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If you would, take the Word of
God and let's turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 3. As you can see in your copy of the
manuscript, the title of this biographical message is Safe
in the Scriptural Path. Safe in the Scriptural Path.
The great hero of this biographical is actually the Word of God.
And I hope that you will see that. I hope that will come through
very clear. It's not Mercer, but it's God's Word. 2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning
at verse 14, and reading through chapter 4, verse 5. But as for you, continue in what
you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you
have learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted
with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed
out by God and profitable for teaching. for reproof, for correction,
and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent,
equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence
of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the
dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word,
be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and
exhort with complete patience and teaching, For the time is
coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching
ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their
own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and
wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded,
enduring suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. And may God bless the reading
of his holy word. From an historical standpoint,
Baptists have always been known as people of the book. By this
identification, Baptists from their emergence in 17th century
England had gained the reputation of being that Christian body
within Protestantism whose declaration of doctrine and practice was
solely governed and ruled by the Word of God. In fact, the
Great Reformation principle of sola scriptura, by scripture
alone, can be argued as finding its fullest expression with Baptists
than with any other Protestant group. This is why church historian
Robert G. Torbett, in his history of the
Baptists, made the case that Baptists, to a greater degree
than any other group, have strengthened the protest of evangelical Protestantism
against traditionalism. This they have done by their
constant witness to the supremacy of the Scriptures as the all-sufficient
and sole norm for faith and practice in the Christian life. So then,
from this Baptist conviction that the Word of God is all-sufficient
and the sole norm for faith and practice in the Christian life,
it would therefore be Baptists who would hold forth such biblical
doctrines as baptism for believers only, a regenerate church membership,
liberty of conscience, and the separation of church and state.
By these teachings, Baptists took the principle of sola scriptura
to its logical and inevitable conclusion. They would seek to
assemble local churches made up of only believers where Christ
ruled as the head of His church by the revelation of His word,
liberated from any human tradition or government who would seek
to lord over their conscience. But again, what brings a Baptist
to these convictions is their uncompromising faith in the authenticity
of the Bible as the authoritative, inerrant, infallible, and sufficient
Word of God. Now, for Georgia Baptists in
the early 19th century, this unwavering confidence in the
Word of God ruling and shaping their life and doctrine was the
native air they breathed. Their view of God, man, sin,
salvation, the church, the sacraments and missions were all defined
and fleshed out by this simple, singular, but profound confession. We believe that the Scriptures
of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God and the only
rule of faith and practice. These words come from the abstract
in Decorum which was written in 1790 as the official doctrinal
standard for the Georgia Baptist Association. The significance
of this statement concerning the Word of God is that historically
it stands as the original and leaning expression of faith for
the first generation of Georgia Baptists. When it came, therefore,
to the Word of God and its place in the Christian life, it was
the only rule of faith in practice. Echoing other Baptist confessions
which had preceded them, like the Charleston Confession, the
Philadelphia Confession, and the Second London Confession,
these early Georgia Baptists believed firmly that since the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God,
then all other sources of religious authority and human custom are
excluded as a rule of faith in practice. Only the Bible can
hold such authority over men. And the reason for this is because
only the Bible sets forth all that God has deemed necessary
for man to know concerning what he should believe about God and
what duty God requires of him. Now, among the first generation
of Georgia Baptists, there was perhaps no greater and more exemplary
model to this conviction of the Bible's sole authority for our
faith and practice than Jesse Mercer. One of Mercer's contemporaries
said of him that the Bible with Mercer was first and last. In Mercer's own words, he once
said to a friend as relating to the biblical practice of church
discipline, quote, if I go according to the scriptural path, I am
safe. Those words truly sum up where
Jesse Mercer stood when it came to the place of God's Word in
every facet of his life. He was fully confident that as
long as he followed the scriptural path, he would be kept safe from
dishonoring God, teaching error, and therefore leading others
astray. Like De Salmis in Psalm 119 and verse 105, Mercer believed
that the only certain light and dependable lamp for where his
feet could travel was the Word of God alone. Now, for our study
this morning, I want us to consider how Mercer traveled the scriptural
path when it came to the doctrine of salvation, the church, and
missions. But before we follow this path
with Mercer, it would be very helpful to begin by looking first
at Mercer's life and place in Georgia Baptist history. It would
not be an exaggeration to say that Jesse Mercer was the most
prominent figure in Georgia Baptist life for the first 40 years of
the 19th century. Expressing this accolade in 1881,
Baptist historian Samuel Boykin said of Mercer, it is not too
much to say that no one has ever exerted upon the Baptist denomination
in Georgia a more beneficial, healthy, and powerful influence
than Jesse Mercer. No one did more to give a sound
scriptural tone to its doctrine and practice. No one more zealously
and persistently promoted all those benevolent institutions
sanctioned by the gospel and in accordance with scripture
principles Nor has anyone in our state been so liberal in
