait if you think what happened in Israel is bad just wait that's just the beginning and the church according to the Word of God is going to be gone we're going to be raptured out of here we are not coming back during the millennial period in the book of Revelation chapter 17 18 when it talks about the millennial reign on the earth and the temple will be rebuilt we will not be here please remember that when you are raptured to heaven before the great tribulation we are not coming back to earth until the new heaven in the new earth comes down no no I'm saying we'll be here in the tribulation I'm sorry no no what I'm saying is we will be raptured the church will be gone okay we'll be raptured before the truth now that is before you got to watch the words in the Bible it talks about a tribulation it talks about a great tribulation and we have not yet seen the great tribulation it hasn't happened yet it's beginning to happen it's mellowing right now it's kind of missing around okay I got to get I got to get this lesson home anyway y'all want to do that dr. Jim and I are trying to put it together and see what we'll tell you ahead of time what Sunday we're going to do this and if you need to bring in more chairs that day Eddie will just push the side out and see what happens you know all right today chapter 9 chapter 9 book of Revelation book of Revelation too many too many too many irons okay let me tell you what chapter 9 is just very simply and then I'll go into it and help you understand what's happening in it chapter 9 is a discussion by the Apostle Paul by two magnificent presentations and activities of a father God our eternal father the Lord himself Jehovah he did two things to two different groups of people and in this chapter those two things are identified and at the end of each of those people of whom these identities are made are given opportunity to choose now the interesting thing about this is God's choice was made in eternity past you are sitting here today because God chose you before the foundation of the earth and somewhere along the way since he made a choice somewhere along the way in the history of history is going to eternity future somewhere along the way his spirit came into your life and it's so moved your life that you made a choice and you made a choice for him you see the thing about it is we would have never chosen God if he had not chosen us first now think about that would you have ever wanted to live a spiritual life without knowing there was a spiritual redemptive father no you would rather live your life the way you all live it after all many people who come into the kingdom of God continue to live their life as if there is no father and that's what Paul's going to talk about today so he's going to talk about two different things today he's going to talk about two different congregations he's going to talk about the congregation of Israel and what happened to them and what they did and how they made a poor choice some of them not all of them some of them make some poor choices some of them made some good choices many of them made some poor choices and then he's going to talk about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed by his blood saved by his sacrifice at Calvary by his resurrected spirit and the eventual imminent coming again he's going to talk about us and he's going to talk about where we are right now and where we need to be going and what kind of choice we need to make as well and that's what this whole chapter is about so let's kind of look at the chapter and by the way I tried to give you really interesting stuff in my paper not to teach when I'm here I don't plan to teach the lesson as it is in your hands I hope you'll read it later because there's some there's some kind of little innuendos that are made in the lesson that I don't have time to make up here and they may help you to get a little better understanding of what I'm talking about and you may leave here with a little bit of hole in what you're thinking and maybe that the lesson can fill that little hole what you're thinking now Paul is going to begin by telling you that he has great grief and great sorrow for his brethren Israel prior to that there's going to be a word that's going to be introduced in this chapter that has been made before you have heard it many times you have taken it for what it means but it's going to be made in this chapter a little bit more solid and it's going to be made a little more firm it's going to have a little more importance in this chapter than it has in other chapters and that word is on the top of your page mercy now we have heard about the mercy of God and ladies and gentlemen we're not for the mercy of God you wouldn't be here we're not for the mercy of God your next breath may not be there we're not for the mercy of God you may not have anything to eat or nothing to live in we're not for the mercy of God you may not be who you are for the word not for the mercy of God you know what we really deserve none of us deserve his mercy none of us we've none deserve his mercy now the beautiful thing about it is we have been talking a great deal in chapters of three four five six seven coming into this chapter about this wonderful word grace and we say that grace is God's unmerited favor which it is you don't merit it you don't earn it you don't deserve it you should go to hell quite frankly that's where you need to go that's that's unless it were for the mercy of God that's where we would be going okay and so the grace is his unmerited favor that's something he has given to you it's a gift in fact it's like this for God so loved the world that he gave he gave he gave you a gift his only mother today his only begotten son the only one of a kind the only one he ever had that whosoever believes in him should never ever ever ever die into eternity