Turn to Romans chapter 9. I did. Sometimes I'm faster than you can imagine. Romans chapter nine, and let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we do thank you for many blessings, guide, lead, and direct in all things. Just pray, Lord, that you would be with us this morning, today, help us to glorify thee, help us to live for thee, help us to look to thee for all guidance and direction. In Jesus' name, amen. In Romans chapter nine, It's an interesting, I stopped the other night a little early. We got started early, but I stopped early. And it's mainly because there's a section here starting in verse 17 that I wanted to keep separate. So we'll start in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. And you know, there's a lot of questions in the Bible and sometimes they get answered and sometimes they don't. But is there unrighteousness with God? Imagine anybody thinking that there is. But there are people that think of God that way. Verse 15, for he saith to Moses, so here's the context. Is there unrighteousness with God? And then he gets into Moses and Pharaoh. And he's saying this is not unrighteous for God to do what he did. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Everything's on God's terms. Verse 16, so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Listen, God's mercy and His grace, He doesn't look at you and say, well, I'm going to withdraw my mercy. If He has a plan and a purpose and a design, and you happen to fall into that thing, like Pharaoh did with the nation of Israel, like Job did with his situation, You know, you've got to realize that God's plan is the most important thing. And if He decides He's going to use you as an example, He could use you as an example and withdraw the merciful, gracious, goodness that you are accustomed to But He never does it to hurt you or destroy you. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. He does it to bring out of you that which is best, and sometimes with another situation, He, like Pharaoh, He would use it in order to bring His glory about, and to use the ungodly as an example of what happens when you stay the path of the world. Turn to Psalm 136. Talking about mercy, I don't think I can skip over this psalm. Psalm 136. Look at what he says in Psalm 136. You know, my Bible is marked, and he has mercy in here 36 times, according to what I've counted. I could, 26 times. For, oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. That's Psalm 136 verse 1. Oh give thanks unto the God of gods. for His mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord of lords for His mercy endureth forever. To Him who alone doeth great wonders for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that by wisdom made the heavens for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters for His mercy endureth forever. So, you know, you go through there and get to verse 26. Oh, give thanks unto the God of heaven for His mercy endureth forever. So as you're looking at Psalm 136, God's mercy is on His terms. I already said that. But notice He says in verse 1, unto the Lord, and then unto the God of gods, unto the Lord of lords, and then He says, unto the God of heaven in verse 26. So when you're looking at this, His mercy endureth forever. There's no question about it. Now, let's look at an example when God takes his mercy from Pharaoh and creates a situation that we all are familiar with. But, you know, God used Pharaoh to bring about and show his glory. And Pharaoh hardened his heart. And then what did God do? God hardened his heart. You see, so you've got to be careful with these things. You say, well, I can get away with it. Well, you start hardening your heart. What happens if God says, all right, you want a hard heart? I'll show you how hard your heart can be. And that's where you get to where people, they're oblivious to really how bad things can get. I know in my life, in 1981, I got away from God and it just went, You know, just kept going down and down and down and down and down. And I sort of knew it, just didn't know how to get it right, until I went to Atlanta and prayed and, you know, next day, next morning quit the job and was in Bible college the next week. You say, well, man, how do you go to Bible college when you're so unworthy? Well, I'd been living for them for three years. I couldn't look anybody in the eye. I remember the preacher getting up saying, I can't, I don't like it when I shake somebody's hand and they can't look me in the eye and I'm sitting here going, yeah. Well, they were all such godly people like all y'all, you know, just godly, you know, giants. And I was just some wicked sinner. And you see, but that's, so that's why you have to be careful. Number one, your mindset. And number two, the mindset of others. So they, you know, people will get to where they feel so unworthy that they, you know, react to it. And then you react to it and you go, oh, I can't look me in the eyes. What a, you know, what a dirty rotten dog. What a, you know, what a terrible person. Oh, they, they're so introverted. You know, and you start, your mind runs with all these thoughts. And you gotta be careful about that because you really don't know where people are in their life. And we're not so high and mighty that we can't fall. Take heed lest ye fall, the Bible says. And that's what you have to be very careful of. Now, you don't justify sin. You don't look at somebody that's living in wickedness and go, well, it's all right when you get right. No, you try to help them to pull themselves out of the muck and the mire of the world. But you don't let them pull you in. Okay? And you don't condone it, you don't facilitate it, that's what you got to do. So as you look at this thing, look at verse 7, look at 16. So that it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Now watch verse 17, this is where I wanted to get. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, I'm sorry, Romans 9, 17. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh... A couple of things here. There's no written Scripture yet because Moses hadn't written the Pentateuch, the five first books of the Bible. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh... Who's speaking to the Pharaoh? Moses. What's Moses speaking? Scripture. So when Moses speaks Scripture, the Scripture speaks to the person. When you quote Scripture, Technically, you're not speaking, but the Scripture's speaking to the person. That's important to understand because it's no different today. Now, think about it. The Scripture's not written yet, but the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, have I, who? The Scripture. Who's the Word? Jesus. Who's Jesus? God. Who's speaking? God. So the Scriptures speak at the Pharaoh and says, I, the Scripture, God, raised thee up. So now wait a minute. God raised up Pharaoh? Sure He can raise up Pharaoh. You know, he allowed Pharaoh to exist. He allowed Pharaoh to win a war. He allowed Pharaoh to sit on the throne. Now, don't get to Romans 13 and go, well, everybody on the throne, everybody in political office, everybody, that's all of God. No, it's not. It's supposed to be they are for thee to good. Now, it may be that they're not exactly for thee to good right away, But sooner or later, Pharaoh was to Israel to good. Why? He let them go. They took the riches of Egypt with them. He drowned all the armies of Pharaoh. So, we look at things and go, oh no, here and now, every moment. That's not the way God works. God is long-suffering. God is patient. We're not. And we start thinking, well, if it isn't working just like we thought it should work, then it can't be of God. Or if it's not working exactly the way we anticipated, then God's not in it. And listen, when you get to the point in your life where you say something happened, well, I guess it wasn't the will of God. People say it all the time. They're praying about it, and then it doesn't work out, and they go, well, I guess it wasn't the will of God. You can't always know that. Sometimes, I mean, God's will is not always done. God is not willing that you should perish. People perish, therefore God's will is not always done. You can't cop out on a situation and go, well, I guess it wasn't the will of God. That's not the way things work. So just be aware of that again. But let's get back. I raise thee up, verse 17, that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. You know, whenever Pharaoh drowned and all of his armies, I know in the movie he came back, you know, I know, you know, I know how that works. Therefore, that's what happened. And you know, it's just like the Internet. Everything on the Internet's true. Everything from Hollywood is so. And it wasn't really Charlton Heston. He really wasn't Moses. Just burst your bubble. Just in case. So when you look at this thing, listen. He says in verse 18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. But wait a minute, Pharaoh hardened his heart first. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Well, Adam did. Adam resisted the will of God. Thou shalt not eat... Thou canst eat of every garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not, for the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. What was the will of God? That they not eat of that one tree. So who resisted the will of God? Adam. Who else? Pharaoh? The Pharisees? All of them. But God still works out His will in another way. So, verse 20, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? You ever question God how He made you? I mean, I know a lot of people have. I'm not pretty enough. I'm not speaking personally. You know, girls say, oh, I'm not pretty enough. You know, you got to be careful about that. You know, he didn't give me enough hair. I'm going to take this and put it up there. That rhymed. That rhymed. And you go through, and if you listen to people long enough, you realize that there are more people discontent with who they are then they are satisfied with what God has blessed them with. I mean, I'm short. I didn't know that, like I said, until much later in life. Everybody around me was taller. I was like, hey, I'm short. You know, my brothers are 6'2". My dad's 6'3". My mom's 5'1". My mom had a heart of gold. I took after my mom. I realize I shouldn't say that around my dad, though. I took after both of them, except the height was my mom and the height of my brothers. But listen, when I get on a plane, I rejoice. I don't have to have the extra legroom. I don't have to duck. I very rarely bump my head when I stand up. I say very rarely because I did remember in the last flight, I did massacre