donations to denominational enterprises. Suffice it to say, during his
generation, Jesse Mercer held forth an influence among his
fellow Georgia Baptists that was frankly second to none. Among those who respected him,
he would be affectionately called Father Mercer. And out of that
esteem for both his godly character and multiple gifts, he would
be entrusted, for example, to serve his association as its
clerk for 19 years and then its moderator for 23 years. He would
also be given the honor of writing the annual circular letter for
his association on five different occasions. This type of letter
served those inside the Baptist family as a reaffirmation of
some particular biblical truth combined with a challenge to
remain faithful to Christ while being tried and tempted in a
fallen world. But in addition to his stewardship
as a leading voice and figure in the Georgia Baptist Association,
Mercer promoted Baptist education and Baptist cooperation in Georgia,
which would result in the formation of a university named in Mercer's
honor, and the establishment of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
Furthermore, Mercer's writings would become a household resource
for Georgia Baptists. When in 1833 he purchased the
Christian Index, This paper, which is the oldest continuing
weekly religious periodical in America, became the official
state paper for Georgia Baptist. And as its owner and editor,
Mercer would strive to publish not only Baptist news, but more
importantly, he sought to unpack biblical doctrine and application
for Georgia Baptist churches. And finally, in the mix of all
these labors and enterprises, Jesse Mercer was first and foremost
a faithful pastor to four different churches in Wilkes County, Georgia. Powellton Baptist Church, Bethsaida
Baptist Church, Phillips Mill Baptist Church, and the First
Baptist Church of Washington, which he had a direct hand in
establishing. From this perspective, therefore, it is not hard to
see why Boykin's esteem for Mercer ran so high. In fact, even more
than a hundred years after Mercer's death, he would still be lauded
as exerting, quote, more influence on white Georgia Baptists than
anyone in their history. Mercer's beginnings, however,
did not start in Georgia. He was born in Halifax County,
North Carolina on December 16, 1769. He was the oldest of eight
children born to Silas and Dorcas Mercer. But Mercer's father,
Silas, was in his twenties. He uprooted his family to settle
in Georgia on 100 acres of land he purchased near Washington
in Wilkes County. This settlement would last only
a few years due to the British takeover of Augusta that would
force the Mercers to move back to North Carolina for the duration
of the American Revolution. Yet this period would not be
spent in idleness for Mercer's father. Silas, who at this time
was a licensed Baptist minister, became a chaplain to the Continental
Army. It has been reported in his own journal that for the
six years he served as army chaplain, he preached more than 2,000 sermons
to the rebel troops. This means that on average he
would preach one or two sermons each day for those six years.
Following the War of Independence Silas would migrate his family
back to their original settlement in Georgia where they would all
live out the rest of their days. Now for Jesse Mercer during the
formative years of his life he was by and large a morally upstanding
boy. His parents ever constant instruction
that his life must conform to the will of God as revealed in
Scripture certainly had a deep impact on his already tender
conscience. In fact, his first impressions
of falling short of God's glory came to bear on him when he was
only five or six. Hence, with that early conviction
of his own sinfulness, he would be found by all external appearances
as one who refrained from everything that would draw him into any
kind of vice which other boys his age seemed to run after.
Mercer's childhood in prime years as a teenager, therefore, exemplified
to all casual observers a young man whose character was spotless. But at the age of 15, a crisis
of soul began to work hard on Mercer's heart. While he admitted
that before this time he had been concerned about his future
state and thus frequently prayed over it, yet now at 15 he declared,
I was more seriously impressed with a sense of the wickedness
of my heart and its alienation from God. In response then to
this much deeper conviction of his own sin, Mercer prayed harder,
read the Bible with more frequency, and attended church services
more regularly. And he stayed at these activities
with fervency for three years, but all to no avail. Mercer concluded then that since
his spiritual condition was no better, but worse, he lamented,
My heart became hard and unfeeling, and I wondered that God, who
was angry with the wicked every day, had not long since cut me
off and sent me to destruction, a condemnation which my conscience
could not but have approved. Now, it should be understood
that at this time, Mercer had a very clear view of the plan
of salvation through Jesus Christ. He saw clearly that salvation
was in Christ alone, and all who repent of their sins and
trust in Christ will be saved. Mercer got that. But his anxiety
was over the fact that he could not produce saving faith. In frustration, he exclaimed,
Seen it thus, I tried with all the faculties of my soul to believe,
but could not. And so I concluded I had not
come aright and was rejected." Yet with this sad conclusion
of what he believed was his eternal doom, Mercer still desired salvation
for others and wanted no one to join him in what he called
his banishment from heaven to the regions of misery and despair.
However, just when Mercer had signed himself off as one doomed
to perdition, God, in his great mercy, gave Jesse Mercer the
salvation. which so eluded his grasp. And Mercer's own words, his conversion
to Christ, took place in this way. This is what he said. While
on the verge of despair, I was walking alone along a narrow
solitary path in the woods, pouring over my helpless case and saying
to myself, Woe is me! Woe, woe is me! For I am undone
forever. I would, I were a beast of the
field. At length I found myself standing
with my eyes steadfastly fixed on a small oak that grew by the
pathside and earnestly wishing that I could be like the little
oak when it died and crumbled to dust. At that moment, light
broke into my soul and I believed in Christ for myself and not
for another and went on my way rejoicing." Thus, at 17 years
old, Jesse Mercer came to faith in Jesus Christ. A few days following
this momentous life-transforming event, he related his conversion
experience to the Phillips Mill Baptist Church, where his father
was pastor. And with the full consent and
affirmation of the church, Mercer was baptized on July 8, 1787.