future and throughout eternity future but you'll have everlasting life and so this word grace is unmerited favor mercy is different mercy is God's omni benevolence it is his great great love for you we talk about benevolence so you know beloved benevolence is a demonstration of love we have all these benevolent things we have all of these activities that we call these are benevolent activities these people give and give and give actually God is the are these four things that I've told you he's omniscient he knows everything he's omnipresent he's everywhere all the time he's right here he's sitting right next to you Robert God's right next to you Susanna he's right next to you don't care he's here he's in our midst Jesus is walking up and down these aisles right now because wherever we are he is wherever we congregate because we have in us the holiness of God and wherever we are he's here with us so the Holy Spirit God the Father and Jesus Christ right here with us today and that's because he is omniscient he's everywhere he's omnipresent he's always present he is omnipotent he's totally all-powerful and he's omnibenevolent he is merciful were it not for his omnibenevolence were it not for his mercy what would be his grace how valuable would be his grace how valuable would be the death of Jesus Christ were his father not merciful and so in this particular lesson we're going to be introduced to the soundness of this word because this word mercy which we do not deserve and this word mercy which is a gift from God and this word mercy which provides for us everything we know everything we want everything we have because he's going to put he has put in us his greatest treasure on the day you were saved he put himself his son and his Holy Spirit in your container and you and I carry around that treasure in our container the Apostle Paul said it like this in the book of 2nd Corinthians he says we are an earthen vessel we're a mud clay pot into whom God has put his treasure we have treasures in earthen vessels have you ever thought about that verse back in Corinthians chapter in the 2nd Corinthian letter you and I are a mud clay pot we are earthen vessels and God in the 2nd Corinthian letter through the Apostle Paul says he has put his treasure what is his treasure himself his son the Holy Spirit he wants to fill your mud pot up full of himself he wants you to be not somewhat but he wants you to be full of the Spirit of God which contains all three God the Father God Son God the Holy Spirit now this is what he gave to Israel now let me make a statement that I want you to hang on through throughout this entire lesson God has the privilege and the right since he is all the four we talked about he is the creator of the universe he is the sustainer of the universe he is the end of the universe since God is all of these God has the privilege of selecting whom he will and I'm going to show you how he did that all through Israel's life and then I will show you how he's doing it in our lives and so let's kind of look at this at first for just a few moments because the Apostle Paul says I wish and I would give my salvation if my Hebrew brothers could be saved now what the Apostle Paul says in verse 3 I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites Paul said I would be willing to go to hell and to outer darkness and to separation from eternal God my Heavenly Father and my redeeming Savior Jesus I would be willing to do that for my kinsmen in the flesh the Israelites now there was another person who said a similar thing like that one day Moses was on the Mount Sinai and God was giving him the tablets and because he had not come down as quickly as Aaron his brother and others of the leaders of the Jews around Sinai thought he should be coming down they considered that he was dead so since they considered he was dead and yet the Mount was still rumbling and the clouds were still there in the light and it was still flak I mean it wasn't as if God had left but Moses hadn't come down and because Moses hadn't come down they convinced Aaron to make a golden calf remember at Sinai oh there are two golden calves in the Word of God both of them in the Old Testament and both are made by people people had so they made a golden ox to replace eternal God hello and you remember what Moses did he came down and God met him he got so mad he threw the tablets down broke them and he said to God God these people have just made me sorry why don't you just brought me out of your book see he asked the same thing Paul did Moses asked to be brought it out he said I would rather you brought me out than kill see that's how much Moses loved his people that's how much Paul loved his people ladies and gentlemen that's how much we should love people and the little song is still true people need the Lord people need the Lord would you bought yourself out of the eternity for a lost neighbor that's what Paul saying that's what that's what Moses did and God said no we're not gonna bought either of you out you still have your okay so now Paul after he talks about these people he is brethren he's going to say eight things now you got to remember Paul is the great list maker okay he makes all kinds of lists now that is a strong rabbinical thing and by the way it is a great learning thing how many of you learned by making lists so that you could pass a test put your hands up how many of you use lists faster come on you're a list maker to I am to Barbara gives me a list I take it to store I can't read it but I find some stuff that she didn't put on the list that I can't read and then I get home I don't have the white onions but I got those ice cream bars and the first thing she says to me when I walk in the back door I'll get ready to make something where my white onions oh goodness they're still at the store I'll have to run