that thing above me. Yes, I was, you know, at times I was. I was the one that washed windows with her and I figured out why. My two older brothers realized if they gave her a hard enough time, she wouldn't ask them. Come on, Doug, it's time to do windows. I'm like, why me? Oh, because when she goes like this, There's a spot, I clean the spot off. She could do that all day long with my brothers and they just ignore her. And then she doesn't ask him anymore. It's called manipulation. Y'all are guilty of it too, as am I. Oh, by the way, it's my wife's birthday. Just thought I'd mention that in the middle of Sunday school too. I got her a card, put it in the bathroom. It was the funny card. I tell her I don't sign the funny cards. So I have the funny card in the bathroom. And then she came out, and she's got the good card. And then she has a third card she doesn't know about. Oh. Yeah. Oh, I like that. You were doing like this with your finger. You got her a ring. What? What? You were doing like this. No. Not like this. I don't know, Bill. Anita, you need to be over there. I know I didn't get her a ring. I got her a card. I got her a Reese's peanut butter cup this morning. Yes, anyway. Just be careful back there. Don't get too aggressive. So as you're looking at this thing, I want you to see that, I just realized what voice that was. Verse 17, for the scripture saith, now here's what I want to do, I want to run a couple of references. Look at Galatians chapter three. To me, this is just such a cool thing. Galatians three, verse eight. Or just go to verse 6, Even as Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are of the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So what preached? The scripture. What foresaw prophecy? The scripture. The scripture foreseeing and the scripture preached before the gospel. So you see, when we talk about, you know, well, you say, well, a woman, you know, shouldn't preach. You know, when you quote scripture, the scripture's preaching. So just understand that, you know, it's important to realize. Look at Exodus chapter nine, Exodus chapter nine, talking about Moses and the story back there. And it says that the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, I raise thee up. Look at Exodus chapter nine, verse 13. Let me get there with you. Exodus 9, look at verse 13, So who is speaking? It's Pharaoh. Who is he speaking for? It's the Lord, because the Lord said, thus you say, thus saith the Lord. That's the scripture speaking. Look at verse 16. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. So what's going on? God is speaking to Pharaoh, and then we read in Romans that it is the scripture that is preaching. So just understand that's how it works. We have a power right here. My only authority is here. My only power is here. My only desire is to take this Bible and to give it to others and to give them the truth and let the Scripture speak to them. And by the way, that's what preaching is. The preaching isn't, well, what's the, what, you know, we got into this little thing with my wife and all the ring, whatever, whatever. You know, that's just, it's a rabbit. Chasing a rabbit, as they say. But what's important is what sayeth the scripture. It's okay to have, you know, that little bit. I've gone to stuffy churches before, and this one isn't going to be one. We've already determined that a long time ago. We have a comedian on every pew. But when you get down to it, what's this thing all about? It's about the scripture speaking to your heart. That's why you're here. You're not here for the entertainment. You're not here for the 14-piece orchestra and the people bellowing out. We're not here for show. Now, you can always up your game a little bit. I don't have a problem with that. You know, but I'm not going to have a rock band up here. I'm not going to go, well, we're just going to compromise and do whatever it takes to bring people in. Let's fill up every pew. Because if we just modify who we are, take Independent off of the sign. Oh, and take Baptist off of the sign. You take Independent off, and you'll double your crowd. Because now they'll think you could be Southern Bapst. They'll come visit. You take Baptist off and now you're non-denominational and they go, oh, well, we know who the Baptist are. They get up there and they preach the Bible. They stand for something. That's not what they say, but that's the reality of what it's supposed to be. And we distinguish ourselves. So when you say Baptist, you should think, saved by grace, the autonomy of a local church. By the way, that's why we put independent in there, just because a lot of Baptists aren't autonomous. Priesthood of the believer. Eternal security. Christ is coming back, and I could go through, that's five, that's enough. But you ought to look at it and go, oh, well that means, now listen, it doesn't mean what it used to mean. You can have Baptists, and there are people that take Baptists off all the time, you know what I say? Take it off. Take it off your name if that's not what you are. We are Baptists because of the history. If you study the history of the Baptists, they are the ones that were persecuted. We are not Protestant. That is something that I harp on. When I write in my books, I write Protestants and Baptists. Catholic, Protestant, Baptist. Three