Two years later, after manifesting much fruit and giftedness, Mercer
would be ordained to the ministry by Phillips Mill Baptist Church
after a thorough examination of his character, call, and qualifications. Mercer was then called to serve
as pastor of Hutton's Fort Baptist Church, later to be called Sardis
Baptist in Wills County. The year prior, To his call to
the ministry, however, Mercer was also married to a Miss Sabrina
Shivers. Sabrina would be Mercer's thankful
wife for 38 years until her death in 1826. From this union, they
would have only two daughters, both of whom would come to a
very early death. In addition, though, to his new
marriage and ministry, Mercer was also strongly encouraged
by his father to receive a formal education as a minister. This
would be first carried out by attending a small school led
by a Presbyterian minister named John Springer. For two years
under Springer, Mercer would receive instruction in the biblical
languages and theology. After completing this education,
he would then attend his father's school for one year, Salem Academy,
which was the first private Baptist school in Georgia. Thus, after
receiving three years worth of ministerial education, Jesse
Mercer became one of the most educated Baptist ministers in
the state. In 1796, one of the greatest
turning points would occur in Mercer's life. It was the untimely
death of his father Silas. Silas Mercer was without question
the most influential person in the first half of Jesse Mercer's
life. And when it came to the ministry, Silas was Mercer's
mentor and his chief companion in gospel labors. conducting,
for example, preaching tours throughout both Virginia and
North Carolina in the years of 1791 and 1793. Not to mention
their combined efforts in the establishment and progress for
the Georgia Baptist Association. Hence, when his father passed
away, the course of Mercer's life was to immediately change. In the first place, he would
return to his father's estate, having to resign a pastoral charge
he had taken in Oglethorpe County. As the eldest son in his family,
it was Mercer's responsibility to take care of his mother and
his four youngest siblings. In the second place, he assumed
the role of superintendent of the aforementioned Salem Academy.
And finally, all three churches in which his father was pastor
each called upon Mercer to take their charge. From this period,
though, Mercer's influence as a Baptist leader in Georgia would
grow on several different fronts as a pastor, author, editor,
hymnologist, philanthropist, and denominational statesman.
Mercer's first biographer, Charles Mallory, summed up all of Mercer's
ministerial labors as one who was set for the defense of the
gospel. He observed that The Gospel's
great leading truths, Mercer had studied intensely and profoundly. And if in the clear, well-defined,
original, and masterly exhibition of these truths from the pulpit,
he has had superiors or even equals amongst Baptists of our
country, they certainly have been rare. To those who love
Mercer, as already mentioned, he was called Father Mercer. But to those who despised him,
He was derided as the old man whose gospel efforts, they said,
were never worth supporting. Yet for Mercer himself, by his
own estimation, he was inadequate as a pastor, frustrated as an
editor, and only sometimes successful in bringing people to see things
his way. As a man in his physical appearance,
Mercer stood just over six feet tall, with hazel eyes, mostly
bald and moderately corpulent. His demeanor was quiet and reserved
when out of the pulpit. In fact, as Mallory noted, to
strangers, Mercer often appeared cold, uninteresting, and dry. He was not a man who had the
gift of gab and lamented over this as impeding his duties as
a pastor. Why even his first wife Sabrina
would say, if you wish to get Mr. Mercer talking when he comes
to see you, you must lay out some subjects for him beforehand.
But where Mercer lacked such sanguine traits in personal conversation,
he made up for it in graces of transparency, humility, and meekness. Moreover, he was a man known
for his uncommon moral courage. Mallory said of Mercer in this
regard, in matters of principle and conscience, He was immovable
as a rock. Upon what he deemed important
and vital points, he was not afraid to proclaim his opinions
even if the whole world was to be arrayed against him. Yet as
principled as Mercer was, Mallory was also quick to point out that
when he came to matters of indifference, No one was more ready and cheerful
in yielding to the wishes of others. As a pastor, Mercer was
a supreme model of Paul's instruction to the Corinthian church when
he exhorted them, let all things be done decently and in order. This was how Mercer lived his
life personally and how he would shepherd the flock of God, whether
it was in maintaining a regenerate church membership, practicing
church discipline, or guarding his congregations from the growing
fanaticism he was observing by the new measures of Charles Finney
and the fever of revivalism. As a preacher, however, Mercer
was in a class all by himself. His uniqueness as a preacher
was not in what he preached, but in how he preached. The substance
of his sermons were always doctrinally sound, which was his greatest
strength, and ever tended to make the most practical applications.