back we all make lists okay now Paul is getting ready to make an eight-point list in verses four and five and this eight-point list is going to give you the totality of God's involvement with the Israelites now let me say something before I go there God could have chosen any nation to be his nation right he selected Israel that's his choice God could have let you go any way you wanted to go in your life but he selected you he selected Moses before the foundation of the earth he selected Paul before the foundation of the earth he selected the Israelite people before the but he had this all set up before all this came into being I mean it's hard for my little old mind to get wrapped around all that and I'm sure it's hard for yours too so he's going to say eight wonderful treasures God put in Israel look at him first for who are Israelites to whom is the adoption that's the first gift he adopted Israel could he not have adopted Iran could he not have adopted Germany or the Germanic peoples could he not have adopted Egypt Egypt was very prominent during this day but he adopted a Chaldean by the name of Abraham who was over in her of counties and of all of the people in the world now don't get mad at God because he selects people of all the people in the world he could have selected he selected Abraham does that mean God is not fair you see where I'm going so the first thing he gave to the Israelites was adoption oh by the first thing he gave you was what he adopted you we talked about that adoption a few weeks ago and said he has made us heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ he adopted us he has done the same thing for us he did for Israel okay number two I know that but he gave them the glory the Shekinah glory of God he gave them his glory when they built the tabernacle he filled the end of the tabernacle with his glory in the daytime with great with great smoke and at nighttime with great light when when when Solomon built the temple he filled it with his glory and when you were saved he filled you with his glory good morning you see you got the first two things Israel God he put your glory in a different place he put his glory for the Israelites in a tabernacle in a temple he put his glory in your temple no you're not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which dwells in you and you are not your own you have been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body which is his you know everybody doesn't belong to you anymore it's a container in which he put himself he put his Shekinah glory number three he not only put his glory there but he gave you covenants in fact he gave these Israelites all the covenants they needed to live he gave them the law he put the covenants in this great big document called the law he gave them all the covenants all these covenants are still as good covenants today the law is as good today as it was when Abraham when God made it for the children of Israel at Sinai and it is the same way now that it was then it cannot save anybody it can't lead you to salvation but it cannot save you because it has the covenants and the covenants are those things that lead us and by the way the covenants of God led you to Christ in a few minutes you'll find out he selected you that's more of a thing about not only that he gives the covenants but he gave us also that he gave us the giving of the law the covenants were incorporated in the law and he gave us the law although the law was to be lived by they could never live it because the law was never to be redeeming the law was simply to point to sin and that's what it did he also gave us service to God in the Sinai discussion with Moses God told Moses how to do all the sacrificing God gave Moses all of the services of the temple both the tabernacle and the temple God is now giving us all of the services of his eternal kingdom he keeps us understanding how we are to serve we may not be serving in a temple we may not the temple we may not be serving in we may not be doing sacrifices but we are doing sacrifices of love we are doing sacrifices of time we are doing sacrificing of being we are doing sacrificing of our life we are doing as much service as they were doing in the temple so he gave them service he gave us service then he gave them promises see that's the next one he said oh I'm going to give you all these promises and they are the if-then promises and I won't have time to go through all of you know what they are if you do this then I will do this and they're always called all throughout his word the if-then promises if then if then and by the way that if is not a if of an it's not an if that deals to to doubt it is an if that you're going to do it if you do this and by the way in Greek there are four words for the little little bitty word if and one word means there is considerable doubt that you're going to do it watch it if you sin first John said if you sin remember that in first John that's that undesirable if it means that there's a strong doubt that you're not going to do that in other words God is saying through John if you sin and there is considerable doubt that you're going to because you have been redeemed and you have him in your in your in your in your container you have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Son and if you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness you see you got a promise that's a promise if then if you if you confess your sin then he will come to you will cleanse you if then and these are all the promises he gave the children of Israel they had every one of them they had all the promises you have they had all the promises I have and then he also not only gave him the promises but he gave them the leadership he gave them the fathers and by the way you never hear the Israelites talk of anything unless they go back