main groups. You know, you've got Muslim and all that. I'm talking about those that, you know, talk about Jesus. So why aren't we Protestant? Because we never came out of the Catholic Church. Where'd the Presbyterians come out from? Protestant Reformation. Where are the Episcopalians? Protestant Reformation. Lutherans? Protestant Reformation. Baptists? No. We were never in the Catholic Church to come out of the Catholic Church, therefore we are not Protestant. Now, in general, if they say, well, what are you? Are you Catholic or Protestant? Jewish or Muslim? Of the four, you'd have to say, well, you know, I'm Protestant, but I'm not. And I don't correct everybody, but when I have an opportunity to say it, I'm going to tell you what you are. You are Baptist because you came from the Anabaptist against baby baptism. Waldensians, Pauletians, and you go through a long list all the way back to where when they first called them Christians, you could say that's where Baptists start. In Antioch, they first called them Christians. Who are they? Well, they're the future Baptists. Well, how do you get to there? What did the Christians believe when they were called Christians in the first century? Two ordinances, Lord's Supper and water baptism, neither one of them is a sacrament. They don't save you. They don't remit your sins. They are an ordinance or a memorial. And I don't know, I'm getting into all this, I didn't mean to, but it probably needs to be said. So, when you look at what the Christians believed in the first century, they believed in those two ordinances. They believed in eternal security. They believed in salvation by grace. They believed in the return of Jesus Christ. They believed, and you go through that long list, and then you put the Baptist up here, and you go, oh, well, that's what they believe. So what were we first called? We were first called Christian. Now, am I a Christian? Yes. Would I say, well, I'm the independent Christian church? No, because that means something else today. Okay? And so that's why we are an independent Baptist church. A little, you know, part of the reason. Now let's look at another one. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. What in the world am I doing? Hmm, preaching. That's not what I want. Man, this is so important. Hebrews. Oh, gosh. Yeah, I was looking at verse 14. Hebrews 4, 12. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints of marrow, and is discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." You see how powerful the Word of God is? The Word of God, quick, powerful. Look at verse 13, "'Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight.'" but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have due." What's the contest? It's the Word of God. It's personified there, His sight. Who's the Word? Jesus. Who's the Scripture? Jesus. How does the Scripture preach? Because it's personified. Now go and look at Hebrews 3, since we're here, verse 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. What does it say? Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith. Again, the Spirit of God speaking through us. Now look at Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs 30. Look at Verse five, Proverbs 30, verse five. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar. Every word of God is pure. He, you see how it's personified? The Word of God's personified. And the Word was made flesh, John 1. When you look at all these scriptures and you put them together, you realize that that's how it works. The Word and Jesus are so closely connected, that's how we need to leave it. John 1, 1 again. The Word was made manifest and dwell among us. He's the Word. And the Word's personified. Talking about hardening the heart, look at 1 Samuel chapter 6. 1 Samuel chapter 6, talking about Pharaoh. And look at what he says here in 1 Samuel 6, 6. But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and He destroyed them." That's 566. "'Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?' So who did Pharaoh harden his heart? It says right there he did. You say, well, I don't read that back there in Exodus. No, you read it in 1 Samuel. That's why you compare Scripture with Scripture. And that's why you come to church and come to Sunday school and come to see. If you haven't seen that, you need to mark that down and get back to Exodus and cross-reference the two. If somebody says, well, I believe that you don't have a free will because God hardened his heart and that's all there was to it. So, let me read it again. 1 Samuel 6, 6, Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts? He's asking a question of those in the Bethshemite, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts. Why do you harden your hearts just like they did? So, did they? Absolutely. And, you know, people shouldn't argue with Scripture, but they do. Look at Proverbs 29, talking about hardening of the heart, and the warning not to harden your heart. Proverbs 29, look at verse 1. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. If you continue to harden your heart, your neck, your stiff neck, uncircumcised, heart and ears, you know, Acts chapter 7, then suddenly you'll be destroyed. Be careful not to harden your heart. And he goes on, look at Acts chapter 7, I think I was just quoting that, but let's go ahead and look at it. Acts chapter 7, Stephen is preaching. And look at what he says here, because again, it's important to understand how this thing about resisting God works. To whom our fathers, Stephen preaching, would not obey, but thrust Him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt." So you've got, they left Egypt, they're out in the wilderness, the fathers would not obey, they thrust them out, and in their hearts they turned back. And that's Acts chapter 7 verse 39. In their hearts they turned back. So, again, can you resist God? Yes. The Bible says they limited the Holy One of Israel, speaking of Jesus, and He says He could not do many miracles in certain places. Why? Because they'd harden their hearts. You can affect the outcome with a hardened heart. And you've got to be careful that you keep your heart tender and soft. So, going back to Romans chapter 9. Remember, why hast thou made me such? You remember, in Genesis 3, The woman thou gavest me." You know, he replied against God. you know, the woman you gave me, you know, shall the thing form say whom, why hast thou made me thus? Adam was given a free will, a free choice. He determined, I'm gonna go against God. I'm gonna ignore God's command because he gave me this woman over here, I love her, and I'm going to knowingly go into sin and suffer the consequences. Had Adam not done that, Eve would have died, and if they hadn't had any offspring, there would be no sin in the world. Why did sin come into the world by one man? I said this the other day, I must say it again. Because Eve sinned, and if they didn't have any offspring, sin would have died off with Eve. When Adam sinned, both of them are sinners and now they have offspring. Sin entered by one man because he was the determining factor that brought it into the world. And again, it's important to understand that because people just get confused. Well, why isn't it Eve? Well, it's not Eve because of what I just told you. Now, look at Mark chapter 10. So the thing formed. So this is going to be political for a moment, although it's not political. It's really quite interesting. Now look at it. Shall the thing formed saith him that formed, why hast thou made me thus? So a woman today says, why did you make me a woman? I'm really a man. And the man says, more often than not, I'm really a woman. I think it's easier for a man to fake being a woman than a woman a man. I just think that's the way it is. And I did see that Bud Light changed their commercials, anti-woke commercials now. And it's funny, because if you'll watch what they're doing, it's pretty wild. They've gone to the other extreme. But all the woke stuff that came out of that and the retribution, they lost billions of dollars. And they lost 30% of their share. Now, I told you this, that I was going to, I can't think of the word right now. I was never going to drink a Bud Light again. That's just the way I'll say it. And they didn't lose any money at all. But still, it was fun to say that. What's it called when you, like Target, when they went against target. What do you call it? Boycott. Boycott. Thank you. I knew you were here for a reason today. What do you mean? Shh. Easy, easy. Don't let me draw too much of you out. Yeah, I was going to boycott Bud Light. And you guys would have gotten it. But look at Mark chapter 10. I just think God is so, so cool. Look at what he says in verse 6. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. There were no storks. There's only two options. He made them male and he made them female. And until you can figure out, I have a meme that I got, and it's a XY chromosome, XX chromosome, and they have two children, an XY chromosome and an XX chromosome, and that's male and female, male and female. That's all there is. And you know, now in the Supreme Court, you can't even, well, what's a woman? Well, I'm not a biologist. Can you define a woman? Well, no. Gender's fluid. No, it's not. Well, what if somebody thinks that they're a woman? What if they think they're a dog? I saw one with T-ball the other day and this guy gets on there and he's like, I'm a six-year-old. You know, he's tall and, man, he takes the ball and, you know, slams it out of the park, runs around, he's pushing the kids down. It's just, it's just, this is what we've got to do to show the stupidity of it all. You've got to go to these extremes. And I'm all for showing the stupidity of it all. And it's not really political. It's moral. Because here's what it is. If they're right, my Bible's a lie. Everybody's to reproduce after their kind. Okay? A male and female are after their kind, which is a human being. And by the way, when you start dehumanizing everything, you dehumanize that baby in the womb. And that's what they did. If you study Roe v. Wade and the other The other decision that was made, neither woman wanted an abortion. Both of them were lied to. This is Roe v. Wade, the Roe of Roe v. Wade. And she became a Christian and both lawsuits, both the women became staunch anti-abortionists. And that's what they did. These lawyers got them and lied to them. The two women never ever showed up in court. Never. And that's how you got the Supreme Court decision on a 7-2 vote to allow abortion. What a mess. Let's all stand together and we're dismissed.