Furthermore, as one contemporary noted, While Mercer was not a
gifted orator, yet there was an unction from the Holy One
which rested on his preaching. But when it came to Mercer's
manner in the pulpit, he was quite a sight to behold. He would
begin his sermon by shrugging his shoulders and moving his
head sideways. His voice was not particularly
strong, and when he would raise it to effect, it became shrill
and dissonant. As he became more excited during
his delivery, Mercer often slapped the pulpit and stomped his foot
on the floor, following up at times with an entire turning
of his body from front to rear. Needless to say, Jesse Mercer
never attained to a graceful manner in the pulpit. Yet in
spite of this, Mercer became so well loved and admired by
Baptists that one may conclude that his idiosyncrasies behind
the pulpit were a small price to pay for his knowledge, grace,
and warmth outside of the pulpit. Doctrinally, Jesse Mercer was
by his own description an old-school Baptist. And what this meant,
as Mallory explained, was that Mercer was a strict Calvinist. Or, as we would describe it,
he was a five-point Calvinist. And his position as the Calvinist
never wavered. In fact, in his later years,
when Primitive Baptist accused Mercer of having defected from
the Calvinistic faith of his father Silas, he retorted by
saying, I have undergone no fundamental change in my faith from my forefathers. I believe now and always preach
in perfect accordance with the faith adopted by the Georgia
Association. And this faith adopted by the
Georgia Association to which Mercer refers is the 1790 doctrinal
standard of that association which expresses with unmistakable
clarity the five points of Calvinism. So, as a Calvinist, Mercer obviously
did not hide his convictions in a closet. For example, when
he purchased the Christian Index in 1833, It was due to a concern
that the paper remain within the bounds of regular Calvinism. Moreover, for the seven years
he served as both owner and editor of the Christian Index, articles
on predestination, effectual calling, election, and other
similar themes appeared with great frequency by Mercer in
contributing authors. In one particular article, which
Mercer published in the Christian Index during 1836, the writer's
sentiments concerning the value of Calvinism echoed Mercer's
own convictions as well. This author wrote, The doctrines
generally called Calvinistic have been the source of much
contention. Yet taking a fair view of them, they are so reasonable
and scriptural that wherever the principles by which they
are supported are disbelieved and opposed, true religion would
disappear. In 1830, Mercer's greatest formal
defense of Calvinism was brought forth by ten letters he composed
to the Christian Index vindicating the Calvinistic doctrine of limited
atonement. This was in response to a book
that had been published by a Georgia Baptist pastor named Cyrus White,
who was arguing for the Arminian doctrine of universal atonement.
One thing that should be noted, is that Mercer was not defending
a minority view of the Atonement. In 1830, the overwhelming majority
of Georgia Baptists were five-point Calvinists. Thus, when Pastor
White's book appeared endorsing the Arminian view of the Atonement,
it was seen as a dire threat to the doctrinal health and preservation
of Georgia Baptist churches. Old-school Baptists like Mercer,
therefore, looked on Cyrus flying as a man departing from the faith. On the morning of September 6,
1841, Jesse Mercer, at 71 years of age, would breathe his last.
He would only survive his second wife, Nancy, by less than four
months. Nancy had passed away at their
home in Washington, Georgia. But Mercer was not in Washington
when he died. He had traveled to Indian Springs,
which is actually not too far from here in Jackson, to see
if the springs would revive his failing health. But such would
not be the effect for which he was hoping. In fact, Mercer would
not leave Indian Springs at all. Retiring to the home of a friend
named James Carter, Mercer would see his final days on earth.
When friends inquired of him as to how he felt, he responded,
I have no ecstatic joys, not so much of that triumphant assurance
which some speak of. but an humble hope of heaven,
and habitual calm reliance on my blessed Redeemer, which enables
me to contemplate my approaching in with composure, undisturbed
by any very distressing apprehensions. To Joseph Carter on the night
before Mercer's death, after singing the hymn, I did to him
my all commit, he said, that is continually in my mind, Forty
odd years ago, I committed my all to the Lord before the mercy
seat, and there is my dependence now. And Mercer's final words
right before his death were spoken to his nephew, W.A. Mercer, who
had sat with his uncle through the whole of his last night on
earth. Writing to the Christian Index of his last moments, W.A.
Mercer said that his uncle had answered several questions I
asked him. I inquired if he was ready to depart. He threw his
dying arms around my neck and pulled me down near to him and
said, I have no fears. Jesse Mercer would be buried
on September the 8th, 1841 in Pinfield Cemetery near Mercer
University. Several Georgia Baptist churches
would adopt resolutions expressing their grief over Mercer's passing
along with the Georgia Baptist Association and the Georgia Baptist
Convention. And on October 3rd of that same
year, which in that year fell on the Lord's Day, the First
Baptist Church of Washington held a memorial service for Mercer,
and the local Presbyterian Church closed their doors and joined
the service out of respect. The chosen text for that service
was most fitting, 2 Samuel 3.38, Know ye not that there is a prince
and a great man fallen this day in Israel? Now, with the sketch
of Mercer's life before us, let us consider what is the main
subject of this study, which is how Mercer walked the scriptural
path when it came to the doctrines of salvation, the church, and
missions. To begin with, let's notice Mercer
on the scriptural path of salvation. When Jesse Mercer came to the
Word of God and studied what the scriptures taught concerning
how God saves sinners, his conclusion was what he wrote as a summary
in the Christian Index in 1833. The editor believes in the doctrine
of free and sovereign grace, in perfect accordance with the
obligations and responsibilities of men as accountable beings. Unpacking this, Mercer saw clearly
from God's Word that salvation is by grace alone, meaning that
there was nothing in man to influence God to save him, but the design
and application of redemption was entirely God's own sovereign
pleasure. Mercer wrote, Indeed, I cannot
conceive how any motive could operate on the mind of the judge
of all the earth in the counsels of peace to produce this purpose
of mercy towards the guilty, but that which was purely of
himself according to the good pleasure of his own will. Hence,
for Jesse Mercer, when he read the Scriptures, he came to understand
that it was not man's will at the center of salvation, but
God's will. And Mercer's conviction of this
truth was supported by two biblical doctrines which he affirmed strongly. On the one hand, God's eternal
decree, and on the other hand, man's total depravity. Regarding
God's eternal decree, Mercer wrote, the decrees of God are
the holy plan or purpose according to which God governs the world.