and pick up the fathers go back and pick up you know Noah and they pick up Abraham they pick up Abraham they pick up Moses and they pick up Isaac and they pick up Jacob and you know they pick up all the fathers and they had the fathers by the way we have also the state we have the relationship to those fathers as well and we have those fathers with us they're part of our and then he also not only gave them the fathers but here's the best one he also gave us Jesus Christ in the flesh who came according to the flesh because the Old Testament is the one that spoke of Jesus coming oh by the way just in passing you all know that Jewish synagogues today will not read the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah in the synagogue and do you know that they will not allow their their students to read the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah you know you know Isaiah 53 says for he was bruised for our iniquities chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed all we have gone astray as we've gone astray all we like sheep we've gone astray we've turned our but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all they won't let him read that because that's messianic and that's Christ he gave us in the Old Testament Christ look at all the passages in the Old Testament to speak of Christ and behold a virgin shall conceive and they shall call his name God with us Emmanuel and then it also talks about and and it says and his name shall be called for wonderful words wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end eternity future upon the throne of David to establish it to order to establish it from henceforth forever and the zeal of God shall perform it you don't know what that word zeal means that's what you had when you met her the first time you had zeal that's what I had when I saw that beautiful brunette gal standing in the corner that first night in Terrell the word zeal means ladies and gentlemen hot passion you see the zeal of God the hot passion of God Wow what did you it is in the Old Testament they won't let him read that and it's in the synagogue because they don't know they don't want to know them to know the hot passion of God can save can save them okay and then the last thing they had who is over all eternally blessed God forever amen those are the eight things they were given Israel now but it's not that the Word of God has taken no effect for they are not all is now I want you to notice first six real carefully but it's not that the Word of God has not has taken no effect for they are not all Israel who are of Israel we are not all Christian Gentiles who are of the Gentiles we are not all redeemed Gentiles who are of the Gentiles I want you to remember something God is a very selective person in a few minutes we're going to see where he selected Abraham and then he selected out of Abraham some other guys and there are all kinds of people he could have selected but God had that God is a very person about his selection and since he is the ruler of the universe don't you think he has the right to do whatever kind of selection he wants to do if you don't like it get over it if you think he's unfair get over it you've got to remember who he is you see we are like him he is like us we are with him he gets us I love that little statement on TV now it says Jesus gets us he understands us God understands us and so what's happening here all of the Israelites over all of these centuries were not redeemed they were Israelites but they were not of Israel and we're going to find out what it took to be of Israel and I can share real quickly what it took to be miserable by simply going to the 12th chapter of the book of Hebrews when you start the roll call of faith and by faith Adam and by faith Noah and by faith Abraham and by faith I think and by faith Jacob and here we go you see that's spiritual Israel there was two Israels just like there are two Gentiles there was a Israel and there was a spiritual Israel and the difference between Israel and the spiritual Israel is that one word faith there are two Gentiles there are Gentiles and there are spiritual Gentiles I praise God that all of you sitting here are part of that spiritual Gentile ism because you were chosen he chose you from the foundation of the earth and we you had opportunity because he chose you you loved him so much you chose him when the Holy Spirit came close in searching and the Spirit of God through the Lord Christ and you understood what Jesus did for you on the cross and you figured it all out that hey I'm in a mess I'm going to eternal perdition and here I have an opportunity because he has selected me to make a choice and I'm getting an opportunity by the Holy Spirit to choose him and that's what he's talking about here and he says in verse 7 nor are all children because they are seed of Abraham but in Isaac your seed shall be called wait a minute we don't know how many children Abraham had we don't we know we know of Isaac we know of Ishmael with a Egyptian woman we don't know any other children but these men had multiple wives he probably had son after son after son after son they were building the universe but looky when God got ready for him to move this thing into Israel life moving toward the eternal Jesus Christ who would come out of this group who would come out of Jesse the seed of Jesse when he moved him in that direction he started he started choosing people he chose Abraham to come out of her account needs to set this thing up and in Abraham selected the spiritual ones Abraham selected Isaac and Isaac was the one who with his wife Rebecca gave birth to twins and before the foundation of the earth God already decided which of the two twins gonna get the choice is that ungodly is that unfair because God knew before Esau and Jacob got here Esau was gonna be a