And this divine governance of the world, Mercer would write,
extended to every action and event, yet not eradicating the
freedom of moral agents, nor signifying God's approval of
everything comprehended within His plan in itself. Consider. Therefore, since God has decreed
everything that comes to pass, then when it came to salvation,
the how, why, and who was already fixed in God's eternal purpose. So then, when Mercer considered
how God would save sinners, he affirmed the biblical truth of
the Father electing, the Son redeeming, and the Spirit regenerating. As to election, Mercer expressed,
the doctrine of personal and eternal election is that God
and the wise and holy plan of His government has determined
what individuals He will sanctify by His Spirit and thus prepare
for eternal life. Regarding the redeeming work
of Christ on the cross, Mercer believed that The atonement is
special both in its provisions and applications. By this, Mercer
understood that Christ's atoning sacrifice was intended and extended
only to those the Father elected to be saved. Thus, when Christ
died on the cross, His death secured the salvation of all
those He came to save. Mercer maintained, the fullness
of the atonement is not to be measured by the number saved,
but by its competency to save one sinner. And as to the work
of regeneration, Mercer explained it as a change of heart from
enmity to supreme love to God, produced by the special and efficacious
agency of God the Holy Spirit. This meant, therefore, that if
any sinner whom the Father chose for His Son to redeem were to
savingly believe on Christ, then the Holy Spirit would have to
regenerate them to new life. They would have to be born again.
But what Mercer plainly saw by each of these biblical truths
was that salvation was in no wise dependent nor determined
by man's will. Salvation from beginning to end
was of the Lord. In fact, even when it came to
the preservation of all God's elect, Mercer declared, all true
believers being born of God will, not by their own strength, but
by His mighty power, be preserved from eternal final apostasy and
kept through faith unto salvation. Salvation then for Jesse Mercer
was in truth by God's free and sovereign grace. And behind this
biblical doctrine was the larger truth of God's eternal decree. But combined with the decree
of God was also man's total depravity. Why did salvation have to be
entirely of God's doing? Is it man capable of making himself
right with God? For Mercer, as he read and understood
God's Word, he had to conclude, quote, that men are by nature
totally destitute of holiness and enemies of God. Concerning
this fact, Mercer appealed to such passages as Romans 3, verse
12, where we're told that all have turned aside. Together they
have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. He also cited Romans 8, verses
7 and 8. where unregenerate sinners are described as minding the
things of the flesh, being hostile to God, and completely incapable
of pleasing God, as they are bent by nature to rebel always
against God's law. Finally, Mercer turned to Jeremiah
17 and verse 9, which sums up man's fundamental problem as
a sinner. The heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful
above all things. So being true to Scripture, Mercer
could not reason but one thing about the natural state of man
as a sinner. He is spiritually and morally
depraved. And while this does not mean,
as Mercer would say, that all men are as bad as they can be,
yet their sinful nature has rendered them with no will nor desire
for Christ and His salvation. With this in mind, therefore,
Mercer wrote, all men, wherever they are dispensed, would be
saved, were it not for that alienation of heart which has everywhere
estranged man from God and filled him with that enmity which is
not subject to law, neither indeed can be. But God, foreseeing that
no man would receive the testimony, and that all men would turn away
from the holy commandment delivered to them, has in plentitude of
His mercy determined in the riches of His grace, according to the
sovereign counsel and good pleasure of His own will, to exercise
a power sufficient to effect the purposes of His grace in
salvation of His own chosen people. By the display of this power,
his enemies are changed into friends, and they that hated
him bow before him and give him glory. So then, if one were to
have asked Jesse Mercer, Mr. Mercer, why do you believe these
things? Why is it that you maintain that
salvation is by free and sovereign grace? Mercer would have replied
in the following manner, as he in fact did in 1838. He said, These doctrines are believed
because they are supported not only by express declarations
of scripture, but by an abundance of such declarations. They do
not rest on the doubtful interpretation of a few isolated passages, but
are supported by the obvious meaning of a great multitude
of texts. Hence, following the scriptural
path in the matter of salvation, Jesse Mercer would simply but
strongly contend it is God alone who saves sinners. But as we
continue down the scriptural path with Mercer, let's now consider
where it led him concerning the doctrine of the church. And to
narrow this down, what was Mercer led to believe by the teaching
of God's word as to church membership and church discipline? As to
church membership, Mercer held firmly that it must be a regenerate
church membership. This means that anyone who would
join themselves to a local church must be proven by their lips
and lives to have been born again. In short, only Christians can
be church members. But what is a Christian? Mercer
once answered this question in an article he wrote outlining
the fruit of a real Christian by four principal characteristics. First, a Christian is a believer
in Christ, whose sole dependence for salvation is in Him, and
who, from a sincere regard for Christ's person and honor, is
endeavoring to follow His precepts and examples. Second, a Christian
loves God, which may be known by an exercise of holy and reverent
fear of Him, leading to askew evil and do good from a pious
and devout regard to His honor. Third, a Christian loves his
fellow Christians, just in that proportion in which they give
evidence that they are born of God. And finally, a Christian
has a knowledge of himself which at once distresses and humbles
him. Fanning this last point out,
Mercer described the Christian as one who views himself as totally
depraved if he is without Christ. Moreover, he knows his heart
is a sink of sin. He just knows its plague and
bitterness. Furthermore, he often reproaches
himself as vile and unworthy. And the greater his discoveries
are of the holiness and greatness of God, the more he abhors himself
in dust and ashes. He is therefore often disappointed
in his fondest hopes and anticipations in happiness and success and
duty. And his life as a whole is ever
exposed to many and fiery temptations, yet he rejoices in hope of deliverance. This is a Christian. And church membership can only
be reserved for such as these, if it is to be a true church
of Jesus Christ. This is why, therefore, when
it came to joining a church, Mercer declared that a public
profession of faith is a serious transaction. He who makes it
enters into a most solemn pledge that by the grace of God he will
not live to himself, but to him who died for sinners and arose
again. He professes then that these
resolutions are the result of a gracious operation of the Spirit
of God upon his heart. But next to a regenerate church
membership, Mercer also believed and practiced strongly biblical
church discipline. In this regard, Jesse Mercer
was lionized by his fellow Baptists for his attention to church discipline. For Mercer, Anyone who chose
to come in the front door of church membership was also made
aware of the back door of church discipline. This awareness was
made in a formal way by signing a church covenant, whereby a
church member would pledge themselves with the rest of the church body
to live up to what they profess to be as believers in Christ.
But, If this covenant was disregarded by either sinful, unrepentant
behavior or by promoting false doctrine, then discipline would
ensue following the pattern and principles of Matthew 18, verses
15 through 17. In a circular letter written
in 1806, Mercer wrote of church discipline as that practice without
which there can be no union, order, peace, or fellowship in
the church. In fact, church discipline, by
Mercer's conviction, was the lifeblood of the church. But, as Mercer would say, if
it were neglected or loosely executed by allowing the toleration
of corrupt men, then they will end up corroding and corrupting
the whole body, which will lead to more ungodliness till, by
their number and influence, the church at this or that place
may become a mere worldly sanctuary or a synagogue of Satan. Suffice it to say, for Jesse
Mercer, church discipline was not an option, but a divine mandate. There would be no ensuring of
true healthiness for the local church without it. Our final
scriptural path with Mercer is that of missions. Charles Mallory
said of Mercer regarding missions that, the cause of missions was
ever dear to the heart of Mr. Mercer. It might be said that
he was in truth an active and efficient domestic missionary
for nearly 30 years, a large portion of that time being actually
spent in itinerant labor. Moreover, Mercer's passion to
spread the gospel via missionary efforts was seen by his spearheading
ways that Georgia Baptists could cooperate on a statewide level
to reach the lost. And his support, by word and
deed, of the famed Triennial Convention, which was the first
nationwide mission agency among Baptists in America. Now, to
many modern-day Baptists, it might seem strange and even contradictory
that Jesse Mercer, the five-point Calvinist, was such a strong
and active supporter for missions. But what we must understand about
Mercer's Calvinism is that it was evangelical and not hyper-Calvinism. When Mercer read and studied
the Scriptures, he clearly saw that God ordains the means as
well as the ends of His eternal purpose to save His elect. Therefore,
evangelism, according to Romans 10, verses 13-17, is God's ordained
means to bring His elect to salvation in Christ. With this understanding,
Mercer would thus write in 1834, this good news is to be preached,
according to the commission, to every creature, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Mercer saw no contradiction
then between five-point Calvinism with its scriptural emphasis
on the sovereign grace of God and the biblical command to preach
the gospel to all nations. Mercer declared that it was the
first duty of a gospel minister to teach men of their ruined
state as sinners, and the provision of mercy God has made for their
recovery in Christ, warning them of their danger, then calling
them to repentance and faith, inviting them all to come to
Christ and live. And while it is true, Mercer
said, that all men resist the claims and refuse the grace of
calls and means and will not comply. Yet, God puts forth a
mightier energy of divine influence into these means and invitations
by which they are rendered effectual by the Holy Spirit to salvation. Now, at this point, we must pause
and note that not all fellow Baptists in Mercer's day shared
his missionary zeal. In fact, when it came to the
cause of missions as expressed through the use of means like
mission agencies, tract societies, Bible societies, Sunday schools,
protracted meetings, and ministerial education, A vast movement of
contention and controversy arose within the Baptist family and
severed it to the core. This movement would be known
by history as the anti-mission movement. And the division this
movement would spawn would bring forth two distinctive Baptist
groups. The missionary Baptists and the
primitive Baptists. Now to be fair, the primitive
Baptists, who were the champions of the anti-missionary cause,
were not against missions in theory. In fact, the very term
anti-missionary was not how they saw themselves. It was the missionary
Baptists who labeled the primitives as anti-missionary. But for the
primitives, they took a very strong position in favor of missions. What became their written manifesto,
known as the Black Rock Address, 1832, recognized that Christ
had commanded them to go into all the world and preach the
gospel, being sent and supported exclusively by the local church.