scoundrel before he ever scoundreled God knew it you see where I'm going with this you see God makes selection of whom he knows and who he will you don't have a choice the only choice you have is to choose and when you get opportunity to choose brother you better jump on the train and come on with us because you see he chose Isaac Isaac had Jacob and Esau and you remember what the scripture said the younger will serve the older why would the younger serve the older because the older was a criminal whose name was Esau we found that out in fact if you go to the end of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem the first time by Nebuchadnezzar and his crowd if you go to the end of that and you read all the stories that are around it you will find out that the that the Esauites the children Esau went over and told the children of Jacob y'all come with us we're going to protect you in our mountain here hideaway and all of the children of Jacob said oh thank you thank you and they went out of Jerusalem with him and they turned them over to the Babylonians and they slaughtered them have you read that story go read it it's at the end of destruction of Jerusalem in 2nd 2nd Chronicles the Esauites told the Jacobites to come with them so they can protect them and when they got them out of the city Jerusalem they turned them over to Nebuchadnezzar you see God knew who he was selecting and he selected Jacob and so not only he select Jacob for the children not yet being now would you look at verse 11 verse 11 is critical for the children not yet being born nor having done any good or evil that the purpose of good of God according to election might stand not of worse but of him who calls it's God who calls and before Esau and Jacob ever did anything good bad or indifferent God already chose Jacob he chose the Israelites spiritual person okay go on with me what shall I say there is God unrighteous there's the question folks you've got to deal with it he's got unrighteous because he does this kind of selection I mean think about it your heart he's asking you the question I'm asking you because God did all of this selection the way he did is he unrighteous and he comes out with that wonderful exclamation that in Greek is closest to cousin when you use this exclamation that's as close as you can get to cousin in Greek may get a toy God forbid is God unrighteous mega no toy God forbid no God's not righteous God is just God is righteous God is holy God is Kingdom and so he says mega no toy so he says to Moses have her I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion so that it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but is him who shows mercy it's not of you it's not of me it's none of us who will it's not of us who wants none of us who run it's all of God ladies and gentlemen our life is totally wrapped up in God we are his get on the bus you're not your own he said Romans in Corinthians you have been bought with a price therefore glorify God and you got the glory in you already glorify God in your body which is his and so he says he will show mercy on whom he will show mercy so then if not of him who wills nor him who runs but of him who shows mercy and then he talks about Pharaoh he shows mercy on Pharaoh he gave Pharaoh every opportunity to be a good guy and Pharaoh showed him every opportunity that he was a criminal and so he destroyed their first 18 therefore he has mercy on whom he wills and whom he wills he hardens he hardened Pharaoh's heart you will say to me then why does he still find fault for who has resisted his will but indeed oh man who are you oh I love this first night verse 19 verse 20 verse 20 but oh man now this old man is one of the is one of the strongest exclamations that a Hebrew can make in Hebrew oh I loved I let people say man that's great the same expression it's a oh wow man oh man he said but but but oh man who are you to reply against God who are you oh man oh will the thing form say to him who formed it why have you made me like this now comes the story of the potter in this passage he said there's a potter he has a lump of clay it's an illustration about you and me and God how God made us God took the clay you know we're made of clay by the way you heard that Satan told God one day that he was that he was going to make a man he said God I figured out how to make a man and so I want you to watch me while I make a man God said go ahead make your man so Satan said okay I'm gonna make me a man I'm gonna name me what I want to name him so he got Satan stooped down he said wait a minute Satan what are you doing he said I'm getting some dirt he said no that's my dirt you have to get your own dirt somewhere you know you know so here comes the potter a potter has a piece of clay who's in charge the potter or the clay I mean you know it's an illustration beautiful illustration is beautiful illustration of God has your love of clay who's in charge are you or him and so it says here does the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make a vessel of honor and one of dishonor doesn't he have the privilege of doing what he pleases with that piece of clay I mean he can make a beautiful vase and make it pretty to sit on your dresser or sit on your stand or he can make an earthen pot to use to scrub the floors he can make a big old bucket out of dirt make it a bucket and you put your dirt you put your mop in and you scrub the same clay can make a beautiful vase or can make a bucket of clay to put your mop in what if God wanted to show his wrath and to make power known endured with much long-suffering the vessel of wrath prepared for destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy ladies and gentlemen verse 23 is to us and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy have you figured out who you are yet you and I are vessels