Hence, when it came to Baptist state conventions, or the Triennial
Convention, becoming the prime agency for sending and supporting
missionaries, the Primitive Baptists saw this as, quote, subverting
the order marked out in the New Testament. On this principle,
therefore, the Primitive Baptists remained true to Scripture. Yet behind this principle, was
a hermeneutic that reasoned whatever they could not find explicitly
stated in Scripture should not be supported. So, since the Bible
does not contain words like Baptist Convention, mission boards, or
Sunday school, then such things like this must not be of God.
Their interpretation of the Bible then became a mechanical literalism. But what's worse was that their
mechanical literalism drove them to separate from any Baptist
churches which supported what they believed were unbiblical
ideas. However, underlying all the concerns
the primitives had with the new missionary endeavors of their
Baptist brethren was their judgment that advocates for missions did
not believe God was sovereign in salvation. Why, they even
called Andrew Fuller an Arminian. Indeed, to follow this fervor
for the missionary cause was to rob God of His glory in salvation,
they would say, since God could convert the world apart from
any human effort. But sadly and tragically, this
way of thinking would ultimately send the primitive Baptist into
the quagmire of hyper-Calvinism. Therefore, despite their strong
stand for missions in the Black Rock Address, yet in reality,
It would only remain a theory. Now, among Georgia Baptists,
the anti-mission movement began to divide the churches and associations
in the mid-1820s. In fact, when the Georgia Baptist
Convention was formed in 1822, only two of the eight Baptist
associations became charter members. You understand what I'm saying
there, that in 1822, there were only eight Baptist associations
in Georgia, and only two of those eight joined the Georgia Baptist
Convention. This was due to the anti-missionary
stance of the other six. And in 1846, five years after
Mercer's death and one year after the forming of the Southern Baptist
Convention, Georgia had the highest number of anti-mission adherents
in the United States, 11,603. Needless to say, there was a
deep-rooted and strong divide over missions among Georgia Baptists.
The formal break, however, between the missionary and primitive
Baptists in Georgia occurred between the years of 1836 to
1840, and at the center of this controversy during this period
was Jesse Mercer. For the primitives, Jesse Mercer
was their whipping boy. They railed against him from
their pulpits to bimonthly periodicals they published to counter his
influence. On Mercer's part, however, he sought to do two
things in response to the Primitives. First of all, he pursued reconciliation. Mercer organized three official
ministers' meetings, two in 1836, one in 1837, between the missionary
and Primitive Baptist to heal the breach and unite these brethren
once again. Sadly, not a single primitive
Baptist appeared at these meetings but criticized them in their
papers impugning evil motives on Mercer and the missionary
Baptists for calling such a conference. But second of all, from a doctrinal
position, Mercer used the Christian Index as his medium to counter
the theological arguments of his primitive brethren on several
fronts. On the one hand, he would show
from Scripture how New Testament churches did join together to
accomplish missionary work, and he would reference Acts 15, verses
1-35. And on the other hand, He also noted how Old Testament
prophecy became New Testament command. Thus, he said, we are
to regard all the predictions of the prophets in relation to
the advancement of Christ's kingdom and the salvation of the world
as invested with the power and authority of divine commands
requiring us to labor and pray for their accomplishment. Mercer
would prove this point by comparing Isaiah 49.6 with Acts 13.47,
demonstrating how the apostles understood their missionary labors
to be an outworking of this ancient plan. Isaiah's prophecy was a
prediction, a salvation extending to the ends of the earth, whereas
in Acts 13.47, this same prophecy is repeated in the form of a
command. Mercer also challenged the primitives
with their own mechanical literalism by exposing their inconsistency.
While they demanded scriptural proof for all the new missionary
enterprises, yet they could not prove from scripture why they
had church associations, constituted churches, and required the approval
of Presbyteries before such churches could join their associations.
Finally, Mercer took the primitives to task over their hyper-Calvinism,
calling them the do-nothing party, while defending the evangelical
Calvinism of missionary Baptists. Describing the essential difference
between the two, Mercer said, The doctrine of do-nothing is
that which is most congenial with their feelings. They are
afraid to engage heart and hand in labors of love, lest God should
be robbed of His glory in the conversion of men. The one party,
missionary Baptists, argues that God, in the exercise of His grace
and mercy, will convert and sanctify men through the means which He
has appointed to that end. The other party, Primitive Baptist,
contends that he will convert them as an act of his sovereign
pleasure, means or no means, hence they do not concern themselves
very much upon the subject. This is really the difference
between the parties concerned, and it seems to resolve itself
into the following question. Do the doctrines of grace lead
to vigorous and persevering action? Mercer would go on to answer
his own question by citing Revelation 7 and verse 9, where the final
number of God's elect will be higher than man can count. Hence,
with such a vast multitude to be saved, shouldn't Christians
want all the more to participate in the fulfillment of this redemptive
plan through missionary activity? Simply put, Mercer understood
the position taken by the primitives when it came to missions, but
he could not accept their solution of waiting on God to fulfill
his own great commission. So then, when it came to the
great cause of missions, Jesse Mercer put his full weight and
tireless efforts behind it for local, state, national, and international
endeavors. Whether it was attempting to
reach the Creek in Cherokee Indians in Georgia, to supporting the
labors of William Carey and Addernaim Judson in India, Jesse Mercer
sought ways and means to rally his fellow Georgia Baptists together
to become all things to all people that by all means some might
be saved. Well, drawing our study of Mercer's
life and labors to a close, there are three lessons which I believe
would be very helpful for us to glean from Mercer for our
own generation. First, we should make every effort
to recover in our day the biblical model of the local church as
regenerate and disciplined. I believe we heard much about
that yesterday. The care and attention that Jesse
Mercer and Baptists at large in his day gave to the biblical
doctrines of a regenerate church membership and church discipline
are sadly absent in most Baptist churches of our time. Bloated
membership roles where over half of the church members cannot
be found is an all-too-common culture for modern-day Baptists.