of mercy and God has determined that he might make known the riches of his glory on his vessels of mercy okay so you are an earthen mop bucket but God's still going to make the blessings of his mercy on you okay you might be a beautiful statuous picture of lovingness that can be set on the table but God will make his mercy on you it's not what you look like folks it's who's in you and so he says even of whom even of us who he's called he called not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles so he's saying look God is doing the same thing with you that he did with the Jews he's putting the same thing in you that he put in the Jews he is working with you as vessels of his mercy as he did with the Jews and the Jews all turned their backs on them on him except the spiritual Israelites and the spiritual Israelites are the ones whose names are listed in chapter 12 of the book of the 11 and 12 of the book of Hebrews so that you come to 12 and you see that under the throne of God are the faith saints of God Abraham Isaac Jacob under the throne of God in 12 chapter book of Hebrews and so he puts his mercy on whom he will he's God he can do what he chooses and Paul asked the question is that unrighteousness God forbid how can God be unrighteous how can God be the person so at this point Moses quotes two prophets he quotes Hosea he quotes Isaiah and Hosea says I will call them my people who are not my people how about that you were not his people guess what you're called now you're called his people everybody everybody shows up here on Sunday called the people of God whether you are not in your heart that's a different story but because you're here at least it looks like you've been chosen I will call them my people who are not my people and her beloved who was not my beloved and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them you are not my people there they will be called the sons of the living God that's us that's us we are the sons of the living God not by your own righteousness but by the righteousness of Jesus Christ through the power of God the Holy Spirit then he quotes Isaiah though the number of the children of Israel be as the sands of the sea a remnant shall be saved for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth God always has selected people God always has a remnant we the spiritual beloved of Jesus Christ are the remnant of God we are his remnant in this world if you don't believe that go out and see how many people are not going to church go out and see how many people are still in their houses go out and see who people curse how many people curse this place go out and see how many people are ugly hate this place go and see what's out there do you realize you're in a majority that we here in a majority because we are Saints of God and so he quotes he quotes Isaiah unless the Lord of Sabbath has left the seed we would have become like Sodom and we would have become like Gomorrah unless there's a remnant left out here and that's what he left he left the remnant there were only 500 who appeared on the mountain before Jesus was resident was it was ascended he had been preaching for three and a half years he had 12 guys most of them were fishermen one of them hated his guts they were crooks and criminals they were tax collectors and they were apostles and all of them didn't like him and there were a lot of people out there didn't like him and so he said if I had made me a remnant of some of you all this thing would die by the way David Jeremiah has a new book out The Great Disappearance it's been being publicized on television it's about the rapture and it shows the fact that when the rapture comes there's going to be a great deal of people who are going to be happy because they're going to be disappearing and they're going to be going to heaven but this world's going to be in chaos because all of a sudden this room is going to be empty we're going to be gone in a moment the twinkle of an eye at the last trumpet and the dead in Christ shall rise first we who are alive and reign shall be called together that's what he's talking about here if it was not for that little remnant what would happen by the way and brother Jimmy and I've said this many times we this generation of Christians saints of God and spiritual believers are the last fort of redemption to a lost and dying world if we die and leave no remnant Christianity as we know it dies that's why it's so important that we continue to win people to the Lord Jesus Christ what shall we say then that Gentiles who did not purchase pursue righteousness have attained righteousness now what watch how he says you got it even the righteousness of faith faith cometh by hearing hearing by the Word of God he said you Gentiles got it by faith but Israel and I love that conjunction he just said if the Gentiles got it by faith I can tell you what Israel did not get it by but Israel pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained to the law or attained to righteousness but you have and they haven't because God chose you why he says did this happen because they did not seek it by faith that's why Israel didn't have it that's why Israel is not spiritual Israel that's why some Jews are completed by the way a Jew is never converted please understand that you never get a Jew converted the only thing left for a Jew is to have the Messiah and when he gets the Messiah that Jew is complete and they will talk about completion not conversion and so when a Jew gets the messianic kingdom he is completed that's what he's been waiting for all of these years he's been waiting for the Messiah why because they did not seek by faith but by works of the law for they stumble at the stumbling stone as it is written again in Isaiah 814 I behold I lay on Zion a stumbling stone a rock of a bit and whosoever obeys on him shall not be ashamed and I close with this story there was a wonderful good wealthy king and he had a marvelous young son whom he wanted to present to his people he was so good to his people that his people would actually do anything in the world that he wanted them to do they served him with joy they served him with happiness they served him when the boy was born they brought all kinds of gifts to the young prince they loved this king he was a good king he was a wealthy king he was a wonderful king and now the boy has grown up to adulthood and daddy because of his age wants to make him the king his son is as good as his dad is his son had a wonderful wonderful righteous heart his son had a loving giving spirit and he wrote to all of his kingdom I'm going to make my beloved son the king and I want you to bring him something for his coronation I want each of you to fashion a golden vessel any kind of vessel made out of gold I want you to fashion that and I want you to get it and on the day of his coronation I want you to bring that golden vessel to my son and honor him as you have honored me oh some of the people said isn't that just like that king he's good but look at there he's wanting our money for his boy some of them passed down in the mouth one said I know what I'll do I'll make a thimble that's a vessel I'll make a little thimble made out of gold I'll bring a thimble to him but at least I get him to party others said well we'll make a little cup one guy said I'm going to build a carriage I'm going to build a wagon I'm going to build a wagon with golden wheels and with gold inside I'm going to build a wagon for my king because I love it all of them built their little vessels and on the day of coronation they all brought their gold to the son at the end of the coronation the king said to them I see all of you have brought your vessels and I want you to know you're not going to give them to my son these are your vessels and my son and I are going to fill them for you and we are going to fill your vessels with gold and silver and diamonds and rubies and precious stones and every one of the vessels was filled to the top with precious gold silver and stone even the thimble you see God said bring me your vessel it's not made out of gold it's made out of mud bring me your vessel and I will give you the treasure of eternity I will fill your vessel with me with my son and with the preciousness of the Holy Spirit and we will be there we will never leave you nor forsake you we will be there forever and when you come to me I will fill you completely ladies and gentlemen I'm trying to say to you all we need to work out of the spirit of God in our vessel you are not your own you have been born with a price I was reminded of a song and I'll close with it I'm not going to sing it don't worry Barbara and I attended a funeral on Saturday afternoon a dear friend of ours Barbara Hancock passed away and we had a friend years ago at Northridge Hills when I was minister of music and education there his name was Bob Oldenburg Bob was a wonderful organist Bob was a wonderful minister he was our adult minister Bob could play the stars down on an organ but he was also a great hymn writer in the midst of how Brooks and I were working together we came upon this conclusion Christ in you Christ in your body Christ in your vessel Christ in you the hope of glory and Bob Oldenburg got into this spirit also and through that spirit he wrote a song in fact I was the first one who ever sang the song Bob wrote it and he played it and he and I sang it from an original score it's entitled More So Much More Life had only begun when I gave him my heart. T'was the dawn of the day. It was only the start. God's law was satisfied by his son crucified. I was saved. Was we born in my heart? but there's more so much more than that first sweet day more so much more every passing day for the life I now live Christ is living through me in each thought in each deed each day in my heart there is peace that the world cannot give there is joy boundless joy in each day that I live I can be what I ought in each deed in each thought it's not I but it's Christ in me but there's more you get your vessel filled there's more so much more than that first sweet day more so much more every passing day for the life I now live Christ is living through me in each thought in each deed each day that's fulfilling that's what Paul's talking about here Israel had it and rejected it we have it now because of their rejection and can't keep it will you not that your body your pottery clay your vessel of mud is the temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells in you you are not your own you have been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body which is his amen thank you Lord for your blessed word thank you father for choosing us thank you back in the eternity of eternities you called our name and thank you father at the time that it was necessary we had opportunity to choose to reject and because of the preciousness of your Holy Spirit in our lives we chose to accept and father because of that we are now Gentile spiritual and for that we give you great praise thank you for making us Gentile spiritual beings and father we appreciate what you've done in our lives we appreciate what you've given to us thank you for the gift of your only begotten son and the preciousness of the Holy Spirit thank you for filling us with diamonds and jewelries and rubies and all kinds of stuff but most of all thank you for the spirit of God which is in these clay pots and thank you that we can be used in order to bring forth Jesus Christ and your kingdom blessed forevermore be he who rose from the dead and who ascended to heaven and who is triumphantly coming in the clouds so may it be Lord Jesus come and we thank you for that in Jesus name amen