And the practice of corrected church discipline is not even
a category existing in their Bible database. Thus the spiritual
climate found in many Baptist churches is one of strife, carnality,
and a widespread worldliness which is left unchecked and therefore
uncorrected. The overall result are Baptist
churches reduced to a remnant of true believers living among
a majority of unregenerate sinners. But what can be done with such
a vast problem? But from a doctrinal standpoint,
Baptist pastors in such situations need to unpack what the Bible
teaches about salvation and what it therefore means to be a Christian. Moreover, Baptist churches need
to be taught what the Bible clearly commands and instructs as to
how purity is preserved in the church via corrective discipline. And then from the standpoint
of church polity, where joining the church has been hasty, careless,
and irresponsible in how prospective members are received, there should
be a return to affirming prospective members if only their testimony,
character, and understanding of the gospel is biblical. Mark
Dever once said in this regard, what we actually need to do is
to close the front door and open the back door. We need to make
it harder to join and we need to be better about excluding
people. We need to be able to show that
there is a distinction between the church and the world, that
it means something to be a Christian. The point is, beloved, while
it is not in our power to grow the church, yet it is our responsibility
to cultivate the health of the church. Hence, we need to recover
in this day the biblical model of the local church as regenerate
and disciplined. Secondly, we must guard against
one Bible doctrine eclipsing the rest of Scripture. For the
primitive Baptists in the 19th century, their dogged insistence
to exclusively hold forth the truth of God's sovereignty and
salvation led them ultimately to renounce the outworking of
evangelism and missions as God's ordained means to save His elect. They would therefore find themselves,
as the result of their very imbalanced theology, floundering in the
spiritual inertia of hyper-Calvinism. for the Missionary Baptists.
While in Mercer's day, he could say that they were never freer
of Arminianism than during his generation. How shocked he would
be today. Yet in 80 years following this
claim, the evangelical Calvinism of Mercer and the Missionary
Baptists would be only a distant memory. Because over time, Their
zeal for evangelism and missions would eventually overshadow and
take away any doctrinal distinctives that even resembled the Calvinism
of Jesse Mercer. This departure from evangelical
Calvinism would result in the embrace of a semi-Pelagian view
of salvation, the fruit of which would drive church ministry by
pragmatic philosophy while trumping God's sovereignty for the belief
that human methods will ensure conversions and grow the church. Hence, we, we, brothers and sisters,
must be always on the guard that when we read and study and preach
and apply God's Word, that we hold forth the whole counsel
of God and not just our favorite proof text for our favorite doctrine. When Paul charged Timothy to
preach the Word, he did so on the heels of reminding his protege
that all Scripture All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training
in righteousness. Thus, when the church is standing
on all Scripture, and not just part of it, then they will be
thoroughly equipped for every good work. Finally, while we
contend earnestly for the preservation of sound biblical doctrine, Yet
we must do so without a quarrelsome spirit, but in love for those
toward whom we are contending. Although Jesse Mercer did not
back down from exposing the theological and practical errors of the primitive
Baptists, yet, understand this, he did not want to separate from
them in fellowship and ministry. The truth is, he loved them and
he therefore pursued peace with them despite how strongly he
disagreed with the certain positions they took. And while Mercer's
efforts to reconcile with the primitives did not succeed, at
least he could live with a clear conscience that his efforts were
following the path of Scripture. In fact, what Jesse Mercer models
for us all in this regard is what Paul urged Timothy to do
in response to the false teachers in Ephesus. In 2 Timothy 2, verse
24, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone,
able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents
with gentleness. This must be our posture. when
standing for the truth of God's Word in the face of falsehood.
We must not be argumentative, abusive, harsh, or pugnacious
when defending the truth. But rather, to those in opposition
to the truth, as we would seek to correct their errors, it must
be done in a humble, gentle, forbearing manner that is free
from all malice, revenge, and arrogant pride. This was Mercer's
pattern with the primitive Baptists. And by God's grace, working in
our own hearts, beloved, may this be our pattern as well whenever
we have to confront those who are in opposition to the truth.
Listen closely. Love for others must never be
sacrificed for the sake of maintaining sound doctrine. Let me say that
again. Love for others must never be
sacrificed for the sake of maintaining sound doctrine. Instead, we contend
for the preservation of sound biblical doctrine, while at the
same time loving those we should be seeking to win to the truth. Amen.
Safe in the Scriptural Path: The Life and Labors of Jesse Mercer
Series Biographical
| Sermon ID | 318121441338 |
| Duration | 1:04:53 |
| Date | |
| Category | Conference |
| Bible Text | 2 Timothy 3:14 |
| Language | English |
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